A few months back, Paul Soglin linked to a piece about services for homeless people in Ann Arbor.
Paul wrote a few lines after the link, but they were a little cryptic. They were bullet-points of principles, but I couldn’t tell if they were meant as a warning to Madison or a general dispensation of wisdom. I was going to write basically this blog post wondering just what his point was and what prompted him to link to that article. And, as it was the start of a good run of posts from Soglin, it was going to close with “Maybe he’s thinking about getting into the Mayor’s race”.
Note to self: First, go with your gut more often. Second, always assume Soglin is thinking about getting back into the Mayor’s race.
One of the things I’m most excited about in 2011 are Mayoral and County Exec races where we can talk about how we can help people build a better life in Madison and Dane County. I’m looking forward to hearing more from Soglin and all of the candidates on how we can do better for everyone in the community.
I wish I could find it now, but there’s a thread in the Daily Page forum somewhere, talking about the same issue of people down on their luck moving to Madison to start over. The usual vitriol was there, complaining about “people from Chicago” moving here and being nothing but trouble, but there was a gem of a post that went something like this:
“Good. I’m proud to live in a city that is the sort of place that people want to come to build a better life, no matter what their circumstances are”
(If someone remembers that post, I’d be much obliged if you could point it out.)
I think there are people who spend their time thinking about ways to limit access to support services so only the “right” people can use them, and there are people who spend their time thinking about ways to help people build a better life. My New Year’s Resolution is to spend my time helping the latter.
My efforts working with the Allied community has been to help it to become a productive and sustainable community. Most of the people there want to be productive one way or another. They just need help to get the ball started. I’m grateful to the city of Madison for giving the area some much needed attention and resources. It really does come down to teaching people to fish rather then just handing them food.
Skimming through facebook headlines I see “Soglin” and I think, “Oh, he’s not backing out he is” But no, I found your useful post about where we can go as a city with new leadership combined with the wisdom of experience.
Dorothy Krause in the above comment makes a useful addition to your comments.
From there I want to make a point that I made so Soglin on my blog once, “Stop blaming the homeless, you are describing vagrant behavior” Many of the homeless don’t like that behavior any more than the non homeless do.
Here is a link where a former homeless person wanted me to tell Madison after receiving support says, “Tell them I feel like I live in a mansion”
http://6authored2.livejournal.com/2265769.html
Bottom line Soglin gets the effect of poverty and its contribution to the demise of a city.
Now this is when Soglin can step up and start his campaign to help raise the down on their luck people back onto their feet.