You’d think, that after all this time, if the Mayor is being lobbied by his buddies, he’d have them register as lobbyists, right? Especially when it is a high profile and unusual budget item. Yeah, B-cycle LLC and Trek aren’t registered as lobbyists. Time to file another complaint.
Seriously people. It’s basic. It’s simple. It’s obvious.
I really couldn’t believe it when I went to check the 2010 registration that B-cycle LLC (same address as Trek)and Trek, mentioned in the resolution that they weren’t registered in 2010 or 2011. Neither are the other partners Innovation Center at Humana, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
I, of course, called the clerk’s office to confirm that the lobbyist registration sites were up to date, they said they were.
So, I started collecting the data to fill out the complaint form. Of course, its not easy when you have to track down all the information. When something is this public is should be easy right, but tell me, when the lobbying goes on in Europe and behind closed doors, how do you know:
Name of Unregistered Lobbyist
Address of Unregistered Lobbyist
Nature of Meeting where Alleged Violation Occurred and Persons Present
Date of Meeting
This is s system designed to result in complaints being dismissed. I’ll fill out these forms and make my best guesses, but this is absurd.
It’s clear the lobbying happened, given the reports filed in the clerk’s office about the payment of the trip to Europe. They even threw a fundraiser to thank the mayor for his efforts on their behalf. But, it is especially clear given the “pledges made” portion of the report from the Europe trip. (Mayor pledges “substantial funds” in the Capital Budget and Trek pledges to work with the city on bike stations and provide “optimal pricing”.) And, they clearly were successful given the resolution to give them $300,000 in the next few years. But what will the penalties be? A probably not too harsh reminder to file the reports after the fact, which defeats much of the purpose of the lobbying registration. Given how this is being shoved through the process at record speed so Trek and the Mayor can look good when the Congress for New Urbanism (which the mayor had to have the ethics rules changed so he could fundraise for the conference) comes to town, it is especially galling. Halliburton-esque, eh?
Huh. We’ve got an election coming up here. Odd that he’s being loosey-goosey when he’s under added scrutiny.
The other thing that stuck in my craw regarding this bikes-in-the-park thing–I recall that when the folks that want fruit trees in city parks approached Parks/City w. their offer of free trees/free labor/free maintenance, they were given a lot of meetings and demands, were ignored by Parks manager and even treated rudely, etc… Just total turmoil trying to deal with this City. But here I see a v. different attitude.
In this case there is no RFP? – so no competition for the bid for the bikes? and seemingly the concept of the bikes being vended in the parks is slidin’ in smooth like butter? If it were given what I’ll call the “fruit tree treatment”, I think we’d hear MANY concerns: what if somebody falls off a bike and breaks an arm and sues the city??? what if somebody severs a finger between a sprocket and chain? what if somebody gets hit by a car while on a city-rented bike and sues the city? After a while the constant what-iffing gets ridiculous. But that’s what was done to goodwill community-based initiative that involved free food-providing trees.
It should be a big deal to Madisonians because even if you were not bent out of shape over the fruit trees, getting a fair shake with the city should be something we expect and demand. I don’t like any sleazy buddy-buddy deals in our local gov’t. It turns people off from civic engagement, and that can demoralize people and kill their creativity and initiative. So this bike thing really stinks.
I see that an advocacy organization called “Bikes Belong” (www.bikesbelong.org) is also a sponsor of the upcoming Congress for New Urbanism. There are only a few “partners” listed so far, and Erdman is the only developer whose name I recognized. I plan to keep checking http://www.cnu.org/temp/partners to see what develops.