Meeting and Event Highlights for the Week of June 2, 2025

In the D19

• Landmarks Commission considers Norman Way request: Item 3 (Legistar 88189) on Landmarks’ June 2 agenda is a request for a certificate of appropriateness for a new garage at 1775 Norman Way, which lies in an historical heritage site containing burial mounds. Since the project will not disturb the mounds, Commission staff recommends approval.
• Plan Commission gets Southwest Plan update: Item 3 (Legistar 88388) on the Plan Commission’s June 2 agenda is a staff update on the progress of the Southwest Area Plan. The Southwest Area includes the portion of District 19 between the Beltline and Schroeder Rd. Note that this special meeting can be attended in-person at the Madison Municipal Building or via livestream.
• Southwest Business Walking Tour: Tuesday morning, June 3, I’ll be joining business and local leaders to visit businesses in the area between the Beltline and Schroeder Rd. This is part of our process for developing the Southwest Area Plan.
• Common Council considers CocoVaa license transfer: Item 5 (Legistar 88059) on the Common Council June 3 agenda is approval of the transfer of CocoVaa Chocolatier’s Class B Alcohol License from its former E Washington site to its new expanded location at 10 Odana Ct. The Alcohol License Review Committee recommends approval.
• Expunge Racial Covenants from Your Property Title: Covenants preventing sale of a property to specified racial and ethnic groups became popular beginning in 1910. Despite being ruled unenforceable in a 1948 US Supreme Court case, they were still being added to titles in Dane County as late as 1969. I was surprised by how many exist in District 19. Dane County has now established a program called “Prejudice in Places” under which residents can request that such language be removed from their title. The County will host an informational meeting on June 17 between 5:00 and 7:30 pm at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall Lake Rooms. Follow the link to find whether your home has such a covenant.

• Coordinating State, County, and Local Efforts in an Uncertain Funding Environment: All levels of government are challenged by the unprecedented uncertainty surrounding federal funding. One response is to share information and strategies. Last Thursday I joined several Dane County Supervisors and other Alders at a meeting hosted by Assembly Representative Subick to do just that.

  

  Image credit: Office of Rep. Subeck

• Staying Updated on Regional Housing Challenges: The entire Madison Metropolitan Area is facing a housing shortage. Last Friday, I joined elected officials and county and municipal planning staff members from across Dane County at a six-hour briefing arranged by Smart Growth Greater Madison. Beginning with the latest housing data, we explored the current legal framework for development, recent building cost trends, and a case study of an affordable single-family and multi-family community being developed in Poynette. I found the presentation by Cinnaire Corporation’s Nicole Sondheim (photo) on the intricacies of long-term affordable housing developments particularly informative. I serve with Nicole on Madison’s Plan Commission.

  

  Image credit: Ald John Guequierre

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.

• Common Council: The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 3, at 6:30 p.m. in hybrid format. Agenda items include recognizing June as Pride Month.
  • Meeting Details
  • Meeting Agenda
  • Register for Public Comment
  • Watch Online
• Plan Commission: The Plan Commission meeting will take place on Monday, June 2, at 5:00 p.m. in Room 215 of the Madison Municipal Building at 215 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Agenda items include staff updates on the Southwest and Southeast Area Plans.
  • Meeting Details
  • Meeting Agenda
  • Register for Public Comment
  • Watch Online

If you would like more information about becoming a member of a City board, commission, or committee, please visit the page linked here.

Announcements and News Releases

• Madison police welcomes 71st recruit class: MADISON, Wis. —The Madison Police Department welcomed its 71st academy class this week. There are 35 recruits in this year’s class, including three accelerated academy officers. On Tuesday, they took an oath to serve and protect the people of Madison. [posted May 30, 2025]
• New Testing Sites Added as Public Health Beach Monitoring Season Begins: This week, Public Health Madison & Dane County kicked off its beach monitoring efforts in Dane County. [posted May 30, 2025]
• Walking Tour to Gather Business Feedback in Southeast, Southwest Madison: Teams of local business and local leaders will take part in a walking tour of the Southeast and Southwest Madison business community on Tuesday, June 3rd, from 9:00am – 12:00pm. [posted May 30, 2025]
• Madison Celebrates Nature Everywhere Day 2025 : The City of Madison continues its commitment to support the health and well-being of children, families, and the environment through equitable access to nature. [posted May 29, 2025]
• Free Food Scraps Composting Drop-off Returns to South Madison Farmers’ Market on June 3, 2025: Free food scraps recycling drop-off returns to the South Madison Farmers’ Market on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.At the market drop-off site, you can bring us your spent coffee grounds, eggshells, and appropriate vegetable and fruit scraps so they can be… [posted May 29, 2025]
• Christof Spieler Selected as Madison’s Director of Transportation : Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is pleased to announce the appointment of Christof Spieler as the City of Madison’s new Director of Transportation. [posted May 28, 2025]
• Absentee Ballots Mailed for June 17 Special Election : The City of Madison Clerk’s Office has mailed absentee ballots to voters with requests on file for the June 17 Special Election to fill the District 1 seat on the Dane County Board of Supervisors. [posted May 27, 2025]
• Madison Fire Seeks Community Participation in Firefighter/EMT Interviews: Have a say in who serves you. Join a Community Panel to interview firefighter/EMT candidates! [posted May 27, 2025]

Please visit the City news webpage to find additional news and announcements and to subscribe to receive notification of news releases as they are posted.

