Here’s what I have for today . . .
ON TARGET
Target project is moving forward.
BEAT THE WINTER BLUES AND ALL THAT JAZZ
These are the folks who support sometime unpopular, but very necessary issues in the community (homelessness, returning prisoners, etc) and now its time for us to support them!
Beat the Winter Blues and All That Jazz is MUM’s only fundraising event of the year. Join us March 4th on the top of the Inn on the Park for an evening of music, dancing, food and fun. Jan Wheaton will be headlining our entertainment. There will be a silent auction, snacks, cash bar, and a beautiful view of the city as the sun sets.
Tickets are $25.00 each and are available in advance at MUM, through staff or Board members. Tickets will also be available at the door.
Individual sponsorships are $50.00 (includes one ticket), Business/Corporate Sponsorships are $100 (includes two tickets). Silent auction donations are tax deductible. You can also advertise in the event program. All sponsors and auction contributors will be acknowledged in event material, promotions and the MUM newsletter.
All proceeds will go to support MUM’s work in Dane County. If you’d like to be a sponsor or donate to the auction, call Linda at 608-256-0906.
RESTORE THE VOTE
The ACLU is sponsoring a Restore the Vote phone bank night this Weds. January 13th, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm at 122 State St. Suite 201, Madison. Volunteers are needed to help phone ACLU members around the state to encourage them to contact their legislators in support of the WI Democracy Restoration Act, a law that would restore voting rights to people when they get out of prison rather than waiting years for the end of their probation/parole.
If you’d like to help, rsvp to Stacy at 608-852-5822 or sharbaugh@aclu-wi.org by noon on Monday, January 11th. Even if you can’t volunteer, please contact your legisltors in support of this bill.
IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY
Or whatever that saying is that some dead white guy said . . . I started the “Week Ahead back in 2006 off and on, in 2007 I started doing it more regularly. Then, Laptop City Hall started doing the This Week in the City as far back as November 2008 (I think, I don’t quite trust the archives of Madison.com), now, the State Journal tried their version for this week, including the State. Interesting . . .
CITY’S LOW BALL OFFER REVISED!
The properties were assessed at $2.3M and the city offered $1M below that. Which, I hope most people thought was absurd. Now, they have revised that offer to make it more realistic. What I also find of interest, is that the city doesn’t even own the property yet, but they are ready to offer a contract to Horizon this week. They meet on Thursday.
MLK AWARDS COMBINED
I worry about this one, part of me suspects that this award became less and less important to the city and county and they got sloppy and asked for nominations later and later and didn’t do the outreach that is necessary. I suspect that the lack of nominations is not for lack of interest in the community, but perhaps there is something else going on with the outreach.
COUNCIL CITY OPEN MEETINGS LAW VIOLATIONS?
I was interested too. First, I asked for Bridget Maniaci’s text messages. When I found very little, I asked for text messages from Mike Verveer, Marsha Rummel, Lauren Cnare and Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, as well as council “leadership” Tim Bruer and Mark Clear. Rummel, Cnare and Clear had none. I was able to look at Verveer, Bidar-Sielaff and Maniaci’s. Still waiting from Bruer. What did I find?
– So far, minus Bruer’s info, no clear violations.
– Compton, Bruer and Eagon texted members asking if they were done yet with their meeting, but nothing substantive.
– Susan Schmitz from DMI texted Verveer & Bidar-Sielaff to find out what was going on.
– And yes, the biggest shock in the open records was, Bruer texts! He texted both Bidar-Sielaff and Manaici about the Edgewater on the Monday before, am anxious to see whom else he was texting. But still waiting . . .
COUNTY BOARD RACES GET TWITTERY
Looks like Thomsen, running against Veldran has a twitter account just for his campaign. And according to the twitter account, a blog as well. It will be interesting to see who uses these new tools and who does not.
MADISON BUSINESSES GOING STRONG
Looks like despite all the hype, that Madison area businesses doing well.
