Updates April 5, 2021

Updates:

• Neighborhood 
• Spring election
• Meeting highlights for the week of April 5
• Parks
• Transportation
• Community
• COVID-19
• City meetings schedule

Neighborhood 

Brush collection, yard waste pickup, and expanded drop-off hours at Streets all start this week

Brush collection

Learn when to set out your brush for pickup by visiting the Streets Division website, www.cityofmadison.com/brushcollection. By placing brush out on the dates given on the website, your material will be out on time and will only sit on the terrace for one week at most.

Yard waste

Madison residents get two curbside collection opportunities for yard waste in the spring. Learn when to set out your yard waste for pickup by visiting the Streets Division website, www.cityofmadison.com/yardwaste

Extended drop-off hours

The Streets Division drop-off sites expanded hours begin on Monday, April 5.

Water main flushing starts this week

Madison Water Utility's water main flushing program starts today. During flushing, crews systematically open and close valves and hydrants to move water at high speed through our pipes. This clears out naturally-occurring mineral sediment that can build up in the water system.

Spring election news

Top Five for Election Day

The City of Madison Clerk's Office put together a top five list of things to know for tomorrow's Spring Election.

Polling locations for the April 6 Election

The polling locations for our district for the April 6 election are as follows. Please note that the location for Ward 10 changed. If you normally vote at Kennedy Elementary, you will be voting at Messiah Lutheran Church for this election. 

Ward 8: Door Creek Church, 6602 Dominion Drive

Ward 9: Steamfitters Local 601 Training Ctr., 6310 Town Center Drive

Ward 10:  Messiah Lutheran Church, 5202 Cottage Grove Road

Ward 11: American Family, 302 N Walbridge Avenue

Ward 12: New Beginnings Alliance Church, 602 Acewood Boulevard

Referendum questions

The April 6, 2021 Spring Election ballot will ask Madison voters four advisory referendum questions about the size of the Madison Common Council, the amount of alderperson pay, the length of alderperson terms, and whether alderpersons should be subject to term limits.

An episode of District Reports also provides an overview by City Attorney John Strange of the non binding referendum questions.

Meeting highlights for the week of April 5, 2021

Public Safety Review Budget Subcommittee

They will be discussing their budget priorities, ways to improve outreach, and subcommittee goals.

Monday, April 5, 5:30 pm

Agenda
Register for public comment

Transportation Policy and Planning Board

The Board will be reviewing this year's proposed Vision Zero traffic safety improvements, which include several for our area, particularly at the Cottage Grove Road and Acewood Boulevard intersection. 

Monday, April 5, 5 pm

Agenda
Register for public comment

Parks

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 help make a difference on Saturday, April 24.

Transportation

Metro Transit is working on a complete network redesign to create a new system of bus routes that better serves the needs of Madison area residents and businesses and they need your input.

Please fill out the Transit Choices Survey to help them better understand your goals and priorities for the future redesigned transit network. 

For additional information on the Metro Transit Network Redesign project, visit mymetrobus.com/redesign. 

Questions and comments can also be emailed to MetroRedesign@cityofmadison.com. 

Community

Respond to racist harassment

Hollaback!, in partnership with Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), is offering three free, virtual bystander trainings on how to safely respond to anti-Asian/American harassment when you witness it or when you experience it yourself: Bystander Intervention to Stop Anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment Training; Bystander Intervention 2.0: Conflict De-Escalation Training; and How to Respond to Harassment for People Experiencing Anti-Asian/American Harassment Training. Learn more about and register for each training.

Online directory of Black-owned businesses

ConnectBlack directory, a free, online directory of 100 Black-owned businesses in Madison has been launched.

Renter assistance

Are you a Dane County renter in danger of eviction due to COVID-19?  You may be eligible for rental assistance from Dane CORE Emergency Rental Assistance Program. See if you're eligible.

If you need in-person assistance to complete the Dane CORE rental assistance online application, Tenant Resource Center (TRC) staff is available to help. Check the online scheduler to schedule an appointment or call the TRC main line at (608) 257-0006. 

COVID-19 updates

Public Health issues new order, continuing a phased reopening in Dane County 

Public Health Madison & Dane County has issued Emergency Order #15 . The order goes into effect April 7 and will be in effect until May 5, 2021.

A summary of provisions that changed between Order #14 and Order #15 include:

• Gathering limits outdoors increased.

  • Outdoor gathering:  Numbers must be limited to ensure people who don't live together can maintain six feet physical distancing at all times.

• Face coverings remain required in indoor public spaces, but face covering requirements for outdoor spaces were removed.

• Schools and childcare policy requirements including distancing and cleaning changed.

• Self-service food stations (e.g., salad bars, buffets, and sampling) may resume.

• Saunas and steam rooms may reopen, with certain provisions.

Thursday at 6 pm: Virtual town hall on COVID-19 vaccine from Public Health Madison and Dane County

Public Health Madison & Dane County will be hosting a virtual town hall on COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday, April 8th, 2021. Public health experts will address common concerns related to differences among vaccine efficacy and provide an update about the vaccine distribution process in Dane County.

The event is free and everyone is encouraged to attend. The event will be held on Zoom and participants can register here to receive the Zoom link to attend. The event will be limited to 500 people on a first come, first serve basis.

Childcare Center Outbreak Linked to B.1.1.7 Highlights Importance of Vaccination and Testing

Recently, a large outbreak of people diagnosed with COVID-19 was associated with a Dane County childcare center and included the B.1.1.7 variant. Public Health Madison & Dane County contact tracing revealed that the disease spread quickly among children as well as parents and childcare workers. As of today, 21 children and childcare workers have tested positive, and 14 family members of these children or workers have tested positive. Several dozen more close contacts were identified from the 35 people who tested positive.

COVID resources

• Data Dashboard

• Financial Navigators hotline

• Close Contacts Now have Quarantine Options

• UW-Madison's rapid testing

• WI Dept. of Health Services Cases by Neighborhood (Census Tract)

• Madison COVID-related news and service updates, Español: COVID-19 and Hmoob: COVID-19

• COVID-19 recovery dashboard, a tool to track local indicators in order to better understand how our residents and community are doing throughout the pandemic.

• Public Health Madison and Dane County COVID data and orders

• Dealing with job loss

• Childcare, food, jobs, housing and low-cost internet access 

• Community-aggregated COVID resources

• From the City's Economic Development Division: Business & Non-profit Information Covid-19

City meetings schedule

City weekly meeting schedule

The Mayor's meeting schedule

The County weekly meeting schedule

Special Note from Lindsay: Due to a determination by the WI Elections Commission, alders running for reelection in the April 2021 election are advised not to use city resources to communicate with constituents using mass emails and posts. For that reason, emails are not being sent when I post these updates. I typically post an update weekly by Monday night, please check this space for my update each week.