City Cast Madison invited all qualified Madison Common Council candidates to complete a short questionnaire to help voters learn more about the people running to represent them in city government. All candidates were sent the same questions, and as you'll see, some questions are more policy-oriented and some are a little more fun!
The unedited responses for District 19 candidate John Guequierre are below.
Read the rest of the questionnaire responses here.
1. What is the single most pressing issue facing Madison?
Managing Madison’s growth sustainably. Madison is the economic dynamo of Wisconsin, attracting people from around the world. Sustaining services and building the infrastructure that supports expanding employment and growing population is a problem many municipalities would like to have. For Madison, managing growth is a challenge within the constraints imposed by a periodically hostile state government.
2. What's the most important issue facing your district and how will you go about addressing it?
High property taxes and rents are straining personal budgets. Our inability to build enough housing to match population growth leads to rapid escalation of appraised values and that raises property taxes which also affects renters. Wisconsin makes cities rely more heavily on property taxes than any other Midwestern state, and Madison gets a particularly unfair deal. I’m applying my experience in housing, especially affordable housing, to accelerate the pace of housing development. I’m applying my expertise in finance and budgets to stretching our tax dollars.
3. What sets you apart from your competitor or, if running uncontested, what would you like voters to know about you?
I’m applying my experience in building and finance to Madison’s major challenges, and the results are visible. I’ve also built productive relationships based on mutual respect with my, the, and Madison’s talented staff. These relationships are essential to accomplishing anything worthwhile and sustaining long-term cooperation despite inevitable disagreements. That’s why the Mayor and a majority of alders have endorsed me. I’ve been told my opponent disparages alders and staff. I’ve lived in District 19 for 12 It is unclear if my opponent has moved into the district yet.
4. Did you support the $22 million property tax referendum? Why or why not?
I supported approval of the referendum, probably diving deeper into the details than any other alder. After the executive (preliminary) budget was published, I hosted two in-person and one virtual meeting to share what I had learned, assisted by the directors of our largest agencies. I concluded that the referendum gave us the best chance to preserve services while giving us time to negotiate a fairer deal with the state. I was also the first champion of a first-ever five-year operating budget. I’ve also supported our efforts to lobby for fairer revenue sharing as a coalition of other cities.
5. What should Madison look for in its next police chief?
Let’s find a chief who continues Barnes’s focus on (1) data-driven solutions, (2) community policing, and (3) intensive training , which is paying dividends in crime reduction and improving neighborhood trust. I would like to hear our candidates for chief talk about their ideas for addressing reckless driving – a growing concern in district 19. We will want to know how the next chief evaluates the use of officer-worn body cameras. Given the hefty price tag, it is not clear Madison can take on this program despite wide support.
6. What's something the city currently isn't doing, but could do to help ease our housing crisis?
Serving on Plan Commission, Public Works, Housing Strategy, and Block Grant, I get to see the broad sweep of what Madison is already doing as well as evolving new intiatives. We hope to do more to for condos and pre-fabrication. In the big picture, to get the 50% increase in annual housing development we need, it will be a combination of reducing costs and speeding up the permitting and building process. Regarding the later, I hope to explore ways in which we can “automate” some of the most labor-intensive and time-consuming aspects of getting from concept to move-in.
7. What's something you wish more residents knew about Common Council/city government?
I wish all Madisonians knew how easy it is to contact their alder or our small dedicated Common Council staff. We want to hear from you and we want to help. My favorite memories will be interacting with individuals, families, and neighborhood organizations. Similarly, there are lots of tools on the City’s website for noting problems and requesting assistance. We are really focused on how to reach those residents whom we rarely get to meet. In District 19 I wish I had a lot more contact with the apartment dwellers all over the district.
8. What's one thing you wish you could change about Madison?
I wish we all knew each other better. That’s my small rural Wisconsin town upbringing oozing out. We all lived cheek-by-jowl, the poor and rich, the educated and not, and somehow the proximity generated a universal feeling that we all had merit as humans, and over a beer and a fish fry we overcame the inevitable disagreements. To sustain the special things about Madison, let’s not wall ourselves up in our neighborhoods and treat others in our own city as unworthy. Please take every opportunity to learn about what’s happening in the rest of our city.
9. What’s your favorite meal in Madison?
As children and grandchildren of people who lived through the Great Depression, guilt and frugality keep Polly and me away from Madison’s greatest restaurants. However, for several years, our kids have gotten us gift cards so we can celebrate our anniversary at L’Etoile. Oh my!
10. Anything else you'd like to add?
In this election season, as I knock on doors and ask about the resident’s major city issues, the overwhelming answer (90%+) has been something like: “I’m so dismayed and frightened by what’s happening in Washington that I can’t focus on the city. Please take care of us.” Indeed, we may be facing some difficult years. We can get through this together. Protect your own physical and mental health. Take care of yourself so you can take care of others.
