Ray Allen 1) As the first African American mayor in Madison's history, I can assure you that people of color, will be very involved in the decision making of my administration and appointed to committees and boards. I would also hold regular meeting with the various ethnic community members to make sure we are addressing their needs. 2) To raise awareness of minority owned businesses I would have a vendors guide compiled, listed on the city website, and updated bi-annually. On the city website, this list would be available to public and private buyers, and could be linked to other agency and organization websites to encourage awareness and use. For city purchases, every department would need to send out an electronic request for proposal to all of the vendors providing the service(s) or product(s) in the category(s) required. I would support a two-tiered buying approach for the city, including 1) lowest bid and 2) % offset for minority and locally owned vendors. I would also work with the lending institutions to create better access to capital for minority businesses. 3) Shrinking resources and growing demand from in-migration is a problem we can no longer afford to look the other way and not address. Government's first obligation is to our citizens and documented workers. Proof of Madison address, and signed statement of citizenship or documentation should be required to utilize any City of Madison goods and services or pay market rate at the time of service. 4) Because Madison has very little housing for low income families and individuals, and until Madison has more housing affordable to low income residents, my guiding priority would be to prevent displacement of as many residents as possible, unless they choose to re-locate or have behavior problems that make them a good candidate to move on out of our city. The city-owned properties should be divided into rental and rent to own properties, with some removed and the rest remodeled and upgraded. Any work contracted for should have apprenticeship jobs required as part of the bid and provide area residents with jobs where possible. 5) Several of the programs administered by the Office of Community Services -- child care and senior services -- are some of the most important programs we have in place to reduce poverty, improve quality of life and opportunity for Madison's residents, and funding must remain the same or increase for these programs. Prioritizing limited resources will be required to accomplish this, and I am prepared to do what's necessary to maintain Madison's childcare and senior services. It would make far more sense to appropriate the $300,000 the mayor spent on a trolley study to its original purpose for the Wexford Community Center and towards childcare programming. Activity and funding for Planning Councils should be evaluated at this time, with 1) equitable funding and 2) increased measures of accountability made a priority in evaluating funding. 6) I would prioritize annual funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and work to amend the ways the fund can be used so it can better provide housing now to our low-income families, and help to improve existing low cost housing to exceed housing codes. I would also initiate a joint action program linking housing and job training to assist families in obtaining and retaining housing. Dave Cieslewicz 1) As mayor, I have worked hard to create a city government that is representative and reflective of the community it serves. We are constantly engaging in outreach and recruiting efforts to ensure that people of color are aware of the many opportunities for city service. I personally try to discuss these opportunities whenever I am speaking to an audience that includes people of color. We also use paid advertising to encourage people of color to apply for these opportunities. 2) I am a strong supporter of the "buy local" proposal currently being reviewed by the Common Council, and included this proposal in my economic development agenda. This proposal would create incentives for city government to purchase goods and services from local businesses. If combined with an aggressive outreach program to MBEs, this proposal could lead to a significant increase in the city's use of these businesses. 3) City government should take a compassionate, common sense approach on this issue. By and large, undocumented workers are productive, law-abiding members of our community who are simply looking to create a better life for themselves and their families. If there are city government goods and services that can help these individuals lead stable, productive lives that contribute to our community, we should make them available. In many ways, our options are limited by federal immigration policy. I was proud to join last fall's historic march and rally on the Capitol Square to protest the wrong-headed immigration proposals of Cong. Jim Sensenbrenner and others. Ultimately, until we have a rational immigration policy at the federal level, this issue will not be resolved. 4) I fought hard to win Common Council approval to purchase those properties, and keep them out of the hands of slumlords. We are now in the midst of a neighborhood-centered process for creating a redevelopment plan. This is an historic opportunity, because these properties represent about 20% of the housing in the Allied Drive neighborhood. So we need to get it right. Ultimately, the neighborhood will benefit from a redevelopment plan that maintains affordability, protects the supply of 3-bedroom housing units, and brings owner-occupied and perhaps even retail space into the neighborhood. We need to be creative in working with partners like WHEDA and perhaps non-profits like Habitat for Humanity to achieve all of these goals, and maintain the promise to the neighborhood that this will help residents "move up, not out." 5) Despite very tight budgets, I have supported increased funding for community service programs. Last year alone, my budget included a 6% increase for these programs. I believe that these programs are critically important in our efforts to address the challenges we face on the issues of crime and poverty. My budget also included a 50% increase in childcare tuition assistance for low-income families, the largest increase in the program's history. This investment will help contribute to the healthy development of all our kids, and also help more low-income families fully participate in the workforce. 