Mayor’s Office Sucks at Communications

And then makes it your fault. A case in point, last night.

I was sitting in the Public Safety Review Committee meeting last night, I had just finished my public testimony and was listening to excellent testimony of those up after me. (seriously folks, great job, but the rubber stamp committee result, completely ignoring the 100% testimony urging the opposite, was to be expected to some extent.) Glorie Reyes comes up to me, right in my face and asks to speak to me in the hallway. I was creepy, like a cop. Just like she was trained to do.

I went out in the hallway and she informed me that they were going to post outside that any unattended bags would be removed at both the City-County Building and the Municipal Building. She said this was only for Ironman and only through Sunday. She then looked at me, and asked, “what are we going to do?”

I have no poker face, from the reaction on her face, I must have looked furious. Cuz I was. What are WE going to do about it!?! WE?! You mean me, one of the enablers, that just wants to keep people homeless? I should help the mayor that has been trashing people without homes promoting stereotypes and setting back our hard work on Zero 2016 back? The guy making our jobs harder? I should rally the enablers and try to do something? With less than 24 hours notice? After work hours? When its hard to reach people who might be able to help? Surely by now, they must realize no one is going to help at the request of the mayor’s office. And surely, she was joking, right? No, she wasn’t. Is she as delusional as the mayor?

I sputtered something to the effect of that they needed to give us more notice if they wanted our help. That they should ask the agencies that get paid to do this work to help. And that if they were serious about a solution, they would have planned ahead. I’m sure it wasn’t that coherent as I was so stunned.

Come to find out, as she was talking to me, they were in the process of putting up the signs and sending out the press release. I have no idea what the point of talking to me was.

Statement of Madison Mayor Paul Soglin on Ironman Preparations

Ironman will bring over 75,000 cheering fans to the Madison area this weekend. This very popular event draws tens of thousands of visitors, athletes, and family members to downtown Madison. The City of Madison is working with Ironman, Dane County, and the City of Madison Police Department to ensure a safe and enjoyable event for all.

In preparation for this event, beginning Friday, September 11, 2015 through Sunday, September 13, 2015, notices will be posted at the City County Building and Madison Municipal Building that unattended bags will not be allowed until the event ends on September 13, 2015.

Please keep your property with you at all times and report any suspicious packages to the City of Madison Police Department.
We welcome Ironman fans to Madison and hope you have a safe and enjoyable event.

Realistically, there is no emergency here. This is what they have been doing, that is why the county threw out everything last time.

Hopefully they realize they can’t just do that by now. The city police certainly understand that as they are the ones that negotiated getting people’s possessions back.

I think the mayor is just doing this to create an emergency and get attention. The media will likely fall for it, cover his little press release and his outrageous statements, but not the actions of the 4 committees that voted on his bench ordinance. Three committees have unanimously voted it down. One changed it. (sounds like made it even worse) I think the folks at the CCB know they need to watch their stuff and with very few places to go on the weekend, they will likely be hanging out there watching their stuff. I hope they leave piles of it there to embarrass the city. The city should be embarrassed. If they wanted to solve this problem, they would. I”m tired of the mayor using people to make his political points and I won’t be a pawn in that game. Consider yourself informed and move on.