On again, off again, on again?
Mayor Soglin has directed his staff along with Parks Director Kevin Briski to meet with business leaders, church leaders and residents of the downtown area to develop a workable plan for a Fall 2011 Ride the Drive. More details will be forthcoming.
Thanks
Katie Crawley
Office of the Mayor
Say what you will about the Mayor being a sourpuss and the Council can get all twisted about him allegedly (I don’t believe it) not telling them what is going on. But . . .
1. He listens to lots of people, including council members.
2. He changes his mind instead of digging his heels in when people make a good point.
In short, he works with the community to get the community what it wants.
I like this mayor. Have I mentioned that? He can be as cranky and blunt as he wants if he’s a good mayor. So far, so good. I’m glad he’s asking questions and changing things where necessary. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be doing his job.
Seems to me this “asking and reflecting” might best occur before making off-the-cuff decisions.
I’d like Soglin to undo the Edgewater deal. Quit dinging bicyclists and Overture supporters… go for the real money.
Does anybody still believe a private luxury hotel has a place in city finances?
If he would have asked and reflected would it have become too late and would people not have rallied around saving it? Just a thought.
I agree with Will. Ask and reflect, weigh the pros and cons, and make an informed decision. I liked Soglin’s idea of having one Ride in another area of town. That’s something I can get behind. Perhaps his line should have been “While I support Ride the Drive, we are reviewing plans,logistics, and the associated impacts related to the fall Ride the Drive. Several options will be on the table, including moving the fall Ride to a different neighborhood in Madison.” Boom.
I read in several places that some businesses along the route were in support of the event and had to bring in extra staff for the day. Others, of course, lost business (BP station on E. Wash comes to mind). Some documentation of this would have been nice to see to back up Soglin’s argument.
I thought the reason they cancelled the fall was because they wanted to do it on the northside, but that the construction made is near impossible. I like moving it too, I think we should share the pa . . er, fun! I hear there are some alders who don’t want it in their neighborhoods because it would be too disruptive. Well, I say if we can do it downtown, we can do it in other areas. University Ave? Farther down East Washington, maybe right by East Towne Mall? Mineral Point Rd? Park St? You can see the problems it might cause, right? Well, I think people who live and work downtown just want the same respect and I had no problem cancelling this in the fall and backing up and having a community discussion about when and how to do this – since that was never had in the first place. But, if he wants to try to sneak one in this fall, fine. I’d rather spend our time on the budget tho – instead looks like efforts will need to go into fixing the downtown route.