Introducing John Guequierre, your new District 19 Alder

On Tuesday, January 23, the Common Council Executive Committee interviewed four applicants to fill the vacancy created when Alder Kristin Slack resigned for family health reasons. The Executive Committee voted unanimously to recommend my selection to the full Common Council. That was the first order of business when the Common Council meeting began at 6:30 pm. The Council approved the motion of the Executive Committee unanimously, I took the oath of office, and was immediately seated to represent District 19 for the balance of the meeting.

Bio:

Let me begin by saying that I am not at all sensitive about how my surname is so frequently mispronounced. It’s actually quite simple (if you don’t look at the spelling). It’s an ancient French name, and we pronounce it “you-gair” with the accent on the second syllable. Don’t hesitate to just call me “John” or “John G”.

First, here is a little biographical information. I was born in Milwaukee, and grew up in Mukwonago (Waukesha County), which was then a small village. I obtained my undergraduate degree in economics and mathematics at UW-Madison, where I met my incredible wife of 55 years. Polly grew up in Racine. We have three children scattered around the Midwest and three grandchildren. I obtained an MBA at the University of Chicago at night while starting my business career with a major steel company. I started in IT, but eventually became a problem-solver, moving around the country to underperforming operations and fixing them if possible. Ultimately, I joined with some others and bought one of those operations. We were able to grow it, take it public, and eventually sell it to the great benefit of our shareholders. I then started several other companies, eventually selling them. Since 2016, I’ve consulted with companies that thought they might benefit from my experience.

Most of that business career has been focused on construction, using prefabricated components from wall panels to entire modular buildings from single-family homes to large multi-family and commercial structures. For some decades now, I’ve been deeply involved in the methods for producing affordable and sustainable homes and other buildings. I’m currently advising a nonprofit company in Eugene, Oregon which is building energy-efficient homes to replace the many homes that were lost in recent wildfires.

I’ve also been deeply involved in civic matters, serving on the boards of a variety of civic organizations. For instance, during our years in Indiana, I served as chair of the United Way of Elkhart County, and then chair of the Indiana Association of United Ways. Since we moved back to Wisconsin in 2013, I’ve served on the board of the Wexford Village Homes Association for a decade, getting acquainted with many of the matters of interest to District 19 residents. I have also enjoyed volunteering as a mentor (MERLIN Mentors in University Research Park) to technology startups. Polly and I are both active in the mission efforts of our church.

Priorities:

It occurred to me that one way to acquaint you with my perspectives on District 19 and Madison issues and priorities is to share my responses to the Executive Committee interview questions. Each of the four candidates were asked the same two questions, which were provided to us in advance. Following my usual method, I wrote out full answers, converted those to bullet points, and used those to deliver my response. Here are those original full answers, which are a little more formal than my verbal statements.

Question 1: What are some of the critical issues facing District 19 and/or the city? (3 min response max)

Response

I think it’s appropriate for any new alder to be humble about what they can accomplish and where they can contribute in a first term, much less an abbreviated term. Nevertheless, I believe that I can hit the ground running.

