Thursday round up, round two this week. I’m not sure if it is lazy blogging or just still too much to blog about. But, here it is:
First, it turns out this post is mostly about the recent shooting and what to do about crime on the west side. It sounds like it was a terrible tragedy and that this young man had alot to offer and was well liked. I feel the need to say that my heart goes out to the family and friends for their loss. Anytime a young person dies it is a loss and I can’t imagine their grief. And, it has to be all the worse because of the media and attention they are getting. I hope they get time to grieve and are left alone by the media, as much as possible.
That being said, this will have city-wide and political implications. Here’s some of my random thoughts on this topic, and more.
IGNORING/RESPONDING TO BLASKA
First of all, I don’t recommend anything the guy writes, we don’t want to even click on it, it just encourages the the Isthmus to keep him around and . . . his writing is headache inducing and just predictable. Bottom line, is he blames liberals, progressives, the Captital Times, Progressive Dane and anyone left of Joe Lieberman with broad sweeping generalizations and of course, like any good right-wing blowhard, he just makes up his own “facts”. All that being said, I do recommend reading this, a response over at Forward Our Motto. He offers constructive, concrete examples about what the City should do to address issues on the Westside, and it happens that I’ve attempted those same things, so I agree!
HERE’S SOMETHING THAT CONCERNS ME
Police didn’t listen to this guy who was trying to tell them his kid was going to get shot? Wow, channel 3 got this is a pretty amazing statement:
A criminal complaint alleges that in February Collins Jr. and another student from Memorial High School got into a fight in the neighborhood. The complaint alleges that Karamee Collins Sr. pulled someone away who tried to stop the fight.
Collins Jr. was charged with battery and his father was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child.
But Collins Sr. said Wednesday that the fight didn’t end there and that he believes the shooting was retaliation.
“Yeah (it was retaliation). And I was trying to tell police, and people don’t believe me, because I sell drugs. I’m on camera saying it but, yeah it was.”
But Madison police said Wednesday there is still no known motive and that they could not confirm the father’s claim.
When a drug dealer seeks out the police to tell them something, do you think he’s lying?
HERE COMES 30 MORE POLICE OFFICERS
Watch your pocket, we might be getting another 30 police officers. Or whatever else the police department wants. Channel 3 also tells us that:
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said he’ll meet with neighborhood leaders, residents and police about growing violence.
Hopefully, Mayor Dave will listen to this police officer and his solutions:
“We need some focus, to not only this neighborhood but throughout the city for some of the challenged neighborhoods, to provide programming, provide social workers, provide avenues for a way out for some of these young adults that really don’t think that far into the future,” Hanson said.
Um, yeah, I think that is what some of us have been saying for years! Wouldn’t it be amazing if instead of dumping $1 – 2 million into the police department budget, they dumped it into Community Services. Especially since Community Services get less than 10% of police department budget.
WHICH IS IT?
Mayor Dave’s solution doesn’t sound like it will be community services. He apparently has some other things in mind, according to the WSJ account:
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said Wednesday he will meet with neighborhood leaders, City Council members, school officials, police and community leaders to address public safety concerns.
“We need to address the access and availability of handguns,” the mayor said in a statement. But Cieslewicz said fear should be tempered with facts.
Or, according to the Channel 3 account?
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said he’ll meet with neighborhood leaders, residents and police about growing violence.
“We need defined community standards that are enforced by the community. We need to continue to find ways to reduce anonymity and build a sense of community throughout our neighborhoods,” Cieslewicz said in a statement.
Yeah, that doesn’t sound like services and activities for youth is on his agenda.
IS “ALDER THUY” OUT OF TOUCH?
Here’s what Alder Thuy says to the WSJ:
“This is nothing new,” Pham-Remmele said. “It’s not an overnight thing. I don’t want my constituents to be in the crossfire. We needed something drastic to happen to wake people up, and here it came. I wish it didn’t happen. The feeling here is very raw. People here are angry. They’re very frustrated.”
Here’s what the direct neighbors says and neighborhood president have to say:
Telah Thomas, who lives in the townhouse that the victim was trying to reach, said she also heard the gunshots Tuesday night just before Collins collapsed. Her daughter was standing outside with her shortly after the shooting.
“It’s not like it happens over here regularly. The most you ever get is a noise complaint,” Thomas said. “But it’s still concerning since I’m a single mother with two kids and am also taking care of my nephew and niece.”
Cynthia Johnson, a neighborhood resident, called the crime “unbelievable” given the tight-knit nature of those who live there.
“We all hang out together,” Johnson said. “We all eat together. We all go to the park and barbecue together.”
Yet the murder brings all of that into question for Johnson, who said she now wants to leave the Meadowood neighborhood for the sake of her 7-year-old.
Still, the president of the Meadowood Neighborhood Association said the group has been working hard to boost community participation to solve problems. “Even though this was a tragic event, I see it as a citywide issue,” Lisa Veldran said. “I don’t see it as a neighborhood issue.
“I don’t know the answer to guns in the city. We can only do so much as neighbors. … I don’t want fear to take over our neighborhood because we definitely don’t want to be fearful. We all stand together.”
Or, for that matter, is Mayor Dave out of touch? His comments about building community seem to fly in the face of the Cynthia Johnson’s comments above as well as the neighborhood association.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF CRIME
Ever heard of the word “rachmanism“?
What’s odd is, neither have I, even after working with the Tenant Resource Center for 18 years as a volunteer, board member and staff.
Here’s the definition:
noun: The exploitation and intimidation of tenants by landlords.
Who knew there was a word for that!
A DEFENSE TO FORECLOSURE
I had heard that there were problems with the banks not having appropriate paperwork for foreclosure, but I am surprised it ends up being a viable defense. If you’re being foreclosed on, you might want to try the three word defense, “produce the note”.
LOBBYISTS, LOBBYISTS, LOBBYISTS
I’ve found over 100 violations in 2008, its worse than its been and I’m not done yet. Expense reports without registrations, completely missing registrations and expense reports for large (obvious!) projects, people reporting the wrong thing on their reports, etc, etc, etc . . . what to do? Should I just consider this a warning and hope they do better with their reports due in July? File a few very obvious (and ridiculous), very targeted complaints and get accused of favoritism or going after people I don’t like? File complaints on a specific type of violation to get education one step at a time? Or, do all the work and file all the complaints to get the city attorney to pay attention to how bad it is? Funny, he doesn’t mention all the violations in his annual reports, is he even looking at them? Should I try to find someone else to file the complaints? Should I let it go – I mean, why bother, I’m the only one who cares, right? Somehow I doubt it – but how can you care if you don’t know what the violations are? I might be the only one who cares enough to check up on it. Perhaps some paid reporter out there could do the work to follow up?
