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Madison asks residents to help maintain ice rinks
on 11/13/09 at 12:39 pm | Madison Parks Division is moving ahead with plans for an "adopt an ice" partnership to help maintain the city's ice rinks. The city is currently asking residents to help commit to doing maintenance at the city's eight rinks, at Tenney, Vilas, Elver, Olbrich, Warner, Westmorland, Garner Park and Goodman parks. |
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Madison conservatives hope to halt commuter rail
on 11/13/09 at 9:00 am | For some people, commuter rail is a nifty idea that makes sense for Dane County, one that will combat pollution and traffic congestion while it promotes economic development and gets people where they need to go. For Vicki McKenna, it's about those damn liberals, trying to micromanage everyone else's lives. |
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Foes fail to block Dane County RTA
on 11/13/09 at 9:00 am | Although the Dane County Board narrowly approved forming a Regional Transit Authority last week, dozens of Dane County residents turned out against it. The meeting began Thursday and stretched well into Friday morning. Several speakers objected to giving an appointed body taxation power. "No taxation without representation" was a familiar refrain. Others urged a referendum on the RTA itself, rather than on whatever plans it comes up with. |
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A most fowl development
on 11/12/09 at 9:00 am | Tina Hinchley raised nine turkeys this year on her family's dairy farm in Cambridge. The largest weighs 50 to 60 pounds, and when he's dressed, Hinchley says, he "will have trouble fitting into the oven." Hinchley keeps the birds largely because of the farm's educational and entertainment component; she and her husband give tours and host events. "I think it's important for the kids to know what turkeys look like," says Hinchley. "They're spectacular. It's amazing how enormous they can get in four to six months." |
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City of Madison seeks 'better process' for community services funding
on 11/12/09 at 9:00 am | Madison is revamping the process for how community service agencies seek city funding and reprioritizing which services are most important. "What we're doing is trying to make a better process," says Bill Clingan, the city's community development division director. "We're reevaluating our priorities and asking, what do we want to suggest the city spend its money on?" |
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Goodman Center Thanksgiving drive still needs basket items
on 11/12/09 at 9:00 am | The Goodman Community Center's Thanksgiving food drive is in its final stages, but the center still needs items for its gift baskets. |
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A touch of flu in Madison schools
on 11/12/09 at 9:00 am | Madison schools have seen a slightly higher than normal rate of absenteeism for this time of year, but it's nothing alarming, says district spokesman Ken Syke. |
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Alder wants new downtown Madison library donors to pony up
on 11/06/09 at 3:19 pm | Ald. Michael Schumacher, in a proposed amendment to the city's capital budget, tried to put the question of whether to fund a new library to the residents in a referendum. The city's Board of Estimates voted down that amendment. Now, Schumacher is trying a new tack. |
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Sheriff's deputies make their presence felt at Dane County budget meetings
on 10/29/09 at 9:00 am | During recent budget deliberations by the Dane County Board, one group has consistently stood out. They come dressed in black T-shirts that read: "DCDSA: Dane County Deputy Sheriff's Association." Most of the deputies stand silently, while spokespeople condemn the board for contemplating 3% salary cuts with eight furloughed days. |
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Sparking visions for Madison's Downtown Plan
on 10/29/09 at 9:00 am | Bill Fruhling knows better than to turn down free help. When the city planner began working on Madison's Downtown Plan in April 2008, he was approached by a group of local architects and urban planners from Downtown Madison Inc., offering to help craft a vision for downtown. |
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A chronic-nuisance success story
on 10/29/09 at 9:00 am | For years, Trevor Ilk had a problem with his next-door neighbors, at 1118 Petra Place, concerning their apparent involvement in illegal activity. He put up with it because he loved his landlord and his apartment, at 1122 Petra Place, off Fish Hatchery Road on Madison's south side. |
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A plan for the MPD Downtown Safety Initiative budget
on 10/29/09 at 9:00 am | Madison's Downtown Safety Initiative (DSI) began in 2006 after a string of downtown muggings. The $100,000 annual fund was created to provide for overtime to get more police on the streets late at night. |
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Downtown MATC eyes new arts and culinary mission
on 10/29/09 at 9:00 am | Madison Area Technical College is looking to expand and repurpose its downtown campus into a center for the arts, possibly adding a public gallery and a gourmet dining room. MATC is preparing a request for proposals and seeking a developer to partner with at the site, located a block from Capitol Square on Wisconsin Avenue. |
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Alders draw line on cuts to Madison ice rink maintenance
on 10/22/09 at 4:56 pm | You don't mess with ice rinks in Madison. One of the money saving measures proposed by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz in the 2010 operating budget was to discontinue maintenance at some of the city’s 10 ice rinks, for a savings of $38,000. But, several alders have balked at the idea. |
