AND: Count the tents on East and West Mifflin Street and North and South Carroll Street, which are the 2 legs of the Capitol Square that meet at the westernmost corner of the Square with State Street. [See the update below to understand which tents are within the permit and which are not.]
ADDED: I don't know whether the tents were still up because the protesters were sleeping in and delaying until they are rousted, or if the protesters really do intend to flout the restrictions in the permit. Obviously, the protest is most valuable if it is seen, and the idea of a tent city is to create the impression that people are really living here out of dedication if not economic necessity. If a tent city is supposed to express dire poverty, this one fails amusingly, because these folks have awfully nice tents. Are these brand-new tents bought for this protest?
We didn't see the police this morning, but there were plenty of police last night. The question is: Will the police enforce the restrictions in the permit? This is a test, I believe, of the City of Madison Police, not the Capitol Police that we saw in action during the protests in the rotunda in February and March.
ALSO: Some details about the permit:
[Madison's Street Use Staff Commission] required that most sleeping tents be broken down and removed from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Friday and from 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday. However, sleeping tents at three sites — in front of Grace Episcopal Church on Carroll Street, in front of the former Anchor Bank on West Mifflin and in front of the Manchester office building on East Mifflin — will be allowed to stay up during the day....So, some of the tents in the video above are in the range that is permitted during the day.
The committee gave the city's police and fire departments authority to close down the village at any time if they see fit.UPDATE: So, reading that report about the permit, I can see that some of the tents in the video are allowed to stay up after 7 a.m. and some are not. I think that the first tents you see, beginning at 0:15, are permitted. The next set of tents, beginning at 0:37, are on West Mifflin, in front of a luxury condo building. I honestly don't know if that counts as the former Anchor Bank (but there are different colors of chalk marks on the street distinguishing the different areas, so the campers themselves know). Just after that, beginning at 0:53, is a tent-free area, in front of the Veterans Museum. At 1:19, we see a single tent in front of Atticus and J. Taylor's, which, based on the linked story, is not permitted. (In fact, the linked story quotes email from the shopkeeper John Taylor, who opposed the permit.) We see 2 more late tents before we get to Grace Church, which is tent-free. At 1:15, you see a group of 5 tents in a place where, according to the linked article, tents are not permitted after 7 a.m.
The proposed camping area, across the street from the state Capitol, includes: North Carroll Street from State Street to West Washington Avenue; South Carroll between West Washington and Main Street; West Mifflin Street from State Street to Wisconsin Avenue; and East Mifflin Street from Wisconsin Avenue to North Pinckney Street. It also includes the "30 on the Square" cul-de-sac at 30 W. Mifflin St. and the Philosophers' Stones area between the Wisconsin Historical Museum and Myles Teddywedgers Cornish, 101 State St.
Posts
72 comments:
I'm guessing the rule "Required to be taken down by 7am" is more of a guideline. I for one, am saddenend the city has been hijacked for this 24x7 nonsense.
You are kidding, right? Remember in Milwaukee people will camp out for days in anticipation of the Great Circus Parade. Besides, I'm sure it's 6 a.m. somewhere.
The impression I got from the permit hearings was: we're coming whether you like it or not, so you should give us a permit and save yourself some trouble.
Laws and taxes are for the little people, and conservatives dopes.
Got an air horn? Maybe just some pots and pans to bang together? That'll get those grubby little bastards up.
"I'm guessing the rule "Required to be taken down by 7am" is more of a guideline."
The group organizing the event got a permit from the city, and I am referring to the requirement in the permit.
Looks like a job for Douglas MacArthur
Those gargoyles need their beauty rest - allow them to sleep as long as they care to.
WV: cheap - why thank you!
"I'm guessing the rule "Required to be taken down by 7am" is more of a guideline."
I agree the permit indicates it's a rule. I do think the protesters interpret otherwise. The police should be down there enforcing.
The "permit", just like the "hearing", is simply designed to give these people the veneer of respectability. We know what they're really like, though. They'll do whatever they want, to whoever they want, whenever they want because that's the kind of whiny children and selfish hogs they are. We'll see what kind of enforcement standards are used, but I'm guessing the cops will ignore their duties again this time.
wv: croci
Make sure they don't trample the croci!
