YET ANOTHER REASON HOMELESS NEED A SAFE PLACE TO PUT THEIR THINGS?
Yes, that backpack is not a bomb. Nice waste of resources.
WATCH EVERYONE SCRAMBLE
If this is what it is like when Spencer Black retires, can you imagine what it will be like when Risser does . . . it kinda makes me laugh, too many egos involved. Some, very, very big. Matano not running. How sad would it be if we replaced an environmentalist with this.
OTHER SCRAMBLE
Oooooo, what to do. The homeless moving into empty unused houses, how can the police ticket them? Should they? Here's a whole bunch of coverage on the situation. I hope to have the video from the press conference up today or tomorrow.
Channel 3000
Channel 27 WKOW Madison
NBC 15 Madison
WORT- In Our Backyard (starts at 10 minutes)
YouTube video by Operation Welcome Home
Take Back the Land's website
Operation Welcome Home's website
And more . . .
WKOW Channel 27
WISC-TV Channel 3000
NBC 15
Wisconsin Radio Network
Wisconsin Public Radio
Cap Times blog
State Journal, where art thou?
THOSE OTHER TAXES
How do you feel about a 9% tax increase? How much do you think you will hear about it? Must be nice to fly under the radar screen like that and be able to raise taxes that much in this economy.
TIF BETTER SPENT?
This will only cost 2.05 in TIF and at least is going to spur other development (allegedly) and create higher paying jobs. Won't we get more out of this than the $16M for the Edgewater. I'll admit, I was skeptical when the pieces weren't in place, but it looks like they will be coming together, I don't think it is the best spent money in the world, but in retrospect, it seems better than the Edgewater.
WILL THE ECONOMY CREATE AFFORDABLE HOUSING?
The county’s median sale price was down 1.2 percent to $200,000.Not really. Is this all we're going to get from the market?
HERE'S A GOOD REMINDER ABOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Eviction is to black women what jail/prison is to black men.
CATCHING UP WITH THE EDGEWATER
In case you haven't heard . . . Landmarks shot down the bigger, wider, taller building even more resoundingly than the first time they voted it down. Board of Estimates advises the Council to approve the TIF on a 3-3 tie with the Mayor breaking the tie, as expected. I haven't had time to dig into the TIF yet, but some very, very, very interesting items there.
FREEZE THAT PAY!
Getting tough or symbolic indeed? When you're making $198,500 you think you're really going to notice if you don't get your 2.5% increase this year?
WANNA BE DANE COUNTY D.A.?
Just apply.
THE GEESE - MEETING TONIGHT
The Dane County Regional Airport has received approval to kill 80-100 Canada geese in Warner Park. Although only one airplane collision with a Canada goose has been reported at the airport since 1990, the City of Madison Board of Park Commissioners approved this plan to kill the geese in nearby Warner Park as a means of preventing future airplane strikes. Killing geese without altering the habitat that attracts them will not effectively resolve conflicts at the airport—other geese will simply move in. Humane alternatives such as modified landscapes, trained dogs, oiling or removing eggs, contraception, and repellents will resolve problems, stabilize flock size, and restore peace with geese.
PLEASE SPEAK UP FOR THE GEESE!
If you can, please attend the Board of Park Commissioners meeting on Wednesday, May 12 at 6:30 PM at the Warner Park Community Center, 1625 Northport Drive. If you can’t attend, please contact County Executive Kathleen Falk and ask that NO geese be killed. Tell them that Madison residents want humane methods of reducing conflicts with Canada geese. Let them know that you want the Dane County Regional Airport to use peaceful means to resolve wildlife conflicts.
ATTEND:
Board of Park Commissioners
Public Meeting
Weds. May 12 @6:30 PM
1625 Northport Drive
CONTACT:
Kathleen Falk
Dane County Executive
falk@co.dane.wi.us
608-266-4114
Is the Zellhoefer's document that spells out the "new" easements that the city will receive in lieu of profit sharing available?
ReplyDeleteOr, as is customary with this project, will the document be sprung on the council (and public) at the last minute or in the middle of the common council meeting?
It's hard to imagine any new public access easements the can have value beyond what we permanently possess in the comprehensive and broadly worded 1965 Wisc. Ave vacation ordinance. The 1965 ordinance includes conservation easement protection.
Speaking of documents, Brenda, do you know where we the people can get a copy of the new Public Access Management Agreement? At the BOE meeting, Alder Verveer asked for the copy that has been out since April 11, 2010.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the Mayor doesn't want the public to see it in advance because, at the BOE meeting, we learned that -- other than a very skinny catwalk at the edge of the terrace, the entire terrace can be closed at any time at the Edgewater's sole discretion.
As if that were not "non-public" enough, the entire terrace can be closed 23 days (everything, including the skinny catwalk), which would be every weekend from April to September.
What a great piece of "public" property we are buying for $16 million.
Don't expect those documents until it's too late for the public to comment or even read them.
ReplyDeleteRemember what they with patio management agreement at the Plan Commission when it appeared only after public comments had ended and then with insufficient numbers of copies?
The council's election of Mark Clear clearly demonstrates that they approve of and want to continue these kind of tricky maneuvers.
I don't see how Hammes can use the conservation easement as an asset. Can someone explain this?
ReplyDeleteThe easement belongs to the City, so the value the easement represents is also owned by the City of Madison.
It may be that Edgewater will have to pay to live up to their legal obligation to provide public access under the terms of the easement. But that is not an asset, that is a cost and an obligation.
It is not acceptable, nor legally defensible, to substitute one financial obligation (public access) for another financial obligation (Equity Partipation for TIF).
Joe Gromacki seemed very relieved that Hammes had come up with "some very creative" methods for satisfying their Equity obligation while reducing the project's fiscal gap down to $16 mil.
By 'very creative' I think we can all assume that city staff meant 'startlingly illegal'.
Here's the rub:
Hammes and Bob Dunn owe equity participation in the TIF/TID. Hammes and Bob Dunn owe public access, as attached to the property itself, and for building on/eliminating the conservation easement held by the City. They are legally obligated to cover the cost of both.
If anything, the City has contributed the value of the access and conservation easement to Hammes/Edgewater, not vice versa.
Owing two financial obligations, and using one to pay off the other so as to end up with no financial obligations .. . doesn't strike me as brilliant accounting. It strikes me as open theft. And Gromacki wasn't exactly holding his head up high.
It doesn't really matter if Hammes will incur costs to 'maintain & operate' public space---that obligation came with the property. and with how they chose to build. (Leaving aside the absurd claim those costs would ever actually amount to $16 million.),
If this were to go forward, I expect to see a lawsuit touching on this issue. Any experts out there, love to hear what you think.