Earn cash by selling naming rights!
It’s go to meetin’ time again, 6 p.m. today, Thursday 05-16-24 at (fill in the blank) Memorial high school here in the town still named after the fourth President and primary author of the Constitution, unWoke though he was.
The City of [Madison] is trying to soften the ground for the coming budgetary apocalypse. City leaders have a $27 million budgetary hole to fill thanks to an appetite for spending money it does not have. We reprint here a missive from the friendsofsaskcreekmadison.com who got energized over plans to bulldoze their green space for improvements nobody asked for. (Sort of like Mayor Satya’s rapid bus transit system.) The arresting headline of their flyer reads (for searchable purposes): “You mean the mayor was spending money she didn’t have?”
You wonder why inflation?
It explains that Joe Biden and the Democrat(ic) Congress showered the City with $69.5 million in one-time money through the so-called American Rescue Plan, which was an over-reaction to the Covid pandemic and largely responsible for the punishing inflation that resulted.
“However, the mayor kept putting $49 million in her budget in subsequent years as if she was getting that federal money each year from 2021 to 2024,” the Sauk Creek folks say. “This is why we have a $27 million deficit … and why the mayor wants a referendum.” On top of expected school district spending asks, amidst generalized price inflation.
The Friends of Sauk Creek want spending reductions and in particular ask how human service programs can be cut. Fair enough. We’ll know city leaders are serious when they zero out the $509,000 Police Civilian Oversight Board. Low-hanging fruit! Squeeze out the affirmative action, “racial equity,” “social justice”, and “environmental justice” functions from the $2.7 million Civil Rights Division. Quit the Food Court, get out of the housing business, quit trying to run a grocery.
What are we bid?
As Animal House fraternity man Otter wisely counseled, “This situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!” And we’re just the blogge for it!
Can’t we monetize Woke? Sell the naming rights to this city, named as it is after a slave-owning, cisgendered, white male oppressor who created the Electoral College that elected Donald Trump. The Chinese owners of TikTok are trying to win friends and buy votes. Welcome to TikTok City! What are we bid? American Family paid $60 million to purchase the naming rights to the baseball stadium in Milwaukee. Should be worth $27 million to rename its hometown for 15 years. “American Family Insurance City: All your insurance needs under one non-retractable roof. No Engine Braking.”
Note of Caution: tonight’s meeting at (fill-in-the-blank) Memorial high school will be organized in discussion tables rather than in a massed assembly, so as to dilute citizen outrage.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: is why the City of [you know who] hired Dylan Brogan — at one time one of [Madison’s] finest news reporters — for $91,181 a year as its communications director: to flack the spending referendum. His call -‘em-as-he-sees-‘em gene will be sorely tested. Job comes with health insurance and a retirement pension. We’ve been there, ourselves.
12 responses to “Hold the line on City of [Madison] spending”
I was watching Game Show Network overnight and they had some really old episodes of To Tell The Truth, sponsored by Dristan and Black Flag.
Black Flag City seems appropriate as we need to get rid of the roaches that scurry when a spotlight is shown on how they spend our money.
SoFi paid $20 million a year for the naming rights to the stadium that bears their name. We should be able to get that for a whole damn city.
”Tesla, Wisconsin”
And you know Musk is just crazy enough to do it.
Brogan joins a long list of sellouts. Appreciate the Wadas while we still have her!
How about Foxconn Wisconsin. Oh wait. Never mind.
I was at the one at Kennedy school. Many union members were there sporting union t shirts. The break up into groups run by the city is a joke. The questions that get asked are filtered by city officials and usually responded to ” it’s the states fault because they didn’t give us enough money, they won’t let us have a sales tax and they only let us raise your property taxes so much”. The city complains that the changes in the state law in 2011 makes it hard for them and in 14 years they haven’t figured it out yet. The city is just try to make sure their referendum passes.
Good stuff people! Keep the outrageous ideas coming!
Maybe we can call it “Rhode-Conway Economics” or “Rhodes_Conway/City Council Economics”. If The City could print they’re own money they could call it “Bidenomics”. I wonder if Finance Director David Schmiedickle ever warned the mayor or city council about what was happening? Maybe if The State bails out Madison like they did Milwaukee the elected officials in Madison could give themselves big pay raises like they did in Milwaukee. Oh they already tried that here but it failed. Maybe after the referendum passes. Maybe The City will be like MMSD with a new referendum as soon as the last one runs out.
Is it worth 3 hours of my life to go to this?
Maybe the state? Not the way they work. Vos gave Gableman a 600k budget and he ended up blowing over two million. Milwaukee officials aren’t the only ones that went to the Jessie Watters school of math.
Maybe we could get loans from nearby cities that are fiscally responsible? The DeFo is doing a’ight.
“His call -‘em-as-he-sees-‘em gene will be sorely tested.”
EXACTLY what The Gotch thought when he read that last week.
And he’s hoping, but not hopeful, that Brogan will react just like Glenn Greenwald did when (NOT IF!) despicable Lefty requires…nay…demands that he shed his ethics-n-principles…and that would be by telling ’em to Golf Foxtrot Yankee!
The Gotch
Link should read friendsofsaukcreekmadison.com, not “sask” creek.
If you go they will tell you they have two budgets. One is Capital (new purchases or projects) and one operating (day to day). You have to remember the capital budget is like a home mortgage where the payments for the loan and interest comes out of the operating or your own monthly budget. Whatever they buy or build if not paid for with other money ends up in the operating budget down the road.
SRC should just say that there was a $27M budget shortfall when she took office, just like DementiaJoKe said…TWICE…he inherited 9% inflation.
Heck, their target audience is the same (breathtakingly imbecilic, easily herded, comically undiscerning Lefties) so it’s worth a shot, am I right?
The Gotch