Yesterday I laughed at the Badger Herald . . . today, its the Cardinal . . . how could anyone come to the conclusion that the Peace Park renovations were going to HELP the homeless and they supported the project . . . sigh.
Someone brought this to my attention:
“In response to Hanuel Kim’s article, Peace Park opponents speak out,I’m glad to hear that something if finally being done to accommodate
the problem of hunger and homelessness in Madison. There’s no doubt that we see homeless people all over State Street, and even gathered together to form a type of community for themselves, but no one truly takes action. Sure offering a few dimes is a nice gesture, but how can we sit here and watch them stand in the cold with no shelter?The Lisa Link Peace Park is a revolutionary idea that achieves a real goal. Only by working together can we really tackle the root of hunger, homelessness, and poverty. People need to be more aware of the importance of overcoming this issue. According to The Institute for Research on Poverty’s Wisconsin’s Poverty Report, one in seven Wisconsin children and 10.8% of the state’s population lived in
poverty in 2007. Thinking about the current recession, imagine how dramatically the incidence of poverty has grown between 2007 and 2009.It’s our duty to make sure that the Common Council approves this plan through our support and willingness to lend out a few more tax dollars for a revolutionary cause. Stop and think about the people that you have previously been ignoring and help promote the renovation of Lisa Link Peace Park.
Oren Katz
WISPIRG Intern
University of Madison-Wisconsin”
Was this person trying to be ironic? To try to understand the wackiness in the response above, I had to read the article . . . ouch.
Peace Park opponents speak out
By Haneul Kim
Published: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, October 6, 2009After nine years of planning, a team of architects may fulfill their dream of building a visitor center on the site of Lisa Link Peace Park, located on State Street.[Wrong! This isn’t the dream of a group of architects, they were hired to design this project by city parks department to fulfill the dream of the Downtown Business Improvement District and State Street businesses.]
A group of speakers presented their plans to the city Planning Commission Monday, which have yet to be approved by the Common Council.[Wrong! This is a conditional use, the plan commission approves it and it doesn’t go to the Council unless one of the neighboring property owners or the Alders appeals it.]
The opposition present at the meeting felt the visitor center would not be financially beneficial and said the homeless are being driven out of the site with nowhere else to go.
Susan Smith, a representative of Downtown Madison, Inc. was in support of the plan.[Wrong! First, it was Susan Schmitz and second she represents Downtown Madison Inc, unless they were talking about Mary Carbine, who represents the Madison Central BID.]
“[The visitor center] is for everyone … It’s not about kicking people out,” she said.
The visitor center will consist of a game table, small workstations and a public bathroom among other amenities. The renovation will also include a performance space, increased lighting and a fountain.[Wrong! The game table is not in the visitor center. They are outside.]
The space will also offer labor programs for the homeless to learn techniques to be applied in future occupations.[Wrong! What? No it won’t, the homeless and their allies said it should, but it won’t.]
Supporters argued that money would be best spent on building a space that provides efficient job programs that will hopefully decrease homelessness in Madison.[Wrong! OPPONENTS argued that, not the supporters!]
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, has previously stated that the renovation will provide much-needed green space in the downtown Madison area.[Wrong! I highly doubt he said that. The greenspace is there now. This will build a building in part of that greenspace.]
According to a representative of the Madison Center Improvement District, the revenue brought in from visitors to the center will be very important to the downtown Madison community.[Wrong! First, it is the Madison Central Business Improvement District. Second, vistors to the center will not pay fees and raise money. It’s the ATM that will raise the fees.]
Construction on the Peace Park renovations is projected to begin in January and be completed by July 2010, if it is approved by the Common Council.[Wrong! I suppose this is redundant, but the Council still won’t be voting on this unless someone appeals.]
Here’s what the opponents and supporters actually said at the Plan Commission, which took the final vote on this matter unless a property owner appeals it . . . [ironic the homeless being pushed out don’t have the right to appeal, isn’t it . . . cuz for them it is their home, but they don’t own it, its public space so their voices don’t matter. I think any member of the public should be able to appeal a conditional use in a city park, especially a park that is used by the whole city, and especially the people who spend the most time there.]