The police side with the protesters. We saw that during the Rotunda occupation. They won't do any enforcement here.
As a practical matter, it's only a rule when the police decide it's a rule. Until then, it's a guideline. Or a joke.
"Got an air horn? Maybe just some pots and pans to bang together? That'll get those grubby little bastards up."
There are condos and hotels around the square.
"If a tent city is supposed to express dire poverty, this one fails amusingly, because these folks have awfully nice tents. Are these brand-new tents bought for this protest?"
Of course they are. Most of these protestors are government employees making six-figure salaries and who will retire on 7-figure pensions.
They will bankrupt the state of Wisconsin if their ridiculous salaries and obscene benefits are not reigned in by Republican lawmakers.
These are some of the richest Democrats in the state of Wisconsin and they want to stay rich. Their friends in the media would like to help them in return for advertising Democrats will buy in the next election.
The gravy train must be protected, and if they have to camp out in their brand new tents worth hundreds of dollars to create a false media narrative that they're somehow fighting poverty, so be it.
I doubt many in Wisconsin are buying this rich man's theatre.
Keep spraying these roaches with light, Ann. It's the best disinfectant.
I bet if you had waited until 7:05 it would have had an even more dramatic effect.
Any thoughts professor on the continuing violation of the state Constitution (and court order) regarding access to the Capitol? The fire dept has even chimed in saying it's a fire hazard to occupants. I really thought this would have caught your attention, and for some reason, hasn't.
"The police side with the protesters."
Correcton: The corrupt police are siding with the lawless. Remember this comes time for contract re-negotiations.
The Wisconsin State Police are a corrupt force and they need to be reformed.
Give them a chance to make some grilled cheeses first. Breakfast of champions!
Makes me want to buy a Harley and do laps of the Square all night.
That's some fancy camping gear. Maybe protests are good for the economy....
What are they protesting exactly? I forget at this point...
Looks like a bunch of morons too lazy to go out to Wyalusing.
I think this "fails amusingly" mostly because it's a bunch of unionized government workers trying to pass themselves off as somehow having something in common with the Hooverville homeless people.
"What are they protesting exactly?"
Democracy.
I have only spent 3 hours in Madison since this started, and what is obvious is the Capitol and environs is not the "people's". This area and the State Government itself is wholly owned by unionized government employees and their minions and supported by the police and left leaning Wisconsin judiciary.
People who are comfortable yelling vile, sexist remarks at a 14 year old girl who dares give a 10 minute speech (after the lefties have had 8 uninterrupted weeks of occupation) damn sure aren't worried about a few tents.
Of course they are. Most of these protestors are government employees making six-figure salaries and who will retire on 7-figure pensions.
LOL. No wonder you're unemployed.
"The question is: Will the police enforce the restrictions in the permit?"
And the answer is, of course they won't because police union officials are illegally conspiring with lawless public union officials to break the law.
Your cops are corrupt, Ann.
Fire their asses.
Lancelot Link and Mata Hari back on the case.
It's stimulus for the local REI store.
Get the best quality gear for your next outdoor experience. You never know who you might meet in the wilderness, and you only get one change at a first impression.
It's funny ... even their logo is stolen (the "black power" fist).
And the Democrat "protestors" appear to be nothing really more than the Klu Klux Klan, rebranded and retented.
Not a single person of color to be found.
Democrat Racists.
the tent city isn't Walkerville.
Its Dramaqueenopolis, inhabited by spoiled brats who don't know what democracy looks like, as they prefer mob rule.
"Of course they are. Most of these protestors are government employees making six-figure salaries and who will retire on 7-figure pensions."
While that may be an exaggeration in some cases, I feel that the public employees in Madison and other parts of the state are some of the most ungrateful and self-entitled a**holes I have ever met.
No other employer would have put up with the bullsh*t of these idiots.
I stumbled, bleary-eyed and weary, through the encampment. Tents littered the beaten grass, a hornet buzzed me like a Lilliputian Messerschmitt. Then, there in front of me it appeared, as comfortable as a summer home and as secure as a Zurich vault, my "Madisonian Protest Porto-Yurt" (in cerulean blue), by J. Peterman.
