Common Council

Meeting and Event Highlights for the Week of May 30, 2022

City Offices are closed on Monday, May 30

Administrative offices are closed on Monday, May 30, for Memorial Day. Emergency services will be open; please call 911. You may use Report a Problem for non-emergencies.

There will be no recycling, trash, brush, or large item collections performed by the City of Madison Streets Division on Monday, May 30 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. The Streets Division drop-off sites will also be closed. Madison residents who normally have their trash and recycling collected on Mondays by the Streets Division should instead place their scheduled cart(s) to the curb for pickup by 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 31. More information here.

Meetings

• On Tuesday, May 31, Metro Transit and the City of Madison Transportation Policy and Planning Board will hold a public hearing at 6 PM to discuss the proposed network redesign expected to go into effect in June of 2023. People interested in providing feedback are encouraged to attend the hearing or submit comments ahead of time by filling out an online form at mymetrobus.com/feedback, emailing mymetrobus@cityofmadison.com or calling (608) 266-4466.

Meeting Links

• Legistar Link
• Agenda
• Register to Speak
• Watch Meeting

Metro Redesign Background

For the past year, Metro Transit staff have been working on a complete redesign of Metro's service to make it more equitable, more efficient, and more effective at getting people where they need to go. It also prepares Metro service for the implementation of a bus rapid transit system (BRT) in 2024.

In addition, the redesign aims to address a number of concerns and complaints of Metro's current service that have been relayed through the years including:

• Travel times and time spent waiting for a bus are too long
• People of color transfer more than 2.5 times more than others, with trips twice as likely to take more than 45 minutes
• Need for improved access to jobs

Metro has put forward a draft plan and has been collecting community input since February on what works and what might need to be changed.

• Complete Details
• Draft Plan
• Proposed Amendments
• Watch Previous Community Meetings

Complete information on the redesign can be found here.

• The next in-person public information meeting involving the Town of Madison Attachment is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., June 9, 2022, at the Penn Park shelter. The meeting will have interpreters in Spanish. There will be free food and childcare will be provided. This is the fourth public information meeting to help Town of Madison residents understand all of the changes they will see when they become part of the City of Madison later this year. More details can be found here.
• For information about additional City meetings scheduled for this week, please consult the City Meeting schedule.

Events

• Universal Recycling Technologies (URT) is hosting a one-day electronics recycling event at Warner Park parking lot (2930 N. Sherman Ave.) on Saturday, June 4, 2022 from 8:00am to 1:00pm. Only certain electronics will be accepted. There will be no cost to drop off these select electronics during the event. The event is open to Madison residents as well as to members of the surrounding communities. Businesses may not bring their electronics to this event. Learn more here.
• Madison Parks and Dane County Parks are offering a permit-free disc golf day on Saturday, May 28, at four local disc golf courses. Each course offers its own unique landscape and features. Find out more here.
• Friends of Madison Library BIG BOOK SALE takes place Saturday, June 4, 9am-4pm, rain or shine, at the Madison Public Library Service & Support Center at 1301 W. Badger Road in Madison.  All proceeds benefit Madison Public Libraries. Learn more here.
• As part of ongoing efforts to reduce gun violence in our community, Public Health Madison & Dane County is recognizing National Gun Violence Awareness Day by hosting a "Wear Orange Day" walk and rally  on Friday, June 3, in collaboration with community partners. More details about the event can be found here.

Announcements

• In observance of Memorial Day, Metro will run HOLIDAY schedules on certain routes on Monday, May 30. See which routes are affected here.
• In late 2018, with the support of Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, the City of Madison joined the AARP Age Friendly Community network. This network exists to support cities in creating livable communities with the belief "...that the places where we live are more livable, and better able to support people of all ages, when local leaders commit to improving the quality of life for the very young, the very old, and everyone in between.

People of all ages benefit from the adoption of policies and programs that make neighborhoods walkable, feature transportation options, enable access to key services, provide opportunities to participate in community activities, and support housing that's affordable and adaptable. Well designed, age-friendly communities foster economic growth and make for happier, healthier residents of all ages."*

• The population of the United States is rapidly aging.
• By 2030, one of every five people in the U.S. will be 65 or older.
• By 2035, the number of adults older than 65 will be greater than the number of children under 18*.

In 2021, Madison Senior Center pulled together a group of community members to initiate the work toward becoming age-friendly. The work was initially delayed by COVID-19, but in 2021 we accomplished the first step in the AFC process, which was to launch AARP's Age Friendly Community Survey. This survey asked the community to rate Madison in terms of how age-friendly we are. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted our ability to reach far and wide, but we were able to reach 961 City of Madison residents aged 45 and over.  View a summary of the data collected here.

• The Madison Arts Commission (MAC) has selected four (4) finalists to provide proposals for a public art project for the Metro Transit Maintenance Facility near the corner of E. Washington Avenue and S. Ingersoll Street. The finalists are Actual Size Artworks (Gail Simpson and Aristotle Georgiades), Deborah Aschheim, Vito DiBari, and Jenie Gao. Each finalist has provided a 15-minute artist talk with information about past projects and their approach to public art. These brief artist talks give you the chance to learn more about the artists and how they might approach the Metro Transit location on E. Washington. Find links to the artist talks and information on how to provide feedback here.
• The Streets Division's last chance yard waste collection round is complete. All neighborhoods have received their third and final curbside pickup this spring. Do not place yard waste at the road edge or terrace for pickup at this time. Curbside collection is now over for the spring and summer months. Crews will return to performing road repair and other duties. What should you do with your yard waste now? Find out here.