Journal Times, Racine, Sept. 6
Make police body cams a higher priority
The creaking sound you heard last week was the barn door being closed. Or, at least half of a barn door.
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Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser said he would include funding for police body cameras for the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department officers in the 2021 budget when he presents it to the county board next month. Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian said the city plans to by them for police officers – but not until 2022.
Both the city and the county have dawdled for several years over the implementation of body cams - endorsing them as a way of to increase police accountability and collect evidence - but balking at the high costs of implementation.
That has proven to be penny wise and pound foolish.
The shooting of Jacob Blake by a Kenosha police officer - seven times in the back as he tried to elude police and enter a car - was captured on a brief video clip by a neighbor. It quickly went viral, enflamed the community and led to riots, looting, the burning of businesses and two deaths.
There was no police video of the shooting because the police had no body cams. There was nothing to give a broader picture of the events leading up to the shooting – the initial encounter between Blake and the officers; any police directives given to Blake; the actions in the reported scuffle between Blake and police; the use of a taser or any video evidence of whether Blake was armed with a knife during that encounter.
Police body cam footage might well have provided some balance to the episode and a wider understanding of the actions of both the officers involved and Blake himself. Instead, all we had was a view of the end of the episode and the back-shooting - a highly inflammatory few seconds that resulted in Blake being paralyzed and protests and then riots that burned down several city blocks.
The costs are still being tabulated and they will run into the millions of dollars - a staggering bill that might have been sidestepped with a clearer vision of what happened that Sunday afternoon.
President Donald Trump, in his Tuesday visit to the city, pledged $42 million the state for public safety support, funding for additional prosecutors, direct aid to law enforcement and funding for small businesses damaged by protests. Gov. Tony Evers said the state would provide $1 million for disaster recovery microloans.
A good chunk of that money should go toward police body cams. More than half the police departments with 100 to 250 officers had already acquired them four years ago and many more have added them since then. The foot-dragging must stop.
The technology is there. Use it. Police body cams will help provide a fuller picture of the interactions between law officers and the public. That transparency will increase police accountability - and citizen accountability as well.
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Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Sept. 6
More help needed for downtown merchants
The Madison City Council finally offered some help to smashed-up businesses on and around State Street, albeit a token amount.
The council voted 13-5 last week to steer up to $60,000 to Downtown businesses suffering multiple nights of vandalism and looting following protests against police in recent months.
The money is just a fraction of the $250,000 the City Council blocked July 21, and it’s barely a tenth of the $500,000 originally proposed for a Downtown Recovery Program in June.
Merchants, eateries and clubs in the central city were already struggling with lost business and restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, many are trying to attract customers despite boarded-up windows that protect against further senseless attacks.
Madison shop owners deserve better - both from the public and from City Hall, given the importance a healthy Downtown has for the entire region’s vitality and jobs.
Buildings certainly aren’t as important as people’s lives. And the brutal Minneapolis police killing May 25 of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, understandably led to mass protests across the country. So did the chilling and excessive use of force Aug. 23 against Jacob Blake in Kenosha, who was shot seven times in the back.
But a majority of the Madison City Council has shown little concern for innocent small business people, many of them women and people of color. Those store owners shouldn’t be dismissed as collateral damage in the ongoing and national push for further police reforms.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway pledged support for a robust Downtown Recovery Fund during a recent meeting with the State Journal editorial board. That was good to hear. She noted the city helped the Williamson and Monroe neighborhoods when major street projects disrupted access to local businesses there.
Store owners Downtown are even more deserving of public help because their businesses were repeatedly attacked by mobs. Police have made some arrests. Yet police have been cautious about confronting unruly crowds to avoid igniting greater conflict. That has left small business people unfairly exposed.
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Janesville Gazette, Janesville, Sept. 4
Not enforcing quotas is bad look for city
It’s time for Janesville to clean up its liquor license quota system.
Here’s the situation:
For class A liquor licenses-the sort issued to grocery stores, liquor stores and convenience stores that sell packaged alcohol for consumption elsewhere-the city has a quota of 19. That’s based on a formula of one such license for every 3,500 city residents.
Except the city really doesn’t have a quota. It has granted 25 such liquor licenses.
That’s because in 2014 the city council passed an ordinance allowing the council to exceed the quota if the applications are reviewed by the city Alcohol License Advisory Committee.
Class A licenses that exceed the quota are now held by Aldi, Basics Cooperative, Festival Foods, J&R Express Mart, J Town Spirit and Lark Market.
When should a license above the quota be granted? This is what the ordinance says, in part:
“… when issuance of a license would expand the trade impact of an existing business, or promote redevelopment of an underutilized commercial property or establishment of a new business within the community …”
That seems pretty clear, but it recently caused confusion and debate.
Joe Rollette, owner of the gas station and convenience store at 650 Midland Road, submitted an application for a class A license March 13. The city Alcohol License Advisory Committee issued a negative recommendation May 5, citing the city’s quota as a reason.
The city council on May 11 sent the application back to the committee with instructions to evaluate the application on its merits rather than the quota, saying it was up to the council, not the committee, to worry about the quota.
The committee July 14 issued another negative recommendation, with some members still citing the quota as a reason.
The city council approved the liquor license on a 4-3 vote, with some of those who objected saying the Rollette situation doesn’t fit exceptions outlined in the ordinance.
The alcohol licensing committee now has been tasked with making a recommendation to the city council on how to fix the quota system.
State statutes do not require the city to have a quota for class A liquor licenses, but few people would argue the city should not restrict the number of liquor licenses. Janesville Mobilizing 4 Change and others have rightly argued that too many more liquor licenses could lead to societal troubles.
Here’s our suggestion: Regulate by geography instead of by number. Rather than a numerical limit, the city should consider restricting liquor licenses based on the zoning of the area where the license is proposed and the number of licensed establishments nearby. Existing establishments would be grandfathered in.
In residential neighborhoods, the requirement would be to keep licensed establishments far apart. In a downtown entertainment district, licensed establishments could be closer to each other.
Such an ordinance should allow for clearly defined exceptions. If a grocery chain insists on a liquor license to build a store on the city’s south side, there should be a way that could be allowed.
Whether the city chooses this or some other solution, it’s clear a fix is needed. It’s a bad look for the city to have a quota it’s not enforcing.
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