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Renewal and Refocus, New Midtown Captain, Parking in City Parks

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Hi Everyone,

Renewal has been a theme for so many since last month's election. Turning off the news, processing the fear felt my many, sensing the anxiety over the unknown. Ways of responding, getting outdoors, connecting with friends and family, volunteering to help others. 

The Thanksgiving holiday we just celebrated reminds us that gratitude can be a superpower, helping us to refocus.

There's much to look forward to in the new year. For one, there will a very important WI Supreme Court election next spring. This is not an exhortation to bypass any residual grief. Rather, it's a reflection that retreat in moments like these, though natural and healthy, even stratetegic, is necessarily temporary. There comes a time when we turn our attention to what we can do, letting go of past disappointments and moving forward with the gift of hope. That's the message of Rebecca Solnit's, Hope in the Dark, a book written two decades ago but just as relevant in this present moment. 

After all, as James Baldwin noted: "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” 

Now on to some key updates.

New Midtown Police Captain

Four of the six neighborhoods in District 13 are served by the Midtown Police District. Up until recently, Jason Freedman had served as the Midtown Captain. Jason just retired to take on a new position as police chief in a different city. I very much appreciate Jason's service to District 13, and wish him much success in his new post. 

Shannon Blackamore is taking over as Midtown Captain. I very much look forward to a successful collaboration. Captain Blackamore recently posted on the MPD Blog about a recent rash of thefts from autos. These are, by definition, crimes of opportunity and can be easily prevented by a healthy dose of common sense.

Parking Fees in City Parks 

I have introduced an amendment to rescind the paid parking pilot from our recently passed operating budgetg. The pilot would raise revenue by $23,900, a miniscule portion of our overall budget. The idea for this came from an exercise in which city agencies were asked for ways to achieve a 5% reduction in their annual budgets. This exercise was put forth in order to prepare for the possibility that the referendum did not pass. The Parks division introduced this idea of charging parking fees in city parks as a revenue enhancement, along with other ideas such as privatizing Goodman Pool, with the understanding these would only be pursued in the event of a budget emergency should the referendum fail. 

However, because an idea was raised on how to reduce the Parks budget in an exigent circumstance does not mean the idea was a good one or an idea that we ought to pursue if we can otherwise avoid it.

Thankfully, the referendum did pass. Consequently, we do not need to make painful cuts to services. We have options and we have a cushion against the realities of our ongoing structural deficit. Which means we have time to get a better deal from the state to permanently address the fundamentals of our structural deficit. Yes, we need to be smart with our money and wise with our spending. But the whole idea of charging to park in our city parks is not something we need to study right now. To do so would take an immense amount of staff time to pursue an objective that’s entirely counter to their overall mission. Pursuing this study would require our short-handed staff to utilize scarce resources to pursue something they don’t want to do. Parks Superintendent Eric Knepp stated from the very beginning that this effort would be contrary to current policy. As noted in one of the Whereas clauses in my amendment, "establishing a paid parking program would be a significant change in how the Parks Division manages City parkland."

Yes, it’s true we could charge people to park at Goodman Pool, but should we, knowing the pool attracts low-income families who cannot afford membership at a private pool? We could charge people to park at Brittingham Park, but should we, knowing this park is one of the most diverse in terms of its user base? We could charge people to park at Wingra Park, but should we, knowing people come from all over the county to fish, paddle board, and kayak in this beautiful urban respite? 

It's important to remember that user fees are revenue enhancers, often viewed as alternatives to taxation. However, like many forms of taxation, user fees are often regressive. In this instance, imposing parking fees at Vilas Park on game days would make it very difficult to distinguish between low-income families going to the free Henry Vilas Zoo from wealthy Badger football fans headed to Camp Randall. 

Some are arguing that free parking at our city parks subsidizes space for greenhouse-gas emitting vehicles, that such subsidies incentivize people to drive instead of walking, biking or using public transportation. True, there is a social and environmental cost to free parking anywhere, whether it's in our parks or on our city streets, but charging a user fee taxes that access in a manner that would be problematic for those of lesser means. 

I welcome ongoing discussion about parking. For example, I'm open to the idea we should do away with parking minimums on development projects. And I'm also open to a broader discussion about limiting the number of parking spaces as we develop new parks or reconstruct existing parks. But now is not the time to begin charging for parking in our parks. 

Residents are to be congratulated for supporting our referendum, not bushwhacked with the prospect the city will begin charging folks a fee for parking in our otherwise free city parks. 

Here are the rest of this week's updates:

Boards, Commissions, and Committee Meetings

Note: This is not a complete list of meetings for this upcoming week. All meetings and their details can be found at the Meeting Schedule page.

