Thursday's Thoughts

Again, today, still much to blog about. So here's the schmorgasborg.
(How often do you get to use that word?!)

D'ANGELO

This whole D'Angelo thing is just a sad, disgusting situation. They should just give up the documents, now. Let's not make a bad situation worse.

REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY

Well, its about time. Tho I'm quite certain, no one really knows what they actually agreed to. Speculation is running rampant about what the agreement means and doesn't mean. In reading the press release and the "fact sheet" that was sent out with it, it seems that there are a few unresolved issues, listed as "next steps" that need to be resolved, such as:

• Work with the Governor and the Legislature to authorize the RTA.
• File the New Starts Application for Transport 2020 with the Federal Government at the end of this summer.
  
• Pass the intergovernmental agreements to form the RTA.
• Receive Federal funding.
  
• Ask citizens to decide if the sales tax is the right way to fund these transportation improvements.
  

No matter what, at least Mayor Dave and County Executive Falk at least pretending to get along. (Tho some are convinced they were only pretending to argue.) However, there is one HUGE outstanding question about all of this. Does it include trolleys? The press release and information don't even mention the word trolley, or streetcar as the Mayor prefers. However, in listening to AM radio yesterday, I heard audio of the the reporter asking if this means the trolley is dead and the Mayor replied "No. No. Not at all." Its also in the Cap Times. It looks dead. I wonder how he'll Dick Cheney his way out of this one?

BAD LANDLORDS

Disgusting Landlord of the day.

ANTI-BUSINESS

Sometimes, I gotta agree, the City of Madison is anti-business. Check out this email the entire City Council got yesterday. I don't really blame this person for being upset.

Dear Alders,

I want to give you an update on the adventures of being a small bookstore in this fine city. I have been waiting for the application I must now fill out to be able to buy secondhand textbooks in the city of Madison starting July 1 ( this coming Sunday). It is still not on the city clerk's web page, but my alderperson Ms. Konkel did have the city atty. office e-mail me a copy on Tuesday. It took me a day and a half to get the information from my employees, since it is information that is not legal for an employer to ask when hiring people ( i.e. birth dates, and if they have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor). But I did take the time and call everyone that was not working that day and filled out the form. Today, Wed., I checked the city web page to find the hours of the city clerk's office and it states that the office is open until 4:30pm. I biked up the street and got there at 4:20 to hand in my application and pay my fee only to be told that they turn off the computers at 4:15 since they leave at 4:30 and have buses to catch. Yes, indeed, everyone had their bags and flowers from the market in hand ready to head out.

Now, I know everyone works hard, and the staff was nice, but they did not have anything to offer me except to come back tomorrow.

I know this is not the way I run my business, and I don't think it is the way to run a city. I close at 8pm and pay my employees until 8:15 so they have time to close down the computers, etc. At the very least, the city web page should state that the office closes at 4:15pm.

Maybe it is not just rhetoric when people say the city is not business friendly. I certainly I am feeling that way today.

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Here's one for the reprehensible disgusting landlord category!

Ugh, I had forgotten about this one . . .

A woman was raped in her apartment by a man who was able to get into the building because the landlord refused to enforce the security locked entrance. When the woman tried to break her lease, the landlord gave her a rough time. She even just asked to move to a different unit in a different building . . . the landlord, still refused. As did their attorney. Unfortunately, this is a management company that manages quite a few units in Madison.

This story, had even one of my most experienced counselors in tears by the time the client left the Tenant Resource Center office.
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Childcare: Squandering Resources

So, I'm sitting in the Early Childhood Care and Education Board meeting and we're talking about the lack of quality childcare for the 321 children ages 0-5 in Allied Drive involved in W2 caseloads. From the report:

Child care options currently available in Allied Drive are few. They include two licensed Centers: Dane County Parent Council and Small Wonders, along with a limited number of regulated in-home child care providers.

On November 18, 2006 the Department of Health and Family Service Bureau Regulation and Licensing revoked the child care license of Small Wonders for habitual violations of licensing regulations. Small Wonders has appealed the revocation. The appeal hearing was originally scheduled for June 19, 2997, but has been postponed while the owner tries to sell the business. Small Wonders currently serves approximately 25 children but has a licensing capacity of 49. With the likelihood of Small Wonders closing, 25 children will be displaced, with a need to find alternative child care.

Dane County Parent Council (DCPC) provides part-day Head Start programming as well as full-day child care at two locations (Red Arrow and Verona Road). The children enrolled in DCPC programs consist of children from the Allied neighborhood as well as surrounding neighborhoods.

While the DCPC has 206 kids enrolled, it has a waiting list of 123. Also from the report:

W2 requirements often necessitate a parent finding care immediately in order to stay eligible for the program. A parent’s main concern for child care becomes cost and location, and the urgency of the situation leaves little time or ability to inquire about quality. Dane County Parent Council reports that many families on the waiting list have lost their child care funding, as a direct result of not securing child care which, in turn, affects their ability to obtain employment.

With recent changes in W2, low-income families are faced with higher child care co-payments to the centers/providers. Families are even less able to make these payments, which can be as high as $84 a week, or more than $4300, for a family with 2 children and an income of $11,000 a year. Because families cannot make the payments, programs serving a high percentage of low-income families often operate at a deficit due to uncollected fees. Without a stable source of income, the sustainability of quality child care programs is jeopardized. If instead a center determines that it cannot serve low income families, the quality of care for the children in the families suffers.

Meanwhile, remember that on February 1, 2005 (that's not a typo, it was over 2 years ago), the council passed a resolution where we were given land and $300,000 to develop a childcare facility in the Allied Drive area. Once again, nothing has happened. Even worse, I understand that the Director of the Department of whatever-silly-name-we-gave-it, formerly known as the Department of Planning and Development did not include a capital budget request to leverage the existing resources (land and money) when there was a proposal prepared as follows:

Provide City of Madison capital budget funding needed to construct and provide for the start-up costs of a model center for early education and care. The City, working in partnership with the University of Wisconsin has developed a design for a 11,000+ square foot child care center for 80 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 6 years, with the goal of serving 40 children from the Allied Drive area and 40 children of University faculty, staff and graduate students. Research shows that children in integrated economic settings make larger gains in critical areas than children whose only peers are also low income.

Collaboration between the City of Madison, the University and Dane County Parent Council will focus on combined missions of teaching, research, outreach, service to low income families and economic revitalization. The proposed center will provide the highest quality of education and care to develop competency in social, academic and problem solving skills. Low income children will be retained in the center through periods of parent unemployment, so that gains are not lost due to repeated absences. This will help facilitate stabilization of the family, making job seeking and permanent employment easier.

When the City of Madison partnered with Gorman & Company in the development of Avalon Madison Village, the City received, as part of that project, $300,000 from the sales price of the land to Gorman & Company to be used as a match for development of a child care center and a 17,556 square foot parcel via Warranty Deed to develop a child care center.

A request of $2.3 million will cover construction and start-up costs based on the space program for the center developed/proposed.

In addition, there would need to be an operating subsidy to allow the center to serve low-income children whose families have unrealistic co-payments under the current Wisconsin Shares program.

Meanwhile . . . tick. tock. And meanwhile, families and kids are being negatively impacted by our lack of action.

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Wednesday's wanderings.

Yesterday's blogging frenzy continues as there is so much to comment on. Today's topics are broccoli, trash cans, stalled Tenney Lapham Neighborhood plan and Allied Drive. And later today, more landlord stories.

BROCCOLI/HIRING PRACTICES
Yes, I do like broccoli, both raw and cooked. However, for the record, whether I like or don't like Mayor Dave has nothing to do with my criticisms of our hiring practices, no matter how he tries to spin it or discredit my criticisms. The fact remains, we haven't followed our own hiring procedures and we either need to change our procedures or change our practices. The latest update is that when I asked to see the questions and benchmark answers as required in APM 2-29, I found out that while they prepared questions, no benchmark answers were ever developed. (See page 3, 2nd paragraph in the APM. "The Hiring Agency prepares a set of interview questions with appropriate benchmark answers for the final interview.")

TRASH CANS
While some alders are obsessed with how to dispose of the old trash cans when the new trash cans come out, I continue to wonder where the heck people are going to put these HUGE trash cans everyone is going to be getting? I'm wondering how many people are going to be asking to exchange the trash can after 90 days? I was relieved when I checked in with Rob and he said we chose the medium sized cart, and we're thinking we could have probably taken the even smaller one.

TENNEY LAPHAM NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN
When I went to the Pedestrian Bike Motor Vehicle Committee yesterday to discuss the Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Plan, I was informed that they were going to delay talking about the plan because they had just received information from Traffic Engineering. While the City Staff and the Neighborhood Association President stayed, I went to the business community meet and greet over at the Brink Lounge. However, I think the main points that need to be made at this point are that the traffic planning that the traffic engineers are so vociferously opposing at this time are already in the current Tenney Lapham Old Marketplace Neighborhood Plan and the Comprehensive Plan. This isn't necessarily new stuff.

