Fresh New Advertising Hell for Bus Riders

I can't can't tell if this was a serious proposal or not. I'm not sure if you caught this in yesterday's long post about the Department submissions on the budget:

- $50,000 Using the automated bus announcement system to allow audio advertising on buses.

That's an interesting fresh new hell for busriders. In addition to being wrapped in a dark-difficult-to-see-out-of hamburger or beer can, they can enjoy being barraged with a announcement like "Next stop, Main and Jackson. Attention Kmart shoppers, today's blue light specials include . . . " or better yet, an ad for John McCain for President in between announcements of bus stops where he proudly proclaims that the fundamentals of our economy are strong. Now there is something to look forward to!
Read more!

MABAA's Position on Bus Fair Hikes

The Madison Area Bus Advocates sent the alders the following statement about the hike of bus fares to $2.

'Green' Mayor's Budget Increases Road Allotment Substantially While Raising The Bus Fare Madison Area Bus Advocates Sept. 26, 2008

Metro Transit's 2009 budget assumes a 25c hike to the basic bus fare (from $1.50 to $1.75) while the Mayor says he wants a 50c hike. ANY fare increase in a time of growing oil shortages is counterproductive. A budget supporting balanced transportation would emphasize good bicycle ways, pedestrian paths, and fast, frequent, convenient, comfortable, safe, and low cost transit, not just streets.

The Mayor is proposing a 65% increase in road spending in 2009. In 2008, Madison allocated $41.1 million for major street work. The 2009 Executive Capital Budget allocates $68.4 million for roads, borrowing over $29 million of that. In 2008, $21.6 million went to debt service. In the future, debt service on these road expansions will cost even more. In an era of household cutbacks in driving, and a citywide increases in transit use, we believe that the mayor's road expansion
priorities are wrong.

Madison is paying for suburbanization inside and outside the city. Madison-funded work on E. Washington subsidizes Sun Prairie and other points east. Expanding Northport Dr. subsidizes points north. Work on University Ave. subsidizes Middleton and other points west. And so on. No wonder Money Magazine recently found Middleton, not Madison, the best place to live. Its justification was that residents could enjoy what Madison had to offer without paying for it.

What if Madison put more of its resources into promoting sustainable and quality life for people who lived in Madison itself? Then, Madison's Parks, Libraries, Police, Fire, and yes, Metro Transit could all be better endowed. Why should residents balk at spending $30 million for a new library downtown but not balk at spending $41.1 million or $68.4 million on roads?

Any upgrade to avenues should include the establishment of a designated transit lane and a maximum of two other lanes each way. For a fraction of the estimated cost of all the budgeted road work, good transit could again be concentrated in transit-riding neighborhoods while Express and Rapid Transit buses could make transit travel time competitive with that of the automobile. Fair share contributions outside Madison could extend transit beyond city limits.

The City of Madison may not have direct jurisdiction over the parking facilities of the County, State or School District (MMSD), but it could do more to encourage people to bicycle or use transit. It could encourage the State, County, MMSD, and other entities to charge more for parking while making a transit pass part of the employment package. Madison's Transit and Parking Commission could perform true citizen oversight of operational expenses. Madison has a valuable transit system
that deserves support and enhancement.

Read more!

Rosh Hashanah Week Ahead

Very little this week.

Monday, September 29, 2008
4:30 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ROOM LL-110 MMB
- More Villager decisions.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
7:00 PM PUBLIC MEETING FOCUSING ON ZONING FOR ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS ROOM LL-130 MMB

Thursday, October 2, 2008
5:00 PM TRANSIT AND PARKING COMMISSION ROOM 260 MMB
- Fare changes
- Snow
- Multi-modal transportation plan for downtown.

5:30 PM JAMES MADISON PARK PROPERTY PLANNING COMMITTEE ROOM LL-110 MMB
Read more!

City Department Recommended Cuts to Budget

Here is the full list of budget cuts or revenue increases that each of the departments recommended to the Mayor for a menu of choices for cuts to our 2009 budget. While the Mayor won't submit his budget until October 7th, these are the options he was given. Red numbers are cuts. Green numbers are additional revenue that is being suggested.

ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
1. In order to meet the request for a target base budget, we would have to lay off a 1/2 time Legal Secretary 2 position, that person assists our Ordinance Revision Specialist. We are asking to restore the 1/2 time Legal Secretary 2 position . This layoff will affect our ability to timely respond to requests for ordinance amendments. $23,771

2. In addition to the 2% budgeted salary savings that all departments are expected to have, we will meet an additional 2.77% through known salary savings throughout 2009, including two employees who work approved schedules of less than full time. The additional salary savings of 1.11% is the layoff of our Legal Secretary II position. The total projected salary savings is 5.88%. (I think the additional salary savings for employees not working full time is about $59,500. I calculated it myself off the info I have, so they may have additional information and therefore a different number, but it should be close.)

3. To partially meet the 5% contingency cut plan of $128,786, it would be necessary to lay off 1.5 Assistant City Attorneys, one for the entire 2009 budget year, the other working at 1/2 time for the 2009 budget year. Eliminating 1.5 positions would total $124.420. We anticipate that the failure to have these two positions would affect our ability to effectively prosecute ordinance violations in Municipal Court. (We would have to layoff 1.5 attorneys to meet our 5% contingency cut. The 1.5 attorneys plus benefits would equal $124,420. Least Senior Assistant City Attorney – laid off all year $59,940 + 37.8% benefits of $22,657, $82,597
2nd Least Senior Assistant City Attorney – Put as a .5 FTE for all of 2009
$30,350 + 37.8% benefits of $11,473 = $41,283)

4. To meeting the 5% contingency cut, we would also have to elimiate $4,366 in work study funding. This would seriously impact our ability to hire law clerks throughout the year. The clerks provide much needed research to our attorneys when they are compiling data for lawsuits or researching laws across the country for many of our areas of assignments. Total funded for 2009 is $11,500.

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL RIGHTS
1. Significant reductions to the AASPIRE (Affirmative Action Students In Residence Program), as well as the agency’s Materials and Supplies and Purchased Services accounts in order to meet goal.

The following summarizes how the Department of Civil Rights would reduce its spending if it is necessary to reduce their budget by 5%:

Reduction of a Clerk-Typist from full-time to ¾ time $7,810 + fringe benefits $2,952 (With two Clerk-Typists at ¾ time, there will be inefficiencies due to increases moving of the second Clerk Typist to the reception desk to greet the public, reducing her working capacity.)

Reduction of a Contract Compliance Monitor from full time to half-time $28,120 + fringe benefits $10,629 (The reduction of Contract Compliance Monitors will decrease the effectiveness the department had hoped to achieve in 2009. There has been an employee on a leave of absence in one of these positions for an extended period of time. It was hoped that we would return to two full-time positions in 2009. Instead we will only have 1.5 positions.)

Reduction of AASPIRE Interns from 4 to 3 (There were six funded in 2008) $6,049 + fringe benefits $684

Conference/Meetings $300
Training/Travel $2,000
Interpreters/Signers $12,024
General Office Supplies $900
Subscriptions & Books $100
Training Materials/Supplies $466
(Additional reductions in Materials & Supplies and Purchased Services accounts will impact the Department’s ability to provide educational programming to bring about voluntary compliance with the laws the agency enforces on affirmative action, disability rights and equal opportunities.)

COMMON COUNCIL BUDGET
(Remember, this was submitted by staff (Lisa Veldran), with the blessing of our Common Council President and Pro Tem (Bruer & Clear)- but without the knowledge or consent of the rest of the Council.)

OPTION ONE was to
This reduction would eliminate

Alder expense account for each of the 20 Alders ($600 per Alder per year) or $12,000.
Postage expense by $2,000 to $9,452
Office supplies by $1,194 to $1,806
Reproduction/Fast Copy from $5,800 to $3,800 or $2,000.

It is anticipated that these reductions would have a signficant impact on the ability of the Council staff to provide expected service levels to Alders. The most signficant area of reduced service would be in substantially fewer constituent mailings being possible.

OPTION TWO was to reduce one of the staff positions by 30%. This option wasn't on the CD of the budget information given to us by the comptrollers office, but it was in the paper and more details are available through the CCOC agenda. $17,702

MAYOR'S OFFICE
I didn't dig through the details, but he's offering a $10,000 which is less than 1%. I've blogged about the 70% increase in his budget before, but here's the info for the last few years.

2007 1,053,672
2008 1,211,283
2009 1,201,609

I did not see his proposals for a 5% reduction in his office in the materials that we were given. I'd sure like to see what his 5% cuts might be. The Wisconsin State Journal game has a reduction of a mayoral secretary for $58,900.

OVERTURE CENTER
Here's the significant notes from their budget submittal:
1. The City's subsidy for the Overture Center, is determined by the Operational and Cooperation Agreement. The amount is adjusted annually by the inflation factor used for the Expenditure Restraint Program (ERP). The inflation factor for 2009 is 4.1%, resulting in a subsidy of $1,790,713, some of which is funded from the Transient Occupancy Tax Fund (??). [Those question marks are in the submittal.]

2. Funding for Payment in Lieu of Taxes in the amount of $497,000

3. Continued support for arts education programs. OnStage Programming, for example, will provide approximately 50 performances for school age children with anticipated attendance of 50,000 students, teachers and parents from public, private and home schools throughout south-central Wisconsin.

4. Continued support for community outreach at Overture Center including free and low-cost performances and events such as Kids in the Rotunda, Children's Art Festival, Musical Memories, Overture after Work, Artist Workshops, Take 10 Program, Meet the Artist, Duck Soup Cinema, and the International Festival. In addition, Overture provides free galleries for Dane County artists. These programs and concerts are further supported through grants and sponsorships by local foundations and corporations.

5. Continued economic support in the community, region, and state. In 2005, Overture Center and its residents had total direct spending of $37,532,933 and supported 1,395 FTE jobs. Overture audiences paid $608,132 in sales tax on performance tickets in 2005.

6. A 100% increase in Worker's Compensation Charges from $25,938 to $52,620.

7. Establishing the authorized permanent staff positions for Overture Center. All other amounts are provided as informational. The Madison Cultural Arts District may transfer funds between accounts as necessary to keep the City subsidy at the authorized level and/or to accommodate actual revenues and expenditures while maintaining the authorized City subsidy level.

The proposed cuts were as follows (the first number is the 2008 budget and the reduction is the amount they would reduce the 2008 budget):
Telephone Cellular 1,000 (1,000)
Electrical 5,000 (3,000)
Communication Equipment Repair 2,500 (500)
A/V Equipment Repair 15,000 (500)
Equipment Rental 35,000 (5,000)
Conference/Meetings 35,000 (5,000)
Training/Travel 25,000 (5,000)
Other Services General 180,648 (15,000)
Advertising-TV/ Radio 238,400 (10,000)
Advertising-Print 250,000 (10,000)
Design Services 27,500 (5,000)
Legal Services 35,000 (5,000)
Consulting Services 65,000 (5,000)
Art & Performance Contracts 3,280,000 (1,000)
Total $5,974,010 $(71,000)

General Office Supplies 20,000 (3,000)
Postage 105,500 (1,500)
Office Equipment 5,000 (1,000)
Computer Software 8,000 (2,000)
Safety Equipment 7,100 (500)
Doors, Locks & Keys 7,000 (2,000)
Paint 7,500 (500)
General Work Supplies 22,300 (500)
Communications Supplies 7,300 (200)
Printing supp,forms,tckts,app 167,000 (5,000)
Resalable Merchandise 8,000 (1,000)
Safety Supplies 3,500 (200)
Lab Supplies 14,000 (1,000)
Tools 4,800 (200)
Total $621,300 $(18,600)

MONONA TERRACE
Here's their budget notes:
1. Meeting the adjusted base budget level for the subsidy of $2,979,262 in 2009 per the Comptroller's office.

2. An aggressive approach to forecasting both 2009 revenues and expenses. Forecasted revenues will be a challenge for the staff to achieve based upon what is on the books today. We feel it is a realistic challenge for 2009.

3. Unavoidable increases in some accounts such as Steam.

Their cuts include:
Office Supply $2000
Elimination of the following equipment
- Clipper Extractor $3,750
- Walk behind sweeper $3,750
- Table cart $1,000
Eliminate AASPIRE and other internship programs $25,000
Eliminate Floor Scrubber $7,500
Reduction in printing $20,000
Reduce maintenance contract fees $55,000
Overtime and hourly wages $31,000

LANDFILL
Budget notes include:
1. $100,000 to replace the leachate pumping system at the Greentree Landfill

2. $50,000 to add a blower to the south end of the Demetral Landfill

3. $25,000 for SCADA Updates and Enhancements

This department doesn't use general tax dollars and I believe was exempt from the 5% cuts.

COMMUNITY SERVICES
Here's the budget notes.
1. A 3% cost of living increase for most continuing Community Resource Programs

2. The loss of a 1.0 FTE Weed & Seed Coordinator funded through a Federal Department of Justice grant.

Cuts include:
$187,125 cut to the Community Resources Program
$106,017 cut in Child Care Tuition Aid

I'll try to find the details of these cuts to the Community Resource Program.

LIBRARY
Their budget notes are as follows:
1) City appropriation of $11,624,423 to cover negotiated compensation increases and debt service for 2009; a reduction in the Dane County reimbursement (payment from the County for people using Madison's libraries who don't live in Madison) of $127,503 from 2008.

2) Unavoidable increases in utilities, telephones, equipment maintenance contracts, janitorial services, MPL's portion of the system-wide LINK consortium costs, and telecommunication expenses. Reduced budget for supplies and PC replacements. The budget for books, media and databases in 2008 is $1,170,259; we have reduced the collection budget for 2009 to $1,060,000, and reduced budget expenditures for hourly (non-permanent) employees by $133,560 from expected 2008 expenditures.

3) Reduced hours of operation at the Monroe Street Branch from 45.5 hours per week to 32 hours per week, reducing permanent staff by .55 FTE. Reducing hours of operation at Hawthorne, Lakeview, Meadowridge and South Madison Branches by closing Friday evenings - a total of eight less public service hours per week at these branches, and a reduction of .15 permanent staff. We are also reducing staff at Central by .2 FTE, for a total reduction of $59,702.

The reductions they proposed to meet the 5% include the following amounts of money:

Reduction of Central Library Hours of 9 hours per week for total of $228,672
.5 YS Librarian @ $24,441.95 + $9,239.06 benes = $33,681
1.0 RUS Librarian @ $48,859.22 + $18,468.78 benes = $67,328
.3 TS Librarian @ $14,665.46 + $5,543.54 benes = $20,209
1.0 Circ Clerk @ $32,415.82 + $12,253.18 benes = $44,669
.5 Maintenance Worker @ $22,860 + $8,641.08 benes = $31,501.08
.5 Print Shop Clerk(press operator) @ $22,702.65 + $8,581.60 benes = $31,287

12 hour reduction per week at three libraries for a total of $81,284.
Alicia Ashman
.2 Librarian @ $9,777.21 + $3,695.79 benes = $13,473
.1 YS Librarian @ $4,888.24 + $1,847.76 benes = $6,736
.2 Clerk @ $6,483.31 + $2,450.69 benes = $8,934

Pinney
.2 Librarian @ $9,777.21 + $3,695.79 benes = $13,473
.2 Clerk-Typist @ $6,483.31 + $2,450.69 benes = $8,934

Sequoya
.3 Clerk @ $9,724.24 + $3,675.76 benes = $13,400

Additional reduction in Hourly workers from reducing Ashman, Pinney and Sequoya 12 hours per week
1,309.16 hrs @ $11.21/hr = $14,675.68 + $1,658.35 benes = $16,334.04

Close Monroe St Library
The service area of the Monroe Street Branch is the smallest of any of our locations. Recent data shows that this Branch serves the fewest people per hour of any of our libraries, partly because of its proximity to the Central & Sequoya libraries, so fewer people will be impacted by closing. Although the immediate neighborhood is very supportive of its library, statistics show that people who live in the census tracts surrounding the Monroe Street Library frequently use the Central & Sequoya libraries. The antiquated building, at 2,500 square feet, does not provide the capability for needed current library services, including Internet access, programming and community meeting space, and adequate collections; the building is the only Madison library that is not handicap accessible. Total reduction of 3.29 FTE and building cost savings, totalling $204,044.

Reduction of 10 hours per week at 4 libraries for a total of $67,221.
Hawthorne
.2 Librarian @ $9.777.21 + $3,695.79 benes = $13,473
.2 Clerk @ $6,483.31 + $2,450.69 benes = $8,934

Lakeview
.2 Librarian @ $9,777.21 + $3,695.79 benes = $13,473
.2 Clerk @ $6,483.31 + $2,450.69 benes = $8,934

Meadowridge
.2 Librarian @ $9,777.21 + $3,695.79 benes = $13,473
.2 Clerk @ $6,483.31 + $2,450.69 benes = $8.934

South Madison - Agency 183800
Undetermined Reduction in Hourly Employees only

OFFICE OF DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
There were no budget notes. The 5% reduction options included:
AASPIRE Intern - $5732
"Other" in Purchased Services - $5000
Office Equipment - $1000
Postage - $500
Fast Copy - $1200
Computer Supplies - $559
Training/Travel - $1000
Consulting Services - $5,000

PLANNING DIVISION
Here are their budget notes:
1. A reduction in Neighborhood Grants from $143,000 in 2008 to $92,000 in 2009.
2. Move Preservation Planner from 70% (.7 FTE) to 100% (1.0 FTE)

Their 5% reduction options include additional cuts of:
- This reduction would eliminate the Planner 3 position included in both the 2007 and 2008 budget to support neighborhood planning efforts and the Office of Neighborhood Support. $70,686
- This is a further reduction in the Neighborhood Grants Program. The base budget reduces the program from $143,000 in 2008 to $92,000. This is an additional reduction of $38,187 taking funding for the program to $53,813.

CDBG OFFICE
Budget notes include:
1. A City subsidy increase of 3% as a cost of living increase for City-subsidized programs.

2. Authorization to allocate reprogrammed and other HUD-approved funds for continuing CDBG, ESG and HOME-funded projects for the first two quarters of 2009, through revisions to previously approved Action Plans, and allocate later-approved funds to those or to new projects during the latter part of the year, provided the total budgeted amount per project does not exceed the amount approved by the Common Council upon adoption of this budget.

