The City-County Liaison Committee on Wednesday voted to drop a resolution that would have named the City-County Building after former President Barack Obama.
The resolution, introduced by County Supervisor Al Matano and Madison Alder Sambeh Baldeh and championed by County Executive Joe Parisi, drew sharp opposition, mainly because the building houses the Dane County Jail, which has had its share of problems. It also houses the juvenile detention facility which holds underage people in solitary confinement.
“So opposite of all the things (Obama) stood for,” County Supervisor Shelia Stubbs told Madison365 last month. “I would not want to be meeting people throughout the world and hear them say, ‘Oh yeah, you named your jail behind the president.’”
“I have many concerns about it,” Madison Alder Shiva Bidar said in a text message to Madison365 last month. “There was a complete lack of any community conversations about it. It came out of the blue. My key concern is the fact that the jail is in this building, including the juvenile detention center. Naming an architecturally ugly building that holds the jail in a state, county and city with the highest incarceration rate of Black men after President Obama is not an appropriate way to honor his legacy, and definitely not in the spirit of one of President Obama’s major initiatives, My Brother’s Keeper, aimed at supporting our young men of color.”
Critics of the idea did like the idea of honoring Obama, but wanted community input to find a more appropriate building or structure to name after him.
“I do want to name something in Dane County behind our (former) president,” Stubbs said. “I do not want it to be that building.”
“President Obama deserves recognition,” said County Board Chair Sharon Corrigan in a text message to Madison365. “I believe that the community should weigh in on how best to honor him.”
Last week, the County Board announced an effort to do just that. A poll on the County’s website finds that 80 percent of the more than 200 respondents do not want the City-County Building named after Obama. Asked in the poll “Which of the following is most appropriate to name after a president, 30 percent favor a public school, 25 percent favor another government building, 17 percent voted for a public street or highway, 10 percent said a public park and five percent said a topographical feature such as a lake. Fifteen percent chose “other” and most of their comments indicate that nothing here should be named after Obama.
Stubbs said she has heard several other ideas for public locations, including the Dane County Regional Airport.
The committee will bring the issue up again at its Aug. 17 meeting after receiving more community input.
