City-County Building
Common Council

Dog Park Cleanup, Earth Day Challenge, Budget Engagement Event

posted 

Hi Everyone,

Here are this week’s updates, starting out with two volunteer opportunities suitable for families and individuals alike!

Annual Dog Park Cleanup Day

Do you love your dog park? Help clean up your favorite city of Madison off-leash dog park! Volunteers are needed to assist with picking up trash and scooping up dog poop. Madison Parks will supply trash bags, gloves, scoopers, and buckets. You may bring your own gloves, scoopers, and additional bags. Weather and park conditions determine which dog park locations are included in the volunteer project. Dogs welcome, though be sure to scoop your pup's poop!

Earth Day Challenge

Celebrate Earth Day with your neighbors and friends by volunteering to clean up your local park! Join this community-wide volunteer effort to make a difference. Earth Day Challenge Projects are held throughout the city. Volunteers may assist with trash pickup, raking, weeding, and removing sticks. Parks staff will supply gloves, garbage bags and rakes. Rakes at each park will be based on the number of volunteers participating. TO PICK UP SUPPLIES: Look for the Earth Day Challenge sign in each of the designated parks. No staff is onsite during the event.

  • Date: Saturday, April 20, 2024
  • For More Information Email: Parks Volunteer Coordinator
  • Advanced Registration Required (Hint: District 13 Volunteers have already responded in great numbers!  Yesss, way to go D13!  Brittingham, Olin, Vilas, and Wingra Parks are all filled up. However, you can still sign up to for Edward Klief Park, 1200 Milton St., Glenwood Children's Park, 602 Glenway St., and The Glen Golf Park, 3747 Speedway Road.

Save The Date – Budget Engagement Event

Wednesday, May 29 is now set for a Southside/Near Westside Budget Engagement Event to be held from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at Goodman South Library, 2222 South Park Street. The event is one of five being held around the city and you may attend any one of them. However, this one is meant to appeal to residents in Districts 13, 14, 5, and 10, the aldermanic districts on the near west and south sides of the city. Refreshments and food will be provided.

Finance Department staff will be at the event to offer specifics about our budget challenges, including how we got here in the first place and our possible next steps. Ample time will be given to answer questions. Stay tuned for more details.

In the meantime, those interested are encouraged to dive into the comprehensive information prepared by Finance staff at https://www.cityofmadison.com/finance/budget/2025-budget/2025-budget-outlook.

There you will find an information series on the 2025 outlook. Quoting from the website:

“The Finance Department recorded a four-part series to explain the fundamentals of the City’s budget and options for closing the budget deficit. One goal of the series is to provide a general understanding of the overall City budget as a first step, followed by an explanation of what has been termed the “structural deficit”.  This informational series is a first step toward deciding on an approach to balancing next year’s budget.”

I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this critical resource. Alders are getting a lot of emails, many of which demonstrate fundamental misunderstandings about the source of the budget deficit and what steps could be taken to fix it. For example, there is apparent confusion between capital and operating expenditures, as many emails suggest the budget could be balanced by cutting affordable housing, BRT, and other capital projects.

So please take a deep dive in the four-part series to learn more about our structural deficit and our options for addressing it. 

Boards, Commissions, and Committee Meetings

Note: This is not a complete list of meetings for this upcoming week. All meetings and their details can be found at the Meeting Schedule page.

  • Finance Committee: The Finance Committee meeting will take place on Monday, March 25, in virtual format at 4:30 p.m. Agenda items include submitting the appointment for the new Planning Division Director, setting the 2024 rates for the Sewer Utility and Stormwater Utility, and directing the Finance Department to issue a report analyzing City operating budgets from 2019-2024 and calling on the State Legislature to authorize local sales tax options.
  • Plan Commission: The Plan Commission meeting will take place on Monday, March 25, in virtual format at 5:30 p.m. Agenda items include adopting the Lake Monona Waterfront Master Plan, as well as development-related requests in Districts 2, 5, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 17.
  • Transportation Commission: The Transportation Commission meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 27, in virtual format at 5:00 p.m. Agenda items include the 2023 Transportation Annual Report, review and feedback of multiple Public Works transportation projects, and a 2025 budget outlook.

Announcements & News Releases

That’s all for now.

Take care and stay safe,

Tag

Was this page helpful to you?

District 13 - Alder Evers

Alder Tag Evers

Alder Tag Evers

District 13
Contact Alder Evers