3. A transfer of $75,000 from the Inclusionary Zoning fund to support administration of the program.

The 5% cuts include:
Fair Housing Council Testing $4,768
Wisconsin Youth Center Facility Use $10,156
Tenant Resource Center Mediation $2,750
Building Trades Council START $5,526
Salvation Army Shelter $2,500
Tellurian ` ReachOut $2,500
Boys and Girls Club Allied Core $5,088
Boys and Girls Club Taft Core $2,000
Bridge LakePoint Waunona (Vera) Facility Use $3,088
TOTAL $38,376

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIVISION
There are no budget notes. I also did not see any 5% cuts.
The budget is going from 77,744 in 2008 to 128,292 in 2009. This is the salary for the new staff person (Bill Clingan) for Community Development.

BUILDING INSPECTION
There were no budget notes.

The 5% cuts include the following options:
- De-fund Code Enforcement Officer III position. Reduce the number of Code Enforcement Officer III’s, New Construction Inspector. The downturn in housing starts will allow us to transfer the position to a vacant position in the Minimum Housing Section. $84,838
- Cut Plan Review Specialist II position. This position provides plan review primarily for One and Two Family Dwellings. The elimination of this position will result in delays and decreased service for our customers that seek approval of their building plans. $73,066
- Cut Planning Systems Impr. Analyst position. This position provides this Department and our customers with timely and accurate reports. The position was also responsible for the production of many custom made maps for other Divisions and Agencies throughout the City. $87,466
- De-fund Property Code Inspector I (50%) position. This vacant half-time position was primarily devoted to graffiti enforcement. Our existing staff has adequately addressed graffiti complaints and referrals. They haven't filled this position in the last 5 years. $26,374

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIVISION
Budget notes include:
1. Please see attached for the Economic Development Division's 5% Reduction Plan.

2. Please correct the job title from Community Development Supv. to Economic Revitalization Supervisor.
(on Compensation tab, cell A12)

3. Please remove #5 below.

Cuts and increases in revenues include:
#1: Vending Permit Fees

The City’s Street Vending program, including sidewalk cafe’s, contribute significantly to the daily experience of downtown residents, employees, students, and visitors. The program is also a source of revenue for the City, generating over $80,000 of permit fees.

A full-time permanent Street Vending Coordinator and an hourly Street Vending Monitor manage the program. Although the Division receives an Inter-Agency Billing of $6,000 for the Banner Program, which is also managed by these individuals, it does not receive direct credit for the $80,000 of permit fees noted above. One option for meeting our 5% reduction target would be to provide an Inter-Agency Billing for at least a portion of these Vending Permit fees.

#2: Increase Inter-Agency Billing from SR Funds

The Office of Economic Revitalization currently has budgeted to receive a credit of $73,000 through an Inter-Agency Billing from SR Funds (59910). This credit can be used to cover the salary of Economic Revitalization staff. The Division will raise this by a total of $47,000 to $120,000 to meet the 5% reduction target.

#3: Reduce Purchased Services and Supplies Budget

As is noted within the following spreadsheet, the Division will reduce its Purchased Services and Supplies Budget by a total of $21,750 to meet the 5% reduction target.

General B&G Repairs & Maint $4,000.00
Other Services General $3,400.00
Legal Services $5,700.00
Consulting Services $4,600.00
Total $17,700.00

General Office Supplies $1,350.00
Postage $1,400.00
Office Equipment $1,000.00
Computer Software $300.00
Total $4,050.00

MADISON CITY CHANNEL
They had no budget notes and I didn't see their 5% suggestions.

COMPTROLLER
1. Salary savings budgeted at 2.9% which will be achieved by managing vacancies as they occur.

2. Funding of $50,000 for a collection agency contract for delinquent ambulance bills, estimated to yield $200,000 in General Fund Revenue.

3. Funding for a continuation of existing services.

Their 5% reduction possibilities are:
1. Eliminate $2,000 in overtime (plus $364 in associated benefits).

2. Eliminate $1,900 for bottled water.

3. Reduce training/travel request by $3,000.

4. Eliminate one position from the City's Administrative Support Team (formerly Clerical Pool). $44,309 The City’s centralized Administrative Support Team (formerly Clerical Pool) was established in 1972 to provide general clerical assistance to City agencies for periods of time ranging from a few hours (e.g. answering the phones during an agency's weekly staff meeting) to, in some cases, several weeks (e.g. assisting with licensing or voter registration in the Clerk’s office during elections) without the need to hire additional employees. Over the last several years, Pool staff have provided several thousand hours of assistance annually to more than 2 dozen City agencies during peak work periods or unexpected employee absences. Elimination of this position will have a direct impact on the services we are able to provide to agencies.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Budget notes include:
1. Two positions unfunded for entire year to make target.
* Vacant MIS 1 Web Development position - $66,020 ($ 47,910 Salary plus $ 18,110 Benefits)
* MIS 2 Helpdesk position scheduled for Military duty all of 2009 - $79,664 ($57,811 Salary Plus $ 21,853
Benefits)

2. Addition of new annual lease payment of $19,206 for Computer Training Room at Villager due to open Dec. 2008.

3. Total of $11,500 permanently transferred to Council Office for funding Alder ISP connections and resulting reduction of target.

5% reduction possibilities include:
1. Cut MIS 1/2 Position #1 - This position is currently engaged in website development and has been designated to learn programming skills to integrate ESRI mapping techniques into website development for Police, Fire, Planning, Engineering and other departments needing this capability in their websites. This would be the second Web development position to be left vacant in 2009 and the 3rd of 39 total allocated positions in the Information Technology Department to be left vacant. $70,241

2. Cut MIS 1/2 Position #2 - This position is located in the Support Section and is assigned to the Helpdesk. Failure to fund this position will seriously hamstring the ability of the Helpdesk to respond to requests for service and in particular the ability to support the anticipated increased mobile data support requirements from the ELAM project. This would be the second HelpDesk position to be left vacant in 2009 and the 4th of 39 total allocated positions in Information Technology. $73,082

3. Cut MIS 1/2 Position #3 - This position is engaged in computer programming dedicated to the capture and retrieval of digital forms and records in the City's Electronic Document Management System. This is one of only 2 employees trained in this very specialized programming language. Failure to fund this position will severely curtail the City's progress in digital files storage and retrieval and will result in continued paper storage and retrieval issues. This would be the third Development position to be left vacant in 2009 and the 5th of 30 total positions in Information Technology. $59,677

CITY ASSESSORS OFFICE
Budget notes include:
1. The 2009 Operating Budget request reflects the target amount as instructed.

2. A reduction of funding for hourly salaries from 14,832 to 2,800. . Salary savings budgeted at 5.45%, which will be achieved by holding open an Property Appraiser 2 vacancy.

3. A supplemental budget request is submittedto fund an Administrative Clerk 1 (LTE). This position is to fulfill the MOU requirement for an LTE for assist with the support functions within the Assessor's Office. This position would be needed from January 1 through December 31, 2009.

The 5% reduction possibilities include:
Priority 1: Lay off of an Administrative Clerk I
42,500 x .378 benefits = $58,565

Priority 2: Lay off an Assessment Aide 2
35,100 x .378 benefits = $48,367

The Assessor's Office also requested to ADD service - This request is made in order to comply with the requirements of a Memorandum of Understanding between the City and Local 60. The MOU states: "The Assessor's Office agrees to request an LTE position to be filled as soon as possible to assist with support staff duties through the end of 2009". This is intended to be a half-time, LTE Administrative Clerk 1 position. This would add $25,588.

SENIOR CENTER
Their budget notes include:
1. Funding for basic operations of the Madison Senior Center. The City of Madison pays for building expenses, staff salaries/benefits and related supplies. Rental income from the use of the building by community groups and the public offsets these costs of basic operation.

2. Approximately $50,000 is raised annually by the Board of directors for programs and activity expenses. These funds are generated by participant fees, community gifts, donations, fundraising and grants, including support from the Madison Senior Center Foundation, Inc. (established in 2005), and these expenses and funds are not included in this budget.

Their 5% cuts include the following options:
1. Lay off of Supported Worker and AASPIRE Intern $5,869
2. Lay off Professional Aide I, Intergenerational Coordinator (15 hrs/wk) $11,590
This reduction will eliminate 8 intergenerational programs which encourage interaction between young people and citizens and older adult volunteers who ALL benefit from this important community service.

This position recruits volunteers and coordinates activities which
*enhances the lives of daycare youngsters,
*encourages writing in 5TH & 6TH graders,
*exchanges discussions with high schoolers,
*supports the literacy of ESL community members,
*establishes exchanges between older people and others of various cultures, and
*educates UW student nurses and doctors in patient relationships with senior adults.

3. They eliminate travel and training opportunities, advertising for Senior Center endeavors, subscriptions/books, and office and small equipment. $3,861
Advertising $1,000
Training/Travel $1,000
Subs/Books $300
Equipment $1,000
Small Equipment $500
Janitorial Supplies $61

HUMAN RESOURCES
There were no budget notes.
These are their proposed 5% reductions.
- Reproduction copier/Fast Copy $8,718
- Reduce expenses in Medical Services-Drug Testing $9,000
- Reduce expenses in Hourly Wages and Benefits $5,716
- Reduce Secretary 1 position by 10% $6,122
- Advertising $8,000
- Reduce Secretary 1 position by 20% $12,246
- Reduce Secretary 1 position by 20% $12,246
- Reduce Secretary 1 position by 50% $30,616

MUNICIPAL COURT
No budget notes. No 5% cut recommendations.

PUBLIC HEALTH
Budget notes include:
1) This budget eliminates a 0.5 FTE Clerk Typist III position to comply with the County Executive's directive. The Department is planning to consolidate telephone receptioning at the East Washington Office and close the 5th floor Public Health office in the City-County building to the public. The 3rd floor office in the City-County building will remain open.

2) To comply with mandated budget cuts, Well Child Clinics will be eliminated in January 2009. There are about 70 clinics per year, serving about 200 families. Public Health Nurses assigned to this program will be assigned to other programs. A 1.0 FTE Public Health Nurse position will remain vacant until November 2009.

3) A 1.0 FTE Humane Officer was added by amendment to the 2008 budget, to be filled in mid-year. To comply with mandated budget cuts, this position will remain open until November 2009 and the two part-time officers terminated. Coverage will be reduced and there will be no Animal Service coverage in Dane County outside of Madison on Sundays.

4) The Department has a fee-for-service contract with Access Community Health Center for emergency dental services. To comply with mandated budget cuts, the Department will reduce these services by half. In 2009, the Department will be able to refer 115 fewer people than in 2008.

5) The joint net costs are $9,198,687. The Dane County portion is $4,963,604, the same as the 2008 budget. The City of Madison portion is $4,235,083, or an increase of $34,921 over the 2008 budget.

6) Only aggregate data is available for 2007. Information comes from two different accounting systems and cannot be allocated by program area.

There was no further information on the 5% cut.

CLERK
Budget note:
1. This budget was adjusted for a two-election year. We will have a smaller Election Official payroll in 2009, but will have more election supply costs because we will be responsible for a greater percentage of ballot and programming costs.

5% cuts could be reached by:
The major expenses in the Clerk's Office are required by State Statute (payment of election officials, ballot costs, publication of legal notices, etc). The only way to cut $53,154 from the Clerk's Office budget is to find a large expense that is not mandated by the state or federal government. To reach this target, we would need to eliminate our maintenance contracts on our election equipment. The would save $53,688.75, but may end up increasing Election Official payroll if our equipment breaks down and the Election Officials need to tally the election results by hand. Although this would be difficult with election equipment as old as ours, we would at least remain in compliance with the law.

TREASURER
No budget notes.
5% reduction ideas include:
- A fast growing item in the city treasurer's budget is credit card fees. Substantial savings could be seen by passing through some or all of these fees to the credit card user. Implementing a fee pass-through could be accomplished in a number of different ways: 1) An increase in charges could be made across the board. The necessary increase would be minimal, but it would result in everyone paying the charge/fee subsidizing those who choose to use their credit card. 2) A convenience fee could be assessed to online payers. All online payments create a bank charge. However, the charge for an ACH (bank debit) is significantly less than credit card, so if all online customers paid a fee, ACH payments would be subsidizing the credit card customers. 3) Only credit card customers would incur a charge. This appropriately charges the parties generating the bulk of the costs; however, it might be limited based upon agreements with the credit card companies.
- $25,000 (This proposal is actually an increase of revenue for the general fund, and, therefore, does not alter any specific lines of my budget.) Personal property tax traditionally has a higher rate of delinquency than real property tax. A number of measures could be put into place that would increase collection. Currently, applicants for a restaurant/liquor license are required to have their pp tax paid prior to renewal. A technolgy-based system (perhaps in conjunction with the ELAM buildout) could broaden the screening to all applicants for a city license or permit. Also, my office and the city attorney could try to identify high profile delinquents for court action and/or publicity regarding their delinquency. However, the mayor would need to consider the potential for "pushback" from the business community. (For perspective, about 10% of the pp accounts go delinquent, compared to 2% of the re tax.)

CDA REDEVELOPMENT
No budget notes.
No 5% reduction because they never had a budget before, so they have nothing to reduce by 5%.

HOUSING OPERATIONS
No budget notes.
No 5% reduction.

MADISON METRO
Budget notes include:
1. An increase from $1.50 to $1.75 for adult cash fares with corresponding increases for all other fare categories. This increase is projected, for purposes of this budget, to occur on 3/1/2009 and are expected to generate $400,000 additional revenue in 2009.

2. No changes in the service level that will be in effect at 1/1/2009. Built into the 2008 and 2009 numbers are the impact of service changes that will occur in October 2008.

3. A reduction in expenses of approximately $300,000 due to new contracts and scheduling efficiencies for purchased paratransit service.

4. An increase in expenses of $150,000 for additional security at transfer points.

5. Diesel fuel expense budget for 2009 is based on a cost of $3.75 per gallon.

5% reductions or increase in revenues includes the following proposals:
- $50,000 Using the automated bus announcement system to allow audio advertising on buses.
- $315,000 An increase from $1.75 to $2.00 for adult cash fares with corresponding increases for other fare categories. This would be in addition to the increase already incorporated in the submitted 2009 budget ($1.50 to $1.75 for adult cash fare with corresponding increases to other fares).
- $175,000 Discontinue providing bus service on seven holidays during the year (New Years Day, Martin Luther King Jr Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day).

PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION
Budget note:
1. Continuation of the additional incremental salary and benefits of the City Engineer for service as the Director of Public Works and Transportation.

No 5% cut suggestions.

ENGINEERING
Budget note:
1. Continuation of existing services

No 5% cut suggestions.

SEWER UTILITY
Budget note:
1. Continuation of Existing Services

2. $220,000 Contribution to the Enterprise Permitting System

3. Transfer of vehicles and equipment that previously were part of the Capital Budget

No 5% cut suggestions.

FLEET SERVICE
No budget notes.

5% cuts include:
The discretionary funds available within the budget have to come from capital asset requests. While this would meet the five percent reduction in the short term, the potential of increased repair cost is extremely high. Fleet service would delay replacement for one year.
Breakdown of the reduction is as follows;

Of the original 24 squads scheduled for replacement in 2009, ($581,897) the budget submitted reduces that number to 12. ($327,994)

This proposal will eliminate squad car replacements in 2009
2 arrow boards $10,000
1 Small car hoist $10,000
Reduce Misc tools and equipment $1,498

It is our opinion that extending the service of 12 squads by one year would have the have the least effect in increased repair costs due to the late in-service of the 2008 replacements.

It appears they made a 5% cut and would request to add all of the following back, however, this is essentially their cuts, I think.
- $72,420 - Reinstate monies for vacant positions:
One “Fleet Technician” and one “Automotive Maintenance Worker
Monies were deleted to meet the operating budget target.
- (4) intermediate sedans $92,000
- (2 )Small SUV $90,000
- 4 Trailers small $16,000

STORMWATER UTILITY
Budget notes:
1. Billings from the Streets Division totalling $2,312,690. This includes full funding of the street sweeping program and an increase from 40% to 50% of the cost of the leaf collection program.

2. $142,000 Contribution to the Enterprise Permitting System.

3. Transfer of vehicles and equipment that previously were part of the Capital Budget

4. Continued partnering with Dane County to improve the cleanliness of area lakes, beaches and shoreland. These efforts include contributing $25,000 to a lake barge and $25,000 toward the Yahara Lakes initiative.

No 5% cuts suggested.

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING
Budget notes include:
1. We are assuming an 8% increase in electrical costs for streetlights, traffic signals and facilities.

2. We are budgeting $20,000 in 2009 for Alliant to provide routine maintenance of street lights. Unlike MGE, charges for routine maintenance is not included in the city's contract with Alliant. Generally, Alliant provides service to the outer portions of the city--which is the fastest growing portion.

5% budget suggestions are:
-In order to meet the budget reduction plan, TE would delay replacing a Traffic Signal Elecitrician 2 planning on retiring in June 2009 for 5 months. We had intended on underfilling this position with an entry-level Traffic Signal Electrician 1 for the last 6 months of 2009 (salary and benefits = $25,707). If this position is not restored two services provided by our Electrical Section will be greatly reduced or even eliminated. They would be the installation of street lights in the new developments and the installation of new fiber optic cable for both the City of Madison and other governmental agencies.
- This proposal would eliminate the Facility maintenance worker position. TE salary and Benefits would reduced by about $63,840 (sal. and ben.); however, since the Parking Utility pays for 25% of this position's salary and benefits the total savings to TE would equal $47,880 (75% X 63,840). This would reduce routine and preventative maintenance at the Sayle street facility. Other staff would be distracted from their primary job responsibilities to provide facility maintenance.
- This request would eliminate $145,560 ($120,000 sal + $13,560 ben + 12,000 supplies) in funding for hourly Traffic Engineering employees. This represents all of our seasonal labor. These employees are generally students that work in the summer months. The majority paint regular and school crosswalks, handicap ramps and speed humps. With out these funds,none of these pavement markings would be repainted in 2009. Some seasonal employees work in the electrical section assisting in the installation of loop detectors and fiber optics. Other hourly employees help in the sign shop manufacturing signs and helping with loading and unloading barricades for block parties. These services would be delayed or reduced.
- Reduce overtime pay for TE staff by almost $17,000 (sal and ben = $19,722). This would reduce 2009 overtime pay from $60,000 (not including ben) to $43,000 (not including ben.) or a cut of over 28%. This would reduce TE's ability to repair and complete projects in a timely fashion. This cut could help to delay traffic signal, sign, pavement marking, and street light installation.
- This proposal would eliminate TE funding of the Speeders Hotline Program. In 2009,TE has budgeted the transfer of $27,000 to the Madison Police Department to fund this program. This would take a tool away from the MPD to identify dangerous drivers.

