Here’s what I have for today!
SOGLIN V CLEAR
I can’t believe Clear thought this was a good idea. Soglin pwned Clear. And, while generous of Soglin to give Clear the space to respond, as I have given Bob Dunn of Hammess Company the opportunity to respond on my blog regarding the Edgewater, the fact remains Clear could have posted this on his blog on the city’s site, just like the Mayor has his blog. Except, well, alders are not allowed to have one.
COMPTON WATCH
This could be interesting, hope the homeowner keeps it up. Maybe it will catch on and someone can start up a Schumacher watch – for the few days he’s in town . . . maybe I should let Schumacher have some space on my blog to respond? 🙂
ON AGAIN
Farley is back on the ballot after a few hiccups. Not a great way to start a campaign.
I DROPPED THE BALL ON THIS ONE
DMI did a presentation at the Economic Development Commission last week, that was, by their own admission, incomplete, as they need approval from their board yet. So I wasn’t in a hurry to post about it, but I’ll try to get that information to you. Here’s just a minor glimpse at some of their grand ideas. There is much to be concerned about in the documents I saw, but they didn’t talk about and aren’t mentioned in this piece.
THIS JUST SMELLS
I’m impressed someone is standing up to Bruer and standing their ground. And, it appears, rightfully so. Just because these property owners are on the south side doesn’t mean you can just do whatever you want to them. I think the CDA and the City should be ashamed of this behavior, especially if we end up wasting time in court over this.
BE YOUR OWN REPORTER
WYOU has classes coming up to help you learn how to produce your own video.
– Camera class on Thursday January 21st from 5:30-8:30pm
– Video editing class on Thursday January 28th 5:30-8:30pm
More details here.
$8,000 FOR WHAT?
1,000 surveys sent out? For the Mayor to say, “see, no problems here” and mislead the public. I bet $8,000 could be spend on some neighborhood center in a much more effective manner, instead of being used for the Mayor’s re-election campaign. And man . . . is this misleading!
By and large, Madisonians like where they live and they like the services the city provides — yes, even snow plowing — and the mayor has numbers to prove it.
Read the rest of the story to find out . . .
About 61 percent of respondents said they were at least “somewhat” satisfied with snow plowing, although the results of the 2009 survey were tabulated before the storm that dropped 14.1 inches of snow on the city Dec. 8-9. Snow plowing efforts after the storm drew harsh criticism from residents and prompted a review of the city’s snow plowing policies.
And then have the Mayor’s office say they are attempting to skew the answers in their favor . . .
Fiscal efficiency auditor Andrew Statz said the UW Survey Center, which conducts the survey, purposely sends it out during the late summer or early fall when certain city services — such as snow plowing and leaf pickup — are less likely to be on the minds of residents. The idea is to gather opinion when it’s less likely a major event and the city’s response to it could skew responses.
You can check here to see what they wasted your money on.
WHO DO YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET HIRED AROUND HERE
So, yesterday Rob Phillips walked into the City Engineer job, which was expected. The same day, the Community Development Director sent out a notice about people who were hired in their office. You’ll recognized the names.
Good morning. We have had some staffing changes within the Community Development Division over the past few months and it seems appropriate to give them some attention.
First, we were fortunate to hire Pam Rood as the supervisor overseeing Division program areas that include: affordable housing, homelessness programming, economic development, neighborhood planning and various stimulus related initiatives (energy, foreclosure, etc.). Pam has worked in the Division for 4-5 years running the very successful down payment program (American Dream), knows the rest of the CDBG/HOME terrain, is respected by colleagues and agency partners, has supervisory experience in her background and has already been a real asset in this position. Thanks Pam for accepting the job offer!
Second, we hired Larry Studesville to coordinate our energy conservation programs with DOE. The City received almost $2.4 million dollars from the Feds in stimulus dollars and I want to give a very public, big “thank you” to Nancy Dungan, who did all the work over many months to bring the money home. Although first it went to Madison, Alabama (not Nancy’s fault) – but that is another story. It was always our intent to hire someone to implement the grant once we received it and we were once again fortunate to hire someone of Larry’s background in management and energy. No sooner had Larry been hired when a second pot of competitive DOE dollars became available – so Larry’s world has been full!
