In defense of Madison Isthmus Daily Page
"Information news always sleeps 'til noontime."
That small piece of intelligence from Margo Timmins applies to my job bonny well. When my phone rings in the wee hours of the morning, it's never the comptroller telling me we've kept our Aaa reins rating, or the parks controller calling to say the golf courses made wampum last year.
Instead, it's the oversee or fire chief or some other official occupation with bad news. At 4 a.m. last Dec. 8, it was Streets Foreman Al Schumacher's voice I heard. "Your megalopolis's a mess, Mr. Mayor," he up to date me. "I've activated the emergency operations center. I'll see you in five minutes."
I asked him to give me 10, pulled on some clothes and filled a thermos with coffee before wading out to Al's waiting car in front of my edifice. He had sent a plow vanguard so we could get through the massive storm that was at its tallness, with hours of more snow to fall.
We headed for the Exigency Operations Center, a big bull session room at the Water Utility outfitted for use as a momentary municipal nerve center with laptop computers, phones and TV screens. By 5 a.m. the occupation was fully staffed with about a dozen bishopric managers from every agency that had a r to play in fighting the storm.