PARKING UTILITY
Budget notes include:
1. Funds to implement multi-space metering on the street. These meters will accept credit/debit/smart cards and provide the utility with better maintenance/revenue feedback while increasing revenue.

2. Increased expenditures for credit card usage fees which have increased from $100,000 in 2004 to over $288,000 in 2009.

3. Funding of $51,000 for Transportation Demand Management planning from the MPO including TDM plan review and incentives.

4. A payment of $1,164,000 in PILOT compared to $1,055,911 in 2008 and $194,000 to the general fund for usage of on-street parking stalls.

5. Funds to continue the on-line renewals of residential parking permits started in 2008.

6. Substantial rate increase mid-year 2009 to generate an additional $610,000.

There was no requirement for them to makes suggestions to cut 5%.

PARKS
Budget notes include:
1. Funding requests submitted are based on 2008 Adopted operating budget and Comptroller's Office adjustments to meet 2009 operation adjusted base budget.

2. Restoration of the positions of Parks Arborist 1 to our Forestry Section and two (2) Park Maintenance Worker positions to our East Parks and West Parks crews. (2009 Supplemental Budget Request submitted.)

5% cut suggestions include:
- Establishing a Regional Beach Management System that focus our lifeguarding and management efforts at the Tenney, Olbrich, Vilas and BB Clarke Beach locations. The small beach locations of Olin, Warner, Ester, Spring Harbor and Bernie's would be open, not staffed with lifeguards and would be posted "No lifeguard present, Swim at your own risk". Additional costs reductions will be acheived by unifying our Lifeguard 2 positions to Lifeguard 1 positions and reducing the number of Aquatic Supervisor positions. $52,960
- Reduction of object code line item expenditures for 51120, 54000 and 55000.
Reduction of premium pay. $9,600
- Vacancy savings of the delayed hire of 2 Construction positions. $59,000
- Establishing a Regional Ice Skating Management System that will focus our ice skating rink w/ concession locations at Vilas, Tenny and Elver Parks. The small / land based ice skating rinks locations of Warner, Olbrich, Westmorland, Goodman and Garner Parks would be closed. Cost reductions in pt staff for warming house / concession attendants and water, electric and fuel for maintenance of the eliminated rinks. $31,270
- The maintenance cost associated with the introduction of Thut Park, Lost Creek Park, Dominion Park and Door Creek Park into our Park Maintenance System. $31,000
- Reductions at Olbrich - Reduction of object code line item expenditures in the 54000, 55000 and 58000 series. $58,000
- Elimination of the Park Ranger program. The Park Ranger program ran late May - late October. Responsibilities include: After hour Park rule enforcement , shelter and restroom closures and general park security. $43,000
- Reduction of the number of seasonal Park maintenance staff hired for maintenance of City park properties, amenities and facilities in the West Parks, East Parks, Conservation, Forestry, Cemetery and Mall Concourse operations. Reduction will result in a decrease in level of service in maintenance and in our ability to mow and maintain parks, cemetery, conservation areas and medians, pick up trash, clean restrooms and shelters. $431,625
- Eliminate the lifeguarding service at Cypress Spray Park. The Spray Park would be opened and closed daily by Park Staff. $10,726
- Reduction of object code line item expenditures in 51200, 51300 and 55000 series.
The elimination of PT staff to cover the front desk during 4:40 -7;30 on Monday - Friday at Warner Park. The elimination of the purchase of the annual replacement of exercise equipment. $24,000

They want to restore the following:
- Restore the positions of Parks Arborist 1 to our Forestry Section and the two (2) Parks Maintenance Worker positions to our East Parks and West Parks Sections. These three (3) positions, currently vacant were used to balence our 2009 Budget request, to meet the target budget number provided by the Comptroller's Office. $161,100
- The cost of additional utilities, fuel and equipment repair and maintenance associated with the purchase of the new snow making equipment and grooming machine for Elver Park Sled Hill and Ski Trails. $12,000

STREETS
Budget notes include:
1. Reduce funding by one half for sealcoating. Budget reduction of $157,500.

2. Decrease funding for public education regarding Streets Division services by $50,000.

3. Elimination of Streets Division's support for the EnAct program. The EnAct program is a community based resource conservation program administered by the Madison Environmental Group. Budget reduction of $10,000 .

4. A net increase of $491,625 in anticipated revenues from the sale of recyclables to reflect expected market prices in 2009.

Possible cuts to reach 5% are:
- Sealcoating - This is a continuing program to maintain the City’s unimproved streets. Currently, all unimproved streets in the City of Madison are prepped and sealcoated on an approximate five year rotation. The amount of funding required to maintain the current sealcoating cycle of every five years is $315,000. In order to meet the 2009 Operating budget target, one-half of the sealcoating funding has been reduced. This 2009 budget reduction would eliminate the remaining sealcoating budget. Operationally, no unimproved streets would be sealcoated. This would net an additional $157,500 in savings for the 2009 budget.
- This service reduction will result in sanding operations being curtailed at midnight following snowstorms and resume again at 4:00 a.m. the following morning. Residential streets are sanded at the hills, curves and intersections after each snowstorm and after the salting operations are completed. Our current operations have this sanding often being done during the overnight hours. This reduction will delay the sanding of City residential streets until the day following a snowstorm. This service reduction will net a 2009 budget savings of $61,644.
- Leaf collection overtime - Currently, the Streets Division collects loose leaves throughout the City from October through December or until the first significant snowfall. While there is no set schedule to collect leaves, Streets Division crews work ten-hour days and an occasional weekend shift in order to get the approximate 16,000 tons of leaves collected prior to snowfall. By working this overtime, the Street Division usually is able to make 4 –5 cycles throughout the City for fall leaf collection. This budget reduction would result in no overtime funds being utilized to collect leaves and will cause the leaf collection cycle to go from 2-3 weeks per cycle to 3-4 weeks per collection cycle. Instead of making 4-5 cycles during the season, Streets crews would make approximately 3 cycles. This reduction will net a 2009 budget savings of $102,674.
- Currently, the Streets Division has scheduled brush collection once per month from April through October. This budget reduction would eliminate the scheduled brush collection. Two Street Machine Operator 2 positions and two Street and Sewer Maintenance Worker 1 (Hourly) positions would be eliminated. The brush collection cycle would go from a cycle of once per month to an approximate once per 6-week cycle for the same time period of April through October. Crews would systematically work through the collection districts without a set schedule. This budget reduction will net $184,456 in savings. It is important to note that snow and ice response time; leaf collection and other seasonal operations of the Streets Division will suffer with each position eliminated.
- Currently, the Streets Division collects large, bulk items curbside on a weekly basis either the same day or the day after the normal refuse/recycling collection day. This budget reduction would make the collection of large items bi-weekly rather than weekly. Four Street Machine Operator 1 positions would be eliminated. The budget reduction will net $231,615 in savings. It is important to note that snow and ice response time; leaf collection and other seasonal operations of the Streets Division will suffer with each position eliminated.
- Currently, the Streets Division removes tree stumps that are on located on City property and right of ways. The Forestry Division removes all damaged, diseased and dead trees and supplies the Streets Division with the locations of the stumps. Streets Division crews notify Diggers Hotline to locate underground utilities prior to the stump removal. The stump is then ground and the hole is cleaned and filled with topsoil prior to Forestry replanting a replacement tree. This budget reduction will eliminate the stump grubbing program and make the property owners responsible for removing the stumps on their own, should they so wish. This budget reduction would include the elimination of two Street Machine Operator 3 positions and will net the 2009 budget $155,613 in savings. It is important to note that snow and ice response time; leaf collection and other seasonal operations of the Streets Division will suffer with each position eliminated.
- This request will increase from 3” to 4” the amount of snowfall accumulation required before a citywide general plowing operation is performed. General plowing operations require the Streets Division’s full complement of plow trucks, as well as additional private equipment. By increasing the amount of snowfall required before general plowing operations are performed, it is estimated that one less general plowing will be required during the winter months. This budget reduction will net a $164,816 budget savings for 2009.

WATER UTILITY
Budget notes:
1. Funding for continuation of existing services.

2. Reduction of 3 permanent positions - one a meter mechanic 2 position due to retirement, and one water utility operations leadworker and one equipment operator 3 position due to the winding down of the lead service replacement program.

3. The purchase of a truck mounted vactor/hydro-excavator, included in the capital assets section of the budget, with an estimated purchase cost of $325,000.

4. The utility plans to paint 2 water towers in 2009. We had budgeted for the painting of 1 tower in 2008, but only received one bid for the contract and that was over the budget and rejected. It is estimated that it will cost $350,000 per tower to paint them. We paint out towers every 20 years.

5. The utility has filed a formal rate case with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on April 14, 2008 with a requested 18% increase. We are awaiting a decision from the PSCW as to the final rate increase amount and we hope to hear by October of 2008. The revenue figures in the 2009 operating budget request include an estimated 14% rate increase. The rate increase is projected to be phased in beginning with the January 2009 billing and the full 14% increase will be effective with the June 2009 billing. The utility expcts to begin work it's next rate case request and have the application filed with the PSCW in January of 2009. We did not include any additional revenue in 2009 as a result of this filing. Our last full rate increase was granted in August of 2007 and averaged 16%.

6. A bond issue of approximately $11,000,000 is anticipated in the summer of 2009. Our last bond issue was in December of 2007.

They did not submit a 5% budget increase and, in fact, asked for four additional new programs.

POOL
There were no budget notes and there were no recommendations for cuts.

POLICE
Budget notes include:
1. Full year funding for positions that were added for a partial year in 2008. These positions include 30 officers, 1 Lieutenant, 2 Sergeants, 1 Crime Analyst and 1 Information Specialist. There is also partial year funding for 2 Crime Analyst positions funded through mid-year 2009 with federal grants. Funding for these 2 Crime Analysts will begin when federal funds are no longer available.

2. Funds to upgrade 4 Police Officer positions to Sergeant to address supervisory concerns as highlighted in the Etico Patrol Staffing Study.

3. Although no additional Police Officer positions were requested, it is the recommendation of the Police Chief that the City continue to overhire officers to address annual attrition issues, and maintain recommended staffing levels.

4. Funding for computer maintenance contracts and repairs that were previously funded through federal technology grants.

5. Costs to equip two police vehicles so they are patrol ready and able to be utilized throughout the day or night, as well as funding to purchase two additional unmarked squad cars.

6. Continuation of funding for the Downtown Safety Initiative and the Mounted Program. Downtown Safety funding has been maintained primarily for overtime in the Central District. This coincides with recommendations in the Etico Patrol Staffing Study in regards to options available to address the spike in calls for service downtown on weekends. The pilot program for the Mounted Police which was begun in 2008, will be continued with funding provided for the acquisition and/or lease of horses, board fees, and professional fees such as veterinary or farrier services. Additional funds needed to maintain this program will be provided through fundraising efforts.

7. A Supplemental Request to utilize reallocated expenditures and planned revenue increases to fund critical personnel needs in the Records Section. This proposal includes funding to civilianize the Records Manager position to provide continuity of service and needed technical expertise to a position previously held by a Captain. This is part of the ongoing effort of the Police Department to continue to civilianize positions whenever possible, and is in line with recommendations made in the 2003 Staffing Study Committee Report.

8. A Supplemental Request to add Parking staff to address considerable needs related to parking enforcement. The revenue generated from this proposal will fund the added parking staff, the equipment and vehicle needed for those positions, and additional staff for the Records Section. This additional staff is needed in order to address critical concerns related to records management, and to provide timely information for criminal investigations and as part of ongoing efforts to expedite processes in the criminal justice system.

Their suggestions for 5% cuts were as follows:
- Reimbursed for special events costs $408,208 The Department plans for and staffs a series of annual special events. Some of these events are officially sanctioned by the City, and have a sponsor that pays some or all of the costs associated with police services. As a Police Dept. we recognize that, in the interest of public safety, it is our responsibility to staff these events. While the City does receive partial reimbursement for events such as Halloween, Rhythm & Booms, and the Fourth of July Elver Park celebration, the MPD incurs significant costs that are not reimbursed. Additionally, the cost of police service for the Mifflin Street Block Party is funded solely from the Police Operating Budget. This proposal is to require all costs for police services for all special events to be fully reimbursed.
- $29500 In 2007 the MPD negotiated an MOU with the MPPOA to adjust the promotional process to include an assessment center. This portion of the promotional process utilizes an outside vendor to develop and implement an unbiased process designed to highlight the top promotional candidates for the Detective and Sergeant positions. In 2008, staff evaluations indicated substantial satisfaction with this process, and the belief that this is an improvement over previous methods. If this funding is eliminated, the MPD will need to utilize internal staff to develop the testing elements and to assess staff qualifications for promotions. Without the use of expert consultants, significant staff time will need to be reassigned to the development and implementation of the 2009 process.
- $60,000 In 2008, Etico Solutions produced a detailed Patrol Staffing Study for the MPD. Since patrol services is only one portion of the overall police services provided by the MPD, funding has been included in the 2009 budget to analyze staffing levels for the remainder of the Department. This would include investigatives services (such as detectives, investigators), community policing teams, neighborhood officers, the traffic section, various services provided by civilians, etc. Loss of this funding would result in the continued use of recommendations from the 2003 Staffing Study Committee Report in order to determine optimal staffing levels.
- $20,000 As part of the Downtown Safety Initiative, in 2008 the MPD piloted a Mounted Patrol Program focused on providing regular mounted patrol services particularly downtown. These horses have proven invaluable in dealing with large crowds in an efficient and less confrontative manner, and with far fewer staff then would be required if the horses were not available. Utilization of horses in dealing with bar crowds has also proven to be highly effective, since mounted officers are able to see over crowds, and to detect and address conflicts as they are developing, before they turn into major confrontations. The Mounted Patrol has been used effectively both downtown and throughout the city at various special events, and has proven useful in engaging neighborhood populations that are generally not favorable to police interactions.
- $521,692 The School Crossing Guard Program provides an important and valuable service to the community in ensuring the safety and well-being of children as they travel to and from school. Although the MPD believes that the Crossing Guard Program is needed, this program falls within the purview of the Madison Metropolitan School District and they should assume the responsibility to provide funding. This proposal is to eliminate the 50 part-time hourly Crossing Guard positions, and the 2 part-time permanent Crossing Guard Supervisor positions from the Police Department Operating Budget.
- $1,760,655 In order to meet the required 5% budget reduction, the final proposal is to eliminate 26 police officer positions. This would reduce our authorized strength from 438 to 412. A reduction of this magnitude would have a long-term impact on the ability to provide essential service to the community. With the 30 additional officers from 2008 completing their Preservice Training in January, 2009 will be the first year that the Department will be fully staffed in spite of attrition. Over time, this reduction in the level of sworn personnel could result in either the reduction or elimination of programs such as TEST, Community Policing Teams, or Neighborhood Offices, and would directly impact traffic enforcement capabilities. Ultimately, we could be confronted with the need to reduce the number of patrol beats citywide. The potential impact is fewer officers on the street, more dropped calls and lengthier delays in response.
- $7,948 Add 2 Parking Enforcement Officers (PEO) and 1 Leadworker. They would essentially write enough tickets to cover their costs.
- Add staff to Records department and pay for them with parking revenues from hiring additional parking enforcement officers.

FIRE
Budget notes:
1. The goal of maintaining a minimum staffing level of 68 until the opening of Station No. 12, where staffing will increase to 72 on a daily basis. The staffing level assumes both the continuation of creative staffing methods developed by labor and management to optimize personnel resources and an absence level based on future projections and past experience.

2. Funding to staff Station No. 12, which is scheduled to open in April 2009. The staffing includes 9 Firefighters, 5 Lieutenants and 4 Apparatus Engineers. Promotions will not occur until the opening of this Station.

3. Funding to conduct a firefighter Applicant Process resulting in a 2 year, Police and Fire Commission approved, hiring eligibility list, valid until 12/31/10.

4. Funding for 6 new firefighters as part of the first phase of adding an 8th ambulance and to control overtime expenses. The department is currently exceeding 2008 overtime allocation. Each overtime shift, with benefits, cost $1,080. Each shift of regular pay with benefits cost $670, or a savings of about $410 per shift.

5. Funding to conduct at least one promotional process.

6. Funding for a Fall 2009 recruit class of 10 to replace vacancies and anticipated retirements.

7. Matching funding of 20 per cent for the FEMA Assistance to Firefighter Grant FY08 for protective gear.

8. Funding for benefits for the State Heavy Rescue Team continuation training, where the overtime and backfill is funded by the State.

9. Upon a vacancy occurring any Fire Inspector position may be deleted and a non-commissioned Code Enforcement Officer 3 position may be created.

5% cuts recommendations include:
- Not accept the award of $256,500 for firefighter protective gear resulting a savings to the City of $51.300 and a loss of $205,200 in federal funds. The City must replace firefighter gear due to age, wear and damage and is currently replacing old gear as funds are available.
- $122,868 Not fund training replacement employees due to retirements in 2010. The average cost with benefits of a new firefighter is $670 per shift. Failure to train replacements results in overtime with benefits of $1,080 per shift to backfill for vacancies. The Department has in the past requested a budget amendment to fund the annual Fall Recruit Class.
- The 2008 Department budget approved Plan Review revenue at $350,000. The 2009 requests a reduction of $30,000 in Plan Review revenue due to the continued decrease in construction projects.Increase revenue to the 2008 level at $350,000
- $51,800 Delay maintenance and perform only emergency repairs to buildings. Failure to adequately maintain our buildings will result in higher costs for replacement/repair in the future.
- $383,012 8th ambulance & 6 new firefighters. If these positions are eliminated then layoffs would result. in January, 2009 as the class is slated to begin 9/22/08. The 8th ambulance implementation date would need to be reviewed and adjusted. Furthermore, the Department is currently experiencing major overtime expenditures. Each OT shift costs the City $1080 as compared to a regular salary cost of $670 per shift.
- $76,822 Utilities reflect potential price increases. Gas is up 24% over 2007 and its expected to increase 15% higher than 2008. Electric rates are expected to increase 8-10% higher than 2008.
- $39,549 The Department is experiencing annual increases in costs for emergency response equipment and supplies, such as, small saws, and contractual items like laundry services. A reduction of $39,549 is proposed. Repairing this type of equipment is not cost effective.
- $703,102 The reduction includes not opening Station No. 12 and laying off 18 firefighters. The station is planned for opening in April, 2009.The reduction also includes the operating costs for services and supplies.
- $121,800 Firefighter applicant testing process, as part of a bi-annual process, coordinated by the MFD and funded by the City of Madison. The Police and Fire Commission create and approve a hiring eligibility list for the MFD Fire Chief.The Department will not be able to hire future firefighters without this funding as the eligibility list expires December 31. 2008.
- $456,477 The Department needs additional permanent salaries to cover increases in step, incentive, and longevity payments. Without this funding the Department cannot maintain our current authorized staffing. Seven firefighters would need to be llaid off unless funding is approved
- $24,317 Discontinue participation in the State training program recognizing that the City may no longer be part of the State Heavy Rescue Team. Not being on the team may require the City to return any vehicles and equipment covered by these grant funds.