Third, we just hired Mike Miller as a grant administrator with an emphasis on business and neighborhoods. Many of you may know of Mike as the owner of Kipp’s Down Home Cookin’, a business that was around for over a decade, but he also has previously worked with a few national firms and has been active in our community. To be able to hire someone that started their own business, has the academic credentials and knows Madison’s neighborhoods is a real plus for our office.
Shortly, we will be hiring a grant administrator with an emphasis in housing to fill Pam’s old job.
I believe all these individuals share talent, expertise, a willingness to work together with colleagues and our external partners and the ability to grow with the Division. Please join me in welcoming them to the Division. Take care. Bill
For those of you not following closely. Larry Studesville was the guy the Mayor appointed as the Interim Department of Civil Rights Director and Mike Miller is the husband of former Mayoral aide Annette Miller.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED AT PLAN COMMISSION ON MONDAY
Plan commissioners follow the laws and the comprehensive plan. “Reporter”/opinion writer frames it as Madison-is-a-bad-place-to-do-business”. Developer stomps away. Alder says its good enough, not any worse than what we already have. Staff says we can do better. No, not the Edgewater. A project on the far southwest side. (Why did it take til 2:30 the next day for that story to come out and . . . um, where’s the story about the MATC parking lot rejection?)
SMOKE DETECTORS
I’m surprised I just heard about this yesterday . . .
The City of Madison Fire Department received a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The grant will allow us to install more than 3,000 smoke alarms in the homes of at-risk residents. Details are included in the attached letter.
Date: January 13
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Madison Water Utility at 119 Olin AvenueIf you have any questions please contact me by e-mail at edahl@cityofmadison.com or phone at 261-9845. Thank you for your assistance with this important community project.
The letter, dated December 30th, describes at risk people as: People who are at greatest risk include young children, older adults, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty.
MARQUETTE NEIGHBORHOOD CHILI DINNER MARCH 6th
The 19th annual Marquette Neighborhood Association’s Chili Dinner will be held on Sat. evening March 6th at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, 953 Jenifer St. The sumptuous dinner with veggie and meat chili , side dishes, desserts and beverages provided by neighborhood (and beyond) restaurants (Lazy Jane’s, The Weary Traveler, Willy St. Co-op, Famous Dave’s and Monty’s Blue Plate) and groceries (Willy St. Co-op, Jenifer St Market) and taverns (The Crystal Corner) and coffee shops (Ground Zero, Mother Fool’s) will be served starting at 5:30 pm.
We are pleased to announce that the featured band for the evening is the Kristy Larson honky tonk trio. Country music historian, author, musician and WORT radio host Bill Malone describes Kristy as “one of the shining lights of Madison roots music”. John Mendelsohn, in Isthmus wrote ‘Kristy Larson’s aching, heartbreaking ‘Blue’ is the most indelible track I’ve heard by a Madison artist’.. The Kristy Larson honky tonk trio released their ‘honky tonk trio’ cd in May’08 which has earned them MAMAs (Madison Area Music Awards) for ‘Country Album of the Year,’09’ and ‘Country Performer of the Year,’09’. They will play from 7-8:30.
All proceeds from the event will fund two Marquette Neighborhood Scholarships given to a pair of graduating high school seniors residing in the Marquette neighborhood. There will be a $10 charge for adults and $6 for pre-teens at the door. For more information call 257-4576.
WISH I HAD KNOWN ABOUT THIS EARLIER
This would have been helpful when the Social Justice Center put in our rain garden.
Plant Dane! Program Makes Native Plants Available at Greatly Reduced Prices
Marcia Hartwig, MAMSWaP Storm Water Education Coordinator
Everyone seems to be putting in rain gardens these days. And now, the Plant Dane! Cost-Share Program provides native plants to fill those rain gardens for less than half of retail prices.
Rain gardens are an attractive way to reduce lawn maintenance time and costs, beautify your yard and help your lakes, rivers and streams all at the same time. Go to www.myfairlakes.com for an online application. A free rain garden workshop will be offered on March 6 to participants. Orders may be placed through May 15th, 2010. Plants will be delivered on June 26th.
