Here’s my weekend round up of local news and other items. Enjoy!
THIS IS A PROBLEM
Justice shouldn’t be so hard to get. No matter the outcome, people should at least get heard.
WSJ BLAMES THE PRIVATE SECTOR?
Wow, this is a first.
COMMUTER RAIL AND RTA
Chris Rickert bungles it. Why buy into the theme that the RTA is commuter rail . . . we don’t yet know what it is, but I hope it is first and foremost about a better bus system. And that Madison doesn’t get lef tout in the cold when it comes to that bus service. Later . . . we can think about trains . . . .
BOMB SCARE CRAZY
West Towne and campus. Do we really feel that threatened? And was it an urn or letters in the box at West Towne?
STUDENT PAPERS ARE BACK
And all the silliness that goes with them. How do you detonate something that isn’t a bomb? See Morrissey’s rant below which might explain.
AMEN
Thank you Tim Morrissey for writing this. I’m equally irritated. For me, its more that the reporters don’t go beyond the police report, taking the police at their word and vomiting it back at us. Sometimes I think all the local new is is car accidents and police reports. Crime is down, but hear about it more than ever. And as Morrissey notes, not in a very creative kind of way.
NO SIGN ON THE BELTLINE
That’s just the tip of the iceburg for what I saw go wrong for Ride the Drive. I’m glad 50K people had fun riding their bikes on blocked off roads, but from what I could see from my front porch, including two near accidents, something has to be done to better inform drivers and neighbors about how to get around town. My one way street turned into a two way street for the day due to the fact one end was blocked off. And they took the sign down a couple hours early, adding to the confusion. There should be more planning put into how this impacts the neighborhoods around it. I counted 9 cars in one half hour that were forced to drive the wrong way on the one way street.
WHOA!
How much more unamerican can you get than making it difficult/impossible for people in the military to vote.
THE SCHOOL WEEK AHEAD
I haven’t posted this lately, but here it is.
THIS GUY NAILED IT.
It’s not a move to the middle. It’s much more troubling than that.
THANKS TO BARRY ORTON FOR POINTING THIS OUT
And go Tammy! Thanks!
SHOULD GOVERNMENT ACT MORE LIKE BUSINESS
Every time I see a story like this, I wonder why it is that we unquestionably hold up businesses as the thing that government should aspire to be more like. Both businesses and government have a bit of soul searching to do and have room for improvement. Neither one is perfect and sometimes, they can go horribly wrong.
STATE JOURNAL BLAMES MADISON FOR STATE LAW
Ya gotta love it. Their editorials have no regard for facts. It’s headache inducing to us who see it immediately in just about every thing they write. It’s also frightening, because I”m not sure how much the general public sees it. Here’s the offending language:
Now we have an obscure tax district panel throwing up yet another roadblock to the Edgewater hotel redevelopment.
Will the bureaucratic obstacle course in Madison never end for this $98 million, job-creating, tax-base expanding, economy-boosting project that has won overwhelming support from the city’s elected City Council and mayor?
Well, the obscure little tax district panel is there to protect the tax payer! It’s made up of people from the taxing entities that will be denied their taxes while the city gives the money to the Edgewater. And for those who may not know it cuz the papers don’t cover it well, Dane County and the School District desperately need that money right now. They’re pretty good a telling a story, and this one, its a dousy.
GOOD TIDBITS
Lots of news on High Speed Rail, thank you Robbie! I didn’t see any of this in the news.
THIS IS WHAT GIVES POLITICIANS A BAD NAME
Well, one of many. And somehow, Hulsey excels at this kind of thing. The guy is shameless. From handing out lit at a funeral to participating in a non-profit event by dropping off his entry and leaving lit next to it and not bothering to stick around like all the contestants. It’s just gross.
DIALOGUES ON HOMELESSNESS RESUME
Mark your calendars:
MADISON HOMELESSNESS INITIATIVE Invites You to Season Four of, Dialogues on Homelessness – Nurturing Our Capacity for Change
Second Saturdays Monthly, Oct. 9, Nov. 13, Dec. 11, 2010, Jan. 8, March 12, April 9, May 14, 2011
(February date to be announced)
1:30-3:30pm
Madison Public Library, West Mifflin St. 2nd floorOur Neighbors, Ourselves – Agents of Change
Each for the Other
In Search of Immediate and Sustainable Dynamics and Models of Remedy While Building Capacity for Compassionate and Skillful EngagementWe are aware on one hand of the dire state of systemic case management and budget shortages, and on the other of the need and desire for supportive relationships that build hope and enhance opportunity toward a preferred life among the many who are living homelessness. In this our fourth season of Dialogues, we will address and seek to affect this issue as neighbors – creatively, compassionately, humbly and with urgency beating down the tall grasses to clear a path toward both immediate and sustainable dynamics and models of remedy.
There are many ways to title the caring, constructive, loving and often life-changing roles we can play in each other’s lives — Citizen Advocate, Peer Partner, Mentor, Circle of Support, Good Neighbor, Friend… We have each experienced unexpected opportunity to apply who we are, what we know or have that can help lift another from despair, isolation, fear or confusion. We can also decide to seek out those opportunities. Either way, the joy of meaningful engagement carries a far-reaching healing –for each other and beyond.
Our Dialogues on Homelessness will continue to realize the joy and health of such meaningful engagements by bringing together neighbors, professional facilitators and guest presenters to share stories and skills gained through individual destinies, and the study and practice of purposeful living. We will explore our own experiences, seek out current research and methods for building transformative relationships, and step out to create them intentionally while perhaps inspiring others to do so as well.
Our neighbors are all those with whom we share the streets. You, Dear Neighbor, are essential to this process. Please join us.
The workgroup on ‘Standards of Homelessness In and Out of Shelter’ meets weekly and is open to new participants. Questions and comments to Donna, (608) 609-8522 / dcassociated@gmail.com
MABA ANNUAL MEETING
Madison Area Bus Advocates Annual Meeting is Thurs. Sept. 23 6-8 at the Memorial Union. The Union will not assign a room until the night before so the room needs to be checked at TITU (“today in the Union”). TITU is on the web at http://www.union.wisc.edu/cro/reslist.asp and is also printed and posted on the Union’s inside wall in numerous places.
Bill Schaefer, the director of the Transportation Planning Board (the Madison Area MPO), will talk about the new 5-yr Transit Development Plan and the new Dane County RTA. His PowerPoint presentations will be followed by open floor discussion.
The meeting is co-sponsored with the UW Undergraduate Urban Planners (name changed from Student Bus Advocates).
MABA’s next business meeting will be on Mon. Oct. 4 6-8 in rm. 201 of the Madison Central Public Library. Mark Opitz, the Middleton rep. on the RTA Board and the assistant director of planning in Middleton will be our guest.