That's it, the department requests boiled down as briefly as possible. We're jsut waiting to see what the mayor does with these requests. His budget will be out next week.

Read more!

The Final 2008 Push to Keep TRCs Doors Open!

I know many of you have used TRC as a resource for you, your kids, your friends and neighbors and clients . . . please consider helping us as we try to finish off the year with our doors open!! We've just about reached our fundraising goals, but the economy is hitting our book sales and seminar registrations and so our goals have been increased.

If you had asked me a year ago if the TRC would still be open at this time this year, I would have said "yes", but I would not have been 100% certain! Thanks to so many generous community donors, fantastic volunteers and dedicated staff, the TRC doors are still open and the phones have not been disconnected! We need your help to stay that way through the end of the year!

On Friday, October 24th from 5 - 7 at the Brink Lounge we will be holding our final fundraiser of the year and we hope to finish with a bang! It's been a hectic year and we have many plans, so we are anxious to finish up with our community fundraising and concentrate more on grantwriting and other activities to help grow the Tenant Resource Center.

So, you know what I'm about to ask! Can you help us out this one more time? And . . . I've got a deal for you! If you sign up as a TRC sustaining donor, we won't bother you with asking you to sponsor our events any more. Details are here.

Otherwise, you can sign up as a sponsor for our event at the following levels!

* $50 Sunny and Spacious Studio

* $100 Charming Flat in Restored Victorian

* $250 Cozy House with Picket Fence

* $500 Affordable Home with a Lake View

*$1,000 Green-Built Mansion

*$2,500 Eco-friendly Island Resort

Please let us know by Wednesday, October 1, 2008. if you would like your name to be included on our general invitation for the event. Sponsorship allows you and a guest to attend the event without a further donation.

Also, you have many options to pay:
1. Paypal
2. Write a check: Tenant Resource Center, 1202 Williamson St. Suite A, Madison WI
3. Call us with your credit card number at 257-0143 (257-0006 for Housing Counseling)
4. Give through Community Shares of Wisconsin at your workplace
5. Give through Community Shares of Wisconsin website
6. Donate through Facebook Causes

We are also taking food donations, silent auction donations and you can place an ad in our program. If interested, let me know.

Who TRC Helps

~ 5,335 individuals received housing counseling in 2007
~ 146,842 individuals visited TRC's website in 2007
~ 7,339 individuals received assistance at the Housing Help Desk in 2007
~ 1,018 individuals, including landlords and tenants, solved their rental disputes as a result of TRC's mediation services in 2007
~ Of the 1,518 families and individuals who requested financial assistance totaling $1,001,368, only 230 were able to receive financial assistance from TRC's Housing Crisis Fund in 2007, which provided $22,194 in small grants.

Funding the Tenant Resource Center

TRC is funded by Dane County Human Services, the City of Madison, and Community Shares of Wisconsin. Other sources of funding are derived from statewide seminars, publication sales, and generous donations. In 2007, the Tenant Resource Center suffered a loss of almost $100,000 when US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Associated Students of Madison (UW ASM) discontinued funding for two major programs. Because we believe that what we do for tenants and landlords throughout Wisconsin is so important, your gift will help us to continue our mission. Any contribution is greatly appreciated!

Many, many, many thanks for your continued support! We can't do it without you!

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TODAY: Rally to Stop the Bailout

I keep trying to think about what I would do to change the world with $700,000,000,000. And, are they saying that capitalism has failed? It still boggles my mind.

Stop the Bailout! Honk for Economic Justice

Where: Madison Villager Mall, 2300 South Park St.

When: 5pm – 6pm, Thursday, September 25

Contact: Steve Burns, Program Coordinator, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice outreach@wnpj.org, (608) 250-9240, cell: (608) 332-3717

Madison residents will be joining with people in dozens of other cities across the U.S. in a nationwide protest against the Bush bailout of reckless Wall Street investment bankers. Outraged citizens will be gathering in front of Madison's Villager Mall at 5:00 pm to bring the message: "Stop the bailout!" to Madison commuters. Motorists will be asked to "Honk for Economic Justice" as a show of opposition to the Bush administration's attempt to bail out investment banks that made reckless investments in mortgage-backed securities.

"Six years ago, President Bush railroaded the country into a disastrous war with phony warnings of catastrophe. Congress was told that if they didn't give Bush the power to go to war, they might see New York disappear under a mushroom cloud. Now, Bush is back with more scare tactics. He says that if his Treasury Secretary isn't given a blank check drawn on the public's bank account - right now - economic catastrophe will result. We're not buying it," said Steve Burns, Program Coordinator of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.

Nobel-Prize-winning economist Joseph Stieglitz blames decades of deregulation, including the 1999 repeal of the depression-era Glass Steagall act, for the crisis and says that any plan must include strict re-regulation of the financial industry.

Dean Baker, Economist and co-director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, says that any plan "has to be punitive, if it’s serious. It shouldn’t be a field day. We shouldn’t have people lining up to get in. That’s telling us that this is not a serious bailout. So the idea that the administration is proposing is that the people who were engaged in incredibly reckless behavior, who made out like bandits, getting tens of millions of dollars in salary and compensation over the last few years are now going to get this $700 billion blank check from the American taxpayer. It’s just unbelievable. "

Journalist William Greider of the Nation Magazine calls the Bush bailout "an historic swindle of the American public" and says "Washington should literally take control of the banking and finance sector and employ its emergency powers to oversee and direct these private, profit-making enterprises. If any bankers do not wish to play, cut them off from any public assistance (and wish them good luck). Then government can exercise temporary supervisory powers that force banking to cooperate with economic recovery by sustaining lending and investment to the real economy."

“There are many good plans for protecting the economy without rewarding corporate criminals, but those plans won’t mean a thing if we don’t first stop the Bush plan, or any plan like it,” said Steve Burns of Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice. “We’re calling on Congress to cancel its planned recess and stay in session and hold public hearings to drag every one of these Wall Street criminals before the cameras. Congress should explain to them that any public funds will be accompanied by full public control. If the public is paying to bail you out, then the public should get to call the shots on who and what you invest in. And that means real investments in green energy and living-wage jobs. Let’s see how many of these CEOs are still interested in a bailout after they hear that.”

Read more!

Do you know some who needs home repairs?

Project Home may be able to help.

Project Home seeks financially eligible Dane County homeowners with home repair needs to apply to Hammer with a Heart for free home repair by qualified volunteers. Families are encouraged to apply.

Applications are available online ProjectHomeWI.org or call 608.246.3737, ask for Susan.

Application Deadline: November 14, 2008 (earlier date than previous years).

Hammer with a Heart event is Saturday, May 2, 2009

Note: Income levels have been raised to increase the number of individuals and families who are eligible for this program.

Hammer with a Heart Eligibility Requirements
- Single family owner occupied home, not a mobile home or condominium
- Located within Dane County
- Home must be in need of repairs or accessibility improvements, but structurally sound
- Repairs must be finished in approximately one day (some prep or finish work ok)
- Total annual household income must not exceed income below.

Household Size Maximum Annual Income
1 $20,620
2 $27,650
3 $34,680
4 $41,710
5 $48,740
6 $55,770
7 $62,800
8 $69,830

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Walk to School Week

I can't attach the form, but here the info.

Dear Partner for a Safe Community:

Our annual Walk to School Week Campaign (October 6-10) will again be held in conjunction with International Walk to School Day. We encourage all interested schools, police departments and neighborhoods to organize their own Walk to School event at your school, and/or join us for Madison Area SAFE KIDS Walk to School Week kickoff, hosted by Cottage Grove Schools and Police Department: October 8, 2008 Cottage Grove Elementary School 470 N. Main Street Bus drop-off of students at Community Park: 7:20-7:30 AM Students are walked to the elementary school. After all students arrive in their classrooms, the students will be taken to the gymnasium where a short (5 minute) program will occur.


Interested in organizing an event at your school? Attached is the form for you to let us know what is happening at your school so that we can build the calendar for the week and share with the media as well. Please let us know what resources you need for your "walk" on the form as well. Forms are due back to me (Nan Peterson) by Monday, September 29 (email npeterson@uwhealth.org or fax 265-9650). Walk to School Week Goals: · to encourage safe walking behaviors; · to educate drivers in school zones; · and to enjoy the health benefits of walking. Much work has been done this past year to improve problem areas around schools, develop traffic plans, and educate parents about safe drop-off behaviors. This year we hope to encourage the use of more walking school buses. Thanks to all of our partners in this county-wide effort. Questions? Contact either myself or Lisa Bullard-Cawthorne (444-3542). Thanks! Nan Nan Peterson, RN, MS Advocacy & Injury Prevention Programs Coordinator American Family Children's Hospital 600 Highland Avenue-Mail Code 4165 Madison, WI 53792-4165 608.262.9993 FAX: 608.265.9650 Email: npeterson@uwhealth.org Website: www.uwhealth.org/kidsafety

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Allied: Agreement Broken, Now What?

For nearly two months I've been asking a question . . . and I get at least a partial answer in the newspaper today.

Financing of the first phase of the Allied project rested first on $7.49 million in tax credits awarded in April through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. The CDA is working with Chicago-based National Equity Fund, a national syndicator of low-income housing tax credits, on the sale of those credits, Olinger said Friday. He also said the remaining $1.5 million in financing will come through other mortgages that the CDA is pursuing on a number of fronts.

So, they are still working on selling the credits and they are pursuing other mortgages. However, our legally binding agreement with the CDA says that this was supposed to be in place by August 1st. I've emailed and asked in person what happens now. Still no answer. I've asked my question of the Mayor, Mark Olinger, the Alder . . . and finally I got a glimpse of hope that I might get an answer two days ago.

Alder:
I am working on a response and should have that completed by this time tomorrow.
Thanks.
m.

Tomorrow came and went.

So, if the agreement says:

The Cooperation and Development Agreement shall be null and void and of no further effect if the CDA fails to obtain at least $9,000,000 in firm financing commitments by August 1, 2008.

then now what? Seriously. Can someone answer the freaking question? We have a null and void agreement to essentially give the land to the CDA. Now what?
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School Referendum Info

While the City does not run the schools, their fate is closely tied to ours. Here's some updates on the School Referendum.

- The referendum web site is up. www.mmsd.org/mmsdtv/refweb/ This
site contains a great deal of information on the upcoming referendum.

- Public Referendum Information Sessions have been scheduled.
* Tuesday, October 7, 6:30pm, Sherman Middle School
* Thursday, October 16, 6:30pm, Jefferson Middle School
* Wednesday, October 22, 6:30pm, Wright Middle School
* Tuesday, October 28, 6:30pm, Sennett Middle School

- For Eastsiders, or probably anyone else, here's a note from Carole Trone who is organizing a forum on the referendum.

Hello Lapham and Marquette families,

You are probably aware that the Madison school district will be facing another tough year (and another and another) of budget cuts. Many of us are working on getting the revenue caps funding formula changed at the state level. In the meantime, Madison needs the funding from the proposed referendum to keep our schools strong! The Tenney Lapham neighborhood has many households without school-aged children, but the support is very strong here and elsewhere for our neighborhood schools.

The Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Association (TLNA) is sponsoring a school referendum forum at the beautiful new Goodman Atwood Community Center on 149 Waubesa Street (plenty of parking and right off the bike path). This event will take place on:

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 from 6-8 PM

Food will be provided. Superintendent Dan Nerad and members of the school board are scheduled to attend.

Please come! Even if you plan on voting for the referendum on November 4, it is important that you understand what it's about so you can explain it to more skeptical friends and neighbors. Enjoy the food and the beautiful, impressive setting of the new Goodman Community Center.

Please contact me if you have questions and spread the word!

Carole Trone
Lapham, Marquette and East High parent
TLNA education chair

Read more!

Operating Budget Dates

While the Capital Budget is well underway, we haven't even seen the Operating Budget yet. However, so far I have heard $2 bus fares, WYOU will be cut by $140,000 which is all their funding and Sister Cities will be cut in half. If you're anxious to see what else is up, here's some dates of importance.

Mayor Introduces 2009 Operating Budget
Board of Estimates Report on 2009 Capital Budget Decisions
Common Council Meeting October 7, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. Room 201, CCB

Board of Estimates Meeting
2009 Operating Budget Deliberations
Monday, October 13, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. Room 260, MMB
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. Room 260, MMB

Board of Estimates Amendments to 2009 Operating Budget Due to Comptrollern Tuesday, October 21, 2008 by 12 noon.

Board of Estimates Meeting
2009 Operating Budget Decisions
Monday, October 27, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. Room 260, MMB

Public Hearing on 2009 Operating Budget
Board of Estimates Report on 2009 Operating Budget Decisions
Common Council Meeting
October 28, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. Room 201, CCB

Common Council Amendments due to Comptroller
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 12 noon

Amendments submitted distributed to Common Council
Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 12 noon.

Common Council 2009 Budget Meetings
Tuesday, November 11 at 5:30 p.m. Room 201, CCB
Wednesday, November 12 at 5:30 p.m. Room 201, CCB
Thursday, November 13 at 5:30 p.m. Room 201, CCB

If you care about budget issues, I wouldn't wait, start contacting your elected officials now!
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Hold your breath.

Air quality watch . . .

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is issuing an Air Quality Watch for Particle Pollution for Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Jefferson, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Rock, Sauk, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington and Waukesha counties effective midnight on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 through 11:59 pm on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 .

The watch is being issued because of the forecast for elevated levels of fine particles in the air. Fine particle pollution is composed of microscopic dust, soot, liquid droplets and smoke particles that are 2.5 microns or smaller. These fine particles come primarily from combustion sources, such as power plants, factories and other industrial sources, vehicle exhaust, and outdoor fires.

The Air Quality Index is forecast to reach the orange level, which is considered unhealthy for people in sensitive groups. People in those sensitive groups include those with heart or lung disease, asthma, older adults and children. When an air quality watch is issued, people in those groups are advised to reschedule or cut back on strenuous activities during the watch period.

People with lung diseases such as asthma and bronchitis and heart disease sho uld pay attention to cardiac symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath or respiratory symptoms like coughing, wheezing and discomfort when taking a breath, and consult with their physician if they have concerns or are experiencing symptoms. Fine particle pollution deposits itself deep into the lungs and cannot easily be exhaled. People who are at risk are particularly vulnerable after several days of high particle pollution exposure.

To receive air quality advisories by e-mail, visit http://dnr.wi.gov/air/newsletters/.

There are several actions the public can take to reduce their contributions to this regional air quality problem.

* Reduce driving when possible and don't leave vehicle engines idling.
* Postpone activities that use small gasoline and diesel engines.
* Minimize outdoor wood fires.
* Conserve electricity.
* For more ideas on how you can reduce your emissions today and every day visit: Do a little, save a lot!

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Board of Estimates Capital Budget Votes

I blogged this during the meeting. But it is not quite "live blogged".

Alders from the Board of Estimates (Bruer, Verveer, Clear, Rhodes-Conway, Clausius, Sanborn) plus alders Schumacher, Webber, Gruber, Rummel, Palm. (I think that is it.)

The meeting started with testimony on the Public Market.

The amendments can be found here.

AMENDMENT #1
The Mayor fixes a bunch of missed reauthorizations in the budget. It's over $9.2M. The amendment has no impact on the levy.

Passes without comment.

AMENDMENT #2
Ald. Sanborn wants a new ambulance this year instead of next year. The ambulance will cost us $205,000 and has a Levy Impact of 26,548. However, adding the staff in the operating budget would have a much, much bigger impact.

Mayor politely explained to Sanborn that even if we wanted the ambulance in place, they can't hire and train fast enough to get the ambulance on line until 2010. Chief says could get it on-line half way through 2009 but we would be paying overtime and they still couldn't do it until August 3rd. Even when purchase an ambulance it takes 6 months to get it in the door and a few more months to equip it. Sanborn places his own motion on file.

AMENDMENT #3
Ald. Rhodes-Conway wants to remove funding for Tasers. This would cut $35,000 and save $4,533 on the levy.

Police department is here to answer questions. They describe "the memo". They make an argument that they need even more tasers than the 253 that they are programed for. They are saying 178 is what they need today. i.e. for a football game. The Chief and police department ended up supporting a deletion of funds for tasers in future years to re-evaluate the technology and pause to see what the effectiveness of the taser program is. The motion was amended to not purchase tasers in 2010, but purchase them in 2009. Passed unanimously.

AMENDMENT #4
Ald. Verveer wants to move up funding for State St. That would have us spending $120,000 in TIF funds in 2009 and $600,000 in 2010. These are TIF funds so there is no levy impact.

Alder Verveer says that this is to get the budget back in line with the 2008 Capital Budget. Mayor says that it was moved back to wait for TID cash, he says there will be cash in the TID in 2009, but if we spend it there won't be any in 2010. The comptroller says to look at the cash flow statements at the end of the budget. They have since gotten better numbers and based on the later numbers, there will be more money than originally projected. So, even tho this district is negative, there is alot of growth going on, but we might still need to borrow in 2010. However, moving it up a year means we won't have to borrow for it in 2009. (I hope that made sense.) Mayor continues to argue against funding in 2009. The engineers speak to the merits of moving forward. The Mayor is arguing that it will cost us $300,000 more, but acknowledges that our estimates might not be accurate and things could change so he supports a less agressive timeline. I smell a compromise happening. Comptroller is explaining that we need to look at if we have cash or have to borrow until much later. Mike suggests a compromise to add language that adopts Verveer's amendment with the proviso that it will be spent only if there is cash. The amendment is tabled. temporarily.

They went back to this item after item #7, added language that says that they won't borrow money for this project. Motion passed unanimously.

AMENDMENT #5
Ald. Sanborn wants to cut funding to make improvements to the Council Chambers. The City would pay $300,000 and the County would pay $300,000. This is a project we have been talking about doing since 2001 when I got on the Council. This would have a levy impact of $38,851.

