Candidate questions: District 12 Supervisor
These questions were written by the Northside Antiracism Group to reflect issues that impact Northsiders, that have been the focus of local organizing and that the county has power to act on.
Question 1: F-35s
The Air Force announced its decision to base a squadron of F-35 fighter jets at Truax Field Air National Guard Base last April. If the F-35s are placed at Truax, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released by the Air National Guard concluded “there would be significant disproportionate impacts to low-income and minority populations as well as children.” While the jets will directly impact all residents near the base, the EIS also confirmed that more than 1,000 homes would be considered “incompatible” with residential use due to noise exposure from the F-35s.
Members of Eken Park Resistance (EPR), a neighborhood under the flight path of the F-35s, pushed back against this designation in a letter published in The Cap Times and available at bit.ly/EPRLetter: “It isn’t our small homes, backyards, swing sets, neighbors, or kids that are incompatible for residential use.” EPR and Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin have opposed responses focused on funding noise mitigation as inadequate, calling on bodies like the County Board to pressure the Air Force to reverse their decision.
What specific actions will you take through the County to respond to community concerns about F-35 fighter jets at Truax Field?
Question 2: PFAS
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been found in water, soil and fish on the east and north sides of Madison, including in city wells and in fish caught in Starkweather Creek and Lake Monona. Dane County Regional Airport and Truax Field Air National Guard Base, both on County land, are two known sources of PFAS contamination.
As soon as this winter, the Air National Guard is expected to begin construction to accommodate the F-35s at Truax Field. A letter sent to the Air Force by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in October 2019 stated that “all planned construction projects will require a site investigation to determine whether PFAS contamination is present prior to construction.” Construction prior to a complete site investigation risks releasing more PFAS into the soil and groundwater.
Will you take action to stop construction at Truax Field until there is a complete investigation and approved clean-up plan for PFAS contamination? Given that Dane County is one of multiple entities liable for PFAS contamination originating on County property, what specific actions should the County Board and County Executive take to address PFAS investigation and mitigation?
Question 3: Incarceration
Community pressure to halt plans to build a $148 million new Dane County jail grew this summer amid racial justice uprisings, with demands for decarceration and abolition echoing calls across the country to stop building new jails and end mass incarceration. This has included demands, both from groups opposing and supporting a new jail, to significantly reduce the number of people incarcerated and to address racial disparities. In a Dec. 23 letter to The Cap Times, MOSES president Rachel Kincade wrote, “If Black people were incarcerated at the same percentage as white people, there would be about 16 Black people in the jail rather than the approximately 290 currently in the jail.” Although the number of people incarcerated in the jail has been reduced in response to COVID-19, those changes in practices have not addressed racial disparities. Updated plans for the new jail in November showed that the Sheriff’s Office and those designing the jail do not expect those reductions to continue after the pandemic.
Will you take action to stop work on a new jail? How do you explain that we are targeting Black people for incarceration at such extreme and disproportionate rates? How will you respond to community demands to decrease the jail population and to divest from incarceration?
Larry Palm
Question 1: Placement of the F-35 jets at the airport is a great concern to me. For nearly 20 years, I have lived in the Eken Park Neighborhood and have experienced the jets flying over my house. I support the actions that have been taken by the Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin coalition.
As Dane County Supervisor, I will strongly advocate for the residents of my district who will be most impacted by the F-35 jets. I have asked the Dane County Corporation Counsel for legislation to remove easement restrictions added during the last round of noise abatement funding over 20 years ago. Residents should not have to search through their deeds to determine if they are eligible or not to receive future funding.
If there is another round of noise abatement funding, then everyone should have a right to this funding especially those that are impacted most. I will advocate for a baseline noise study so that we understand what the current situation is so we can be prepared for any future changes.
Question 2: I support requiring site remediation of PFAS and any other chemicals during a disturbance from construction. I will advocate for local review of federal construction projects such as these to ensure that they support local needs instead of broad government policies.
I am deeply concerned about the slow pace of investigation and determination of the extent of PFAS at the airport. Recently a report was released that indicated that there are substantial concerns, and the State of Wisconsin PFAS task force has developed a concept of a plan, but both don’t go nearly far enough to actually begin to remediate the site.
Unfortunately, there are still too many questions about what an appropriate level of contamination is and how to properly remediate both soil and water. City and county officials will need to work together to advocate for remediation of this public health threat.
Question 3: I know Supervisor Paul Rusk advocated for replacing the existing jail because of the terrible conditions that residents were exposed to. As Alder, I visited the jail and was horrified by the conditions and support reducing the jail population and developing a smaller, modern jail.
As part of my job for the Madison Schools, I used to be the registrar for the jail school. I knew these young people and understood they were trying to better themselves through education. But when I visited their classroom — small, dark and dreary — it was not an environment conducive to being one’s best. I want these students back in their regular classrooms to be educated along with their peers, but the current situation is
not acceptable.
