Round Up in Pictures

This could be one big “Stoopid City” post . . . but the pictures are kind of a then and now kind of round up.

WHAT IS THAT?

Water from the porta potty? The construction? Are the leaves discoloring it?

SPEAKING OF LEAVES
Whatever happened to the promise that our streets would be added to the weekly street sweeping program? These streets haven’t been swept, and whatever doesn’t go directly into the storm drains will still be there next spring when the sweep our streets for the one time a year.

UH, WHERE IS EVERYONE?
For once, the mayor got to a meeting . . . but can’t figure out where everyone else is. This is the Mayor at the Board of Estimates that was supposed to start at 4:30 . . . the clock reads 4:40.

Here’s who’s there . . . there’s supposed to be at least 6 alders . . . . and room for more . . .

I’m pretty sure this was one of the budget meetings, and I thought for sure they wouldn’t have quorum, but they did, people eventually showed up. But the notion of being on time in city hall has become a quaint notion of the past.

THIS DOESN’T LOOK GOOD
Monday morning, in all that wind, I took this picture . . . and wondered if the pole would be there when I got home . . .

It was still there yesterday morning.

WHERE ARE THOSE KIDS GOING?
Where is the Stoughton School District taking those kids? Star Liquor? Or Steve’s Tatoo?

TRAFFIC WOES
These photos are from the Ride the Drive in August, I took them sitting on my porch. These are cars going the wrong way down a one way street cuz the road is blocked off. I post these pictures cuz Tuesday night I was looking for a map of the closed streets for Frealfest and Mike Verveer and I couldn’t find one on the Freakfest site or the city website.

I sat there for a half hour and had about 20 pictures of cars driving the wrong way, most of them stopped where there was no stop sign . . . I’m wondering how it will be for Freakfest . . . but Mike and I couldn’t find the map . . . just 3 or 4 days before the event. Not well planned for.

STILL NO PARKING METERS
Also from Tuesday night . . . there’s been two press conferences, but still no credit card parking meters in several places downtown.

DON’T THEY KNOW WHO LIVES HERE?
I really still can’t believe this happened. Sometimes I wonder if everyone gets treated this way, or its some type of retaliation. Sadly, I think its its the former, not the later. No notice, not appropriately barricaded, blocked our garage for a week, didn’t fill in the dirt etc. But the worst part was, a blind person fell here. I sent the following email to the alders, only one email response. Judy Compton. One verbal response from Satya Rhodes-Conway.

from Brenda Konkel
to All Alders
date Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 11:03 AM
subject Concern – not a complaint

Alders – I know you all hear stories from annoyed constituents about construction around the city, and this is sort of another one, but its not a complaint. It’s something I’d like you to help figure out how to make sure it doesn’t happen to other people.

A few weeks ago, we came home on a Friday night to find three chunks of our sidewalk missing, right in front of our driveway. They put up some yellow tape, but didn’t fill the hole with dirt. We couldn’t use our garage/off street parking spot for an entire week. We never got notice they were doing this. But that isn’t my complaint.

After they removed the sidewalk on that Friday, they didn’t fill it until Wednesday and didn’t put up the appropriate barricades. During that time, a blind person actually fell. I’m not sure how many others may have also fallen because it can be relatively dark out there and of course, after a weekend downtown the orange cones were gone and the tape ripped down.

I tell you the story because this just shouldn’t happen to homeowners or pedestrians. But I also want you to know that the city staff I talked with were very professional and helpful and fixed the problem when I finally called them after it was apparent nothing was happening. So thanks to Brenda Stanley in Engineering.

Anyways, do what you can to make sure this doesn’t happen to others.

Brenda

AND OF COURSE . . . THE ELEVATOR
Current advice, bring your lunch, cell phone and go to the bathroom before using.

It reads:

The elevator has been getting stuck a lot lately.  To unstick it, push or pull on the door and it will close.  When leaving the elevator, be sure the door closes behind you so it can be used by others in the building.

If that doesn’t work, carry a cell, a lunch and go to the bathroom before entering.

There you have it. I’ve been trying to take more pictures when I remember . . . sometimes they tell a better story than I can . . . and they are hard to refute.