Sanborn moved adoption. Claims that the plans are elaborate and that we don't need to make the dias accessible for people with disabilities. And its ok if our mics don't work. Alder Bruer explains that this will bring us into compliance with ADA. Bruer says this should have been done several years ago. He says there is no "frill" and it is a "bare bones" plan and that so many other communities have accessible facilities with modern day audio/visual equipment. Jeanne Hoffman, our facilities manager, says that Ald. Bruer is correct that this is about ADA, better audio/visual and energy efficient windows. Larry Nelson adds that the room is set up backwards and notes that the public can't see the public presentations. The county is trying to make the room better for the general public. Ald. Sanborn is worried that we doing something too elaborate in building a permanent ramp instead of a temporary one. Jeanne says that the designs have not been finalized. Webber chimes in about a meeting that she was at where someone had to be lifted up to chair the meeting and says this is not only a legal, but a fairness issue. Also says it is important for the public to see the presentations. Clear asked where the numbers came from and it came from the County Board Office. Rhodes-Conway wants to make sure that we work closely with the County to make sure that the elaborate description by Sanborn doesn't happen, but we do need the project to move forward for accessiblity reasons. Sanborn says that $600,000 is too much for our meeting space. Bruer says that we need to scrutinize this as it moves forward, but we do need to move forward. There was something about Pacers, Chevys and Cadillacs . . . but it all comes down to accessiblity and public access. Verveer says that the City-County Liaison Committee is not a good enough place to discuss this and Verveer would like to have a user's group or CCOC group work on this project and that we shouldn't let the County drive the process without our input. The item failed, Jed was only voice vote in support. Clear asked that "former Ald. Brandon's button" be incorporated in the design.

AMENDMENT #6
Ald. Sanborn wants to remove funding for the Renewable Energy Project. This is $100,000 with a levy impact of $12,950.

Sanborn says solar panels are inefficient and this is an area where the City should not be a leader and that the technology is changing. Ald. Rhodes-Conway asked questions about the MG&E program. The electicity sold back to MG&E is twice what it was and with the Focus on Energy rebates, there is about a 10 year payback, it's a little longer. It's even faster payback if you have a commercial site and can get the tax benefits. This is renewable energy funding and photovoltaic is just one option. Solar/thermal is not being used at some fire stations. Jed asks questions about the wording, Jeanne says that there should be more expansive language used. It failed, I'm not sure even Jed voted for it. It was a voice vote.

AMENDMENT #7
Ald. Rhodes-Conway wants to cut the remodel of the Human Resources office. (Mostly because they essentially admitted that they can fix the problem with the office with a sign!) It saves us $25,000 and has a Levy Impact of $3,238.

Rhodes-Conway says we should try the cheap fix before we do the expensive one. Move the desks or filing cabinets before we remodel the office. Ms. Hoffman was back answering questions. There is a report that the Madison Police Department put together in regard to the security of their office. Some of the things in the report have been accomplished. Mostly, this needs to be done for security and it has alot of public contact. Jeanne says that the reception area needs to look professional and less dated. Rhodes-Conway asked about Police Department assessments of safety of offices. Larry Nelson says the Engineering and Treasurer's offices are not ADA compliant. Motion passed. There was one no vote - I think it was Clear. (There is a reason to call roll call.)

AMENDMENT #8
Alds. Rhodes-Conway and Webber want to cut funding for the S & M roads. These are county roads. It's cuts several projects for a total of $3,023,000 and has a Levy Impact of $115,259.

"Fix it first" is the reason for this amendment. Rhodes-Conway wants us to apply it to our projects. We should be doing resurfacing and reconstruction should be done first. She's not as convinced that we need to be looking at expansion. No one can tell her how much it costs to maintain a lane mile. We need to know how much this costs the city over all. The second reason for the amendment she doesn't feel like we have done an appropriate assessment of need. Because of the global needs, are single occupancy vehicles what we will be dealing with in the future.

Ald. Webber passed around a letter from an engineer that says that this is being over-built and that we could fix it for 1/5th of the price. She argues we should at the very least put off this project. There is less development going on, we don't know how gas prices will impact our traffic future and vehicles miles traveled are going down and there is no county funding for these county roads. She also wants us to look at the traffic projections. Robbie says the total project costs are going to be $52M for the corridor and $20M for the intersection. Ald. Webber also suggests that we look at The Natural Step principles and do some backcasting instead of forecasting. Robbie also said the neighbors are not in support, there are 8 homes being removed and the people being there the longest are the ones that will have to move.

Ald. Sanborn urged them to vote no. He says it is desperately needed. He said that no one objected to those plans. (I wasn't at the table, but I would have pointed out that yes, we discussed this at length with this intersection!) He says this programs should have been done years ago. He also lobbed a few bombs that if we wanted to hold the county accountable for the roads, we also need to hold them accountable for the human services needs because that is their responsibilities then made a libertarian arguement about backcasting and The Natural Step and us telling people what to do.

Alder Clear thinks that we should separate the projects. Larry Nelson and Brad Murphy showed us the plans that we have approved and how little we have actually developed. (I moved so I could see the presentation - esentially, Brad had maps that showed that very little of what was planned is currently built or being built.) (Ok - I also went to the table to have Brad provide us with the information about how we discussed the roads and their capacity at length during the planning process.) Larry also told us that he does have numbers of what the city taxpayer pays for the roads - he came up with the number 17%, but I was unclear what that meant. Is that 17% of the tax bill or 17% of the project is paid for by local taxes . . . I'll have to follow up. He said he'd send us the numbers.

Ald. Clear says that there are 25 - 30 years of growth and that we would be irresponsible if we didn't build these roads. And, don't forget about Research Park II. (My comment: Maybe the UW should chip in?) He's sympathetic to the concerns about county funding. He says there is nothing we can do to get them to pay for their roads.

Mayor appreciates what Alds. Rhodes-Conway and Webber have to say, but Research Park II is biggest economic generator and we forced them to build denser and so we will have more traffic. Mark Bugher would have been here but had a family crisis, he would have said that the City has to build raods for the additional density. Mayor also said that we can't give up on the county paying their share. He then said that all road expansions are not bad. Hwy 12 was bad, but here we already have plans and we have to support them, so we should support this.

Ald. Rhodes-Conway said she didn't think it would pass, but she made her point. She would like to see a better conversation about the scale of the projects that we do and that we should get better information on the actual costs when we do neighborhood plans. Failed, with only Rhodes-Conway in support.

AMENDMENT #9
Sanborn wants to cut funding for Central Park. It would save $250,000 and have a Levy Impact of $32,376.

Ald. Sanborn says that we should maintain the parks we have and that this project should be done through private fundraising.

Mark Olinger explained in response to questions from Ald. Rhodes-Conway that this money is for ped and bicycle improvements and this is the matching money that is required for the federal funds we are getting from Tammy Baldwin. This is an 80%/20% match, meaning we only pay 20% and the private sector will pay for part of the 20%.

Ald. Rummel says MG&E donated $45,000 and the land is owned by Center for Resilient Cities (formerly Urban Land).

Failed, Jed was the only one in support.

AMENDMENT #10
Mayor Dave is adding money to the budget for funding for a project manager for the Capitol Gateway (E Washington Ave.) It would cost $50,000 but has not levy impact because it would be paid for with TIF funds.

He didn't want to fund this in his operating budget, but they do have TIF money so it could be funded here instead, probably a contract position. The Comptroller pointed out that if you look at pg 156 there is a cash balance available, so there will be no borrowing. Bruer argued that this was a good use of funds. Passed unanimously.

AMENDMENT #11
Ald. Sanborn is cutting funding for the Municipal Art Fund. It would save $112,000 and save $14,505 on the levy.

Ald. Sanborn says that art should be privately funded. He thinks private foundations should pay for it. Staff says some of these projects have been on the list since 2003. Art helps keep the value of neighborhoods and as an economic development tool. Plus, they only spend $8,000 a year to maintain what they have. They recently spend $2,500 and the neighborhood raised $40,000 to save a piece of art. $9,000 is temporary public art and it is part of the public art plan that we adopted to help cultivate a creative class. She also talked about how the art piece for Allied Drive will be a major neighborhood identifier. Also, Verveer pointed out that much of it is reauthorizations. Also, they pointed out that most other communities have a percentage of money set aside for art, but we only set aside $30,000. Ald. Clausius asked about some art in his district. Staff pointed out that this money is only seed money to signal to other funders that the City is interested. Ald. Bruer, while arguing against this money in the past, is now in support. Alder Gruber and Verveer agree, art adds so much to our community and that they are doing so much with so little. Ald. Sanborn followed up by saying that we shouldn't be taxing people for this. Motion failed, with only Sanborn voting in support (I think).

AMENDMENT #12
Alds. Clear, Rummel and Verveer are adding funding for the Public Market. It would be $250,000 with a Levy Impact of $32,376.

Ald. Clear moved adoption. Alder Rummelexplained that this project is dead without this funding. Basically, they would have to start all over. Ald. Rummel says this isn't a new project, its something we have been working on. She wants to have some of those discussions that people asked about earlier in the meeting, but without this money, we won't have the opportunity to have those discussions.

Ald. Rhodes-Conway spoke in favor of moving forward. This has potential for economic development and youth programming. However, her support is conditioned on a better public discussion about the project, including the bigger picture of the Government East Parking Ramp, the Brayton Lot, and the Municipal Building (and I'd add the Library).

Ald. Clear says he loves the idea of the public market and that in Seattle it is an economic development engine, but he is willing to let go of it. He says he's having a hard time making the economic development argument for it. He's not convinced that it can be successful here.

Alder Gruber spoke against. He likes the idea not the location and wants a report.

Alder Clausius also ready to let it go and is upset about the location.

The Mayor supports the project but thinks there is too much on our plate and that we are being spread too thin. He used to think we should plant a thousand seeds and see what blooms, but now he thinks that we need to guard our resources more in these tough economic times. He says this is not the time to advance another project. It will be too hard on the philanthropic community. However, he wants to move forward eventually.

Ald. Rummel says that the competition for the money isn't with the library and Overture, but its with the Feds. If you vote it down now, its done. If you don't want to have the conversation. We have already invested in this. We are one of the main partners.

Mayor doesn't accept Ald. Rummel's premise and he thinks it will be back. He isn't concerned about loss of momentum and thinks it will still move foward.

The motion failed 3-3 with the Mayor voting against. I believe it was Verveer, Bruer and Rhodes-Conway vs Clear, Clausius, Sanborn.

AMENDMENT #13
Ald. Verveer is adding money to the Capital Budget in 2010 and 2011 for improvements to the Senior Center. There is no impact on the levy.

Alder Verveer explained why the project is so important to the 25 year old facility. Since there was no future projects mention, he wanted it in there as a placeholder. Passed unanimously on a voice vote.

They adopted as amended without discussion and adjourned at 8:05.

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The Fall-Is-Here Week Ahead

Here is, a lighter-than-usual week . . .

Monday, September 22, 2008
3:00 PM TOT STUDY COMMITTEE 615 E. WASHINGTON AVE.
- This might be an interesting meeting, but you can't tell from the agenda. They will be voting on some recommendations that don't appear to be available to the public.

4:30 PM BOARD OF ESTIMATES ROOM 260 MMB
- Halloween Amendments
Glass free zone
Frank Productions
Amending budget for expenses
- Capital Budget (See here for a summary of the budget and the amendments)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
4:00 PM SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AND ENERGY COMMITTEE ROOM 300 MMB
- Solar/Wind Ordinance
- Water Conservation Report

4:30 PM WATER UTILITY BOARD 119 E. OLIN AVE.
- Water conservation plan
- Trying to escape open meetings laws

5:00 PM AFFIRMATIVE ACTION COMMISSION ROOM LL-120 MMB
- Plans to increase diversity on committees, commissions and boards
- Plans to increase diversity in hiring

5:00 PM PEDESTRIAN/BICYCLE/MOTOR VEHICLE COMMISSION ROOM 260 MMB
- Snow
- Downtown transportation plan

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
4:30 PM URBAN DESIGN COMMISSION ROOM LL-110 MMB
- Villager Mall and Urban League
- Movie Theatre
- Meriter Campus Master Plan

Thursday, September 25, 2008
Nothing?

There may be other meetings yet on the agenda, like the Inclusionary Zoning Oversight committee on Friday morning. So check back on the weekly schedule.
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Amplified Sound at James Madison Park Next Weekend

Heads up for the neighborhood.

On Saturday, September 27, Volunteers for Obama will hold a fund-raiser and record-breaking (they hope) Twist-o-rama at James Madison Park. They will have amplified sound from 11 am - 4 pm - only for announcements, no music. If they are rained out, they will try it on September 28.

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First Swing of the Capital Budget Ax.

Here's a brief list of the items that are proposed as amendments to the Capital Budget. The list should be available in Legistar later today (usually late afternoon) and I'll link it here when it is. Meanwhile, here's a brief summary of mostly cuts of over $4M.

AMENDMENT #1
The Mayor fixes a bunch of missed reauthorizations in the budget. It's over $9.2M. The amendment has no impact on the levy.

AMENDMENT #2
Ald. Sanborn wants a new ambulance this year instead of next year. The ambulance will cost us $205,000 and has a Levy Impact of 26,548. However, adding the staff in the operating budget would have a much, much bigger impact.

AMENDMENT #3
Ald. Rhodes-Conway wants to remove funding for Tasers. This would cut $35,000 and save $4,533 on the levy.

AMENDMENT #4
Ald. Verveer wants to move up funding for State St. That would have us spending $120,000 in TIF funds in 2009 and $600,000 in 2010. These are TIF funds so there is no levy impact.

AMENDMENT #5
Ald. Sanborn wants to cut funding to make improvements to the Council Chambers. The City would pay $300,000 and the County would pay $300,000. This is a project we have been talking about doing since 2001 when I got on the Council. This would have a levy impact of $38,851.

AMENDMENT #6
Ald. Sanborn wants to remove funding for the Renewable Energy Project. This is $100,000 with a levy impact of 12,950.

AMENDMENT #7
Ald. Rhodes-Conway wants to cut the remodel of the Human Resources office. (Mostly because they essentially admitted that they can fix the problem with the office with a sign!) It saves us $25,000 and has a Levy Impact of $3,238.

AMENDMENT #8
Alds. Rhodes-Conway and Webber want to cut funding for the S & M roads. These are county roads. It's cuts several projects for a total of $3,023,000 and has a Levy Impact of $115,259.

AMENDMENT #9
Sanborn wants to cut funding for Central Park. It would save $250,000 and have a Levy Impact of $32,376.

AMENDMENT #10
Mayor Dave is adding money to the budget for funding for a project manager for the Capitol Gateway (E Washington Ave.) It would cost $50,000 but has not levy impact because it would be paid for with TIF funds.

AMENDMENT #11
Ald. Sanborn is cutting funding for the Municipal Art Fund. It would save $112,000 and save $14,505 on the levy.

AMENDMENT #12
Alds. Clear, Rummel and Verveer are adding funding for the Public Market. It would be $250,000 with a Levy Impact of $32,376.

AMENDMENT #13
Ald. Verveer is adding money to the Capital Budget in 2010 and 2011 for improvements to the Senior Center. There is no impact on the levy.

So, the first budget salvos have been fired. More to come. They vote on these amendments on Monday at the Board of Estimates meeting at 4:30 in Room 260 of the Municipal Building (215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.).
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How Many Tasers Do We Need?

Q: How many Tasers do we need?
A: Blah, blah, blah, blah. In short, I can't answer that right now.

Q: Can you get me the information about how many Tasers we need?
A: Yes.

The first round of amendements were due the 16th, this memo was written on the 17th. So, here's the answer. Sort of.

TO: Ald. Rhodes-Conway
FROM: Terri Genin, Police Finance Manager
SUBJECT: Taser deployment

At the Board of Estimates meeting on September 8, you requested detailed information in regards to the Police Dept. request for Tasers, which was included in the capital budget for 2009. This is a very difficult number to calculate because of all the variables. However, I will attempt to explain our calculations to date.

At present we have the following personnel, which may overlap shifts due to either scheduling or unforeseen incidents that extend a work shift:

- Patrol 1st detail officers 31
- Patrol 2nd detail officers 44
- Patrol 1st & 2nd Sgts 11
- Neighborhood officers 12
- Detectives 64
- School ERO’s 4
- CPT officers & Sgts 32
- Canine officers 3
- TEST officers & Sgts 7
- Court Services officers 2
- Field Lts 2
- Grants & Special Duty 15
- Field Training for Academy 18
- In addition, 3 tasers are assigned to the Training Dept. and at any given time 3-5 tasers are down for service.

This totals 253 tasers. However, it’s unlikely that on most days this is the number of tasers actually needed. It is rare to have all 5 CPT’s working at the same time there is a special grant or TEST initiative. It is also unlikely that all 64 Detectives would overlap shifts on the same date and time. The challenge is trying to anticipate when and where those overlaps might occur. This challenge is compounded by decentralization, as the Dept. must have additional tasers on hand throughout the city, rather than just a central pool in one location.

It’s important to note that the Patrol staff listed above is not the total number assigned to those shifts. Instead, due to rotating days off, I only included 2/3 of the number assigned to each shift in my count. For special events, we often change days off so that all shifts and all rotations work overlapping hours.

So, rather than use direct counts, I did a fairly quick evaluation of several dates in the fall. The fall is a fairly active time and there are often special initiatives particularly related to Downtown Safety, traffic enforcement, and special grants. Based on scheduling info, and considering the upcoming field training for the Academy, in general we would need about 200 tasers to ensure that most staff had access to a taser regardless of their district assignment or the potential for other shifts to overlap their work hours. However, to ensure that in all cases other than special events such as Rhythm & Booms or the Mifflin Street Block Party, we should adhere to the current capital plan to have 220 tasers by 2010.

As of 2008, the MPD has 137 tasers. The 2009 plan would provide for the purchase of approximately 41 additional tasers (depending on cost increases and shipping), which would give us a total of 178 tasers in 2009. As you can see, even with the capital funds in 2009, the availability of a taser for all trained personnel would not be guaranteed.

I hope this helpful. My phone number is 266-4477 if you have additional questions or concerns.

Q: So, how many tasers do we need?
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This is only a test.

Find out where your bus is!

If you have taken a Metro Transit bus within the last couple of years, you have likely noticed that there is new equipment on the bus that provides information to passengers in an automated way. For example; there are audio/visual signs on the bus announcing the time and the next bus stop. A bus arriving at a stop audibly announces its route. There are electronic signs at several major bus stops that display current real time status of buses serving the stop.

At this time, Metro is pleased to announce that we are testing WEBWATCH; a new component of the system that provides real time transit information on the Internet. This module is provided to Metro Transit as part of a contract between the City and the Continental Corporation.

