Weekend Round Up – 9/20-21

By
Brenda Konkel
-
daily round up

Weekend local news desert – and forwardlookout was slacking this weekend, working on tiny houses and police budget report!

LOCAL GOVERNMENT NEWS DESERT!

Sunday, September 20th

City of Madison

Dane County

Saturday, September 19th

City of Madison

Dane County

Madison Area Schools

And more . . .

9/23/20 NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING – CAP GATEWAY BUILD PLAN AMENMDMENT FOR 920 E MAIN ST

From Alder Marsha Rummel:

Save the date: I am holding a neighborhood zoom meeting  Wednesday September 23 at 5:30p regarding a plan amendment to the Capital Gateway Corridor BUILD Plan to allow Curt Brink’s proposal for multi-family residential building at 920 E Main St on the Mautz block. I will send out the info on the zoom meeting as soon as I have the link to share.  

Curt and his team submitted for formal review by the Urban Design Commission on October 7, and Plan Commission on October 19.  Concurrent with this proposal, Planning Division staff and I are working to introduce a focused amendment to the Capitol Gateway Corridor BUILD Plan (2008). In order for this proposal to move forward, a plan amendment is needed to provide rationale for supporting residential uses on this particular block, while still holding true to the strong focus on employment uses on the south side of East Washington Avenue. When considering the high proportion of employment uses already approved for this block, and the characteristics of the immediate environment surrounding the proposed residential building, I can support such an amendment for this block. Planning Division staff will also attend the virtual meeting to provide an overview of the amendment. I want to get your feedback.

The amendment would need Council approval, tentatively October 22.

MADISON ACTIVIST CALENDAR

Madison Activist Calendar from 9/20/20 –  Solidarity Edition!

To post events or announcements for future listings, please contact: jepeck@wisc.edu

For an online version of this calendar, please visit the Madison Infoshop Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Madison-Infoshop-295863957110653

This calendar is brought to you by the friendly volunteer collective of the Madison Infoshop, c/o Mutual Aid Workspace (MAW) – Social Justice Center, 1202 Williamson St., Madison, WI 53703 https://madinfoshop.wordpress.com

We are a non-hierarchical freespace and activist clearinghouse that needs your support to survive and flourish. Check out our free lending library (videos, books, periodicals, zines), our other community  resources (art supplies, theater props, graphix and stencils, megaphones, and button maker). We also host meetings and help organize events.

—

Sun Sept. 20th  1:00 – 5:00 pm  Penn Park (2101 Fisher St.)  Black Latino Unity Picnic! – Building Towards a United Front!  An event for the whole community focused on the common struggle of Black and Latino Workers for better working, housing, employment and living conditions in our neighborhoods.   Food, music, kids’ activities, information, and unity!  100% free and family friendly!  Un evento para toda la comunidad enfocada en la lucha común de los trabajadores Latinos y Morenos por mejores condiciones de trabajo, vivienda, empleo y de vida en nuestros vecindarios.  Comida, musica, actividades infantiles, informacion y unidad. 100% gratis y familiar!     More info?  Visit the Facebook event:  https://www.facebook.com/events/749976695785608/

—

Mon. Sept. 21st  12:00 Noon  Grace Lutheran Church (2006 60th St. in Kenosha)  Celebrate the 40th U.N. International Day of Peace! – Hosted by Kenosha Food Pantry Churches.

Join us for any part of this safely-distanced multi-community celebration with three hours of community clean-up projects and voter engagement work, followed by a light outdoor supper with Kenosha residents.  Peace Caravans will be leaving from Madison at 9:00 am from the Hawthorne Public Library at 2707 E. Washington Ave.) and from Milwaukee at 10:00 am from the Parking Lot at 633 S. Hawley Rd.  Supplies will be available to help decorate your car or window.  Safe distancing and mask wearing will be required. Wear weather appropriate clothing to work in and if you can, bring work gloves. Bring your own lunch and water if you can. Snacks will also be available.

For more info, visit the Facebook event:  https://www.facebook.com/events/242549617076810/

—

Tues. Sept. 22nd  7:00 pm  Virtual Making Democracy Work Program: How Can We Ensure a Safe, Fair, and Accessible November Election? – League of Women Voters of Dane County Forum

Barry Burden, Director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Eileen Newcomer, Voter Education Manager for the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin (LWVWI) will be joined by Joy Cardin, retired Wisconsin Public Radio talk show host and LWVWI board member, to discuss election and voting issues.

In addition, representatives from community groups working on Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts will also take part: Earnestine Moss, Dane County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Siti Hydara, Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG) Students New Voters Project and Bianca Tomasini, Madison Chapter of Voces de la Frontera. These special invited community guests represent voters of color and student voters. Each will address unique concerns specific to their representative communities.

