Thursday . . . here’s what I got . . .
BUYING TERRENCE WALL
It’s amazing to me how transparent some elected officials are about how you can buy special access to them. Let’s hope this is one dude who never makes it past the title candidate. Check this out:
If you donate $4,800 you are automatically enrolled in the Senator’s Club, a group of large donors which meets quarter to receive an inside update on the campaign and it’s progress with guest speakers and a special talk by the candidate! Senator’s Club members also receive a special lapel pin and receive invitations to all events, but don’t have to donate for each event since they have “maxed out”. (Just six donations of this size will push us over our goal!)
If you invest $1,000, you’ll be a co-host for our campaign launch event on the evening of January 20th at the Marriott in Middleton. We are lining up a guest speaker (our polling firm) that will give an insider’s talk on the state of the nation’s mood to a private co-host committee meeting just prior to the main event. (Co-host members names are printing on the invitations as well.)
More icky details here. Special lapel pin?
MORE ON THE FANCY NEW COP CARS
Interesting comments in here, I’m surprised the city isn’t looking at hybrid like other police departments. Monona’s doing it.
GAYEST CITIES IN AMERICA
Yup, Madison made the list!
HAPPY TREE LOVERS
Admission that you’re wrong is always respectable. And good positive spin on a bad situation.
HOLD THE PRESSES!
East High student arrested after pot found in backpack. I read that head line and scratched my head. I have to imagine this is not an uncommon occurrence. Why in the world would that make the news? Oh . . . the punch line . . .
“It turned out the 16-year-old had 19 individually wrapped packages of marijuana in his backpack,” DeSpain said.
That’s a little different.
WHO WOULD OPPOSE THIS?
The worst call the Tenant Resource Center gets is when family members are fighting with landlords about who has to pay for the rent for a deceased family member’s lease. Spencer Black introduced legislation to fix this problem and there was a hearing yesterday. I was asked, “who would oppose this?”. I didn’t know for sure, but I guessed. What surprised me wasn’t the opposition, but check out who’s lobbying for the Apartment Association of South Central Wisconsin – what rock did he crawl out from under?
HEY, WHERE’S THAT PARKS VOLUNTEER EVENT?
Madison Parks would we nowhere without the yeoman’s work so many parks groups do, and they get honored every year . . . but not yet . . . snow and cold justifiably delays their annual event . . .
Hello Madison Parks Volunteers – I wanted to send out a save the date message to you all. The Madison Parks Volunteer Recognition Event will be held this year on Monday, March 1, 6p.m. – 8p.m. at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Traditionally, it was held in January, but we decided to try a new date – and hope that we don’t land on the coldest day of the year (which has happened several times in the past – the snowiest or the coldest J )
I don’t have everyone’s email addresses. So if you volunteer with a group, please be sure to let them know of the date change. A proper invitation will be mailed in a few weeks!
Thank you all for everything you do to make Madison Parks extraordinary! I look forward to seeing on March 1.
Meanwhile, if you see a parks volunteer, say thank you!
GYPSY MOTH UPDATE
Paul Rusk offers this to Northsiders . . .
Unfortunately gypsy moths continue to expand in Dane County including on Madison’s Northside. Local government works with neighborhoods and the DNR to identify areas to be sprayed by airplane in May when the weather conditions are hopefully “just right.” State law includes an opt out provision for people who do not want their yards to be sprayed. Although gypsy moths do not generally kill healthy trees, they can kill stressed trees in urban areas, especially if they attack trees for several years in a row.
There are 5 proposed spray blocks for May 2010 in our area:
31 Carpenter/Ridgeway Area (north of East Washington)
32 Sherman School Area (parts of Northwestern, Spohn, Kropf over to parts of Farragut, Fremont, Logan)
33 Sachtjen Street Area (parts of Windom Way, Elka Lane, Manley, Ruskin, Melrose, N. Sherman)
34 Warner Park (very small part of Brentwood)
35 Berkley Park (over to Randy Lane, Gale Court, East Bluff)There will be a public meeting sponsored by the Dane County Tree Board and the DNR on February 1 at 7 p.m. at the Sequoya Branch Library, 4340 Tokay Boulevard. If you are concerned or just interested, please plan to attend the meeting to learn more about the program. I will post the official notice or press release on Northside Discuss as we get closer.
If you go to the Dane County Parks website (in the notices section) you can view detailed individual maps to see the proposed spray block areas in detail and read more about the program. We reviewed the maps at the last Tree Board meeting and I’m pleased they are now posted on the website. There are also links to other websites.
More info here and here if you’re interested! One northsider asked what it is that they spray, in the past they have used: Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki, but we’ll have to find out if that changes. This is shortened to Btk in the industry.
