Oooooooooo – remember these . . . . I’m slowly getting a portion of my life back, so here’s one for today!
LOCAL GOVERNMENT NEWS
Tuesday, February 2nd
Spring Elections
- Early Voting for Spring Primary Begins – WORT 89.9 FM
- Meet the Candidates: Nino Amato and Doug Hyant for District 9 – WORT 89.9 FM
- Cap Times Election Q&A: Madison City Council District 18 – Cap Times
- Cap Times Election Q&A: Dane County Board District 12 – Cap Times
City of Madison
- Madison targets $3.1 million to nonprofits, cooperatives for housing initiatives – State Journal
- City looks to FedEx site for bus garage; cheaper than contaminated Oscar Mayer site – State Journal
- Community leaders welcome police chief, ask for accountability – Madison365
- New face, same debate – Isthmus
- New Police Chief Shon Barnes blows off Public Safety Review Committee – Forwardlookout.com
- Madison City Council: What will they talk about tonight? – Forwardlookout.com
- Mayor, alders to propose zoning changes for affordable housing to Madison Common Council – Channel3000.com
- City Council to vote on purchase of men’s homeless shelter– Channel3000.com
- Ordinance proposal would extend ‘Streatery’ program in Madison until 2022 – WKOW
- New proposal for Metro Transit Satellite Facility in Madison – WKOW
- MPD swears in Shon Barnes as new chief – Badger Herald
- New Police Chief Shon Barnes outlines ‘ambitious blueprint’ for Madison – Cap Times
- In-person absentee voting for Spring Primary begins – WKOW
Dane County
- Dane Co. offers $500k in grants for bike playground, trail projects – WMTV
- County accepting PARC & Ride grant applications – Sun Prairie Star
- City-County Building receives energy efficiency grant – Waunakee Tribune
- Amid vocal public opposition, village of Brooklyn abolishes police department – WORT 89.9 FM
- PFAS Contamination – Safe Skies Cleanup Demands – Safe Skies Clean Waters
- Dane County Now Accepting PARC & Ride Grant Program Applications – Dane County
- ‘I had to do the math a couple times, but that’s 1327% increase!’: Local clerks marvel at unprecedented voter turnout ahead of Feb. 16 primary – Channel3000.com
- Dane Co. leaders apply to host federal vaccination site at Alliant Energy Center – Channel3000.com
- ‘We have the ability’: Public health officials to ramp up vaccinations at Alliant Energy Center – Channel3000.com
- Village of Brooklyn abolishes police department, to contract with Dane County Sheriff’s Office – Channel3000.com
- Village of Brooklyn board provides more clarity behind decision to no longer have police department – WKOW
- Dane County applies to make Alliant Energy Center federal vaccination site – WKOW
Madison Area Schools
K – 12
- Madison School Board: Urgency needed on reducing discipline disproportionalities – Cap Times
- Teacher doubled down on lesson that asked, “How will you punish this slave?” – Madison365
- ‘This one event feels like it’s three steps back’: How a virtual lesson plan slipped through the cracks at Patrick Marsh Middle School – Channel3000.com
- Petition calls for resuming sports for Madison students – WKOW
Higher Ed
- UW plans to disburse $9.9 million in COVID relief aid to students – Daily Cardinal
- Cardinal Call: ASM pushes ahead into murky legal waters – WORT 89.9 FM
- UW Arboretum designated as National Historic Landmark – State Journal
- UW student government attempts end-around to establish emergency housing fund, despite System policy – Madison365
- UW-Madison Arboretum designated as National Historic Landmark – Channel3000.com
- UW–Madison Arboretum designated a National Historic Landmark – Campus News
- UW–Madison Arboretum designated a National Historic Landmark – WKOW
And more . . .
- Week of 2/1/21 – Forwardlookout.com (podcast)
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
PEOPLE’S MAPS COMMISSION (STATEWIDE)
| People’s Maps Commission Seeks Public Comment
1st Congressional District public hearing to occur on Feb.11 |
| MADISON —The People’s Maps Commission will hold a virtual public hearing at 5:30-8:45 p.m. on Thurs., Feb. 11, 2021, to seek public input on the upcoming redistricting of legislative maps from constituents of Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. Although the Feb. 11 hearing will focus on the 1st Congressional District, all Wisconsin residents are encouraged to watch and participate. Anyone wishing to testify at the hearing must register in advance by visiting the People’s Maps Commission website HERE.
The hearing is the Commission’s sixth in a series of at least eight meetings, one for each one of Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts. The virtual public hearing will include testimony from subject matter experts and also provide Wisconsinites the opportunity to express how they have been affected by legislative redistricting and share their ideas for how Wisconsin can work together to achieve fair maps. The deadline for registering to comment during this hearing is 5:00 p.m. Tues., Feb. 9th, 2021. Each speaker will have three minutes to speak. Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis, with priority to residents of Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. For anyone unable to join the virtual hearing, written comments are strongly encouraged. Written comments can be submitted at any time using the feedback form available on the People’s Maps Commission website HERE. Written comments will be reviewed by the commissioners and are public record. Selected by a three judge panel, the Commission is a nine-member nonpartisan redistricting commission charged with drawing fair, impartial maps for the state of Wisconsin. More information about the Commission, its members and its activities is available HERE. Every 10 years, each state redraws their legislative and congressional districts using data from the decennial census. In addition to the data from the 2020 U.S. Census, the Commission will use information gathered during the public hearing process to prepare new maps. It will then be up to the Legislature to take up and approve the maps created by the Commission. Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the People’s Maps Commission will host virtual public hearings for each of Wisconsin’s eight The hearing dates are as follows:
Individuals interested in watching previous hearings can find the recordings HERE. |
UPDATE ON RENTAL ASSISTANCE
From the City of Madison:
The City of Madison and Dane County recently announced the availability of up to $16 million of emergency rental assistance from the federal government that will be used to support payment of rent arrears. In addition, President Biden recently extended the federal eviction moratorium through March 31st. These emergency funds are essential to our community and we recognize the need for them to be dispersed quickly to support struggling tenants and landlords. In order to meet the anticipated demand for these funds the City and County are working with Tenant Recourse Center to open applications for emergency rental assistance the week of February 15th.