To register and receive Zoom login info for the event, visit:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSek4PYY1Xdg_VtZiu0qKJSr-ptVevNmXo3JY8jXvOdse16Dug/viewform

Supplemental resources can be found at:  https://www.lwvdanecounty.org/forums

—

Fri. Sept. 25th – Sun. Sept. 27th HUMANs Solidarity Summit!

Some of us will gather physically distant, COVID-safe, in our locations, and we’ll connect online across a number of sister sites/projects. We have some beautiful new partnerships in DC, Costa Rica, and IL (Carbondale/Chicago) who will be presenting their work and offering chances to connect, and the whole thing is open for suggestions and offers. Lots of skillsharing, some open roundtable conversations, and aiming to firm or start up a variety of learning/doing/sharing threads that can help us each go deeper in our own communities.   You can contribute by visiting:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/19fqiq2Dz9farIsDd0HiqkdvqQeDrYLxfdGMqZTHbqhg/edit

A couple of highlights:

Fri. Sept. 25th 4:00 – 6:00 pm CST HUMANs Annual General Membership meeting. Meet new sister projects, learn what’s been happening and what’s coming up, elect our Board members!

Sat. Sept. 26th  11:00 ams – 2:00 pm CST  Project roundtable and Dreamtime community visioning session – will be bilingual English-Spanish.

For more info, and to share, visit:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H7ruT0jYcYLhKeRzE_eI1-MbX6XnkmtXDXxDsHYY5CM/edit

—

Sept. 26th – Oct. 4th  FARM/ART DTOUR Returns!

The Farm/Art DTour is a free, self-guided, 50+ mile agri/cultural excursion through the scenic working farmlands of rural Sauk County. Celebrating its eighth year, the 2020 DTour moves to southern Sauk County with trailheads in Plain and Sauk City. The new route allows us to collaborate with new partners, align with existing assets such as Badger Prairie and the Great Sauk State Trail, and highlight the unique beauty and diverse cultures of the Driftless Region. Punctuated by large-scale artworks, local food markets, roadside poetry (Burma Shave format), and educational Field Notes, the 2020 DTour offers festivity and fresh air for all ages with social distancing built in.  You’ll wander through small towns, country churchyards, and a changing agricultural landscape where artists explore the timeless connections between land and people; farmers perform fundamental and inspiring work; and where lines that can sometimes separate, converge or are happily blurred.  Plan to spend a day or two on this magical mystery tour—a little bit of Kansas, a little bit of Oz—plus cows! Maps will be available at several sites in Sept.  More info?  Visit:  https://www.fermentationfest.com/farm-art-dtour

—

Thurs. Oct. 1st 6:30 pm Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, & Future of American Labor – WILPF’s online discussion of Steven Greenhouse’s new book.  “He achieves a near-impossible task, producing a page-turning book that spans a century of worker strikes, without overcondensing or oversimplifying, and with plausible suggestions for the future” – The New York Times Book Review.
If you are short on time to devote to the whole book, focus on Greenhouse’s ‘Future’ section.  To receive the Zoom link, please email:  wilpfmadison@gmail.com

—

Sun. Oct. 4th 3:00 pm WI State Capitol  We Get Sick, They Get Rich – Madison March for Medicaid!   

We are facing a crisis within a crisis. Since healthcare is treated as something to make money from and not a fundamental right for everyone, we drown in hospital bills as we get more sick while a few get richer. And with the pandemic, over 5 million people lost their healthcare coverage. These are layered upon a deeper and permanent crisis that has already been afflicting our communities – with 140 million poor or near poor in the U.S. who have to choose between going hungry or going to the doctor, between paying rent or school loans.

Join us to make the connections between healthcare and the fight for housing, living wages, education, freedom of migration, and freedom from criminalization and incarceration! We’ll meet at the Capitol building to call on politicians who put private profit ahead of Wisconsinites’ well-being, and march to the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce office to name out the corporations benefiting from our despair.

We demand an end to state violence in all its forms, including the near 200,000 people — disproportionately poor and people of color — who have died from COVID19 at the hands of a government more committed to bailing out corporations than keeping people safe, and the 700 people who were dying every day from poverty before the pandemic started.

—

Thurs. Oct. 8th 6:30 pm  The Return to Belonging and Reclaimed Narratives About These Lands – virtual event featuring Midy Aponte, Chief Experience Officer, Spitfire Strategies.  Part of the UW Nelson Institute’s ongoing Jordahl Public Lands Lecture series.

