January 12, 2006 e-newsletter |
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Alliance meetings Jan. 26 & Jan. 27
Threat to local revenue, new brownfields bill on our agenda
In addition to a presentation on public perceptions of local government, the Alliance's Jan. 27 meeting in Madison will include a look at the latest threat to local cable revenue and right-of-way control on the horizon at the federal and state levels, and a glance at the latest brownfields legislation.
Barry Orton, a telecommunications professor at UW, Brad Clark, Madison City Channel/City of Madison Cable TV Coordinator; Mary Cardona, Executive Director, Wisconsin Association of PEG Channels; and Jerry Musial, Video/Cable Communications Coordinator, City of West Allis, will describe legislation in Congress and in states across the country — which hasn't yet surfaced in Wisconsin — to dilute local control of rights of way, reduce cable franchise revenue and potentially eliminate public access educational and governmental channels. This is not an idle threat. It has happened in Texas, where an anti-consumer, anti-local government bill was signed by Gov. Rick Perry.
In Indiana, legislators are discussing a similar bill that
would cost local governments their local franchise revenue and community access to
communication resources would be just some of the unfortunate byproducts if the
legislation becomes law. The bill would shift franchising authority to state
government from local governments.
SBC (now AT&T) and Verizon spent millions of dollars to pass the Texas bill,
which imposes a cut-rate state franchising system on the cable industry, benefiting new
entrants (i.e., phone companies) .
Join us Jan. 27 to find out more. Your cable folks might want to attend too. Call it the Barry, Jerry, Mary and Brad Show, and hope it doesn't close on opening night!
Alliance members can use the RSVP form here: http://www.wiscities.org/01meetings.htm. Make your reservations now, because the block of rooms at the Concourse will be released Wednesday, Jan. 18.
Also, Darsi Foss, chief of the brownfields and outreach section of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, will fill us in on proposed modifications to the Environmental Remediation TIF law and legislation to provide local governments with an exemption from liability if they acquire a certain type of landfill.
The DNR is trying to garner support for the package, especially from communities that would benefit from these changes. The agency also is proposing to replace the use of deed restrictions on contaminated properties with a web-based informational system that will hopefully make all parties happier.
Check out this new legislation on the horizon. Again, for Alliance members, meeting details and an RSVP form are at http://www.wiscities.org/01meetings.htm
And please RSVP today!
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| 'Real People' speak out against TABOR TABOR, the fraudulently named "Taxpayer's Bill of Rights" could mean death for domestic violence programs in Wisconsin, and threaten death or great bodily harm for some victims of domestic violence as well, the latest "The Trouble With TABOR" forum in Milwaukee was told Jan. 11. Some 150 people attended the forum at the Tommy G. Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park.
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| More on the La Crosse
forum is here. Additional forums, sponsored by the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, are in Eau Claire, Green Bay and Cleveland. Details below. |
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| Our Jan. 26 Finance Directors'
meeting Finance Directors to hear score on energy savings Oshkosh expects to save $40,000 a year in electrical costs from switching to LED traffic lights. Madison expects to save $30,000 and West Bend, $17,000. In addition, because light emitting diodes — semiconductors that create t light without producing much heat — last longer than the incandescent lamps invented by Thomas A. Edison in 1879, those Alliance members stand to save money on maintenance and replacement bulbs too. Racine and Kenosha have also installed LED traffic lights, and Ashland, DePere, La Crosse, Stevens Point, Superior and West Allis are switching as well, says Focus on Energy, a public-private partnership that contracts with the state Division of Energy. Maybe if we could install LED traffic signals in the Capitol, the Legislature would cast more light but create less heat too? But there are other more realistic expectations for energy savings in government, and Brett Hulsey, of Better Environmental Solutions, Madison, will describe them for Alliance finance directors — and anyone else who is interested — at the finance directors' meeting at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Concourse Hotel in Madison. Meeting details and an RSVP form are at http://www.wiscities.org/01meetings.htm. In addition, due to popular demand and to save energy, finance directors can phone in to the meeting. Call 1-877-526-2167 at 1:30 p.m. to connect. |
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| WMC helps find new name for TABOR Imagine our surprise to discover lobbyists for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce hard at work with a state legislator to find a new name for TABOR. The next version of TABOR — whatever it's called by then — seems to walk like TABOR and it seems to quack like TABOR. It is being drafted by Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) and Rep. Jeff Wood (D-Chippewa Falls). Like the TABOR we know and hate, their proposal is expected to be a constitutional amendment that would contain a limit based on the Consumer Price Index plus growth, probably net new construction, which isn't at all a good measure of growth through redevelopment. It is expected to address revenue only, not spending. Other provisions:
News Briefs In Dane County, the City and town of Verona are considering consolidation. Story here. If they succeed, the new city, population about 11,140, would break a trend of failed consolidation efforts, particularly in southeastern Wisconsin. Merger talks between the City (a former town) and Village of Pewaukee failed (story here), and the city council wouldn't even let residents vote on the issue (story here). "Happy New Year. Have a gun," the Wausau Daily Herald said, responding to the Legislature's desire that Wisconsin will usher in the next New Year with a bang — literally. "Members hope this will be the year they can ram through a bill that would allow residents to carry hidden pistols, stun guns and other weapons," the newspaper said. "Heaven help us." Editorial here. Put out that fire — on the cheap. It's a fact of which city leaders have long been aware, but belt-tightening in city and village halls is threatening some of the sacred cows of local government spending — fire department budgets — the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Story here.
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| Mark Your Calendars: 2006 Alliance meetings |
January 26-27 | Madison | |
| March 16-17 | Milwaukee | ||
| May 18-19 | Manitowoc | ||
| July 27-28 | Wisconsin Rapids | ||
| November 16-17 | Marshfield |
Upcoming Events (click on underlined text for more)
| Jan. 17- Feb. 2 | legislative floor period | Madison | ||
| Jan. 25 | "The Trouble With TABOR" forum | Cleveland (Wis.) | ||
| Jan 26-27 | Alliance meetings | Madison | ||
| Jan. 27-28 | New Cities Project (Mayor Dave Cieslewicz et al) | Washington, D.C. | ||
| Feb. 8 | "The Trouble With TABOR" forum | Eau Claire | ||
| Feb. 15 | "The Trouble With TABOR" forum | Green Bay | ||
| Feb. 21-Mar. 9 | legislative floor period | Madison | ||
| March 16-17 | Alliance meetings | Milwaukee | ||
| Apr. 25-May 4 | last 'general business' floor period | Madison | ||
| May 18-19 | Alliance meetings | Manitowoc | ||
| July 27-28 | Alliance meetings | Wisconsin Rapids | ||
| Oct. 11-13 | League annual conference | Middleton | ||
| Nov. 16-17 | Alliance meetings | Marshfield | ||
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THE
WISCONSIN ALLIANCE OF CITIES
14 West Mifflin Street Suite 206
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
(608) 257-5881
