Meetings and Updates Week of July 1

• City Meetings: Common Council 7/2
• Madison Police Department Releases 2023 Annual Report
• Gun Violence Declared a National Public Health Crisis
• August Partisan Primary Election Information
• Events & Announcements

City 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.

Common Council

The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 2, in virtual format at 6:30 p.m. Notable agenda items include:

• A staff presentation to the Council about Presentation: Homeless services, eviction prevention, and MadCAP (Madison Customer Assistance Program)
• Three D3 alcohol license items: an operator license application for an employee of City View Liquor at 6420 Cottage Grove Rd; a change of license agent request for the Great Dane Eastside at 876 Jupiter Drive; and a new license request for Wisco Home Goods at 4664 Cottage Grove Road to serve wine at crafting workshops. The hours of operation listed on Wisco Home Goods’s application are 3-7pm Wednesday and Thursday, and 10am-6pm on Friday and Saturday.
• A proposed ordinance change creating registration and enforcement systems for Native Tall Grass Lawn Areas and refining other lawn maintenance provisions within the Section.
  • NOTE: I asked the sponsor, and she agreed, to add a referral for this item to the Sustainable Madison Committee meeting of July 22nd before it comes back to Common Council for final action on August 6th. If you look at item 78 on the July 2nd Council agenda you’ll see that the recommended action is this additional referral.
  • I’ve heard from a few concerned constituents about this proposal. My hope is that a future version of this proposed ordinance makes it easy for homeowners to create urban ecosystems for most native species while also providing City Building Inspection the tools they need to enforce our ordinances about property maintenance and noxious weeds. I encourage District 3 residents with input on this item to please share your input (including suggestions for how you think this could be improved!) with either me (district3@cityofmadison.com) or the Sustainable Madison Committee members (smc@cityofmadison.com). The weekend before that committee meeting I will include a reminder about this item in my weekly blog post.
• A resolution adopting the 2025 Common Council Meeting Dates
• A resolution awarding Public Works Contract No. 9358, Bartillon Shelter (District 12) and amending the 2024 Adopted Capital and Operating Budgets of the Community Development Division to provide funding needed to complete the project. The budget amendment transfers $2,000,000 of existing federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding from the youth-focused affordable housing development project at 1202 S. Park Street to the Bartillon Shelter project. In its place, the resolution authorizes up to $2,000,000 of Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Housing funds, that are available in the 2024 CDD Adopted Operating Budget, and currently uncommitted, to support the 1202 S. Park Street development. According to the resolution’s Fiscal Note: “No net fiscal impact on the City’s budget.”
• A resolution authorizing City of Madison Traffic Engineering Division to submit a grant application to the U.S. Department of Transportation for up to $2 million dollars, and if awarded, to accept grant funding and authorizing the City to sign the resulting grant agreement (I’m a cosponsor).
• A resolution authorizing a contract for Safe Routes to School planning. The contract price is not to exceed $149,919. The contract will be mostly funded from a Transportation Alternative Program grant of $130,000 included in the 2022 capital budget. The remaining portion will be funded from existing borrowing authority within Traffic Engineering’s Traffic Safety Infrastructure capital program. (I’m a cosponsor).
• A resolution designating City of Madison Polling Locations for the 2024 Partisan Primary this August (I’m a cosponsor).
• A resolution adopting the Sexual Harassment Appendix to the City’s Elected and Appointed Official Code of Ethical Conduct. The proposed Sexual Harassment Appendix defines Prohibited Behavior by an alder or an appointed member of a City committee, establishes a process for reporting prohibited behavior, provides a process for sharing such information with City officials or releasing to the public in accordance with WI Public Records Law (and redacting certain information as required by law), and establishes that retaliation against a complainant is prohibited.

Meeting and join info:

• Meeting Details
• Meeting Agenda
• Register for Public Comment
• Watch Online

Madison Police Department Releases 2023 Annual Report

Here’s a link to the online report document. The report includes some numbers that help describe the Madison Police Department, the City’s largest agency, and its services.

