Said Paul Soglin, the mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, as the city counsel voted 17-1 to override his veto and make the homeless a protected class.
The city already prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, color, natural origin, citizenship status, age, handicap/disability, marital status, source of income, arrest or conviction records and more....If you don't know anything about Mayor Soglin, here's a NYT article from 2011 titled "From Firebrand to a Bit of a Grump, a ‘Hippie Mayor’ Evolves." ("A leading Vietnam War protester, Mr. Soglin went on to become a counterculture folk hero here in Wisconsin’s capital by winning election as mayor in 1973 at age 27.... Decades later, Mr. Soglin is back in control of City Hall....) "City Hall," AKA the City-County Building where the homeless are camped out and (apparently) having sex on the picnic tables where building employees eat.
Soglin argued it is part of a legislative body of work that has cumulatively made homelessness worse in Madison and said it would have no measurable effect on the city’s homeless population. His criticism was largely directed at the homeless people who camp out in front of the City-County Building. He accused people living there of not using allotted shelter nights, engaging in drinking and drug use on the property and having sex on the picnic tables where building employees eat.
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85 comments:
Keep it coming. You cannot imagine how good it is to read of Madison in the rear view mirror. Having lived there and studied there for 20 years, but not lately, I laugh long and hard at their folly. Especially choice is the head-on train wreck of young, highly-compensated tech workers and the condominiums they covet, with the ageing (aged?), East side hippie contingent. Pass the popcorn!
It takes an old Hippie to understand death trips are where the idealistic dreams of City-County Bldg.summer of love are headed.
The police cannot keep people from having sex on picnic tables literally right outside their main headquarters?
I think I would start with asking that question.
Nothing adds to the appeal of a picnic area more than homeless person sex on the tables.
Hippie Mayor, reality bites.
Rob said...
Nothing adds to the appeal of a picnic area more than homeless person sex on the tables.
call and raise:
Nothing adds to the appeal of a picnic area more than homeless HIV+ person sex on the tables.
Surely Mr. Mencken was thinking of Madison when he wrote the line about Americans getting what they deserved, good and hard.
I take no joy in Madison becoming filled with derelicts. I went to graduate school there for (an embarrassingly long time) and while its politics don't match my own, few things in life are as pleasant as taking my bike up to the farmer's market on Capitol Square and gliding it back down State St. I've just gotten back from San Francisco, a place that would be nice enough to visit if it weren't filled with foul smelling panhandlers. Telling people they are entitled to be as anti-social as they want to be is a really bad way to run a city.
Another problem is the homeless keep feeding the pigeons.
Better the recalcitrant homeless infest the building containing those who most enable them than infesting the buildings of honest merchants or the homes of honest citizens.
Another problem is the homeless keep feeding the pigeons
We live in a great country when those in absolute poverty still give away food. I read a quote from a Chinese student who went to Harvard, she said she knew America was a rich country because nobody was trying to eat the squirrels in the park.
But hey, let's throw a magnificent economy away because it is possible to dream of something better. Dreams that involve overlooking a lot of realities, BTW.
Lefties in America remind me of that episode of Gomer Pyle when he is playing poker and he has a full house, he asks Sergeant Carter if his hand was "the best"? Carter tells him "No, but it is pretty good!" Gomer says "If it's not the best, I want the best!" and throws his hand in. Of course, because it was a TV show, the dealer was a cheat, and when he threw in five cards, he drew a royal flush meant for the dealer. But guess what lefties! This isn't a TV comedy we live in, you throw in a full house in real life, you can expect to draw jack shit.
I would think the harsh Midwestern winters would tend to discourage the homeless from congregating in a place like Madison.
Sex on the picnic tables where the city/county employees eat?
That's gross!
I can't imagine wanting to have sex on a table where those disgusting government worker have been eating.
Today's theme is morons in charge.
There's this to be said about the smell of stale urine. You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.
When that NYT article was written, Walker had been in office 8 months. Things really went to hell in a short time, hey?
Madison remains one of the strongest liberal bastions in America. Many neighborhoods gave more than 90 percent of the vote to Barack Obama in 2008. In the last six elections, voters have elected Tammy Baldwin, who is the only openly gay woman in Congress.
But much has changed in Madison, a city that was once largely populated with Nordic immigrants. During Mr. Soglin’s first mayoral bid in 1973, whites accounted for about 96 percent of the enrollment in Madison schools, according to Mike Wetzel, a spokesman for the district. Today, nonwhites account for about 50 percent of the student body.
The Madison police say there are now street gangs with Chicago ties, and the poverty rate has grown sharply over the decades. Nearly 50 percent of children in the city’s schools qualify for subsidized lunch, up from 16 percent in 1986.
In a city once seemingly immune to recession, with its reliance on the university and the Capitol, the budget has been squeezed.
