New Old Canoe and Highlights for the Week of September 26, 2022

Last week, a 3000-year-old canoe was recovered from Lake Mendota and extracted via Spring Harbor Beach. The Wisconsin State Journal has all the amazing details.

For information about additional City meetings scheduled for this week, please consult the City Meeting schedule.

• Project Updates
  • Old Middleton Road and Craig Avenue Resurfacing
  • University Avenue

• Fall 2022 Yard Waste & Leaves Set-Out Dates Now Available - Residents get three curbside collection opportunities in the fall

• Halloween on State Street - In the past few years, the City has moved away from a formal/sanctioned event for Halloween, also known as Freakfest, and again there will be no formal event this year.

• 2022 Reverend Wright Award Recipient is Wayne Strong

• Jim Wolfe Appointed as New City Engineer

• Madison Fire to Host Virtual Recruitment Open Houses

• Mayor Rhodes-Conway Announces One-Time Payment for City Employees

• Within Reach: Local Government Contracting Opportunities - a Sept. 27 virtual event for minority-owned businesses who want to do business with government agencies such as City of Madison, Dane County, or the State of Wisconsin.

• From the Mayor:

  • Seniors in Madison Empowered to Age Well During National Senior Center Month

  • City Thanks MG&E Foundation - The City's Common Council accepted a $40,000 donation from the Madison Gas and Electric (MG&E) Foundation to support a new City initiative dedicated to helping people experiencing homelessness

• Applications Being Accepted to Fill Seventeenth Aldermanic District Vacancy - Must be received no later than 4:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 3, 2022

• Vision Zero Continues Speed Reductions on a Section of Portage Rd

• General Election Sample Ballots Available - Voters can view a sample ballot for their address on the MyVote Wisconsin website.

• City of Madison Absentee Ballots in the Mail - Voters encouraged to make sure certificate is complete and ballot is returned by Election Day (Nov. 8).

• Complete Green Streets Public Presentation: Join City of Madison staff and project consultants at 7pm on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, for a virtual public presentation to share the draft Complete Green Streets framework, including priorities and decision-making elements that will shape how the City plans to design streets moving forward. More info and registration for the Zoom meeting is here.

• Free Fair Housing Trainings for Owners and Managers of Rental Property - Seminar will include information about protected classes and prohibited practices delineated by local, state and federal fair housing laws, as well as emerging issues such as sexual harassment and hate incidents in housing situations. Trainings are Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022 - 8:30 to 10 a.m. and Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022 - 6 to 7:30 p.m. Register here for this free online seminar or call 608-257-0853.

• Metro Public Art Project: The Madison Arts Commission is reviewing four proposals for a public art project for the Metro Transit Maintenance Facility on the corner of East Washington Ave. and South Ingersoll St. The commission is seeking community feedback on the proposals. Please complete the feedback form before noon on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. Proposals and Feedback Form.

• Lake Monona Waterfront Design Challenge: Madison Parks is holding a public event series for the Lake Monona Waterfront Design Challenge! The event series is an opportunity to learn more about the design challenge, the selected teams, their progress in plan development, and the final master plan proposals. Each event will be held in person and planned to be streamed to the Madison City Channel for remote viewing.

The first of three in-person events: Design Challenge Kick-Off 

Monday, Oct. 3, 2022 @ 6:00 pm CT

Madison Central Library, Rooms 301-302, 201 W Mifflin St.

Design teams will live-stream to the event and introduce themselves and their team's unique perspective on master plan development.

• Business District Support Program: The Business District Support Program website is accepting applications on a first come, first served basis. This program will provide grant funds to eligible local organizations that can activate or reactivate business districts by promoting small businesses and other economic growth activities such as programs, assistance, and events such as markets or festivals. In addition, this grant can be for existing business associations or new groups interested in exploring or starting a new business district.

• Food Scraps Recycling: Food scraps recycling for 2022 has been extended to Oct. 25 at two farmer's market drop-off sites:
  • South Madison Farmer's Market (1602 S. Park St., Labor Temple)
    • Hours: Tuesdays, 2:00pm to 6:00pm.

  • Eastside Farmer's Market (202 S. Ingersoll St., McPike Park)

    • Hours: Tuesdays, 4:00pm to 7:00pm

• Dane CORE 2.0: Dane County and the City of Madison were notified this week that their requests for additional emergency rental assistance funds have been approved. That means more federal funds will soon be available to continue the Dane CORE 2.0 program. The Dane CORE 2.0 application portal, which temporarily closed on September 15, will re-open at 12:00 am CST on Wednesday, October 5, for persons interested in submitting new applications and additional funding requests (AFR's). Applications received prior to the September 15 pause will continue to be processed without interruption, and eligible claims will be paid. It is not necessary to resubmit those applications when the portal re-opens. Anyone wishing to review the status of an application that has already been submitted to see if there are any open tasks and that all information is up to date should log into Neighborly.

Please note that the program changes described in our previous message will go into effect for any applications submitted after the portal re-opens. These changes are designed to reserve funds for those households facing the greatest economic hardships. They include the following:

• Program benefits will be available only to those with household incomes at or below 50% of the County Median Income. (Previously, the income threshold was 80% of County Median Income).
• The program will provide assistance only for past-due (unpaid) rents.
• Only arrears accrued since July 1, 2021 will be eligible.
• Assistance will not be available for forward/future rent payments unless paired with security deposit assistance.

• 5602 & 5606 Schroeder Road at Plan Commission on 10/3

  The proposed project at 5602 & 5606 Schroeder Road will be on the agenda at the October 3rd Plan Commission meeting. 

  • Meeting details
  • Meeting agenda 
  • Watch online 

• PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING: LAKE MENDOTA DRIVE--Phase 2 on Thursday, October 6, 6:00pm to 8:00pm via Zoom. At this meeting, staff will present more details for the 2023 project on Lake Mendota Dr., including any updates related to the street design that was approved by the Common Council earlier in 2022 and the project schedule. Following the presentation, there will be an opportunity to discuss the project and ask questions. The project page will be kept current with project updates, including future meetings.

• Town of Madison final public information meeting: The City of Madison will hold a Final Public Information Meeting for the Town of Madison Attachment on October 20, 2022, at 6pm. This public meeting will be conducted virtually and prior registration is required. Join us to meet City of Madison staff and learn about the Town of Madison attachment.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, etc., feel free to reach out: district19@cityofmadison.com

-Keith F