Events

• Madison Bike Week, Monday, June (This Event Occurs On Multiple Days): Bike Week celebrates riding to work, to the grocery store, to a park, to the library—or biking just to feel the warm wind blowing through your hair. Events happen all week long at various locations throughout the city.
• RoundTrip Commuter Station — Bikes, Buses, and Treats!, Tuesday, June 3: Join RoundTrip, the Greater Madison MPO, Metro Transit, City of Madison Traffic Engineering, and Madison BCycle for an afternoon commuter station on the Cap City Trail! This event celebrates car-free mobility with plenty of resources, treats, and giveaways to support your ride.
• Black on the Wisconsin Frontier, 1725 – 1868, Wednesday, June 4: Presented by UW Madison Professor Christy Clark-Pujara. Black people have lived, labored, and raised families in the region that became the Midwest since the 16th century. They called the settlements and towns of Prairie du Chien, Racine, Green Bay, Lancaster, Milwaukee, and Menominee home. Yet their stories remain largely untold. Much of the historiography concerning the experiences of Black Americans has focused on the South, and large Northern and Midwestern cities, yet the full dimensions of the African American and American experience cannot be appreciated without reference to how black people managed their lives in places where they were few. This presentation will explore the histories of Black people in what became the state of Wisconsin, from the French colonial period in the 1720s through the American Civil War.
• 2026 Budget Engagement Meeting - Public Works, Wednesday, June 4: The meeting will feature an update of the 2026 budget process with Finance Director Dave Schmiedicke and presentations from the Engineering, Parks, and Streets divisions. The goal of this public meeting is to provide an opportunity for residents to speak directly with City staff about your ideas, concerns, and priorities for Madison’s future.
• Concerts on the Rooftop: Wheelhouse (Americana/Bluegrass), Thursday, June 5: Enjoy the unparalleled experience of sensational bands and breathtaking views at Concerts on the Rooftop! Dance the night away or just relax with family and friends, A truly unique Madison event. WheelHouse is a nationally touring Americana and bluegrass band hailing from Madison. As a full-time working band, they perform over 220 shows each year and have garnered attention from national labels. Featuring three- and four-part harmonies, fiddle and guitar leads, and driving rhythm of the upright bass, WheelHouse brings an energy and attitude unique to themselves.
• Wear Orange Weekend, Friday, June 6 (This Event Occurs On Multiple Days): Public Health Madison & Dane County is hosting a series of Wear Orange Weekend events raising awareness about the urgent need to end gun violence. Wear Orange Weekend is part of a nationwide campaign supporting Everytown for Gun Safety. It's an organization dedicated to ending gun violence, led by parents, students, survivors, educators, and more.
• Live at The Glen | Pecatonica String Quartet, Friday, June 6: Madison Parks Foundation is proud to present Live at The Glen! Enjoy live music on the patio at The Glen Golf Park. The Pecatonica String Quartet prides themselves on being able to delight audiences with their wide range of style and repertoire. From elegant classical compositions of Bach, Handel and Mozart to rockin’ Led Zepplin, Queen and Journey; you name it, they’ve got it. They play light jazz standards, classic oldies and many fun party hits of today.
• Bird & Nature Adventures | Tenney Park, Saturday, June 7: Join Naturalist Robin Kling for a free welcoming family-friendly guided walk to look for and learn about native trees and plants at Tenney Park. The Tenney Lagoon borders and other areas are being restored with more native plants for pollinators, birds and wildlife. Native plants also have many human benefits. Long before synthetic drugs were created to combat illness and disease native plants provided chemical compounds used by healers and physicians to deal with heart disease, vitamin deficiencies and to fight bacterial infections. Learn to use the Seek app to identify plants and learn more about them.
• Bird & Nature Adventures | Turville Point, Sunday, June 8: Join Master Naturalist and avid birder Melissa Kesling for a free fun family friendly outing to discover beautiful winding nature trails leading to the central prairie past and old pine groves to views of Lake Monona and Turville Bay.

Additional upcoming events can also be found on the City events calendar.