Join us for a discussion about the current reckoning of our nation’s history and highlights the role of communication in reexamining our collective relationships with the land, and each other.  As a communication strategist, Aponte has devoted her career to driving national narratives on important issues. From income inequality and environmental justice, to health equity and cultural preservation, Aponte is nationally recognized for her ability to advance issues using creatively conceptualized and smartly implemented communication tactics.  Aponte is also a persistent advocate for the preservation of American Latino culture and history. A daughter of Cuban immigrants, Aponte served as the founding executive director of the American Latino Heritage Fund of the National Park Foundation, where she built a nonprofit fund that inspires awareness of historic preservation, outdoor recreation, and conservation among American Latino audiences.

For more info, visit:  https://nelson.wisc.edu/events/jordahl-lectures/index.php

—

Tues. Oct. 13th 8:00 am  – 10:00 am Wellness and the Built Environment –  Sustainable Breakfast Series hosted by Sustain Dane!

How can we reimagine our built environment while prioritizing health, equity, and accessibility? Join us for an opportunity to learn about how intentional design and operation of our buildings can impact environmental and social wellbeing. Our panel of local experts from the architecture, engineering, and facility management fields will explore how we can respond to a rapidly changing world by creating a resilient built environment for our community.

What type of spaces promote environmental health and employee health? How does our built environment intersect with equity? What will it take to create healthy buildings? Learn how we can enhance the built environment at our offices and homes.

To register for the event, please visit:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainable-breakfast-series-wellness-the-built-environment-registration-92244103597?utm_source=Sustain+Dane+General+List&utm_campaign=151ec07f94-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_01_10_08_27_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ad649dde4e-151ec07f94-109153905

—

Wed. Oct. 14th 6:30 pm  Bill Iwen Environmental Justice Award Celebration – Online Event hosted by Midwest Enviornmental Advocates – Special guests include Winona LaDuke and Mandela Barnes!

Learn about environmental justice initiatives in Wisconsin and to honor those who are working to advance the rights of all people to live in a clean and healthy environment.

2020 Awardees are:  Philomena Kebec, attorney and policy analyst with Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission where she focuses on protection and implementation of reserved hunting, fishing and gathering rights. Philomena is an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and a member of the Ashland County Board of Supervisors.

Rafael Smith, Climate and Equity Director at Citizen Action of Wisconsin where he focuses on the way climate change disproportionately impacts people of color on the north side of Milwaukee. Rafael is also a member of the Milwaukee City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity.

To register for the event and receive Zoom link details, visit:  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f-whXnIzS4-lSKQl4DN2Og

*******************

Join the Bird Collision Corps – through the Madison Audubon Society!

This Madison-based program surveys specific buildings 1-2x/week to track evidence of bird-window collisions. Survey period is Sept. 14-Nov. 1. No experience is required, training is provided.  There are three site locations for you to choose from: 1) UW-Madison campus, 2) American Family Insurance campus (far east side), 3) Urban Land Interests buildings (Capitol Square). Weekly time commitment: between 1-3 hours.

To learn more and volunteer, visit:  https://madisonaudubon.org/bird-collision-corps

Feed Darbo’s Future — Support Darbo Youth!

The Darbo Pantry Project began delivering fresh produce and other food into the Worthington Park neighborhood just over one year ago in July 2019.   Since March 2020 and the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, well over 20,000 pounds of high quality food has been distributed, mostly by youth of color to their own friends, families, and neighbors in need.  The future goal is to replicate this direct to door delivery model in other neighborhoods across the city under the umbrella of the Madison Food Club.

For more details on this exciting project and how you can contribute, visit:

https://www.facebook.com/feedingdarbosfuture.org

Some Other Ways to Get Involved with Racial Justice Efforts in the greater Madison community:

  • Freedom Inc is working to end of violence against women, gender-non-conforming and transgender folks, and children within communities of color by challenging the root causes of violence, poverty, racism and discrimination.  http://freedom-inc.org/
  • Freedom Youth Squad is another local organization that has pushing to get police out of schools, promoting other justice efforts in our schools, and creating social support and crisis support for youth of color.   https://www.facebook.com/FreedomYouthSquad/
  • Free the 350 Bail Fund is also involved in challenging the prison industrial complex.  Many people are held in jail before they receive a fair trial, simply because they can’t afford bail. Often, these are parents of color who are separated from their own kids.  https://freethe350bailfund.wordpress.com/
  • Urban Triage seeks to empower Black families to excel and believe in their own ability to make a difference through crisis response, advocacy, psycho-education, community support services, intervention, leadership development and systems training.   https://urbantriage.org/
  • Dane County Time Bank’s Restorative Justice project hosts a hotline to help resolve non-emergency disputes without involving the police. https://danecountytimebank.org/projects/restorative-justice
  • The Social Justice Center (SJC) is a busy grassroots hub for several community organizations, challenging racism and many other forms of systemic injustice.  https://www.socialjusticecenter.org/
  • Groundwork s a group of dedicated white anti-racist activists that offer classes and resources to other white people so they can be better educated and organized about these issues.  https://groundworkmadison.com/

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.