Please keep in mind that this is a test. This email is being sent to email accounts in the City of Madison, All Email Users group only. The address is as follows: http://webwatch.cityofmadison.com/webwatch/

You should be able to access the site from any computer with an Internet connection. This is not the website address that we will publicize after the testing phase. When released to the public the site will be available as a link from mymetrobus.com and cityofmadison.com

You may have different experiences depending on the Internet browser that you use; for example the Virtual Earth Map does not work with Firefox and the Google Maps interface seems to work faster with the Firefox browser.

Please note this disclaimer: This site is in testing mode. Please check the Metro Transit Website for information regarding detours and stop closures. This site may not show accurate information where route and stop deviations occur. During special events or severe weather, buses running severely late may be rescheduled or replaced with extra vehicles.

What this means is that there may be times when the service on the street is not accurately reflected on the website. That is why we are doing this test prior to a general release to the public.

If you use the site please email me your experiences, both good and bad.

Thanks for your help.

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Wrong Foot Forward.

I feel a little betrayed.

When we voted for a person to replace Zach Brandon on the City Council to represent the residents of the 7th District, I expected them to do little except be present and help constituents. This person (Libby Monson) has no committee assignments and should have a relatively light load. But I kind of expected them to at least be here. So, when I got the following email, I felt a little bit deceived.

Ald. Libby Monson will be absent from the city from Monday, September 22 through Monday, October 13, 2008 and unable to attend any meetings during that time.

She will not be in attendance at the October 7, 2008 Common Council meeting.

In the least, we should have been told that she was going to be gone for the first three weeks of her service. Especially during the lead up to the budget. I'm not so sure I would have moved unanimous consent had I known this. And I certainly didn't even think to ask. I assumed the person who wanted the seat would actually be here to serve the residents who live in the district.
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Raise Bus Fares to $2?

This is a question being posed to Alders by the Mayor for this year's budget. Actually, the members of the Transit and Parking Commission are the only ones that can raise the fares, but they will get kicked off the Transit and Parking Commission if they don't raise them, so essentially, they have to raise them if it ends up in the Mayor's budget and the Council passes it.

This 50 cents raise in fares would raise $650,000 for the City. That's out of the $40M Metro budget (see page 2). Currently, we get $1,268,490 from the fare box (see page 4 under "other sources"). And tax payers only pay for 25% of the service that Metro does, the rest comes from the other sources listed.

In thinking about this problem, I decided to look at our "peer cities". These cities are the cities that have the bus systems most like our own. Here is what their fares are:

$1 - Capital District Transit Authority in Albany
$1.50 - Miami Valley Regional Transit Authority in Dayton
$1.25 - Connecticut Transit in Hartford
$1.50 - Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation in Indianapolis
$1.25 - Metro Area Transit in Omaha
$1.75 - Rhode Island Public Transit Authority in Providence
$1 - Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority in Rochester
$1 - Spokane Transit Authority in Spokane
$1 - Central New York Regional Transportation Authority in Syracuse
$1.50 - Pierce County Public Transportation Benefit Area in Tacoma
$1 - Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority in Toledo

So, the $2 appears to be as out of whack with the other systems as I thought it might be. There has to be a better way for Madison Metro to be funded. We all know that would be a Regional Transit Authority, but that still comes from the taxpayers. So I'm confused, if we want an RTA to tax people for the bus service, why can't we tax people now for the bus service instead of raising the fares?

I asked a few people how this would impact their ridership. And it seems that psychologically, $2 is a bit of a barrier to even those who can afford it. One person told me that they would walk (downtown) instead unless it was really cold or raining. So, I wonder, how many choice riders would we lose if it goes up this much? And more importantly, how will this impact low-income people who are dependent on Madison Metro?

Additionally, and this is the kicker, many riders I know have passes paid by their employers, so they really aren't affected. These are many of the same riders that really, really, really want the number 10 bus back. So, the Mayor is offering to restore the number 10 bus in exchange for raising the fares. And, he's offering to give more money to the Transit for Jobs program.

Other suggestions I have heard in response to this proposal might be to have express buses and charge more for them. Charge an increased fare during peak commuter times. I advocate for a reduced price monthly pass for low-income people. And there is a major outstanding question, how will this impact the School budget?

Anyways, the conversation is just getting started and we won't know what he does in his budget until the first Tuesday in October, but it's something to start thinking about.
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Common Council Recap

Chicken shit. That about sums it up.

Last night's meeting started late and it was past 7:00 before we were done saying good-bye to Zach and thanking him for the role he played on the council, tho many of agreed that he was irritating from time to time, we all appreciated his efforts. After we said our good-byes, we seated the new Alder Libby Monson.

In our mega-motion we passed everything on the agenda except we referred the TIF policy to the Economic Development Commission and then back to the TIF committee, and we discussed the following few items.

CHICKENS
I'm not sure what happened here. We knew Alder Schumacher was going to make an amendment, which I assumed would have been prepared, but we had to table while they worked it out in the back of the room.

LIGHTBULBS
Lack of information and legal confusion led to another referral of this issue. This time, back to the Attorney's office for an explanation of the legal issues.

CHILD SAFETY ZONES
This was a pretty vague law we passed adding performance spaces to the child safety zones. I'm still not sure if I know what the ordinance actually means.

CENTRAL LIBRARY
I'm not sure there is a single alder beyond Larry Palm that thinks this is a good idea. While we are asking private developers what they might do for the site, it seems like we don't have a whole lot of information that we need to even determine is that is a step we want to take. They can't tell us what it would have cost to renovate the current space or what a scaled down version of the last plan might cost. However, we are moving forward towards a plan to spend $28 million to gain 2,000 square feet over the current space. Seems awfully expensive in my mind for such a little gain. Plus, several alders had concerns that we are building mega-libraries and closing neighborhood libraries. So, we're moving forward, maybe.

BACK TO CHICKENS
After they got it all worked out in the back of the room, we went back to chickens and dangerous flying chicken shit and samonella. Alder Compton did her best to embarrass us and half the room was laughing so hard during most of her comments that it was hard to pay attention. Eventually, the ordinance passed allowing renters to have chickens.

It was a huge relief when the meeting was over after 2, mostly agonizing, hours.

Afterwards, a pretty big contingent went to Brochach. Alder Clear, his mother, Rhodes-Conway, Webber, Solomon, Rummel, Kerr, Mayor Dave, Schumacher, Clausius, new Alder Monson, Bruer, Gruber, and myself plus Alder Verveer and his posse sat off in a corner - last night's posse included Kasey, a McFarland student, Rosemary Lee and Alder Judge.
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The solution: Disperse Poverty.

Let's not waste our time trying to solve the issues . . . that's too hard.

The Mayor is back with his broken plan to disperse poverty. The plan is broken because it likely isn't legally possible and it won't accomplish what he wants.

Can someone who the Mayor might listen to explain to him two fundamental flaws to his plan.

1. If the two housing authorities merge, there will no longer be the rule that if you apply inside the City of Madison, for the first year you have to live here and if you apply from outside the City of Madison, for the first year, you have to stay in Dane County outside of the City of Madison. With a merger, these lines go away. Given a choice, do you think people will be moving outside the City, or to the City (where there is better public transportation and more services)? Plus, while all landlords in Dane County are required to take section 8 vouchers, many outside the City do not and two municipalities (Sun Prairie and Middleton) are trying to make sure that their landlords don't have to follow the county law. Hmmmm . . . somehow I think this plan to disperse may end up concentrating section 8 renters, not dispersing them.

2. Yes, it is important to build more affordable housing outside the City of Madison, but when you do that, do you think somehow people from Madison are suddenly going to flock to Cross Plains and Mt. Horeb? Or, do you think that the people who currently live in those towns also need the affordable housing.

This plan to disperse poverty has holes in it. I feel sorry for those who have to sit on a committee and waste their time for a year. Meanwhile, actually SOLVING poverty issues doesn't seem to be on the radar screen.
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My thoughts on this year's Capital Budget

I said I'd do this last week . . . but alas . . . the best laid plans . . . sometimes "tomorrow" takes a little longer.

A few process items to note:
1. The first round of Capital Budget amendments are due Tuesday (today) at noon.
2. The first public hearing on the Capital Budget is Tuesday (tonight) at the council meeting. It's item #5 on the agenda.

Besides the trends of borrowing more, budgeting more and reauthorizing more . . . here are the items I found of interest in the Mayor's Capital Budget. The Capital Budget typically contains items that last more than 10 years and are of significant cost.

TOTAL CAPITAL BUDGET = $154,677,605.
Total Borrowing - $76,724,076 (49.6%)- $19,148,657 (reauthorized from last year's borrowing) = $57,575,418

LIBRARY = $5,332,500
Borrowing = $4,750,000 (89%)

There are 4 library projects this year.
- South Madison Branch Library
- Monroe Street Library Branch Improvements (I guess it won't be closed, or we can save some borrowing!)
- Pinney Branch Improvements
- Central Libary Planning at $1,700,000

I'm still appalled that we are doing this much work and spending this much money for only 2,000 extra square feet.

The $1.7M is a "guess" is what we were told.

The Library did not get everything they requested. The Mayor reduced the amount of money going towards Monroe St. Library ($50,000) and the Central Library ($300,000).

FIRE = $2,987,500
Borrowing = $2,933,100 (98%)

They have 6 projects.
- New Far West Fire Station
- Fire Equipment
- General Building Improvements
- New Far East Fire Station
- Computer Hardware and Software
- FEMA Grant

Turns out, that training facility that they couldn't live without last year, isn't needed any longer. Their current training facility is going to be available into the foreseeable future.

In 2011 there is going to be a large upgrade in the communications equipment that will also impact the police and traffic engineering budgets. In this budget it costs us $2M in 2011.

They also have $100,000 in HVAC work in the Facilities Management Budget and $1.4M in the Fleet Service Budget.

Finally, of note, the Fire Chief called the current 911 system "dysfunctional" when talking about communications.

The Fire Department got everything that they requested.

POLICE = $494,500
Borrowing = $274,500 (56%)

The police have 5 projects.
- Improvements to the North Side Police Station
- Tasers ($35,000)
- Building Improvements
- Software Upgrade
- Upgrade records management system

The police will be spending $3M in 2011 for the new radio/communications program.

The police have 137 tasers right now and this will add 41 more. They say that they need 300 tasers for events like Halloween. The couldn't answer how many they needed during a typical shift. Instead, they just listed who needed them.

The police also have $1,942,875 in the Facilities Management Budget for the Central Police and Admin Offices.

The police got everything that they asked for except $64,000 for rifles.

PUBLIC HEALTH = $205,660
Borrowing = $160,660 (78%)

Public Health has 4 projects.
- Replacement of Lab Equipment
- Field Based Devices
- Environmental Health Move
- Computer replacement

The county will be matching some of this money.

The field devices are needed because according to a state average, we have 4.7 less nurses than we should have. Currently, we have 41.

We have 40 desktop and 22 laptop computers with defective motherboards that are no longer under warranty.

They didn't get everything that they asked for, but the Dental Equipment and the Remodeling of the Front Desk Reception may be in the Operating Budget.

STATE ST - CAPITAL SQUARE = $583,000
Borrowing = $60,000 (10%)

Only one project, replacing items on the Capital Square like benches, kiosks, lights etc to make them look like State St.

There were several project that were requested that were not funding including State St side streets, phase 2 & 3 plus Maintenance Equipment Replacement.

MONONA TERRACE = $695,000
Borrowing = $0

They had three projects.
- Building and Improvements (Replacing windows and a new Marquee by M&I Bank)
- Machinery and Equipment
- Network Infrastructure Upgrade

All of the funding comes from the Room Tax. As a result of them using the Room Tax, they pay cash and there is no interest on borrowing.

They got everything that they requested.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY = $5,350,000
Borrowing = $5,059,000 (95%)

They had many projects including:
- Hardware and Software Upgrades
- Network Security
- Property Assessment System
- Enterprise GIS
- Enterprise Financial System
- Mobile Computing Laptop Computers
- Purchased Software Enhancements
- Expand Fiber and Wireless Network
- Enterprise Land and Asset Management System
- Printer replacement

Some of this money is for the police and other departments.

They did not get everything they requested. There were reductions in hardware and software upgrades, the Enterprise GIS system, the Enterprise Financial System and Printer replacements and there was no funding for the Police Scheduling System and the Enterprise Contract Management System.

MISCELLANEOUS = $0
There are 5 projects here that are not funded for the following reasons:
- There was no information about what funding was needed for the Henry Vilas Zoo
- The Election Equipment won't be purchased until 2010
- The Reverse Mortgage Program, the General Land Acquistion and Property Assessment System are all being considered in the Operating Budget.

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT = $5,618,395
Borrowing = $5,298,395 (94%)

The follow projects are funded:
- ADA Accommodations
- Energy Efficiency Improvements
- Development Services Center
- Police Central and Admin Offices
- City Attorney's Office
- Fairchild Building
- City County Building - Council Chambers
- Building Improvements
- City Treasurer's Remodel
- Renewable Energy
- City-County Building Improvements
- Madison Fire Dept. HVAC
- Human Resources Office Remodel

Generally speaking this budget includes all buildings except Police, Fire, Library, Monona Terrace and Overture. But then again, the lines are a little blurry.

The Development Service Center - the "One Stop Shop" that I tried to cut out of last year's budget because we knew that there was interest in purchasing the building didn't get spent, but it appears here again this year . . .

This department has an unusually high amount of reauthorized dollars. There's the $1.6M for the One Stop Shop, the $1.9 for the Central Police, $300,000 for City Attorney's Office and $200,000 for the Fairchild Building. That accounts for half the budget.

The $600,000 for remodeling the Council Chambers is being shared by the county so we are only paying $300,000. I don't believe we're finally going to do this because we have been talking about it since 2001 when I got on the council.

The money for City-County Building Improvements is just a placeholder and may change with the County's budget.

There was some thinking that the remodel of the Human Resources Office could be fixed by putting up some signs.

It looks like the Mayor cut money for the remodel of Central Police, but the difference between what they asked for (3.9M) and what the Mayor gave them ($1.9M) is the amount that they are able to spend this year.

Two projects not funded were the Public Health Remodel and the Police Furnishings.

SEWER UTILITY = $12,868,650
Borrowing = $0

This budget includes the following projects:
- Sewer with reconstructed streets
- In place sewer rehabilitations
- Additions to the Collection System
- Lift Station
- Improvements to Sewer Study Areas
- Hoard Area Sewer Replacements
- E Washington Sewer Replacements
- Felland Area Sewer to Nelson Rd
- Lower Badger Mill Creek Sewer
- Sewer Access Improvements
- Replacement Vehicles & Equipment
- New vehicles and equipment
- Basement Back Up Elimination Program

This budget also had a 6 projects that were reauthorizations.

The other funding from these projects comes from Sewer Utility Reserves or revenue bonds.

One project was not funded. It was the Engineering Service Building.

ENGINEERING- MAJOR STREETS = $64,366,000 (That's not a typo.)
Borrowing = $29,210,000 (45%)

This is about 1/3 of the entire Capital Budget.

You really have to take a look at this list to find out if the streets you are looking for are in there. The biggest projects are as follows:
- East Washington Ave - $16,460,000
- Monona Drive - $7,940,000
- Heopker Rd - $2,960,000
- Cty Hwy M - $2,400,000
- Campus Drive - $2,530,000
- University Ave - Campus to Broom - $2,180,000
But obviously, the list goes on . . .

Two things of interest to most neighborhoods that got cut were the Neighborhood Traffic Management (Traffic Calming) (went from $200,000 to $50,000) and the Pedestrian Improvements on Major Streets (went from $150,000 to 50,000).

You'll have to look on pages 73 & 74 to see what was requested but not funded. The biggest item is Lien Rd ($2,840,000).

This is one of the few budgets where the Mayor put in more money than what was requested.

ENGINEERING - OTHER PROJECTS = $3,435,800
Borrowing = $2,720,800 (79%)

Projects funded here include:
- Public Drinking Fountains
- Sidewalk Program
- Street Right of Way Landscaping
- Tree Installation
- Aberg Ped/Bike Overpass
- Bikeways
- Capital City Trail
- Cannonball Bike Trail
- Underground Storage Tanks
- Sherman Flyer: Huxley Cut Off
- Central Park
- GIS Software Migration

Projects that were requested but not funded include Tenney Park Improvements, Country Grove Ped Bridge & Path and Engineering Service Building Additions. There was $2.6M requested for Central Park but they only got $250,000.

STORMWATER UTILITY = $8,954,600
Borrowing = $6,767,000 (75%)

You'll have to take a look at these projects as well. There's more than 20 projects.

There are also two projects on page 89 that were not funded as requested.

FLEET SERVICE = $4,983,000
Borrowing = $2,983,000 (60%)

Projects include:
- Replacement equipment
- Facility Upgrade
- Fire Equipment
- GPS/AVL
- Fuel Dispenser Upgrade

Right now we have 1100 vehicles. We have 100 passenger cars after you subtract the police vehicles and there are 350 pieces of major equipment.

I'm not sure why their facilities upgrades are not in the Facilities Management budget.

The Replacement Equipment and the First Equipment did not get as much money as was requested.

PARKS = $4,082,000
Borrowing = $2,222,000 (54%)

The projects funded here include:
- Assessable Trees
- Olbrich Botanical Gardens
- Conservation
- Park Equipment
- Parks Facility Improvements
- Park Landscaping
- Parks Matching Fund
- Neighborhood Park Improvements
- Parks Paving
- Development Fee Projects
- Specific Park Improvements
- Breese Stevens
- Tenney Shelter
- Street Tree Inventory

Three projects that should have been reauthorized (James Madison Park, Peace Park and Warner Park Mallards Stadium) were not included by the Mayor. It's allegedly an oversight that the Mayor should be correcting.

They are not making any changes to the Brittingham Picnic Shelter.

There are several projects on page 99 that did not get as much as requested.

STREETS = $1,597,000
Borrowing = $1,597,000 (100%)

There are 4 projects:
- Lighting - Sycamore & Badger
- Equipment
- Buildings and Grounds
- Badger Storage and Annex

There were two projects that were presented as alternatives. The Badger Storage and Annex was chosen over the Far West Facility.

There were 4 projects that were not funded including Cart Storage Barn, Remodel Office Area at Badger, Mezzanine Construction at Sycamore and the Far West Facility mentioned above.

METRO TRANSIT = $4,168,100
Borrowing = $833,620 (20%)

Three projects were funded:
- Transit Coaches
- Building Remodel and Expansion
- Transit System Upgrade

The Fairbox system was not funded.

Again, I don't know why these building improvements aren't in the Facilities Management budget.

