P.O. Box 1222, Madison, WI 53701 | www.prodane.org | office@prodane.org | (608) 257-4985
Weeks after voting to increase fees to $20/day for inmates on electronic monitoring, supervisors introduce ordinance exempting those earning below the federal poverty line
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Ashok Kumar, Dane County Supervisor (District 5), Ph: (608) 843-0615
Linda Ketchum, Executive Director, Madison-area Urban Ministry, Ph: (608) 256-0906
(Madison) – Dane County Board Supervisor Ashok Kumar, District 5, will be introducing an ordinance to establish a mandatory fee exemption for inmates earning below the federal poverty line for the electronic monitoring program. It will be introduced at tonight’s Dane County Board of Supervisors meeting and is expected to go to the Public Protection and Judiciary and Personal and Finance Committees.
With the implementation of the Jail Audit Recommendations the county will be releasing more than 200 inmates into the electronic monitoring program instead of incarceration. This is expected to save the county $56/day per inmate or more than $3 million a year.
In September a grassroots coalition of students and community activists worked with Kumar and other progressive supervisors to successfully pass an ordinance that ended millions of dollars of profiteering from inmates in the jail.
Kumar stated, “A $20 a day fee for every inmate on top of the millions we will be saving by not having inmates in jail is shameful. Most inmates are living in poverty and can barely afford to survive day-to-day, an additional $600 a month is too high a burden for inmates living in poverty. The county should not choose profit over people. This ordinance hopes to assure that low-income people and people of color are given equal access to their families and jobs through this well-intentioned program.”
The ordinance uses a number of methods to identify those who qualify including, but are not limited to, the following:
“A person assisted by a court appointed attorney or public defender; a person receiving W2 assistance, federal Section 8 housing
assistance; or parents or guardians of children receiving the federal breakfast or lunch programs.”
In addition, the Clerk of Courts or the County Sheriff may exempt or reduce rates for individuals whom they believe have a financial hardship but do not qualify under the ‘poverty exemption’ provision.
The Madison-area Urban Ministry’s Executive Director Linda Ketchum stated her organization’s strong support for the ordinance; “The expansion of the electronic monitoring program is long overdue but establishing these fees universally succeeds in creating a two-tiered system of justice. Considering the findings and recommendations of the recently released Governor's Commission on Racial Disparities we see the relationship in our state between economics, education, income and race in creating a system where there exists huge racial disparities in participation in alternatives to incarceration programs and options.”
Dane County was recently shown to have the third-highest disparate black incarceration rate in the country, and Wisconsin continues its tradition as the state with the highest black incarceration rate in the country.
Posted by prodane at 03:32 AM
Published in The Capital Times
Susan Troller
February 9, 2008
The Madison School Board has drawn fire from Progressive Dane for a proposed policy change regarding public appearances.
The change would limit public commentary preceding school board meetings to agenda items. Individuals who want to speak on issues that are not part of the agenda would be required to speak after the business portion of the meeting was complete.
"The board has very ambitious agendas this year and several times in the last couple of months we haven't gotten through our business meetings. That's a problem and that's the issue we're trying to address," Board President Arlene Silveira said.
In the last year, lengthy public appearances before meetings have caused some meetings to begin hours after they were scheduled to begin.
"By the time we get to discussing our business and trying to make decisions, none of us are at our best because it's so late. I don't think we're serving the best interests of the kids when that happens," she said.
But Thomas Mertz, Progressive Dane's education task force chair, said the group was concerned that the change in policy would limit public input about important school-related topics.
"We believe public input should be as easy as possible," Mertz said. He said by limiting public commentary and appearances to agenda items before the meetings, the board risked increasing distrust from the community.
In a press release from Progressive Dane criticizing the board for the suggested change, former board member Bill Keys said, "We urge the Board of Education to abandon this proposal and begin an open discussion on ways that both the Board and the public can improve communiction. There's no need to rush."
Silveira objected to characterizing the change as an effort to limit public discussion or input.
"That is simply not true. This has been a discussion about trying to find a solution to a problem in getting the work done we were elected to do. Under this proposal, people can certainly speak on non-agenda items, just not before we begin our business meetings," she said.
She added that the board's communications committee was looking at additional ways to hear from individuals and organizations, and that at its Feb. 18 meeting there would be an opportunity for public discussion.
"I am glad the board did not vote on this proposal this week, that it was moved to a later date and there will now be an opportunity for public debate," Mertz said.