Our priority is to ensure community members stay safely housed. We are asking for property owners to work with us during this time to meet that goal. We know these funds will not meet the full needs of our community but we anticipate additional funds will be made available to us to continue expanding the program to cover the massive rent shortfall. We will ask, in exchange for providing allowable back rent for eligible tenants to make agreements those tenants will not be displaced. As a community we need to work together to ensure we can stabilize households as we all “Build Back Better” throughout this pandemic.
MISSING MATERIALS FROM DANE COUNTY REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE
This staff member rocks in getting information about to interested parties!
The agenda for tonight’s Dane County Redistricting Commission has been updated to include meeting materials for 2020 PRES-142 REVIEW OF PRACTICE MAPS CREATED BY COMMISSIONERS.
You can find the updated agenda on Legistar.
MADISON REGION REMOTE WORK SURVEY
As a participant in the 2020 Madison Region Remote Work Survey who previously expressed interest in the results, I’m writing to share with you that we will be presenting on the findings during a free webinar hosted by Sustain Dane tomorrow, February 3, 12:00-1:00 p.m. Please join us if you can!
More information and the link to register are available here: https://sustaindane.org/program/teleworking-lunch-learn/
“Catalyst for Change” A New and Innovative Approach to Homelessness in Madison
The only thing new is the city gave them this money without going to RFP and giving other organizations an opportunity to compete for the money!
Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc. (CNI) invites downtown residents and guests to a virtual discussion with Michael Moody and John Adams. John and Michael have been instrumental in the success at the Beacon, the day resource center for homeless in Downtown Madison. They will talk about their new initiative, “Catalyst for Change.” They will offer their perspective on the current status of the homeless and the gaps in services presently holding some back because so many homeless in our community struggle with mental health, addiction and live in poverty. A member of CNI’s executive council, Ron Luskin, will serve as moderator. Ron serves as a member of Porchlight’s board of directors and chairs the Beacon’s Community Advisory Team. Following Ron’s moderated conversation with John and Michael there will be plenty of time for audience members to ask questions.
Event Details:
Thursday, February 11th, 2021.
7:00 pm
Via Zoom (see log-in details below)
– – – – – –
We hope you can join us!
Stay tuned for additional upcoming events on February 25th with the Madison Trust of Historic Preservation and March 16th for a discussion on the restructuring of local Government.
Jacqueline Freidel
Vice President, Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc.
Capitol Neighborhoods is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Capitol Neighborhoods and Catalyst for Change discuss homelessness in downtown Madison
Time: Feb 11, 2021 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 842 8469 7013
Passcode: 812468
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Meeting ID: 842 8469 7013
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NOTES FROM WINTER STORM BRIEFING – HOMELESSSNESS
Got these notes from the County Office for Equity and Inclusion:
This information is from the EM Weather Briefing from this morning especially for those of you who work with nonprofits and assist individuals who may be homeless and may be in need of shelter. This gives you some idea of the weather we will be having over the next few days starting approximately at 6 PM Thursday 2/4 on through next Tuesday 2/9 and you can prepare.
Winter Storm Watch – Thursday 2/4 to Friday 2/5
- 6 to noon. 3 -6 inches.
- Back side of the snow is strong wind. Low visibility and drift.
- Precipitation arrive tomorrow – mixed may mixed with drizzle and break then fast accumulating snow.
- Winds expected on Friday – during morning commute
- Will watch to see if it goes into a warning.
Cold Front Coming
- Thursday to Friday. Will drop in single digits
- Friday temp with wind chill -13 and looks like will meet wind-chill advisory threshold -20 ; if drops to -35 it becomes a warning.
- Sat 2/6 – Tuesday 2/9 air temperature will range from -1 to -12 over this time period.
- Follow Weather at https://www.weather.gov/mkx/
- Temp not expected to drop down like we had during polar Vortex which was which is -50
MGE and Alliant
- No anticipated issue.
- Already in cold weather mode and ready to deal with any issues.
SHELTER – SPECIAL ACTION TAKEN
- Porchlight will be opening to let people in right away 250 cots. Located at the old City Garage on 1st Street
- Salvation Army – Welcome to come during day and night for cold weather night. Room reserved at hotel and gym for families. In cold weather mode through next week. They can be in there during the day during cold weather nights. No will be turned away during day or night and will find some where for them.
- Beacon – Staff will be there and let people in right away. Will not turn people away unless violent suspension. Working on what to do if hit capacity.
- City and County working with outreach shelter. Did a point in time count and about 80 people no shelter and sleeping in cars. Outreach team will be checking on people. Looking at trying to get hotel. Outreach provider have gas cards.
