Ok – here’s the final of what I have for today . . . there is still much more that has piled up . . .
FOR THE LOVE OF FREAKING GOD, FIGURE IT OUT!!!
The mayor’s office just doesn’t get it. Duh!!! Once again, they are in what passes for press these days (bloggers) saying that they don’t want non-profits to get operating funds from the affordable housing trust fund. THE ONLY REASON THAT LANGUAGE IS THERE is because we want to do a downpayment program or maybe even a PMI guarantee program that would need to be administered by someone, and those costs would need to be covered. I don’t think we’re going to convince someone to administer those programs for free. The language might need to be clarified, but that is the intent. I’d love to know if the mayor objects to that. And why he, mostly through his staff, insists on continuing to confuse the issue. I wonder if his staff ever even told him what the intent was? I’d ask, but I’m under my gag rule til April, since this is an issue I worked on as an alder. This draft has been sitting around for years while the Mayor dinks around . . . probably waiting to find the project he wants to spend the money on or how to give it away to people outside of Madison.
STUPID CITY
This morning, I watched 10 cars on one block get towed. It was really clear when I got home at 9:30 last night that not many people knew it was a snow emergency last night. They only towed 163 cars the night before, I can safely say that, as many of the illegally parked cars were within feet of a parking ramp. I suspect many had no clue and are going to be really unhappy this morning. I know the staff will say the people just don’t care, I still think, they just don’t know.
CALL IT WHAT IT IS
It was about the Edgewater. Ivey was there, he gets it.
GEEKING OUT WITH GOOGLE
Wow, people are jazzed about super high speed internet . . . Lukas, Erick, and many others . . . here’s the details, contact your electeds (mayor@cityofmadison.com and allalders@cityofmadison.com) to let them know you support it, here’s a sample letter sent to neighborhood listserves:
Other than at some parts of the UW, Madison is woefully lacking in reliable, high-speed internet access. The nominally high-speed access available to most citizens in their homes and most businesses is unreliable, not actually “high-speed,” and ridiculously costly. The internet service providers supposedly serving Madison are in fact just milking it dry.
Google is now offering a way out of this problem for at least part of our city in the short term and all of the city over the long term, as the current, laggard service providers who want to stay in business and new service providers get moving to catch up. See Google’s Request for Information issued yesterday. The RFI states in part:
“Google is planning to build, and test ultra-high speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the country. We’ll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We’ll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000, and potentially up to 500,000 people.
“As a first step, we’re putting out a Request for Information (RFI) to help identify interested communities. We welcome responses from local government, as well as members of the public.
“Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better, and faster for everyone.”The deadline is March 26, 2010 for the City to respond to the Request for Information.
With Google already located in Madison, the city should have an especially good chance to have some of its people among the 50,000 to 500,000 Google intends to serve initially with its plan.
I urge you to respond to Google on time so that Madison as a whole, its people and its businesses, can at long last begin to have the internet access it will need to thrive in the future.
Let’s hope this isn’t too forward thinking for our new IT director who doesn’t know much about Web 2.0.
FITCHBURG PLANNING
I find it amusing, that people can’t get to the planning sessions by bus, that might be one place to start.
CITY TRAVEL AND TRAINING
Sigh, at the city, not all departments are equal. Most cut all travel and training.
While I agree that some training and travel is necessary, I’d rather see them pay for speakers to come here so the whole department can benefit from a shared experience. I know with Metro there were some special things they had to do for the new buses that seemed justified. But, the fact remains, most departments don’t have any money for travel and training . . . I think that whatever they do, it should be the same for all, and of course, be reasonable.
COMBATING HEROIN
Glad to see it. If they want to treat it as a health problem, one thing they could do is not ticket, charge, prosecute people who call 911 to assist someone in trouble. Seems sensible, but they resist that notion. Meanwhile, people could be dying because their possibly strung out friends won’t call to get them help.
HUFFINGTON POST: WHY PUBLIC ACCESS TV IS IMPORTANT TO YOU!
It’s not just WYOU, but the nation’s more than 3,000 public access centers are on the verge of extinction thanks to big business.
PAYDAY LENDING
It shouldn’t be so hard to get this under control, but it is.
DOH! THAT’S EMBARRASSING
The county forgot to get a sewer extension for the new building at their Badger Prairie Health Care facility!
OUCH! $30M!
Wow, the schools are screwed. Here’s the message School Board President sent to the alders:
There was an article in the WSJ this morning regarding the district’s 2010-2011 budget. The budget scenario for the coming year is ugly. I am writing to give you a little background as I anticipate you will receive questions based on the article. Here is the link to the article: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/article_1b7cc486-16c6-11df-906a-001cc4c002e0.html
When we went to referendum in 2008, we had projections for the district budget for 2010-11 and 2011-12. We had made assumptions on the amount of money per pupil that we would receive from the state. This amount was decreased after we had passed a budget, resulting in a gap of $1,189,738.This problem was exacerbated when the district received an additional 15% cut in state aid. (note: the school finance formula is broken!). To put this into perspective, here is the amount of state aid the district has received over the last 6 years.
2004-05: $50,064,391
2005-06: $58,996,880
2006-07: $56,984,763
2007-08: $57,301,616
2008-09: $60,743,743
2009-10: $51,513,826
2010-11: $43,761,093 (projected)
What does this all mean for MMSD? If we tax (property tax) to the full authority permitted, we will see an increase of $312.50 in property taxes on the average home. We will also have a gap of $1,189,738.
The board has asked for different tax/gap scenarios as data points so we can see the broad picture of what we are facing as a district. These scenarios are below.
Tax increase full authority
$312.50 increase on average home
Gap: $1,189,738Tax increase at 75%
$235.00 increase on average home
Gap: $7,164,429 + $1,189,738Tax increase at 50%
$157.50 increase on average home
Gap: $14,328,858 + $1,189,738Tax increase at 25%
$77.50 increase on average home
Gap: $21,493,286 + $1,189,738Tax increase at 0%
$0 increase on average home
Gap: $28,657,715 + $1,189,738Now you know why I have used the term “ugly”. The Board has asked the Administration to come back with information on options for efficiencies and possible cuts to address each of the scenarios. We did this because we need to see the options in front of us as we discuss the balance of keeping our school district healthy and meeting the needs of our community (taxpayers) in tough financial times. Again, we asked for options to deal with all these scenarios for information only to frame our discussion as a Board, with you and with the community. We have not made a decision on which scenario we are going to follow.
The budget process will be in full swing through May, with the big decisions being made in early May. There will be plenty of opportunity for community input/dialogue.
I’ll keep you updated as we move through the process. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Arlene Silveira
