Round Up! – Over Due.

Well, here’s what I have, but is seems there is so much! Summer vacation is over . . . back to work!

SURREAL
F.B.I. Agents Cheat on test. Not just any test . . . one on surveillance on Americans. Confidence inspiring, eh?

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MANGANESE IN YOUR WATER?
Really? I guess I drank too much manganese in my water and I’m not intelligent enough to understand why its important?

CNARE UNDER FIRE
No pun intended. The open carry folks not happy with her calling them “childish”. Here’s the email string.

Dear Alders,
You have a serious issue within your city’s police department. After reading the press release the chief just issued, it appears Madison will harass and arrest law abiding citizens just for exercising the the protected right to bear arms. This right has been affirmed by Attorney General Doyle twice, Governor Doyle Once, Attorney General Van Hollen Once, The Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the Constitution of this state. Furthermore one of the officers responding to the gentlemen enjoying their meal at Culvers stated it is OK for PEDOPHILES to hang out with children!!!!!!!
A serious investigation of the Madison PD is in order immediately.

My family takes at least a couple trips to Madison a year to visit places, shop, and eat. I will not travel to Madison again until I no longer fear arrest for exercising my right to bear arms and that my children are safe from pedophiles. Respectfully,
Brent Hancock

Lauren responds:

Have a good time staying at home. While legal, it’s inappropriate and aggressive to pack your little pistols in public places. We won’t miss you or the childish displays of constitutional freedoms.
Lauren Cnare
District 3 Alder

I suspect no one responded to this:

I recently asked the following questions of the Alders and this was Alder Cnare’s reply. Do you concur with her stated opinion, and is this the official stance of the Madison government?

Respectfully,
Brent Hancock

GROSS ROJO
Seriously? Unintended consequences . . . and concerns for non-profits?? Way to go Oshkosh Chamber!

BACKLASH
Have the open carry people gone too far? And what will the Madison taxpayer pay to find out if the police went too far?

COMMUTER RAIL REFERENDA COSTING THE CITY OF MADISON $80K?
Great, now we get to fork over more money to counter the referenda that won’t do anything. These stupid referenda cost the taxpayers more and more money every day.

WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS
I grew up a mile from the other end of this levee . . . so I have that Led Zepplin song stuck in my head . . . luckily, my parents live on big hill . . . but the fields are likely flooded. Makes me wonder why a 140 year old levee hasn’t been fortified all this time.

KRATZ IS OUTTA HERE!
About freaking time, I wonder how many more women, beyond the 5 will come forward . . . thanks to Lukas for rounding this up, cuz it makes me sick.

WSJ MISSES THE POINT
The big news out of the Board of Estimates meeting is the backlash against the TIF request for the Erdman proposal, blog coming soon!

AND THE HEADLINE
Seriously, were they drinking in the office? Or watching the Packer game and not paying attention?

WOW, WOMENS RIGHTS REVISITED
It took until 1973 for a woman to be State Superintendent of Public Education in Wisconsin? I didn’t know Barbara Thompson, but I thank her! Seems amazing that with teaching being a woman’s profession, it took so long!

DNC WON’T LET YOU BRING SIGNS TO OBAMA RALLY
So they can carefully control their message . . . er, I mean . . . so the “experience is a positive one” . . . for whom?

SPEAKING OF BEN MASEL . . .
He is not Ben Manski. giggle.

DAILY PAGE FLU
Watch out for viruses! I haven’t heard if they have been cured.

FREE FRUIT
Right there on Midvale Blvd!

LEAVE THE LEAF

FYI, as leaf season is upon us:

http://www.cityofmadison.com/streets/leavetheleaf/

The City of Madison is kicking off a new program to encourage Madison residents to manage leaves on their property. The program, called Leave the Leaf, is designed to reduce phosphorus runoff from leaves, improve the quality of area soil and lawns, and reduce the need for more leaf collection trucks and staff.

Why Leave the Leaf?
Fall leaves add great beauty to our surroundings in Madison. Unfortunately, they also contribute a large volume of material that we have to collect and haul to the compost sites. The same leaves that add color to neighborhoods in fall also add color to our lakes in the summer – and that’s a problem.

