Ok, this has the rest of the week, minus the Edgewater and then, I think, I’m caught up and read through mostly all my emails. Maybe. There actually are one or two things that given enough time, I’d blog about.
VERONA ROAD INFORMATIONAL MEETING
Verona Road Public Information Meeting
February 4, 2010
Boys & Girls Club, 4619 Jenewein Road
6-8:30 P.M.During the public meeting, models and exhibits will be on display showing planned improvements for the Verona Road interchange, the Summit (Home Depot-Cub Foods) intersection, and pedestrian and local connections. An overview of the project will be presented in a slideshow at 6:30 P.M. Wisconsin Dept of Transportation staff (WisDOT) will be on hand throughout the evening to answer individual questions. Please attend: to receive information, to ask questions and to share your views.
For more information, or to share comments, please contact:
Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Southwest Region, Madison Office
2101 Wright Street, Madison, WI 53704Larry Barta, Project Manager
Phone: (608) 246-3884
Email: larry.barta@dot.wi.govOdom + Associates, LLC
Walter Ragland
Phone: (608) 658-4501
Email: thomasrags@yahoo.com
LINDBURGH SCHOOL COMMUNITY GARDENS
Lindbergh Elementary PTA says:
Lindbergh School’s Gardening Committee is planning to develop community gardening plots on the school property adjacent to the kids garden. We are in the process of writing grants to support this work through CAC and other organizations. We are looking to include more of our neighbors in the start-up process, and also to get a better idea of the size of the space we will need to begin with. Are you interested in helping plan or use a Community Gardening space in the Lindbergh neighborhood? Please give me a call at 347-8097. We will be meeting regularly throughout the winter and spring in hopes of getting something started this year.I look forward to hearing from you!
Rebecca Kemble, President
Lindbergh School PTA
and . . .
We have scheduled two community-wide meetings to get input into the design of the gardens and surrounding landscape. Kate Heiber-Cobb of the Madison Permaculture Guild will be facilitating these sessions with the possible assistance of graduate students of UW-Madison Landscape Architecture program. Childcare and refreshments will be provided. Come with your ideas about how to make the Lindbergh School grounds a welcoming neighborhood gathering space for food production, learning and community building. If you are a member of the Dane County TimeBank we will credit you with the time you spend with us.
Tuesday, March 2, 2009 6 – 8 pm at Lindbergh School. This meeting will be held in English with Spanish translation.
Tuesday, March 9, 2009 7 – 9 pm at Kennedy Heights Community Center. This meeting will be held in English with Hmong translation.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND
I was hoping when I was no longer the sponsor to the changes to the affordable housing trust fund, that the Mayor would back off, looks like he didn’t. It was one of the reasons I supported letting it get placed on file. I can’t wait to see the latest draft. It’s been a couple months since I’ve heard them talk about the ordinance and we were waiting for a draft . . . still waiting . . . even tho we’re waiting, I see Schumacher found a way to get himself in the paper anyway.
ONE STATION, OR TWO
Here’s a thought, decent bus service to the airport, including express service from downtown that runs quickly and during hours most convenient for traveling. While on vacation, I rode in trams and a monorail in addition to taxis, motel shuttles, planes, escalators, moving walkways and by foot. Skipped the bus this time around because the other methods were more convenient, but a bus would have worked just as well. A quick and convenient bus to the airport would be a start. Interesting, what occurred to me tho, was that in all that, not one single trolley.
DOG PARKS
This ended up being one of those issues I never had to deal with, and I’m glad they finally came to a conclusion, but look at the map, isn’t there something odd about the final choices? Couldn’t they have found two spots that were spread out a little bit more?
WHEN DID THE COUNCIL VOTE ON THIS?
And is this our bottom line on the $30M radio system for the county?
The city of Madison is willing to share the operational cost, mayoral aide Joel Plant said, but is adamantly opposed to a system with fewer than 22 channels. That would cost $800,000 more than the proposed 18-channel system.