ALLIED DRIVE
Tick. Tock. We've owned the properties since last May. We had a huge public planing process last September that went no where and wasted $100,000. Now, we may have a request for proposals coming out next month, that has to pass the council, then be issued, the a group chosen and as one city staff person said yesterday, "We're at least 18 months away from seeing anything happen."
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I can't believe the landlord did that!

Today, I'm totally inspired by landlords. I've worked at the Tenant Resource Center in some capacity, since 1991. I've been a volunteer (91 - 93), the volunteer coordinator (93 - 94), a board member (94 - 95) and the executive director (95 - present). I often tell my volunteers and people who attend our seminars that every time I think I've heard it all . . . something new comes up.

So, I've asked the staff and volunteers to come up with their old favorite stories, and I'll share some of those with you, and then I'll add the new ones as the come up. Here's my two stories from last week and this week.

Last week - A landlord was holding the tenant's mail hostage until the tenant paid the rent. Um . . . I think there may be federal charges there. When I told this story to a room full of people, even some of the landlords groaned.

This week - The landlord filled out a court document (Summons and Complaint) and made it look all official, except, they filled in the Date and Time of the "hearing" themselves and filled in the "Place to Appear" as their office instead of the Court House.

These two stories are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. I know one of my favorite stories was the landlord who attended a seminar who asked why they couldn't do things like they did when she was in Texas. There, if the tenant didn't pay the rent, they just would remove the toilet seats and lightbulbs so the tenants couldn't use their apartments.

One of my other favorite stories was a Verona landlord that was pissed off because the tenant had called the building inspector. So they gave the tenant a 5 day notice. The landlord actually put in writing that "The electricity and water will be shut off until you pay the rent witch [sic] has not been paid." Yes, that's illegal.

Stay tuned, we'll keep you entertained, if nothing else and hey, maybe if you're a tenant, you'll learn a thing or two about your rights.

And if you have tenant/landlord questions you need to ask, feel free to call one of our housing counselors. 257-0006 (Dane County) or 1-877-238-RENT (outside Dane County)
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Blog-o-mania

Yesterday morning, when I woke up after weekend filled with Rob's class reunion in Ripon (Fri.), pulling off a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom in Portage (Sat.) and a 50th wedding anniversary for my uncle in Waukesha (Sun.), I didn't have anything to write. Less than 24 hours later, I don't know where to begin. So, here's a start:

District 2 updates - Including funding for Breese Stevens Field, staff recommendations against the Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Plan, Well 3 being shut down and updates on the East Washington BUILD

Water updates - Adding more chlorine to our water, Well 3 being shut down and security issues.

I'm glad channel 3 agrees with my opinion that we need to lock Mayor Dave and County Executive Kathleen Falk in a room.

WSJ, once again, doesn't even understand how government works. I think they love to spread untruths. Their reckless disregard for the facts in their editorials is so tiresome.
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WSJ: Once Again, Clueless.

The Wisconsin State Journal's Saturday Editorial, once again, shows how their editorial board could care less about the facts. Between the whining on AM radio and the grandstanding of Ald. Brandon and typical clueless editorials like one in the recent WSJ, one would think that hours of staff time were being spent and city government was coming to a screeching halt while we stopped to debate impeachment and thousands of city taxpayer dollars were wasted.

The reality of the situation is that, when a resolution such as this is introduced, the community group and the main sponsor are the ones who draft the resolution. It then takes less than 15 minutes for a city staff person to enter it into legistar.

Then, like many resolutions like this, there are no referrals to committees. The Council simply takes the matter up at a later Council meeting. The amount of time we "waste" on these types of resolutions are typically dependent upon:

a. How many people show up to testify.
b. How many speeches council members make.

Typically, there are City residents who show up in support because it is important to them. I never find listening to citizens of the City of Madison to be a "waste" of time.

Then a few people make some comments, and an equal amount of time is "wasted" by those on the council who feel it necessary to make speeches about how this is a waste of time, thereby prolonging the amount of time being "wasted". We then vote, and move on, and vote on about 150 other items.

Ironically, AM radio, the WSJ and the alders who don't like wasting time, probably spend more time on these things than the people supporting them. Perhaps they should look in the mirror to discover who is "wasting" time.
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District 2 Updates

Several things going on in the 2nd district this week including Breese Stevens Field, Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Plan, the East Washington BUILD and Well 3.

Breese Stevens
We had a little surprise today. An item on today's Board of Estimates agenda would have taken $340,692 of the $447,073 set aside for downtown parks to do work on Breese Steven's Field to finally get moving on the plans that were approved years ago (2003). The work to be done is good work, it provides for accessible seating, internal entries (instead of making people in wheelchairs go outside the event and around to get to the restrooms), restrooms and concession area. Most of this work would have been done in Phase II, but its cheaper to do it in Phase I, so we're $440,692 short in this year's budget. $100,000 would come out an older fund leaving $50,000 and $340,692 would come out of funds set aside for improvements to downtown parks, leaving $106,381 for the downtown parks unless there are more developments that pay fees for park improvements. This item was never introduced at the Common Council, it just magically appeared on the Board of Estimates agenda. Luckily, it was referred for two weeks to discuss this with neighborhood folks and discuss what improvements won't be getting done to other neighborhood parks like Reynolds, Tenney, Giddings, Yahara River and parks in the 6th district as well. (James Madison has its own funds in the budget, but that doesn't seem to be moving either.)

Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Plan
Last Tuesday, we finally got the Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Plan introduced to the Common Council, after years of work by the Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Association. Part of the reason for the very long delay, was internal discussion by staff. Today, in a meeting about the East Washington BUILD, we were handed this draft recommendation from Traffic Engineering that will be handed out at the Pedestrian Bicycle and Motor Vehicle Commission tomorrow night. The brief report is as follows:

Based on staff's review, several meetings and written communications with neighborhood representatives, and professional responsiblites as charged by the Council, the City Traffic Engineering has to recommend the following re: the Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Plan:

Recommend Rejection altogether, or at a minimum, recommend the resolution, plan and fiscal note be amended to include the following:

• The Transportation component of the plan is proposing fundamental changes to the City's transportation system, which will have significant, city-wide and costly impacts. Staff recommend that the Council consider the ramifications of attempting to convert long standing arterial streets to local streets, as the plan identifies. To determine the impacts and costs associated the Council will certainly need data, analysis, and evaluation. To provide this data, it is recommended the Council undertake a comprehensive downtown transportation operations study. The cost of a similar study was identified by the Planning Unit and Metropolitan Planning Organization from recent research to cost approximately $1 million. This does not consider the capital improvement and operations and maintenance costs.
• Staff also recommend that the fiscal note be changed accordingly for the major study as well as the capital improvement and operations and maintenance costs associated with any of the plan's recommendations.

BUILD
Information about how the staff came up with the $1 million figure is here. We had a meeting with staff today about how to work on the transportation pieces of the East Washington BUILD. The staff provided maps with all of the transportation plans for the area. Unfortunately, I had to leave to go to the Board of Estimates meeting to deal with the Breese Stevens Field issue (above). When I left, I think the staff had agreed to take the map, what is written in the BUILD plan, the proposed language from attachments A & D in the memo and present them to us for comments, but when I left, they were still talking.

Well 3
Here's the update from the Water Utility Board meeting last Tuesday:

City of Madison News Release For Immediate Release: Jun 22, 2007

For More Information Contact:
David Denig-Chakroff, General Manager 608-266-4652
Al Larson, WU Principal Engineer 608-266-4653

WATER BOARD APPROVES ABANDONMENT OF WELL NO. 3

The Madison Board of Water Commissioners this week approved the immediate abandonment of Well No. 3 located on the near east side.

The well, which is the oldest well in the water system, has been plagued with problems of iron, manganese and increasing levels of carbon tetrachloride. Water quality issues at the well caused the utility to shut down the well in September 2006 and it has not been operated since then.

Utility officials completed a review of the water supply serving the east side in April in order to determine if their would be sufficient supply to meet emergency demand (fire flow, extreme drought etc.) for the next five years, until a replacement well for Well No. 3 can be located and drilled. The Utility plans to have a replacement well online in 2012.

The analysis showed that there would be sufficient water supply to serve the area without Well No. 3 if the water utility follows through with the 5-year capital improvement plan previously adopted by the Water Board.

Staff asked the Board to approve its recommendation for abandoning Well No. 3 in May, and the Board requested additional information about the specific capital projects in the plan that it needed to commit to in order to ensure that the area could be sufficiently served until a replacement well for Well 3 is constructed.