"Whose streets? Their streets!"
This post calls for one of my corny jokes:
Guy goes to a psychiatrist and says he dreamed he was a teepee. "hmmm is the response- come back next week and tell me if you had more dreams."
The guy comes back the next week and reports he dreamed he was a wigwam.
"I got it" says the psychiatrist.."You are two tents".
Badumbump.
""Got an air horn? Maybe just some pots and pans to bang together? That'll get those grubby little bastards up."
There are condos and hotels around the square."
This is a really big problem!
--Meadehouse can't be too loud because they don't want to disturb the non-tent sleepers.
--But, they also know that it's not satisfying (i.e not confrontational enough) to go up to each tent with personalized, wake up call. That's too much work. In particular it seems like a combo of house keeping and policing work.
Solution: the intertubes version of 'get off my lawn.' Mecurmudgeonhouse still gets to widely express it's disapproval of this riffraff, but they don't need to strain themselves or the non-tenters.
In America, poor people don't camp.
"What are they protesting exactly?"
Democracy
....
Well, they're probably protesting our functioning representative democracy...rather than the pure and ideal democracy they'd like. Maybe they set their tents up on the clouds...
My guess is they'd settle for a representative democracy in which they had power (isn't that what all the power theories boil down to anyways?).
Sgt Ted said:
"Dramaqueenopolis" lol.
Btw, I had an Uncle Ted who was a 30 year master sergeant in the USAF. His daughter married a fellow master sergeant's son and they then had a son who is now a USAF Captain. If he were alive, I'd be teasing Uncle Ted that his grandson made Captain in less than ten years while Ted only made Sgt in 30 years.
I wouldn't have expected Althouse or Meade to actually make a ruckus. Tongue in cheek, all that good stuff.
Besides, it's way too early to start messing with these dopes. Let's let them beclown themselves anew before we contemplate their eventual departure.
If Walker were a malevolent dictator as claimed by the likes of Garbage Mahal, he'd have had steamrollers driving down the sidewalks to remove the tents and the campers.
The police are tentative in enforcing the restrictions. I think they are subverting the intent of the permit. That's because the unions have their tentacles throughout Dane County government.
How long before Madison is over-run with the Milwaukee homeless?
Heck, you get to party and sleep right on the street, free food,live music, Mystery sock-puppet theatre...
What's not to love?
I can think of no better way to shove this right in the face of the City Fathers than to start busing in the homeless, so they too can "protest".
Madison: A Sanctuary from Sanity City
AJ,
Your Master Sergeant Ted would just say "I'm a Sergeant, I work for a living."
He also would point out that an E-4 enlisted guy has been promoted more times than a Captain at that point in his career.
Or that you have to really be a screw up as an officer to not make Captain within 7 years.
The police should simply comfiscate the tents in violation, and arrest the vagrants as quietly and peacefully as possible so as to minimize disruption to local businesses and residents. Subsequent tickets, fines, fees for retrieving property or auctions, etc., should cover the cost.
"While that may be an exaggeration in some cases, I feel that the public employees in Madison and other parts of the state are some of the most ungrateful and self-entitled a**holes I have ever met."
Highest paid employee of the city of Madison is a fucking bus driver.
Want to know how much this corrupt fucker got? $159,258 in 2009.
You people in Madison need to wake. the. fuck. up. I can't believe that you are putting up with this out and out thievery from these assholes.
You should be IN THEIR FACES punching them back TWICE AS HARD.
They're stealing your city. What is wrong with you people? Why are you not storming your capital with pitchforks and torches? Tar and feather?
They're committing robbery. If they were in BANKS doing this you'd fucking shoot them, but instead, they're in your buses and in your town halls but it's robbery just the same.
Get them! Arrest them. Convict them. Jail them. And take their asses from them and sell them at public auction so you can get your money back.
Have you no pride in your community? In yourselves?
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt_and_politics/article_24af32d4-13f4-11df-86b2-001cc4c002e0.html
"Her rebozo slung upon her shoulder, her dog-eared copy of Rigoberta Menchu pressed beneath her thigh...Skye prepared her tofu breakfast with a sense of warm belonging and community that morning.
