Warp It Up, I'll Take It

I feel stupid now having just read this post by one of Madison's alderwomen Brenda Konkel. I suspect she is just too smart for little old me. I mean, look at her C.V.: she's a member of 2 political parties, has 2 college degrees, is serving term #3 on the Council, and lists 4 community organizations of which she is a part. I've never met Ms. Konkel but I've been told by those who have that she's an honorable woman. So are the alderpeople all, all honorable women & men. Let me then proceed to explain the Genius of Konkel which so dwarfs my own meager intellect.

The issue is bus wrapping whereby a city bus is painted blue and made into a big rolling Viagra ad. She lists a number of concerns. For instance, there's safety:

Remember all the pleas from the city staff to allow cameras on busses? Remember how important it was to have more eyes on the people riding the busses to protect the safety of the workers? How does wrapping a bus in material that makes it so that you can't see into the bus going to help with these safety concerns?

I feel absolutely horrible for neglecting my civic duty of peering through the windows of passing busses to see if there is a disturbance afoot. I wish the City Council would more clearly enumerate the responsibilities of pedestrians with regards to the goings-on inside of buses. But now, with the aid of Ms. Konkel, I can see how I have neglected my duty. She also bemoans that advertising revenues from city parking ramps are down 20%.

We had projected that we would make $75K but at $5193 per month we will likely only make $62K. This is only 82.6% of what we expected. Can we expect the same from this proposal from Metro?

According to an account of last night's City Council meeting, the bus wrapping is expected to generate about $200,000 for the city. And if only 82.6% of that revneue is actually realized, the city would gain a mere $165,200. Here's a quote from the meeting last night: "I'm afraid that this is much ado about nothing," says Ald. Brenda Konkel, "as the promises of advertising tend to fall flat." I want to put my hat in the ring with Ms. Konkel and say that I agree with her wholeheartedly: if we can only get $165,200 of $200K for the ailing Metro Transit System, then it's just not worth the effort. It's all or nothing.

While I've come to see the light via the refulgent wisdom of Ms. Konkel, I must say that I disagree with her fellow alderwoman, Judy Olson who said, "this is a bad thing, it's visual pollution". No, the Marina Condominiums are visual pollution, not a bus all decked out. Only 15 of the 260 buses will be wrapped and, if you happen to find yourself in close proximity to one, it will soon be out of sight. This is unlike the Marina Condoramas which will pollute the skyline with its Jetsons-like metallic aesthetic for decades. Were it not for the financial bind that Metro finds itself in, this offense to the Council's self-proclaimed aesthete would never have received her vote.