Budget, Jail Analytics, Covid-19, and Time to Vote
/Dear Neighbors,
It has been an incredibly busy and challenging summer. As the kids return to virtual school (in most cases), I have updates on Jail Analytics, a tough budget cycle, arts funding, land purchases, dredging, an acceleration of Covid-19 in our community and a critical fall election. I will also update you on pausing the jail project and various resolutions related to criminal justice reform.
Jail Analytics and Criminal Justice Resolutions
I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Data for Impact Conference to talk about Jail Analytics and announced some exciting developments in public safety information sharing. I worked with Supervisor Richelle Andrae (District 11) on a proposal for better Jail Analytics. We now have a daily jail census report that includes inmate race, ethnicity, judicial status, and age. We do expect an increase in the jail population post Covid-19 but this report helps us understand if the inmates in jail are there for County, State or Federal reasons. We can use this data to help permanently reduce our jail population. I outline this in greater detail in the East Side News (page 20). To see the report you can click here.
There are two resolutions that are working through the County Board for criminal justice reform. I am a strong supporter of Resolution 145 (the Doyle resolution) that calls for halting the jail and working on criminal justice reform to permanently reduce our jail population. As of now, the resolution has passed the Health and Human Needs Committee and the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee. It has however been indefinitely postponed by the Public Works committee. Procedurally there will be some work to do to get this before the full board. Please follow my Facebook page for updates on that.
There is also Resolution 180 that supports many important Criminal Justice reforms but many of the issues it addresses are outside of the jurisdiction of the Dane County board and it does not address the jail.
Recently Chair Eicher released a memo about the jail outlining that “Reworking the design to meet cost constraints will take time and the contracts for the jail consolidation project will be delayed several months, to the Spring of next year .” There will likely be numerous development on this in the coming weeks and I will be providing real time updates as they happen.
Covid-19 Crisis
We are in the midst of a Covid-19 crisis in Madison and Dane County which has been largely driven by institutional incompetence of organizations like the University of Wisconsin - Madison. This has driven a large spread of Covid-19 in our community. We warned the UW that this would happen on August 25th, but they didn’t listen. To further exacerbate the problem, the big 10 football season is starting. This will only further delay a full re-opening and recovery from Covid-19.
In August, I worked with Supervisor Sarah Smith and many other colleagues to delay the full re-opening of the Epic Campus. We are constantly working to get institutions to take Covid-19 seriously. Recently the state supreme court issued a temporary injunction against Emergency Order #9. E.O. 9 prevented in-person schooling for grades 3 - 12 but the supreme court ruling has taken away the ability of our health department to exercise local control. Despite this Supreme Court ruling, we strongly urge schools to continue virtual instruction.
It is exhausting being an elected official and having common sense public health pleas ignored by major institutions across the board only prolonging our Safer at Home orders. Here is what I recommend:
Downtown Madison is a Covid hotspot so be mindful when traveling or doing business there. That does not mean avoid the area but rather practice physical distancing, be vigilant about wearing a mask and try to limit time indoors with people outside of your pod as is practical. Downtown has been hit particularly hard in the past few months and it is my intention to support the people and businesses in this vibrant part of our community.
The definition of Downtown Madison is ephemeral and the large spike in cases could extend beyond the immediate downtown so please don't let your guard down in district 6 as well.
Being outdoors with proper physical distancing has a lower risk profile so as temperatures drop, act like you are at a tailgate, bundle up and enjoy the fresh air.
As the days become shorter and the weather changes, please prioritize your own mental health as well as those around you. We can support each other through phone calls, messages and conversations as per physical distancing guidelines. The prolonged financial and emotional stressors are setting in and we still have a ways to go.
We can work together to get through this. We are in yet another corrective phase with this large spike in cases so let's double down on our efforts to support each other and public health recommendations.
Dredging and Land Purchase Updates
In committee, we passed a large land purchase of $3 million for 160 acres in the Town of Verona. Part of the funds from this purchase came from the Flood Risk Reduction Fund which I added $3 million to in the last budget. This project will help with prairie restoration, provide recreational opportunities, and allow for over 2 million gallons of water to be infiltrated rather than run off.
However, I want to emphasize that this project is outside of the Yahara watershed and will do nothing to alleviate flooding concerns in the Isthmus and Yahara chain of lakes. Unfortunately, properties in the watershed have not been put on the market.
This project is important for the county as a whole but I will be looking to prioritize purchasing properties in the Yahara watershed going forward. We are not significantly more resilient to flooding than we were two years ago during the devastating storms. We will need to continue to make dredging, lower lake levels and land purchases in the Yahara a priority going forward.
I also recently checked in to see our progress on dredging and sediment removal. Phase 1 is plugging along and we are hopeful work can continue into the fall before winter sets in. In the budget, we will likely be requesting additional money to keep these projects going. Check out this video to get a birds eye view of the progress.
Quick news and notes
Congratulations to Ginny Jenkins the new president of the SASY Neighborhood Association. Ginny has been a long time organizer of AtwoodFest and active SASY board member. Big thanks to outgoing president Brad Hinkfuss for all his work over the years.
There is a new airport page with PFAS information. Please have a look here. In a future update, I will dive into this in more detail.
Dane Arts recently granted $138,000 to local arts organizations, many in district 6. It was an honor to work as a commissioner to help move this process forward and evaluate these grant requests.
We have a critical fall election coming up. Please request your absentee ballot using this link as soon as you can!
Once you get your absentee ballot, you can hand it directly to a poll worker on 9/26 or 10/3 during Democracy in the Park. I will be at Worthington Park on 10/3 from 12 to 3. Hope to see you there!
Big thanks to all the parents, teachers and support staff who are working hard to make virtual learning work for everybody. I know it’s tough but I am very impressed with my daughter’s teacher and class room and how quickly everyone is rapidly adapting to our new reality. I know the stress this has caused to teachers, parents and students but everyone is doing a spectacular job under impossible circumstances. I appreciate all of you!
We are just starting our budget hearings and we will be busy with the budget the next few months. I want to hear about what YOUR priorities are for the budget. Please reach out to me and let me know.
Thanks for hanging in there for a long update. Every time I sat down to write this in the past few weeks, there was another issue that needed immediate attention. I hope you are taking care of yourself and supporting your friends, family, neighbors and community.