Debbie Fields, secretary of the Madison Common Council, said individuals who want to make public comments prior to Madison city council meetings must register on the specific agenda item they wish to address. Their remarks are limited to 3 minutes for regular agenda items, 5 minutes for public hearing items.
Although individuals may not speak on non-agenda items at regular Council meetings. public comments on a variety of subjects are permitted at committee meetings.
madison.com is operated by Capital Newspapers, publishers of the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, Agri-View and Apartment Showcase. All contents Copyright ©2008, Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved.
Posted by prodane at 03:07 AM
Published in The Capital Times
Mary Yeater Rathbun
February 9, 2008
Being able to ride a city bus easily and conveniently is so important to Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway that, when she bought her first house in December 2005 at the age of 34, she chose it in large part because it was one bus ride away from her job on campus.
As the primary champion of the city bus system on the Madison City Council, her ideas about how to improve Metro matter, especially now when the quality of Madison's bus system is so much a part of the regional transit authority (RTA) referendum debates.
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz proposed creating an RTA last summer. In August and September, respectively, the County Board and the City Council passed resolutions to approve setting up an RTA to handle money for a commuter rail plan that could cost up to $285 million. However, all transportation options -- road construction, expanded bus service, commuter rail -- could be affected by an RTA.
And, at least on talk radio, the effectiveness of Madison's bus system is crucial to forming people's opinions on the need for an RTA, especially one with a countywide taxing authority.
On Thursday, the Dane County Board pulled back from holding a countywide advisory referendum this spring, instead opting not to consider a referendum until after the Legislature gives approval for counties to set up RTAs. Middleton Supervisor Mark Opitz's resolution was a substitute for Fitchburg Supervisor Jack Martz's resolution to place an RTA referendum on the April 1 ballot.
Rhodes-Conway believed an immediate referendum in the RTA would have been premature. "The state Legislature has not even taken the necessary actions to make an RTA legal," she said.
That authorization will determine the kind of RTA that would possible: one supported by a sales tax or some other tax, one covering the entire county or a smaller metropolitan planning area, etc. Voting before those parameters are known makes no sense to Rhodes-Conway.
Using the bus
Although she has been a bus rider since middle school and high school when she rode city buses to school in upstate New York, she hadn't ridden city buses in more than a decade before moving to Madison in 2002. Bus rides weren't necessary when Rhodes-Conway studied biology at Smith College in Massachusetts, where she lived on campus. And it wasn't practical to use public transportation in metropolitan Los Angeles, where she lived while she went to graduate school in ecology at the University of California-Irvine and had her first job as an environmental policy analyst. She is now a policy analyst at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center on Wisconsin Strategy.
"I wasn't on a train line, and the bus took too long to get there," Rhodes-Conway said.
But when she moved here in the fall of 2002, her first apartment was on Jenifer Street near Baldwin and she worked off the Square. "I began to ride the bus. A bus pass was one of the benefits with my job. I've been a bus rider ever since," she said.
Three years later, when she was looking to buy a home, she bought a three-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot house near Oscar Mayer because she could afford its $173,000 price, and because there were two bus stops near it that allowed her to get to work without changing buses.
"We don't have a true workforce transportation system in Madison," Rhodes-Conway said in January.
Basic workforce transportation includes being able to get to work no matter what shift you work, she added. Currently, Metro Transit service is different on weekends than on weekdays and stops at midnight.
Rhodes-Conway noted, for example, that hospital shift times are a problem for bus riders. However, "if we are able to extend hours, stops must be well-lit and we must address potential riders' safety concerns," she said.
Overall, "I think our buses are very safe. We've had some issues with rowdiness of high school kids, but the bus system is fundamentally safe."
Workforce transportation also means "you have to be able to get close to where you are going," according to Rhodes-Conway. She claims Metro does not pay enough attention to people who are not going downtown.
For example, she would like to see improved service to the airport. "There is one bus that goes there. It is physically possible to ride a bus there at some times of the day, but it is not convenient," she said.
It should also be easier, she said, to go from the east side to the north side of town and wonders if a route to the American Family Insurance campus on the Sun Prairie side of the interstate would be a good idea.
Unlimited ride passes sponsored by employers such as hers are a key to increased workforce transportation, according to Rhodes-Conway. She said the university is a great partner with the transit system. The bus service will collect 95.2 cents for each ride that unlimited pass holders take this year.
In addition to UW-Madison, Edgewood College provides unlimited ride passes to their students and staff and Madison Area Technical College provides them to its students. Employees of the city of Madison and St. Mary's Hospital also get them.
But, Rhodes-Conway noted, the State does not have unlimited ride passes for its employees.
