During his six intermittent terms as mayor, Soglin, 62, churned out many accomplishments, like turning State Street into the pedestrian mall it is today. He is also credited with reforms that created a more diverse city workforce. In 2003, Soglin ran for a seventh mayoral term, but was defeated by current mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who called Soglin "the Madisonian of the century."
Soglin recently spoke to The Daily Page about crime in Madison, what the city should do about it and why the Iraq War hasn't inspired the same social unrest as Vietnam.
The Daily Page: What should Madison do to address the crime issue?
Soglin: Good grief, that's going to take about three hours. It has to do with a combination of things. One is more aggressive community policing. There are not enough community police officers in the city of Madison. Secondly, the city needs to make a greater commitment to combat poverty and environments where crime can expand. We're more occupied with warehousing indigent families than developing programs to [help them].
What do you suppose accounts for the recent spike in crime?
Lack of attention to the kind of programming I just described. We had programs like that, and we still do, but the support for the programs hasn't kept up with the growing number of indigent families moving into the Madison area.
Should Madison take cues from the federal government and close its borders to people from certain cities?
Close its borders…uhm, no.
Did you, as mayor, ever wish you had the power to banish people from Madison?
No. Never thought of it.
Crime aside, what is the second biggest issue you think Madison is facing?
I would imagine that after dealing with poverty and crime, working with the state to developing a fair tax structure to support public education.
Why hasn't the Iraq War fostered the domestic mayhem that Vietnam did?
The main reason is the absence of the draft. The absence of the draft is critical to making more aware of the impact of the war and making it more personal. Virtually everyone, if they were not a male of draft age, was a relative or friends with one.
You've been a high-profile voice in Madison for over 30 years. Do you ever worry about becoming irrelevant?
People who don't want to listen to me just tune me out.
Who would win in a local celebrity death match: You or Mayor Dave?
I don't know what a celebrity death match is. Does that mean I'm culturally deprived?
No. It just means you're 62, I suppose.
(Laughs) My, this will be interesting.
