This neighbor, from a block and a half away has this concern – they need more space to serve everyone in need, no one should be forced to have sex to have a place to stay or sleep in their car or on the streets. It’s not safe. But . . . I don’t think that is what these neighbors have in mind . . . meeting tonight!
So, this blew up on facebook. Enough so that Curt Brink called me to make sure I knew that he was going to, as he always does, try to get people to come together and see each others side of things. Trick is, he’s not going to be there, so it will be up to his son, Matt. I won’t be there either. Meeting is tonight. This is what the “neighbors” sent out.
Neighborhood Concerns Regarding Salvation Army Proposal:
The Salvation Army is planning a 25 million dollar development for the 600 block of East Washington Ave. that would increase their capacity from roughly 130 people per night to over 400. The project would include “40 pay to stay beds with a cost of $5 to $7 a night” according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The many problems with this development were pointed out by residents at a June 6th meeting at Tenney Lapham School where dozens of residents overwhelmingly spoke out against the plan. The Salvation Army has proven to be a challenging neighbor unable to manage their current facility and the people that come and go through the property. That being said, many of the neighborhood stakeholders are opposed to the expansion of the Salvation Army at this site.
The Isthmus and East side have proven to be very welcoming and tolerating area for high needs individuals/ We currently have dozens of services and other shelters in this area and have now reached the point of extreme concentration of what we can support. Stakeholders and property owners of the Tenant Lapham Neighborhood and general Cap East District are holding a meeting at the Brink Lounge on Wednesday September 11th, from 6-7pm. Please join us and fellow neighbors for discussion on what we can do to stop this from happening to protect our neighborhood.
We urge all residents, land owners, and stakeholders of this neighborhood to voice your opinion about this proposed Salvation Army expansion directly to the following City of Madison Contacts:
– Ruth Rolich, Business Development Specialist, Economic Development Division:608-267-4933 rrohlich@cityofmadison.com
– Dan Kennelly, City of Madison Economic Development Specialist: 608-267-1968 kennelly@cityofmadison.com
– Leslie Orrantia, Deputy Mayor: 608-261-9837 llorantia@cityofmadison.com
– All Alders – allalders@cityofmadison.com
– The Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway mayor@cityofmadison.com
Questions and comments to: salvationarmyproposal@yahoo.com
My take on things. This isn’t residents of the neighborhood, its the business community doing this. You can tell by the first two contacts on their list. Check out the order of that list, you can see who they think has power. Funny thing is, they didn’t include the Community Development Division that will (hopefully) be giving money to this project. CDBG Commission will be meeting on October 3rd to make budget recommendations. Clearly the meeting tonight is a meeting to strategize about the upcoming meeting from the Capital Neighborhoods list serve:
An update on the East Washington Ave. Salvation Army redevelopment from CNI’s friends in the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association:
To: Tenney-Lapham Neighbors and Interested Parties (including Capitol Neighborhoods)
From: Meghan Conlin, TLNA Development Committee Chair
The steering committee for the Salvation Army of Dane County’s proposed new development at 630 East Washington Ave. will have its second meeting on Thursday, September 26th at 6:00 PM. The meeting location is still being finalized and will be announced next week.
At this meeting, the Salvation Army and JLA Architects will present updated plans and renderings for the proposed site. They will outline changes they have made to the proposal based on feedback received from City Planning as well as the neighborhood and steering committee meetings that were held on June 6th and July 1st.
The presentations and meeting notes from the June 6 neighborhood meeting and July 1 steering committee meeting where neighbors gave initial feedback are available at
http://www.tenneylapham.org/development.html
Note that the building renderings and concepts are preliminary and subject to change given that the proposal is still developing.
All neighbors are welcome to attend, listen and give input at Steering Committee meetings. If you want to keep up on activities related to the proposal, architectural renderings, meeting materials and notes will be housed at the above development website and announced via the TLNA listserv.
If you want to express your opinion without attending Steering Committee meetings, feel free to email me (mjconlin@gmail.com). I will continue compiling all neighbor comments, sharing them with the Committee and posting them on the website.
SO, INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING SALVATION ARMY, HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO!
1. Send supportive emails to the list above, plus Linette Rhodes (lrhodes@cityofmadison.com) who is staff who can get your emails to the CDBG committee.
2. Attend the CDBG committee meeting on October 3rd to show support and speak in support.
3. Since they don’t seem to be limiting input to people who live in the neighborhood, show up to the TLNA meeting on September 26th.
4. If you want to disrupt, show up at the Brink Lounge tonight.
