Yesterday I tried to speak to the common council about how a budget is allegedly a reflection of our values, and I had concerns that this budget is all about the Overture and Edgewater and not what struggling people in the community need. I asked if that really reflected our values, a luxury hotel and high end arts facility. I wasn’t that articulate, I was tired and burned out and emotional about it after working too many hours listening to people’s stories with so few answers. Fortunately, Heidi Wegleitner said it much, much better than I, so . . . um, what she said.
Dear Honorable Alders:
I am a housing attorney whose clients are all low income or extremely low-income. Every day I hear stories from the most vulnerable members in our community that leave me feeling helpless not only because I have to turn away more people than I can represent in court, but because I know that even if I do take their case, the most I can do is solve their discreet legal problem. I may be able to get their eviction dismissed, but I can’t force their boss to give them more hours. I might be able to help them overcome a denial from subsidized housing, but I cannot eliminate the 2 year long wait list to get into that housing. Most low income folks are not able to get into low-income housing and are considered “housing insecure” because they pay a significantly high portion of their monthly income toward their housing payment. In my experience, the problem is not that low-income folks spend their money unwisely, it is simply that they don’t have enough of it to cover their basic needs.
I am very concerned by these recent statistics: 9.8% of Madison is in extreme poverty (50% of the federal poverty level), compared to the State average of 5.6%. One-half of all students in MMSD are low-income, which is up from 20% since1990. Meanwhile, programs that assist low-income families continue to face significant funding reductions from the federal and state level. It is for these reasons that the Fighting Poverty Coalition was formed. We are an all-volunteer, grass roots group of community activists. POVERTY is our issue! And our mission is to invest in our future by working to end poverty through unified efforts around race, education, health, housing, jobs and livable wages, transportation and food issues with education, outreach and advocacy in Dane County. Currently, there are many groups working on various poverty-related issues in our community. We have many experts and agencies in our community who have excellent ideas and existing programs that have been successful. We know the solutions! What the City lacks, however, is a coordinated approach and paid staff necessary to sustain a successful poverty reduction agenda. We need a high-level city staff position (ideally in the Planning and Development Department) to coordinate our anti-poverty work and channel funding from public and private sources to expand existing programs. The Fighting Poverty Coalition endorsed this “poverty point person” as well as the neighborhood resource teams promoted by Mayor Soglin. At this point, while there might not be a proposal for the exact poverty point position(s) necessary to coordinate a comprehensive community approach to combating poverty, the position introduced by Alder Solomon to connect people in poverty to jobs, is an important first step. I am thankful that this position was added to the budget and I am very concerned that Alder Schmidt has drafted an amendment to remove it from the Budget. I urge you to oppose that amendment and maintain this position in the budget.
The City Budget is a reflection of our values. I was encouraged by the recent attempts to solicit more citizen input and make the budget process more participatory. I participated in all but one of the community budget discussions. I’m quite sure that in every session I attended, basic services and social justice were the top two values prioritized by the community participants. There was some overlap among these values (e.g. basic services included things like housing), but I think it is very important to keep these values in mind when you make your decisions. How does this budget ensure that everyone has access to quality basic services? How does this budget advance social justice? I worry that this budget does not reflect the values that the community has identified as priorities and does not do enough to protect those most vulnerable and combat the alarming poverty rate. Thank you for your consideration and your service to the City of Madison.
Respectfully submitted,
Heidi M. Wegleitner
P.S. The Fighting Poverty Coalition meets on the 3rd Thursday of the month. Our next meeting is tomorrow, Thursday Nov. 17, 2011 from 6 – 7:50 p.m. at Hawthorne Library.
Feel free to contact the alders (allalders@cityofmadison.com) and the Mayor (psoglin@cityofmadison.com) and let them know your thoughts. Or join us tomorrow night for our meeting! We’ve got big plans for next year!