Expanding ridership
In 2007, Madison Metro had a fixed-route ridership of 12.7 million, just 700,000 rides short of its all-time high set in 1982.
If growth continues at its current rate, it could hit the 1982 record of 13.4 million in less than two years, according to Metro officials.
The growth in Metro ridership has been steady since 1989, when the number of riders dropped to about 9 million. Since 2000, when ridership was at 10 million, the number of fixed-route riders has climbed by 26 percent.
During the same period, paratransit ridership has grown by 12 percent.
Of course, Madison has also grown during that period. The city's population increased 6.9 percent between 2000 and 2006, the most recent year for which numbers are available, going from 223,389 to 208,054. That means the 10 million riders in 2000 is the equivalent of just over 9 percent of the population, while the 12.7 million in 2007 is the equivalent to 12 or 13 percent of the population.
"Fundamentally, we have a really strong bus system. We have incredible ridership numbers for a city our size. That we do this without having a transit authority is impressive. But that is not to say we can't get better. It is just saying we are starting from a strong place," she said.
Growing ridership remains the key to the future, according to Rhodes-Conway.
"We must talk not only about connecting outlying communities with Madison but improving transportation in town. If we really want people to change their transportation habits, we must make it possible and convenient," she said.
To make bus riding comfortable and enjoyable, Rhodes-Conway said, people must be able to go to the nearest bus stop and catch a bus within 10 to 15 minutes.
"No one wants to deal with a ride guide. No one wants to think 'Do I have correct change,' she said. "We need to remove the barriers to riding the bus and improve transit times."
She also advocates putting schedule information at more stops, not just in bus shelters. She also is interested in increasing the number of informal park-and-rides available to commuters by partnering with neighborhood businesses and increasing service density, which she defines as "more buses, more of the time and making the transfer points more helpful to users."
Bus angels
Metro Transit Director Chuck Kamp said Rhodes-Conway is unusual in being able to talk about global issues and things like how to make the bus schedule more user-friendly and "how technology can help us make our customers find the information they need easily."
Rhodes-Conway said she is very open to the public's ideas about removing barriers. For example, she touts a Middleton man's idea of recruiting bus angels: regular bus riders who would be willing to mentor new riders.
She believes the ad hoc Long Range Metro Transit Planning Committee created in September 2006 is the key to making changes in the system. She has served on the committee since its inception and chaired it until her election to the City Council in April. She vehemently supports the council rule that members not chair city committees.
The ad hoc committee's recommendations are due spring, perhaps as soon as March or April.
"I am glad she is as involved in the Metro's long range planning committee," Kamp said. "She understands we must look regionally. But how do we fund that?"
Kamp and Cieslewicz disagreed with Rhodes-Conway last month and this month about whether to add five more buses to the current bus wrap advertising pilot program. She voted against the expansion at both the Jan. 22 and Feb. 5 council meetings.
"As a bus rider, I am not fond of them," she explained. "As a City Council member, I understand the need for the revenue."
Although noting that they have agreed to disagree on bus wraps, Cieslewicz said, "She has been a consistent advocate for Metro. Much like many of the new alders, she really does her homework and asks a lot of good questions."
The mayor said he and Rhodes-Conway had worked together long before she got on the council in April. At her UW-Madison job, she has been the staff person for about three years for the Mayors Innovation Project, a national organization Cieslewicz and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson started shortly after Cieslewicz was elected mayor in 2003.
"I know her pretty well," he said, alluding to an MIP conference call they would be on the next day.
"I think she is a thoughtful, hardworking alder," Cieslewicz said.
"She is passionate" about transit, Kamp said. "She knows the world and the economy are changing and transit is on the right side of that and communities that embrace transit will be well-positioned in relation to gas prices, climate change issues and community health issues. How communities design themselves has an impact on public health. If people are out and about and walking to the bus stop, it is a healthier community. She embraces that and I want that viewpoint on the metro long-range transit committee."
madison.com is operated by Capital Newspapers, publishers of the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, Agri-View and Apartment Showcase. All contents Copyright ©2008, Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved.
Posted by prodane at 02:51 AM
For Immediate Release
February 7, 2008
At Monday’s school board meeting, a proposal was considered that would limit meaningful public comment at School Board meetings. The proposal as noted on the agenda was as follows:
It is recommended that the Board approve the revisions to School Board Policy 1222 and School Board Policy 1220 as identified in Appendix JJJ-8-6; said revisions affecting public appearances at board meetings, committee meetings, public hearings, and other meetings.
