Media

I got a pretty poor showing, only 4 of the 37 county board supervisors bothered to respond, and I can only reprint 3 of them. I gotta say, no surprises there. The trend seems to be going completely in the opposite direction.

A little before 2am on Wednesday morning, there was a very interesting exchange between the mayor and a couple members of the council. It's amazing how catty they can get when they think no one is paying attention. Mark Clear was particularly unnecessarily snarky and unprofessional and the best actor . . . was just bizarre. I loved Mike Verveer's reaction.

After nearly 4 hours, had to go to a new blog post, my blog get cranky when I write too many words

So, I'm sick, but I can't skip this . . . so it will be whatever it is . . . probably brief.

Olbrich Biergarten . . . and . . .

F for transparency. Beyond the Eskrich debacle, this thing is a mess! Email your alder (allalders@cityofmadison.com) and ask them to scrap this thing! Start. over. This is not how good government works. While you're at it, ask the mayor (mayor@cityofmadison.com) to veto it if it passes. If he can do it for State St. liquor licenses, he can do it for this one!

11 of the 22 meetings this week that the county has listed (there are more that are not listed electronically) are held during the day. Not before work or during lunch, but 9 am, 1 pm. How are the public and the elected officials with day jobs expected to be able to participate? At the county level, this is particularly problematic as by the time something gets to the county board, its decided. All the action happens in committees and their meetings are over in 45 minutes and even that is mostly just announcements.

2 candidate forums and three meetings - wow, most meetings noticed since I've been doing this? Sadly, I think you have to wait til tomorrow for me to link to anything . . . maybe. I don't really understand this system.

11 of the 22 meetings start before 4:30 - they have meetings at 7am, 8am, 2:30, 3:45, noon, 8am, 1:30, 4:00, 9am, 3pm . . . meetings I'm sure they don't expect or want the public to attend . . .

Wow . . . Equal Opportunities Commission and the Council Police Committee BOTH have agendas already!!!! That's progress!!!!!!! So did the Food Policy groups!!! We'll see what else pops up this week, but it seems, message received!

I started to read his blog post complaining about the Homeless Services Consortium, and couldn't get past the first line. Long story short: we'd like him and the police department to talk to us!!!!!! They refuse, have for a long time. Check this out, we have such a very long ways to go!!!!!

I sent and email on Monday and waited three days. I wanted to know how they would help with meeting postings and getting timely information to the public in increase transparency and participation - a goal that is necessary to increase racial equity - to hear from voices that are impacted. Mostly the answer was no answer or I don't know. Let's see who responded!