Madison

Cap Times reporter Abby Becker did a great story on where elected officials stood on F-35s. But the City Attorney advised alders not to respond.  Why?  He also issued a formal opinion on "negative" and "walking" quorum.  

10 full-time alders that run every four years with term limits. Zoinks! The Task Force on the Structure of City Government voted on their recommendations last night!

Also, live blogged, kind of . . . updates posted as I went along, kinda.

I recently blogged about the Task Force on the Structure of City Government recommendations to reduce the council 10 members, go to full time, have 4 year terms and several other items.  They meet again on Wednesday and will be reconsidering their decisions.  The time to speak up is now!

I find it interesting that people are outraged that they would need an ID to vote and worried about people being disenfranchised, but find it completely necessary to have an ID in order to give people food to feed their families and so they don't go hungry.

Occupy Madison thought when it found private property, that they could better control the actions of people there, or not wanted there. That's not what the police are saying, and I think they are wrong . . .

So, I was talking to a friend about her experience taking someone to the hospital because they didn't want to call the ambulance and pay for the fees and I told her (she has been working with poor people for a long time and didn't know) that the fees could be waived. She says no one ever mentioned that to her after all her work with hospitals and low-income people. So, I went to find the info on the website and there was none . . . but there is now! (Thank you Sarah Edgerton! And whomever worked on this in the finance department!)

Members of the common council are finally going to a have a substantive discussion about affordable housing and its going to be held is closed session!

The Police and Fire Commission met last night and made it official that Vic Wahl will be the acting police chief while they go through their process. Here's their statement and audio of Wahl's testimony.  He will not run for the permanent chief position because he doesn't want to move to Madison.

By Occupy Madison, Inc. . . . a new place for our workshop and a place to park 11 tiny homes. It is at 2046 E Johnson St. (Sanchez Motors) where Johnson splits and goes past East High, North Street and towards E. Washington. Next to B-cycle and near the PDQ.

Yesterday morning, I called the coroners office to confirm the death of a homeless person, for which I only had a first name. He experienced problems outside of Shelter 1, on his way to Shelter 2 or 3 for the evening. 911 was called, staff performed CPR and he died at the hospital. An autopsy will be done to determine the cause of death.

Last November, 6 months ago, the state passed a law removing many of the tenant protections in Madison. In March, they passed another bill eliminating tenant rights and increasing landlord rights. With a 2% vacancy rate right now, its a housing crisis for people looking for housing, rents are increasing at alarming rates and the city is doing what?