Principal Engineer Al Larson presented a report to the Board outlining those projects. The report identified $13.9 million of projects through 2011 that would need to be completed in order to maintain assurance of adequate supply until a replacement well is constructed. All of the projects had been planned to be constructed in that timeframe whether Well No. 3 is abandoned or not.

Water Board Commissioner George Meyer emphasized at the meeting that customers need to be aware that there are significant costs to maintaining our water system, and those costs will be reflected in increasing rates over time.

The utility will begin the process of permanently abandoning the well, and hopes to complete the process by the end of the year.

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Slightly Tardy Water Updates

Updates from last week's Water Utility Board (reports attached at bottom of agenda) meeting including closing Well 3 and increasing chlorine in City water plus the Isthmus article on security all below.

City to Increase Chlorine in Water

City of Madison News Release For Immediate Release: Jun 22, 2007
For More Information Contact:
David Denig-Chakroff, General Manager 608-266-4652
Joseph Grande, Water Quality Manager 608-266-4654

WATER BOARD APPROVES INCREASE IN CHLORINE LEVELS

The Madison Board of Water Commissioners approved a standard operating procedure this week that would slightly raise chlorine levels at Madison wells.

Board Commissioner Dr. Greg Harrington, who helped develop the policy, emphasized that the utility already meets all regulatory standards for chlorine based on public health standards. He said the change was being made to provide a margin of safety, to facilitate system operation, and to prepare for the requirements of a federal groundwater rule the utility must comply with by the end of 2009. Dr. Harrington is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UW-Madison and an authority on disinfection of water distribution systems.

The standard procedure for chlorine levels was developed by a staff team within the utility and reviewed and revised by a team made up of the utility general manager, water quality manager, principal engineer, and a system operator; the city engineer; two outside experts; and three board members, including Public Health Director Dr. Thomas Schlenker.

The current standard at the utility is to maintain a chlorine level of 0.2 mg/L leaving most wells and 0.3 mg/L at other wells in order to maintain a level of 0.1 mg/L everywhere in the distribution system.

Federal and state regulations do not require the utility to chlorinate its drinking water, but requires the distribution system to be free of microbial contaminants and, if the utility does chlorinate, to maintain an annual average level of chlorine in the system below 4.0 mg/L.

The new policy approved by the board requires the utility to maintain chlorine levels leaving all wells as close as possible to 0.3 mg/L and to take action to remove a well from service if chlorine levels go below 0.15 mg/L. The goal remains to maintain levels at or above 0.1 mg/L everywhere in the distribution system. Corrective action would also be taken if chlorine levels leaving a well exceed 0.55 mg/L and a well would be shut down if levels exceed 4.0 mg/L.

Chlorine is typically added to drinking water systems to ensure that microbial organisms, such as bacteria and viruses cannot survive in the water. Utility officials said that some customers might notice an increase in the smell or taste of chlorine in the water when levels are initially raised. The chlorine levels are not a health concern and, in fact, are established to prevent health risk from bacteria and viruses.

The new chlorine levels at the wells will be phased in over the next week. If customers experience a persistent and excessive odor or taste of chlorine in their drinking water, they should call the utility at 266-4654, and it will be investigated.

Well 3 Shut Down

City of Madison News Release
For Immediate Release: Jun 22, 2007
For More Information Contact:
David Denig-Chakroff, General Manager 608-266-4652
Al Larson, WU Principal Engineer 608-266-4653

WATER BOARD APPROVES ABANDONMENT OF WELL NO. 3

The Madison Board of Water Commissioners this week approved the immediate abandonment of Well No. 3 located on the near east side.

The well, which is the oldest well in the water system, has been plagued with problems of iron, manganese and increasing levels of carbon tetrachloride. Water quality issues at the well caused the utility to shut down the well in September 2006 and it has not been operated since then.

Utility officials completed a review of the water supply serving the east side in April in order to determine if their would be sufficient supply to meet emergency demand (fire flow, extreme drought etc.) for the next five years, until a replacement well for Well No. 3 can be located and drilled. The Utility plans to have a replacement well online in 2012.

The analysis showed that there would be sufficient water supply to serve the area without Well No. 3 if the water utility follows through with the 5-year capital improvement plan previously adopted by the Water Board.

Staff asked the Board to approve its recommendation for abandoning Well No. 3 in May, and the Board requested additional information about the specific capital projects in the plan that it needed to commit to in order to ensure that the area could be sufficiently served until a replacement well for Well 3 is constructed.

Principal Engineer Al Larson presented a report to the Board outlining those projects. The report identified $13.9 million of projects through 2011 that would need to be completed in order to maintain assurance of adequate supply until a replacement well is constructed. All of the projects had been planned to be constructed in that timeframe whether Well No. 3 is abandoned or not.

Water Board Commissioner George Meyer emphasized at the meeting that customers need to be aware that there are significant costs to maintaining our water system, and those costs will be reflected in increasing rates over time.

The utility will begin the process of permanently abandoning the well, and hopes to complete the process by the end of the year.

Isthmus Article
Keeping Up Security Appearances
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Recap: CC June 19, 2007

Last night's council meeting lasted about 3 hours, with an additional 1 hour of presentation and questions about Transport 2020 and Trolleys at 5:30. Alders Cnare and Compton were absent for the evening.

We started our pre-meeting presentation around 5:35 with several alders present including Jed Sanborn, Brenda Konkel, Mike Verveer, Robbie Webber, Marsha Rummel, Eli Judge, Tim Gruber, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Joe Clausius, Michael Schumacher and Mark Clear. We were eventually joined by Brian Solomon, Julia Kerr, Zach Brandon and Larry Palm. David Trowbridge walked us through where various studies were at including providing information about where routes would run, capital costs and operating costs for Transport 2020. Several alders asked questions until we had to stop for the Council meeting. At that point we were joined by Alds. Bruer, Skidmore and Pham-Remmele.

We kicked off the Council with a moment of silence for Jeff Erlanger who recently passed away and the 9 firefighters who died in South Carolina. We then honored Isabel Jacobson for her spelling bee accomplishments and named a firetruck after K-tal Johnson who died in a car accident in Indiana. His son Ian accepted a plaque in his honor. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place.

We then moved to the Elver Fireworks agreement. After a minor change in the resolution about the city's insurance it was 6:45 and we moved to the public hearings.

First we heard from an attorney for two liquor stores on the Southside of Madison. While there were plans to remove conditions from the liquor licenses for the size of coolers, there was controversy over if they should be allowed to sell liquor in bottles until 750ml. Apparently, the only place current liquor license holders have these restrictions are downtown, but now we also have these restrictions on the Southside of Madison.

Then we heard from the women from Tres Amigos. The gave us a statement, but then were asked some questions. Apparently they were required to give up their nightclub license the day after the ALRC meeting, however, we discovered they had not done it. It may have been a moot point, but it didn't set well with several alders. We approved the recommendations of the ALRC.

We then finished the public hearing items and moved to our consent agenda. We approved the rest of the agenda with their recommendations, with a substitute on the Rental Rehab program in item #95 with the following exceptions of numbers 7 (hiring resolution), 18 (resolution to look at gender, race/ethnicity and disability in hiring and salaries of top managers for the City), 19 (resolution to look at gender, race/ethnicity and disability in appointments to city committees, commissions and boards), 35 (neighborhood grants), 41 (Alcohol in Law Park) and 84 (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles). We placed number 23 on file because the fire department did not receive the grant.

The first item we took up was item number 7, a resolution to study our hiring practices. Alder Brandon bristled at the fact that this was on the agenda under suspension of the rules. There was some discussion and questions of the clearly annoyed Human Resources director and then we made a few changes. We limited the study to professional and managerial positions and changed the report to December 30th with an interim report to CCOC after 2 months. We also changed some wording about people hired and then immediately reclassified so that they are paid a different salary. Originally the review of recent hires would have included about 1200 hires, but when we limited it to professional and managerial positions, that reduced it to 60 - 80 files they would need to review. Then there were some confusing amendments and we tabled the item. When we came back to the item at the end of the agenda, we changed the reviewing agency to the Affirmative Action Office so that there was an outside agency reviewing the Human Resources work. The final amendment was by Larry Palm to limit the file review to 25% of the files, which would have been 25 or less. That motion failed with only Alds. Palm and Brandon voting for it.

Next we moved on to the "gender resolutions". There were a few questions about why we were only looking at gender, race/ethnicity and people with disabilities. It was explained that this was essentially the only information we track at the moment. We added a report date for February 1 and after the standard "feel-good-wasting-my-time" speech from Thuy Pham-Remmele and Eli Judge signing on as a sponsor, the motions passed on a voice vote, with a quiet no from Thuy Pham-Remmele in the back of the room.

