Soglin, Homelessness, and a better Madison for everyone in 2011

From the archives, a quick little post on having a more positive outlook

[This was originally a post on Forward Lookout in 2011]

A few months back, Paul Soglin linked to a piece about services for homeless people in Ann Arbor.

Paul wrote a few lines after the link, but they were a little cryptic. They were bullet-points of principles, but I couldn’t tell if they were meant as a warning to Madison or a general dispensation of wisdom. I was going to write basically this blog post wondering just what his point was and what prompted him to link to that article. And, as it was the start of a good run of posts from Soglin, it was going to close with “Maybe he’s thinking about getting into the Mayor’s race”.

Note to self: First, go with your gut more often. Second, always assume Soglin is thinking about getting back into the Mayor’s race.

One of the things I’m most excited about in 2011 are Mayoral and County Exec races where we can talk about how we can help people build a better life in Madison and Dane County. I’m looking forward to hearing more from Soglin and all of the candidates on how we can do better for everyone in the community.

I wish I could find it now, but there’s a thread in the Daily Page forum somewhere, talking about the same issue of people down on their luck moving to Madison to start over. The usual vitriol was there, complaining about “people from Chicago” moving here and being nothing but trouble, but there was a gem of a post that went something like this:

“Good. I’m proud to live in a city that is the sort of place that people want to come to build a better life, no matter what their circumstances are”

(If someone remembers that post, I’d be much obliged if you could point it out.)

I think there are people who spend their time thinking about ways to limit access to support services so only the “right” people can use them, and there are people who spend their time thinking about ways to help people build a better life. My New Year’s Resolution is to spend my time helping the latter.