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Website · by **nevermore** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:21 pm

http://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/blog ... cfm?Id=226

Wow. Just, wow, Mayor Dave. Now, as you all know by now, I'm a big fan of spin but is the Mayor going as a blogger for Halloween or what? Reading that, I can visualize the Cheetoh stains on the keyboard and the spittle flecks on the monitor screen. All he has to do is come up with some tacky gloss for Ledell Zellers and Fred Mohs and he'd give Blaska a run for his money.

by **Dulouz** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:33 pm

Ouch.

That post almost makes me want to start following TDPF again!

by **Average Joe** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:12 pm

I like the redesign better than the original drawings, but I would still prefer the idea snoqueen posted about a more organic building that was flatter and longer built to fit along the shoreline. As far as the mayor goes, I think it's time to find another come next election because this one is acting too much like a spoiled tween who throws tantrums when he doesn't get what he likes.

by **bluethedog** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 6:19 am

Mayor Cieslewicz is starting to worry about his legacy. He just wants something (anything really) built on his watch that isn't a condo.

by **jjoyce** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:56 am

Point of conversation over beers last night (We're a pretty raucous crew, what can I say?): The only reason why this is a "thing" is Fred Mohs and the only real reason why Fred Mohs is opposed to the design is because it hinders the view of the lake from his own house (first) and from the apartments in Kennedy Manor, which he owns (second).

There are all sorts of foul-smelling aspects of the process that have been brought up, but it's pretty clear that the biggest obstacle is Mohs because of the guy's resources, his media savvy and the fact that he's used the term "lawsuit" recently.

What I don't get is why the mayor seems to be taking this so personally. It's one thing to govern the process, but it's completely another to be pulling stunts like this one.

Website · by **nevermore** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:15 pm

jjoyce wrote:What I don't get is why the mayor seems to be taking this so personally. It's one thing to govern the process, but it's completely another to be pulling stunts like this one.

And that's just the point of my post. He's the freaking Mayor. All he has to do is work the process on the inside the way mayors tend to do these things. Why such public intemperance?

by **Brenda Konkel** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 3:21 pm

I think everyone wants to make this about Fred Mohs so that you don't have to listen to the concerns from people who are worried about the impact of the development on the lakes, the people concerned about the precedent it sets for historic district, the people who are concerned that our tax payer dollars are going for "public" space that most likely won't end up being public and those who are worried that if the TIF district gets extended down to the end of James Madison Park and over to E Washington Avenue that it will mean the end of those neighborhoods as developers accumulate adjoining lots and rip houses down to build larger developments.

It's much easier to make it about Fred than the unresolved issues and concerns of many. Unfortunately, the supporters have more access to the media and more standing in the community than the people who will be impacted by these foolish decisions. It's not just the immediate neighbors, but everyone who owns property in historic districts and a huge chunk of the Isthmus, out to Blount Street.

by **Stu Levitan** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 6:48 pm

Mayor and I had an interesting exchange on the role of citizen committees in review of Edgewater. Check out the November episode of Access: City Hall, the second segment especially.

by **fennel** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:36 pm

Stu Levitan wrote:Mayor and I had an interesting exchange on the role of citizen committees in review of Edgewater. Check out the November episode of Access: City Hall, the second segment especially.

Eh ... and how would one check out this episode. Do you have a URL or a bibliographic citation, even? Is this a blog? A radio broadcast? A podcast? Cable TV? Twitter feed? An underground print-on-paper 'zine, or what?

by **bluethedog** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:08 pm

http://www.cityofmadison.com/mcc12/ach.html

by **Stu Levitan** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 12:27 am

thanks, blue.

by **SombreroFallout** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:50 am

Stu Levitan wrote:thanks, blue.

How long's it take the Nov episode to be archived? I have to be in church, you know.

by **gargantua** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:35 am

Average Joe wrote:I like the redesign better than the original drawings, but I would still prefer the idea snoqueen posted about a more organic building that was flatter and longer built to fit along the shoreline.

Show of hands please. How many of you think the "redesign" is really what it seems to be? I suspect it's what was wanted all along.

That aside, I didn't find the mayor's blog particularly objectionable. Would have loved to have seen how Soglin would have blogged if the technology were around when he was mayor.

by **david cohen** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 10:32 am

The Edgewater needs to be renovated, no doubt. But it doesn't need to be the colossal edifice that has been proposed. How about just renovating it, period? Frankly, the bullshit about public access to Lake Mendota baffles me. There's plenty of public access to Mendota just down the street at the Memorial Union, up the shoreline at multiple parks, etc.. That's not how to sell this monolith. Renovate the hotel, don't build another mistake on the lake. Pretty damn simple, and would have avoided the collateral damage to the historic neighborhood which now seems permanent. It always amazes me how developers in this town are born with one foot in their mouths and the other up their asses. Mayor Dave, who is he? I think this whole thing has cemented his legacy as a persona non grata, which is too bad.

by **Peacetrain** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 10:46 am

david cohen wrote:The Edgewater needs to be renovated, no doubt. But it doesn't need to be the colossal edifice that has been proposed. How about just renovating it, period? Frankly, the bullshit about public access to Lake Mendota baffles me. There's plenty of public access to Mendota just down the street at the Memorial Union, up the shoreline at multiple parks, etc.. That's not how to sell this monolith. Renovate the hotel, don't build another mistake on the lake. Pretty damn simple, and would have avoided the collateral damage to the historic neighborhood which now seems permanent. It always amazes me how developers in this town are born with one foot in their mouths and the other up their asses. Mayor Dave, who is he? I think this whole thing has cemented his legacy as a persona non grata, which is too bad.

Disagree with pretty much everything you wrote. But i do appreciate the way you wrote it.