So, the registration slips for the council meeting last night was a couple inches thick. They Mayor didn’t read them, but they passed them around for the alders, so I got a little curious. For what its worth, here’s what I found.
OPERATING BUDGET
59 people registered in support of restoring the funds for WYOU. 0 opposed.
51 people registered in support of funding for community services. 0 opposed.
48 people registered in support of funding for homeless services. 0 opposed.
9 people registered in support of restoring positions in treasurer, parks and planning. 1 opposed.
9 people registered in support of restoring a position at City Channel. 3 opposed.
8 people registered in support of adding positions for street tree inspection for construction.
The rest only had one or two people in support of opposition. Several had no registrants.
CAPITAL BUDGET
164 registered against cutting TIF funds for the Edgewater. 49 registered in support. I expected it to be lopsided with television and radio ads and full color postcards. Clearly they are pulling out all the stops on this one, but I have to question the effectiveness of those efforts. I don’t think it got people to come out in support that weren’t already in support or in the unions.
The other funny thing about these registrations is that apparently 10 people live at the labor temple, 6 live at 2025 Atwood Ave., 5 live at 22 E Mifflin, one landlord and their employee registered at a property in the neighborhood that they don’t live at. Also of interest people registered from not in Madison as follows: Fitchburg (4), Cross Plains (1), Middleton (4), Stoughton (1), Sun Prairie (4 – 3 from the same address), Milwaukee (1), Chicago (1), Burlington (1), McFarland (2), Mt Horeb (1), Pardeeville (1), Verona (6), Waunakee (2), Monona (1), Oregon (1).
I’m wondering how they all felt about the alders interest in keeping the jobs for Madison residents? And it makes me think, if this is of such regional importance, why aren’t the other governmental entities chipping in? They should be able to get a couple million from elsewhere, right? Also, that makes about 1/3 of the registrants supporting the Edgewater with strange (sometimes false?) addresses or being from out of town. Are they that desperate?
111 registered in opposition to ensuring funds for the library before moving forward, 15 in support.
34 registered in support of the amendment to explore having a green rooftop.
33 registered in opposition to cutting Central Park, 5 in support.
32 registered in opposition to cutting funding to several neighborhood parks in number 7, 1 in support.
The rest had 10 or less registrations.
There you have it. It was mildly interesting.