Presentation of the project – Mike Sturm, Ken Saiki Design – Design includes visitor center, lawn seating area, small performance space, shade tree, philosopher stones, small interactive fountain, game tables, bike parking. Visitor Center has space for ambassadors, service window, public restrooms and work station for Madison police.[Interesting he didn’t mention the atm, did they think we’d just forget?]
Kayla Faust – Operation Welcome Home – Using Peace Park for 2 years, she says it is a community and a family. People say it’s not properly used, why? Because it is being used by the homeless? The homeless people have nowhere to go between 7:30 am and 7:30 pm. The homeless people are her family, they not only look out for each other, they support each other because they don’t get that from the community. The information center is pointless. There are plenty of unused buildings and spaces on State St. where they could conduct that business. She doesn’t think they should spend $1M on Peace Park, they should spend it on something Lisa Link would fight for. To spend it on a community center for day labor programs, to provide mental health, educational or job skills would be more efficient than an information center. Lisa Link’s friend said it is a peace park, not a police park. Join her in saving the park as it is, and supporting the solution of ending homelessness and building jobs and not jails.
Carter Arndt – MSA Architect, describes look of the building. Police have 29 square feet. Describes working with UDC, parks department and the BID district [doesn’t that about say it all, he doesn’t mention working with the public, the neighbors or the users of the park.] Says they had a lot of input and evolution. They tried to design it to engage the public as they walk by.[Yup, he said walk by, not walk in.]
Megin McDonell – went home
Cynthia Lyn – went home
Max Holmes – member of Operation Welcome and represents Peace park and homelessness. Lisa Link wanted the park to be for people, which means everyone in the community, which includes the homeless and the people who walk by. Some people are afraid to walk by the park because they are not used to the homeless or never been around homeless or never took the time to talk to the homeless. The money would be better used, not to push the homeless out of the park, because you have your possessions with you, so the police consider that a way to make them move around, like they did at Brittingham park. You can’t sit in front of the men’s or women’s shelter. So you go where you can sit down or lay on your blanket. Then they say you are lodging in the park, where else would you go? Why not spend $1M on opening a business or labor jobs, and give them resources so that they can move around and have transportation for us. Have resources for people who want to work. Some people want to work and have a place to live. Can’t do that if they are constantly being pushed away. He says they count for census, and war and to vote, but we don’t count as a community. We all have kind hearts and we all run into situation. Nice picture, but money not being used properly.
Sundquist asked why they would be forced out and why can’t they use the park. Holmes explained that they used the negative things – only two tables in the park. They used that to push people out. Drug deals are not happening. He says sometimes people play chess and some people lay down in the park. He says they are just like the students who use James Madison Park, but they get tickets and are forced to go to jail if they don’t pay.
Sundquist asks again why the visitor’s center changes that. Holmes says it’s a misuse of the city’s money. After you’ve gotten those tickets, you don’t want the police coming around you. So you probably wouldn’t want to be there. But we are all part of the community, we use their facilities if they allow us to. They allow us to spend our money but they won’t let us use the restrooms, these are things people need to survive in life. Don’t label a homeless person like that.
Sundquist asks “Will the visitors center affect your ability to use the park?” Holmes says “Yes”, it takes up a lot of space and yet it is very small for the users. It’s a waste, there is a visitors center 200 feet away.
Gruber says they aren’t looking at the funding, but its only the use of the space. Is there anything specific about the space. Holmes says that in front of the park is a pole, that is where we can panhandle, by putting in the visitors center and the atm machine, you can’t be within 50 feet of the atm, then they can’t panhandle there.
Mary Carbine – Madison Central BID – Board made up of people who have businesses on State St. They support it. They have partnered with parks to provide staffing. 2 seasonal mobile booths now. 28,000 people are helped with directions, shopping and dining suggestions and how to get the bus. Visitors are important to the economy, minimum of 10M who visit downtown and campus and spend $70M on shopping and dining. So by making the park welcome and safe for everyone, they feel they are contributing something to the city. They not only staff it, but support the ATM because there could be additional revenue. If a surcharge free ATM then there could be revenue sharing by the banks to keep bathrooms clean and keep the visitors center open longer. Where is an ATM is one of the top questions asked. Concerns about panhandling, within a month, there will be an ATM within 50 feet of the area, so this plan is not the one that will put the prohibition in place so it will be moot.
