Friday, April 02, 2010

Point-Counterpoint

Chad Speight's letter to the Herald 

The time has come to embrace new ideas and forward-looking candidates for the Monona City Council. Having served with the three incumbents on the Council and on various city committees, I can say that we need change in Monona. We need the energy and new ideas that Scott Munson and Matt Aro will bring to the Council.

All three incumbents have voted for budgets which reduce funding for city services, leading Monona’s race to the bottom. Many city employees are paid near the bottom of the pay scale compared to surrounding communities, and this hurts our ability to retain quality staff. While we have managed to attract a few outstanding people, and others are great at what they do for us; at the end of the day, either our city employees are underpaid, or we are stuck with people who are not as talented as we need them to be.

Consider the park shelter fiasco. All three incumbents were on the council leading up to this. The city engineer and other city staff were not capable of assuring that the building was built properly. And the city did not hire competent managers to assure that things were done properly. These conservatives claim to be saving the taxpayer money, but in the end, we are getting a bad deal. They are wasting our tax dollars.

The bicycle lanes at the south end of Winnequah are another example of political meddling which squandered our tax dollars without improving our city. Their leadership gave us a poorly designed street that is unsafe for cyclist who commute, and dangerous for families on bikes or on foot. Rather than improve the street, and creating safe, well-defined paths for pedestrians, cars, and cyclists, we created a unique hazard.

An online bicycle website refers to it as the “goofy bike lanes “in Monona. Monona deserves and needs leaders who understand that great ideas and solutions already exist in other communities, and we need to embrace positive change for the good of our community.

Let’s be honest about the problem: Maywood would not be in danger of closing if Monona would address pedestrian safety seriously. Every year, fewer and fewer parents are willing to move to a city with no sidewalks leading to schools and no sidewalks on our busiest streets. 

Too many families have moved away to safer communities; too many families will not consider a city that refuses to change. The city council does not run our school district, but their inaction has led to our current crisis. We need alders who hear the pleas of young families in our city, who are willing to consider small, consistent steps to make our city a better place to live. The time has come for new leadership in Monona.

Alders Kugle, Thomas, and Wiswell are happy with these “accomplishments” and they have promised more of the same. But Monona does not have to tolerate such low standards and lack of vision. We can choose to elect Scott Munson and Matt Aro, so that Monona has a fighting chance to improve our city, before the last school closes. Support Matt Aro and Scott Munson for city council.

Chad Speight, Former Alderperson


Alders Wiswell Kugle Response:

First, in an effort to highlight his disagreements with some alders he wrote “All three incumbents voted for budgets which reduce funding for city services, leading Monona’s race to the bottom.” This is completely misleading, and flat wrong.

What really caused us concern though was when Mr. Speight wrote “While we have managed to attract a few outstanding people and others are great at what they do for us; at the end of the day, either our city employees are underpaid, or we are stuck with people who are not as talented as we need them to be.”   

This is demeaning to our hard working highly dedicated city employees.It is the job of the city council, like any legislature, to make decisions and set policies, and it is up to the executive branch of government to implement those decisions to the best of their ability. 

When a project might not go well, or a contractor or their workers might not perform correctly it is not the fault of the legislative branch of government.

Third, he complains about the bicycle lanes along the South end of Winnequah.  I voted against those “goofy” chokers extending into the roadway, and Alder Kugle wasn’t even on the council at that time.

Fourth, and finally his letter completely misses the mark on neighborhood schools, when he writes that “Maywood would not be in danger of closing if Monona would address pedestrian safety seriously.”

When grade level adjustments were made at Winnequah school Alderman Kugle joined me in sponsoring a series of traffic safety improvements in the area adjacent to the school. These included: adding new stop signs, painting cross walks, and striping walk lines on streets, as recommended by citizens and law enforcement.

Thank you for allowing us to set the record straight.

Jeff Wiswell and Dennis Kugle, Monona Aldermen

6 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. The middle paragraph is a quote from the Wiswell letter. You lost my formatting when you moved it. Without that, it's confusing.... :(

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  3. I think Chad's obsession with pedestrian safety is getting him nowhere and his statements regarding it are untrue. To say that families are moving away because of lack of sidewalks is a bit absurd.

