Edgewater free round up . . .
CITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MIA
So, where is our Economic Development Commission, our Economic Development Director and city leadership? With all the talk of jobs and the economy, wouldn’t you think buying local would have been a top priority this shopping season?
NO WONDER THERE IS SO MUCH SHERIFF’S OVERTIME
What kind of management is this?
The biggest change in the Sheriff’s Office this year that reduced overtime was reversing a policy that allowed deputies to take whatever vacation days they wanted. In the past, the “red zone vacation days” — June, July, August and holidays — would have so many deputies out that the department had to schedule seven deputies on overtime each shift.
Holy crap, that’s just irresponsible. Check out what Moody’s has to say about it:
When Moody’s Investors Services downgraded the county’s bond rating — an indicator of the county’s financial health — in September for the first time in decades, the analyst pointed to the overspending in the Sheriff’s Office as one of the reasons why the county posted a $10 million deficit in 2008.
What bothers me even more is that I’ve heard County Board Supervisors defend the Sheriff by saying, “its what all the other sheriff’s have done, so we can’t blame Mahoney”. I’m not sure I blame Mahoney, I blame the county board supervisors with that attitude.
WSJ AND SHERIFF’S ASSOCIATION WANT YOU TO RUN FOR OFFICE
I wonder what they would have to say about the above?
CLASS BASED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
I found this article interesting. This isn’t a new idea by any means, but its interesting to see people talking about it.
SEE A PROBLEM HERE?
The city kinda screwed up and as a result, some of the poorest people in the city had a huge rent increase with little to no notice. Months later, they have not been made whole. Now, it add insult to injury, if the city gets money from the federal government here’s what they are going to do with it:
If the city gets the extra money, it will be distributed to landlords, who will be required to make refunds to tenants whose rent was increased, said Rachel Strauch-Nelson, spokesperson for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
Does that make sense to you? Sounds like a recipe for disaster as the tenants fight to get their money back. Why not give it directly to the tenants? How can we be sure they actually get that money back and that the landlord doesn’t get paid twice?
GRINCHOR A SIGN OF HOW DESPERATE THE TIMES ARE?
Nobody likes to see this. I think it’s a sad comment about how desperate some people have become.
IS OUR WATER SAFE?
This was a good recap of the issues. More here.
COUNCIL BLOOPERS
I’ve heard people talk about doing this for years, kudos to this rookie class for finally getting it done!
DO OVER
Without the racism this time. I missed the Hip Hop discussion at ALRC, but I have to say, I didn’t have high hopes. I can’t wait until they come out with best practices for County music. Or Jam Bands.
WHERE CAN YOU RECYCLE YOUR PLASTIC BAGS AND HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
Cost first? Nothing? Or waste of resources? This article has two points of view:
From the Business Commmunity we have this:
Brandon Scholz, president and chief executive of the Wisconsin Grocers Association and an early critic of the program, said Thursday the program was an ineffective use of city resources because many private companies in the city already offer the same service. He also predicted the city’s outdoor bins would be hard to keep clean and difficult to monitor for misuse.
From City Staff we have this:
Dreckmann said the plastic bag recycling bins would be emptied about every two weeks, depending on their level of use, and the program wouldn’t pass any new costs onto taxpayers.
Which do you believe?
Second, when I first read about the new plastic bags recycling program, the options seemed really limited and seemed to lack downtown locations, but it turns out the list is much longer than reported on channel 15.
Here’s the list.
City of Madison Self Help Drop Off Centers
– East 4602 Sycamore Av
– South 1501 W. Badger Rd
– West 402 South Point RdOther City Sites
– Glenway Golf Course Waste Oil Site
– Monona Golf Course Waste Oil Site
– Warner Park Community Recreation CenterCity Program Participants
– Aldi Stores – 3925 Lien Rd & 8222 Watts Rd.
– University Bookstore – 713 State St
– Williamson Street Co-Op – 1221 Williamson St.Other Plastic Bag Recycling Sites
Capital Center Foods – 111 N. Broom St
Copps Food Stores
– 3010 Cahill Main
– 620 S. Whitney Way
– 1312 S. Park St
– 2502 Shopko Dr
– 6540 Monona Dr
– 3650 University Av
– 261 Junction Rd.
– 6655 McKee Rd.
HyVee – 3801 E. Washington Av
Kohl’s Department Stores – 2602 East Springs Dr. & 7401 West Towne Way
Metcalf’s Market (Sentry) – 726 N. Midvale Bl
Pierce’s Northside Market – 2817 N. Sherman Av
Sentry Foods – 4602 Cottage Grove Rd.
Trader Joe’s – 1810 Monroe St.
Wal Mart – 7202 Watts Rd & 4198 Nakoosa Trl
Whole Foods Market – 3313 University Av.
Woodman’s – 3817 Milwaukee St & 711 S. Gammon Rd
On a slow week, its a good thing I still have 20 – 30 more emails labled “blog topic” in my blog folder. Expect some more, perhaps more stale round up tomorrow.