Next we went on to the neighborhood grants issue. There was some concern from members of the Capital Neighborhoods that they did not get the full amount of the money that they had asked for to work on homeless issues in the downtown area. Staff explained it was because the remaining portion did not meet the criteria for the grant. The motion passed.

Next we went on to talk about alcohol in Law Park. There was a quick motion to refer this back to the Park Commission subcommittee that was looking at alcohol in the parks. There was a presentation by the police department, a plea from Ald. Mike Verveer and collectively we came to the decision that while this was likely to just displace the problem to another park, something needed to be done so we approved it with a sunset. This means that the law will be in effect until December 2008 at which time the law will expire. Hopefully, the subcommittee can figure out a recommendation for how to handle the issue of alcohol in parks in a systemic kind of way, instead of banning alcohol on a park by park basis. The motion passed unanimously.

Finally, we got to the electric neighborhood cars. We heard testimony about some concerns about the ordinance, then referred the item back to the Public Safety Review Board and the Ped Bike Commission for further review. This was one of those issues where the original sponsor retired and some of the changes that were anticipated did not get made. Luckily, Ald. Clear and Judge signed on as sponsors and agreed to work to bring the ordinance back with the needed changes.

At that point we finished up the changes to the hiring resolution mentioned above and adjourned to the Magnus. Nearly everyone from the Common Council was there. Only Alds. Sanborn, Rhodes-Conway (had to be on a plane at 5 am), Pham-Remmele and Skidmore did not attend. Nor did anyone from the mayor's office or city staff.

(Heh! I'll try to add the links later today . . . You've heard that before, so you know, it may or may not happen.)
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East Washington BUILD, moving forward?

Last week, after we met with the Mayor about the E. Washington BUILD I was feeling pretty positive about the direction we were moving. The neighborhoods and Downtown Madison Inc. (DMI), were still in agreement and even the the Mayor quipped "Well, I guess this meeting was everything it was billed to be."

Our meeting was set up to talk about the BUILD and the issues surrounding the dispute about the heights on East Washington. The height issue is about various areas that are 8, 10, 12 or 15 stories, as opposed to the two stories that we currently have. However, what we've all discovered is that this really isn't about height and more about the discomfort about the transportation needs for the area and how it would impact the quality of life. People feel more comfortable about the heights if they are assured that the people who need to use these new tall buildings can get to and from work without completely destroying the quality of life of the surrounding neighborhoods. Patrick McDonnell, president of the Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Association described his idea for a Transportation Design District, which would be a transportation plan that works hand in hand with the land use plans for the area.

Then, we got to the plan commission last night, and apparently, someone forgot to tell the staff about our discussions with Mark Olinger, Director of the Department of whatever-its-called-now, and the Mayor. The staff report and comments started out being about how a transportation plan would take several years and cost a million dollars and we couldn't wait for it to be done before we moved forward with approving the BUILD plan.

Whoa! No one was asking for all that. The Transportation Design District was intended to take all of the transportation plans for the area and put them on one map and see how they affected the land use in the area (and the rest of the Isthmus) and see if we needed to move the proposed parking places or make plans for transit stops. It was supposed to take all the possibilities for transit and make sure that our land uses don't preclude some of the future transit uses. And then, in the future, we would continue working with the transportation plans for the Isthmus.

The plan commission also got kind of fixated on the heights and the conflicts in the 4 or 5 plans for the area. Luckily, I think we got them to understand that if we can resolve the transportation issues, the height issues would be mitigated and easier to talk about and might, in fact, go away. They ended up referring this to their August meeting for additional work.

Unfortunately, I'm really nervous about what the Cap Times reporter/editorial writer Mike Ivey will print about the meeting as he seemed to have completely missed the point and walked away with a completely wrong understanding of the meeting. When I talked to him, he said that he was going to write that the plan commission was going to reject the neighborhood and DMIs suggestions on transportation. He said he counted 5 votes, so I went back out in the room and talked to the alleged votes and they all said that was not their intent. Apparently, he only heard one comment from Tim Gruber and didn't hear the rest of the conversation. So, I'd read today's Cap Times account of the plan commission meeting with skepticism.

And hopefully, DMI and the neighborhoods can talk with Dan McCormick, from Traffic Engineering, and continue our work. He seemed to understand what we were asking for and he seemed to have ideas about how we could accomplish what we wanted and move this plan forward, because that is what we all want to have happen.
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Possible Ordinance violations?

Someone over at thedailypage.com asked what ordinances might have been violated in the hiring of Jeanne Hoffman. It's hard to say if there were violations as the information about the hiring is a little hard to come by. I think the Isthmus has had an open records request in for a couple weeks and they still haven't gotten the info they asked for. At least, that was the case as of last Thursday. However, based on a review of the applications, the ordinances that I would be concerned about are as follows:

1. This is the major one that I would consider a problem.

3.35(7)(g) If there are any changes in the duties of a position that would affect the classification, compensation, or training and experience requirements of the position between the time of initial posting of the position opening and the time of selection, the position shall not be filled; rather, the position as changed shall be posted again and a new application and selection process will be started. (Cr. by ORD-06-00136)

2. Somehow, this job had 6 final applicants, which doesn't seem to follow this procedure.

3.35(8)(b) Certification Procedure . Upon receiving written notice that a position in the civil service is to be filled, the Human Resources Director, or designee, shall forthwith certify the names and addresses of the four (4) highest ranking eligible candidates from the most appropriate eligible list, or of qualified candidates eligible through transfer, reinstatement, or demotion. In case of two (2) vacancies in the same classification, two (2) additional ranks shall be certified for each additional vacancy up to a maximum of twenty (20) ranks.

In situations where a position falls in a job family that is underutilized, the Human Resources Director, or designee, shall certify the names and addresses of the eight (8) highest ranking eligible candidates from the most appropriate eligible list as provided above. In case of two (2) vacancies in the same classification, two (2) additional ranks shall be certified for each additional vacancy up to a maximum of twenty (20) ranks. The Human Resources Director and Director of Affirmative Action shall annually update the job family utilization data. (Am. by Ord. 10,984, 9-14-94)

3. I don't think this happens unless they post them in the Council Office, but I don't think that I've ever seen these notices and I'm quite certain they are not distributed in any fashion.

3.35(11) Notice of Vacancies. (a) Upon receiving notice of a vacancy of any position in the civil service, the Human Resources Department shall forward written notice of such vacancy or vacancies to every member of the Common Council prior to the commencement of recruitment or the taking of any other action to fill such positions. (Am. by Ord. 10,052, Adopted 6-19-90)

(c) The filing of written notice of vacancies in the Office of the Secretary of the Common Council for posting and distribution pursuant to administrative directive shall fulfill the requirements of forwarding written notice of vacancies to every member of the Common Council as set forth above.

Additionally, there may be violations in procedure set out in a couple different Administrative Procedure Memoranda 2-8, and 2-29. I haven't gotten any answers to if there are other written rules and procedures from the Human Resources Office (also a request from two weeks ago), so I only have what one of the City Attorney's gave me. So, I'm still not apologizing. And instead, I've introduced this resolution (with Michael Schumacher, Satya Rhodes-Conway and Marsha Rummel) which we should be voting on tomorrow. Then hopefully we can get additional information and make sure that we don't let this happen again.
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The Week Ahead: June 18 - 22

Meetings of interest this week, at least of interest to me and District 2 . . .

Monday
I get to practice being in three places at once and try to make it to the following:
4:30 Landmarks
5:00 TIF Policy Committee
5:30 Plan Commission (E Washington BUILD)


Tuesday
4:30 Water Utility
5:30 Council Discussion on Transport 2020 and Streetcars
6:30 Common Council Meeting (More details here.)

Thursday
4:30 Landlord/Tenant Subcommittee of the Housing Committee.
5:00 Long Range Transportation Planning Committee

Friday
7:00 Inclusionary Zoning marketing subcommittee
8:00 Inclusionary Zoning Oversight Committee

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Tuesday's Council Meeting - June 19th

Here's some items of interest on the agenda for Tuesday's Common Council Meeting:

At 5:30, we're having a special meeting on some of the many transit/transportation alternatives that the City is in the midst of considering. Dave Trowbridge will give us an update on Transport 2020 and the Trolley Study.

#1 - Honoring 2nd districts very own Isabel Jacobson for her third place win at the National Spelling Bee Championship.

#5 - Approving the City paying for insurance and city police services for Elver Park Fireworks.

#7 - Approving a study to look at our hiring practices.

#18 - Approving a study on the gender and salaries of top management positions. (Race/ethnicity and disability were added to these resolution at Affirmative Action, however, that is currently not reflected in the resolution. I believe that there will be a substitute resolution prepared.)

