MCDONELL RE-ELECTED COUNTY BOARD CHAIR.
Not a surprise. Other details here.
STATE JOURNAL RECAP OF COUNCIL MEETING
Council wants a downtown train station, Clear elected president, Jin's Chicken and Fish vending licenses revoked and parking restricted in Olin Turville park. That about sums it up. My recap is coming, the next section is nearly done.
ALL WE NEED IS BUTTS IN SEATS
Wow, the State Journal is being myopic on this one. So, if the train station had the most riders at West Town Mall we should just tear down the mall cuz economic development doesn't matter? Or if the most riders would be at the Capital Square we should not create parking for them? Or if its a $50 taxi ride to Sun Prairie with no bus service a station there would be just fine? They didn't really mean that, did they? I think what they really meant was, screw the neighborhoods, they shouldn't have moved in next to the train tracks, and besides, we don't live there.
WISCONSIN MANAGEMENT NEGLIGENT IN BRITTNEY ZIMMERMAN'S DEATH?
The case wasn't dismissed, they are moving forward.
THE CUSHY LIFE OF A PANHANDLER AS TOLD BY MPD
I find the police departments media strategy fascinating.
COPS ON BIKES
I wonder how they choose which bike company to get their bikes and equipment from? :) Ok, seriously, cops on bikes = cool. No objections here. They list a bunch of benefits, but they forgot gas prices and car maintenance.
ERDMAN PROJECT HAS TOO MUCH PARKING?
Perhaps the Erdman's will have an epiphany after biking in Europe and they will come back and build a bike station instead?
WOW THAT VOLCANO HATES BIKIES
They just can't catch a break.
MAYOR LOBBIES FOR A BETTER BIKE
Did he turn the tables on his lobbyist friends, perhaps he is lobbying them instead! :)
MAYOR MISSES GIVING STATE OF THE CITY SPEECH TO DOWNTOWN ROTARY
CANCELLATION: Downtown Madison Rotary presents: Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz on “The State of the City”I really resent that this is done at the Downtown Rotary for the business community. I wish we had a mayor that would hold this at a community center or in a neighborhood and at a time and place that everyone could attend, not just the elite members of a club and their guests. Or, hey, present it to the council. Makes me wonder where the priorities are.
Due to the continued grounded flights in Europe, the Mayor will not be able to make his presentation at the Downtown Madison Rotary. We hope to have this presentation rescheduled in May.
UW BUS PASS MEETINGS
Stolen from TJ . . .
Due to state budget cuts (I'm so sick of writing that phrase), UW is considering reconfiguring and weakening their employee bus pass program.
This program has been great for UW staff, for promoting public transit and fro the community as a whole. Anyone interested in seeing it say strong, especially those who are part of the UW Community should attend one of the meetings being held and speak up. The first meeting was tonight, but there are others:
• Wednesday, May 5: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ebling Symposium center in the Microbial Sciences Building, 1550 Linden Drive.
• Thursday, May 6: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the multipurpose room in University Square, 333 E. Campus Mall
• Tuesday, May 25: 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Room 1335 in the Health Sciences Learning Center, 750 Highland Ave.
You can read more here.
A couple of comments:
ReplyDeleteTJ's post about the UW is a bit off-base, and he has posted a correction. I hope you will post that as well, because it has some important information. Despite the source of the problem and the proposed solutions not being correctly reported, it is still important for people associated with and effected by the UW's transportation and parking policies to attend the meetings or comment on-line.
RE: Commuter bikes. They exist, and many of us ride them. The bigger issue is that in the US, you pay a premium for a commuter bike, rather than it being the inexpensive choice. In addition, you can ride in regular clothes on a hybrid or mountain bike, which I do every day. Those are easy to find, although ones without a high cross bar are still thought of as "girl's bikes," so are not as common.
The Mayor does a disservice to innovative bike manufacturers - including our own home-grown one - as well as bike commuting in general by leading people to think that you have to wear biking clothes to commute or go shopping. Look around Madison. Most people are wearing regular clothes, and yes, even suits and dresses, when going about town by bike.
Finally, I didn't read the WiSJ piece on the train station as, "screw the neighbors," but as a squishy piece whereby they felt they had to say something, but they didn't actually want to take a stand. They probably think that the airport is the best spot because of parking, but want to look flexible to the redevelopment potential and urban users.
More information on the UW bus passes:
ReplyDelete1. This is not because of state budget cut. UW Transportation Services receives no state money. They pay for everything out of revenues they collect: permits, visitor parking, special events, tickets, etc. When I say pay for everything, that means staff, web site, brochures, bike lockers, bus passes, enforcement, etc. Also, building and maintaining the parking ramps and lots - see point # 2.
2. The problem is that they have been building a ton of underground parking and ramps so they can build on the previous surface lots. The structured parking is very expensive, and now they are facing a huge debt service. Plus lots and lots of of UW faculty and staff are using the bus, so the amount UW has to pay Metro (which also comes from those same revenues coming in) has gone up. It's great that many people are using the bus, but it does mean an increased cost for UW.
3. No matter what happens, or how you feel about various modes of transportation, UW Transportation Services has to either cut costs or increase revenue. They want to hear from people as to how they can do this, and what people's priorities are. Everything is on the table. Options presented at the meeting included changing the parking permit program in various ways, charging more - or at all - for off-peak hours, charging visitors more, making certain premium lots much more expensive, charging per hour instead of via half or full day for Flex parkers, etc.
4. Cutting, or having employees pay for the bus pass is only one option being explored. It is very doubtful that the pass program would be cut. It is possible that some employee buy-in would be instituted. $50-100 for the whole year would still be a bargain, although less so for the occasional bus rider (like most bicycle commuters.)
5. The slides presented are on line (see below), and they are hoping to get Patrick Katz's presentation (Director of Transportation Services) up as a video as well,
Link to slides and more info on the open forums:
http://www2.fpm.wisc.edu/trans/openforums.asp
In my defense, I think the state budget thing was the only thing I got wrong. As you said, I corrected as soon as I knew.
ReplyDeleteI don't think "considering reconfiguring and weakening their employee bus pass program" is "off base." To me, going from free to co-pay is a reconfiguration and makes it weaker.