Nathaniel Don Abrams Jr- Disagrees with the visitors center – not a good use of public funds. On the 400 block, which is about 75 feet, there is a visitors booth, he lives in the downtown area. Seen maybe 8 people go there. It’s a bad use of money when you have the overture center which at one time had a visitors center. This money could be better utilized. Regarding the ATM, he holds up the plan commission report and says it is a work of fiction. Within half a block on either side of Peace park there are ATM machines. Corner of Gilman and State, at the liquor store there is one, one on both sides by concrete park, one in Parthenon’s and one across the street. Where is the need for this? Only reason to add it is to add the prohibition on panhandling. This is the only resource some have and you’re taking away the resource, some might be using it for bad, but some are using it to survive. This is nothing more than a cosmetic covering up of a deeper problem. The problem of homelessness. It’s not beneficial financially to see this, so we’ll put it in the back and cover it up. This is a beautiful place, this is a bad plan. Public funds could be used somewhere else better than for this plan.
Susan Schmitz – Downtown Madison Inc – Their organization put together the advisory group in 2001, spent 2 years on a concept plan, very proud of the plan, takes offense that it is a bad plan, it is a very good plan. It was based on the principles they laid out, parks are for everyone. It’s about the users and the uses. It’s about taking an underutilized park and making it more beautiful for more people to use. Afew summers ago Madison Community Foundation helped to program the park, they had stories, movies, music, so they understood what could be done. Parks are for everyone, it’s for the users, it’s not about kicking anyone out of here. Ken Saiki was part of the committee so he understands and it is based on the committee members. Tom Link, Lisa’s son approves of this plan. The committee members sat in the park and wrote down who used the park. They spent 1.5 yrs trying to understand the park and the users and the uses. Want to make sure it is open to everyone. Visitor center will bring it alive, it really needs public bathrooms. There are only public bathrooms on both ends of state st, not in the middle, so it’s really needed. She’s very excited about the plan, so it the whole committee.
Bowser asked about discussions about the carousel, what happened? Schmidt says there was a stabbing in 2001 and they talked about how to bring more life and make it a place for families too. Trudy Barash had the idea, that they would resurrect the carousel that was in storage from Vilas and that was on the table initially when the committee came together, it was too big. Advisory committee was very, very inclusive. So, they did look at it.
Sundquist asked about the ATM, if there are a lot of ATMs already, why is it important. Schmidt says that it is the revenue stream. The BID has to run the visitors center and that will take some cash. They want to keep it open as much as they can in terms of the times that the park is open.
Sundquist asks about if ATM was considered in terms of panhandling. Schmidt says they were aware of the ordinance and there are issues with panhandling in the downtown.[Did she just admit that they did this on purpose, I doubt it, but that’s what it sounded like.]
Heifetz asks about her claim that the advisory group was strongly supportive and he says press reports would say otherwise. A few people felt like this didn’t follow the plan. Schmidt says it was a unanimous plan, Heifetz says that perhaps this person wasn’t a member. Heifetz asks about Operation Welcome Home and how were they represented or a similarly minded groups. She says they came to many of the meetings. They attended the meetings. Were they members? No. He asks if there were any similar minded groups that had representation on the committee. Schmitz says it took a long time to get it balanced and that it was made up of Cap Neighborhoods, State Langdon Neighborhood, 2 members from BID, a member from ASM, 2 members from Peace Park revitalization project (the carousel folks), two people from Save the Lisa Link, 2 members from DMI, Verveer and Austin King, Paul Skimore from Parks Commission. [And that was balanced?] Heifetz has some of the same concerns about the ATM. $1M is not part of the discussion but neither is the revenue from the ATM. Schmitz tried to speak and was cut off as she was not asked a question.
Richard Raymond – left.
Robert McGee – didn’t wish to speak
Erika Schroyer – community member and supporter of work of Operation Welcome Home, lived here for 8 years in Madison. Supports work to build empowerment and accountability of homeless people to create a new life for themselves. Peace Park has been an important site of the work of that group. It is a home and a family. She says the renovation is “designed to be for everyone”. People who have been impacted by homelessness and poverty, institutional racism, long disenfranchised and displaced from public space and public consideration assume naturally that “everyone” excludes them and in this case we are focused on the 250 people who showed up for a film, not the people who need a place to rest and hang out when they can’t be in a shelter. The ATM was talked about but the police presence in the park, Max talked about the effect of police on his life and the lives of homeless people. The panhandling law and sleeping in the park issue are part of the core, but they should address the presence of the police because this is one of the last spaces that homeless are welcome as a public park. Brittingham Park people have been kicked out, cameras and lights and very unwelcome for people who have been effected by homelessness. Boulder is another city that is like Madison and the main downtown area is pedestrian walkway and a complete bubble out of reality, no panhandling or anyone out of the middle or upper class group of people and it frightens her that Madison could be like that. She is sad to think about her friends and how they will be affected by the changes that will be caused by the visitors center.
