Even though he claims he doesn’t like his dog (an adorable sable Shetland Sheep Dog named Calvin) and the President of the United States has failed to be able to pronounce his name the three times he’s been in Madison, I think Dave Cieslewicz should be re-elected. I certainly don’t see eye-to-eye with him on a lot of things, but I think he’s doing a good job.
Mind you, I don’t even live in Madison, so technically I don’t have a horse in this race, but what Madison does affects the entire metro area. He’s come a long way from the “Progressive Dane” days (whatever happened to the PD’ers? We don’t hear much about them lately…) and has moved center-left, enough toward center for my tastes.
I don’t think much of his failed “mandatory inclusionary zoning” (affordable housing) ideas; I certainly disagree with his “new urbanism” approach to everything; he has these wacky ideas to make Madison a bicycle paradise (at the expense of the motor vehicle); I don’t like his ideas to “save” the Great People’s Palace of the Arts (the Overture Center); I’m not a fan at all of the choo-choos that he loves; but he keeps the city running and doesn’t tax its residents to death.
He’s a strong enough leader to admit his mistakes, like the one a year ago today when the streets turned into rutted ice tank-traps after the big snowstorm, because of decisions he made regarding when to plow and salt. It takes a big man to face the angry public after the mess and say “I made a mistake.” He could have thrown Streets Supt. Al Schumacher under the bus following that debacle, but he didn’t. He stood in front of the TV cameras and radio microphones and apologized. That takes some cojones.
We differ fundamentally on transit. When I see the westbound beltline still clogged up at 8:45 AM, like I did yesterday on the way to the health club, I think “we ought to add another lane to this thing.” Mayor Dave thinks “we’ve got to get more cars off this highway.”
But, with very rare exception, the streets get plowed and the trash gets picked up and the cops are professional and polite and the firefighers are top-notch and city hall doesn’t take bribes and magazines of all sorts still say Madison is a great place to live. And Dave Cieslewicz is one HELL of a good writer with a very well-developed sense of humor. He’s competent and he’s likable. Four more years? Hell yes.
And by the way, Mr. President, it’s pronounced “chess-LEV-itch.”
I won't pretend to know a thing about Madison traffic issues, but we here at The Institute for the Study of Advanced Diabolics have some experience with the best-laid plans o' mice and men aft going agley.
ReplyDeleteFor decades the planners and engineers have tried to build their way out of the chronic traffic mess that is the New Jersey Turnpike - in the vicinity of greater NYC. They're up to 14 lanes and still building on, but their progress ... well, it's a bit like drawing a spoon through a fresh bowl of hot oatmeal.
The more capacity they add to the roadway, the more vehicles are attracted to it.
Some years ago Robert Moses, then the Big Apple's Grand Pooh-Bah of Pavement, built the Long Island Expressway with the lanes too close together to accommodate the mass-transit system critics of the plan were calling for. Moses hated trains and buses.
So it came to pass that two weeks after the LIE was opened to traffic it was hopelessly clogged. I do not intend to suggest cause-and-effect here, but Moses dropped dead shortly thereafter.
Traffic and transportation tend to be regional issues, which puts them well beyond the reach of mayors and outside the interest range of state lawmakers who represent districts unaffected by the problems. That militates against regional thinking, and explains why piecemeal solutions are almost always doomed from the start.
BTW ... I asked a couple of colleagues to try their hand at pronouncing hizzoner's Eastern European surname. It came out something like chisel-wits. The Prez is lucky he doesn't have to spell it.
Hieronymous,
ReplyDelete>> For decades the planners and engineers have tried to build their way out of the chronic traffic mess that is the New Jersey Turnpike - in the vicinity of greater NYC. They're up to 14 lanes and still building on, but their progress ... well, it's a bit like drawing a spoon through a fresh bowl of hot oatmeal.
>> The more capacity they add to the roadway, the more vehicles are attracted to it. <<
Supply-side transportation planning, eh? If you build the roads the cars will come?
I would say that the NYC experience with its 14-lane NJ Turnpike points to the fact that that corridor is like a partially blocked carotid artery. It's vital to get blood to the brain but if it gets blocked all sorts of bad things happen. The NJ Turnpike is the carotid artery of the NYC transportation system...and it doesn't look like anything can unblock it...but it still has to be there.
I picture it like the capacity of the GoreNet when I think about traffic problems. Nobody is suggesting that we go with "public transportation" in our on-line appetites; that is, dialing back down to dial-up modems. No, we're converting everything to fiber optic to be able to carry streaming video 24/7. I think the highway system is like the infrastructure of the Internet: the traffic is there and will grow; therefore build the infrastructure to handle it. It's simpler with the Internet: just lay a few more bundles of fiber optics in the trench. Roads? I think there are places, like the New Jersey Turnpike, that will never physically be able to handle the existing or potential traffic.
Does that mean we stop building roads? No, certainly not. We should recognize that roads are the single best use of transportation dollars...not trains, not buses, not trolleys, not bike paths.
The Town Crank
Neenah
Colonel,
ReplyDelete>> I don’t think much of his failed “mandatory inclusionary zoning” (affordable housing) ideas; I certainly disagree with his “new urbanism” approach to everything; he has these wacky ideas to make Madison a bicycle paradise (at the expense of the motor vehicle) <<
Gad! I was just reading the section in Randal O'Toole's book, "The Best Laid Plans", about "mandatory inclusionary zoning" and "new urbanism"! "Affordable" housing through inclusionary zoning just means that those not blessed with buying a subsidized inclusionary zoning home simply pay more. Have there been any studies of whether the inclusionary zoning rules have affected home building volume? I'm betting that fewer homes have been built since the laws went into effect.
And don't get me started on "new urbanism"! It's a planning fad. None of those planning johnnies seem to realize that the buyers of homes want single-family dwellings on large lots. Simple! But no! We can't have that in our oh-so-progressive city! No, no, no...we must have mixed use, multi-family, high-density development, preferably near the proposed high-speed rail line! Now we're talkin'!!
GMWAS! (Gag Me With A Spoon!)
The Town Crank
Neenah