Tag Evers: Dynae Allice Photography
Clockwise from top left: Tag Evers, Tim LeMonds, Shelia Stubbs, Carmell Jackson, and a Madison Metro Bus.
In the news, clockwise from top left: Ald. Tag Evers; former schools spokesperson Tim LeMonds; Rep. Shelia Stubbs; Carmell Jackson of Melly Mel's Catering; Madison Metro Bus.
In my first year of reporting for Isthmus, I was often reminded that people can talk a lot without saying much. Others get right to it, with a line so pithy and to-the-point you want to put it in the headline. Here are five of my favorite quotes — ones that sum up significant stories, hit like a bolt of lightning, or just make me laugh.
“I just thought he was an equal opportunity asshole.”
– Former Wisconsin State Journal education reporter Beth Beyer on alleged sexism of former Madison schools spokesman Tim LeMonds
When Beyer answered a phone call late one night from Madison schools spokesman Tim LeMonds, she says, he instantly started “going off” on her, part of “a series of calls where he would just start yelling at me.” Beyer told me she didn’t perceive LeMonds’ treatment as sexist until others pointed it out.
Madison schools sent LeMonds packing in July this year after a complaint from several current and former district communications staffers that alleged “years of consistent emotional abuse, bullying, unequal pay, and harassment” of staff and local reporters was released to the public.
An initial investigation by the district found no evidence to warrant discipline of LeMonds. But after LeMonds unsuccessfully sued the district to keep the complaint against him secret in March, the district hired an outside firm to conduct a new investigation into similar, related allegations. That investigation found grounds for discipline, and LeMonds was allowed to voluntarily retire with a $40,000 lump sum payout plus unused sick time in exchange for waiving legal claims.
One of the incidents described in the complaint against LeMonds alleged that the communications director asked people in a staff meeting to share their negative interactions with Beyer and called her “a horrible human being.” In an interview with me, Beyer had a good sense of humor about the situation. She said she was more confused than anything by the late-night call from LeMonds: “I’m like, ‘OK, man, take a breath, what is this all about?’ I was like, ‘I don’t think this is normal.’”
“Y’all, I ain’t getting no younger. It’s just a struggle to keep hearing this.”
– Carmell Jackson, owner and operator of Melly Mell’s Catering, on the Madison Public Market
Madison’s long-delayed public market project finally broke ground this year, but not before yet another budget shortfall — this time due to higher than expected construction bids — threatened the project. Jackson channeled the exasperation of vendors who have been waiting years for the project to materialize at an Oct. 17 city council meeting.
The project was shovel-ready in 2020, with a targeted opening date in late 2021, but the pandemic threw city expenses into disarray, delaying the project. The public market’s original $13 million budget ballooned to a final $23.6 million in the intervening years. Alders plugged a $5.2 million shortfall for the market in 2022 and this year approved $1.64 million in new borrowing, with Dane County kicking in another million, to keep the project on track to open in summer 2025.
Despite the long wait, Jackson was optimistic about the potential of the market once it opens. “You could be in the middle of Truax Field, on the landing strip. If you put a good building there with good food and good people, people come.”
“We’ve got an R2 and a D2. I’m going to look for C-3PO next!”
– Anonymous bus rider, on Madison’s new bus routes
When Madison launched its major bus redesign on June 11, the route changes and name changes (from numbered to mostly lettered routes) caught some riders off guard, including the one who made the quip above, referencing Star Wars characters. Many weren’t aware anything was changing until they showed up at their bus stop for their morning commute, something I observed myself while riding the buses and talking to riders about their experiences.
It was a mixed bag: Some younger and more tech-savvy riders mostly made a smooth adjustment, while others struggled to get where they were going with new routes and connections. Most just needed a bit of help from drivers, guides or other riders.
After the changeover took effect, I reported that some in Madison were upset with bus stop closures and longer walks to stops. Buses are also dealing with crowding downtown and near campus, resulting in major delays. As city transportation planner Mike Cechvala put it, “We’ve gotten significant feedback that our buses are running late all the time.”
One other moment from talking about the redesign with bus riders: A woman waiting on Capitol Square for a 75 bus that runs to Epic’s campus in Verona declined an interview, saying nothing had changed for her. Moments later, she walked away from the stop while making an urgent phone call: “My bus changed [departure times]!” she shouted back to me. “It sucks!”
“We don’t often use the word emergency when it comes to housing. But we are in a current state of emergency in Madison and Dane County.”
– Ald. Tag Evers, on Madison’s housing crisis
Housing costs continued to rise in Madison in 2023, with average rent now more than $1,600 per month (after rising faster than any other major city in the country) and the average cost of a house topping $400,000. The problem of finding affordable housing bleeds into every other conversation in the city.
With the number of federal public housing units in Madison capped by law, and inclusionary zoning outlawed in the state, Ald. Evers and others have been exploring other ways to bring more affordable housing to Madison. As I wrote in my December cover story, one effort advanced this year was turning to the city’s Community Development Authority to directly develop dense, mixed-income projects that advocates call “social housing.” Two of those developments on city-owned land, at the Triangle and the South Transfer Point, will add about 1,400 new apartments to the portfolio of the CDA, which also manages the city’s federal public housing, in future years.
City officials see building dense, publicly controlled housing on city land as a way to address failures of the private housing market. As Evers said to one city planning official: “Why don’t we just do it ourselves?”
“I was under attack from the moment I sat in this chair.”
– Rep. Shelia Stubbs, on the confirmation process to name her director of Dane County’s human services department
Turmoil in Dane County government this spring over the appointment of Rep. Shelia Stubbs to the top job in the county’s human services department made public a rift between County Executive Joe Parisi and county supervisors that had been growing for years.
Supv. Heidi Wegleitner, the chair of the committee considering Stubbs, blasted the administration’s hiring process: “What was different about this process is that it was short, it was quick, and it wasn’t the sort of thorough vetting that we’ve seen previously.”
Parisi then blasted the County Board: “Members of the Dane County Board last night went on record saying an African American woman with a master's degree in management and bachelor's degrees in criminal justice and political science, 16 years in county elected office, who has lived experience volunteering in community centers and working for decades to fight poverty and racism while advocating for those less fortunate is not qualified.”
Stubbs, herself a former county supervisor, often reiterated claims of bias against the board during the confirmation process, saying that she was being treated differently than previous nominees for top county posts because of her race. Supervisors took issue with one of Stubbs’ supporters using a racial slur and with comments Stubbs made before her church about shaking up the county board and taking the position “by force” if needed.
Ultimately, the Board voted down Stubbs’ nomination after hours of passionate testimony from supporters and skeptical questioning from supervisors. Parisi appointed recent mayoral candidate Gloria Reyes to a managerial role in the department in the fallout and in October announced he would not be seeking re-election.
Supv. Michele Ritt summed up the saga: “The ugly of humanity came out.”
