P.O. Box 1222, Madison, WI 53701 | www.prodane.org | office@prodane.org | (608) 257-4985
PD members Satya Rhodes-Conway and Lisa Subeck recently sounded off on the lobbying ordinance, minimum wage and race issues. Highlights from the editorials are below:
Lobbying - Satya Rhodes Conway:
Madison Ald. Brenda Konkel is performing a valuable public service by filing lobbying complaints. Her purpose is not to stifle public input -- on the contrary, it is to preserve the public's right to know.Like Ald. Konkel, I strongly believe that the public has a right to know who is influencing our elected representatives, particularly when our tax dollars are involved. I appreciate Ald. Konkel's efforts to enforce the law -- something that every elected official should be concerned about.
Rather than questioning Ald. Konkel's motivation and methods, we should commend her for standing up for open government.
-May 23, 2005 - The Capital Times
Race Issues - Lisa Subeck:
A community forum on race and the media gave me the chance to hear many perspectives and to be reminded of the tremendously positive and open-minded core values and beliefs of many in our community.Contrast what I heard at this forum with some very disturbing remarks made by one of Madison's City Council members at Tuesday night's council meeting, and I am reminded that segments of our community have a long way to go toward embracing the diversity we have in Madison and recognizing their own lack of understanding when it comes to cultures and experiences that are different from their own.
During the council discussion of whether the city should open publicly backed home loan programs to taxpaying residents who may not have a Social Security number, Ald. Judy Compton showed the ignorance and arrogance that drive people to offer that old line of "Some of my best friends are black."
While claiming that she does "not see color or nationality," Compton then went on to say that in her day job (real estate), she encounters many people: "They're Albanian; they're black; they're white; they're Spanish."
Obviously she does see color and nationality. But does she - and the three other council members who joined her in voting against the proposal - understand the value of diversity? Promoting the notion of colorblindness in a racist society is dangerous because it ignores the reality of power inequality and the different life chances afforded people of color and immigrants in communities like Madison.
Instead, we must honestly see that having people with different experiences and life chances is a good thing. It can open our eyes to new ideas and pressing challenges. Even more important is how we respond.
-May 26, 2005 - The Capital Times
Minimum Wage - Satya Rhodes-Conway:
Gov. Jim Doyle should veto Assembly Bill 49, the local minimum wage pre-emption bill. While I support a statewide minimum wage increase, I do not support the deal the governor made with Republican leadership to pre-empt local control and overturn the local minimum wages in Milwaukee, Madison and La Crosse.The local minimum wage increases passed in Wisconsin, particularly the one in Madison, are groundbreaking and needed. The cost of living in Madison is more than 10 percent higher than it is in the other metropolitan areas of the state. An increase to $6.50 doesn't have the same impact in Madison as it might in Green Bay or Superior.
If AB 49 becomes law, it will rob the thousands of workers in Madison who earn less than $7.75 per hour of a raise under our city's Fair Wage ordinance. Those who earn between $6.50 and $7.75 will not be helped by an increase in the state minimum wage.
It is unjustifiable to overturn these increases and take money from those who need it most. Doyle is not only selling out minimum wage workers, organized labor and local governments, he's also giving away one of the best campaign issues Democrats could have.
-May 16, 2005 - Wisconsin State Journal
Posted by prodane at 07:37 PM
PD members Sarah Davis, Vicky Selkowe, and Yogesh Chawla will be appearing on “For the Record” with Neil Heinen on Sunday, May 8th at 10:00 a.m. on WISC, channel 3. PD looks forward to this opportunity to tell the Madison community at large more about our organization and the accomplishments we have had in the past, as well as our progressive vision for the future of Madison.
Grab a cup of coffee and tune in Sunday morning.
Posted by prodane at 05:59 AM
Progressive Dane’s General Membership voted last week to oppose consolidating the City’s Affirmative Action Department (AAD) and Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) into a new Department of Civil Rights (DCR).
While Progressive Dane thanks the Mayor for sparking a long overdue conversation about civil rights in our community, the proposal that’s on the table falls far short of addressing these issues and may actually move us backward in the struggle for equality, racial justice and opportunity for all Madisonians. Sadly, we were forced to conclude that the proposal represents neither strong actions nor decisive improvements. The proposal is instead likely to dangerously lull us into a fall sense of accomplishment. If we think that by creating the DCR we’ve addressed the systemic and pervasive problems of racism and inequality in our community, it can prevent us from doing the hard work of committing ourselves to funding and implementing long-term, comprehensive solutions.
Progressive Dane fully agrees that there are tremendous needs in our community for: assertive, proactive remedies to address discrimination of all types; a language assistance program that allows everyone to participate fully in the workings of city government; a city workforce which reflects all the people of Madison at all levels of authority; city-funded contracts which ‘puts our money where our rhetoric is’ regarding diversity; and Fair Housing testing which helps root out and eliminate housing discrimination in each and every neighborhood of this city.
Let’s look at the proposal’s details:
1. While it recognizes the importance of Fair Housing testing, inadequate funds have been allocated for this initiative in 2005 and there are no assurances at all of funding beyond this year;
2. Though it highlights the pressing need to diversify our city’s workforce, the proposed solution of simply adding a recruiter to the AAD lets existing recruiters shirk what should be a shared responsibility;
3. The Language Assistance Program offers little real assistance to people needing to be heard and understood throughout City government; and
4. Two front-line working supervisors are cut in the Mayor’s proposal, reducing present services.
There are also no clear goals for this proposal – what, precisely, will the DCR will be expected to do better than current departments? How, specifically, will we measure the DCR’s success and with what new accountability measures? What funding commitments are being made to ensure that the DCR actually provides a higher and more effective level of service?