She had realized over a year ago that her anthropology degree (with women's studies minor) was now just an afterthought...an irritation...for something was growing inside of her...something big.
Under this sliver of Madison moon...a little white light tumbled in her mind...gone was the semi lucrative hemp wristband business at Bonaroo...gone too her good faith purchasing of ethical Costa Rican coffee beans from locally sourced plantations...gone even was her dream to open a vegan day care for human, or perhaps, gorilla and other great ape infants right here in Madison...
This was Justice, baby...Big Justice.
Pg 2 of "Pavement Justice: How We Got Our Democracy Back-Reports from Walkerville"
Kloppenberg Press 2011 all rights reserved.
Back in the days when they were bums, as opposed to "homeless", people like that would have been off the street and out of sight by 6:30 in most cities.
S. said...
I'm guessing the rule "Required to be taken down by 7am" is more of a guideline.
Does that mean they can be boarded and marooned on a God-forsaken spit of land with a bottle of water and a pistol?
We must keep to the code, mustn't we?
Ann Althouse said...
"Got an air horn? Maybe just some pots and pans to bang together? That'll get those grubby little bastards up."
There are condos and hotels around the square.
And I'm sure the residents just loved having those union slugs camped out just below them.
I wouldn't say 2 minutes is something one should make a big deal about. As someone who likes to drive about the speed limit on the interstate, I think I can say with confidence that if I drove two miles per hour over the speed limit, I'd still have many more people pass me than I pass, which suggests that were police to be that uncompromising, they would need to stop for ticketing over 80% of drivers on our nation's highways.
I think the main reason most people are put off somewhat by fanatical union types is that it doesn't really make sense to be fanatically for unions, because being so tends to make people identify with their class as opposed to (say) their favorite athletic team or their favorite music or whatever it is they are interested in, and selfish people being what they are, more of them are going to want to identify with rich people than poor people if they see that as their main choice. Rather like more people are going to identify with the Packers than the Lions, notwithstanding the Eddie Murphy movies. It's more rewarding to be with the team that has the most power, the team that more tends to win.
I doubt the majority of teachers, etc., are very fanatical in their pro-union sentiments, but probably they mostly appreciate in these times of unusually extreme kleptocracy the existence of a reasonably powerful union, to give them some power when the government decides whether to spend money for them and their students as opposed to plutocratically spending it for rich people and corporations (or lowering their taxes), which last groups of course throw a good deal of money around to support their agendas and don't lack strong lobbyist arms.
Anyway, I'd say the reason reasonable people are mostly afraid of pro-union fanaticism here is that it can exacerbate class divisions that can incite hysteria against unions or the poor, and at any rate, to me, it is worse to be fanatically anti-union than to be fanatically pro-union.
@nevadabob
I'm well aware of the $100,000/yr+ salaries a year in Madison, where I live.
It's a damn shame that my attitude towards this city, which is geographically and architecturally beautiful, has been ruined by all of the pompous, pseudo-intellectual, Prius-driving, bicycle-riding, cafe-going, and idealistic nimrods.
"It was bus driver John E. Nelson. Nelson earned $159,258 in 2009, including $109,892 in overtime and other pay."
So, if this guy made $109,892 and in total pulled in $159,258, then his base salary is $49,366 a year.
But if he made $109,892 overtime (at time and a half), and his hourly wage is $23.73 per hour, his overtime rate at time and a half would be $35.60 per hour.
So, let's do some division. He made $109,892 in overtime at a rate of $35.60 per hour.
You're telling me that a Madison bus driver had 3,086 hours over overtime in one year? That's 60 hours a week. In overtime, over and above his 40 hour work week. 60 Hours A week. Week in and week out for 52 weeks of that year.
There's no fucking way this occurred. Somebody is ROBBING YOU.
This bus driver would be asleep at the fucking wheel working 100 hours per week for 52 weeks week in and week out to make this kind of money. No human bus driver could do this safely.
YOU. ARE. BEING. ROBBED.
Get them! Arrest them before they get away. Take their assets from them and sell them at public auction and get your money back from these thieves.
