Thursday Morning Round Up

Here’s what I found for this morning . . . two days of info.

HOLD ON TO YOUR WALLET
Why will the new $24M County Radio System cost the city $8M or $12 – 15M? And why will the City be running it? I feel like I’m missing something here. And it sounds like a worse system even tho they are saying its better, less communication with other systems and our officers will be out of communication if they travel too far from the city.

OVERTURE DETAILS, STILL, WATCH THE WALLET
Thanks to Kristin for covering this meeting in the middle of the day with such detail. The curtain was pulled back a bit, for those who could attend. 20% of Overture would be supported by the public in the new plan. And as for the question about what the council will do with this . . . probably whatever the Mayor wants. Here’s the WSJ coverage.

THE GEESE
Looking for another way. And a “civil” discussion. Another meeting coming up July 20, 6:30 – 8 at Warner Park.

PEDAL TO PROPERTIES
Yeah, I can see it now, instead of an air conditioned car ride to through the suburbs, people riding their bikes with their realtors. I bet the service will be somewhat limited to those who want to live downtown.

PROBABLY A BETTER IDEA
Restaurant and bike shop with restrooms and bubbler on a bike path. And hey, its city property too. I wonder if he plans to buy it or rent it? I wonder how many more of these “bike ideas” are going to pop up as a result of the Mayor’s bike ride in Europe.

OH WAIT, HOW ABOUT BIKE POLO?
The 2010 North American Championships, right here in Madison.

REGIONAL PLANNING SHOULDN’T BE SO HARD
Seriously. And I like how its another “system is broken” problem because 2 of 29 projects were rejected. Is the only acceptable planning process one where all projects get approved without question? And its interesting the state says they don’t have the resources to review these decisions.

NEW BLOGGERS
If you’ve been checking out the “All” tab on top of this blog, you’ll see that we’ve been joined by Kyle Richomond, Erik Paulson and TJ Mertz. These aren’t regular daily bloggers like Lukas and I, but ah hoc contributors. If you’re interested in doing something similar, please let me know! And ladies, time to step up!

HIGHLANDER TO CLOSE, JAN 1
I don’t quite understand if there is so much criminal activity that its like shooting fish in a barrel, why seek to close the place? Why not just arrest people? And there must be something missing, how does waiting 6 months to close the place help the police if it was going to close then anyways?

THE OTHER HALF
Yup, where is it? And when? My guess is it won’t come, but we’ll still have the habitual drunkard list. Cuz you know, its the county’s problem, except it is ours too.

WAIT, ISN’T THIS GOOD NEWS
Instead of getting 15% cut in state aids for schools, Madison Schools are getting 12%, so doesn’t that mean that some of the cuts can be restored? Shouldn’t that be the headline?

STUART’S PARKING TICKET
Interesting, after they stop meter enforcement, park where you want. Good to know. Just move by 8 am.

EASY TO CUT ROADS?
Have you seen the last few city council budgets, we’ve never cut a road project. Roads are king.

ALLIED DRIVE CREATIVITY?
Probably wishful thinking. The committee is meeting today to discuss further.

THIS MAKES ME LAUGH
Nothing like stating the obvious. Look quick before they fix the link.

HOLY COMMENT HELL
And Carol Thompson to boot!