Vote locally if you want your voice to be heard!

Many do not realize how important local elections can be compared to presidential ones. While many think that elections for President are most important because they lead the country, they forget to think about who exactly relays information to the President of the United States.

This is the perfect example of democracy, in which locally elected officials of different and unique communities act on the citizen’s behalf and convey their issues to the federal branch of government. The President is not constitutionally responsible for communities. Those who do not understand this will then begin to believe their voice is not being heard. This is because many do not understand how municipalities affect their everyday lives.

States take care of infrastructure, transportation, public schools, and many more. The people involved at the state level also control the state’s taxes, welfare, and the judiciary. States can also pass a law if it does not contradict the federal constitution and is not an enumerated right of the federal government as well.

The participation of the members of America’s democracy can be proved as lacking in local elections through data with voter turnout. I have been able to use data provided to me by the city to better evaluate this.

According to the 2010 census for the City of Green Bay there was a population of 103,996 citizens, in which about 75.3% were above the age of 18. 

If we take the 2016 population of 105,139 for the City of Green Bay and assume 75% of people are still above 18, it would mean there are about 78,854 people above the age of 18.

Among this population, there were only 53,962 of them registered to vote in. This means about 24,892, or 31.57%, of people above the age of 18 in the City of Green Bay are not participating in America’s democracy simply through not even being registered to vote.

While Wisconsin has an overall population of 5,778,708 in 2016, there are about 4,449,170 citizens above 18. Among this number, there were 3,558,877 citizens who were registered to vote by November 2, 2016. This means about 890,293 people in Wisconsin above the age of 18 are not taking advantage of participating in America’s democracy. 

I have also been able to use this data to compare the turnout in presidential elections compared to local elections. I can conclude that local election voter turnout was reduced by over half compared to elections with the state and federal level. I was also able to notice a consistent lower voter turnout in primary elections, which is to be expected.

Although many believe the media should step up to promote voting, it is important to consider the fact that the media has a role in reporting, not advertising. The City of Green Bay understands this and is working on encouraging citizens to understand the importance of voting in local elections by expanding their advertisement for voting. They are in the process of including voter information in citizen’s water bills. This would include information on how to vote absentee, how to request help, and when the dates for the upcoming elections are.

While many people might be frustrated with how the federal government is operating, it is important to understand that your voice can be better heard when you vote locally! Now go out and vote in your city’s next election cycle 🙂

 

The Census is More Important Than You Think

The 2020 census is coming up faster than you might think. This is important to consider now because there is a lot of work goes into planning a successful census count, which needs to be taken into consideration three years in advance.

Because I have been interning with the City of Green Bay Mayor’s Office this summer, I have been given the opportunity to learn more about this eventful project. The 2020 census is especially crucial for many reasons, in which I will point out.

The Chief of Staff for the City of Green Bay (in which I intern for) asked me to listen to a podcast called Stand and Be Counted by On the Media. I was given this task because it talks about the key components of the census while discussing gerrymandering. All of this is very important towards a healthy democracy. Because I am also working on finding alternative early in-person absentee voting locations for Green Bay, learning about these issues are important for my knowledge.

After listening to this podcast, I thought it would be important to share the information I learned with the rest of you because the press lacks coverage on this important subject. This is also the perfect way for me to promote your participation in the upcoming census!

The census affects the way that gerrymandering is decided. This is a process of states redrawing the district lines every 10 years in accordance with the census data. This is often times used for political party advantages. It is important to make sure that the district lines match the shifting demographics to ensure a proper democracy. If one is not given the proper opportunity to try to vote out a person that represents them, what kind of functioning democracy is this??

The podcast that I listened to provided a simple way to look at how this operation works through what can be known as packing and cracking. This means that the parties will do their best to pack all of the other side’s votes in to as few districts as possible while claiming the surrounding ones for itself. In retrospect, they could also try to crack and divide them as powerful as they can across as many districts as possible.

This system of gerrymandering dates back to the nation’s birth, which is still in effect today. It was brought to the attention by many back in 2010 when the Republicans captured massive houses and governorships. Stand and Be Counted mentions that this broke politics in a very serious way by not being representative in a way that it is supposed to be.

During this time, the Republicans used sophisticated mapmakers that were armed with data to draw precise and surgical lines. Because of this, 2012, 2014, and 2016 would have zero swing in the U.S. House. As the podcast quotes, “We do not want our politics reduced to an every decade arms race that is fought between two parties over redistricting” (Stand and Be Counted 2017).

In accordance, there were many lopsided districts, in which some Democrats did not put up a person for a seat. This means the Republican party would have no challengers. It is important to think about this because it does not represent a healthy democracy.