• I have some incredible advantages.
  • I spent many months last year campaigning in District 19, meeting thousands of neighbors, knocking on 2,189 doors, participating in forums, and as a result, improving my understanding of District 19 and City issues and the diversity of perspectives on these issues.
  • The education of the campaign built on my decade as a board member of the Wexford Village Homes Association.
  • As a Wexford board member and as an interested resident, I’ve been involved in the outreach efforts of multiple City departments. I’ve read countless agendas and reports and watched numerous Council and committee meetings (including Planning, Parks, and Public Works), and have a working understanding of their form and function.
  • I lost the April election, but that hasn’t dampened my belief in Madison’s potential, and I’ve continued to participate. I was recently appointed to the Sustainable Madison Committee.
• Big issues for District 19 include:
  • Flood mitigation – people still remember the damage from the 2018 flood event.
  • Plans for the Sauk Creek Greenway have a downstream effect on District 19.
  • We’ll ultimately need to address the under-sized conduits under High Point and the Beltway.
  • The other watershed plans affecting District 19 may also generate resident concerns.
  • The West Area Plan will move into later process phases, and comments in recent public meetings demonstrate significant concerns about some aspects.
  • The West Area Plan is absorbing the Odana Area Plan. As features of that plan begin to inform proposed developments, robust engagement will be important.
  • BRT will have a big impact on District 19. As with the Metro route revisions of 2023, there may be a need for adjustments in the system.
  • Although preliminary, a proposed multi-family development at 6610-6706 Old Sauk Road is clearly going to get a lot of resident attention.
  • The final phase of Lake Mendota Drive still requires Council review and approval this evening. Other District 19 neighborhoods have expressed concerns about sidewalks, tree preservation, bike paths, etc.
• Big city-wide issues abound:
  • Major surgery on the 2025 operating and capital budget may overshadow everything, and force some painful trade-offs between programs.
  • The CARES program has proven highly effective. How do we continue adding additional support for this important program and balance it with other public safety spending? 
  • Addressing housing affordability requires an aggressive development pace, with periodic battles over density and the placement of subsidized units.
  • Planning will continue for the North-South BRT line, an AMTRAK station, and the Lake Monona waterfront.
  • There are a host of projects addressing the reduction of greenhouse gases and climate resilience, including electrifying City vehicles. The Sustainability Plan update will move into its final phases.
  • The Northeast Area Plan is also moving into its final phases, with more area plans to come.

Question 2: Please describe the ways you practice and demonstrate equity and inclusion and how you would model these practices in relation to engaging with individuals and communities with identities different than your own? (5 min response max)

Response

I appreciate this question. It may be the most important question facing Madison, our answers determining whether we can become all we aspire to.

• First, I know who I am. 
  • I’m aware of the privilege bestowed upon me at birth. 
  • I know that growing up in a rural Wisconsin village with zero diversity means I grew up ignorant of the struggles confronting Wisconsin minorities, especially citizens of color. 
  • It has been a lifelong journey to correct that ignorance.
  • I know that mine is not the only perspective.
• Second, this is not a new question for me.
  • I’ve been in positions of increasing responsibility for teams of diverse co-workers since my early twenties.
  • In business and civic matters, I’ve striven to recruit and develop highly competent teams. On too many occasions, when I wanted to promote persons with marginalized identities, I faced obstacles I never faced, some subtle and some disgusting.
  • I’m proud of most of the decisions I made in the face of that opposition, but my courage was nothing compared to that of the people I was asking to break through those old and abhorrent boundaries.
• District 19 is more diverse than people might assume, given the complexion of the people who show up at City meetings.
  • I know this from connecting to people for ten years as a member of the Wexford Village board.
  • I know this from meeting thousands of people during my campaign for this alder seat last year.
  • I’ve also learned that some very nice people who consider themselves devoid of prejudice, feel strongly entitled to avoiding any change that would impinge on the character of their neighborhood, that change should happen elsewhere in the City.
• The Madison Common Council will be wrestling with numerous weighty issues this year, and nearly every issue has an equity component.
  • Number one on my list is confronting a budget cycle that everyone seems to agree will be particularly challenging. US history is littered with examples of budgets being balanced by cutting existing programs or shunning new programs that are vital to our most vulnerable neighbors. I hope that my significant experience in finance and budgeting will help me work with fellow alders to identify and protect those line items that are critical to equity.
  • Housing affordability in Madison is regularly described as a crisis. I hope my experience in building affordable and sustainable buildings will help me contribute to solutions that take equity into account.
  • There are so many more, from policing, to transportation, to climate equity.
• I’m hopeful that the tactics I’ve found helpful in addressing equity, will be useful in the Common Council
  • An alder is a member of a team, and most of my life in business and civic activities has been as part of a team. I’ve found that a team can’t effectively address issues of equity unless the majority of team members respect each other, even when disagreeing.
  • I’ve found it essential to explicitly encourage my fellow team members to call me to account, if I’m being blind to an issue of equity.
  • Then, as a team, we need to examine every decision as to whom it benefits, whom if wrongfully ignores, whom it might condemn to continued injustice, realizing there are sins of omission and commission.
• Above all, I treasure opportunities to add others unlike me to my network of relationships, and I work really hard not to be a jerk about it.

Finally:

I’m dedicated to making your voices heard. Even when my priorities and values lead me in a different direction, your positions and opinions deserve to be in front of department staffs, committees, and the full Common Council.