#19 - Approving a study of the gender of persons appointed to city committees, commissions and board. (Race/ethnicity and disability were added to these resolution at Affirmative Action, however, that is currently not reflected in the resolution. I believe that there will be a substitute resolution prepared.)

#35 - Approving 2007 Neighborhood Grants.

#41 - Rejecting the proposal to ban alcohol in Law Park. (For some reason, even though the Park Commission voted against the proposal and that should be the recommendation, the agenda says "approval".

#83 - Annexation of parts of the lands in the Cherokee Park Special Area Plan to the City of Madison.

#84 - Allowing Neighborhood Electric Vehicles on roads that are 25 miles per hour or less.

#89 & #90 - Approving unlimited bus pass programs for MATC and Edgewood.

#95 - Making changes to the Rental Rehab Program.
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Mayor Dave and I Agree.

For those of you who think that Mayor Dave and I can never get along, I thought you might want to see this. (Warning: My memo is a little detailed and wonky in order to make my point, you can skip some of the details. Mayor Dave's response is below.)

DATE: June 11, 2007
TO: Mayor Dave Cieslewicz
FROM: Ald. Brenda Konkel, District 2
SUBJECT: Legistar

It seems to me that there are increasing problems with staff errors in entering information into Legistar. This week is a perfect example of problems that occur every week with meetings being improperly noticed or information not being available. These issues result in illegal or canceled meetings, which seem to be occurring more and more frequently. This week’s issues are as follows:

Meetings on the Weekly Meeting Schedule but with no agendas available
Monday
- 8:00 a.m., Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District – This meeting is not in Legistar or on the Additional Meetings Schedule, so there is no agenda available.
- 4:00 p.m., TIF Policy Committee – This meeting is listed on the schedule, but I don’t think they are scheduled to meet. If a meeting is occurring, there is no agenda.

Wednesday
- 5:00 p.m., Board of Police and Fire Commissioners – This meeting is not in Legistar or on the Additional Meetings Schedule, so there is no agenda available.

Thursday
- 5:00 p.m., Contracted Services Oversight Subcommittee and Ad Hoc Funding Subcommittee – This meeting is not in Legistar or on the Additional Meetings Schedule, so there is no agenda available.

Friday
- 7:00 p.m. Inclusionary Zoning – This meeting isn’t at 7:00 p.m., it’s at 8:00 p.m., however, that decision was made on Friday, and I believe you will be getting an update from staff on that.

Meetings with agendas in Legistar but which are not on the Weekly Meeting Schedule
Wednesday
- 8:30 a.m., Pest Management Advisory Committee (however, there is also no agenda available).

Thursday
- 5:00 p.m., Equal Opportunities Commission.

While I have everyone’s attention, here are some additional problems so far this month with items in Legistar:

Additional Problems
June 1 - 8:00 a.m., Inclusionary Zoning – A meeting is listed, but there is no agenda because there was no meeting.

June 4 - 4:00 p.m., Tax Incremental Financing – There were no attachments for items which had handouts. Some of those were sent to the committee ahead of time.
- 4:30 p.m., Landmarks Commission – There were no attachments.
- 4:45 p.m., Solid Waste Advisory Committee – The meeting was listed twice with no agenda.

June 5 - 1:00 p.m., Board of Assessors – There were no attachments.
- 4:30 p.m., Platinum Biking City Planning Committee – There were no attachments.

June 6 - 4:30 p.m., Board of Public Works – The Legislative File ID numbers are on the agenda but are not hyperlinked to the files.
- 5:00 p.m., Economic Development Commission – There were no attachments.

June 7 - 12:00 p.m., EOC Employment Committee – There were no attachments.
- 4:30 p.m., Library Board – There was only one attachment. All the other attachments were missing.
- 5:00 p.m., CDBG – There were no attachments.

June 8 - 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., Inclusionary Zoning – There were no attachments.
- 5:00 p.m., Economic Development Commission – The meeting appeared on the Weekly Meeting Schedule, but there was no agenda.

June 11 - 8:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., Early Childhood Care and Education Board Subcommittees – There are no attachments.
- 4:00 p.m., Sustainable Design and Energy Committee – There are no attachments.
- 6:00 p.m., Regent Street-South Campus Plan Steering Committee – There are no attachments.

June 12 - 5:00 p.m., Public Safety Review Board – There are no attachments.

June 13 - 10:00 a.m., Garver Feed Mill RFP and Surplus Property Committee – There is an agenda with nothing on it.
- 5:00 p.m., Affordability Subcommittee of the Housing Committee – There are no attachments.
- 5:35 p.m., Community Services Committee – There are no attachments.
- 6:30 p.m., Board of Park Commissioners – There are no attachments for some items, and there are some other issues with fonts and formatting.

June 14 - 4:00 p.m., Community Development Authority Long Range Planning Subcommittee – There are no attachments.
- 4:30 p.m., Community Development Authority – There are no attachments.
- 5:00 p.m., Equal Opportunities Commission – There are no attachments.
- 5:00 p.m., Zoning Board of Appeals – There are no attachments.
- 6:30 p.m., Alcohol License Review Commission – There is a Legislative File ID number with no hyperlink and no attachments.

In short, it appears there is some need for additional staff training. If you ask me, we really need someone to give staff a pep talk on why Legistar is important to good, clean, open government and to create some higher expectations. I am hoping your office will encourage this to happen sooner rather than later. Thank you.

cc: Members of the Common Council Organizational Committee
Maribeth Witzel-Behl, City Clerk
Dave Faust, Information Services
Sarah Edgerton, Information Services

And Mayor Dave's response was as follows:

To: Ald. Brenda Konkel, District 2
From: Mayor David J Cieslewicz
Date: June 14, 2007
Re: Legistar

Thank you for your very thorough memo regarding you concerns with Legistar. I have also been briefed on the related discussion that have been taking place at CCOC, and discussed them as well with IT Director Dick Grasmick earlier this week.

I share your belief that Legistar is a critical tool for the promotion of open government in the City of Madison. It is also the means through which we conduct the public business of the City, so it is important that the system contain accurate and complete information. While it is my understanding that a planned upgrade for Legistar may alleviate some of these problems, I would agree with you that this is primarily an issue of training and proper use of the system. To that end, I have asked Dick Grasmick to oversee the following initiatives from IT staff:

• Meeting with Common Council members to address Legistar issues of concern to them
• Creating policies and guidelines for Legistar users, which would be implemented in conjunction with the release of the new version of Legistar
• Investigating the possibility of offering a thorough training program in conjunction with the release of the new version of Legistar.
• Providing an online training manual, which would be specific to the City of Madison, and would integrate Legistar policies and guidelines.

Beyond that, I will put the issue of proper Legistar use on the agenda for our next Department and Division Heads meeting on July 11.

Thank you for your work on this issue.

DJC/lll

cc: President and Members, Madison Common Council
Maribeth Witzel-Behl, City clerk
Dick Grasmick, Information Technology
Dave Fause, Information Technology
Sara Edgerton, Information Technology

More important than Mayor Dave and I getting along, is the hope that the information in Legistar will become more user friendly and that we will have better information available for the public.
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City Hiring Practices

Here it is.

Based on the number of hits to my blog in the last two days, I suspect people are looking for the hiring resolution I sponsored with Schumacher, Rhodes-Conway, Rummel and hopefully others.
(See Hire Education)

Let me just say, that I seem to have opened a can of worms. I realize that. But given the issues that staff have brought to me, I think its time we look into the concerns they have brought up. The mayor can spin this as some attempt by me to "get even" with him, but I want to make crystal clear, that while I don't have a very high opinion of the guy, this isn't about him. This is about valuing our city staff, the public confidence in our city staff, our hiring practices and finding a way to restore some honor to the civil service system. It's sure to get messy, but its worth it.

p.s. To city staff, I welcome your input but I can't solve every individual situation, I'm hoping this resolution will help fix the system. However, we need your help to tell us where its broken. 345-8720.
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Gender Resolutions, Expanded and Supported.

The Affirmative Action Commission, not only liked my resolutions, they expanded the scope of the information that they thought would be helpful to the City Council. On Tuesday night, among other things going on in City Hall, the Affirmative Action Commission took a look at the two gender resolutions (1, 2) that I introduced as a result of various issues regarding gender in city hall. Mostly, committee appointments and women in top management positions and their salaries.

The Affirmative Action Commission seemed excited that I was bringing this up. One member commented that they receive alot of information, but don't get much of an opportunity to act on it and give recommendations for fixing various issues they see. However, they noted, that perhaps these ordinances were only addressing part of the problem. They were equally concerned about issues of race/ethnicity and disability. So, they added those two categories to the resolution. And then, to my surprise and delight, Ald. Joe Clausius signed on as a co-sponsor! (Yes, that Joe Clausius. Let me just say, since he got elected, I've gotten to know him and quite enjoy having coffee with him from time to time.)