We can take this into consideration with our very own state of Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has never been willing to intervene in gerrymandering due to the rights of states. The podcast mentions Wisconsin as a poster child for this issue. The state ordered for new state assembly lines after the 2010 census. This was the first time in 30 years that this called partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional.

How exactly did the court determine this? Many law professors and other professionals took a look into this and came up with a term known as, “efficiency gap”. This attempts to determine when gerrymandering has gone too far. Through the process of data analyzing, there is a percentage created of people whose votes had been squandered.

If the efficiency gap is accepted, the podcast concludes that there would be six other states in violation of gerrymandering. This can make a big difference when it comes to voting through different representations in districts.

We can take a look at how this has changed over time when examining the years between 1972 to 2000. Here, the median efficiency gap in all state legislative elections in the U.S. was zero. 2010 came around and the percentage was off of the charts.

Now, what exactly made this change?? This is something that should be looked into to better fix the issue with our democracy

This means that the 2020 census will shape the elections that are yet to come. Being able to count every person in America will allow us to better see the shifting populations. With this, we will be able to  adjust the number of electoral votes and congressional seats accordingly for representative democracy.

An important concern with the census arose when a drafted executive order was leaked in January. This proposed that the director of the Census Bureau should include questions to determine U.S. citizenship. It is important to consider that the census was made to count every person in America, regardless of citizenship.

The concept of answering immigration status scared many people away from the census. Because of this, there were many advertisers telling immigrants that filling out the census would not endanger them. Having this order signed could also encourage many legislatures to claim that the census results were flawed if people are scared away from it.

Because census data is fed back to cities, counties, and mayors, an under count could cause the leader to notice that the data does not match up with what they are familiar with. This in turn can go viral and make democracy look even worse.

The podcast then continued on to make a very valid point. If we have a failed census, why don’t we privatize it and turn it into a commercial operation through apple, google, or etc. so that people will do it well because they are getting paid to do it.

This is bad to consider when thinking about census data as a public good. As soon as something is privatized, you have to build a profit. People also think differently when you are trying to make money off of something. This can make the idea of politics more greedy than it already is.

While it may seem as though the census is only about politics, it is not. The podcast mentioned a good quote to consider from Abraham Lincoln, which recites, “The census allows us to better judge what to do and how to do it” (Stand and Be Counted, 2017).

The data received from the census will help businesses decide where to build grocery stores, determine how billions of dollars are funneled into states for schools, roads, etc. It also says something about the society as well. Being able to know more about the society we live in will allow one to better govern it as well.

The podcast mentioned a great example from history about how the census was useful during the civil war. General William Sherman used the 1860 census data to plan part of his March to the Sea. He needed to find out where the crops were in order to feed his army. He used census data on the maps and was able to know where he was going, what he would run into, as well as roughly how many people would be in those areas.

While listening to the podcast, I was also learned about another important time in history for the census. It mentioned that counting Spanish speaking people in the 1970s was disastrous and confusing. Because of this, there was an estimated 5.3 million people under counted in the United States.

This under count was frustrating for advocates seeking more federal aid for an under served population because such identity of Hispanic was not yet clear at the time.

When it came to the question of race, there were only the categories of white, black, American Indian, and a variety of Asian choices available. The states recommended that Mexican Americans check the white race box.

Puerto Ricans had the same concerns during this time, in which both groups made an alliance. When thinking about which label to choose, there were many concerns for the “Spanish Speaking” term because many activists worried this would not cover the many Latinos who did not speak Spanish.

They also worried about the a label of “brown” due to many Latinos not seeing themselves as this color. This issue made many of these people feel too foreign or un-American. This alone goes against the sense of freedom that America promises.

So how exactly did the label of Hispanic become so nationally known? Many Latino activists at this time were from New Mexico, where the title was already very popular. In retrospect, many people across the country did not recognize this term.

This called for a need in media push. The census was very crucial in this situation as well because the activists would need the data to get national attention to advertise and sell the concept for people to mark themselves as Hispanic.

This was an important time for social experimenting with very ambiguous identity titles. This reflects more than just categorizing. It demonstrates one’s culture, values, and experiences of being an underrepresented minority population.

As the world is continuing to turn, so is our society. The census ensures the confidence on how to better govern our country through several factors. I hope that being able to learn more about this subject will not only allow you to think more conceptually about it, but to make sure you participate in the 2020 census!

 

 

 

 

 

First City Council Meeting

I finally got to attend my first City Council meeting! It was held on June 20th, but I have been very busy since and have not gotten the chance to write about it yet. I wanted to make sure to put in a few words about it before the next meeting comes up on July 18th.

