It was a little long, and at points, pointless. Here’s the rundown.
The meeting started around 6:36 with everyone present expect Council President Bruer.
CIVILITY AWARD (#1)
We awarded the Jeff Erlanger award, with the help of his parents, to former alders Judy Olson and Warren Onken. An excellent choice!
HONORING PARKS COMMISSIONER (#2)
We honored Betty MacDonald for her service on the Parks Commission. She was absolutely delightful to honor. When she got up in front of the Council she talked about 1963, which as soon as she said that year I smiled. It was the year that the City of Madison passed our Equal Opportunities Ordinance. She mentioned her experience than as a way to talk talked about the power of the citizen committees and what unelected volunteers can do and how they can impact our community. A class act.
MARCUS THEATRE (#4)
Ugh. I tried to ask them to address my main concern. This is labeled a “transit oriented development” in the comprehensive plan and I felt that it didn’t meet those requirements, but that perhaps they could make an argument that it did. I have to admit, they totally blew it. Several alders tried to help them by rephrasing the question (Webber and Rummel), and several other alders went off on several issues that weren’t really about the transit oriented development. After about a half hour, everyone was done, and I asked the question again. Trying to give them a chance to redeem themselves. They did a little better. The staff then did an pretty good job talking about the issues as well. To me, it was a close call and I think I changed my mind multiple times. In the end, everyone voted for it except Alder Webber – tho I thought she had a few more votes with her. Other issues with the project included that there was no bus service, too much parking & mostly part-time jobs with no benefits. However, there was a vision that I could see where some of these things would be remedied in the future and that it could possibly end up a park and ride for the city of Madison. So . . . I’m not sure if we did the right thing or not, but it was close and I felt like they said enough to give it a shot – we’ll see if any of it happens.
ACACIA (The “I kissed a girl” project.) (#5)
This small project on Langdon Street brought out many people. The Alders in the area (Konkel, Verveer and Judge) were all against the project for various reasons, the neighborhood association (Capitol Neighborhoods) was against it and many residents showed up to speak. Residents had concerns about overcrowding and the intense density in this area and the results on the quality of life, like overflowing garbage, the fact that there are alot of pedestrians and a high risk of car vs. pedestrians clashes, the need for more parking (not less), the gentrification of the area causing it to be unaffordable for many, the loss of open space, the environmental concerns about development close to the lake and the general safety of the very crowded area when it comes to fires. The neighborhood association representatives also did a great analysis of the requirements to pass a PUD and the downtown design guidelines. The downtown design guidelines were a close call, but to me, when you added up the massing, lack of a central prominent entrance, the articulation, the lack of semi-public spaces and usable open space it was a swing and a miss. The project had been rejected by the Landmarks Commission, unaimously passed at the Urban Design Commission after several meetngs and then the Plan Commission failed to make a recommendation with a 4-4 tie and the Plan Commission Chair refusing to vote saying that it was a close call for the Council to make. Part of the issue at plan commission, in addition to everything above, was the general issue of open space in this crowded area. Which is where the testimony of one person who said the area is used for hacky sack and other activities, including the fact that “I kissed a girl” once there. While Eli Judge agreed with the sentiment, in a moment of levity assured us, he had not kissed a girl there. With an pretty impassioned speech from Alder Verveer the item failed for lack of 11 votes. The issue had to be previously tabled while Alder Clear determined what the appropriate motion was. I told him what it was, he was wary and needed to figure it out for himself and still got it wrong. Alders Kerr and myself, even tho we voted against it, had to help correct it to get it right. In the end, the vote was AYE: Palm, Pham-Remmele, Sanborn, Schumacher, Skidmore, Clausius, Clear, Compton, Gruber and Monson. NO: Rhodes-Conway, Rummel, Solomon, Verveer, Webber, Cnare, Judge, Kerr, Konkel. ABSENT: Bruer. When it failed, Alder Verveer wanted to make sure that Acacia and Alexander Company could come back without waiting – so he made a motion to place on file without prejudice, which should have been unanimous with all the opposition to the project voting in support, but some of the supporters voted no. I guess they didn’t want to see the project come back??? Very confusing.
PLACE FOR FRIENDS (#32)
The council unanimously accepted the recommendation to revoke their license. Alder Rhodes-Conway made a statement and we voted. Not much else said due to legal constraints.
YWCA PROJECT (#41)
Alder Thuy Pham-Remmele had some issue I didn’t understand. I don’t think anyone else did either. Perhaps the real issue was something to do with an issue she should have disclosed in that she had a bit of a conflict of interest – and we were all surprised she failed to make the disclosure. The project was for $250,000 to renovate 11 units at the YWCA. Staff from there testified that they had multiple issues with an old building including plumbing issue, leaking roof, hvac issues, etc etc etc. The motion passed. And at least one member of the council felt compelled to apologize to the YWCA for the inappropriate behavior of our colleague.
OLYMPICS (#49)
No one knows what we just agreed to, but if Chicago gets the bid for the Olympics in 2016, three bike race events could he held here in Dane County, and we agreed to pay for quite a bit – and we were assured that we would get reimbursed by the federal government for the bulk of those costs – for security. We agreed to that binding agreement and who knows what the council in 2016 would be facing when it comes to the budget. Dicey, but the ability to bring those events here and the economic development it could lead to, seemed worth it with the limited information we had.
ALLIED PUBLIC ART (#40)
Alder Cnare wanted to make sure the the project was truly art and not just a marketing/branding issue. Alder Solomon said that it was art that the neighborhood was excited about. (Alder Sanborn and I had a side conversation about the message the art was conveying and thought they might have missed. We felt the message might be the opposite of what they are trying to convey.) The motion passed with a few voice vote “no’s”.
POLICE STATION HVAC (#43)
A long, convoluted discussion about the heating/cooling system at the Northside Police Station and some flaws when the building was built 10 years ago resulted in the “safety first/give the police everything they need” crowd denying the funding necessary to fix the problems. I guess they want to see the police sweat? The vote went as follows: NO: Sanborn, Schumacher, Skidmore, Compton ABSENT: Bruer, Kerr Since it was a 15 vote item, it failed. I’m not sure that is what some of the most ardent supporters of the police department intended. I suspect we reconsider and the police get their money.
ANNUAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN (#45)
It was getting late and there were a few questions and we ultimately we referred it til the new Economic Development Director got here. We should vote on it at the first meeting in March. I think some of the council members got confused – when the new ED director was here, we asked about passing the TIF policy before he got here and he said no problem. His comments about the plan were a little different and I think it will be good that he gives us his thoughts.
WOOD BOILERS (#109)
Hours ago, there were people at the meeting to testify, they gave up and went home. It passed.
With that, it was about midnight. The Green girls (Webber, Rummel, Rhodes-Conway, Konkel) went out for drinks and a late night dinner. Everyone else went home since this was one of the longest regular council meetings we have had in a while.