In short, if you are coming to speak about an item that is on the agenda, public speaking will be at the beginning of the meeting. If you are speaking about a non-agenda item, public speaking will be after the business portion of our agenda. If you are a student (K-12), you can speak at the beginning of the meeting even if you are speaking on a non-agenda item.
“This change effectively makes it difficult for parents of children who come to testify to also testify and depending upon how late the meetings run, may limit this input altogether, “ said Brenda Konkel, co-chair of Progressive Dane.
The reasons given for this proposal were to allow Board members spend more time on agenda items instead of listening to the public on matters not currently before them. This is a real problem and one the Board should seek solutions to by working with the public. Progressive Dane members applaud the School Board for looking for new ways to make their meeting more effective and efficient; we also believe that hearing from the public is a key to maintaining a strong democracy, paramount to passing good policies and part of proud tradition that keeps our Madison schools strong.
“We are very concerned about the manner in which this item was introduced. While the item did appear on the agenda, members of the public did not have access to the item until the meeting, “said Progressive Dane Education Task Force Chair Thomas J. Mertz.
To further complicate things, the public will not be allowed to speak when this item comes up on February 18th because it is a workshop session and public appearances are not allowed.
“We urge the Board of Education to abandon this proposal and begin an open discussion on ways that both the Board and the public can improve communication. There’s no need to rush.” said former School Board Member Bill Keys. We ask the public to make their voices heard by contacting the Board and testifying at the Communications Committee meeting on February 11, 2008 at 5:00 PM. We invite all who are concerned to participate in the School Budget 101 seminar that Progressive Dane is sponsoring in the coming month (details to be announced soon) and work to enhance understanding and communication for all.
“Eliminating early public input makes it hard for ordinary citizens to testify at board meetings on issues that might be below the radar. While it’s important that the Board has adequate time to deliberate on their agenda, it’s also very important that the public has a chance to have their say,” said Lukas Diaz co-chair of Progressive Dane.
Related Story in The Capital Times
Posted by prodane at 05:12 AM | Comments (0)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
County leaders and community activists to introduce resolution at Thursday's Dane County Board meeting to accept an invitation from the Venezuelan ambassador to create sister relationship with Andres Eloy Blanco, Venezuela
Contact:
Ashok Kumar, Dane County Supervisor, District 5, Ph. (608) 843-0615
Omar Sierra, Venezuelan Consulate – Chicago, Ph. (312) 236-9655
Juscha Robinson, Fellow, Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, Ph. (608) 239-4269
Charity Schmidt, Board Member, Community Action on Latin America, Ph. (608) 334-6370
Madison –Dane County Supervisors Ashok Kumar, Barbara Vedder, and Al Matano will introduce a resolution at Thursday's Dane County Board of Supervisors meeting to create an official sister relationship with the municipality of Andres Eloy Blanco, Venezuela. The resolution is a response to an invitation from Venezuela's ambassador, Bernardo Alvarez. Earlier this year, Alvarez met Supervisors in an effort to establish a sister relationship between Dane County and a municipality in Venezuela.
"Supervisors were humbled by the ambassador's invitation and I believe this relationship will provide an institutional framework for social, cultural, and financial ties between the people of Andres Eloy Blanco and those of Dane County," stated Kumar, the resolution's lead sponsor; "In addition to the educational component of this relationship, there are also social benefits. Working class communities in cities and counties across the United States have greatly benefited from sister relationships with Venezuela."
County Supervisors, community organizers, and officials in Andres Eloy Blanco worked together to formulate the resolution and relationship. Matt Earley, co-owner of Madison-based cooperative Just Coffee, who recently returned from visiting Sanare, the capital of Andres Eloy Blanco, said; "The people of Sanare and of Dane County share the same sense of progressive politics, environmental stewardship, and grassroots democratic participation in government. In Venezuela the municipality of Sanare is often called the birthplace of the nation's cooperative movement. Like Dane County, Andres Eloy Blanco is looked to as a leader in cooperative activities."
Anne Reynolds, Assistant Director at the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, who has also been working to create the relationship stated, "Dane County is home to a diverse and successful group of cooperatives. A sister - county relationship with Andres Elroy Blanco would help build connections between the cooperatives in both communities, and support opportunities for education and research."
Currently, the City of Milwaukee is looking to create a relationship with Corora, Venezuela. The government of Venezuela has stated their interest in offering discounted heating oil and free eye surgery to Milwaukee's low-income residents. Over the last few years, the Venezuelan government has provided millions of gallons of heating oil at a 40% discount to hundreds of thousands of low-income households in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Philadelphia, New York City's Harlem and Bronx neighborhoods, and Indian reservations across the country.
