Last night the alders were all invited to a meeting by the mayor’s office – but the public wasn’t! Well, the “business community” was invited, but the meeting wasn’t publicly noticed for the general public.
I wonder who was there? What did they talk about? Were alders and the mayor offered food and drinks? Did they pay for them or did they violate the ethics laws? Were there enough alders there with the Mayor to create a quorum or negative quorum issue. I’m quite shocked that Mayor Rhodes-Conway would let something like this happen, as she championed open government when she was an alder. I guess times have changed.
This is the description sent by the host of the event:
This event will be an opportunity for business and community leaders from the Madison Area to meet with officials who are leading a new federal effort to prioritize grants and investments toward designated “Opportunity Zones.” We hope you can join us as we recognize the Madison area’s unique regional assets and opportunities, and explore how our community can benefit from this program.
On Wednesday, October 9th the Mayor’s Office sent this invitation to alders:
From: Orrantia, Leslie
Sent: Wednesday, October 9, 2019 8:02 PM
To: All Alders
Cc: Rhodes-Conway, Satya V.; Kennelly, Daniel
Subject: 10/13 INVITATION: Just Announced! Join us Sunday to welcome key officials from several Federal Agencies.
Greetings, Alders –
Hopefully, you have received the below invitation from the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP), who is generously hosting a reception on behalf of the Cities of Madison, Sun Prairie, Monona, and Fitchburg for this Sunday, October 13 from 5:30-7:30 PM as we welcome a federal delegation to our region to discuss the Opportunity Zone program.
I wished to follow-up in writing to share a bit of background and context for the visit, as well as provide information to support your participation, should you be available to join.
For background and context, in July, the Mayor and I went to D.C. to meet with leadership from White House Intergovernmental Affairs and a number of federal agencies. The goal of our visit was two-fold: (1) to introduce the new administration; and (2) to learn about federal resources available to us to address some of the critical needs of our region — affordable housing, transit, flood control, etc.
While in D.C., each of the agencies discussed prioritization across federal agencies of fiscal investment in Opportunity Zones, of which we have 10 in Madison and 1 in Sun Prairie. Special Assistant and Deputy Director of White House Intergovernmental Affairs William Crozer encouraged us to extend an invitation to the Executive Director of the White House Opportunity Zone and Revitalization Council, Scott Turner, to grow his awareness of existing efforts and opportunities in our region, and share with his colleagues in leadership at other federal agencies. Beyond prioritizing Opportunity Zones, we heard a desire for (1) regional efforts; and (2) cross-sector support, ideally, with fiscal investment.
Upon return, we extended a joint invitation from Mayor Rhodes-Conway, Mayor Paul Esser of Sun Prairie, Mayor Mary O’Connor of Monona, and Mayor Aaron Richardson of Fitchburg, as the 11 Madison area opportunity zones are connected to each of these municipalities, to Executive Director Scott Turner. Since, Executive Director Scott Turner has been confirmed to visit with the anticipated attendance of representatives from other agencies, likely HUD, EBA, SBA, EPA, FTA, and DOT.
To be clear, with the four significant priorities of the mayor — affordable housing, bus rapid transit, climate change mitigation, and racial equity — and our significant budget limitations, we have no choice but to leverage any and all resources available to us, from public-private collaborations to pursuit of state and federal dollars. This is the first federal visit and therefore of great importance and my understanding per our federal lobbyist is that unless federal tax policy were to change (and it hasn’t significantly for 30 years), the federal government would continue the Opportunity Zone program beyond the current administration. Our Opportunity Zones, a designation which applies for 10 years, can be found on page 4 of the City of Madison Opportunity Zone Prospectus.
Our argument is that any federal funding we pursue should be regionally supported and prioritized, and like Bus Rapid Transit, receipt of federal funding in the areas in which we need it most — from FTA, HUD, EPA, amongst others — will serve 11 Opportunity Zones and thousands of people across the greater Madison area.
Please see attached for a brief overview document and don’t hesitate to reach out to me or Dan Kennelly, Office of Business Resources, copied here, who has been foundational in the designation process for our federal opportunity zones.
Many thanks for all you do and best wishes for a great rest of the week.
Leslie
Leslie Orrantia (Or-on-tee-uh)
Deputy Mayor
(she/her/hers)
Office of the Mayor
City of Madison
Room 403, City-County Building
210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
608.261.9837
www.cityofmadison.com
– – –
From: Paul Jadin, MadREP President <communications@madisonregion.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 9, 2019 12:10 PM
To: Orrantia, Leslie
Subject: Just Announced! Join us Sunday to welcome key officials from several Federal Agencies.
