Dylan Brogan
There have been two positive developments in city government this week that are worth noting.
First, in a surprise move, the city’s Landmarks Commission voted to grant a variance for the development group Urban Land Interests to tear down a landmarked building on North Pinckney Street that would stand in the way of a major and welcome redevelopment there. The Centre Seven building at 7 N. Pinckney is a 1970s mashup of two old buildings on that site. The buildings may have been worth saving before they were messed up, but now they beg for the wrecking ball.
City staff measured the proposal from the developers against standards in the historic preservation ordinance and determined that the commission didn’t have leeway to grant the variance and allow the building to be taken down. A reasonable person could read the same documents and come to the opposite conclusion and that’s just what a majority of the commission did.
This is important because it’s a case where the system worked the way it should. Citizen commissioners reviewed the proposal and the law, took the staff analysis into consideration and then, crucially, exercised their own judgment rather than blindly following a staff recommendation.
I have long felt that city government overall is far too deferential to staff views and recommendations. Don’t get me wrong. Madison city staff is great. These are highly competent people. But it’s not their job to make final decisions or to have their recommendations essentially rubber-stamped. Let’s hope this isn’t just a one-off, but that it’s the beginning of a change in culture that leads to greater independence on behalf of commissions, committees and ultimately elected decision-makers.
Now let’s also hope that somebody moves to landmark the truly historic Churchill Building, which really is worth saving, because right now it sits there on Carroll Street with no protection. The Madison Trust for Historic Preservation had a very well-researched landmarks application that it withdrew under pressure. But any other group or citizen can pick it up and submit it. The work’s already been done.
The other positive move is that, after some delay, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway has started to take action to cut city spending in response to what is now projected to be a $30 million revenue shortfall as a result of the pandemic shutdown. She’s starting with the relatively easy stuff: hiring freezes and a tighter rein on spending accounts. But she says that furloughs are on the table as, unfortunately, they must be.
And it may not be quite as painful as we might think. The city of Milwaukee just approved a furlough plan that they project will make laid off workers whole once state unemployment insurance plus the temporary federal benefit kicks in. There is a big problem, though, with the state unemployment office actually approving benefits on a timely basis, a topic I’ll take up in a future blog.
Of course, this can’t stop at the city. All local governments need to make hard choices. The Madison Metropolitan School District has released a preliminary budget that would eliminate 50 positions and keep the property tax increase to $46 on the average home. That’s a good start, but I think they're going to have to go further. And I would expect we’ll hear something from Dane County soon. All told, it would make sense for local governments to band together and pledge a no-tax-increase-budget for 2021.
These are trying times. But we have a city government that is moving toward approval of a $125 million redevelopment on Pinckney Street that will create jobs and add to the tax base while it starts moving toward hard decisions to bring its budget back into balance. Both moves inspire some confidence in the future.
