|
Full day of alternative voices
10:51 PM
6/15/02
Brenda Ingersoll Wisconsin State Journal
indent A few miles from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a coalition called Cities for People put on a full day of alternative workshops Saturday for those whose voices the mayors will not hear.
indent"We'd like to show the mayors, the United States, that there's another lobby in town and that's the people of Madison," said Cities for People spokesman Brian Benford, a Madison community activist. "We really want our voices heard, and the way the (mayors) conference is set up, that's not possible at all."
indentThe coalition consists of about 25 groups, including the Affordable Housing Action Alliance, the Green Party, the National Organization for Women Madison chapter, Progressive Dane, the Student Labor Action Coalition, and Latinos United for Change and Advancement.
indentAbout 75 people hailing from as far as Ann Arbor, Mich., and Aurora, Ill., signed up for the People's Conference on Cities, held at the Midwest Labor Temple. It offered workshops on topics such as the death penalty, new urbanism, city campaign financing, fair housing, breastfeeding and amnesty for undocumented immigrants. About 300 people came and went throughout the day, said Tom Running, an event organizer.
indentSanta Monica Mayor Mike Feinstein and Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak joined Madison lawyer Ed Garvey, the Democratic candidate for governor in 1998, for an evening panel discussion.
indentAlfonso Zepeda-Capistran, who led the workshop on amnesty for undocumented immigrant workers, said he hopes to begin building broad, grass-roots support for a federal amnesty program. "That would alleviate the conditions many workers go through because they don't have the proper documentation to be legally employed," he said. He said there are thousands of such workers in Madison, who live in fear that their status will be discovered and who have difficulty getting driver's licenses and other identification, as well as jobs.
indent"Since the new tightening of so-called security in the United States, thousands of undocumented workers have been deported," Zepeda-Capistran said.
indentBert Zipperer, a former Madison alderman running for mayor, led a workshop on fair housing practices. Zipperer is chairman of the city's Equal Opportunities Commission. Madison's housing is segregated by race, he said. He deplored the fact that, according to a recent survey, only 26 percent of the city's landlords participate in the Section 8 program, in which the federal government pays the difference between the rent amount and 30 percent of a renter's income.
indent"What steps do we need as citizens to make our voices heard on the need for affordable housing?" one woman asked. "It's political," Zipperer replied, "having slates of people running for city government who speak the truth."
indentPeople's homes and apartments are too spacious, another man offered, saying, "Excessive consumption is the root cause of all our problems."
indentBut a man who identified himself as a county planner said, "It's a supply problem. We're not building the housing that is needed."
indent
|