These resolutions may have enough time to get back to the Common Council for Tuesday's agenda, however, I won't know until I see the agenda later today or tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I'm glad to see that they took my concerns seriously and that we have support for looking into these issues. Stay tuned.

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One . . . Two . . . Clean Air Action Days!

First, there was this.

CLEAN AIR ACTION CALLED FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13TH.
The first Clean Air Action Day of 2007 has been called for Wednesday, June 13th. Metro will provide FREE bus service to encourage people to leave their cars at home. A Clean Air Action Days has been called because the air quality data and weather conditions indicate the ozone is predicted to reach a high level in Dane County. Riding Metro will help reduce ground-level ozone. Complete Info.

And now, there is this.

CLEAN AIR ACTION DAY CALLED FOR THURSDAY, JUNE 14
Another Clean Air Action Day has been called for Thursday, June 14. Metro will provide FREE bus service to encourage people to leave their cars at home. A Clean Air Action Days has been called because the air quality data and weather conditions indicate the ozone is predicted to reach a high level in Dane County. Riding Metro will help reduce ground-level ozone.

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I love the funky near east side of Madison!

How many places do you think you'd get to see an event like this?

Tenney-Lapham Garden/Chicken Coop Tour

Tenney-Lapham's finest gardens and chicken coops will be featured on a self-guided walking tour this Sunday, June 17, from 1:00-4:00. Maps and parking will be available at Christ Presbyterian Church, 944 E. Gorham Street. There is no charge and it will be held rain, shine, or heat wave. Sponsored by the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association.

Wish I was going to be in town on Saturday to see it.

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Trains and Trolleys Follies

Someone needs to lock County Executive Kathleen Falk and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz in a room, give them a stern lecture on how they are potentially limiting our community's ability to move forward with transit options and then not let them out until they can stop all this silliness and agree to act in a manner that is not harmful to our community. Much of the discussion about transit options seems a bit of a mystery to me, mostly because it occurs in a long list of committees in a very fractured manner or worse yet, in private meetings where the public and many elected officials are excluded from the discussion. In the City of Madison alone, we have appointed people to the following committees (I hope I didn't miss any):

• Transit and Parking Commission
• Pedestrian, Bicycle and Motor Vehicle Commission
• Long Range Transportation Planning Commission
• Transportation 2020
• Madison Streetcar Study Committee
• Platinum Bike Task Force
• Ad Hoc Long Range Madison Metro Committee (sorry, got that name wrong)
• Parking Utility Strategic Plan
• MPO
• High Speed Intercity Rail

Meanwhile, the Common Council ends up isolated from the discussion, partially because some of these committees have their own independent abilities (Transit and Parking Commission and Metropolitan Planning Organization) and partially because this discussion can get quite technical and detailed and a small number of people become "experts" in this area and the rest simply don't have the time to keep up on the discussion.

At the moment, the way I understand it, there is a huge problem with either commuter rail or streetcars moving forward in any way, shape or form simply because we won't be able to submit competing applications to the federal government. And as long as this discussion about commuter rail and streetcars remains in this weird state that it is in, we seem to be in a stalemate.

Most people I talk to realize that Transport 2020 (starting with commuter rail) is in the best position to move forward at the moment and feel that it should happen. Then some people, actually a very few, think that trolleys can become part of that plan in the future. Many, many others think that trolleys are dead in the water.

One of the major stumbling blocks for Transport 2o2o moving forward is how a commuter rail system would be governed and funded. One of the key ways to fund any of these projects would be to form a Regional Transit Authority (RTA). And, in the next few days we have the opportunity to get the state legislature to give us the authority (and several other communities around Wisconsin) to create a RTA. Currently, we don't have the legal authority to create a RTA.

Now, here's where the locking the two executives in the room comes in . . . the possibility of having an RTA move forward is in jeopardy as Kathleen Falk and Mayor Dave argue over the details of what the RTA should look like. It seems, or so I've been told, their disagreement lies in what the state legislature allows the boundaries of an RTA to be. Their disagreement seems to stem from distrust over if this RTA would fund streetcars or be limited in a way that would exclude portions of the county. Could a few municipalities to form an RTA or does it need to be countywide?

As the two of them argue, the deadline for the state legislature to put this language in the budget slips away and in the end, our community may end up with nothing, for now. This silliness has to end if we are to move forward. We need to get them to come to some agreement over RTA language at the state level so that we, and several other communities in Wisconsin, can continue work on these transportation plans that have been in the works for years. And someway, we need to get this conversation into the public realm so that these two can't single-handedly continue to be obstacles to good transit planning for our community.


(Links will be added in just a bit . . . )
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Turns out . . . it wasn't necessary.

Remember when we jumped through all those hoops to bend all the rules to give a company a $700,000 that was portrayed to be so vital? Then, to add insult to injury, they never registered a lobbyist with the City. Turns out, I got my wish. They never got their money, it seems, they didn't need it.

This whole situation, once again, points out how ridiculous our economic development efforts are. We still don't have a plan. The Economic Development Commission still doesn't appear to be doing anything. (Check out their nearly identical - lack of - agendas. Oct. Nov. Dec. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June) And about the only thing that they seem to have accomplished in the past year was something completely uncontroversial. That, and refuse to take referrals from the Council. This is embarrassing. It's easy to see why the business community gets so upset.

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Water Main Break - E Mifflin and N Patterson

From City Staff . . .

WATER MAIN BREAK DISRUPTS SERVICE DOWNTOWN

Madison—At approximately 3:00 p.m. today a private contractor digging at the intersection of East Mifflin and North Paterson streets struck and ruptured a 12-in water main, which affected water service in a large portion of the downtown area. Initially, the break caused a significant drop in water pressure to customers. After about 40 minutes, crews isolated the break and pressure and service was restored to all but a few customers in the immediate neighborhood. Customers throughout the downtown area, however, experienced discolored water for some time after the event.

The discolored water following the water main break is caused by scouring of minerals from the inside of water pipes due to the disruption and turbulent water in the system. The discolored water is not unsafe for consumption in small quantities; however, the Water Utility and Public Health Department do not recommend drinking water that is obviously discolored due to its very high mineral content.

Water Utility Crews are flushing water mains in the area to restore water clarity. Customers who experience discolored water should open a cold-water tap nearest to the water meter (such as a basement sink) and let the water run until it's clear. If the water does not clear, contact the Water Utility at 266-4665.

The Water Utility issued the above press release earlier today (June 11). Water customers in near west, central, and isthmus locations may experience discolored water in the afternoon and evening of June 11 as a result of the water main break. The Water Utility does not recommend using discolored water for drinking or cooking. Customers should run a basement cold water tap for 20 minutes, or until the water clears, to resolve the discolored water. Contact the Water Utility at 266-4665 if the discolored water does not clear.

Joseph Grande
Water Quality Manager
Madison Water Utility
608-266-4654

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Busy Week Ahead

Sometimes looking at the City's Weekly Meeting Schedule make me wish I could clone myself.

The list meetings that look interesting this week are as follows:

Monday, June 11, 2007
8:45 Early Childhood Care and Education Board Subcommittee on the Future of Child Care in Madison - Room 260

Childcare costs are rising, the state is cutting funds and families are struggling to figure out how to pay for quality childcare so they can go to work and childcare providers are bearing the brunt of what has become a crisis. What will the Cities role be in this? This is the first meeting of this new subcommittee.

2:30 Early Childhood Care and Education Board Allied Child Care Subcommittee - Waisman Center, Room S 159

Tuesday, June 12, 2007
4:30 Madison Election Advisory Committee Room 103A City County Building

Zach Brandon's poorly written loopholes ordinance that restricts poll workers from being involved politically will be discussed.

5:00 Affirmative Action Commission Room LL-120 Madison Municipal Building

The resolutions on gender of top city officials and their salaries and the gender of people appointed to committees will be discussed.

7:00 Common Council Discussion on Chronic Nuisance Ordinance - 200 Madison Municipal Building

Rumor is that there will be another version of the ordinance provided tonight, but based on the discussion last time, there are not many Alders that seem in support. There seem to be more questions than answers.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007
5:00 Housing Affordability Subcommittee of the Housing Committee - Room 120 Madison Municipal Building

Hopefully, the agenda will be amended to talk further about a Housing Plan for the City of Madison. We have much going on, but it would be nice to have a comprehensive plan for the City when it comes to housing.

5:35 Joint Meeting of the Community Services Commission, Early Childhood Care and Education Board and the Senior Citizens Advisory Committee - Room 300 Madison Municipal Building

6:30 Board of Park Commissioners - 1625 Northport Drive, Warner Park Community and Recreation Center

The City Attorney has written a memo to help us determine if the Park Commission has the authority to authorize disposition of parkland, or if the Common Council has that authority.