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Hilldale Target receives mixed reaction from neighbors
on 10/20/09 at 12:22 pm | Monday night, Target executives presented their plan for a 155,000-square-foot "raised single level" store at the corner of North Midvale Boulevard and University Avenue. The store would be on top of about 450 parking spaces and employ 150 to 200 people. |
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Two South American ambassadors to speak at UW this month
on 10/16/09 at 1:38 pm | Heraldo Muñoz should probably be dead right now. In the fall of 1973, Muñoz was an idealistic socialist in Chile, hiding out with his American wife as the military searched for dissidents to "disappear" as Augusto Pinochet tightened his grip on power. |
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Segredo promises to be a different kind of bar
on 10/15/09 at 9:00 am | Michael Hierl oozes confidence. The 53-year-old Madison native and Harvard graduate calls himself a "serial entrepreneur" who has generated more than $100 million in sales with his various companies. But Hierl's latest venture has an altruistic component, something he calls "social entrepreneurism." |
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Madison Metro ridership takes a hit
on 10/15/09 at 9:00 am | When Mayor Dave Cieslewicz pushed through a 50-cent bus-fare hike earlier this year, opponents predicted a catastrophic drop in riders. It's probably too soon for either side to claim they were right, but Madison Metro ridership has been dropping since May, a month after the cash fare rose from $1.50 to $2. And the more important number -- paid ridership -- began dropping in July. |
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New life sought for James Madison Park neighborhood
on 10/15/09 at 9:00 am | Ald. Bridget Maniaci is worried about the James Madison Park neighborhood in her district. For years, its old homes have mostly been used for student rentals, which are a bit worse for wear. Now that students are living more in high-rise developments closer to campus, she sees an opportunity. |
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No recession for Madison parks
on 10/15/09 at 9:00 am | Some members of Madison's Common Council have challenged, so far without success, the mayor's plans to include money for a downtown library and renovated Edgewater Hotel in his 2010 capital budget. But one area where they seem eager to increase spending is on city parks. |
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Starting a dialogue on homelessness
on 10/15/09 at 9:00 am | The third season of Dialogues on Homelessness kicks off Saturday, Oct. 17, at the downtown Madison Public Library, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. It is free and open to everyone. |
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Mike Verveer wants new benches without the bum-proofing
on 10/01/09 at 9:00 am | This summer, city workers installed dividers on some benches around Capitol Square at the behest of the Central Business Improvement District to keep people from sleeping on them. |
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The north side's art project
on 10/01/09 at 9:00 am | North Madison is looking at public art as a way of creating more of an identity. Linda Horvath, a Madison urban planner who has worked with north-side neighborhoods to develop the Northside Plan, says, "Part of the neighborhood planning process focused on creating a stronger identity for the area and using that to improve economic development." |
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Where's that confounded park?
on 10/01/09 at 9:00 am | Nathanial Abrams figured it was okay to play R&B music from his boombox in Lisa Link Peace Park on Sept. 16. He was wrong. A Madison police officer wrote him a ticket for violating city ordinance 24.04. |
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Talking transit
on 10/01/09 at 9:00 am | The Wisconsin Urban and Rural Transit Association is hosting a seminar all day Thursday at Warner Park Community Center, to talk about transit in Madison. The event will include national and local mass transit experts, including Mark Huffer of the Kansas City Transportation Authority. |
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Downtown Madison Peace Park discussions grow tense
on 09/30/09 at 4:42 pm | In a meeting that was at times tense and antagonistic, people argued about the motives behind the redevelopment of Lisa Link Peace Park and what the city should be doing to help the homeless. |
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Residents irritated at developer's plans for East Mifflin, Frank Lloyd Wright's Lamp House
on 09/22/09 at 1:26 pm | Architect Matt Tills was taking the crowd on a virtual reality tour of blocks just east of Capitol Square. Zooming in and out on his computer, projected on the wall, he showed the neighborhood group some visions for the 200 block of East Mifflin Street, the area including the historic Lamp House, built by Frank Lloyd Wright. |
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Plans for an ATM in Lisa Link Peace Park infuriate homeless, activists
on 09/21/09 at 4:06 pm | Proponents of renovating Lisa Link Peace Park have said all along that they're not trying to kick homeless people out of the park. But the latest addition to the plans call for something that would prohibit one group of people: panhandlers. |
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Peace Park redesign back within budget
on 09/17/09 at 4:52 pm | Redesigning the building planned for Lisa Link Peace Park has brought renovations for tiny park on State Street back within budget. |
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Madison businesses are defying the fire marshal
on 09/17/09 at 9:00 am | Marsh Shapiro doesn't know what he did to attract the scrutiny of the Madison fire marshal. But he's not taking it lying down. |
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