The Transit Upgrades includes another $160,000 for security cameras.

They got everything that they requested, the fairbox will be funded in 2010.

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING = $1,444,000
Borrowing = $505,000 (35%)

Here's the projects funded:
- Street Light Infrastructure
- URD/UCD Street Lighting
- Public Safety Radio System
- Traffic Safety Infrastructure
- Traffic Engineering Building Improvements
- Ped/Bike Enhancements
- Traffic Signal Infrastructure
- Improved Lighting for Library Mall

The Traffic Engineering Budget has more in the Fire and Police Radios with $2M in 2010, $5M in 2011 and $7M in 2012.

I'm not sure why Building Improvements are here instead of Facilities Management.

Three projects were delayed to 2010 including Wingra Creek Warehouse Equipment, Sign Retroreflectometer and replacing a large format digital plotter.

PARKING UTILITY = $2,598,000
Borrowing = $0

The projects funded include:
- Parking Garage Repairs
- Shop Building Repair
- Madison Municipal Building Parking Garage
- Parking Revenue Equipment
- Madison Municipal Building Remodeling

This budget provided a choice between building a parking ramp on the Brayton Lot, the Municipal Building Lot or tearing down the Government East garage and building a new garage. The current Government East lot has 511 parking spots. If they build the Madison Municipal Building, there is only 59 more parking stalls planned and it will cost $1.2M to plan and $14.5M to build. The City would end up with only 70 parking stalls, which is an increase of only 30 more than it has now in the surface parking lot.

The building improvements are in this budget because it is money we don't have to borrow.

The other issue is the Parking Meter Equipment that will take credit cards instead of coins. I'm not so sure that this equipment is worth it as what we get charged by the credit card companies eats into the revenue that we make. Do we need to raise parking fees due to credit card use?

PLANNING AND COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT = $12,110,000
Borrowing = $11,340,000 (94%)

Projects funded include:
- Preliminary Planning
- Allied Drive TIF ($1.3)
- Todd Drive TIF
- Capitol Gateway TIF
- Badger/Ann/Park TIF ($3M)
- Stoughton Rd TIF
- Municipal Art Fund
- TIF 10% Program
- Villager Redevelopment
- Urban League Economic Development
- Downtown Plan
- Senior Center Building Improvements

Several projects from this budget were moved to the Operating Budget. Those projects include funds in the Home Buy, Housing Rehab, Homebuyers Assistance, Scattered Site Fund, Facade Improvement and Brownfields Funding. These projects are all funds that are revolving or were funded with an infusion of cash at one point. The statements of the balance of these funds will be in the operating budget like the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

The only project here that is attributed by staff to the CDA is the $5,708,000 for the Villager Mall now and then $7.1 M in 2011. There is also $1.4M for a Truax project in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Projects not funded included the list transfered to the operating budget plus, Truax was delayed a year, Allied drive got $.5M less, State St. TIF wasn't funded, Public Market, the Economic Development Facilitation Fund, Customer Service Feedback System, Business Retention/Expansion Campaign, Incubation Feasibility Study, Fiscal Impact Benefit/Cost Model and they didn't even request money to revise the Economic Development Plan any time in the next 5 years.

The Villager and Senior Center got more money than they requested.

Ald. Schumacher brought up the obvious, that we talk about Economic Development but nothing was funded, at the same time that we are taking more from the Room Tax.

WATER UTILITY = $12,832,900
Borrowing = $0

The Water Utility projects include:
- Lead Pipe Replacement
- Meter Program
- Water Main replacements
- New Water Mains
- SCADA system upgrade
- Femrite Drive Unit Well
- Filter for Well #8
- Booster Station for Todd Drive
- Raymond Road Reservoir
- East Isthmus Well
- Near West side Well
- Security Upgrades
- Sustem Wide Miscellaneous Projects
- Misc Pump Station and Facilities Projects

They got everything that they requested.

$0 in borrowing is because the Water Utility pays for these costs from rate payers and Water Utility bonds. So, when they give away land, they have to find other ways to pay for things.

TIF STATEMENTS

BASSETT - I see we aren't funding any "Small Cap TIF" projects to get people to convert rentals to owner occupied housing.

ALLIED - Suddenly has money where we have it before. Funny how we can make things work if the right people want to.

MONROE/TRADER JOES - There was some discussion about why this is so poorly performing. The developer is going to have to pay any shortfall in the TIF payments if they don't sell more condos soon. When this TIF was set up, the developers were pushing for the calculations to be more agressive and the City was trying to be more realistic and it turns out the City's calculations are closer to reality and as a result, the developer may have to pay.

That's it. The Capital Budget in all its glory. Our soaring borrowing continues, our reauthorizations continue and the Mayor is continuing the trend.


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The Week Ahead

Here it is, in all its glory. Enjoy.

Monday, September 15, 2008
5:30 PM PLAN COMMISSION ROOM 201 CCB
- Approving the Request for Proposals to sell the Downtown Library
- Changes to US Bank are just "minor alterations"

Tuesday, September 16, 2008
12:00 PM ALDER BROWN BAG LUNCHEON WITH MAYOR DAVE CIESLEWICZ ROOM 403 CCB
- Who knows what might be discussed? So, you have to show up!

6:30 PM COMMON COUNCIL ROOM 201 CCB
- Goodbye Zach, Hello Libby
- Chickens
- Capital Budget Public Hearing
- Lightbulbs
- TIF Policy
- Keeping our policy of early public input
- Child safety zone for entertainment venues
- Long Range Metro Report on the future of the bus system
- Downtown Library Request for Proposals

Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I got nuthin'.

Thursday, September 18, 2008
8:00 AM THE NATURAL STEP MEETING ROOM 300 MMB
- Sustainable Urbanism

5:00 PM LONG RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING COMMISSION ROOM LL-110 MMB
- Downtown transportation and parking plan

5:30 PM DOWNTOWN COORDINATING COMMITTEE ROOM 108 CCB
- Several items related to Halloween
- Downtown transportation and parking plan.

Friday, September 19, 2008
12:00 PM MADISON BOARD OF POLICE AND FIRE COMMISSIONERS, MAY CONVENE INTO CLOSED SESSION 16 N. CARROLL ST, STE 500
- No Agenda Available. Seriously. How'd it get on the official calendar? So, who knows what they might be discussing.
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Council Budget

The Common Council budget has recently become the center of the little city hall controversy.

Yes, someone made a serious blunder in not informing staff that their position had been proposed to be cut to 70% and Mark Clear was sensible enough to apologize, but the others didn't.

And yes, the fact that the Common Council Organizational Committee didn't see the budget before it got turned in to the Mayor was another serious blunder. And even those who are defending that blunder admit that for at least the last 5 years that has been the process, its just not in writing. It is the process I remember for the past 7 years and Verveer says that is the process he remembered for the past 13 years.

But, that's not what I want to talk about. All this controversy made me take a look at what has happened to several budgets over the last 10 years. Here's what I found:

MAYOR'S OFFICE
1998 $713,052
2008 $1,211,283
That is a $498,231 increase or 70%

PARKS
1998 $9,006,199
2008 $14,460,881
That is a $5,454,682 increase or 61%

ENGINEERING
1998 $2,446,107
2008 $3,555,984
That is a $1,409,877 increase or 58%

POLICE
1998 $35,197,123
2008 $54,469,458
That is a $19,372,335 increase or 55%

COMPTROLLER
1998 $1,952,906
2008 $2,716,810
That is a $763,904 increase of 39%

STREETS
1998 15,687,330
2008 20,966,443
That is 5,279,113 increase or 34%

COUNCIL
1998 281,152
2008 351,499
That is a 70,347 increase or 25%

HUMAN RESOURCES
1998 $1,526,682
2008 $1,869,300
That is a 342,618 increase or 22%

This list is sort of random, I didn't look at all of the budgets because there were mergers and sections of departments reorganized and it wasn't apples to apples, but I think it is for all of the above. Tho I'm thinking that maybe the parks department inherited some activities from another department. And I can't figure out why Human Resources is low as well. For the Common Council budget and Human Resources, that is less than a 3% increase each year, which doesn't keep up with inflation.

Additionally, the Council has been talking about adding staff to our office but we didn't have money in the budget last year. So, instead we had an intern that did some research for us.

Also, we have only $600 each year to mail to our constituents, which prevents us from having more community meetings unless we use the $600 account that we have for going to seminars, ordering office supplies, paying phone bills, renting rooms for our meetings (it costs me $80 to have a meeting at Gates of Heaven), etc. My mailing account is so insufficient for a densely populated district because mailing to just a few blocks quickly eats up all the postage, even if you use postcards instead of letters and use bulk mail. So, I usually try not to spend the money in case some emergency comes up, and then end up not spending it. It's also why I set up my own listserves for the neighborhoods and use my blog instead of doing a newsletter. I also save much of my $600 account in case I go over in my mailing account and have to use that account for mailings. I pay my own phone bills, mostly buy my own office supplies and don't go to many trainings or seminars and I most certainly don't buy Frostiball tickets with it!

My point is, the council provides very little for us alders. We have 2 staff people for 20 alders, we only get paid around $7,000 a year and we have $1200 to spend on our expenses and for mailings. There really is nothing left to cut. And while we have only taken inflationary increases over the years, the Mayor's Office has had a 70% increase in their budget in the last 10 years. Any more cuts to our budget will make us totally ineffective and unable to communicate with our constituents. It's a tough budget year, but we're going to have to find some place else to cut!
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Capital Budget Items of Interest

The last two evenings we had each of the departments come before the Board of Estimates, with all alders invited and all city committees cancelled/rescheduled so that we could attend. Here's some items of interest for you.

WHO ATTENDED
Here's a folks who attended for at least a portion of the time.

Monday: Palm, Bruer, Verveer, Rhodes-Conway, Rummel, Judge, Konkel, Clausius, Clear, Skidmore

Tuesday: Bruer, Verveer, Rhodes-Conway, Schumacher, Rummel, Konkel, Clausius, Sanborn, Clear

BACKGROUND
Items in the capital budget are items that last more than 10 years and cost a substantial amount of money. Kind of. That's the general rule of thumb and there are often debates over where items belong. The big difference is that we can borrow money unlimited in the Captial Budget. However, in the Operating Budget, the state restricts the amount of spending we can through levy limits and the expenditure restraint program.

HISTORY OF BORROWING
Here's the total amounts of budgeted borrowing (as opposed to the full amount of the budget) followed by the amount we actually borrowed, over the last few years.

2000 $25,102,103 $25,000,000
2001 $25,551,221 $23,245,000
2002 $26,711,215 $25,000,000
2003 $32,508,885 $30,975,000
2004 $33,565,259 $33,310,000
2005 $48,306,732 $41,710,000
2006 $56,255,359 $29,985,000
2007 $82,282,541 $44,850,000
2008 $92,705,602 $57,289,753
2009 $83,587,514

Can you see the explosion in borrowing? This is why we fought so hard to cut projects out of the Capital Budget last year and then we were criticized for not investing the future.

The problem with all this borrowing is that the interest payments come out of the Operating Budget. One of the reasons this is the WORST BUDGET YEAR EVER (cue the boy who called wolf) is that we have borrowing that is getting out of control.

Also, you might want to note that we are not actually borrowing as much as we authorize. Part of that is that we are doing alot of reauthoizations (see below) and playing some silly games like putting an $11M State St. Ramp in the budget when we all know it isn't going to happen. (And, it didn't!)

REAUTHORIZATIONS
Beyond the dramatic increase in budgeting for these projects, we are also seeing an unprecedented amount of requests for reauthorizations for projects that were budgeted for but that we didn't get to so we have to reauthorize the borrowing.

Here's the amount of reauthorizations according to the comptroller.

Up until 2005 we didn't have these in the budget or the amounts were insignificant.

2006 $4,859,600
2007 $23,571,000
2008 $25,879,293
2009 $26,474,872

Funny thing about the reauthorizations. Some of the projects we tried to cut from the budget, didn't get done! :) The "One Stop Shop" has been delayed because we are looking at selling the building, which was my point at the time.

THE FUTURE
Every year the Comptroller gives us a chart that shows that in the next five years the ratio of money we spend on debt in relation to the expenditures from the General Fund. That number is supposed to be around 12%. We have been between 10% and 13% since 1992. With the projected projects in our budget (we forcast the projects for the next 5 years), we will be up to 17%. i.e. Not good.

Tomorrow, I hope to give you the highlights department by department.
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Stop in! Tell us what you think about Downtown Plan!

Interested in the Downtown Planning efforts? See below for information about the website and the office that will be open to get your feedback.

City Wants to Hear From You

The City of Madison's new storefront office for the Downtown Plan is now open. This office has been established to make it more convenient for citizens to share their thoughts on the future of Madison's Downtown. Visitors may express their opinions and ideas, ask questions, and view maps and other information relative to this process for creating the new Downtown Plan. They can also learn more about the effort that is currently underway to create a plan for the future of Downtown and other ways to become involved.

The office is located at 125 West Mifflin Street, adjacent to the Overture Center and the Central Library just steps off State Street. It will be open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

According to Principal Planner Bill Fruhling, "The City maintained a storefront project office as the designs for the reconstruction of State Street were being developed. That office proved to be a popular venue for people to stop in for a few minutes to share their ideas without having to attend a large public meeting or make an appointment with a staff member". He added that. "We are trying to provide numerous opportunities to make it easy for people to participate in this process that will impact the entire community."

Displays and materials at the office will change as the planning process continues, so anyone with an interest in the future of Downtown is encouraged to visit often. It is expected that this office will remain open for the duration of the process, which is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2009.

Additional information can also be found on the project's website: www.cityofmadison.com/downtownplan.

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Homelessness and How the City Treats People.

Is this acceptable behavior? The article is here, but you have to watch the video. That was the article done a week ago. When I saw it, I was . . . well, just listen to what they say. The messages I heard were as follows along with some questions to ask:

1. There was a huge problem because up to 30 people gathered in a park with their friends and were "boisterous". Um, isn't that kind of what park shelters were created for? (Here's my first hand account of what I saw at the park at the time.) And if they are "boisterous" while playing volleyball or rugby, why is that more acceptable?

2. People were "loitering" in the park. I've asked this question before, how do you know when someone is loitering in a park? Isn't that what parks are for? And, there are no laws that prohibit loitering in a park during normal park hours. Actually, I'd like to see someone try to write that law!

3. The police called their program an "outreach" program with the homeless. This is how it works. Man has what appears to be a dream while lying on a park bench and yells out. Man appears to be homeless (somehow, the police just know) and has a, gasp, SLEEPING BAG. The police "outreach" to the man not by providing information about resources or hooking him up with a homeless outreach worker or services. No, the police "outreach" consists of telling the man to "move along". Is that "outreach"? And what was the problem? Did the police have the right to stick a camera in this guys face and tell this man, who did nothing illegal or wrong, except yell in a park, to move along? If he yelled while playing volleyball would that, too, be offensive?

4. We're doing this so that people "feel comfortable". Not because there of the problems in the park. The problem was "boisterous" people congregating in a park shelter with friends and making people feel uncomfortable. How is this any different than a group of people using the shelter for a birthday or graduation party?

5. As a result of people using the park essentially for what it is meant for, and making people feel uncomfortable, now no one can use the restrooms or electricity in the shelter. (By the way, the reason I introduced the ordinances was because of the locking of these restrooms during the day, not the evening. I talked to parks staff yesterday and asked why the bathrooms were locked. The answer is that they want them to be clean for the people who rent the shelter. So, instead of cleaning them before the rental, they just lock them.)

This same news cycle the Wisconsin State Journal ran this article about the park. What struck me is that the neighbors here are the same one's that blamed the homeless for the murder of Joel Marino. The Giuliani style crackdown in the park isn't acceptable to me and so that is why I agreed to talk with channel 3 for this story on Sunday, hoping that they would show another side of the story. The showed another neighbor, complaining about people have "bags" with them when they were in the park. Again they complained about "loitering" in the park and showed the move-along "outreach" tactics of the police. However, this time, thanks to my invitation, they actually talked to a homeless person who was willing to tell their story. And, what cracked me up about the video is that they captured "illegal activity" on the tape, and it wasn't the homeless! Watch the video closely, and you will see laws being broken in that you aren't supposed to feed the ducks in the park. I think we should crack down on that! After all, when this all first started, I went to Brittingham a few times. I didn't get harassed, but I was definitely intimidated, not by the people, but by the hissing geese!

Anyways, I digress. My point is, that we are going about this the wrong way. Moving people along and displacing the "problem" isn't solving anything and I believe violates constitutional rights of the homeless. Admittedly, two of my ordinances don't solve any of the issues with people being homeless, except that we aren't criminalizing being homeless. And costing ourselves more money when they don't pay the fines and spend a few nights in jail. What we need is:
- outreach workers not police;
- a day labor program that the homeless are asking for;
- restrooms that are available for people to use instead of being locked and ticketing people for relieving themselves;
- safe, respectful shelter space instead of fining people for sleeping in parks; and
- adequate mental health and AODA services.

But that all costs money, and we don't have any in this year's budget.
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It's not just me.

Every once in a while, you read something and have to just smile. A neighborhood activist recently sent me this article about how planning is done for men, not women. Cambridge University even did a study on how British cities are redeveloping. Somehow, this article managed to address so many issues that I often talk about: gender, poverty, planning and even public restrooms. While it mentions so many issues that I often talk about, I had never looked at it in terms of gender. It was thought provoking.
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The Double Scheduled Week Ahead!

Here ya go . . . all things I think are exciting in the week ahead. Well, actually, not everything, only interesting agenda items for city meetings! :)

Monday, September 8, 2008
4:30 PM BOARD OF ESTIMATES ROOM 260 MMB
- Labor agreements and changes in personnel, that will get no attention or comment from BOE members, yet again.
- More undoing some of the stupidity that we passed with the reorganization of the Planning and Development Department. This time, changing the name of Building Inspection, back to Building Inspection, instead of the silly Neighborhood Preservation title that was intended to make it look like they were doing something for neighborhoods, not just economic development. Didn't work.
- The TIF policy!
- Discussion of the first portion of the Capital Budget.

5:15 PM MADISON BOARD OF POLICE AND FIRE COMMISSIONERS, MAY CONVENE INTO CLOSED SESSION 201 W. MIFFLIN ST.
- Who the hell knows what they might talk about. It's so annoying. I think I'm interested in something on the agenda, but I can't tell.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008
4:30 PM BOARD OF ESTIMATES SPECIAL MEETING: CONTINUATION OF CAPITAL BUDGET DISCUSSION ROOM 260 MMB

5:00 PM AFFIRMATIVE ACTION COMMISSION ROOM LL-120 MMB
- Dang! They will be talking about diversity in hiring and the report that the committee did early this year. Complete with comments from the Mayor's office. Except no one will be paying attention since we're all supposed to be learning more about the Capital Budget. In fact . . . didn't we say committees weren't supposed to meet on budget nights?

