Last Blog Post by Alder Slack

As I step down today at noon, I’d like to leave you with a few pieces of information. First, I have provided information on a few time-sensitive items, followed by helpful tips and links to information that are worth saving. 

Time-Sensitive Announcements

Freezing Temperatures this Week:

• The forecast shows lower than freezing temperatures after today, continue keeping the public sidewalks free of ice or treated at all time. Free sand is available at several locations around Madison. Learn more about snow rules and regulations. Visit the snow removal frequently asked questions. Please visit the Winter​ and the Extreme Cold Weather pages for more information, including accessibility issues, recognizing the signs of hypothermia and frostbite, resources for homeless residents, and more.

Tonight (1/10/24): Approving Plans, Specifications, and Schedule of Assessments for Lake Mendota Drive Assessment District -2024 (District 19), Legistar # 81412

• The Board of Park Commissioners meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 10, at the Parks Division Lakeside Offices at 330 East Lakeside Street at 6:30 p.m.
  • Meeting Details
  • Meeting Agenda

Several People Have Applied for the District 19 Alder Position: 

• As of this blog post, I do not know who is on the full slate of applicants. The process is for the Executive Committee of the Common Council (CCEC) to interview the applicants at their meeting just prior to the January 23rd Common Council (CC) meeting. The CCEC will make a recommendation and bring it to the Common Council meeting on the same night, where the CC will vote to approve or disprove the recommendation. Stay tuned to the news or a press release from the City for more information. The Common Council has an amazing staff person who pulls together weekly information for us alders, which we then tailor and add on to for our Districts. I am not sure if that list will be sent out through the District 19 blog in this brief interim between alders, so remember to check another alder’s blog to get similar information if that does not happen. I do believe that the district19@cityofmadison.com email account will be monitored by Council staff, who will direct your emails to the correct person.

Accessible Taxi Grants Approved:

• I’m just going to direct you to Alder Myadze’s blog post on this one as he has already done an excellent job summarizing the news.

Helpful Tips and Links to Save:

• Here is the Government Resource Guide web page for the City. Check out the Alder Onboarding page, where City agencies have provided videos that give an overview of their oversight duties. The Common Council has excellent staff. You can use the Contact the Council page with questions and staff will steer you to the right person or place.
• Do you know about Legistar? If not, take some time getting familiar with it. The Legislative Information Center offers an enormous amount of information, including on every City Board, Commission or Committee (BCC) (link at top right of the page). Click on one of the BCCs, make sure you have the relevant year selected (default is now 2024), and you will see the list of meetings, agendas, minutes, and often a video to watch. One helpful hint if you are clicking multiple agenda items for a meeting is to use the “Meeting Details” link rather than or as a complement to the agenda. 
• Here is a link to the searchable repository of City ordinances in Municode.
• Here is the web page for the Common Council Alders. You may want to follow the blogs of several other alders, too. Depending on the issue, a particular alder may provide regular,  more detailed information on a topic you care about, so it is worth checking out each of their blogs periodically if you don’t follow them. You can also quickly find the district maps on this page.
• Here is the web page to learn about projects (e.g., street, bike, city facilities, sewer and storm) going on in the City. Be sure to hit the “+” to expand the list of topics, where you will also see a “Community Engagement” link.
• Here is the web page to learn about other development projects to stay updated on their status after an initial application to the City.
• Stay informed about the West Area Plan initiative that is well underway. The City will need to develop a new Comprehensive Plan for Madison over the next several years. NOW IS THE TIME TO TUNE IN IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY. 
• The City is in the midst of updating its Sustainability Plan. The results of a citywide survey on sustainability issues will be out soon.
• There are many other city agencies and departments whose web pages are worth exploring. Many have email lists that you can join to stay informed.

Parting Message:

Thank you so much for your kind and supportive emails as my family deals with a difficult time. I have so enjoyed my time on the Common Council, getting to know my esteemed colleagues and learning so much in nine months. I have worked hard to push for city changes that prioritize the natural environment, not only as something that gives Madison its beauty and makes it such a special place to live and visit, but because we CRITICALLY NEED our tree canopies, nature-based stormwater solutions, and green space to combat the effects of climate change, and for our mental health. It is our collective responsibility to be stewards of the land in and around Madison. 

In my last meeting with the Mayor, she asked me if there was one policy change I could have made but didn’t, what would it be? I told her that our Complete Green Streets policies should be changed to place environmental resources and conservation on equal footing with other priorities, so that they don’t get de-prioritized over and over, again and again. There are, of course, many other policy changes I would have sought or continued to push for, but that one seems to have the least political will in the Common Council so it is the one I chose to mention. I am hopeful that the next District 19 Alder will take up this charge among other environmental causes.

We have lots of important goals in this City that need our attention, but not everything has to be a zero-sum game. I’m hopeful that all of us (myself, residents, city officials and staff) will try harder to listen to each other, validate good points, and have the mindset of seeking better outcomes through collaboration. Believing there is some merit in a different approach to achieving a common goal does not make one a bad person. And because someone holds expertise on a topic, that doesn’t mean that input from other experts is always completely wrong, including those with lived experience expertise. These tactics are generously applied in our societal debates today and perhaps are too easy to dismiss as “just politics”. I like to believe that we can all do better. I am always trying to do better.

My hope for the next District 19 Alder is to continue pushing for policy changes and project outcomes that hold Madison to its long-standing environmental values AND long-standing values of social justice and equity. We have a booming and growing tech sector which is great, but we also desperately need more jobs for those without a college education, whose skills are vital to this City, and these jobs must pay what it costs to live here. 

We need more starter homes to stop people who are able to pursue homeownership from leaving Madison to find affordable options. On every City survey, there should be a question about whether the respondent has minor-aged children, as well as very young children, along with other sociodemographic questions and questions about disability status, so that the City can understand what challenges and priorities families and households with children face and have. 

Every data collection effort by Metro Madison should ask respondents about where they actually need to go each day and whether they work from home. Also, feedback is needed from non-riders, not just the riders who have been able to make the Metro Redesign work for them. This kind of information is critical to know for City planning. I submitted a list of actions that Metro and the Transportation Commission could be asking for to evaluate the Redesign. I’m hoping these steps will be taken. Projections of outcomes do not equal evaluated outcomes. You can also keep track of the Bus Rapid Transit developments here (separate but tightly related Metro initiative—many people conflate the two).

Also, with finite city resources, we can’t always afford top-of-the-line. And we can’t do everything, or everything at once. This next budget cycle will be extremely difficult, and part of that is because we have perhaps taken on too much at once and have borrowed heavily against our future ability to start new projects. Everyone should be paying attention right now as some big changes will be necessary heading into 2025. Here is a link to the 2024 Capital and Operating Budgets.

I am more than willing to meet with and help the new Alder step into this role and a couple of applicants have already reached out to me to ask for this assistance. I’d like to make the transition as easy as possible for them and update them on the current issues and project that need their immediate attention. I hope you will reach out to the new Alder and ask questions, seek their collaboration on issues. MOST IMPORTANTLY, more Madison residents need to get involved with the City. Please visit the vacancy page for the City’s Boards, Commissions and Committees, and consider volunteering to represent your fellow Madisonians.