Keep it coming. You cannot imagine how good it is to read of Madison in the rear view mirror.
Good riddance. I bet nobody in Madison misses you.
'Mark said...
The police cannot keep people from having sex on picnic tables literally right outside their main headquarters?
I think I would start with asking that question."
What can they do?
The right to have sex usually doesn't apply in public because people have homes to go to. But if homelessness is a protected class, then denying them the right to have sex in public denies them the right to have sex at all. What court is going to uphold a law that requires a protected class to abstain from sex entirely?
This is a reason why students should not be allowed to vote where they go to school but only where they are legally domiciled. Would Madison have such a lefty moron city government if the student vote was limited to those students who are actually domiciled in Madison?
"Good riddance. I bet nobody in Madison misses you."
OK, so what do you think of "the homeless" and the problems described above?
Blogger Paco Wové said...
I would think the harsh Midwestern winters would tend to discourage the homeless from congregating in a place like Madison.
They winter in Santa Monica. And students who voted for this policy (for politicians who adopted this policy) move out of Madison for the summer.
Are protected classes constitutional??
Was listening to NPR, about how the City of Seattle is baffled. It has been aggressively funding programs to help the homeless over the last ten years, and not only has the number of homeless gone UP, instead of down--in cities that DIDN'T spend money on the homeless, the number of homeless went DOWN!
And I couldn't help but laugh. Of course Seattle got more of something that it subsidized! Of course homeless people are going to move to places where it's easier to for them to live and move away from place that are harder. A bus ticket doesn't cost that much.
It's like that perennial headline, "prisons filling up despite decrease in crime rate".
"Unexpectedly..."
Hilarious. The left does not do consequences. As in unintended...
"Homelessness" is not a housing problem, nor is it (except to a very limited extent) an economic problem. It's a mental health problem. If declaring the homeless a protected class makes it easier to commit them to mental hospitals and force them into drug and alcohol abuse treatment programs it might do some good, but I doubt that's what the advocates have in mind.
When subsidize something, you get more of it- an iron law of economics.
I still say vile Progs want to live in grit to feel alive. But they want to go home to their amenities. The rest of us have to deal with their selfishness. Children.
Way to show the world the way; chickens coming home to roost, as they say.
...it's a death trap, it's a suicide rap; we gotta get out while we're young, 'cause tramps like us
OK, so what do you think of "the homeless" and the problems described above?
I'm surprised Walker's fascist thugs allow city counsels to even exist and take votes.
"It's a mental health problem"
Of course it is but insanity is a "construct" like race.
"I'm surprised Walker's fascist thugs allow city counsels to even exist and take votes."
Why, we were just speaking of mental health issues.
Classically - a conservative is a liberal that bought a house/been mugged/paid taxes. I think he qualifies.
Can we just simply the law and say: "You shall discriminate against straight white males with money." and leave it at that.
Why don't the morons at UCLA and those running Madison get together and create a utopian society? Somewhere else.
I'm surprised Walker's fascist thugs allow city counsels to even exist and take votes. - garage
I bet he is not even exaggerating.
It's called reaping what you have sowed.
I'm surprised Walker's fascist thugs allow city counsels to even exist and take votes
I have a one word response:
Obama
I'm surprised Walker's fascist thugs allow city counsels to even exist and take votes. - garage
Man, that comment is on fleek. Someone rules the internet today.
Question to Garage: OK, so what do you think of "the homeless" and the problems described above?
Garage responds: "I'm surprised Walker's fascist thugs allow city counsels to even exist and take votes."
Let me ask the question a different way: OK, so what do you think of "the homeless" and the problems described above?
garage seems to revel in his own ignorance. I am sure that he is surprised by everything all day long.
Wasn't there a book titled Wisconsin Death Trip? I wonder if Soglin was subconsciously referencing it. It would have been current during his younger days.
Homelessness: wedge issue.
A wedge issue is a social issue, often of a divisive or controversial nature, which splits apart a population or political group. Wedge issues can be advertised or publicly aired in an attempt to weaken the unity of a population, with the goal of enticing polarized individuals to give support to an opponent or to withdraw their support entirely out of disillusionment
Dirty homeless people having sex in public?
Ewww.
I am Laslo.
Tits.
As satisfying as it is to see hippies convert to adulthood by making them responsible for things wouldn't it make more sense to put someone in charge who understood it from the beginning? Rewarding those who stay in denial encourages it by showing them an easy out at the end, rather than all that icky hard work. Even if the conversion were certain there aren't enough offices to make a meaningful difference.
Has the left taken more ownership of the war on terror because of Obama?
Everybody's a protected class, as long as they're protected somewhere far away from us.
Madison "We'll be Detroit in no time"
"Has the left taken more ownership of the war on terror because of Obama?"
The massive public protests magically died out in early 2009. I guess most Leftists had a sudden, collective re-evaluation of the issue.
