Budget priority: public safety

Over the past month the City of Madison has been holding community budget forums on different aspects of the 2011 city budget. Tonight's final forum at Warner Park is on public safety. Due to a prior commitment I can't attend, but here's what I'd say if I was there.

This past weekend we had a shooting on Ruskin Street. Fortunately it appears to have been random, but that doesn't minimize the importance of police and other public safety resources to the Northside. We live in an economically and ethnically diverse part of town. We have significant concentrations of poverty, which (for better or for worse) are often connected with concentrations of criminal behavior.

MPD's North District has been doing an excellent job of addressing minor problems before they become major, such as the recent string of burglaries along Northport Drive. Officers are proactive and connected to the community. We've managed to head off the issues of crime and conflict that are a problem in similar neighborhoods, such as Meadowood on the southwest side.

Public safety is the single most important mission of city government. Mayor Soglin and the Council must make the police and fire departments their highest priority, sparing them as much as possible from budget cuts. Programs like the Mayor's proposed Neighborhood Resource Teams will address on quality of life issues now, so they don't grow into bigger problems later.

We mustn't cut public safety investments too deeply. Incidents like last weekend's shooting need to remain random and rare on the Northside.