Madison is unwilling to pay for the extra channels itself because it already has a radio system with 23 channels that complies with the federal requirements, Plant said. The city says the extra channels are necessary for long-term growth and events with unusually heavy traffic, but Dane County 911 director John Dejung said the 18 channels would provide 25 times the capacity of the national norm.
“We’re confident that as of 2013, that 18 channels will be enough,” Dejung said. “If the data we collect in the first years shows that the system needs more capacity, we’ll add that back in.”
ATTACK ON THE MCMANSION
Ok, this seemed a little overly dramatic . . . somehow, I can’t see the houses being bulldozed . . . for what? And somehow, I doubt that they were talking about the Madison area market. But, it did make me smile just a little. And think duh, location, location, location.
WONDER HOW THIS WENT?
This isn’t entirely a surprise, they’ve been talking about changing this for quite some time. Part of me hopes this includes evictions, so that tenants that had a case filed against them that was dismissed won’t be wrongly denied housing. The other part of me wonders . . . I guess as long as the records are available, just not readily available on line, I guess it is ok.
BUSINESSES IN WISCONSIN CELEBRATING
Ok, my brother would have a better line to use, which is a little too crass, even for me . . . read that headline and picture businesses throughout Wisconsin with their hands out (thanks to the Supreme Court, and deciding corporations are people for purposes of funding campaigns, they now have hands) looking for that blank check and getting ready to scream bloody murder (yup, they can scream now too) when they don’t get it.
FLAT FUNDING, INCREASED SERVICES
Ok, how does that work? Does United Way have a magic wand? Or are they tossing some of their 14% administrative fees to services? No, volunteers and helping the poor better manage their money. Somehow, the second one always makes me laugh. After you pay for housing, transportation, childcare and food, and have $20 left over, yeah, then they’ll help you manage that “extra” money. Seriously?
THIS JUST KILLS ME
I appreciate the campus press and bloggers filling in the gaps for the local media, but it just kills me when the, too often, get it wrong. Today’s gripe: Lauren Cnare is not the only alder on the Plan Commission. She may have been the only one in attendance. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if Alder Micheal Schumacher was absent, yet again. Julia Kerr is the third alder on the committee. A little fact checking . . . please. It’s right there on line, it doesn’t take that long. Of course, the Badger Herald got it wrong too . . . but who can blame them if they think the guy in the suit (Jame Boll) on the commission is the often m.i.a. Schumacher.
REWARDED FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING
Awesome.
I THINK . . .
Yikes, this interview made me shudder. Ugh, it was painful. I wish they had interviewed someone who “knew”. “I think” he got a few things wrong based on what I knew about the IT department and the plans to update the website. Kinda embarrassing. Probably not a good decision to do that interview! And, um, my understanding is that they never finished updating all the departments to the new website format and he already thinks there should be a new one? Better start thinking a little more about that . . . and talk to your staff.
INTERESTING
Tim Morrissey can make crap seem interesting. I wonder who thought it would be a good idea to use crap to determine drug usage . . .
REMINDER! GET YOUR TAX CREDITS!
Make sure if you own your home you are getting your lottery tax credit.
PERHAPS THEY ARE SENDING YOU A MESSAGE
Is anyone surprised the Catholic Diocese is having trouble fundraising? What is Morlino up to?
CRACKING THE CODE
Pat Schneider cracks the code and explains why labels are dehumanizing in the immigration discussion.
DOWNTOWN LIBRARY SNAFU/SWITCHEROO
Hmmmm . . . nothing is ever straight forward. Did I understand this correctly, the city is going to build the building for Fiore? Why’d we go through that whole RFP process? When did the city become major developers? And since when can the city build cheaper than the private sector? Was this all just a way to transfer public property to a private developer? This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. This is just another example of the city council jumping in and making a decision before the time is right and then being stuck with their decision. This would be hard to undo at this point, not matter how bad of an idea. Seriously, we’re considering building a building, or part of it, for a private developer? I’m shocked that wasn’t “Friday news”.
Whew! That’s it, for now. Of course, Edgewater is still coming and . . . there were a few things that I didn’t see any follow ups on, that I expected would have been newsworthy. Hopefully, now I can get back to the more timely round ups.
