April 15, 2002 e-newsletter
In this issue:
| Sprawl Solution Eyed | |
| Metropolitan Municipalities: Key to Cost Savings? |
|
Alliance Meets in Madison April 26
The Alliance of Cities will meet Friday, April 26, to express support for the Senate budget package and define our vision of what should come next in terms of Wisconsin's governmental structure and state support.
The Alliance’s long-term goalsand support of the Senate package as a transition into a new partnership between governments in Wisconsin will be announced at a 1:30 press conference.
In the Assembly Republican caucus during debate on the budget deficit bill, the
“Let’s cut shared
revenue” speeches all related to “there will be no reason for local governments
to come to the table
unless there are cuts in shared revenue.”
Let’s prove them wrong. We know reform is necessary. Now let’s put the Alliance’s principles on paper and define the agenda for government in Wisconsin.
We hope that all members will attend and help guide Wisconsin in coming bienniums.
For more information, and to print out a registration form to fax back to us, please go here.
Budget conference committee
may take a while
There's not a lot of common ground between the Republican-controlled Assembly and the Democratic-controlled Senate on the state budget bill. Including their differences on the shared revenue, the two houses differ on 319 individual budget items, and agree on just 124, according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau summary.
|
While shared revenues remain our major priority, there are a host of other issues in the budget bill that we've been working on — either for or against. Here's a memo we sent to legislators summarizing our positions: |
Conference Explores Sprawl Solution
"Regional Government: The solution to sprawl?" is the title of a conference in Madison April 20 that argues, in effect, "If the problems caused by sprawl are regional in nature, of necessity the solution should be regional too.
"Build a Wal-Mart on the edge of town and your municipal neighbors will share the traffic, if not the tax base," say 1000 Friends of Wisconsin and the Land Use Institute, in their invitation to their 2002 annual meeting and conference at Edgewood College in Madison.
|
The groups have invited Carl Hosticka, the
president of Metro,
Portland, Oregon's, metropolitan government, to discuss how regionalism works in Oregon. "We have also invited some of Wisconsin's best thinkers to mix it up with Carl -- former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, Alliance of Cities Director Ed Huck, Greater Milwaukee Committee Director Bob Milbourne -- and you," the groups add. Aren't they wonderfully perceptive, especially about Ed? |
The fee for the conference, which covers materials and lunch, is $45. Register as soon as poossible. Sponsors are accepting late registrations, but they need to know how much food to order. For more information, look here.
If you can't make the conference, we'll follow up. Also, there's a considerable body of material on the Internet indicating that regionalism is a solution to sprawl. Start by following the links on the Panning Commissioners Journal's sprawl solutions page.
For Wisconsin, there's Myron Orfield and Tom Luce's Wisconsin Metropatterns, commissioned by the Alliance's educational and research arm, Wisconsin Sustainable Cities Inc., and funded by the Joyce Foundation. See a summary of the study here. Also, see our initial proposal that grew out of the study, here.
Protesters Could Outnumber Mayors
Folks protecting the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Madison June 14-18 could outnumber the mayors in attendance, if protest organizers have their way. We're not sure what exactly they're protesting, but they say there was too little community involvement in setting up the event, and they're hoping for thousands of protesters. For the AP story on the planned protest, look here. Protests seem to happen at every U.S. Conference of Mayors event, and if this year's fizzles, Madison's claim to the title of Protest Town, U.S.A. will really be in jeopardy.
How Shared Revenue Fight Plays Out
We'll fill in the blanks as the process continues.
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | |
| Current Law | $1,029.4 | $1,039.7 | $1,039.7 |
| Governor | 679.4 | 679.4 | 0.0 |
| Joint Finance* | 1,029.4 | 750.0 | 515.0 |
| Assembly* | 1,029.4 | 750.0 |
515.0 |
| Senate | 1,029.4 | 1,039.7 | 1,039.7 |
| Conference Committee | |||
| Governor's vetoes | |||
(in millions of
dollars) |
|||
Alliance Board elections coming up
Alliance President Paul Jadin is prohibited by our bylaws from seeking re-election. Other board members whose terms are expiring in September: vice president Jane Wood of Beloit; secretary-treasurer Joe Laux of Menasha and Mayors Jim Schramm of Sheboygan and Michael Miller of West Bend.
These slots will be filled by mail ballot. Nominations are due by May 1. All who are interested, indicate whether you are interested in the presidency, vice-presidency, secretary-treasurership or one of the regular board slots, and send your name to City Manager Jane Wood at woodj@ci.beloit.wi.us
The successful candidates will be announced at the Alliance's June 13 meeting in Madison.