    I'm young and have a family. When we speak to other families about moving here, they complain about Monona Drive.

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  4. OK, let me try it again.

    I received this comment on my April Fool's Post, but thought the whole thing was worthy of its own post:

    Unfortunately, I don't think the H-I letter that was supposedly from both Dennis Kugle and Jeff Wiswell was an April Fool's joke. Why is it signed by both but mostly written in the first person singular?

    Equally puzzling, [begin quote from Wiswell/Kugle letter]

    "This is demeaning to our hard working highly dedicated city employees.It is the job of the city council, like any legislature, to make decisions and set policies, and it is up to the executive branch of government to implement those decisions to the best of their ability. When a project might not go well, or a contractor or their workers might not perform correctly it is not the fault of the legislative branch of government." [end quote from Wiswell/Kugle letter]

    Don't we have an elected council and mayor who have the power to hire and fire the people who administrate our city? What, exactly, is the "executive branch?" Is that the mayor? So are they saying it is the mayor's fault when city administration mess up? Or are they saying the city administration is responsible for itself and there is no elected officials for whom the buck stops their desk? I am so confused....

    Here are my responses to your questions: Government in the US generally has three separate branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive includes the Mayor and the city staff directly under his control, the legislative branch is the city council.

    These divisions are intended to prevent concentration of too much power in the hands of one branch. Here's a good explanation of this in the state of Wisconsin:

    http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/gw/gw_21.pdf

    The mayor proposes and the council disposes. The mayor proposes to hire someone or some company and the council either approves or not.

    In a small government, the lines of power are not so neatly divided in actual practice. For example, council members often sit on the interview panels.

    Daily oversight is, however, in the control of the Mayor. He can order the city administrator to carry out some action whereas, I as a council member can only ask or suggest. The council sets the policy or law and the mayor and staff implement it.

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  5. I am glad that Alders Kugle and Wiswell supported the stop signs and virtual sidewalks that I proposed in the summer of 2008, just after I was elected. I was co-chair of both of their committees (public works and public safety) and I put these concerns on the agenda immediately, since elementary-aged children were going to be attending Winnequah in the fall of 2008. While I requested sidewalks leading around the school, from Nichols Road, we all agreed that sidewalks were too controversial to accomplish in 3 months, so I proposed striping on the pavement to create "virtual sidewalks", plus the 5-way stop sign and crosswalks. The Police Chief, school administrators, and the Mayor were also supportive and helpful in pushing for these improvements. So I commend them for agreeing to the minimal actions that were demanded at the time. But...
    I still find it dangerous and unfortunate that young children have to wander in the street to get to school on our busiest roads, including the roads leading into Winnequah School.

    I realize some parents are not concerned about this, but having campaigned door to door for the last two years, I can assure anyone who cares to listen that MANY PARENTS with small children think that Monona needs to do much more, including adding some sidewalks, to make our city safer.
    Yeah, I know, I am obsessed with this issue- but I just do not want to wait for a tragedy to occur which forces us to act. And also, this is becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy- there are not that many kids in the streets because families are choosing to live in other neighborhoods/cities. At meetings, people on our committees would say "I have not noticed many kids walking in the street!" Of course not, which is why our schools are operating at 40% of capacity.

    And yes, two families with 5 young kids have moved to the west side from my block of Winnequah in 2009. So the issue is very real to me.

    Talk to young families; talk to realtors trying to sell homes in Monona.

    We are free to elect leaders who are willing to solve these problems, or we can continue to pretend everything is dandy and do as little as possible.

    After doing what we did around Winnequah School, the three incumbents obstructed every good idea that I presented in the fall and winter of 2008-09. I wanted the city to discuss these issues, and possible solutions, but I was stymied at the committee level by these alders. Monona could seek federal funding for Safe Routes to School, but they have blocked this from moving forward in any way. I think Monona can do better.

    Lastly, I have to say that I like all 5 of the individuals running for office. I have enjoyed friendly conversations many times with each of them. But elections are not popularity contests; ideas matter. A willingness to listen and learn about the concerns that young families have is critical right now in Monona.

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  6. MC, thanks for responding.

    And yes, alder Speight did initiate the safety improvements near Winnequah School.

    And I do intend to have Public Safety Commission start the process for the federal Safe Streets to Schools program.

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