(Updated) Nothing fancy or out of the ordinary, but here it is . . . illegally noticed meetings, low-income people have to pay more rent, adding alders and removing citizens from committees, security cameras to catch staff responses to the homeless and stopping the city from breaking the law by throwing out items found on public property.
Monday, July 6, 2009
9:00 AM SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AND ENERGY COMMITTEE PRIVATE SECTOR WORK GROUP CONFERENCE CALL ROOM 107A
– Again, no agenda or indication about what the are talking about???
5:30 PM PLAN COMMISSION ROOM 201 CCB
– More Findorff Yards development
– Malt House picnic tables
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
4:30 PM COMMON COUNCIL ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITTEE ROOM 108 CCB
– Moving backwards, adding more alders to more committees, which is the opposite of what we did a few years ago because the alders felt they were too busy. The ALRC (Alcohol License Review Committee) will replace a citizen with an alder making it 3 alders and 4 citizens, Economic Development Commission will add two seats and two alders to the committee, and the Public Safety Review Board will replace a citizen with an alder, making it one mayor’s rep, 3 alders and 3 citizens. Perhaps Thuy will finally get her seat on her committee? Actually, its hard to tell what the justification for this is. It’s being done by Council leadership and it might be a continued response to the power struggle between the Mayor’ office (executive) and the Council (legislative) or it could be a continued move to take away the power of citizens. Either way, its an interesting set of committees to try to “beef up” and changes the balance of alder vs citizens on two of the committees.
– Allowing the Council President to appoint temporary ad hoc subcommittees of the Common Council. Well, this one is interesting too. I’m not so sure that this couldn’t have already been done anyways, by just saying that a group of people were going to get together and then publicly noticing it. But . . . this looks like another power move. It will be interesting to see how the Mayor responds. If he has a fit, its a power grab. If he doesn’t, it likely means its some deal he worked out with leadership likely tied to the other three ordinances on this agenda and there was some log rolling going on.
– Possible changes to the process for revoking people from committees for failure to fill out their statement of interest forms.
6:30 PM COMMON COUNCIL ROOM 201 CCB
– Bus Depot Demolition
– Emerging Neighborhood Funds
– Committee appointments and gender, race and disabilities.
– Shady Wood (NOT!) Neighborhood Plan
– East Wilson/Schley Pass Conservation District
– Alcohol ban at Lake Edge Park
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
12:00 PM PERSONNEL BOARD ROOM 525 CCB
– Changes to CDBG office staff, Mayor giving his staff a raise, report from CCOC committee, and the new personnel rules.
4:30 PM BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS ROOM 108 CCB
Alot of same old, same old. But this caught my eye, mostly because there is no information so if you wanted to come and talk about it, you essentially can’t.
34. 15262 Ordering Property Owners to Replace Substandard/Defective Sidewalks and Ordering Property Owners to Install Sidewalk. (2nd, 6th, & 15th ADs)
4:30 PM CDA HOUSING OPERATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ROOM 120 MMB
– Revising the payment standard.
I wonder how many people even understand what that means? You can kind of get it from the resolution. Or the letters sent to tenants and landlords, but essentially, people who get housing assistance from the CDA (Section 8) will now be getting less money to pay their rent. Details of how much per person are not really available because it changes person by person based on several variables, but needless to say, tough economic times just got tougher for those who were already struggling.
– Smoking Policy discussion. Hard to know exactly what they are discussing, but they were given a copy of the smoking ordinance. I’m guessing they are discussing smoking at Allied Drive, but that discussion may have set off discussions in other apartment buildings.
6:30 PM BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS WARNER PARK COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTER, 1625 NORTHPORT DR
– Many updates with no information available.
– Property left behind in parks and other public spaces
No information on the legal implications appears to be provided. I guess I’ll just provide that information again. How is the Parks Commission supposed to discuss this without information from the City Attorney?
– Pesticide policy Hmmm, are the looking at making it stricter, or looser?
Thursday, July 9, 2009
4:30 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY EAST MADISON COMMUNITY CENTER, 8 STRAUBEL CT
– Lakepoint Condos, Truax (they got their tax credits and explain how this will not be like Allied Drive), Allied Drive Update, Truman Olson (doesn’t look like any new info or written updates), Villager Mall (some are getting leases, others haven’t gotten theirs yet), Burr Oaks Senior Housing discussion (no materials)
– Raising the payment standard (see above).
5:00 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT COMMITTEE ROOM 300 MMB
– For once, security cameras I can support! These are not only to capture the actions of the homeless, but the STAFF as well! Good move!
– Property tax exemptions. (I wonder if they have taken the time to find out how many of the groups they fund will be impacted?)
Friday, July 10, 2009
10:00 AM CCB SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AND ENERGY COMMITTEE WORKGROUP ROOM 406 CCB
– No agenda, just a time and place to meet, no idea what they are talking about. Someone really needs to fix this! They are meeting illegally. This is not adequate notice:
If the public is interested in participating, please contact Jeanne Hoffman at (608) 266-4091 or jhoffman@cityofmadison.com.
Why would anyone be interested if they don’t know what they are talking about?