Meigs,
You're entirely wrong. These people are not the poor of Wisconsin, they are the rich. They have good jobs with much better benefits than the average taxpayer paying them. They work less, and then spend their free time whining for more. This has nothing to do with class, it's about corruption and theft.
@chr1
That is one of the most beautiful and comical things I have read in a long time.
You truly capture the essence of the short and long-term consequences of Walker's despotic and tyrannical regime.
If a democrat had won the gubernatorial election, Skye (along with her stoned friends Earth, Wind, and Fire), would have been able to follow their dreams.
"(Madison) has been ruined by all of the pompous, pseudo-intellectual, Prius-driving, bicycle-riding, cafe-going, and idealistic nimrods."
They are nothing more than garden-variety thieves and you should ARREST THEM. Make citizens' arrests.
In Garden City, California, the entire city government was caught giving each other huge illegal raises and "other payments." The mayor gave the council huge raises, and the town council turned right around and gave the mayor huge raises.
They were CONSPIRING WITH EACH OTHER to steal the city blind.
And to make sure everything stayed all good, they decided to bring the POLICE CHIEF in on it and voted him a huge ass raise in order to corrupt him. He turned around and gave all his cops huge ass raises.
THEY'RE ALL IN ON THE HEIST.
They're no different than an organized Mafia of regular old goombas. Get them. Before they get away!
You do not have to take this shit. Get your asses down to city hall and fucking take it over. Get in their faces. Don't let them have a moment's fucking peace.
Organize a grand jury of your peers (yes, that is legal) and start indicting these motherfuckers. You do not need permission from the courts or the corrupt police bribees to do this. You are a community. You get to decide what goes on there and it's YOUR FAULT that they're getting away with this bullshit because you people are doing nothing about it.
GET IN THEIR FACES.
PUNCH THEM TWICE AS HARD.
Arrest them. Try them. Convict them. Take their shit and sell it at public auction and get your fucking money back.
What the campers need at 7am were a few salt trucks driving around the block, honking their support.
The tents look like the kind that cost about $300.
"Rise and shine shit heads! And for fscksake put on some damn shoes"
Gen. George Washington
January 1778
The question is whether you're permitted to build a store in front of a tent.
I suppose anybody can post signs on a tent, once it's on public property.
My 70's Gerry 4lb pup tent fits a man and a Doberman comfortably.
It was pricey, I'd guess $75; which inflates to exactly $300.47 in 2010.
It seems to me that the protest value of an invisible "Walkerville" defeats the purpose.
The tents can go up after no one is around and have to come down before anyone is around.
So no grand gesture reminiscent of Hooverville devastation.
Though I'm not sure that the high end modern camping gear would have the same impact even if it were up all day.
Why aren't there any hot protesters?
No hotties therefore I can't support them.
Apparently garage thinks that if you can't get one of those 6-figure cushy public jobs you're a fucking loser.
Highest paid employee of the city of Madison is a fucking bus driver
Dude, can you drive a bus? Or drive? Why let the life of luxury pass you by as you waste away in Nevada jobless?
So in Madison WI, Otto makes more than Chief Wiggum? Someone should write a comedy about that town.
Who cares?
If this is a visual, it failed!
And, it failed because people who own tents, themselves, recognized a good label when they see one.
If you wanted "Hooverville" ... you would have needed shanties.
At Woodstock, besides "don't take the brown acid," you had the Port-O-Potties overfilled with crap! Above the seat level.
And, most people then, were on line with the old "drop a coin in" telephones ... calling home.
Here? Maybe, last night the cops were out to make sure the vendors of "brown acid" ... couldn't just get to their customer base?
I don't see empty pizza boxes, either.
Sometimes, it makes more sense when a politician stays clear of an "event" like this. For this, too, shall pass.
Nope. Not a job for General Douglas MacArthur! No veterans.
As to the police force at 7AM, the whole shift is at the precinct. And, they don't hit the streets, until after their Sargent dismisses them from his routine. Which is the "daily update."
Then? It's off for donuts and a cup of coffee.
Lincolntf:
Otto says Dude!
It's my understanding that Walkerville is not intended to express 'dire poverty', but to be a presence and a reminder of protests of Walker's budget - an outgrowth of this spring's Capitol sleep-ins.
You're in grave danger, Ann.