When you pile your leaves at the curb for City collection each fall, those leaf piles are exposed to rain which seeps through the piles, making a rich nutrient tea that flows along the curb into storm drains and then to the lakes. Those nutrients are a significant contributor to the algae that turns our lakes into a green smelly mess in the summer.

More info if you follow the link to find out what to do with your leaves!

HIGH SPEED RAIL FOCUS GROUP NEXT MEETING

Madison Focus Group Members,

Please mark your calendars for the next City of Madison Corridor Management Plan Focus Group Meeting to be held:
Where: Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa Street, Madison
When: Thursday, October 21st, 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm

At the second meeting we will discuss the findings and preliminary crossing treatment recommendations from the Diagnostic Team efforts (currently in progress). We plan to cover each intersection within the city of Madison and anticipate that the discussion will take the entire three hour time frame. A draft agenda is attached.

Thank you again for your participation at the September 8, 2010 Focus Group Kickoff Meeting. I have attached draft meeting notes for your information. The summary of the Vision Exercise and Break Out Session will be distributed after we gather input at a make-up meeting for those members that could not attend the first meeting. A separate email invitation will be sent to those individuals shortly.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN TENNEY PARK?

Construction will begin Monday 9/27 on the bridge restoration.

Our last reservation in the shelter for the season is on Tuesday 9/28. Following that event, we may begin to draw down the lagoon to minimize the damp soils, and compaction that will occur during the construction process.

The area around the bridge will be secured and access into Tenney Park will need to follow along Johnson St to either end @ Marston or Thornton Ave., to access the Park. Additionally, by mid to late October, the Johnson St. leg of the path will need to be closed minimally from the Dickinson St. intersection to Thornton Ave. to match new grades and blend the path into the existing grades.

The project is expected to be complete by 17 December, 2010, and will continue to keep you all posted re: ongoing progress.

SATURDAY AT PROJECT LODGE

Saturday, October 2 · 6:00pm – 8:00pm
817 E Johnson St Madison, WI

Mark the end of a season by attending this ambitious group show at Project Lodge.

Thematically inspired by a series of sculptures created by artist Risë Christesen, work included in “Harvest Tools” relates loosely to the period of time when for better or worse, the days become shorter and darker, and we reap what we have sown. On the one hand we celebrate the abundance of the harvest, on the other hand we face the inevitable loss of light and warmth. Harvest Tools are thus powerful symbols of both gain and loss.

Working list of Contributing Artists: PAULO ANDRADE, BALTHAZAR, TRENT BADER, NINA BEDNARSKI, DOROTA BICZEL, RISË CHRISTESEN, DAN FLANAGAN, CRAIG GRABHORN, NICOLE GRUTER, CHELE ISAAC, JULIET JAGER, DARRYL JENSEN, ERIKS JOHNSON, TOM JONES, SONIA KUBICA, COLM MCCARTHY, TYLER MACKIE, KATIE MARTIN-MEURER, KEITH NELSON, JAMIE LEE OHLAND, MARY OSMUNDSEN, BRIDGET QUINN, REBECCA PEEBLES, BRENDAN SCANLON, JUSTIN TIME, ALISA TONINATO, LINDSEY WOLKOWICZ, and others.

Harvest Tools has its own Facebook page, please “like it,” artists are encouraged to post images of work that will be in the show & add statements & share.

Note: Visitors are encouraged to bring written prayer requests to St. Isidore’s altar. (Sonia Kubica’s piece)

SOCIAL JUSTICE CENTER NEW ART SHOW – WHAT MAKES MADISON SPECIAL
The Jackie Macaulay Gallery will have the following show this month:

The new art show “What Makes Madison Special” is being hung on Friday morning, October 1st. and we have the gallery opening and reception in the evening, 6- 8 pm . This is a photo display entitled “What Makes Madison Special.” Contributing artists are from the Human Interest Group at the Center of Photography in Madison and include are Bob Beaverson, Joel Covey, Reece Donihi, Ilia Guzei, Diane Hammer, Patrick Patterson, Dave Peterson, Michael Rausch, Anna Salter, Don Sylvester and Jackson Tiffany.