Now in its 6th year, the Plant Dane! cost-share program provides homeowners, schools and nonprofit organizations with native plants, seeds and information to establish rain gardens and restore prairies through a gift from the Graham-Martin Foundation. The Plant Dane! Program has provided tens of thousands of plants, resulting in hundreds acres being planted with native species throughout Dane County. Plan your rain garden today!
HOUSING DISCRIMINATION ALIVE AND WELL IN MADISON
LANDLORDS DISCRIMINATE AGAINST FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN: FAIR HOUSING COUNCIL PREVAILS IN COMPLAINT
Madison, Wisconsin – The Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council (MMFHC) has prevailed in a fair housing complaint against Madison landlords Gordon, Elizabeth and Bruce Becker, the owners and managers of the Lexington Green apartment complex on Heritage Circle. The Beckers compensated MMFHC $4710 for costs incurred while investigating discrimination against families with children, and paid MMFHC’s attorney’s fees.
MMFHC filed the complaint with the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division (ERD) in 2007, alleging that the Beckers violated Wisconsin Open Housing Law by steering prospective tenants with children to first floor units, resulting in segregation of families with children. In November 2007, the ERD issued a charge and initial determination that there was probable cause to believe that the Beckers violated the Wisconsin Open Housing Law by discriminating on the basis of family status in the privileges, services or facilities that are available in connection with housing. The complaint was then assigned to Wisconsin Administrative Law Judge John L. Brown, who held a hearing in August 2008. On March 31, 2009, Brown issued a written decision in favor of MMFHC. The Beckers complied with the financial terms of the settlement at the end of 2009.
In late 2006, MMFHC’s Fair Housing Center of Greater Madison (FHCGM) satellite office conducted an investigation of discrimination against families with children at Lexington Green, an apartment complex with over fifty units. FHCGM utilized an investigative method known as “testing.” Three pairs of testers visited Lexington Green and interacted with the Beckers. In each test, one tester had at least one minor child and the other tester did not, but their other characteristics such as income, marital status, age, rental history and race were similar. None of the testers expressed a preference for either first-floor or second-floor units. In the first test, Gordon Becker showed the tester with a child a second-floor unit and a first-floor unit before he knew she had children. Once he learned that she had children, he told the tester, “I didn’t ask you what you want, but when you have little people, I’d like to have you on the first floor.” In a subsequent phone call, he told this tester that the second-floor apartment was no longer available because of her children, although in fact it was not yet rented. In contrast, Gordon Becker showed both second-floor and first-floor units to a tester without children and made no attempt to restrict her choice to one floor or the other. In two subsequent tests, the Beckers showed only first-floor units to testers with children, and showed first-floor and second-floor units to testers without children. As noted in the written decision of Administrative Law Judge Brown, the Beckers’ standard practice for 10 years when interacting with prospective tenants with children was to say nothing about the availability of second-floor apartments, even when second-floor apartments were available. In contrast, apartment seekers without children were told about and shown units on both floors. At the time of the ERD’s investigation into MMFHC’s complaint, which took place in October 2007, only 3 of 53 tenants at Lexington Green were under age eighteen, and all lived in first-floor units.
According to information provided by the Beckers and their attorney, the Beckers developed their standard practice of steering families with children to first-floor units for two reasons: experience led them to believe that families with children preferred lower units, and they assumed that young children living in second-floor units would create noise problems for tenants living beneath them. Testimony indicated that this latter belief was not based on any specific experience at the complex. It also failed as a legal defense; as Administrative Law Judge Brown noted in his written decision, “There is no exception under the statute allowing a rental agent to restrict the availability of housing for prospective tenants because of family status based on a fear that such prospective tenants will cause noise problems because of their having young children.”
“Segregating families with children to first-floor units artificially and unfairly limits the number of units available to them,” says MMFHC Executive Vice-President Carla Wertheim. “It’s already difficult for many families with children to find affordable housing, and this type of segregation makes it even harder.”
According to Attorney Michael J. Cohn, who represented MMFHC in the complaint, “The decision in Becker is important because it is the first ERD decision that steering based on familial status is unlawful. Again, fair housing council testing revealed discriminatory housing practices that prospective tenants would not have discovered simply applying to rent an apartment.”
