Madison can be a wonderful place to live. It can also be an exhausting place to ask for help.
We have plans. We have initiatives. We have people who can explain, at considerable length, why the thing you need is complicated.
Meanwhile, the rent is due. The trip to work takes longer. Somebody has been killed by police, and a grieving community is waiting for its mayor to meet the moment.
Eventually, we have to ask what all that planning is producing for the people who live here.
I asked readers to evaluate Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s performance in four areas. Their assessments were deeply unfavorable, particularly on leadership. Their comments help explain why.
| Category | Reader average, out of 10 |
|---|---|
| Fiscal management | 1.97 |
| Transportation | 2.29 |
| Housing affordability | 1.76 |
| Leadership and accountability | 1.24 |
Thirty-eight people participated in this informal, self-selected reader poll. These results describe their views, not the views of Madison as a whole. The assessment that follows is my own.
I don’t expect a mayor to perform miracles. I do expect her to understand that people experience her leadership long before they read her explanation of it.
Fiscal management: What did we buy?
An August update shared with Madison’s elected officials put the preliminary cost of the response following Corey Ruiz’s killing at approximately $1 million, primarily projected police overtime. That estimate included anticipated spending. It wasn’t a final bill for clearing the encampment at Williamson and Baldwin.
Even as an estimate, that is a considerable amount of public money.
What did we buy?
The street reopened. What happened to the people?
Officials reported that 67 people had been placed in hotels by noon on the day the encampment was cleared. Getting people indoors was worthwhile. But a hotel stay has a checkout time. The need for housing doesn’t.
How many of those placements led to something stable? What alternatives to the response were considered? What would a greater investment in outreach, housing, and de-escalation have made possible?
I’m not pretending every dollar could have been moved from one budget line to another with a wave of the mayor’s hand. I’m asking what choices were available before those costs were incurred, and how the administration decided among them.
Residents deserve a final accounting that follows the money all the way to the outcome.
A reopened intersection is something we can photograph. Whether the people who gathered there are safer, housed, or more willing to trust their government requires considerably more follow-through.
That is part of the bill, too.
Transportation: A little less congratulation, a little more listening
I’ve spent enough time driving through Madison lately to develop a personal relationship with the Subaru in front of me.
Trips that used to take me ten minutes can now take thirty. The changed lanes and traffic patterns have made familiar routes more frustrating. That’s my experience, and I know it isn’t everyone’s.
The survey comments reflect different experiences, too. Some respondents sharply criticized the BRT rollout. Another wrote, “The buses seem to be working, even though the lanes are confusing.”
Metro has reported ridership gains, including a 56% increase on Route A in April 2025 compared with April 2024. That deserves acknowledgment. Looking into a lightly occupied bus at a particular moment doesn’t tell me how many people use the route over a day.
But a ridership figure won’t explain someone’s longer walk to a useful stop, confusing trip through an intersection, or difficulty making the system fit their working hours.
Those concerns deserve answers on their own terms.
A transportation overhaul will involve tradeoffs. The mayor should be able to explain who benefits, who faces new difficulties, and what the city is prepared to adjust.
People shouldn’t need a planning degree to describe what has become harder about getting to work.
Nor should they have to pretend an inconvenience is an improvement just because the ribbon has already been cut.
Housing affordability: Who gets to stay?
One respondent wrote:
“Housing. The continued rising costs take 2/3 of my paycheck to be able to live close enough to work.”
Another, identifying themselves as an MMSD teacher, said:
“I can barely afford rent in the community I work in as a teacher.”
Sit with that for a moment.
A person can spend the day helping raise Madison’s children and go home wondering how much longer they can afford to be their neighbor.
What, exactly, are we asking people to celebrate?
The mayor cannot fix the housing market alone. Madison has invested in affordable housing and has programs supporting homeownership, land banking, and eviction defense. Those efforts are real.
The question is whether they are enough.
How many people can reach that assistance? How many qualify on paper but still cannot make a purchase work? How many are packing while we discuss what will be available several years from now?
There ought to be a future here for the people who helped make Madison a place others want to move to.
That includes opportunities for Black and Brown residents to own homes, open businesses, buy property, and participate in development. We should be able to build something here that belongs to us.
The mayor’s job includes explaining how the city’s investments will make those opportunities accessible, and being honest about where the current approach falls short.
Growth can look beautiful from a distance. From the kitchen table, with a lease renewal in your hand, it can look a great deal like being asked to leave.
A housing strategy should be judged from that table, too.
Leadership: She had a responsibility to meet the moment
Leadership received the lowest average in the poll. Thirty-three of the 38 respondents gave it a 1 out of 10.
One cited “The lack of transparency, communication, and leadership.” Another pointed to “Her numerous press conferences that don’t say anything.”
My own assessment rests most heavily on the mayor’s response after Corey Ruiz’s death.
She had obligations to nearby residents and businesses. She also had obligations to the people grieving at Williamson and Baldwin. Some of those people already had very little reason to trust the institutions now asking for their patience.
A mayor has to carry all of that.
In her August 3 statement, Rhodes-Conway described communication with community leaders and efforts to provide services. She also accused supporters of the occupation of “either purposefully ignoring the harm being done, or deliberately hoping that the situation spirals further out of control.”
I read those words and wondered who she expected to bring closer.
She could have defended access to the street. She could have explained safety concerns. She could have rejected demands she believed the city couldn’t meet.
Instead, that passage invited the public to question the motives of people supporting the gathering.
What was a grieving person supposed to hear in that? Where was the opening for someone who already felt dismissed?
The mayor had the authority of her office and the ability to command public attention. She had a responsibility to use both with care.
I expected more personal engagement. More listening through the anger. More recognition that clearing an intersection would leave the reason people gathered there unresolved.
Grief does not disperse on command.
And trust does not return because traffic does.
The failure, in my judgment, was her inability to make people feel that their pain remained a responsibility of her administration even when she disagreed with their response to it.
That is a serious failure for someone elected to lead the whole city.
The job includes the people who are disappointed in you
These survey responses are a small collection of voices. They are still voices worth hearing.
The mayor could answer them with a list of accomplishments. Some would deserve credit. But a list won’t resolve the experiences these residents described.
Publish the final costs of the protest response and explain what happened to the people offered temporary housing. Address transportation complaints with specific answers and changes where they’re needed. Show how housing investments are reaching people at risk of being priced out.
And speak directly to the residents who feel that, when they most needed their mayor, they couldn’t reach her.
She doesn’t have to agree with everything they say. She does have to remain answerable to them.
I love this city enough to expect more from it. I’ve also lived enough of its contradictions to know that a progressive reputation can be a very comfortable place for public officials to rest.
The rest of us still have to live here.
Mayor Rhodes-Conway, the job includes us.
Next, I’ll turn to City Attorney Mike Haas. I’ll publish my review of his performance, along with the complete results from both reader surveys, on my Substack. There’s more accountability to go around.