I support expanding many diversion programs and working with other elected officials, such as the district attorney and judges, to significantly reduce the jail population. I support a dedicated mental health diversion program that works with individuals and their families to resolve issues and not compound them. Recently, I was able to support the elimination of juvenile justice fees and fines and erasing of debt as these fees significantly burdened families at the worst of times.
Goodwill Chekwube Obieze
Question 1: By having the F-35 jets into Madison, it will force a lot of my constituents out of their homes due to environmental impacts, i.e. noise. I will work to have the federal government provide financial assistance to those that are negatively impacted. My constituents still agree that it should never be in a residential area. Finally, I will support plans that make this a climate crisis that will prioritize those who are vulnerable including persons who are currently homeless, disabled and low-income tenants. For more information, please visit goodwill4countyboard.com.
Question 2: I will continue to promote the fish consumption advisory at Lake Monona and Starkweather creek. I will propose a temporally ban from fishing in those lakes until investigations are complete. I will continue to work with DHS and DNR on how to mediate and safe guide our community. I would support the adoption of standards necessary to protect infants, children and persons especially vulnerable to toxins. Finally, I will promote clean water. For more information, please visit goodwill4countyboard.com.
Question 3: In our County Jail, approximately over 50% of those in jail are black. I do not support the expansion of the jail. We need to use that fund in mental health, schools. We need to begin treating mental health as a health crisis and not a public safety crisis. I just hope that we can allocate that such millions of dollars to those affected by the pandemic, our local businesses and prioritizing vacant public property for housing the homeless. I acknowledge that our current jail needs to be safe and humane, but we can achieve that without expanding the jail. I will ensure that all persons in the Jail have adequate access to healthcare needs. I would develop a decarceration plan, informed by the communities most impacted by incarceration. For more information, please visit goodwill4countyboard.com.
Amani Latimer Burris
Question 1: I will consult experts, involve residents and advocacy groups, and look for concrete solutions for this complex problem.
We can work to come together as a community balancing the impacts on the environment with financial benefits and responsibilities. We can work through solutions to eliminate, reduce and/or mitigate exposure and make people in our shared community whole.
No doubt the noise exposure from F-35 Jet Fighters will impact the residents in our shared-community. During COVID-19, more people have become aware of this issue first raised by a variety of advocacy groups. People have realized that simple conversations (whether on Zoom or on the phone or in-person) can be impossible under the noise exposure. This exposure is confirmed to increase, with intervals reaching rock concert levels.
Relevant issues include mitigation and its practicability, responsibility, incompatibility between homeownership and livability, the want for reversal, need for remediation, realization of overall impacts on city, county and state, the airport, the military considerations, and the unrealized, long-term consequences that potentially affect many thousands of people — hearing loss, disease, sleep disruption, memory loss and learning development. In tandem, we can work to address these issues.
Question 2: I would seek a community consensus on the issue, which requires diversity in outreach and inclusivity in involvement. I believe we can take a two-prong approach. The PFAS and F-35 issues are intrinsically related; it’s possible to address both with increased effectiveness.
The DNR has called for a complete site investigation into PFAS contamination at Truax and its impact from any new F-35 construction as PFAS chemicals don’t break down in the environment and research has linked them to serious adverse health effects. A 2018 military investigation indicated a likelihood of PFAS contamination in the soil and groundwater due in part to the use of firefighting foam by fire departments training nearby.
Then, according to the DNR, moving contaminated soil could increase runoff into local water supplies, most directly Starkweather Creek, which passes through a large portion of the city. Extremely high PFAS levels have been confirmed in the water at affected sites and a public well has been shut down. Thus, it’s reasonable to know what’s already there, what’s going to be moved, and to where it’s going to be moved. Construction shouldn’t occur until we know what we’re dealing with. If there’s contamination, no construction should occur.
Question 3: This issue is why diversity matters, not just for the sake of diversity but because diversity demands whole solutions.
The late Supervisor Paul Rusk not only took this issue to heart but asked many in the community to pledge to do something different, realizing, I imagine, that many people did not fully understand the issue/impact of something they themselves have not personally experienced. This and other compound issues require more than taglines, photo-ops or surface commitments. It requires deep thinking and a willingness to go beyond oneself and into another person’s world; a willingness to dig out of our implicit biases and into inclusivity and diversity. Lived experience highlights the fact that this is a complex issue without a simple or neatly packaged answer, and underscores that our shared community is interconnected and what affects one eventually affects all.
My mother, the late Milele Chikasa Anana, worked with Mayor Soglin, Police Chief David Couper and others for women and people of color to be allowed in the system of policing and firefighting in a time that called for change. I’m ready to work, in collaboration, on these new issues that have plagued us forever. It’s time.
