Common Council

Updates April 26, 2021

Updates:

• Neighborhood 

• Meeting highlights for the week of April 25

• Community

• Transportation

• COVID-19

Neighborhood 

Tuesday: Public input meeting for new shelter at Door Creek Park

The City of Madison Parks Division will hold a community meeting for a new multi-season park shelter at Door Creek Park. The design team will introduce the project and review existing conditions, site opportunities and constraints, and the current building program. This is the first of a series of meetings for the project. More information and meeting registration are available on the project website.

Door Creek Park Shelter
Public Input Meeting #1
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 @ 6 pm
Virtual via Zoom

Register

2021 Recyclopedia now available

The Recyclopedia is a guidebook that explains the rules and services provided by the Streets Division, including the guidelines to be sure you are recycling right.

Digital copies can be downloaded from the Streets Division website.

Printed copies can be mailed out upon request or collected from the Streets Division's offices. 

Rolling Meadows Neighborhood Association Board Special Election - Virtual meeting

Seats up for election: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and four at-large members.When: Thursday May 13, 7 pm
Where: Join via Zoom Passcode: 53714

The Rolling Meadows Neighborhood Association is holding a special meeting where they will be electing new officers. They are seeking a diverse group to more accurately represent the neighborhood as a whole. Let's work together to make this the best place to live for all who reside within it.

Questions? Email rolling.meadows.na@gmail.com

Twisted Grounds approved for live music 

At last week's Alcohol License Review Committee meeting, the body recommended approval of Twisted Grounds requests to have live music in their outdoor area and add more picnic tables. 

Specifically, they would like to have live music until 8 pm on Friday evenings over the summer, and in the late morning (10 am to noon) on Sundays. This will now be voted on at the Common Council meeting on Tuesday, May 4.

2021 City of Madison property assessments

The 2021 property assessments are now available on the City website at cityofmadison.com/assessor. Property values increased 5.9% overall from the 2020 assessments. Commercial property has increased 4.3% and residential assessments increased 6.7%.

Information about the COVID-19 impact on Madison assessments is available in this Madison Assessor's Office video.

Review or challenge your assessment

A period for "examination of the assessment roll" - what is referred to as "open book" - is provided. This period of time is an opportunity to discuss property value and provide reason for changing value, if appropriate. This "open book" period is set aside for property owners to discuss their assessments with the Assessor's Office staff prior to completion of the assessment roll. Property owners who wish to compare assessments may also view assessment data posted on the Assessor's website. Available information includes owner's name, property address, legal description, sale information and property characteristics.

The open book period will begin Monday, April 19 and close Friday, April 30 at 4:30 p.m. Due to the pandemic, open book contact this year will be over the phone, or virtual. The Assessor's Office remains closed to the public for everyone's safety. Property owners must initiate contact with the appraiser for their property in one of two ways:

• Email: openbook@cityofmadison.com

• Call: (608) 266-4531

Ride the Drive comes to our neighborhood: Kennedy Park

This year's Ride the Drive is slated for Sunday, June 6, 2021 and the event will look different than the traditional downtown Ride the Drive.

As a COVID safety precaution, the city has made several significant adjustments. This year's Ride the Drive will offer four simultaneous neighborhood events. As in previous years, the focal point remains a park with surrounding vehicle street closures allowing participants to stroll, roll, pedal or glide along the less than 3-mile route in a free event.

One of the routes is around Kennedy Park (5202 Retana Drive).

The other parks included are Marlborough Park (2222 Whenona Drive), Warner Park (2930 N. Sherman Avenue) and Wingra Park, 824 Knickerbocker Street.

Updates in the coming weeks can be found on RideTheDrive.com.

City meeting highlights for the week of April 25, 2021

At Monday's Plan Commission meeting, the Dog Den location at 410 Atlas Avenue will be seeking a conditional use permit to continue their operations there. An animal daycare has operated in this location for 14 years. The current owner bought the business approximately four years ago with the understanding that the business had the necessary approvals. However, as the appropriate approvals were never requested or obtained, the applicant is seeking them now.

Another item on the agenda that may be of interest is the Planning Division presentation on proactive zoning within the Oscar Mayer Special Area Plan area.

Plan Commission
Monday, April 25, 5:30 pm
Meeting Details
Meeting agenda
Register for public comment

There are a number of items at Wednesday's Transportation Commission meeting, including the Vision Zero proposed projects for 2021, which includes several improvements for our district.

Transportation Commission
Wednesday, April 28, 5 pm
Meeting Details
Meeting agenda
Register for public comment

For additional information about meetings scheduled for this week, please consult the City Meeting Schedule online here.

Community

Wisconsin Book Festival: Virtual edition

The Wisconsin Book Festival, presented by Madison Public Library in partnership with Madison Public Library Foundation, presents free, public author events that celebrate books and spark conversations. The Festival presents stand-alone events throughout the year with a culminating celebration each fall.

The Wisconsin Book Festival is providing many upcoming virtual events on a variety of topics. 

Beyond the Page and Dane County Libraries seeking applications for year of programming around themes of race and equity

Beyond the Page is seeking applications for humanities-based programs from across Dane County that will take place in 2022. 

Beyond the Page is seeking proposals for programs in the following areas:

• Art/music/culture with a humanities focus (performances, workshops, etc.)

• Understanding race and racism through a humanities lens (history, storytelling, etc.)

• Programs designed by and for people of color (wellness, empowerment, community-building, etc.)

Applications will be accepted through June 1, 2021 or until project needs are met. https://www.beyondthepage.info/apply 

New public art piece installed on Highland Ave. beneath Campus Dr.

The Madison Arts Commission announced the installation of Madison's latest major public art project, Shift by Julia Schilling. The piece will serve as an interactive gateway between the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, UW Hospital and Clinics, and the Regent Neighborhood.

Live local music

Make Music Madison - June 24 (Deadline for New Registrations – Midnight on Tuesday, May 25th)

Transportation

Supplemental School Service

Metro Buses began operating supplemental school service routes on April 20 with the start of MMSD in-person classes. 

Bus Survey

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. 

COVID-19 updates

News

• Financial support is available from the Federal Communications Commission to help eligible families toward the cost of broadband during the pandemic.

• How Variants Affect COVID Risk For Children And Adults

• Herd Immunity and Vaccine Equity: How We Look at Vaccine Coverage in Different Ways

Data

• April 22, 2021 Data Snapshot

• Data Notes for the Week of April 22

• Select data dashboard metrics available for weekly download

Vaccine appointments at the Alliant Energy Center, transportation available

Dane County residents age 16 and older can sign up for COVID vaccine appointments at the Alliant Energy Center and other locations. Transportation is available for those who need it. More information in English and Spanish.

COVID resources

• Data Dashboard

• Financial Navigators hotline

• Renter Assistance 

• 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