Low Income Bus Fare Proposal: Copy Please.

It shouldn’t be that hard to get a copy of the proposal that’s been all over the news, right? Especially for an alderperson, right? Ok, here’s my attempt:

ATTEMPT ONE:

REQUEST
from Brenda Konkel
to “Harmon, Ramon” , “Plant, Joel” , “Strauch-Nelson, Rachel”
date Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 9:18 AM
subject low income rider proposal
mailed-by gmail.com

Where is the mayor’s proposal for low income riders? I don’t think I saw it . . .
Thanks! Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays . . .
Brenda

RESPONSE
from Harmon, Ramon
to Brenda Konkel , “Plant, Joel” , “Strauch-Nelson, Rachel”
date Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 9:41 AM
subject RE: low income rider proposal
mailed-by cityofmadison.com

We are working on it now. Do you have any suggestions on the subject, any proposals, anything that can help develop a program would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Ray Harmon
Office of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz

It goes downhill from there, as it was about a week after he told me he was out recruiting against me. (It was weeks before it hit the press.)

ATTEMPT TWO
This is what started it.

From: Strauch-Nelson, Rachel
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 10:09:21 AM
To: Mayor; Solomon, Brian; Webber, Robbie; Sanborn, Jed; ‘retrotech@gdinet.com‘; ‘amanda@communitycar.com‘; ‘Poulson, Gary’; ‘dhinz@forstereng.com‘; ‘smccabe@bus.wisc.edu‘; ‘hoag@wisc.edu‘; ‘kmstreit@facstaff.wisc.edu‘; ‘mmbergamini@facstaff.wisc.edu‘; ALL ALDERS
Subject: Bus Fare Editorials

Good Morning,

The mayor wanted to pass along two editorials from the weekend about the bus fare increase. Both editorials appeared after the mayor and community advocates presented a low income rider proposal on Friday. More on that proposal is available here: https://www.cityofmadison.com/news/view.cfm?news_id=1280

Approve increase in bus fare

Wisconsin State Journal

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/opinion/431851

Mayor’s moving in right direction in bus fare debate

The Capital Times

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/editorial/431875

Thanks,

Rachel

Rachel Strauch-Nelson

Communications Director

Office of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz

Of course, this prompted this response from me.

from Brenda Konkel
to “Strauch-Nelson, Rachel” , Mayor Dave Cieslewicz
cc All Alders , retrotech@gdinet.com, mmbergamini
date Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 10:48 AM
subject Re: FW: Bus Fare Editorials
mailed-by gmail.com

How about sending us a copy of the actual proposal instead of newspaper accounts, editorials and press releases? Last I looked, it wasn’t available anywhere on-line and I had previously requested a copy.
Thanks!
Brenda

And this helpful response:

from Strauch-Nelson, Rachel
to Brenda Konkel
cc “Harmon, Ramon”
date Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 12:24 PM
subject RE: FW: Bus Fare Editorials
mailed-by cityofmadison.com

Hi Brenda,

I think Chuck Kamp has a one pager on the low income proposal that will be part of materials for the TPC meeting tomorrow. The only thing we’ve sent out from our office is the attached release, which fully explains the proposal. Please let me know if you need any additional information.

Thanks,
Rachel

I asked Chuck, but that was late yesterday and hopefully I’ll get it today – but I won’t have time to deal with it since I’ll be at work.

So, its not available on line, one person I know has a paper copy. My irritation is that this has been ALL OVER the news and yet I can’t get a copy. Which means, you can’t really have a meaningful response to it. It should be a part of the tons of paper that has been thrown at the Transit and Parking Commission – as one commissioners described it to me – “You’d think Dave was litigating on behalf of an insurance company, the way he’s burying us in paper.” But its not, its mysteriously missing.

I can’t tell if its embarrassment at the brevity of the proposal, an attempt to force us to focus on the proposal instead of the bus fare increases and how they will decrease ridership and budget alternatives to increasing the fares or total ineptness.

People get mad at me for worrying about these details, but it has very practical impacts. The impact for me is this – I still don’t have a a copy of the proposal that is supposed to be discussed tonight so that I can write a response to it. The reason I need write a response is that I have conflicting meeting so I won’t be there to get my copy in person or comment – unless the rest of the meeting takes longer than I think. So now, I’m excluded from the discussion. I’d respond based on what I’ve read in the paper, but its hard to do that not knowing if what I say might be changed by something in the proposal, making my comments a moot point.

The more important impact is that the members of the public and the TPC members can’t do research or prepare comments on the proposal either – at least not without the risk the their work is also moot because there might be details in the proposal that aren’t in the press release.

It’s just not good government!