Here’s some of the press coverage, plus a few moments I found interesting from my blog, in case you didn’t read all the way through.
LUKAS HAPPY WITH HIS ALDER
I don’t always agree with Jed Sanborn, but at least he’s consistent and principled.
SMALLER HURDLES LEFT
I think the biggest hurdle for the Edgewater is left, actually getting it in the TIF district and getting the Joint TIF Board with representatives from the schools and county and others to agree to keeping their tax base and their taxes longer. I think that is the next thing that could stop the project.
HARD QUESTIONS
These are indeed, some good questions.
PLACE YOUR BETS
Which Hotel will be the next one to come in for TIF. Verveer said at one of the meetings this week that the one on the corner of Johnson and Bassett are interested in TIF.
STATE JOURNAL CROWS
If only all the benefits they think we’ll get really happen . . .
FEARFUL SYMMETRIES FEARFUL
For historic districts.
HOW TO SUMMARIZE A 12 HOUR MOMENT IN TIME
I have no idea how you summarize 12 hours into an article, but this is a good attempt.
THUY DIDN’T VOTE
In this article about how they voted, they note Thuy didn’t vote. Some people say, she was standing on the other side of the wall right before she left. I understand why Julie Kerr had to go home, why Thuy Pham-Remmele did was never disclosed.
BREAKING NEWS
During the many hours of Edgewater we endured, at some point, Robbie Webber pointed out to those of us in press row that there was “breaking news” that the council did not do anything yet. We wondered, isn’t that the opposite of “breaking news”?
STILL USING THOSE MISLEADING PHOTOS
The daily reporter should be ashamed. The new tower looks so small, and the pier so big and . . . the sailboat.
THIS, THE D.A. HAS MONEY FOR
Car crashes. Love the world when we rely on grants and what people with the money want to have happen, rules.
TWITTERED OUT
The Sconz stopped by the cops . . . not allowed in the Council Chambers . . .that’s not right.
THREE LOW LIGHTS OF THE MEETING
Hulsey, Clear and Clear.
Hulsey sells out
I didn’t capture this great, but he’s in favor of the Edgewater, for the water quality?
Brett Hulsey, on Dane County Board and Lakes and water shed, support the project, its smart growth, good jobs, clean water and lake access, need rooms, traffic and air pollution. He worked at sierra Club on sprawl and worked all over. He says if they don’t build up they build out. If don’t build it here it will be built somewhere else. His son did a concert at the Edgewater, the place needs some work, frustrating to walk about to edge of bar and not be able to enjoy the lake. From a clean water point of view, if built in Middleton there would be more run off and water pollution. On the jobs issue, there was a lot of talk about PLA, as a union president, if the workers say its ok, I go with the workers, cuz if have a PLA doesn’t mean anything if no project. On traffic, don’t need to drive to downtown location. Finally, climate change, Wisconsin is 12th worst on business climate, people are doing backflips to do this project, you can send important message that the way to get jobs is to work with people that build things.
Clear on Landmarks
He couldn’t support the Landmarks looking at the details of the 1940s building, which they were enthusiastic about and he says this.
Clear says can support most of it, but can’t support approve, cuz it will get us back to where we are today and they could reject it out of spite, he is concerned they are handing them a loaded gun.
Clear accuses Verveer of filibustering
Clear:
Clear says that its hard to believe after all the hours UDC plan and landmarks have spent on this that my colleagues could not find a different way to do this, this is a blatant attempt to keep us here as long as possible until people begin to leave, vote it down, move to main motion.
Verveer:
Verveer asks for point of personal privilege, not trying to filibuster, trying to serve constituents who elected him to serve, would have had them available if he thought plan would take final action on March 22. He assumes it would have been referred, would have been better to have them addressed there. This is the most contentious project, these issues affect his constituents, this is a real life issue in terms of noise, issue at existing property, will talk as quickly as he can and not speak on main motion if can get this motion and one more on buses. He is not filibustering, that was an unfair characterization.
"Clear says can support most of it, but can't support approve, cuz it will get us back to where we are today and they could reject it out of spite, he is concerned they are handing them a loaded gun."
What, the Landmarks Commission is suddenly going to act like the Mayor and Council and ignore their own laws? Methinks the pot is calling the kettle black.
Alder Thuy not voting is inexcusable. How in the heck is she representing her district when she, in essence, didn't take a stand on one of the most important votes in a long time? She's unworthy of being an alder. The 20th district deserves better leadership.
The entire city needs better representation when the common council allows important meetings like Landmarks and BoEstimates to occur concurrently and then schedules their final meeting to last until morning.
It was a joke, that's fitting of this council, that they had to wrap up the important TIF discussion in order to clear their own chambers so that another body could do some responsible work.
The scene reminded me of a after prom party that stretched till morning. At that point only a few diehards, usually not the smartest kids in class, are still trying to get someone to party with them. Everyone else is sleeping. The smart ones have gone home.
The meeting lasted until 8 in the morning because of the democratic process of having 78 citizens speak for 5 minutes each. Do you think they should have not allowed them to speak so they could have gone to bed? Ridiculous. This issue went through numerous committees, got tons of press coverage, everyone I've talked to has an opinion on it, the process works. It may be flawed and needs a little tweaking, but in all it works. Too bad you didn't get the result you were looking for.
They could have scheduled it on two nights, or heard the landmark's appeal and conditional appeal a week or earlier.
Hi, my name is Brett. Did you know I'm running for Assembly? The Edgewater is great and I want to be like Bridget. Downtown Middleton doesn't need a shoreline setback ordinance. The climate is hot in here. We need jobs for Dave. Alliant won't build coal plants at the Edgewater.
I like water and you should too. Hammes needs the money to save the earth. People with hands can vote for Brett.