Ken Saiki – In 2001 the advisory committee was created by council, they took two years to come up with a consensus plan. They had meetings in the park and events there. At the time, the residents of the park had ample opportunity to have input to the process. Report in the media was about the neighborhood meeting, Delores Strang is in opposition, based on the police work station. Report in the paper said that she was sitting next to Tom Link and by association made it sound like Tom Link was opposed to the park, but spoke at UDC in support. ATM component is really intended to be a funding mechanism. Mary Carbine in her work did a lot of research on use and distribution, the location here is supported as far as use and density. Money generated is not a lot, but $3 – 5K without surcharges could be 400 hours of ambassadors time. 9 – 5 every Sat throughout the year.
Bowser asked about input from regular users. What did they say they wanted to see in the park. Saiki says bathrooms was one of the fundamental requests. Legal way to perform bodily functions. But also the same thing others want, shade, place to sit, activities, some of the people who stayed in the park helped with set up and clean up for the movies.
Gruber asked about NE elevation – why no clear glass. It’s the bathroom. He says police work station would be vision glass, but the other two are the bathrooms.
Olson asked about costs of operation of the facility 100% born by the BID or does the city or parks support any part of it. He didn’t know.
Cnare asked about operations of police workstation in there. He says it won’t be staffed, it will be a place to recharge equipment, stop and write a report, currently have a station at the Overture center, won’t be an officer there for any duration of time. They can pick up information there. Square footage is 29 square feet. It’s for paperwork, download something on computer, won’t stay there.
Cnare asks:
– Will the one at Overture Center be closed, he says likely not.
– Did they request it? They have been involved in the programming of the building.
– When did the idea come up? He says part of it was discussed during the committee. Number one call for all of downtown Madison.
– Are the police there for safety of park users, or safety of staff or to discourage bad behavior? He says it is a public building that would provide opportunity for police to pick up calls, do paper work, and having a police presence in the park addresses the notion that it is the number one call downtown for the police. But no one would want to sit in the 29 square foot closet for long.
Sundquist asks to point out 50 feet from the ATM. Doesn’t go across the street, but the presence of a doorway has a 20 foot radius, he points out all the places that they can’t panhandle. This atm is relatively minor, but it does complete the remaining frontage of peace park.
Gruber asks if the door is clear glass? Yes.
Wesley Moore or Jennings – He spent so much time in this town he doesn’t know why he stayed around. This is a college town and a politics town. It’s a culture thing and 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of studying and 8 hours of entertainment. He says he remembers a young basketball player who was a leading scorer in the nation and he talked to him. Peace park needs several things. This is all about users, He doesn’t mind police presence in the park, but there could be some community things. This is not a violent place to be. This is a cultural center. We need proper highlighting of the strategic cultural or economic – Sam cook died in Lake Monona – we are a part of the community, we as colored boys, this is part of a rainbow, Elvis even came to Madison, we make things happen. There might be a famous trumpet player passing through the neighborhood and playing with the Bee Gees or Temptations or James Brown, it is a cultural society around here, it’s not to be forgotten. Sports are important, you can’t forget about the culture. It stinks if you want it to stink, but it could be beautiful if you look at it right. State St. is fine, we need covering, it needs to be renovated, we need a way to keep away from the weather and shade, but it is a cultural center that is well renowned for many famous bands – Steve Miller, Garbage and KC and the Sunshine Band or something like that.
Rosemary Lee – my TiVo cut off, all I got was she supported it . . . I misjudged and missed alder Verveer, the other registrants who just registered but didn’t want to speak, as well as the discussion and the decision . . . I guess I won’t rely on the paper to tell me what happened . . . . I’m bummed I missed the rest, but it can be viewed here.