The meeting was five hours long and I did not step foot out of the building until 11:58 PM. While most people found this to be a dragging event, I found this to be exciting. I felt enthusiastic to be in City Hall at such a late time in the evening (corny, but hey)!

For those of you that have never attended a City Council meeting, it involves hours of endless discussion and debate over what is all going on throughout the city. The City of Green Bay has 12 districts, meaning there that there were 12 Alderman that would speak. The Mayor, the City Clerk, the City Attorney, and a few other important people sat at the head of the room. There were also other important people that would have a seat with a microphone as well, such as someone like the Chief of Police.

The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance as well as with a prayer led by the Mayor. I found this to feel very legit and exciting. I enjoyed hearing some of the special words that Mayor Schmitt had asked for as a blessing upon the City of Green Bay.

While a few other things happened before jumping into the discussion of all topics, I would like to just talk about the juicy stuff. Sooo, here we go 🙂

There was a lot of discussion about the progress of the Northland Hotel project at the beginning. This is a complicated project that has been going on forever in Green Bay. I find this project to be interesting because it was an aspect towards the city during the 1960s and 70s. I am a big fan of anything to do with history!

One of the main issues with this is that the senior lender had pulled out, making the project that much more complicated. The team has been trying very hard to find another senior lender.

This was brought up during the meeting because the Council had wanted assurance that the project is moving smoothly; they wanted to know exactly what was going on and when. The gentleman that was speaking on behalf of the project at the meeting was not able to give the Council any more information than they already had, in which the Council did not seem too pleased.

It is hopeful that within the next 60 days the project will be working with new developers, as well as finalizing with promoters. The deadline for this project is aimed towards the first quarter of 2018. Development is always a great way to bring refreshing ideas to the city.

The meeting then moved on to the discussion of renovating the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena. The goal for the project is to move forward with a new expo hall for the city! The discussion involved a request to allow an excess of 10% room tax until 2029 to pay for the project, in which the money will not be accessible until then. Discussion with this involved the issue of what money would be used for the expo hall in the mean time. With this, it was discussed upon to use a .5% sales tax until 2029. If given the approval to use the tax, the county would use the revenue from .5% sales tax to pay off the new expo building’s debt until the room tax becomes available in 2029. The expo would also fund jail expansion, road improvements, library upgrades, etc.

This is an important project because the expo hall is a tourist destination. Bringing the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena up to date will allow for the Greater Green Bay to be that much more successful!

It was brought to the attention of everyone in the room that these projects are very important for the city when looking at it from a younger perspective. It’s important to think about students leaving for college and choosing to not come back. The city is focusing on how to encourage these people to come back home and flourish their lives here.

The meeting then went on to the discussion of having a police officer on duty at future City Council meetings. Some aldermen had claimed that they had never felt threatened before and that there would be no need for a policeman to be present. There was also discussion on other ways to compensate the officer’s time there.

This was important for the Council to discuss for matters that shootings have become depressingly more active in the United States in recent years. When the Alderman mentioned that they might not feel threatened at the meetings, I think that it is important for them to consider that the Senators at the Congressional Baseball Practice hadn’t felt threatened either until there was fire shot.

City Council meetings can get very heated at times, as I have witnessed! It is a widely advertised meeting, in which anyone in the community is allowed to attend.  This means that it is important to be prepared before it is too late.

This conversation was later discussed again when deciding whether or not weapons should be banned in municipal buildings. This was a concern because council members and people visiting City Hall are allowed to have conceal and carry if they have a permit, but staff members of City Hall cannot. I find this to be very strange and make no sense at all. Does this infringe upon anyones rights??

This relates to the topic of safety in a meeting, in which I think that the public should not be able to bring weapons into a municipal building, but people with higher authority can. But does this infringe upon anyones rights again??

There are also many other things to think of with this. If weapons were to be banned in municipalities, then how are they going to make sure that this law is followed through? Would they have metal detectors? Guards by the doors? How will they pay for this?? Situations like this are teaching me to think more conceptually and critically!

The last topic that I will discuss from the City Council meeting involved the Oval Office. This is a strip club, in which opened about eight years ago. The owner of the strip club that resided in this building before had wanted to sell it because he was done with the business.

So what exactly is going on with this?? The owners of the Oval Office are trying to sell it to another person. The current owners are positive that the new owners would allow the business to flourish and stay maintained.

The main issue here involved whether or not the city and the police would do a transfer of license for the business. A lot of the alderman did not want to vote for approval on this because many of them do not support a strip club.

