There are so many issues in my queue to blog about, and so little time, so today, I have a little bit of this and a little bit of that . . .
FOLLOW UP ON FACEBOOK PRIVACY ISSUE
Emily Mills at Dane101.com does a great job outlining the issues and a relatively good/informed follow up conversation ensues. I agree these are open questions, and I’m surprised by who feels strongly which way on this issue. Those who first got me involved in blogging and on-line activities seem to lean more towards privacy, those a little newer tend to go towards no privacy. I guess I see a little of both sides of the issue. I think in this case, since I did post it on twitter, it was ok, especially because of how I use Facebook and Twitter, but it should have only been my comments, not those of others. But my opinions on this continue to morph as the conversation continues about the new on-line world and the media.
THAT’S ONE WAY TO DO IT!
I laughed when I read Bill Lueders article about the skateboard park advocates that finally just took things into their own hands. Skateboarding was an issue over 8 years ago before I was on the council and it does seem that nothing has changed. While their methods may have been a little unconventional, they certainly made their point! Hopefully, Alder Rhodes-Conway can help make something happen. There’s no reason why a city this size doesn’t have a skateboard park.
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!
As I twittered, facebooked and e-mailed/listserved yesterday, then the email got blogged by Kristin at Laptop City Hall and a small article in the WSJ (based on a phone call, not the internet) . . . Carl DuRocher, the chair of the Transit and Parking commission is the latest victim of the Mayor’s so-called non-existent “10 year rule”. Tho, as Kristin points out, it is no small coincidence that Carl recently opposed the bus fare hike and is now being removed. To see others who may also be soon on their way out the door, here’s the list I compiled a few weeks ago. It makes it kind of sad that the point made in the Cap Times editorial that touched off the facebook, racist, privacy debate got kinda lost. I agree with them, the City can handle vigorous debate and a diversity of opinions, too bad the Mayor can’t see that as an asset instead of threat.
BANNING BOTTLED WATER BOTTLES
I think this should be considered along with the plastic bag issue. I like what they are doing at with water at Bonnaroo. I find their statistics from the press release staggering.
Bottled Water
- Ends up as garbage 90% of the time.(1)
- Uses 2,000 times more energy than water.(2)
- Is 1,000 times more expensive than tap water.(3)
- Takes 1,000 years to biodegrade.(4)
- Requires enough fuel to power more than 3,000,000 vehicles a year.(5)
BUY LOCAL – KINDA
After attending the small business summit that the City of Madison and the Chamber of Commerce put on, a facebook “friend” (note, trying to respect this person’s privacy) posted the following:
XXX is contemplating the irony of seeing a local Madison business tout technology developed in Asia by a company headquartered in Massachusetts to promote their “buy local” campaign.
I thought it was amusing. So I had to ask, and again, edited to protect privacy, here’s what was said:
XXX presented at the Madison small-business conference on Tuesday, and gave a great commercial for Constant Contact, the e-mail marketing company from far away. My teeth were grinding. The good news is that XXX does use a local company [edited] for her Web site.
OH, OUCH
So, Terrence Wall was snubbed. After all the work he did to bring forward the idea of redoing the library, the committee goes with his competitor for the downtown library. Well, thank you Terrence, for getting the conversation going!
NORTHSIDE DISGUST
There has been a very interesting discussion happening on the northside neighborhood listserve. What shocked me was that when a person challenged Alderperson Michael Schumacher on his banning of liquor in small packages and tried to explain how that impacted low-income people . . . Alder Schumacher responded with a very personal attack on the critic. The person had been in trouble with the law in an incident that involved alcohol and Alder Schumacher used that incident to discredit the person standing up for the views in his neighborhood. It was one of the lower moments I’ve witnessed by bad listserve behavior by elected officials. However, the good news is, that after the personal attack, the discussion turned to some issues around alcohol and what is really needed to address the issues. I think the person, who did not back down when attacked by Alder Schumacher, was rather brave and I have new respect for this person and think it was great that he wasn’t intimidated into silence.
DEWAR UPDATE
Thomas Dewar has defriended me. I’d like to say it has something to do with internet privacy, but I suspect not. I suspect it has more to do with yesterday’s comments in my blog. If you’d like tho, you can join his fan club. (Zach Brandon should be the number one fan.) I told you, trouble follows him, or he causes it, one of the two.