  • Finance Committee: The Finance Committee meeting will take place on Monday, December 2, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include removing the paid parking pilot program and an update on internal audit projects.
  • Plan Commission: The Plan Commission meeting will take place on Monday, December 2, at 5:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include implementing revisions to the Urban Design Commission ordinance and development-related requests in District 1,4, 7, 12, 14, and 17.
  • City-County Homeless Issues Committee: The City-County Homeless Issues Committee meeting will take place on Monday, December 2, at 5:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include presentations on evictions and eviction resources, as well as the implications of the Grant Pass v. Johnson SCOTUS ruling.
  • Committee on Aging: The Committee on Aging meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 4, at 2:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include approving funds to support older adult programming.

If you would like more information about becoming a member of a City board, commission, or committee, please visit the page linked here.

Public Information Meetings

  • Nakoma Road Sidewalk 2025, Monday, December 2: This project will install a sidewalk on the south side of Nakoma Road, closing a gap in the pedestrian network. This will involve bumping out the curb and removing most parking spots on the south side of Nakoma Road. There is no sanitary or water work anticipated, but storm sewer work will be necessary. No properties will be assessed for this project. There is a virtual public information meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Dec. 2, 2024, via Zoom. Registration prior is required.
  • Meyer Avenue Reconstruction, Tuesday, December 3: A public information meeting is scheduled for this project at 6 p.m., Dec. 3, 2024, via Zoom. Registration prior is required. Details on the project design, construction schedule, residential impacts, and special assessments will be discussed.  The presentation will be posted on this website for anyone unable to attend.
  • Playground Workshop, Thursday, December 5: Madison Parks will replace five existing playgrounds in 2025, and neighbors are invited to attend a virtual playground workshop!  Parks staff will present an overview of the playground replacement program and ask for input on design decisions. Join Parks staff at a virtual community meeting on Thursday, December 5 at 6:00pm via Zoom - REGISTER IN ADVANCE.

Announcements and News Releases

  • Hundreds of new affordable units get funding from City of Madison: Hundreds of proposed new income- and rent-restricted apartments will receive financial support from the City of Madison’s Community Development Division after another round of Affordable Housing Fund awards were approved by the Common Council. [posted November 27, 2024]
  • Update: Reconstruction to Pause Until Spring Due to Cold Weather: Due to cold weather the remaining work within the Doty St and Martin Luther King Jr Blvd intersection has been rescheduled for the Spring of 2025.  R.G. Huston will perform this work as temperatures allow in Spring of 2025.Learn more about the… [posted November 27, 2024]

Please visit the City news webpage to find additional news and announcements and to subscribe to receive notification of news releases as they are posted.

Events

  • Virtual Open House: Southwest Area Plan, Tuesday, December 3: If you are unable to join the in-person open house to kick off the Southwest Area Plan process, you can join Planning, Engineering, Transportation, Parks, and others in a virtual open house on December 3, 2024, from Noon to 1:00pm. There will be a brief presentation at the start, but feel free to drop in and stay for a few minutes or the entire time to ask questions about the process.
  • Virtual Open House: Southwest Area Plan, Tuesday, December 3: If you are unable to join the in-person open house to kick off the Southwest Area Plan process, you can join Planning, Engineering, Transportation, Parks, and others in a virtual open house on December 3, 2024, from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. There will be a brief presentation at the start, but feel free to drop in and stay for a few minutes or the entire time to ask questions about the process.
  • In-Person Open House: Southeast Area Plan kickoff event, Wednesday, December 4: Join Planning, Engineering, Transportation, Parks, and others at an open house on December 4, 2024, from 6:00-7:30 p.m. at LaFollette High School Cafeteria and Commons, 702 Pflaum Road. There will be a brief presentation at the start, but feel free to drop in and stay for a few minutes or the entire time to learn about the Southeast Area Plan and other upcoming projects in the Southeast Area.
  • Virtual Open House: Southeast Area Plan, Thursday, December 5: If you are unable to join the in-person open house to kick off the Southwest Area Plan process, you can join Planning, Engineering, Transportation, Parks, and others in a virtual open house on December 5, 2024 from Noon to 1:00pm. There will be a brief presentation at the start, but feel free to drop in and stay for a few minutes or the entire time to learn about the Southeast Area Plan and other upcoming projects in the Southeast Area.
  • HolidayFest Arts & Crafts Fair, Saturday, December 7: Join us for the 25th annual HolidayFest Arts & Crafts Fair held the first Saturday in December each year. Over 80 vendors from the Midwest will be selling their handmade goods. Shop for a variety of jewelry, baskets, garden art, cards, pottery, woodwork, baby gifts, soaps, balms, lotions, knitwear, paintings, home décor and more! It's the perfect place to find a unique gift for that special someone!
  • District 11 Book Club with Stu Levitan, December 11: For our next District 11 Book Club on December 11th, Stu Levitan will give an illustrated talk on Madison in the 1970s, adapted from his forthcoming book, Madison: The Illustrated Sesquicentennial History, Volume 2, 1932 to 1979.

Additional upcoming events can also be found on the City events calendar.  

That's all for now.

Take good care and stay safe this holiday season.

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District 13 - Alder Evers

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Alder Tag Evers

District 13
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