Miami Herald: Rogue corrupt cops kill suspect, then try to obstruct justice by destroying camera phone video taken by a concerned citizen.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/02/v-fullstory/2248396/witnesses-said-they-were-forced.html
Most of the police are corrupt thugs. Any time you see them organizing to commit violence against us citizens, shoot lots and lots of camera phone video and you can sell that video to the media and make a lot of money.
Defense lawyers will also buy that video too, in order to sue cities for millions and millions of dollars hen their rogue cops start shooting up the place and destroying evidence.
You could make a fortune.
Keep shooting, Ann. Keep shooting, but be careful. The corrupt Madison cops will find a way to steal your camera and destroy your evidence.
They do not like what you are doing and want to make it illegal.
Be prepared and have backup videographers in place when they do it.
But if he [bus driver] made $109,892 overtime (at time and a half), and his hourly wage is $23.73 per hour, his overtime rate at time and a half would be $35.60 per hour.
Regular overtime is time and a half. Holiday overtime is more than that. (2x? 2.5x? I can't remember). The sweet holiday overtime is awarded to bus drivers based on seniority. If the top guy doesn't want it, it gets passed down the line. This bus driver was a senior driver who raked in holiday overtime (in addition to regular overtime.) His salary is not indicative of what Otto would make. Actually, his extraordinarily high salary that year means that the rest of the bus drivers made "less". Oh well, union rules.
Due to an unfortunate/temporary bed-situation at my house, a couch with some springs poking through, and broken a/c (not to mention windows that serve no useful purpose) -- I've actually considered hauling a blanket down to Walkerville to get a good night's sleep. Grass would be better than this couch, and dayum my house is hot. (In this fantasy I also bring Glenn Beck literature to Walkerville and read it aloud, loudly.)
I hope the Walkervillians are rowdy, annoying, and rule-breakin'. I hope they aren't penalized.
1. When they try to stretch the rules when it really matters (when it's time for a budget vote), they will have no reasons to complain about being treated unfairly. They will have already received more than fair treatment. They used up all of their chips.
2. The worse their behavior now, the more it turns off the rest of the state. The worse their behavior now, when they later try to finagle for more special treatment and are denied, the more they will look like spoiled babies, turning off the rest of the state.
Walkerville is a rather large blessing when it comes to PR for the recall campaigns.
"There's no fucking way this occurred. Somebody is ROBBING YOU.
This bus driver would be asleep at the fucking wheel working 100 hours per week for 52 weeks week in and week out to make this kind of money. No human bus driver could do this safely.
YOU. ARE. BEING. ROBBED"
sarge here no ones being robbed but yar a droolin idget...keep flippin out old man an hopefully yar blow a 20 amp fuse
these boys git payed extra fer off weekend work an off shift plus takin thar vacation but thn workin instead thus payed double...vacation plus hours worked during vacation..or double plus a half fer the overtime-this guy dont do anythin but work-most likey 12 hours a day 6-7 days a week an on his vacas too-some big city cops an nurses an firemen git that deal but maybe not as gud as them busdrivers git it- some contracts dont allow takin more than time plus a half when workin off shift off weekend overtime
its abot supply an demand yar old angry cattle poker-if them managers has work for yar durin vacation an yer days off they got to supply incentives or drive them buses themselves not sure why yer so freaked out abot a man applyin hisself to better his lot in life before hittin potholes all day ruinates his spine as it does
only way to avoid these deals is to overhire which wastes money then payin overtime glad yar the deep thinkrs like yar dont run any public works not that they got that in nevady near as sarge can tell state of nevady got
nuthin but stears an angry old dudes thatr queer fer them stears harharharharhar
+1
Just my opinion but the cornish pasties at Teddywedgers aren't as good as those at the Red Hen in Mineral Point.
More news from the tent stalkers who risk their lives avoiding the Madison tugs-- police officers who are on a killing spree, after their donuts and coffee-- what paranoid fantasy abounds on this blog. Yes I fear for my life as the neighborhood cop waves at us each morning while we walk our dogs fearfully past his squad car. Damn I hate this city where I can make more than $100,000 a year and drink coffee outdoors just like Meade and Althouse.
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