Blood pressure raising issues below . . . I’m just not sure how many I can get to before I go to work . . . but the first one was just too much not to do a round up this morning . . . and at least on other thing ticked me off.
YEAH, TRIP TO LAMBEAU, DRINK’S AT FREDS HOUSE, SAME THING.
I’m also blown away that lobbying for the Edgewater now includes private boxes at the Packer’s game. I had heard about this through the neighborhood grapevine, but was shocked when it showed up here on Friday. A student forwarded it to me with a “it would be funny if it wasn’t so brazen” note attached. I think I particularly liked Dunn’s justification in the article.
OR, DRINKING AT THE BRINK LOUNGE
Hmmmm . . . what’s this, a “public hearing” tonight at the Brink Lounge . . . This Edgewater project is blowing away all the conventional ways of doing things. Interesting, I wonder if there will be free drinks and food. I’m glad I’m not meeting my friend there tonight at 7:00 and we decided to go somewhere else . . . but I might have to stop by . . . I gotta see this . . .
LEAVE IT TO THE WSJ, TO DUMB DOWN ANY ISSUE
Let me get this straight, density on the edge of town when it means small lots is bad because people won’t live there like that. Density downtown when it blows away height limits in historic districts and isn’t compatible with surrounding housing – A-OK? Clearly, the issue isn’t that black and white and it requires looking at individual parcel and the surrounding neighborhood to make a decision about what is right. Even people who live in those tall buildings don’t want downtown to become a big canyon or to block their views, so how many tall buildings is too many. There’s so many other issues here, it just isn’t that simple. And, while we’re talking heights, we approved 12 and 15 story buildings on East Washington, why isn’t anyone building there? It’s part of the neighborhood plan – go for it! Just don’t tear down James Madison Park Neighborhood.
SPEAKING OF JAMES MADISON PARK
NO! NO! NO! What the hell is she thinking? Wow. This flies in the face of everything I understand the neighborhood to be working towards. Talk about being blown away. The whole idea of our neighborhood planning was to encourage development between Mifflin and East Washington and to preserve the rest of the neighborhood. A redevelopment district and a TIF district just encourages tear downs and large developments in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Madison and one of the city’s first African American neighborhoods. Who’s filling her head with this crap? Even the sconz gets it when he says:
Given recent use of Tax Incremental Financing (Edgewater, Capitol Square improvements), it’s clear that many policy makers are not going to bother using the “blighted” argument anymore. Those who protest the use of TIF in already-developed areas are but a small and distant voice in city planning.
Meaning, tear it down, build it big! I was leaning towards not running again, but shit like this just makes me mad. end rant.
EVEN IF YOU GIVE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT
Gas prices etc really don’t explain the drop in Metro ridership fully. Turns out, it was a really bad time to raise the fares as we lost those riders that may have started taking the bus due to high gas prices – which could have been a great boon for Metro had they stayed (and they might of had the prices stayed lower). Sure there’s more money, but less riders, is that what we really want for our city? This is a time when we have a spare $3M in Metro’s budget, now is the time to get the riders and fill the buses.
More round up tomorrow . . . can’t get to it all this morning . . .
