101 Ways the City of Madison Would Be Different . . .

If I were Mayor . . .

Eisen wrote the first piece, the Sconz followed up, a couple times, Kristin jumped in, now Dean . . . so I’ve been inspired to write about it. Here’s the top 100 things that would be different if I were Mayor, kinda in order, but I didn’t put much time into, started it yesterday morning, finished it this morning due to the news Ken Golden is running. The list is far from perfect, its more of a brainstormed list, likely missing a few things and the order isn’t an exact science, its just ideas, pet peeves and some obvious things that need to change. Let me know how I did and what you would add.

101. No junkets to Europe with lobbyists.
100. I’d give the State of the City Address to the residents of the City of Madison, not an elite group of Downtown Rotarians and their friends that is press and invite-only.
99. The “Weekly Schedule” would be at least 20% more accurate and would give real notice to the public about meetings will be held, with efforts to make information readily accessible sooner.
98. There’d be attachments to agendas for EVERYTHING. Knowledge is power. It’s ok if we share it with the public instead of hoarding it so it gets the appropriate spin.
97. There would be adequate training for new committee members, done several times a year for their convenience with handbooks for quick reference.
96. Budget hearings would not be held with last minute notice and in August when many are out of town on end of the summer vacations.
95. New handouts at meetings would be minimal, and efforts would be made to get it available on-line immediately (city staff have laptops) and sufficient copies would be made available to the public.
94. Develop a user-friendly on-line guide to how to navigate city hall for the folks who never have been to city hall for an issue. Perhaps create specific guides for various issues.
93. Citizens would have a guide about when and where to give testimony on development projects.
92. Notice for public hearings would go out to a wider area of people – not just for development, but for streets and engineering projects as well.
91. I wouldn’t use my city sponsored blog as a campaign tool.
90. I’d write my blog posts myself . . . and then have someone edit for grammar, spelling etc.
89. There would be a shift in culture in city hall to provide information to the public upon request, as early as possible instead of hiding it and stonewalling.
88. Increase use of technology for communications with citizens. More use of listserves, text alerts, facebook, twitter and other developing technologies.
87. Put resources into completing the updates of the website so all departments benefit from the redesign.
86. USE Robert’s Rules of Order to run a tighter meeting.
85. Not work through council leadership alone, but establish good communications and relationships with all the alders.
84. Publish a calendar for the Mayor that was accurate, or none at all. No more selective information.
83. Work harder to coordinate street construction projects and consider impacts on neighborhoods and businesses in the area, as well as commuters and accommodating things like the downtown August 15th move out. Do more than a survival guide.
82. Be less driven by the press and false deadlines and more driven by good policies and projects and informed decisions.
81. More planning for big projects so things fit into the calendar instead of being rushed at that end with last minute information.
80. Better communication with staff, there is a huge thirst for knowledge about what goes on in city hall, which is part of the reason for my blog popularity and part of why I get so many complaints when I’m late with stuff or didn’t cover things.
79. The mayor’s staff would have to work a whole lot harder to earn that money they make and keep up with me! 🙂
78. Homeless property left in parks would be stored and give people a reasonable amount of time to retrieve it in accordance with state law.
77. Hire more women and people of color for leadership in the City, when appropriate.
76. Work on a strategy to make sure the properties sold as LLCs are appropriately assessed.
75. Not support ordinances that would prohibit bartenders and others from drinking on the job, there are already laws and programs in place for bartender training.
74. City Attorney’s office would take tenant/landlord complaints more seriously and pursue action where they already have legal authority.
73. Don’t charge alders for use of city meeting spaces, especially in the parks.
72. Look at how to expand bus services later at night to encourage ridership for late night entertainment purposes as well as 2nd and 3rd shift workers.
71. Serious consideration of public financing of campaigns, not just for Mayor, but for the alders as well.
70. Regularly honor people who served on city committees for two years or longer.
69. Aggressively replace street trees and have a huge community dialog about the Emerald Ash Borer and the plan to deal with the loss of those trees.
68. Revamp the ALRC . . . and its rules. Figure out how to make that process more transparent and predictable and consistent and fair.
67. City Channel and WYOU would be supported at reasonable levels and explore a media center concept or other collaborations between Community, School and Government television stations.
66. Seriously work on revamping the Council Chambers, we’ve been talking about it for 10 years.
65. Re-examine the police staffing study and overtime issues and come up with some alternate solutions.
