Mid-Week (Tuesday) Round Up

Love it when Tuesday is mid week . . .

ONE WEEK, THEN A DO-OVER
That’s right, the Edgewater is back. Re-do the bingo game, print out the drinking game rules, grab the caffeine beverage of your choice, watch for more push from the mayor and council leadership to cram this down our throats, count the alders who will be present, hope it doesn’t snow . . . let’s try this for a third time . . . it looks like its all coming down to . . . dare I say it, an undecided Pham-Remmele and Compton. Could be an even longer meeting as they catch up to the rest of the council. And it might end up in referral if Compton’s argument wins (same as Cnare motion – wait til Plan Commission and UDC are done with the project). And, if it passes or gets referred, then, watch out for the “efficient” approval process that Bruer is talking about . . . sounds like they are planning on more short-cuts. What a freaking nightmare. I took the 6th off – still have vacation days to burn . . .

WAIT FOR IT . . .
They still haven’t confirmed who will and will not be at the Council meeting on Tuesday. The council members were given 18 hours, during a holiday week to let the council office know if they will be in attendance:

From: Veldran, Lisa
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 2:58 PM
To: ALL ALDERS
Subject: Notified Absences: Common Council Meeting January 5, 2010

Council President, Ald. Tim Bruer, has asked that I email alders to find out if any of you will be a notified absence at the January 5, 2010 Common Council meeting.

As of 2:57 p.m. on 12/28/10 I have no alders being absent at the January 5, 2010 Common Council meeting.

Please let me know by 9 a.m. tomorrow, December 29, 2010 if you plan on being absent.

Thank you.

I wonder how many alders won’t even check their email in that 18 hour period.

SPRING ELECTIONS
Today, I covered the county board candidates, I count on TJ to cover the school board . . . and he does. One week to go til the races are set! 19 so far on the county side? 4 retirements, 15 challenged incumbents.

SKIDMORE TAKES A STAND
Against Walmart and 7-11 and for the low- and middle-income shopper!

REMOVE THAT SNOW
I signed up for some of the alerts from the City of Madison. Here’s one of them I got yesterday.

Sidewalk Snow Removal Alert
The snow that accumulated on Saturday, December 26, 2009 and Sunday December 27, 2009 must be removed from the public sidewalks by noon on Monday, December 28, 2009. Sand and/or salt must be applied to packed snow and ice that remains on the public sidewalks.

Seriously, do you think they might start enforcing this against absentee landlords downtown, that would be cool! It just doesn’t really seem to happen without complaints, which you can easily file on-linehere. Hint. Hint.

BRUER’S BEEN CALLED ON TO “MANAGE” ME
End of the day yesterday, I got this email – A response to my open records request.

Please find attached a PDF copies of the following documents:

1. 2009 Absence from the City Emails – Alders – These are official notices that are sent/copied to the City Clerk (MGO 2.025) and which should be on file there as well.

2. 2009 Aldermanic Absence – Staff Calendars – These calendars are for staff use only, are not a complete or accurate absence account and should not be considered official notices of absences.

[snip]

If you are in need of further assistance please feel free to contact Ald. Tim Bruer, Common Council President.

There’s some differences in the info in the first and second documents, trying to figure that out. The first document is only for missed council meetings and absences for longer than 5 days. The second has more information, which is why it was what I had originally requested. I haven’t sorted it all out yet. See below. Any which way, the fact that Bruer doesn’t respond, this sounds like a blow off to me.

WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Rob and I, after talking about it for a year, finally bought a Wii. 🙂 So, I was too busy defeating the Black Knight to finish my blog on snow. Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe not . . . 🙂

WEEK AHEAD, CANCELLED
Meeting: ADA TRANSIT SUBCOMMITTEE TO THE TRANSIT AND PARKING COMM on 12/28/2009 5:10 PM at ROOM 303 MMB has been cancelled.

WEEK AHEAD, ADDED
I really didn’t think they’d add anything this week . . . but . . . well, they did.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009
5:15 PM HUMANITARIAN AWARD COMMISSION, REVEREND DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. ROOM 523 CCB

OOOOPS
That’s embarrassing. Think they really get to keep their jobs?