Wednesday, September 10, 2008
12:00 PM COMMON COUNCIL BROWN BAG BRIEFING ON THE ZONING CODE REWRITE 201 W. MIFFLIN ST. ROOM 202

4:30 PM MADISON ELECTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE ROOM 108 CCB
- Getting ready for the elections! And an annual report to the council.

4:45 PM LANDMARKS COMMISSION ROOM LL-130 MMB
- St. Ray's.
- Approving two demolitions after the fact
- Wind/solar ordinance is back. Turns out it wasn't a little technical upgrade as we were told!

5:00 PM COMMON COUNCIL ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITTEE ROOM 103A CCB
- Recommending to fill the vacancy left by Zach Brandon leaving the council.
- Dealing with our council budget that was submitted without us seeing it and some personnel matters. (We should be going into closed session, but it wasn't noticed on the original agenda.)

5:30 PM ZONING CODE REWRITE ADVISORY COMMITTEE 330 W. MIFFLIN ST, ROOMS 1 & 2
- More important reports from the consultants sure to be given at lightening pace. Without enough time to discuss this important issue in the detail it deserves.

5:35 PM COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION ROOM 260 MMB
- Neighborhood Indicators (sorry, its a useless link.)

6:30 PM BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS 1625 NORTHPORT DR, WPCRC
- They might be raising the rental fees in parks, but I'm not sure. Can't tell from the agenda, no links to the information.

Bonus points for anyone that can tell me how to be at 4:45 Landmarks, 5:00 CCOC & 5:30 Zoning Code Rewrite committee.

Thursday, September 11, 2008
4:30 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 8 STRAUBEL CT, MULTLI-PURPOSE ROOM
- Lakepoint
- Villager
- Allied
- Truman Olson
Who knows what they will actually be talking about . . . another agenda designed to make you wonder what is going on!

5:00 PM EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES COMMISSION, MAY CONVENE INTO CLOSED SESSION ROOM LL-120 MMB
- Chronic Nuisance Ordinance

6:30 PM ZONING CODE REWRITE COMMUNITY MEETING 149 WAUBESA ST. EVJUE COMMUNITY ROOM

6:30 PM ZONING CODE REWRITE COMMUNITY MEETING 201 STATE ST, WISCONSIN STUDIO

There's an IZ meeting Friday morning, not on the agenda yet, which reminds me to remind you, its always best to check the weekly schedule later in the week for meetings that might get added.

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A must read.

Bill Leuders speech to the Rotary is a must read. It's a little long, but worth reading every word. Particularly the end of it. Sadly, nothing can convince me to spend my hard earned money on the Wisconsin State Journal and the Tenant Resource Center can't afford to advertise in the papers as we need every penny we can get to pay staff and keep the doors open. But, he succeeded in making me feel even more guilty than I felt when I wrote my post that Bill refers to. Thanks Bill for spreading the word about why ALL newspapers are important!
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See Cynthia McKinney in Town this Weekend!

Presidential Candidate in Town this Weekend! And I'm not talking about Nader! But I am talking about the Green Party candidate! Cynthia McKinney will be in town over the weekend. She's speaking at the Fighting Bob Festival at 10:20 am, will be hanging out at the Green Party table afterwards . . . than back to Madison for two events. See details below!

I know people have gotten swept up in Obamamania and I can see why, but I'd urge you to at least check out McKinney. The Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente ticket is something we've never seen before, an African American Woman and Latina Woman running for President and Vice President talking about how to turn this country right side up again. Radical, I know, but the bottom line is that they are talking about the issues that most of us care about. It's hard for them to break through all the noise, but if you take the time, the messages they are talking about are worth hearing. Will you at least listen?

Green Presidential Candidate, Cynthia McKinney, to vote in Chocolate
Shoppe “pre-election" Saturday

(Madison, WI) Cynthia McKinney, Green presidential candidate, will be
campaigning in Wisconsin this weekend, and will participate in The
Chocolate Shoppe’s pre-election at 4:30 PM on Saturday, September 6th.

Every election year The Chocolate Shoppe ice cream stores hold a
"pre-election" candidate vote promotion using ice cream flavors as
ways for customers to vote. Customers vote by purchasing the flavor
associated with a particular candidate.

“In an election system where we have to fight hard just to
participate, we are often left with a bad taste in our mouths," said
Larry Dooley, co-chair of Four Lakes Green Party. "There’s nothing
sweeter than the taste of democracy and inclusion. The Chocolate
Shoppe is clearly a supporter of democracy, made up of a multitude of
flavors, or voices.”

McKinney supports:
*free-time on public airwaves for all candidates
* repeal of ballot access laws restricting third party and independent
candidates
*public funding of elections, so that elected officials belong to the
public rather than monied interests
*proportional representation and multi-party systems

“Raspberry Rhapsody is my new favorite flavor”, said Nelson Eisman,
former Green candidate for governor. “Being able to vote for my
favorite candidate, Cynthia McKinney, has me in raptures!”

Cynthia McKinney's flavor is Raspberry Rhapsody.

The Chocolate Shoppe is located at 468 State Street, Madison WI.

Directly after eating ice cream/voting at The Chocolate Shoppe,
McKinney will be attending a fundraiser held to benefit her Power to
the People Campaign at the High Noon Saloon from 6:00 pm to 8 pm - at
701 E. Washington Ave., Madison.

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No Lobbyists here!

There are three big projects going on in the City, where the business community is actively lobbying City officials to get rights to public land and money, but not a lobbyist registration form in sight. Now I know we blew holes in our lobbyist registration law . . . but this is just silly.

As I post this, I have to tell you that there are several things about the way lobbyist registration forms are used that are making finding this information difficult.
1. There is a basket of forms that are sitting in the clerks office that are not on-line, so you can't only check on-line, you have to check the basket too.
2. The on-line information is cumbersome to say the least. You can see the name of the person lobbying, but not who they are lobbying form unless you open every form. So, in order to find who is lobbying on what, you have to open every single one of the 88 forms to figure out who is lobbying on what. (And look in the basket.)

Out of the 88 registration forms, here's who is registered:
26 are from non-profit groups
11 are from MG&E
8 are from the Alexander Company
4 from the folks with the Hilldale hole in the ground

And there's the usual suspects of
Chamber of Commerce (Jennifer Alexander, Delora Newton and Kevin Little)
Smart Growth Madison (Carole Schaeffer)
Realtors Association (Phil Salkin)
Apartment Association (Nancy Jensen and Jeffery Wiswell)
Michael Chrisopher
Bill White and Angie Black
Ron Tractenberg

After you take all of these folks out, you only have 28 others which includes people from WARF, Veridian Homes, Joe Krupp (Midvale Sequoya Commons), Lance McGrath (Union Corners), Adams Outdoor Advertising (lobbying on billboards and advertising on buses) a couple other developers and their planners but what I can't find is anyone registered on the following:

TRUMAN OLSON
We heard testimony on Tuesday night about the Tom Bunbury, the Sara (sp?) Group and Dean Clinic, the Labor Temple and Copp's and how they want to redevelop the Truman Olson site that we want to buy (instead of get for free) from the Department of Defense (Army). But there isn't a single lobbyist registration form. Neither is Steve Schooler from Porchlight registered either.

DOWNTOWN LIBRARY
I don't see a registration from Terrance Wall who kicked off this hole ridiculous plan to sell our downtown library to a developer. Obviously, someone talked to someone to try to get themselves into the opportunity to buy the library, but there's no lobbyist registration forms there either.

HOTEL AT THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING SITE
Rumor has it that we are going to sell our parking lot or the Municipal Building so that there can be another hotel downtown. We aren't moving forward with changes for the one-stop shop because we don't know if we will continue to have our offices there. But again, not a single lobbyist registration form.

Those are just three items that came up in the last 2 days that I was interested in, but how many other things that the public doesn't know about are going on?

The other thing of note is there is no one registered from Downtown Madison Inc and the Chamber of Commerce claims they only had 6 contacts in the first 6 months of the year. 2 each on the Economic Development Plan from Jennifer Alexander, Delora Newton and Kevin Little. But nothing about their lobbying for who the next Economic Development Unit Director is going to be, because that is exempt.

As you can see, our lobbyist registration ordinance is completely useless if some of the biggest projects and major decisions being made in the City of Madison is exempt. Now . . . what to do about this problem? ;)
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Common Council Recap - Big Blank Checks!

Sad, sad day for the taxpayer. More blank checks for the CDA. For land that should have been free!

The Council meeting started 10 minutes late with Judy Compton, Robbie Webber and Zach Brandon being absent. Here's the agenda, you'll have to do many of your own links.

We had a packet of over 1200 pages and we passed all but 12 or 13 items and 16 public hearing items of the 143 items for action in the first 5 minutes. Some of the items that passed without a word included:
25 – Assistance to a new emerging neighborhood, the Great Gray Neighborhood, or "Owl Hell" as the police refer to it.
27 – Supporting more District Attorneys for Dane County.
62 – More money for Urban League project at Villager Mall.
110 – Finally getting the policies on security cameras available to the public, years after the Council requested the Mayor to write the APM.
111- Revising Cable Ordinances due to the changes at the state.
140 – Declaring voter registration week.

Next we did public hearings. Two items of interest in the public hearings.

CHICKENS (#2)
We had a 90 day referral for people to get answers to their questions and so Dr. Schlenker from the Public Health Department could be there. He wasn't. We referred again after waiting for him to show up.

MIDVALE/SEQUOYA PROJECT (#3)
We passed a "compromise" that was what the developer wanted in the first place. Some compromise. The developer essentially told the neighborhood and the plan commission that there would be a Midvale entrance/exit. He proposes a Caromar only exit/entrance. Plan Commission passes a Midvale only entrance/exit and we "compromise" with both, even though the informal agreement is what plan commission originally passed. And ther was no additional traffic calming for the neighborhood and an we have an exit that we essentially know is pretty useless in the winter.

Moving on to the other dozen items not in the public hearings.

BUDGET MEETINGS (#26)
We agreed to start the budget meetings at 5:30 instead of 6:30 or 7:00.

CLINGAN (#28)
Gave a quick speech and got his position as the Community Development Unit Director.
"That was easy" says the Mayor.

RECLASSIFICATIONS (42, 43, 51)
I used this occasion to point out that we wring our hands over $10,000 for sister cities and yet routinely make budget commitments for next year without a thought. If I'm correct, this year through reclassifying our staff, we have committed ourselves to an additional $173,000 in next year's budget through routine items that never get discussion. If 68% of our budget or $144M is salaries and we can't touch that during budget time and have to cut from the rest of the budget, perhaps we should pay a little more attention throughout the year.

FUNDING FOR COMMONWEALTH DEVELOPMENT (#50)
Try as I might, I have no idea what Thuy's point was.

NEW FINANCIAL SYSTEM FOR THE CITY (#61)
Before we even buy any software, we're spending $249,000 to have Virchow Krause facilitate the staff and make sure it works for everyone. I hope the money spent up front saves us frustrations on the back end. It's a shame we can't use in house staff for things like this, it would save us quite a bit of dough in the long run. However, I'm satisfied that this was well thought through.

NEW TIF DISTRICT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (#63)
90% of the $7M we expect to spend is on streets and infrastructure that we'd need to do anyways, 10% is on jobs. Is that really economic development that we should feel good about?

PUMPKIN HOLLOW SANITARY SEWER AND STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PROJECT (#80)
When is spending $14,500 actually coming out ahead? While the fiscal note appeared to be saying we were redesigning something on behalf of the developer for $14,500 turns out that the money comes from the impact fees and we're getting some easements and so we're spending money to save money. You just can't tell from the fiscal note.

TRUMAN OLSON (#112)
Embarrassing.
We just took the first step to committing more money to what? After hours of questions without many answers the council signed on to something that wasn't exactly clear. We're going to lose somewhere between $500,000 and $3M for some vague concept of economic development and the CDA is going to lend money they don't have. And all of this for what would have been, FREE land from the Federal Government. Seriously, this is just a tiny part of what the council agreed to last night. These are portions of the legally binding agreements we approved:

1. Loan Purpose. This Agreement is for the purpose of providing assistance from the CDA to Goodwill in the form of a zero interest loan in the amount of ________________Thousand Dollars ($_______) (the "Loan") to partially finance Goodwill's redevelopment of the Property into eight (8) units of permanent supportive housing for persons with mental illnesses who were formerly homeless (the "Project"). The total project cost is estimated at $____________. The Loan shall be repayable in accordance with the Note.

1. Loan Purpose. This Agreement is for the purpose of providing assistance from the CDA to Porchlight in the form of a zero interest, forgivable loan in the amount of ________________Thousand Dollars ($_______) (the "Loan") to finance Porchlight's acquisition of the vacant lands described in Exhibit A, which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference (the "Property"). Porchlight shall develop the Property into approximately thirty-eight (38) housing units with supportive services for homeless persons (the "Project"). The total project cost is estimated at $____________. The Loan shall be repaid in accordance with the terms of the Note and Section 22 herein.

And this wasn't just a case of us having the answers and the numbers not being filled in. We don't know what those blanks represent. But its ok - the Mayor thought we should vote for it because:
1) We should be deferential to the alder who's district this is in.
2) Porchlight, one of the "best homeless service providers" in town, said it was ok to put the transitional housing in a swamp with bad bus service and access to little more than Walmart.
3) That it is best for that vague "economic development" concept with no details.
4) And finally, its ok if we don't know everything, sometimes you just have to make a decision.

Nevermind that when I asked the 4 or 5 staff people answering questions how CDA was going to loan money they didn't have, there wasn't an answer in the room.

So, I want to spend $5M in district 2 for economic development and I'm not going to provide any details as to what I'm going to spend the money on. Council, write me a check! And sadly, in all of this, we are trusting the same staff that have us spending ridiculous amounts of money on Allied Drive and at the Villager Mall. Taxpayers, get out your checkbooks.

We did vote on a motion to refer and ask HUD for an extension, which staff seemed amenable to, but that failed with only Konkel, Rhodes-Conway, Rummel and Verveer voting for referral.

The final vote, only Marsha Rummel and I voted against it. (Compton, Webber and Brandon were absent.)

JINS CHICKEN AND FISH (#139)
We suspended Jeffery Okafo's vending license due to some confrontations with police and a large number of parking violations and some driving after revocation of drivers license violations. The business can continue to operate, however Mr. Okafo can't vend for the next 6 months.

RECONSIDERATION OF THE ATC RESOLUTION (#143)
Since we can't debate reconsideration, I still don't know why some people wanted to reconsider, but its just a resolution stating our opinion that is near meaningless. The motion to reconsider failed with this interesting vote:
AYE: Clear, Gruber, Judge, Kerr, Palm, Sanborn, Solomon, Verveer, Bruer
NO: Clausius, Cnare, Konkel, Pham-Remmele, Rhodes-Conway, Rummel, Schumacher, Skidmore.

With that, I think it was after 11:00 and only 4 of us went to the Great Dane. Tim, Tim, Brenda and Marsha.
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Tonights Council Meeting

Here's what I find of interest. Sorry, no links, you'll have to look them up yourselves. I took a break this weekend. Agenda is here.

2 – Chickens.
3 – Sequoya Project - Should there be one or two entrances. Another do-over as the alder caves in to the developer over legitimate neighborhood concerns.
25 – Assistance to a new emerging neighborhood, the Great Gray Neighborhood, or "Owl Hell" as the police refer to it.
26 – Starting our budget meetings at 5:00.
27 – Supporting more District Attorneys for Dane County.
28 – Appointing Bill Clingan to the Community Development Director job.
62 – More money for Urban League project at Villager Mall.
63 – Creating a Southwest TIF District for Economic Development.
- But only planning to spend 10% on new jobs.
65 – RFP for the Central Library.
- Hmmmmm, where are the lobbyist registration forms on this?
110 – Finally getting the policies on security cameras available to the public, years after the Council requested the Mayor to write the APM.
111- Revising Cable Ordinances due to the changes at the state.
112 – Truman Olson.
- Spending $1M for free land without important information.
- No lobbyist registration forms from the folks pushing Economic Development.
139 – More problems with Jin's Chicken and Fish.
140 – Declaring voter registration week.
143 – Reconsider ATC.
180 – The Capital Budget will be released today.

That's it. Welcome to the sprint through September, October and November until we take another break in December. Expect some full agendas (well, full for this do-nothing council, might we actually have a meeting that goes past 10:00?) as we deal with the budget and IZ sunset.
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The Labor Day Week Ahead

A short week. Lots going on. Welcome to fall.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008
4:30 PM COMMON COUNCIL ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITTEE ROOM 103A CCB
- Snow. Doubling or tripling snow tickets during snow emergencies.
- Keeping the early comment option at the Council meetings.
- Filling the District 7 Vacancy (Last I heard, there were no applications, and they are due today.)
6:30 PM COMMON COUNCIL ROOM 201 CCB
- See next post for details.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008
4:30 PM URBAN DESIGN COMMISSION ROOM LL-110 MMB
- Villager Mall (CDA and Urban League)
- Sherman Plaza
- Solar and Wind ordinance

5:00 PM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION ROOM LL-130 MMB
- Discussing road construction and how it impacts business
- Setting priorities for Economic Development Plan

5:00 PM HOUSING COMMITTEE ROOM 260 MMB
- Lots of updates, but not much action, as usual.
- Discussion of Affordable Housing Trust Fund

Thursday, September 4, 2008
12:00 PM MADISON BOARD OF POLICE AND FIRE COMMISSIONERS SPECIAL MEETING, MAY CONVENE INTO CLOSED SESSION 16 N. CARROLL ST, STE. 500
- Who the hell knows what they might be discussing - their agenda is, as usual, clear as mud.

5:00 PM TRANSIT AND PARKING COMMISSION ROOM 260 MMB
- Long Range Metro Report
- Downtown transportation plan
- Snow

6:00 PM JAMES MADISON PARK PROPERTY PLANNING COMMITTEE ROOM 108 CCB
- Potentially the last meeting. (I think I've said that before.)

Friday, September 5, 2008
8:00 AM INCLUSIONARY ZONING ADVISORY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ROOM LL-110 MMB
- Waiver Analysis

Enjoy the short week! And Happy Labor Day!
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