I guess elected officials can try to legislate through the media, or they can do the actual work to create and introduce resolutions and ordinances and get things done through the legislative process. Both can be effective, but when you vocally criticize others for not doing anything or having misplaced priorities, you probably should have a decent record yourself. So, I looked up Alder Thuy Pham-Remmele’s record to see how she’s doing.
So, first of all, here’s the numbers on what the 2007 rookies, now sophmores, have introduced.
Rummel – 207
Clausius – 181
Schumacher – 177
Solomon – 162
Rhodes-Conway – 143
Pham-Remmele – 119
Clear – 98
Kerr – 93
Judge – 56
Numbers alone don’t tell the whole story, so I looked at the 119 items that Alder Pham-Remmele has sponsored and they include:
– 31 Routine items she would sponsor as a result of being on the CDBG Commission
– 26 Routine items she would sponsor as a result of being on the Vending Oversight Committee
– 20 Commending resolutions or items like “Girl Scouts Week”
– 12 Routine items for her district (7 Routine Board of Public Works items for her district, 5 Miscellaneous routine items for her district) plus
– 3 Items for funding for projects in the SW Neighborhoods
– 10 Budget Amendments (7 2009 Budget Amendments, 3 2008 Budget Amendments)
– 8 Miscellaneous Items (DCR routine resolution, Smoke Alarm Ordinance, Ordinance about Alder’s being able to turn in their salaries, item about Monona Terrace Booking, Gypsy Moths and restricting elections workers, Resolution urging the passage of the state budget and an ordinance about street graphics)
– 7 Items for the Police Department (Chronic Nuisance Ordinance, Loitering in Child Safety Zones, Ordinance banning fake guns, $100,000 budget amendment for Safety Initiatives, Curfew, Increasing Fines for Unlawful Trespass and Panhandling, Authorizing 6 more police officers) – Only one of which she was the lead sponsor, she only put her name on items others had worked on.
As far as I could see, she was the lead, and really worked on two items so far. The first being the Alder’s salary item and the second being her recent attempt to raise fines for trespassing and panhandling. Most of the other items, were routine or in the works when she took office and she merely finished up or she just put her name on something others were working on or committees did.
That’s not bad for a rookie, that’s somewhat to be expected. However, for someone who complains non-stop about people wasting her time and her frustration with the lack of action, she sure isn’t doing much to make things happen and does not much but complain about others. As I see it, she’s good at flashy media and complaining that no one is doing anything and what people are doing is wrong, but it pretty much ends there. Of course nothing is going to happen if you aren’t sponsoring resolutions and ordinances and otherwise working towards solutions.
Now, I know she gets credit for the 30 new police officers, but by her own admission, that’s not helping solve the problems she wanted solved. Mostly because I think she went after the wrong solution for the problems she was trying to resolve – noise and quality of life issues in the neighborhood. In an odd way, I think I agree with Tim Morrissey (gasp!) here about her ineffective tactics – noisy neighborhood meetings and haranguing from the soap-box. Those aren’t going to get to the root problems – which have yet to be identified.
Oddly enough, she also didn’t advocate to have the police resources she is credited with obtaining used in her own district in an ongoing basis. So, the police got 30 new officers, but Pham-Remmele got no commitment that they would work on the issues that she was raising.
Now, I don’t disagree that we need to pay more attention to so-called “emerging neighborhoods”. And I don’t disagree that we want people following the law. But, I think sometimes, we get the solutions wrong. And in the case of the 30 police officers, there was absolutely NO public discussion about alternatives and those of us who sought data and assurances that this huge public expense was cost effective and would solve the problems identified were chastised and subsequently targeted.
Now, where are we? We have 30 police officers and the same problems. I challenge Alder Pham-Remmele to take a step back, host some real, inclusive community discussions about the problems that go beyond a media hit and to listen to others about alternative possible solutions, and then work on those solutions. The rookie term is over and Pham-Remmele is a very intelligent woman, hopefully, she can be constructive in moving towards other solutions with all of the people who live in the neighborhoods she is so concerned about.
