“Despite your claim that we no longer have troubled neighborhoods in Madison, we know from our personal experiences that we still do,” wrote Selena Pettigrew, president of the Allied Dunns Marsh Neighborhood Association. Her quote comes from a letter addressed to then-Mayor Dave Cieslewicz in response to comments he made at a Mayoral Candidate Forum weeks before this spring’s elections.
Poverty has continued to grow as the number one problem facing Madisonians of all racial and family backgrounds, though it has for too long been obfuscated by the general sense of affluence so clearly observable to those of us who seldom venture out beyond campus and the downtown core of the city.
Newly-elected Mayor Paul Soglin latched on to this issue in the final weeks of his campaign as his emphasis on improving city processes – though much needed – lost some of its luster in the weeks following his primary victory. Soglin’s passion and perceived sincerity on socio-economic issues were illustrated plainly in the election night results. Where many of the city’s more well-to-do West side residents contented themselves with the development-centric status quo, the city’s historically working class East side went overwhelmingly for Soglin. Their votes were cast, it would seem, less out of a desire to see more transparency and professionalism out of City Hall, but more so to see city leadership return to the issues most pressing for city residents in an age of burgeoning austerity measures, foreclosures and shattered dreams at the hands of the greatest economic depression in generations.
Over the past decade, the poverty rate in Madison (defined as a family of four making under $21,800) has jumped from 15 percent to nearly 18 percent. One in 6 residents now lives below the poverty line. The situation of our city’s children is even worse. Twenty years ago, 1 in every 5 children enrolled in the Madison Metropolitan School District qualified as low-income for the purposes of a subsidized lunch program. Today, 1 in 2 students qualify. According to a recent study by the Brookings Institution, the poverty rate in the City of Madison is raising at a rate nine times that of other U.S. cities.
All is not cream and roses for our city on a hill. Given the avariciousness of our elected officials at the state level, impassioned efforts need to be employed to prevent this situation from getting any grimmer. In the third Wisconsin Poverty Report released yesterday, researchers concluded that expanded tax credits and food assistance programs guarded the state’s most vulnerable residents from the bitterest indignities of the economic catastrophe.
Gov. Scott Walker has made it clear on repeated occasions that he intends to systematically attack the programs and services that keep the heads of the poor and their children above water. He intends to raise taxes on the lower and middle-classes by cutting the earned income tax credit for Wisconsin families. By privatizing the services that determine who receives food assistance in the state, a violation of federal law, he will be forgoing $20 million dollars in federal assistance for these programs. All this proposed in the name of saving us from ourselves, or more accurately, to pay for over $80 million in tax cuts to businesses and the wealthy.
In the added context of Walker’s proposed cuts to Badger Care and funding for public education, it should be clear that his administration, in concert with a hard-line conservative agenda sweeping the nation, has issued a declaration of civil war on Wisconsin residents of humble means.
Where do we go from here and how, specifically, can Madisonians and our elected officials combat this desultory assault on our values?
We must start by repelling the wedges so carefully placed and driven over the years that encourage us to isolate and self-segregate ourselves from our community. An insult to one is truly an insult to all. As Lincoln might say again today: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” The accruing of astronomic wealth by a privileged few cannot forever be built on the backs of an increasingly poor majority. As students who are privileged relative to our fellow city residents, much less the vast majority of people worldwide, it is incumbent upon us to use our fortunate position and the influence and power it portends to fight for our downtrodden brothers and sisters.
We can start immediately by paying attention to the homeless population and fighting for services that bring them shelter and educational programs that provide rungs for grasping toes. In the coming months and years, we must wake up to what is truly meant by “affordable housing” - it is not simply nice condos for those with freshly printed degrees, but rather comfortable housing that fits the budget of those living near and below the poverty line. We must challenge our city leaders to not simply advocate for white-collar jobs in the city but also, for those without college degrees, jobs that pay living wages, give benefits and offer the opportunity to live a fulfilling and comfortable life. Strengthening job training programs at technical colleges like MATC must also be a priority.
Justice only comes to those who demand it. Business as usual is not enough to make Madison a better place, and now more than ever we need to band together and fight for a brighter future where care for one’s neighbors is synonymous with care for oneself.
Sam Stevenson ([email protected]) is a professional student in public health.