• MPD is a decentralized department with six police districts.
  • All of the 3rd alder district is in the East Police District, headquartered at the East District Station, 809 South Thompson Drive.
  • The East District is led by Captain Ed Marshall who took over in late 2023 when Captain Jamar Gary moved to the North District.
• 492 commissioned personnel and 91 civilian/professional staff.
• Records staff processed more than 31,000 records requests in 2023.
• Police report typists processed nearly 69,000 police reports in 2023.
• To implement “stratified policing”, in 2023 MPD released a five-year strategic plan of strategies to work on the four goals in the plan: Madison-centric policing, public communication, youth engagement and workplace culture.
• In 2023 MPD tested out using a third-party service for mental health transports to Winnebago Mental Health Facility, located near Oshkosh. When MPD does these transports, each trip takes around six hours to complete and requires two officers. In 2022, MPD completed 220 conveyances to Winnebago, which equals 1,280 officer work hours. This is equivalent to 330 full officer work shifts to complete conveyances. Also, people in a mental health crisis had to ride in the back of a squad car. Using a third-party transport service provides a better experience for the person and keeps MPD officers in our community. The City selected to use a company called REDI Transports. In all, the company made 53 transports for MPD. The pilot program was approved for expansion in 2024. (Thanks to former D3 Alder Lindsay Lemmer for her work on this!)
• MPD outreach efforts have increased with the addition of six community outreach officers through a federal COPS grant. Recently, MPD has seen an uptick in youth being involved in crime. The new outreach officer positions were created to help with crime prevention and to bridge the gap between youth and police. Each officer was assigned to one of our six patrol districts. These officers spend their shifts each week connecting and holding programming for area youth. They are particularly focused on working in areas that have seen an increase in violence in 2023, such as the Harmony apartments (here in District 3).
• MPD’s community connections programs include the Black Officer Coalition and its leadership camp, Community Advisory Boards, MPD Pride, Amigos en Azul, Latino Youth Academy, Safety Saturday, National Night Out, MPD Cares, Shop with a Cop, packing bags of snacks for River Food Pantry, and meeting with officer delegates visiting from Jordan. More information about each of these is in the report.
• MPD has several “specialty units” that serve different purposes:
  • Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) comprised of around 45 members who deploy roughly 100 times per year
  • Special Events Team
  • Mounted Patrol (officers on horses) were deployed around 150 times in 2023
  • Capital K9s, comprised of eight officers and the dogs trained to detect firearms, ammunition, explosives, and narcotics, deployed 950 times in 2023
  • Drone Unit, still relatively new
  • Honor Guard
• MPD received 184,398 calls for service in 2023.
• MPD issued citations for 7,412 hazardous traffic violations in 2023.
• More information about arrests, offenses, and charges, with much data disaggregated by demographic group, is available in an appendix to the annual report.

Gun Violence Declared a National Public Health Crisis

Earlier this week, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a landmark Surgeon General’s Advisory on Firearm Violence, declaring firearm violence in America a public health crisis. The advisory details the impact of gun violence beyond death and injury, including harm for youth, families, and communities. The impact felt right here in Madison is underscored in the recent incidents in our city, as well as the Gun Violence snapshot released by Public Health Madison & Dane County. It details strategies for reducing gun harm and increasing gun safety including the following recommendations:

• Requiring universal background checks
• Implementing gun storage laws
• Implementing Extreme Risk Protection Order laws or red flag laws
• Raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm
• Banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines
• Instituting waiting periods

Learn more about Public Health’s violence prevention and intervention initiatives at publichealthmdc.com/violenceprevention.

August Partisan Primary Election Information

The Partisan Primary is on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. In the Partisan Primary, each political party narrows down its candidates for the November election. You may vote for candidates in only one political party of your choice. Your voter registration is not associated with a political party.

• Absentee Ballots are in the Mail: The Madison City Clerk’s Office has mailed absentee ballots to more than 14,000 voters for the August 13 Partisan Primary.
• Partisan Primary Sample Ballots Available: You can find a sample ballot for your address at MyVote.wi.gov. Voters reminded that they may vote in only one political party’s primary.

A resolution on Tuesday’s Common Council agenda will finalize polling places for this election. Watch my future weekly blog posts for more information about opportunities to vote early!

Events & Announcements

• Capitol View Farmers' Market, Wednesdays all summer!: The Capitol View Farmers' Market is held weekly on Wednesdays (3:00-7:00pm) from late May through mid-October. Join us each week for great local vendors, live music, food carts, and special activities from week to week. Visit our website and follow us on social media for the most up-to date information and schedules! (Location: far Eastside of Madison, near the Great Dane Eastside, 5901 Sharpsburg Dr.)
• Street Closure for Mallards 3rd of July Fireworks: Many streets around Warner Park on the north side will have their traffic pattern impacted by the Madison Mallards Fireworks show the night of July 3rd. The show is expected to start at 9:45pm and will last approximately 20 minutes. 
• No Streets Division Collections on Thursday, July 4, 2024: There will be no trash, recycling, brush, or large item collection on Thursday, July 4, 2024, in observance of the Independence Day holiday.  The Streets Division drop-off sites and offices will also be closed. 
• Crossing Guard Recruitment Begins for Upcoming School Year: The City of Madison Traffic Engineering Division is currently recruiting crossing guards for the upcoming 2024-25 school year. The City recognizes the critical role that crossing guards play in ensuring the safety of our youngest residents, and is actively seeking individuals who are committed to making a positive impact to join our essential team.