We can have more ambitious goals and guarantee accountability without a largely symbolic, bureaucratic change that compromises the core functions and historical missions of these departments.
The overwhelming majority of the staffs of both the EOC and the AAD (those members of our community who work tirelessly with increasingly limited resources to address issues of equality, diversity and discrimination) have expressed serious concerns about the proposal, concerns which have been largely overlooked. Numerous members of the AAD warned that the consolidation would result in “decline and degradation of quality of service” and suggested that funds allocated for the Director of the proposed DCR instead be used for both existing and new programs and staff. Staff of the EOC stated that “this proposal marginalizes individuals in the community whose concern lies in protected classes beyond race and national origin” and concluded, “residents of Madison are better served by not combining the EOC and the AAC.” Both staffs warned that the proposed DCR’s loss of “working, front-line supervisors,” specifically the AAD’s Contract Compliance Officer and the EOC’s Investigations Supervisor, will have a clearly “detrimental impact on productivity.”
A large segment of our community has also spoken out against this proposal. Progressive Dane stands with this diverse coalition of people from across Madison.
Progressive Dane believes strongly that we must take action as partners with the members of our community who are experiencing a Madison that is not socially inclusive or welcoming, who struggle to afford housing or secure family-supporting jobs, and who are tired of being victimized by racial profiling, and housing or employment discrimination. But change for the sake of change is not good enough. Our elected officials need to support innovative, broad and long-term actions by the existing agencies responsible for Equal Opportunities and Affirmative Action. Progressive Dane insists on actions that make a real difference for all people in our community. We must work to fully fund these initiatives with the same fervor we apply to fundraising for a new swimming pool, an Overture Center or State Street reconstruction. And we, the people of Madison, must hold our elected representatives accountable.
Progressive Dane will ardently support and work with those interested in funding and implementing tangible solutions that will noticeably improve the lives of Madison’s disadvantaged and underrepresented residents. But we do not support a proposal that unfortunately amounts to little more than rearranging offices in the Municipal Building and printing new letterhead. This would insult and ignore the voices of those in our community who clamor to be included, to be treated equally and to be heard.
Written by: Vicky Selkowe, Co-Chair Economic Issues Task Force and Bert Zipperer, former alder and winner of the 2005 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian award
Posted by prodane at 08:41 PM
Brian Larson, co-chair of the PD Economic Issues Task Force commented
on the Big Box ordinance recently passed by the city council. Although it was a step in the right direction, the ordinance was diluted at the last minute by some alders who worked with special interest groups such as Smart Growth Madison. Read the editorial here as well as some comments from PD member and Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative manager Marsha Rummel. Full text available from the State Journal.
Perhaps it can more accurately be pegged as a missed opportunity to address the litany of real problems with these large retail stores: That big box stores are generally non-union. As a rule, they don't provide health care benefits or living wages to their employees. They tend to drive smaller, locally-owned businesses out of operation.
And when they pack up and close their doors, what often results is significant blight in the surrounding community. You don't need to look much beyond the site of the former K-Mart on East Washington Avenue to see what can happen.
We hope that the council will revisit this ordinance and require big box developers to show us measurable and positive impacts that proposed stores will have on our city.
Marsha Rummel
I work in an industry that has been battered by big box retailers for over a decade. Thousands of locally owned, independent booksellers have closed their doors in this period. Recently, Rainbow Bookstore Co-op joined the Dane County Buy Local Campaign.
Studies show that consumer dollars spent at locally owned businesses have a greater impact on the local economy. Our slogan is "Think globally, buy locally! You have nothing to lose but your chains!"
Posted by prodane at 08:44 PM
Progressive Dane unanimously elected Lisa Subeck and Lukas Diaz to the steering committee. Lisa, fresh off her energetic campaign in District 1, will be a very valuable leader in Progressive Dane as we move forward. Lukas Diaz also worked on Lisa’s campaign was a very dedicated campaign volunteer. PD welcomes the energy and dedication that both Lisa and Lukas possess.
PD would also like to thank Kristin Forde and Shelley Fite for serving on the steering committee. They are off to pursue different endeavors however they were valuable members of the organization and will be missed.
Come meet our new Steering Committee members at our upcoming General Membership Meeting on May 25th.
Posted by prodane at 11:46 PM
Madison Mayor Dave recently stuck up for Progressive Dane in his recent midterm speech to a packed crowd at the Downtown Madison Rotary Club. He commented on the recent spring elections and commended PD candidates for sticking to the issues in the hotly contested spring elections when other groups resorted to negative campaigns. Read the full article in the Capital Times
and the highlights below.
In an interview later with The Capital Times editorial board, Cieslewicz said his remarks stem from how things "got nasty in an organized kind of way" during this spring's City Council elections.
Cieslewicz was particularly critical of the Dane County Democratic Party for funding a new group, Citizens for Madison's Future, which distributed two negative mailings targeted at Progressive Dane candidates that had Democratic opponents.
"To Progressive Dane's credit, they stuck to the issues," he said.
Posted by prodane at 08:44 PM