...the City of Seattle is baffled. It has been aggressively funding programs to help the homeless over the last ten years, and not only has the number of homeless gone UP, instead of down...
Fox Butterfield, call your office!
Are the bathrooms and stairwells in Madison's public libraries no-go zones like they are in San Francisco?
Does Madison have a Poop Map yet?
Just...ewwww...
I suspect Soglin meant to say death "spiral".
I would think the harsh Midwestern winters would tend to discourage the homeless from congregating in a place like Madison.
Because homeless people are logical.
Madison "We'll be Detroit in no time"
Madison and Dane County is one of the few counties adding jobs and population. I wish the county could secede from the rest of this shithole, we don't need the rest of the state for a damn thing.
If you quit building them little houses they;ii eventually go away.
I just found out my nephew drives a cab in Madison.
The rest of the state isn't too enamoured of you either garage.
"garage mahal said...
Madison "We'll be Detroit in no time"
Madison and Dane County is one of the few counties adding jobs and population. I wish the county could secede from the rest of this shithole, we don't need the rest of the state for a damn thing."
LOL Without the rest of the state Madison would be a cowtown. A place to stop for gas on the way somewhere else. Your economy is dependent on the rest of the state dumbass. No state workers. No state subsidies of the UW.
garage: reading comprehension: answer the fucking question!
Question to Garage: OK, so what do you think of "the homeless" and the problems described above?
Garage responds: "I'm surprised Walker's fascist thugs allow city counsels to even exist and take votes."
Let me ask the question a different way: OK, so what do you think of "the homeless" and the problems described above?
good golly you are a pathetic SOB! IMHO!
C'mon. Garage lives to see the rest of you metaphorically tear your hair over his supposed obtuseness. He wins his sick game every time you respond in a way that takes the thread off topic. Challenging him to reply on topic is a fool's errand.
alan markus @3:09,
You may be right, but I still suspect that "Wisconsin Death Trip" pushed whatever intent he had out of the way. The same as "Baba O'Reily" tripped up W when he tried to complete the "fool me twice..." saying.
Well, according to the logic of the Left, since no one will adopt the homeless, its okay to kill them.
A death trip. Oh no. Bummer, man.
LOL Without the rest of the state Madison would be a cowtown
57% of all new private sector jobs in Wisconsin are in Dane County, which is three times better than the next closest county. Epic employs more people than some Walker voting counties total population. Without Dane Wisconsin would probably be 50th in job growth instead of 40th. UW Madison has an operating budget of about a $3 billion a year. About a third of that comes from research funding and about 17 percent from the state. Tell me again why Madison needs you or rural Wisconsin.
"garage mahal said...
LOL Without the rest of the state Madison would be a cowtown
57% of all new private sector jobs in Wisconsin are in Dane County, which is three times better than the next closest county. Epic employs more people than some Walker voting counties total population. Without Dane Wisconsin would probably be 50th in job growth instead of 40th. UW Madison has an operating budget of about a $3 billion a year. About a third of that comes from research funding and about 17 percent from the state. Tell me again why Madison needs you or rural Wisconsin."
LOL. There are thousands of private sector jobs because they cater to all the state and UW employees. Those employees go away, banks, grocery stores, malls, car dealers, doctors, dentists, law firms, etc. ALL GO AWAY. As do the hundreds of non-profits and lobbying firms. GONE!
And 17% of $3 billion is $510 million. Say good-bye to the UW as we know it.
Madison become Eau Claire.
You real are a dumbass. It's hard to believe that anyone can be that fucking stupid.
Blogger garage mahal said...
I wish the county could secede from the rest of this shithole, we don't need the rest of the state for a damn thing
Fine with me GM. Let us know how many state employees in Madison still have a job once Madison is no longer part of the state.
"garage mahal said...
Madison "We'll be Detroit in no time"
Madison and Dane County is one of the few counties adding jobs and population. I wish the county could secede from the rest of this shithole, we don't need the rest of the state for a damn thing."
I also think it's telling that you add Dane County to our response.
Fen:
That's the implication of rejecting intrinsic value. Not only are people interchangeable (i.e. [class] diversity, but they are also disposable (e.g. selective-child); other than, of course, for purposes of democratic leverage, and good perceptions.
Curious George is inadvertently arguing (I think) that the UW Madison creates a whole lot private sector jobs. Also that UW Madison couldn't withstand a 510 million drop. But he has previously argued that Walker's UW cuts are a drop in the bucket. Just not having to be associated with teabaggers and Walker would generate a much stronger tax base from high earners who are scared away.
"UW Madison has an operating budget of about a $3 billion a year. About a third of that comes from research funding and about 17 percent from the state. Tell me again why Madison needs you or rural Wisconsin. "
But when the state makes a moderate cuts to the funding, garage is screaming that Governor Walker is about to murder the university.
