david michael miller
The city of Madison has to decide if it is going to invest $54.7 million in a single project. To pay for this one huge development, other neighborhood projects could get delayed for years.
This is a time when Madison needs strong leadership. Instead, Mayor Paul Soglin decided to give an hour of testimony followed up by a three-page letter detailing why he thinks a frite shop on State Street shouldn’t be allowed to sell beer.
A few weeks ago, the Common Council voted 19-1 to award Mad City Frites a beer-wine license. Soglin decided to veto it, even though he knew the council had the votes to override the veto. On Tuesday night, the council voted overwhelmingly to override Soglin’s veto.
The mayor has pulled a few stunts like this recently to protest the proliferation of bars and restaurants on State Street and the decline of retail. I might actually support the mayor’s efforts if he had a strong plan for how to preserve retail downtown. But the mayor’s efforts seem piecemeal. He proposes a different strategy every couple of months — veto threats, fee hikes for sidewalk cafes, grants for new retail stores. There doesn’t seem to a long-term plan for State Street’s future tying these all together.
Have a committee work on new downtown restaurant density for a year — then it can be time to get into the minutiae of city policy towards artisan french fries.
This is also one of the worst times in recent history for the mayor to eat up the council’s minutes and hours. Alders are set to debate the mayor’s capital budget, with the gigantic Judge Doyle Square redevelopment right at the center.
I don’t love the Judge Doyle Square project, with its plans for more than $50 million in taxpayer support. To put that number in perspective, the Edgewater Hotel TIF request, which spawned seemingly endless citywide debate, was a mere $16 million. To me, it is too high a price tag for too small a public benefit. However, Madison voters reelected Mayor Soglin by an overwhelming margin, and his mandate gives him significant political capital. If Soglin wants to spend that capital on Judge Doyle Square, that’s his prerogative.
But Soglin doesn’t come across as a man trying to sell the city and the council on what will be the biggest project of his most recent stint in office. Looking over his storied career in Madison politics, only Monona Terrace and the original Madison Civic Center seem to compare.
To pay for the Judge Doyle Square project, Soglin is asking alders to make big political sacrifices in their own neighborhoods.
On the east side, the public market, a linchpin of redevelopment plans on booming East Washington Avenue, gets delayed to 2021. On the west side, a new Midtown police station, which was supposed to break ground in 2016, gets pushed back to 2022 at the earliest. Police resources are already stretched thin on the west side. At some point, this becomes a public safety hazard.
There is a ticking clock to approve the Judge Doyle Square project, and the council is expected to vote on it next week. The mayor should be selling the council and the public on the merits of Judge Doyle Square, convincing taxpayers why this is the correct long-term strategy for the city. This is not the time to make the council waste time on a do-over for a beer license. That’s not how you win broad-based support in advance of a huge vote.
The mayor seems more interested in telling everyone else why they are wrong instead of convincing them that he is right.
Mayor Soglin has regularly let distractions keep him from getting the best possible outcome. In the past couple of years, the city has made steady progress on housing-first solutions for Madison’s homeless population. More people have stable housing, and the mayor rightfully deserves credit for that.
But Soglin’s preoccupation with the people abusing drugs and alcohol at the City-County Building and the 100 block of State Street needlessly alienates allies who could help expand housing-first solutions. A little acknowledgment that these homeless people with addiction issues are, you know, people would make homeless advocates more likely to work with the city to connect clients to sorely needed drug treatment programs. Removing seating from Philosopher’s Grove doesn’t inspire philanthropists and the business community to open their wallets to help.
Paul Soglin has shaped this city during his many terms in office. His leadership is a significant reason for Madison being the wonderful place it is today. I think he can still be the leader the city needs in this pivotal time. He just needs to move past the distractions. I’ll even offer to buy him a beer at the frite shop.
Alan Talaga co-writes the Off the Square cartoon with Jon Lyons and blogs at isthmus.com/madland.