Thursday, June 14, 2007
1:00 Madison Plan Commission Subcommittee on Demolition Standards - Room LL-130 Madison Municipal Building

4:00 CDA Long Range Planning Subcommittee - Room 260 Madison Municipal Building

They are choosing an architect to move forward with possible redevelopment of Truax.

5:00 Equal Opportunities Commission - Room LL-120 Madison Municipal Building

They, too, will be discussing the new version of the Chronic Nuisance Ordinance.

Friday, June 15, 2007
8:00 Inclusionary Zoning Oversight Committee
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7 . . . 5 . . . 3 . . .

While some of us continue to argue about if buildings should be 8, 10, 12 or 15 stories on East Washington Avenue, real life tells us a very different story of what is going on in the market.

When the developers of The Colony first presented their project to the neighborhood association, they presented a 7 story building. After the first meeting, and of their own volition, the changed the building to a 5 story building. I asked why at the time, and the response was that the taller building construction was cost prohibitive. The 5 story project was approved in June 2006 and then . . . nothing happened.

The neighborhood association and I were recently contacted and the new proposal is to build a 3 story building. This time it was explained that the reason for the reduction was because the market has changed and it is hard to get pre-sales for financing. And apparently they are not alone in pulling back from building condos. Rumor has it that Union Corners is working on changing some of their plans and that Kennedy Point is still half empty. The Cap Times reports that Capitol West project is now building a hotel instead of condos.

Between high construction costs, a market that isn't as hot as it used to be, the failed TIF request at 800 East Washington and city staff that discouraged their committee to stop meeting even though a there was significant disagreement and the work wasn't finished, it becomes less and less likely that there is going to be much at all happening in the East Washington Corridor.

So, our discussion over the East Washington BUILD is seeming more and more academic. It probably doesn't matter what plan we approve. However, I think we continue to make progress and I am hopeful that we can come up with something that has made this 90 day delay productive.
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Cheers!

Three cheers for Teena Browder and the Cork 'n Bottle Liquor Store.

Last night at the Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Association meeting, they took a little time to honor Teena Browder and her years of leadership in the E Johnson St. shopping area and to honor the role her family store the Cork 'n Bottle (855 E Johnson St.) has played in the neighborhood over the years. Unfortunately, Teena may never know that I wrote this, as she is notoriously opposed to using computers, but its worth writing anyways.

Teena Browder and Jim Wright were coming to the meeting to discuss plans to change ownership of the store. Teena Browder and her sister Connie Kaeser and their family have owned the store for 47 years. In short, they are a neighborhood institution. After all these years, they would like to sell the store to one of their employees, Jim Wright, who has worked there for 27 years. Teena and Connie will continue to work at the store and own the building, but the roles will be reversed in that Jim will be the boss and Teena and Connie will be the employees. Needless to say, the neighborhood didn't have any concerns about this transfer of ownership, so they took the opportunity to turn the tables and honor Teena and her years of dedication to the neighborhood.

Champaign (purchased at the Cork 'n Bottle and unknowingly hand picked by the Teena) professionally served by Jim and brownies all around. So, three cheers to the Cork 'n Bottle, Teena and her familly and Jim and many, many, many thanks to being community leaders for so many years. And we look forward to phase 2. Best of Luck!
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Council Meeting: Limiting Poll Workers and Passing Neighborhood Conservation Districts

Here's the recap (the second writing . . . grrrr, I lost the first verison) of what happened at the Council meeting last night . . . As Mike Verveer noted we started with the "B Team" and it was a bit rocky, but we got it together. The Mayor and the clerk (Tammy Peters) were both late and Tim Bruer was stuck in an airport somewhere, so Mike Verveer, the Council President took the chair and I made the motions from the floor. After we got the roll call down . . . we got things under control.

In the first 15 minutes of the meeting, we dealt with items 1 - 9 and 63 - 127. Then we went back to the public hearings which start at 6:45. We dealt with Neighborhood Conservation Districts (that took two hours), and finished all the alcohol licenses. Then we passed the consent agenda with all items being dispensed with quickly with the outstanding issue of the poll workers and appointing a lobbyist to be a member of the Urban Design Commission. A quick synopsis of the three issues of substance that we discussed are below.

The only other items of note were that it was freezing in the room and the electricity wasn't working so many alders who count on using their laptops instead of paper had some trouble following along. After the meeting, we adjourned to the Great Dane. We were a little lost without our "cruise director" Tim Bruer but there was quite the crowd again: Rummel, Clear, Rhodes-Conway, Schumacher, Konkel, Clausius, Webber, Gruber, Solomon, Judge, Kerr, Verveer . . . and we were joined by or we joined with City Atty Michael May, Rosemary Lee, Michael Jacob, Dane Guerra (Common Sense Coalition) and Carole Schaeffer (Smart Growth Madison). I hope I didn't miss anyone.

Anyways, here's the items of substance from the evening.

NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION DISTRICTS
As predicted, Phil Salkin of the Realtors showed up in support of the Neighborhood Conservation Districts ordinance that they formerly opposed. Downtown Madison Inc did not show up in opposition. Only Smart Growth Madison appeared in opposition and there were several neighborhood folks who showed up in support. Many thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts with us.

There were several questions of staff and Ald. Compton attempted to make four amendments and all four failed. The discussion was at times ideological, at times just plain silly. There was much cause for laughter and the meeting was a little raucous. Most of the entertainment coming from Ald. Compton during the two hour discussion.

The major votes of the evening were about whether tenants, both commercial and residential, should be allowed to petition their government to create a Neighborhood Conservation District. There was some hysteria about property rights and who the stakeholders in the community were, followed by some discussion about if this really prevents density or not. When all was said and done the motion to prevent tenants from helping to create a Neighborhood Conservation district was shot down. Voting no were Rummel, Schumacher, Solomon, Verveer, Webber, Clear, Gruber, Judge, Kerr, Konkel, Rhodes-Conway. Voting yes were Sanborn, Skidmore, Brandon, Clausius, Cnare, Compton, Palm, Pham-Remmele. Bruer absent.

The next vote was even more preposterous. They wanted to prevent tenants from even being asked what their opinion was. They wanted to prevent tenants from being included in a neighborhood survey and reporting the results to the Council and Plan Commission. That failed on a voice vote.

The final vote on Neighborhood Conservation Districts was 13 to 6, with Tim Bruer being absent. Voting against were Sanborn, Skidmore, Brandon, Clausius, Compton and Pham-Remmelle. Voting for were Rummel, Schumacher, Solomon, Verveer, Webber, Clear, Cnare, Gruber, Judge, Kerr, Konkel, Palm and Rhodes-Conway.

POLL WORKERS AND POLITICAL OPERATIVES
The Zach Brandon ordinance introduced as a result of the Mike Quieto issue that got way blown out of proportion was referred. Zach did his best to try to prevent it from being referred. He asked for reasons why it should be referred. He was apparently under the impression that Tim Gruber and Mike Verveer were referring it just to delay. Tim explained that a constituent of his asked for it to be referred to the Madison Advisory Elections Committee. Mike explained that if it wasn't introduced at the end of a meeting instead of being printed on the agenda, we might have caught the referral. Zach persisted and so I gave him some reasons to refer including:

• There is a conflict in the wording that makes it unclear if volunteers are included in the ordinance.
• The term "officer and director" isn't applicable to some of the committees included in this ordinance.
• The ordinance misses several types of groups or individuals that influence elections including Legislative Campaign Committees, Political Groups that are involved in referendums, Recall Committees, Independent Committees and Individuals.
• The ordinance lists 527 s as a way to capture some of the above, but 527s only have to register with the IRS if they spend over $25,000.
• The clerk's office will spend hours, or possibly weeks, verifying that the 1,000 poll workers are allowed to work for them under the ordinance. This is not required in the law, but they will have to do it because they will be criticized if they don't and they miss someone.
• There are 338 people registered with the Wisconsin Elections Board that would be considered "political operatives" under this ordinance and not be allowed to be poll workers in the all of most of the City of Madison. There are at least another 100 when you count people registered with the County Clerk and City Clerks office. Then, there is the whole issue of the 527, so this ordinance will likely mean that over 500 people will not be able to be poll workers in the City of Madison.
• People may be registered with a group that has an open account but has not been active for years, but they would still be precluded from serving as a poll worker.
  
• When you fill out the conduit registration forms, there are no "officers or directors" listed, only an "administrator". They do, however, list a "sponsoring organization" and it seems that officers and directors of the "sponsoring organization" should be excluded in this case.
• This ordinance does not preclude campaign mangers, chairs of political party elections committees, staff from the Republican and Democratic parties from being poll workers - in fact, about the only people precluded are the treasurer for various committees and the candidate.