64. Explore free wireless access points throughout the city, especially in lower income neighborhoods. Perhaps including additional computer lab access for residents.
63. Make sure our polling places are more physically accessible, instead of minimally, at best in some cases.
62. Meet with people early and often and openly. Don’t make it so hard to make a meeting with the Mayor.
61. Don’t let the police department manipulate the press at budget time every year. Counter their fear tactics with facts.
60. Adequately staff city committees and train city staff that do the work. Make sure they understand Robert’s Rules and Madison General Ordinances that pertain to their area or provide city attorney staff assistance for the meetings. Have an attorney staff the plan commission on a regular basis.
59. Elevate the Community Gardens committee and aggressively examine where city land might be available for neighborhood gardens.
58. Fill committee vacancies quickly so they don’t have problems with quorum. When the council creates a new committee don’t fail to appoint people to nullify the council action.
57. Create some sort of gift policy for the city so donors don’t drive city projects outside of the priorities of the City. (Overture, Pool, Libraries)
56. Create a community dialog about what is going to happen to Madison Metro if the RTA gets their act together? What is the city’s vision for what should happen to our bus service and how do we ensure we continue to get at least the level of service we have now and how could it be enhanced?
55. Truly embrace local purchasing, strengthen existing policies and have it include smaller purchases, not just large purchases.
54. Seriously revamp the non-profit funding process to make it more transparent and predictable. And less time consuming for the agencies.
53. TIF would be city driven by setting priorities instead of reactive to developer ideas.
52. Lower the bus fares to increase ridership.
51. Increase staff in the building inspection department so they review rental buildings at least every 5 years, currently the schedule is up to 20 years or so.
50. Work with council members to ensure that they are adequately compensated for their work and have the resources they need to do their jobs.
49. Stop all the non-sense with Sister Cities and support them in a meaningful way, its a small amount of money with a big benefit to the city.
48. Stop the police over-reaction to Mifflin St. Block Party and Halloween. Provide adequate resources but change the attitude.
47. Appropriately maintain the ice skating rinks instead of relying on volunteers throughout the city to do it.
46. Sell the houses in James Madison Park to someone who will appropriately take care of them, including the empty Collins House.
45. Help develop a sensible policy to deal with the geese in parks.
44. Have the traffic division put up detour signs when construction is happening.
43. Include the council in the development of the budgeting process. Increase input throughout the process beyond the Board of Estimates meetings.
42. Regularly fund the Affordable Housing Trust Fund so that the fund grows and eventually sustains affordable housing activities.
41. Stop the sky-is-falling budget messages and asking for draconian cuts that never materialize. Don’t put people through all the stress and frustration.
40. Put teeth into neighborhood plans and create mechanisms to update them. Fund neighborhood planning where it has not occurred in the last 10 years.
39. Keep parking attendants in the parking ramps for safety and public service reasons.
38. Seriously work on undergrounding the power lines so that MG&E doesn’t massacre our trees.
37. Hold regular listening sessions, not just on major issues or the budget, but on any issues people want to raise in the community.
36. Find ways to be supportive and encouraging of edible landscapes.
35. Integrate planning and transportation planning activities.
34. Create a short term economic development plan to deal with the current economy, including exploring short term things we can do to support small and local businesses, deal with foreclosures and ensure there are adequate community services for those who are struggling.
33. Support not just homeless shelters but the services necessary to help people find housing and get their feet back on the ground, including more homeless outreach.
32. Give community services 2% of the police budget. The police budget is $58M, community services is $5.5M. The community services money leverages so much more in the community and we need to use that to prevent some of the issues the police have to deal with.
31. Vigorously support historic preservation, setting priorities to proactively put plans in place to conserve areas of the city with the most history. Take seriously violations of the law, make it no longer the practice to destroy and then beg forgiveness. Impose meaningful penalties.
30. Develop a comprehensive strategy to “cleaning up” “challenged” neighborhoods. The strategy would do its best to help raise the neighborhood and the people who live there, instead of displacing them.
29. Actively support a kick-ass arts plan for the city, beyond the Overture Center, but arts that are more accessible throughout the community..
28. Give Community Services cost of living increases and stop expecting them to do more with less. Consider assisting with costs that increases above and beyond the cost of living such as health care and fuels prices.
