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Meetings and Updates Week of Oct 14

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  • City Meetings:
    • Finance Committee 10/14 and 10/15 (Operating Budget agency briefings)
    • Transportation Commission 10/16
  • Hwy 30, Commercial Ave, and Ziegler Road Closures 10/22 and 10/23
  • MPD Seeking Tips for the 200 Block North Thompson Shots Fired Incident
  • Imagination Center at Reindahl Park Project Awarded State Funding
    • $4.25 Million in Flexible Facilities Program Grant Funds
    • Budgeting for Reindahl Imagination Center
  • Cyclecross Practice Night at Sycamore Park 10/16
  • Events & Announcements

City Meetings

Finance Committee (Operating Budget Agency Briefings)

The Finance Committee meeting will take place on Monday, October 14, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include City agency briefings and presentations on the Mayor’s 2025 Executive Operating Budget proposal, where alders can ask questions. I expect there will be many questions about the impact of proposed service cuts included in the proposal. Please see my recent blog post published Wednesday, October 9th for more information about the proposal’s service impacts and the City Budget adoption process. Finance Committee alders have the opportunity to propose and vote on the Executive Budget on October 28th before it goes to the full Common Council on November 12th.

Here is the schedule of the Finance Committee hearings showing when each agency’s 2025 Operating Budget presentation takes place.

Details for the Monday, Oct 14th meeting:

Details for the Tuesday, Oct 15th meeting:

Transportation Commission

The Transportation Commission meeting will take place on Wednesday, October 16, at 5:00 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include the Director’s report, a review of the 2025 Transportation Projects List and 2025-2030 Transportation Improvement Plan, and clarifying Transportation Demand Management procedures.

Note that the five-year Transportation Improvement Plan includes a handful of items in District 3:

  • In 2025, a sidewalk addition along South Stoughton Road to improve pedestrian safety in the corridor.
  • In 2026, a project to fully reconstruct a few streets in Mayfair Park (Sycamore Ave, MacArthur Rd, and Larson Ct). Here’s City Engineering’s webpage for the project, which also includes a link to the recording of my October 1st neighborhood meeting on the project.
  • In 2027, a project to resurface North Star Drive between Mclean Drive and Cottage Grove Road.
  • In 2029, a project to reconstruct Felland Rd between Bridle Way and Hwy TT.
  • In 2030, two projects:
    • Extending Milwaukee Street under the Interstate up to Seminar Springs Rd near Hwy TT. This street extension under the Interstate is planned regardless of the decision about a potential future interchange with the Interstate, which hasn’t been determined yet.
    • A new bike/pedestrian path and bridge over Stoughton Road just south of Hwy 30 to connect the new Autumn Ridge path to the new Starkweather neighborhood.

Meeting info:

Hwy 30, Commercial Ave, and Ziegler Road Closures

A couple of District 3 roads will be temporarily closed the evening of Tuesday, October 22nd and Wednesday, October 23rd to allow a contractor to place the new Autumn Ridge Path bridge overpass trusses. The trusses will all be placed on this one night and the highway and streets will reopen at 5:00 am on Wednesday, October 23.  Detour signage will be in place.  

Map of Hwy 30, Commercial Ave, Ziegler Rd closures.

Here is the full list of closures:

  • Highway 30, between Stoughton Road and the Interstate
  • Commercial Avenue, between Walsh Road and Redland Drive
  • Ziegler Road, between Commercial Avenue and Brandie Road

Project details and updates can be found on the Autumn Ridge Path project website.

View full news release here for more information.

Questions? Contact:

MPD Seeking Tips for the 200 Block North Thompson Shots Fired Incident

On Sunday, October 6t around 7:20pm, Hiestand Park neighborhood residents (myself included) heard shots fired around 7:20pm. Madison Police Department reported finding 80 shell casings from multiple weapons along N Thompson and damage to several vehicles and one nearby occupied residence struck by a bullet. Here is the incident report with the information that MPD reported. The investigation is ongoing, coordinated by MPD’s Violent Crime Unit.

Gun violence has no place in Madison and everyone has the right to feel safe in their homes. Madison Police Department is seeking those involved in the incident and is working hard to follow up on leads. Anybody who has Ring doorbell or dash-camera footage of this area from Sunday evening, or other information, should please contact Madison Area Crime Stoppers or calling 608-266-6014 or visiting p3tips.com. Tips can be shared anonymously.

Imagination Center at Reindahl Park Project Awarded State Funding

$4.25 Million in Flexible Facilities Program Grant Funds

Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) announced this week that the Imagination Center at Reindahl Park will receive $4.25 million in grant funding through the DOA’s Flexible Facilities Program (FFP). 

Reindahl Imagination Center rendering
A rendering of the Imagination Center at Reindahl Park.

“We’re working to build the 21st-century infrastructure and workforce Wisconsin needs to meet the demands of the 21st Century, including expanding access to high-speed internet. Every Wisconsinite should have access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet, and these investments will help build upon our work to close the digital divide, especially in our rural areas and communities,” said Gov. Evers in a press release issued on October 7, 2024.

The Imagination Center is a unique collaboration that involves four partners – Madison Public Library, City of Madison Engineering, Madison Parks, and Madison Public Library Foundation – situated in Reindahl Park on the City’s northeast side. The project is expected to go to bid this winter, with construction completed in summer of 2026.  See the full timeline on the City of Madison Engineering Department’s project page, and learn more about the project at madpl.org/reindahl.

Budgeting for Reindahl Imagination Center

This project’s funding for construction costs has already been authorized in previous years’ adopted Capital Budgets. This $4.25 million state grant will offset those costs and make the capital project cheaper for Madison taxpayers and result in less borrowing. However, adding a new library to Madison’s library system will impact future Operating Budgets too depending on how future positions are funded. The Mayor’s proposed 2025 Executive Operating Budget includes reallocating $195,000 from the Independent Monitor’s Office “to reflect lower-than-expected activity” to cover Reindahl Imagination Center start-up costs in 2025 - if the referendum passes.

Since the new facility won’t open until 2026, the full staffing costs need to be sorted out in the 2026 Operating Budget (which the City will work on and adopt in Fall 2025). Given the City's Operating Budget challenges and structural deficit, it remains to be seen how the City will allocate Operating Budget funds to staff Reindahl Imagination Center starting in 2026. One option the Madison Public Library Board has discussed is reallocating some funds from existing libraries, which will result in fewer service hours at those libraries per week, in order to staff Reindahl. My understanding is that this is the Library Board’s decision to make within their role overseeing Madison's library agency, using the overall Library Fund budget allocation that the City Operating Budget sets for all Madison Public Libraries in a given year. If the City operating referendum doesn’t pass in November, I think it is hard to see how the Madison Public Library Board will implement service cuts in 2025 while also planning for future staff capacity to open a new library in 2026. See proposed cuts to the Public Libraries’ overall Operating Budget allocation, if the referendum fails, under the Mayor's recently-proposed 2025 Executive Operating Budget.

Cyclocross Practice Night at Sycamore Park Oct 16th 

Cyclocross is a form of bicycle racing similar to cross-country running but on a bicycle. Courses feature wooded trails, grass, pavement, steep hills, and obstacles. Madison Parks has partnered with Capital Off Road Pathfinders (CORP) to offer practice courses in select parks. There will be a practice course at Sycamore Park on Wednesday, October 16th at 5pm (weather and ground condition-dependent).

Map of cyclecross track routes at Sycamore Park

Please see CORP's Facebook page for the latest information.

Events and Announcements

For the full list of upcoming events, please visit the City events calendar. 

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Alder Derek Field

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