Galileo Drive Neighborhood Meeting, Kennedy Crossing Guard, Parks, RMNA, and more

Good evening neighbors,

It's been another event-filled week for District 3 and with a busy week coming up I wanted to update you on neighborhood happenings.

Grandview and Galileo

We were able to successfully move the Galileo Drive extension to the next Plan Commission meeting which is Monday Feb 5th at 6pm in Room 201 of the City County Building. The extension is part of a bigger development build out in the neighborhood. The area is of course already zoned for residential use, but the developer, Veridian Homes, asked for increased density. For that reason, Madison's planning staff felt the neighborhood needed an additional through-street which connected to Milwaukee Street. I have heard from many of you on this subject, and have really appreciated your perspectives. If you have thoughts on this but you haven't yet written it, I welcome you to do so.

    Neighborhood Meeting to Discuss Galileo Drive

Come be part of the conversation about this proposed extension this Wednesday Jan 31 from 630pm-8pm at Door Creek Church. We will hear from our city staff and our developer on the project and have a chance to ask questions and learn more about the reasoning for this proposal. City staff can walk us through the math in determining population density, how it translates to vehicles anticipated on the road, and how various streets are rated to be able to receive and safely handle anticipated volume. I know, it's a lot of math, but it's important, and I hope you'll join us.

Note: Door Creek Church is kindly making space for us on an evening in which they also have a great deal of youth programming. For safety purposes, everyone who joins us for the meeting will be asked to sign in. Please kindly respect our neighbor congregation's wishes and be sure to sign in as you arrive on Wednesday evening.

School Crossing Guard for Kennedy Elementary

Meanwhile, while the federal government was shut down last week, your city was nonetheless working hard.

I was able to advocate for Kennedy Elementary to keep its crossing guard at Milwaukee St and Meadowlark Drive and last week's Pedestrian Bike Vehicle Safety Commission Meeting. MPD had initially recommended that our crossing guard at that spot be reallocated due to low numbers of children crossing at that spot. Personally I wouldn't want to cross Milwaukee Street at that intersection on my own, and the thought of elementary school students doing so was downright scary. After further study by city staff, and advocacy from Principal Nancy Caldwell and myself, we were able to hold the position at the intersection. Thank you to Principal Caldwell and concerned parents who wrote city staff and the commission members, and to staff and commission members for working with us on this.

North Star Expansion and Camar Park Build

In early December our city's parks planners held a great workshop for our neighborhoods east of the interstate to actively participate in planning the expansion of North Star Park and the build of Camar Park. Neighbors divided into groups and sketched their vision for the parks in their neighborhood. As you can see from the photos, it was a great experience. I can report that while everyone's visions varied slightly, there was virtual universal agreement on a placing a dog park in one of the two parks.

Speaking of Parks...Rolling Meadows Neighborhood Association Meeting

The Rolling Meadows Neighborhood Association executive board will be unveiling some exciting news in regard to parks in their neighborhood. The executive board very kindly welcomed me to a planning session on this topic and I am so excited for all of the great ideas and to be involved in helping make them a reality. Even though I am excited to bursting, I'll let the e-board share their big news and ideas first, at their neighborhood meeting this Thursday Feb 2nd at 7pm at Victory Hmong Alliance Church.

Please also note that the website for the RMNA has changed, it is now: www.rmnamadison.org

Looking forward to seeing the Rolling Meadows neighbors on Thursday.

Stay tuned for more on neighborhood happenings and our new east side seafood restaurant in the next update.

Thank you neighbors

Amanda Hall

Alder, District 3