Media

At what point is a public employee so belligerent, so incompetent, so obstructionist that they should be fired? I spent 8 years as an elected official and I've seen staff be not cooperative because the mayor didn't want them to be or because they disagree. And I get it. It's part of the political system, but when has it gone too far? Last night I witnessed an amazing display of disregard for elected officials and the committee that is the lead on a very public project. Are our elected officials to just stand by while county staff run the show? If our elected officials can't get information and be part of the process, what chance does the public have?

6 years later, in summer of 2017 we may have a day center . . . but will it be incomplete? And underfunded? And understaffed? And set up for failure? It appears to be headed that way - but hopefully the city council and county board will step in! Committees throughout the city and county are saying enough is enough, do this right. Again, catching up from vacation, but the Health and Human Needs meeting is tonight (5:30 room 351) and advocates should plan to attend!

ACLU hammers the Madison Police Department for its discriminatory blue-lining practices towards tenants! Wait, what? What does the police department have to do with tenants? Plenty.

Only missed one meeting yesterday . . . 15 meetings left. Homeless Resource Center Concept paper, letting homeless use county address to get state i.d. and diversion workgroup.

Ok - I'm back from vacation. Didja miss me? 16 meeting left, 2 cancelled. Liquor licenses that are under extra scrutiny in the annual review, the 5 year parks & open space plan and choosing cheap electricity over affirmative action are the areas of interest.

Tenant Resource Center is hiring! Lead Case Manager/Program Director. Resume and cover letter due noon on Thursday, June 2nd.

Seriously, looks like the cops are gearing up to ask for 10 more cops for the next several years . . . at a cost of an additional $5M a years. What if we invested that money in community services instead? What a SIGNIFICANT change that would be in our community!

Seriously . . . this makes 5 meetings this week with 31 hours notice or less . . . I think that's a new low. There's also a cancellation.

I could not be more frustrated. We have blown a HUGE opportunity to have a community plan to prevent and end homelessness that people would have buy-in to and we could all rally around. But its been a bit of a disaster from the get-go and it continues to be a joke. A plan, for a shelf somewhere, but we can check the box in our HUD grants and get the point.

Monthly bus passes going up from $58.00 to $67.50. I can park in my local parking ramp for a month at night cheaper than that.

This one is so rushed they have three members appearing by phone . . . what's the rush - a liquor license for a marathon event? 27 hours notice of the meeting.

Why is it ok to belittle, berate and be so openly hostile to people trying to participate in their democracy with the decks stacked against them? Last week was a low in public participation as I have never seen before in this city that I love. I just feel sick seeing how citizens giving input or testimony get treated by the City of Madison. Watch as Susan Schmitz from Downtown Madison Inc throws a fit and yells at a citizen who gave input at the City Council meeting, the police chief calls a person "ludicrous" and I get told not to show up to a public hearing and get chastised for being critical of something that they asked for input on and the input session on the Department of Civil Rights Director scheduled on a Friday night not surprisingly gets two members of the public to show up.