3 ways to help the Wiggies Tiny House Village (OM North) this week!

October 20, 2020 10:40 am

There is a council meeting tonight for zoning, county meeting Thursday for funding and of course, there is always fundraising!

I’m the co-president of Occupy Madison. In our flat structure, that means little, but I am very active in this project.

TONIGHT – TEMPORARY ZONING – 6:30

The common council has and item on the agenda tonight.

#15 – Allowing for the temporary establishment and regulation of a tiny house village at 1901 Aberg Avenue, in order to provide additional shelter to the increasing number of Madison residents experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic and the coldest and most dangerous months of the year. (Click on the link to read all the rules we have to agree to)

You can help by

1. sending an email in support to allalders@cityofmadison.com

2.Register but Do Not Speak: You can register your support or opposition to an agenda item at https://www.cityofmadison.com/MeetingRegistration

3.Register to Speak or to Answer Questions: If you wish to speak at the virtual meeting on an agenda item, you must register. You can register at https://www.cityofmadison.com/MeetingRegistration. When you register to speak, you will be sent an email with the information you will need to join the virtual meeting.

You can watch the meeting in several ways:

•Livestream on the Madison City Channel website: https://media.cityofmadison.com/mediasite/showcase

•Livestream on the City of Madison YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CityofMadison

•Television: Watch live on Spectrum channel 994 and AT&T U-Verse channel 99

•Listen to audio via phone: (877) 853-5257 (Toll Free) Webinar ID: 998 4742 9898

THURSDAY NIGHT – COUNTY FUNDING – 5:45

Here is the agenda for the Health and Human Needs Committee on Thursday night. Before they discuss next year’s budget, here is what they have on the agenda:

Item D #2 or “Res 232” – FUNDS TO SUPPORT OCCUPY MADISON’S TINY HOUSE PROJECT TO ADDRESS NEEDS OF UNSHELTERED PERSONS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS

The key provisions of this agreement are as follows:

Dane County is authorized to enter into a 99 year lease with OM which will include the following: $1 annual rent; an OM option to purchase during the term of the lease for $450,000; the requirement that OM continue to operate the property as a tiny house village; and OM’s right to early termination of the lease in the event permanent land use approval is not secured.

This is not really what we want. We want to own and benefit from the equity (assessed at $364,000 but purchasing for $250,000) to use to support the village in the future if needed or to purchase a 3rd piece of property. What we need is $125,000 for renovations, $56,000 for the houses and a GRANT to purchase the property ($250,000). And we will have to raise $60,000 every year in operating funds.

So, we are supporting this, but are concerned about the details. Registrations and emails in support are best!

You can help by:

1. Emailing all supervisors at County_Board_Recipients@countyofdane.com

2. Emailing Health and Human Needs Committee staff at thomas.howard@countyofdane.com

3. Registering in support

To join the meeting in Zoom, click the following link (after you fill out the form, the meeting link and access information will be emailed to you): https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UMTZWggdRt-EzS-kfnHRCg

PROCESS TO PROVIDE PUBLIC COMMENT: ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WISHING TO REGISTER TO SPEAK ON/SUPPORT/OPPOSE AN AGENDA ITEM MUST REGISTER USING THE LINK ABOVE (even if you plan to attend using your phone).

Registrations to provide public comment will be accepted until 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the meeting.

If you join the meeting with Zoom, when the item you have registered for is before the commission, you will be promoted to a panelist. Once a panelist, you can turn on your webcam and you will be able to unmute yourself.

If you join the meeting with your phone, when the item you have registered for is before the board/committee, you will be unmuted and hear, “the host would like you to unmute your microphone, you can press *6 to unmute.” Please press *6.

If you indicated that you would like to be called if you aren’t attending the Zoom meeting when the item you have registered for is before the board/committee, you will be called. Please answer your phone. You will be directed to press 1 to join the meeting and then *6 to unmute yourself.

If you want to watch:

To join the meeting in Zoom, click the following link (after you fill out the form, the meeting link and access information will be emailed to you): https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UMTZWggdRt-EzS-kfnHRCg

To join the meeting by phone, dial-in using one of the following toll-free phone numbers: 1-833-548-0276 1-833-548-0282 1-888-788-0099 When prompted, enter the following Webinar ID: 840 0465 1333

Registrations to provide public comment will be accepted until 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the meeting.

DONATIONS APPRECIATED!

Facebook fundraiser

Donate online or checks can be made out to Occupy Madison Inc and sent to 304 N 3rd St, Madison, WI 53704.

VOLUNTEER?

If you want to volunteer, we won’t have slots to sign up for until next week. Email Occupymadisoninc@gmail.com to be notified about volunteer opportunities. If you don’t want to actually help build the tiny houses, we have MANY other volunteer activities available, just let us know what you’d like to do!