27. Hire a city grantwriter or grantwriters to seek funding from other places. Currently only larger departments police, health etc have such assistance.
26. Open up Monona Terrace to the community in a meaningful way beyond Dane Dances and using the community room once a year.
25. Get clear and consistent rules for the CDA/City relationship and stop letting them use the City like a piggy bank they raid. Have the council agree on a prioritized work plan that they can reasonably fund.
24. Review the recommendations of the committee that looked at human resources issues and implement them. Seek city employee input for additional ideas.
23. Celebrate live music and find ways to support it, instead of suppressing it.
22. Make information available for employees about the disciplinary and complaint processes that is easy to find and understand. Provide training for non-union employees and work with MPSEA and their members.
21. Work better with the schools. Seriously explore ways to collaborate on a regular basis in the neighborhoods.
20. Work better with the county and stop all the public fighting over things like collecting taxes, police radios and other things.
19. Aggressively work on a better temporary solution for the Greyhound bus pick ups.
18. Create a Development Ombudsman person to work with projects that need multiple committee approvals.
17. Get as much information on the Overture available to the public and not hide it from the council as they make a decision about whether to take it over for $1. Be clear and up front that the costs to the city are going to increase, and that’s ok if that is what we choose to do, just be honest about it.
16. Continue with the Downtown Library but make sure that the public has true input and that there is everything that was promised and find a way to have the rooftop garden.
15. We’d follow our TIF policies, not make them up as we go along.
14. Lobbyists would be treated with respect, but they would fairly report their activities in a meaningful way. Give the clerk’s office resources to monitor filings as they do campaign finance reports.
13. Hold many workshops on the Zoning Code Rewrite so people understand the full consequences of this major activity.
12. The Council Office would have adequate resources for alders to notify their residents about upcoming items of interest, not just development projects, but other issues going on in the neighborhood.
11. We’d have an Office of Neighborhood Support.
10. The Council members would be included in vetting ideas before they are declared to the press as if they are a done deal.
9. Respect for committees and their hard working members. Don’t throw them under the bus when they do something you don’t like, but work with them. Make sure the Mayor or his staff attend important committee meetings on a regular basis.
8. Make a commitment to educating people about and having a zero tolerance policy when it comes to ethics violations.
7. Create city forums and dialogs on high speed rail instead of relegating it to the crazy state input process, including a robust community discussion about the public market, the parking ramp and a possible hotel in the area around the high speed rail station.
6. I’d unleash the power of a great city staff, mining them for ideas, encouraging them to run with the ones that we can do and listen to their expertise, not just at the top levels of departments, but through the ranks. This includes making sure that understaffed departments are better and more equally staffed.
5. TIF would be focused on neighborhood revitalization in the neighborhoods that need it most as it was initially intended.
4. We’d have a comprehensive housing strategy for the city with a strong housing committee and perhaps a housing department.
3. Adequately staff the streets department so that we can have decent snow removal as well as adequate brush and leaf pick up and other services that have recently been cut or reduced.
2. We’d have a real economic development plan that included long term sustainable job creation that included a spectrum of jobs (not just well-paid tech jobs) and focused on small local businesses instead of $16M for large development (image what could be done with $16M for small businesses). The council would agree on the priorities and put resources behind it.
1. Everyone who contacted the Mayor’s office with concerns would be treated with respect and dignity and equally as residents of the city regardless of socio-economic status, political persuasion, immigration status, color of their skin, level of education, etc. Homeless and well-heeled lobbyists would have equal priority and be treated the same.

If I could find a candidate that could do half these things, I’d rather vote for them than do it myself. But, as long as the rumor is out there that I might run for Mayor (likely only to happen if I just get mad enough to do it) I thought I might fan the flames a little and start a discussion about what that might look like.

What’s I miss? I’m sure I missed several things. At first I thought 101 was going to be hard, then I got going, and I had more than 101. This is really just a brainstormed list, I’d have to work to prioritize it more and lay out a larger strategy for what they city would look like if there were a Mayor I could support or what it would like if I were Mayor . . . hope my list isn’t too insidery . . . but there are so many simple things to fix that would just change the attitude and culture in city hall that would lead to better policies at the higher level.