Local Issues

This is work in progress – On January 2nd I un-earthed this work and started updating it – some links are still not correct and I’m working on the “coming soon” portions.  If it’s past January 15th 2020 and you find mistakes or if you have ideas for what else you’d like to see here, please email me at forwardlookout@gmail.com.

This guide was originally written by Forward Lookout’s editor-in-chief Brenda Konkel for Progressive Dane and *may* still be available here.  The old Progressive Dane website is about to be phased out, and the transfer to the new site was never completed, so it is being preserved here where it will get more usage.  The guide was originally drafted in 2017 and has been updated, sites verified and it was modified/improved during this transfer, but there is more work to be done.

TOPICS OF INTEREST

These are the committees in Dane County and Cities in Dane County that are related to common topics people are interested in, if you see something you think should be listed here, please let us know at admin@prodane.org. We are also checking with local elected officials to make sure they think this information is accurate. If you don’t see your city listed under a particular topic, it means we didn’t find any committees specifically related to these topics.  You will likely want to look through various committee lists and make sure nothing was added or missed.

• Affordable Housing, Tenants Issues, Fair Housing  and Homelessness

• Affordable Wages and Workers Rights

• Dane County Jail, Policing and Criminal Justice Issues

• Development, Planning, Urban Land Use, Zoning

• Education

• Environment and Sustainability

• Equity and Racial Justice, Immigration Issues

• Job Creation, Economic Development and Cooperatives

• Open and Clean Government (Lobbying, Ethics, Clean Campaigns) & Redistricting

• Transportation/Bicycling/Pedestrian Safety/All other modes of transportation

COMING SOON

ISSUES COVERED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• What does a county do?
• What does a city do?
• What does a school board do?
• What does a village do?
• What does a town do?

BUDGETS

• How do we impact local capital and operating budgets
• What do they spend money on – total budgets
• Where do my taxes go
• What revenues can local governments raise
• Finance Committees

WHAT DO CANDIDATES NEED TO KNOW WHEN THE GET ELECTED?

• Roberts Rules
• Conflicts of Interest
• Lobbying
• Ethics