Save the Date for the D17 Community Engagement Dinner, trespassing, info you can use regarding large item collection

Save the date! Friday, October 27, 2023. 5pm - 7:45pm, Sandburg Elementary School
 

What: District 17 Community Engagement Dinner: Highlighting Our Shared Commitment to Excellence in Community and Civic Engagement

About: Join District 17 Alder Sabrina Madison, Sandburg Principal Lori Lopez, and Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway for a district-wide engagement dinner at Sandburg Elementary School. This is the perfect opportunity to engage with residents across District 17 around topics that are important to our area of the city including safer streets, sheltering unhoused community members, The Imagination Center at Reindahl Park, small business development, and more! We’ll also recognize community members, and organization and business leaders who have shown a commitment to excellence in community and civic engagement in the district. 

Connect with your neighbors, share ideas with City and district leaders, and dive deep into the inspiring progress we're making toward achieving social and economic mobility right here in our district. 

Enjoy delicious food, engaging conversations, and great music.  Plus take home information about local resources that may be helpful for your household.

Schedule: 

5pm: Engage over dinner 

6pm: Presentation of Civic Recognition Awards

7pm: Engage, engage, engage… and of course go back for seconds! 

Questions? Contact Alder Sabrina Madison

Phone: (608) 403-5665

Registration link coming later this week

I've gotten a few more questions about trespassing and wanted to be sure I share this summary with you: 

- Yes, trespassing is still prohibited in the City of Madison. 
- Madison police are still able to respond to a trespassing complaint because other city rules prohibit trespassing. 
- From City Attorney Mike Haas: "I don't think the enforcement options of the police or the enforcement options of our office will change at all."
Here's a great recap of the change from the Wisconsin State Journal

Message from the Streets Division about Large Item Collection

Two years ago, large item pick up changed to a work order system. You fill out a form saying what items need to be picked up, set them on the terrace on the date you choose, and Streets Division crews arrive during the work week following the set out date to collect what’s in the order. Pretty simple, right?

The new system is a very efficient collection method for us, and Madison residents are certainly using it – and using it a lot.

In 2022, we received 30,227 large item work orders citywide (with 1,114 of them coming from residents within District 17). And at last count for 2023, we’ve received, 21,180 large item work orders with at least 811 of them coming from District 17 - and these numbers increase every day, so by the time you are reading this post both of these numbers will be higher.

However, we also know that mistakes happen, and sometimes large items get out on the terrace without a work order and sit out longer than anyone likes.

So – what can you do to help fix this situation and help clean up the clutter? You have some options.

Option 1: Contact Building Inspection

Building Inspection can be emailed directly at binspection@cityofmadison.com or called at 608-266-4551. You can also fill out a Junk, Trash, Debris report-a-problem message.

Contact them if an item has been sitting out in front of a property for more than one week.

Why do this? They have the authority to issue official orders to property owners to make work orders for their large items picked up. And if those orders are ignored – they can issue fines.

Plus, they can check if a home has scheduled a large item work order or not before they begin their process.

This option may take a while as Building Inspection gives property owners time to respond to the order, but this will result in the owner taking responsibility for items at the curb. And it educates them for the next time they have bulky items that need disposal.

Option 2: Create a Work Order for Your Neighbor

If large items have been sitting out for more than a week, you may want to make a work order for your neighbor.

The website to do this is www.cityofmadison.com/LargeItemWorkOrder. You can also call our east side Streets Division office at 608-246-4532 to get help filling out the form. The Streets Division staff will be able to help.

This might be the fastest way to resolve the issue as it gets an item that was likely not scheduled for collection onto the list for pickup.

The downsides are that the person responsible for the items are not likely to learn they made an error, so they could wind up making the same mistake again.

It could make for duplicate entries in our system, too, if the homeowner scheduled the pickup, but just set the item out too early (which sometimes happens).

Ultimately, making the work order does solve the problem. If you go this route, even if it causes one of the downsides above, that might be okay. The pluses may very well outweigh the potential negatives.

Option 3: Have a Friendly Conversation

If you’re out for a Saturday afternoon walk when the weather is nice, and there’s a home that’s had large items out for a couple of weeks, maybe have a friendly conversation with your neighbor.

Let them know that the Streets Division doesn’t roam around like they used to, and you have to make a work order to schedule a pickup. They could set it up online or call the Streets Division.

The simpler version of the website to remember is www.cityofmadison.com/LargeItem. There’s a big blue button right on that page that will take you to the work order page. And if you can’t remember our phone number (608-246-4532) while you’re talking with the neighbor, that’s okay, because we have it printed on the side of the trash and recycling carts.

One other option, too, you may even be able to help them set it up yourself.

Of course, this isn’t for everyone, we know. It can be nerve wracking to knock on someone else’s door. And not every home is approachable, either.

Contacting Building Inspection or setting up the work order for your neighbor are both perfectly viable options.

Other Situations or Have Questions? Contact Us. We’re Here to Help

Not every situation will fall so neatly into the three options above, and we’re happy to help.

We do know sometimes that online form can be tricky, too. We have a video that explains how to fill out the form that should help in most situations. But that video can’t solve every problem.

Please reach out to the Streets Division with questions if and when they come up.

You can email us at streets@cityofmadison.com.

And you can call our east side office at 608-246-4532. Our office is open Monday to Friday 7:30am to 4:00pm.

Thank you for your time and attention.