Richard Gross served one term (1975-1977) on the Madison, Wisconsin City Council, representing the ninth aldermanic district which extends south of the University of Wisconsin in the central city area. Coming to Madison in 1969 from New York in order to attend the university, Gross received his B.A. in 1973, and then went on to graduate school in Urban and Regional Planning, completing his M.A. in 1977. He served on the Council while in graduate school and while working for the Design Coalition, a community planning and architectural organization. Declining to run for reelection, he cited the frustrations of trying to achieve social change through governmental politics (Capital Times, Feb. 15, 1977). The most satisfying aspect of the job, according to Gross (in a phone interview with a Historical Society staff member, July 9, 1980) was helping constituents with particular problems, rather than struggling to effect legislative change in the Council chambers.
Gross considered himself a political leftist on the Council and was frequently allied with other central city alderpersons (particularly Michael Sack and Roney Sorenson) not only on city matters but as a co-sponsor of resolutions pressing the Council to take positions on political issues beyond Madison, such as urging Wisconsin representatives in Congress to oppose military aid to the Franco regime in Spain.
The major local issue with which Gross became involved was the debate over a site for a bus barn for Madison Metro, the city's bus system. Serving on the Transportation Commission and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Madison Metro Maintenance and Administration Facility, Gross opposed a site at the corner of Park and Regent Streets which had the initial support of the city Planning Commission. He argued that the site, which was in his district, would cause undue hardship on the Triangle neighborhood, an urban renewal area composed primarily of elderly, disabled, low-income people, and students. By the end of his Council term, he was successful in reversing the initial endorsement of the Park-Regent site and getting an East Washington Avenue site--away from a heavy residential population--selected.
After his term on the Council, Gross remained a community activist and was a key organizer of James Rowen's unsuccessful campaign for mayor in 1979.
