The last time Mayor Dave Cieslewicz met with residents of southwest Madison to discuss crime in the area, he was confronted by a few opportunistic speakers who dropped a false dichotomy, imploring him to prioritize public safety over trolleys. The following week, he announced that he was giving up on his streetcar plan to focus more on crime. Then, over this past weekend, Cieslewicz's office backed a proposal from Madison Police Chief Noble Wray calling for 30 new cops in the 2008-09 operating budget, up from his original request for 18 new officers.
Both the mayor and the chief will sit down with southest neighborhood residents again on Thursday night and will do so armed with these developments. It's likely the residents will applaud them, even though they will be looking for some plans that will have more of an immediate effect than 30 new cops on the street two years from now. But the situation on the southwest side of town can't be solved by cops alone. Neighborhood watches are in formative stages and some landlords in the area are working on activities for kids that will keep them out of trouble.
Will other community-building solutions be discussed at Thursday night's meeting, or will this issue be framed only in terms of the number of cops on the street? Is there room in the budget for a community center to go along with those cops? What about programs that might target poverty and seek to make contact with those likely to be drawn toward drug dealing and gang violence?
Watch this site for reports on Thursday night's meeting.
MAYOR CIESLEWICZ WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Monday, September 10, 2007
4:30 p.m. Board of Estimates meeting (MMB 260)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
9:00 a.m. Operating budget briefing
2:00 p.m. Pam Williamson and mayoral assistants regarding appointments to City boards, committees, and commissions
3:45 p.m. Ald. Judy Compton
4:30 p.m. Board of Estimates meeting (MMB 260)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
8:30 a.m. Breakfast with Ald. Larry Palm 1:00 p.m. Welcome at "Greening of the Heartland" conference (Monona Terrace) 2:00 p.m. Operating budget briefing 4:30 p.m. Capitol Neighborhoods Executive Council quarterly meeting (Mayor's Conf. Room) 7:00 p.m. East Police District crime listening session (LaFollette High School Auditorium)
Thursday, September 13, 2007
7:30 a.m. Breakfast with Ald. Eli Judge
9:00 a.m. Policy staff meeting
11:00 a.m. City union leadership meeting (Mayor's Conf. Room)
12:30 p.m. Lunch with Maryann Bloch, Ami Orlin, and Sharyl Kato
2:00 p.m. Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez, Consul General Martin Sanchez, Natalie Fani, and George Twigg
2:45 p.m. Operating budget briefing
4:30 p.m. Common Council leadership meeting
6:30 p.m. Southwest neighborhoods meeting (St. Maria Goretti School, Gym)
Friday, September 14, 2007
7:30 a.m. 8th annual MPPOA (police) and AMPS (fire) Charity Golf Outing (The Meadows of Six Mile Creek)
Saturday, September 15, 2007
9:30 a.m. REAP Food for Thought Festival "Cooking with the Stars" (Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Main Festival Tent)
6:30 p.m. Speak at Knapp Memorial Graduate Program dinner (130 East Gilman Street)