Logic and reason are conservative.
garage mahal: "Also that UW Madison couldn't withstand a 510 million drop."
Isn't it the entire UW System that is involved, and not just UW Madison?
And isn't it $300 million in cuts, not $510 million (according to the NYT)?
"garage mahal said...
Curious George is inadvertently arguing (I think) that the UW Madison creates a whole lot private sector jobs. Also that UW Madison couldn't withstand a 510 million drop. But he has previously argued that Walker's UW cuts are a drop in the bucket. Just not having to be associated with teabaggers and Walker would generate a much stronger tax base from high earners who are scared away."
The UW, through employment, does create a lot of private sector jobs to support those people working locally. The buy goods and services. The rest is just you going into full retard mode. It's good locally for Madison, sucks for the rest of us. The cuts are a drop in the bucket. UW's goal is to provide quality education, not employ as many people as possible.
You are one dumb fuck.
Hyphenated American: "But when the state makes a moderate cuts to the funding, garage is screaming that Governor Walker is about to murder the university.
Logic and reason are conservative"
Why hasn't garage moved to Minnesota like he said he was going to do? And gotten his IT credentials (for those cool Cuba IT jobs)?
It's like garage is full of hot air and can't be taken seriously.
Saw that crowd when I was in Madison during the Crazy Legs Run?
Shocking.
So the UW does create a lot of high paying jobs. And that sucks for the rest of state. In a nutshell, that is why Republicans hate Madison. Because they are petty and jealous of our success and high quality of life. That's why they want to destroy it. We'll come with the 500 mil and you can have the rest of this shit hole state.
Garage, I live in Kentucky. We have the reputation of turning out hill billies, horses, and bourbon. Wisconsin turns out cheese. That's pretty much it. You can drop your pretensions of being a big urban utopia. I've seen Madison. Its a more liberal, albeit cleaner, Louisville. Oh, and you have more homeless. We don't encourage them here.
Ps. Before you get all swell-headed about being cleaner, its because our population is more "diverse" than yours.
So the UW does create a lot of high paying jobs.
garage does not understand how job creation works.
garage: "Because they are petty and jealous of our success and high quality of life. That's why they want to destroy it. We'll come with the 500 mil and you can have the rest of this shit hole state."
LOL
"..our success..."
"We'll come with the 500 mil..."
Perhaps the problem is population density, which creates misalignments that need to be subsidized; or subsidies that create misalignments, including high-density population centers.
Pro-choice: The wicked solution to the "wicked problem".
garage. How many homeless you got living in your house?
Rusty said...
garage. How many homeless you got living in your house?
6/18/15, 7:54 AM
Don't you mean his mother's house? I don't think squatting in your mother's basement constitutes ownership in the traditional sense you are referring to. It would be rude of him to invite overnight guests without first getting permission from mom. That being said, I would expect the answer to your question is no. His mom already puts up with enough of an intrusion in her routine with Garage there, the added imposition of additional homeless persons who's stay would be of an indeterminant duration (along the lines of Garage's endless stay) would be a bridge too far.
Being his mom, she loves him dearly but there comes a point where it is in everyone's best interest for her to put her foot down, insist that Garage put down the XBox controller, take a shower, put on some clean cloths, and head on down to the BK or McD's and submit an application for a position. Granted, he would likely start on the night shift, likely part of the clean-up crew but even a position like that if done with marked conscientiousness toward a job well done, can lead to bigger and better things. The crew chief WILL notice and Garage will reap some reward. This dose (no matter how small) of actual earned respect will do wonders for his self esteem and may just be the first step on the road to a rewarding life.
The downside to this path would be that he would necessarily have less time to spend here on this blog regaling us with his wisdom and insight to the human condition but it is a sacrifice that I believe we can submit to if the end result is a more self aware and self reliant Garage.
You know Todd. I don't fault garage for his personal situation. One reason is because I myself am morbidly obese and fantastically ugly.
What I do find pathetic and entertaining at the same time-I bet theres a German word for it-is his total lack of curiosity. He accepts without question the version of history promoted by his friends.
"I'm surprised Walker's fascist thugs allow city counsels to even exist and take votes."
The Wisconsin Republicans are doing an end-around when it comes to lawfully elected school boards. Would anyone really be surprised if they pull a Rick Snyder and completely over-ride the City Council of Madison as well?
It's like garage is full of hot air and can't be taken seriously
Says the guy who recently outed himself as using multiple log-ins in order to comment on this blog.
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2015/06/it-was-unbelievably-stupid-thing-to-say.html?showComment=1434338699717#c2525904395980840381
Any bets on how many different names Drago is using today? The over/under is 6
In my town, the homeless can afford both tattoos and pets, which puzzles me because I cannot afford either.
The homeless can't afford Aldi shopping carts.
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