It was also brought up that the Oval Office is down the road from a school. I think that it is important to consider that the school was put up after the opening of the Oval Office in the first place. This means that the claim of the school being by the strip club is irrelevant now.

Another concern for disapproval was that the Oval Office had broken the zoning ordinance when they originally renovated the existing building before opening eight years ago.

There are different zoning codes and rules for projects. Because the building needed  a lot of upgrading before opening the new strip club, there was an obvious amount of more than 50% renovation. The inspection department had even supported this.

Having a more than 50% renovation project would mean that they would have to abide by a new code, in which would trigger more things for the project such as parking, outlets, affect their licenses, etc.

Because of this, an alderman had claimed that was one of the reasons for not having his support on the vote. The Council couldn’t come to an agreement on this, in which it was then pushed off for further discussion at the July 18th Council Meeting.

This was such a heated issue because the owners of the Oval Office claim that they need to close the deal by July 17th and that if the vote did not go through that night, they city would be dealing with a big lawsuit. The City Attorney had claimed that she believes it is possible to move a closing date.

I personally believe that the city should grant them with a transfer of license because the is no legal reason not to. The Police Department, Fire Department, and inspector all had to go through the building to make sure everything is how it should be. It was concluded that everything was in correct order, in which there is no reason at all to deny this.

Granting them with a transfer of license will enforce the democracy and capitalism of America, in which citizens are given the privilege to. A negative vote on this issue would result in an infringement upon these freedoms.

PHEW

A lot of interesting stuff went down this night and I learned more than I thought I would! I am learning new logics each time I step foot into City Hall and I could not be more blessed for such a great opportunity! I am already looking forward to the next meeting on July 18th. City Council meetings are open to the public, so I highly encourage anyone to go!

Being able to better understand everything that is going on in the city allows me to feel that much more proud to be a member of such a great community! I cannot wait to see what the future all has in store for the Greater Green Bay 🙂

Exciting Things Going On :)

I have officially been an intern for the City of Green Bay Mayor’s Office for a whole month now. This is very exciting for me! I have been given tasks that have already flourished me with knowledge, while being able to build up my resume through such astonishing experiences.

My internship is an unpaid position, in which I do not mind at all. In fact, I am always excited to dedicate my time to the city. I am always anxious to see what new things I will be learning about that day. Not only am I learning many things about the government, but I am also learning how to think more critically, which is an important skill.

So far I have been able to deal with constituent issues, attend meetings, ask as many questions that I have, listen in on conversations that deal with governmental matters, archive (exciting stuff from history!), research research and research some more, be an extra for a movie (woah movie star!!!), write press releases, see a bunch of insider scoops, and work on my very own project that I will be able to carry with me throughout my career.

I could not be more thankful for Celestine (the Chief of Staff for Green Bay) because she has given me such a great opportunity! We talked heavily about my career interest of becoming a political analyst, which involves research, public opinion, analyzing, reporting, etc. With the information that I have gathered about my future career, Celestine had a great idea about what I could work on over the summer for my own personal benefit, while still helping the the City of Green Bay!

With this, I am currently working very hard on finding two locations for early in person absentee voting for the next election cycle. There is a lot more work that goes into this than I thought! This process involves many details that the average person would not think of doing, while still making sure it complies with the voting laws.

This is important because during the primary election last April, there were very long lines to vote at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s campus. This was a location for not only students to vote, but for other citizens that live in that area. This day involved a lot of confusion and anger for many students because it was difficult for them to vote throughout their busy school schedules that day while having to reserve hours to vote.

With this, a representative encouraged the City of Green Bay to open up an early in person absentee voting location at the UWGB campus. This was brought up to hopefully encourage people to vote early and therefor solve the issue for the long wait times.

This was a concern because this would have had to have been planned in the city’s budget the year before. The Mayor’s Office did their best to help the citizens for the November election by providing students with free transit passes that would take them to the Clerk’s Office (where early in person absentee voting happens already), provide more staff to help things flow more smoothly on the day of voting, and mentioned that people can ask for a ballot to be sent to them.

This was also a problem because having an early in person absentee voting location involves many other factors, such as security of ballots, hours that are compliant with the clerk’s office, budget (as mentioned before), relative location for everyone in the city’s radius, a municipally owned building preferably, compliant with people that have disabilities, and many other factors (in which I have written down at the office).

The Mayor’s Office does its best to ensure the betterment of the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the people of the city. This means that my project plays a big role in making sure that the citizens of Green Bay are able to take advantage of their voting privileges, while feeling confident and satisfied in the role they are playing in our democracy.

What’s coming up: I will be attending my very first City Council meeting this Tuesday night! I cannot wait to hear more about what is all going on within the city right now 🙂