In short, this whole so-called "laser point" is not a laser point. It's take a broad swipe and misses those that most would consider "political operatives."

After listing all these issues, Zach persisted and said that there still wasn't enough reason to refer. However, he realized he didn't have the votes. Eli Judge, who was one of the original signers of the letter, said he had concerns, Marsha Rummel brought up some additional concerns about the definition of an "election employee" and Alders Schumacher and Rhodes-Conway discussed the the perception of a problem and how to make the process more transparent and to allow more public discussion on this issue. Eventually, Zach conceded that it should be referred, but he only wanted the committee to have one month to discuss it. There was no reason given for the rush job and I think it was ridiculous given that we don't have any elections coming up, but we'll see what the Elections Committee can do. They meet on June 12th.

LOBBYISTS ON COMMITTEES
After all the discussion about open and clean government and all the accusations being hurled at people, Zach had an objection to me referring an appointment of a real estate third party lobbyist to the Urban Design Committee where she would make decisions on projects that may be in competition with the projects she is hired to be lobbyist for. The Mayor had no objection and it was referred.

Note: I don't know what I was thinking, there was no way I was going to take a "lunch break" and be able to do this at work . . . sorry, I'll add links and check grammar/sentence clarity/spelling etc when I get home tonight after my last meetings around 9:00.
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Glitch

Well, I wrote this morning's blog . . . then lost it. I have to run to meetings, will try to recover what I've lost during my lunch break, so check back this afternoon.
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What's on Tomorrow Night's Council Agenda

Here's all the fun and excitement on the Common Council Agenda for Tuesday night . . .with the following conditions:

#4 and #157 - We'll be appointing more men and a lobbyist to City Committees.

#6, #7, #8 & #9 - Issuing a summons to to appear before the Alcohol License Review Committee for

• Bull Feathers
• Kollege Klub
  
• City Bar and Restaurant
• Orpheum

#11 - Neighborhood Conservation Districts, hopefully for the final time. The most vocal former opponents of this ordinance, the REALTORS and Downtown Madison Inc are now either nuetral or supporting this ordinance. Oddly enough, the sponsors have been removed from this ordinance, but they should be Konkel, Kerr, Verveer, Webber, Rummel.

Liquor licenses are all up for renewal July 1st every year. So, there are quite a few Alcohol License related items on this agenda. I've highlighted some of the problem licenses. To see the rest of the information on the liquor licenses, click here. It's in item #31 on the agenda.

#27, #28 and #29 - Liquor License Renewals that got separated, which include

• Good Times Bar - requested to be separated by the Police. Recommended to refer for Non-Renewal Hearing. #27
• Tres Amigos - requested to be separated by the Police. Recommended to refer for Non-Renewal Hearing. #28
• Cue-Nique Billiards - requested to be separated by the Police. Recommended to approve with following conditions: 1) Building Inspection and Fire Inspection shall audit the capacity of this establishment. 2) Establishment shall maintain a written incident log documenting any type of disturbance in detail, the employees involved and, if possible, the patrons involved. This log will be available to the Madison Police Department upon request. 3) Applicant will surrender Nightclub License. #29

#31 - Approving liquor license renewals. This year, there was an attempt to level the playing field and have consistent conditions based on liquor licenses as follows:

Class A Beer licenses granted to convenience stores or gas stations; conditions to take effect October 1, 2007: 1) No sale of single bottles or cans of beer or fermented malt beverage. 2) No sale of forty-ounce bottles or containers of beer or fermented malt beverage. 3) Display area for beer and/or fermented malt beverage limited to one fifteen-square-foot section of cooler.

Class A Liquor licenses granted to Open Pantry on Beltline Highway, Old Sauk Mobil on Junction Court, Open Pantry on Park Street, Madison Pantry Food Mart on Park Street, Mobil Mart on Shopko Drive, PDQ on Third Street, PDQ on Buckeye Road, Mobil Mart on West Washington Avenue, and Mobil Mart on Watts Road; conditions to take effect October 1, 2007: 1) No sale of liquor bottles smaller than 750 ml. 2) Display area for wine and wine coolers limited to one shelf of walk-in cooler and one
five-square-foot rack of wine.

This items is rumored to be referred and instead we would be passing an ordinance to the same effect.

#32 - Madcity Restaurant Group - The Comptroller determined that the establishment has been operating as a tavern. i.e. selling more alcohol than food. It is recommended that we grant with the following conditions: 1) Establishment will meet the definition of a restaurant as defined in Madison General Ordinances section 38.02. 2) Food will be available all hours of operation. 3) Establishment will close one hour before bar time. 4) On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, two employees will staff the outdoor seating area--one stationed at the entrance, and one stationed at the dead end. 5) If audited again, license holder must provide the Comptroller with adequate proof of operating as a restaurant within 20 days of the request, or the establishment will automatically be deemed a tavern and will be referred back to the ALRC for revocation.

#33 thru #37 Licenses that were approved over a year ago and have not yet been issued.

#41 Madison Avenue - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department, because of concerns regarding capacity, underage patrons, and general disorder. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department Central District to come up with a plan to address the concerns of the Police Department. The applicant will then present this plan to the Alcohol License Review Committee.

#42 Orpheum Theatre - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding capacity and underage patrons. Recommended to grant.

#43 Stadium Bar and Eatery - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding beer tent closure on Football Saturdays. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department to resolve concerns regarding the beer garden. Otherwise the applicant will be brought back before the Alcohol License Review Committee, which will ask the Plan Commission to revoke their conditional use permit.

#44 Big 10 Pub - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding beer tent closure on Football Saturdays. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department to resolve concerns regarding the beer garden. Otherwise the applicant will be brought back before the Alcohol License Review Committee, which will ask the Plan Commission to revoke their conditional use permit.

#45 Regent Street Retreat - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding beer tent closure on Football Saturdays. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department to resolve concerns regarding the beer garden. Otherwise the applicant will be brought back before the Alcohol License Review Committee, which will ask the Plan Commission to revoke their conditional use permit.

#46 Angelic Brewing Company - Separation requested by the Madison Police Dept because of concerns regarding capacity and underage patrons. Recommended to grant with the following condition: Must meet the definition of a restaurant, as defined by Madison General Ordinance 38.02.

#47 Bull Feathers - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of underage concerns. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department once litigation is settled, and the committee will not grant an increase in capacity, change of license premise, or any additional license to this establishment until prosecution is fully adjudicated.

#48 City Bar and Restaurant - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding underage patrons. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department once litigation is settled, and the committee will not grant an increase in capacity, change of license premise, or any additional license to this establishment until prosecution is fully adjudicated.

#49 Mondays -Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns
regarding capacity and underage patrons. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department once litigation is settled, and the committee will not grant an increase in capacity, change of license premise, or any additional license to this establishment until prosecution is fully adjudicated.

#50 Red Shed - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns
regarding capacity. Recommend to grant with the following conditions: 1) Capacity shall be monitored at all times. 2) Front door shall be staffed with a hand-held counter on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. 3) Side door shall be used as an emergency exit only, equipped
with panic-release hardware.

#51 Parthenon Gyros - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding general disorder. Recommended to grant with the following condition: Alcohol shall not be served upstairs.

#52 Vintage Spirits and Grill - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding noise. Recommend to grant.

#53 Kollege Klub - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding general disorder. Recommend to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department once litigation is settled, and the committee will not grant an increase in capacity, change of license premise, or any additional license to this establishment until prosecution is fully adjudicated.

#114 - We're placing the recycling cart issue on file. This would have made covenants and restrictions in certain neighborhoods invalid if they said that you couldn't have your recycling cart outside or visible. ("Placing on file" means that we are voting to not vote on it, or we're defeating it.)

#116 - Authorizing a Request for Proposals for Garver Feed Mill.

#121 - Changing the Rental Rehab Program to loan landlord money to fix up the exterior of their buidlings on Lake Point Drive.

#150 - The Chronic Nusiance Ordinance is being referred for further discussion.

#151 - The ordinance of loopholes is up for a vote. It is rumored that this will be referred to the Madison Election Advisory Committee.

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Gender Watch: Still no change.

Men are still being appointed to City Committees 2 times for every 1 woman.

Of the appointments submitted on May 15th that we will be voting on this Tuesday, there were 12 women and 20 men. Or, 37.5% women and 62.5% men. Of the appointments submitted for Tuesday's meeting, to be approved on June 19th, there are 24 or 64.8% men and 13 or 35.2% women. (I didn't count the informational appointment information or the recommendations from chairs of committees.)

Not much has changed. I was kind of hoping that we might see some change once the issues was raised. Hopefully this resolution, and the recommendations we receive, will make a difference.
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