As mayoral candidate Ray Allen and incumbent Dave Cieslewicz count down the days until Tuesday's election, what was once maybe the most contentious difference between the two candidates is rarely mentioned at all anymore. I'm talking, of course, about trolleys.
Or, as Mr. Cieslewicz is quick to point out, the preferred term is "streetcars." The word "trolleys" is just a little too reminiscent of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," I guess. For those of you who haven't been paying attention, the mayor has grim projections of 100,000 more cars driving in Dane County in the next 20 years, and for a long time — ever since he visited Portland, Ore., from the sound of it — he's been touting streetcars as the holy grail of all our alleged transportation woes. Mr. Cieslewicz is so excited about streetcars, he decided it was worth $300,000 to form a Streetcar Study Committee, charged with determining the project's feasibility. To put that in perspective, Mayor Dave's Downtown Safety Initiative checks in at only $100,000.
Once the election season really heated up, though, all the scrutiny and teasing became just too much for the mayor's re-election campaign. And on Jan. 25 — apparently tired of accusations that he would force streetcars down Madison's collective throat — Mr. Cieslewicz vowed to take the decision out of his own hands. Mr. Cieslewicz suggested, and the City Council is currently debating, a proposal to defer the streetcar proposal to a binding referendum, thereby giving city voters the final authority.
With that suggestion, Mr. Cieslewicz is quite obviously trying to sever any ties with his streetcars proposal; in other words, he's made it explicitly clear that if the streetcars are going down in the court of public opinion, then he's certainly not going down with them. To be sure, it was a desperate attempt by the Cieslewicz campaign to undo the image of a mayor who had already spent far too much time raving about the wonders of streetcars. Although Mr. Allen still tries to play the streetcars card, it really has lost all its bite. That's because he's playing it the wrong way.
This sudden abandonment of the streetcar proposal should give Mr. Cieslewicz's supporters great pause. It is indicative of a man who cares more about getting re-elected and spending another four years in the mayor's office than actually realizing his grand vision for the city — however misguided it may be. Make no mistake about it; this raises serious questions about Mr. Cieslewicz's integrity.
At this point, the streetcars seem like a horrible allocation of city resources — they're estimated to cost $15-$25 million per mile, according to Mr. Allen's campaign website — but I'm not the mayor of Madison, and I haven't read a page of the Streetcar Study Committee's feasibility report. None of us has, because it hasn't even been written yet, precisely why Mr. Cieslewicz shouldn't jump the gun on abandoning his support of the project just to take a few plays out of his challenger's political playbook. The people of Madison — from University of Wisconsin students to senior citizens on the city's outskirts — want a mayor with the courage of his convictions, not someone who will sell out his vision because he's afraid of losing an election.
The fact of the matter is this is not a decision that should be put directly in the hands of city voters. Mr. Cieslewicz says he wants to defer the referendum until after the results of the Streetcar Study Committee are in, so that the people of Madison can make an "informed decision" about whether or not they want streetcars. All the referendum does, though, is guarantee the $300,000 spent on the committee is completely wasted. Even if voters decide they want to splurge on streetcars — which is highly unlikely, given Mr. Cieslewicz's decision to distance himself from the plan in the first place — it isn't going to be an informed decision. It's a classic example of why we are a representative democracy; we elect people we trust to read and analyze any number of proposals and subsequently make a decision on our behalf. Apparently, Mr. Cieslewicz didn't get that memo.
What Mr. Cieslewicz should have been doing — and what he was doing, before he panicked — is to promote a deliberate, methodical approach in preparing for the 100,000 new vehicles he expects (whether or not they're actually coming is anyone's guess). He was already downplaying any preordained commitment to streetcars and said he was open to other alternatives. Frankly, he came off as a lot more reasonable than Mr. Allen, who laughs off streetcars without giving them the intellectual debate they probably deserve.
But what's done is done. The streetcar ship has sailed, and any straight-faced arguments about Mr. Cieslewicz putting the city before his re-election campaign are gone, too. On Tuesday, the city of Madison and those few students who stick around over spring break will go to the polls and elect our next mayor. Whatever you think of streetcars, it shouldn't even factor into your decision anymore, but don't mistake that as points in Mr. Cieslewicz's favor. In addition to other concerns about the incumbent, especially on the parts of students and small-business owners, responsible voters now must wonder whether they can have any trust in Mr. Cieslewicz to act in what he sees as the city's best interest.
Mike Gendall ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and philosophy.