Other cities around the world have created relationships with Venezuelan cities. These relationships have opened new avenues for trade between cities and counties, whether they exchange ideas and culture or goods and services. For example, London recently signed an agreement with Venezuela in which Venezuela will provide 20% reduced fuel costs to city buses to directly subsidize the fares of 250,000 low-income bus riders. In exchange, Venezuela will benefit through the provision of London's technical knowledge in its infrastructure, urban planning, and tourism.
Sanare is an urban area surrounded by small rural towns located in the Midwest of Venezuela. The main engine of the municipality's economy is agriculture and coffee production. According to Mayor Alfredo Orozco, during many decades this area has been the epicenter of many struggles for social justice and is also considered to be the birthplace of the Venezuelan peasant cooperative movement, as well as home of poets, musicians and revolutionary leaders. All these characteristics make Andres Eloy Blanco a place with a unique social and progressive environment, as well as a place whose inhabitants have great adherence to participatory democracy and to community life. "After receiving the visit of several Wisconsin residents in our state, and after the participation at our International Coffee Fair of Madison's Just Coffee Cooperative, with which we established a relationship, we feel very excited about the prospect of establishing a Sister County relationship with Dane County," said the Mayor.
Officials from Andres Eloy Blanco are very excited at the prospect of building a relationship with Dane County. Sanara's head of the Department of Tourism and International Relations Maria Victoria Casanova said, "From Sanare we would like to say that we believe it to be a great idea to establish this relationship with Dane County, we think that we have much in common and much to share, and that to us seems marvelous!"
According to Martin Sanchez, Consul General of Venezuela in Chicago, the Andres Eloy Blanco Municipality shares many values with those of Dane County, such as its adherence to democracy, solidarity, cooperation and citizen empowerment. "A sister county agreement is an excellent opportunity to begin a strong relation that promotes and strengthens economic, social, and cultural exchange between these two counties, at levels and in areas not yet reached or explored," Sánchez said. According to the consul, "there is a conscious effort underway in Venezuela to revitalize its agricultural sector. "It makes sense for us to establish relationships with those from whom we can benefit in terms of technology cooperation and who can benefit from what regions like Andres Eloy Blanco have to offer due to its culture and the quality of its agricultural products," Sanchez said.
Currently, Dane County has a sister relationship with Apartado, Colombia and the City of Kassel, Germany. Most recently, a delegation of Dane County supervisors visited Kassel to meet with city officials and observe the light-rail system and energy generating plants with the hope of replicating a similar model in Dane County.
Beyond official recognition of the sister-county relationship, the resolution would also establish a revenue and expense account for donations, and form a taskforce to foster trade, enhance intercultural understanding, and encourage communication, friendship, and goodwill between communities in Venezuela and the United States.
Posted by prodane at 04:17 AM | Comments (0)
Reported by Madison Environmental Justice Organization
www.mejo.us ~ 608.240.1485 ~ info@mejo.us
Pollution in Dane County lakes and waterways makes it risky to catch and eat some fish; yet there are no fish consumption advisory signs posted where shoreline anglers can read them and make informed decisions.
County Supervisor Ashok Kumar has introduced a County Board resolution to remedy this problem, and to make sure these signs are relevant to the people who fish along shorelines.
Information should be in English, Spanish and Hmong, be free of jargon so people can easily understand them and describe consumption information about the kinds of fish that people catch in the particular waterway. Furthermore, the County should work with the communities affected to create these signs.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Contact your County Supervisor
Please let your County Supervisor know you support this measure; you can email your supervisor (and let all the other Supervisors know of your support) at county_board_recipients@co.dane.wi.us. If you don't know who your Supervisor is, go to www.co.dane.wi.us/coboard/supervisor.aspx to find out.
Send a Letter
Click here to send a letter to the editor of your local paper.
Attend a public meeting
where this resolution will be discussed and voted on
Feb. 5 – County Environment, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee meeting (1 Fen Oak Ct, Room 208 at 5:30 pm)
Feb. 14 – County Lakes & Watershed Commission meeting (City-County Bldg, 210 MLK Jr. Blvd, Rm. 431 at 5:15 pm)
??????? – Personnel & Finance Committee meeting (not scheduled yet)
??????? – County Board meeting (not scheduled yet)
Ask other to help
Get others involved—ask them to do any of the above.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FISH ADVISORY SIGNS
Posted by prodane at 11:58 PM