6) During the past four years, we have pursued a variety of strategies for creating affordable housing. Although Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) has gotten most of the attention, for low-income families there are number of other programs that are probably more important. For instance, our Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) office runs a program that offers down-payment assistance for low-income families. We know through experience that while many low-income families could afford a modest mortgage payment, they rarely have the funds available for the required down payment. This program opens the door to home ownership, and wealth accumulation, by addressing that issue. Peter Munoz 1) Any organization that strives to be effective must reflect the community it serves in its workforce composition. The City of Madison government is no exception and thus must be diversified to understand the complex problems we face, and be able to find effective solutions to address them. People of color are underrepresented on Madison's boards and commissions. My goal is to have the makeup of every City Department, Committee or Board more representative of the population of the City of Madison. To this end I am committed to appoint competent people from our diverse communities throughout City government, including staff, and members of committees and boards. 2) We must create more educational programs to assist businesses become certified with the State, the County and the City of Madison. I will support initiatives to work with existing businesses to bolster their capacity to provide goods and services and identify opportunities to compete effectively for available contracts. I will also work to identify potential entrepreneurs from minority communities to help them establish new businesses. Further, I intend to instruct the Office of Economic Development to actively recruit minority businesses. Finally, I will make it the responsibility of every department seeking contract bids to ensure area businesses are aware of these opportunities with the City of Madison. 3) Undocumented workers contribute significantly to our economy. These workers are not only doing many difficult and essential jobs that would otherwise not be done, but are supporting government services by paying federal, state and local taxes. Yet, their lack of immigration documents prevents them from receiving some government services. This is a situation that must be addressed at the federal level. Issues related to immigration enforcement are not within the purview of local or state governments. Thus the City of Madison must ensure its services are available to all who are entitled to them. This means not placing undue restrictions and barriers on undocumented workers who are contributing resources to provide the services. 4) I would like to see the City focus on creating stable, long-term housing in the Allied Drive area. That includes converting many rental units into owner-occupied housing. For renters who currently are not able to buy their units, we should explore rent-to-own programs as a way of helping them become homeowners. 5) I certainly do not want to see the funding of the Office of Community Development decreased because there are still many unmet needs in our community. The City needs to examine why there are so many unmet needs, and make appropriate system changes to allow more people to participate in City-sponsored programs that lead to self sufficiency. 6) I would work with nonprofits and developers to increase the number of affordable housing stock. I would also like to see the Community Development Authority participate in building additional affordable housing in our community. Although there has been much discussion about homeownership, there is still much need for additional affordable rental units. The CDA can and should be working to fulfilling that need. I would also like to see the CDA use the Section 8 program to assist low-income people to become home owners. |
| Decision 2007:Candidates for Madison Mayor Questions 1. To what extent will people of color be appointed to decision-making positions within your administration and on city committees and boards? 2. What initiatives will you undertake to expand the level of the purchasing of goods and services of minority business enterprises (MBEs) by private and public decision makers? 3. To what extent should undocumented workers be allowed to access and utilize goods and services provided by city government? 4. How would you redevelop the city-owned properties on Allied Drive and what would be the guiding principles that would influence the decisions you would make? 5. In light of its historical funding levels in an age of declining public revenues, should the funding of the programs funded by the Office of Community Services be decreased, remain the same or increased? Why? 6. What initiatives and programs would you undertake to ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing for low-income families that meet or exceed city housing codes? |
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