SPEAKING OF THE SOCIAL JUSTICE CENTER
What are you doing on Saturday? Want to stop by (8 – 4) and help us spruce up the place . . . we have a work day where we are painting, cleaning, maybe laying new carpeting! We’ll have snacks and drinks . . . let me know if you can help out!

POLICE CAPTAIN NEWS
The only woman captain, Mary Schauf has been informed that in the annual switch up, she is being moved to . . . Records. This is the only change anticipated in the highest ranking officers. Besides the symbolism of putting the only woman captain in records . . . I’m just very disappointed. I don’t always get along with the police department so well and disagree on so many of the policies and procedures they adopt, but I found Captain Schauf to be very communicative, responsive, she listens and she was a pleasure to work with. I’ve known this for a while, but haven’t seen anything official yet . . . so I want to hope the Chief Wray will change his mind . . . but I doubt it. I hope he knows how terrible this decision is viewed by many in the community.

POLICE SURVEYS
Central

Alders,
Please spread the word and ask your constituents to take the MPD survey at the following link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/99HNQYR

If you need some printed copies I can supply those also.
Thanks for your help.

North

Greetings,
I need your help. We are hoping to get feedback from the community on police services in the North District and how citizens feel about safety issues in their neighborhoods. Could I ask you to share this link with your constituents, and ask them complete the survey themselves, and share the survey with those in their neighborhoods as well. I am having paper copies staged at our district station, neighborhood centers, and at the library.

The more information we can get, the better I can assure that we are responsive to community safety concerns.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/992KL6K

I appreciate your help!

East

We want to hear from you!

The Madison Police Department has once again begun a city-wide community survey by District. The survey can be filled out electronically, but we will also select neighborhoods later this summer in which personnel will deliver hard copies for completion. Ideally, we are hoping for several hundred responses. I believe this survey will help us better understand what is occurring in your neighborhood and your feelings related to safety and priorities for the MPD. If you or someone you know does not have access to a computer, please call 266-4887 for a hard copy of the survey.

Please click on the 2010 East Madison Community Survey link at the bottom of the page.

FREECYCLE MOVING

This is being sent as a special notice to ALL members of the Madison, Wisconsin Freecycle group. It will directly impact every one of you, so please at least read enough of it so you’ll have a sense of what is happening and won’t be taken by surprise in a few days.

A move to the new http://Freecycle.org site has been scheduled as early as September 30 for the Madison Freecycle group.

While that is still a couple days off, people will want to open their account on http://my.freecycle.org/ and get signed up for the Madison group there. Current memberships on the Yahoogroup site will not automatically be transferred over. See instructions below.

Again: memberships DO NOT transfer over from one group to the other, you have to set up the new account to remain a member on the Freecycle site and be able to continue receiving posts when the current group is deactivated.

The two groups will be run in tandem for a few days after the move, so you will want to set up your account using the same email address that you use on the Yahoogroup site. Pay attention to instructions to check for an email password that you should get for validating your email address.

Once you have the new login set up, you are welcome to begin posting via the new group and they will automatically be posted to the yahoo group. Otherwise you can hang loose and continue posting and reading posts as you have been doing.

We will be sending a notice when we’ve got both running, then one more when we lock down the yahoo group.

After that you will need to use the new site (which will be a lot easier to navigate than the yahoogroup site.)

We will have information available on the main page of the yahoo group as well as extended information in the file section of both groups as things progress over the next week or two.

We understand that this is a big change for all of us, and we ask for everyone’s patience and understanding as we go through it together.

It is a change that the local mod team discussed and requested, based on the ways it will simplify posting for the members, and, make it quicker and easier for the volunteer mods to keep an eye on things and help you.

Thanks so much for helping to keep a huge share of ‘stuff’ from ending up in the landfill over the past number of years. Here’s hoping for many more to come!

Dorothy,
for the Madison Freecycle Moderation Team

Minor groan, btw… we are currently at 19,946 members. We probably won’t quite make it to 20 thousand before we flip the switch! Especially since whenever we send special notice admin notes, we get a number of inactive folks that unsubscribe. This change will shake up a lot of dust!