Common Council

Updates June 2, 2021

• This week's highlights
• Neighborhood 
• Community
• Transportation
• Meeting schedules

All Public Health Orders Lifted in Dane County

76% of eligible residents have at least one vaccine dose

Effective today (June 2, 2021), all public health orders in Dane County have expired, including mask requirements and gathering limits.  

Dane County continues to lead the state with impressive vaccination rates, with 76% of eligible residents (people 12 and older) having at least one dose. Nearly half of Dane County's 12-15 year old population has received one dose of vaccine, after just three weeks of eligibility. Among the total Dane County population, 57.6% have completed the vaccination series.

The high rates of vaccination are coupled with the lowest infection rates in our county in more than a year. On April 10, we were averaging 86 cases per day. Today, we are seeing fewer than 20 cases per day and these lower rates are consistent in all age groups. Over the past month, hospitalizations have been stable or declining, with an average of about 25 people in hospitals with COVID-19 countywide.

Because not everyone is able to get vaccinated, particularly our kids younger than 12, Public Health recommends that unvaccinated people continue to wear masks in indoor public spaces. In addition, healthcare settings and public transportation will continue to require masks. Other businesses or organizations may also choose to continue masking policies.

Public Health continues to encourage anyone who has not yet gotten vaccinated, to make their appointment.

Masks still required on Metro

Capacity Limits Lifted

With all Dane County public health orders expiring on Wednesday, June 2, Metro will lift its capacity limit of 35 people per bus (a person for every seat on the bus).

Starting on Wednesday, June 2, if there are no seats available, people will be allowed to stand during the ride.

Masks STILL Required

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has extended its Order requiring all passengers and employees to wear face masks while utilizing all forms of public transit, including Metro Transit buses. 

This continues to make it a federal law for masks to be worn when boarding, disembarking, and for the duration of travel.

Masks are also required at all transfer points and shelters.

The law remains in effect until September 13, 2021.

Neighborhood

Sunday: Ride the Drive comes to Kennedy Park

This year's Ride the Drive is Sunday, June 6, 2021 from 9 am to 12 pm. The event will look different than the traditional downtown Ride the Drive. One of the routes is around Kennedy Park (5202 Retana Drive)

Learn more and join the fun on Sunday

6321 Town Center Drive at Plan Commission on Monday 

The Urban Design Commission granted final approval of these plans at their meeting on Wednesday, May 26. The proposal now goes to the Plan Commission on Monday, June 7 and Common Council on Tuesday, June 15. 

The proposal calls for multi-family residences in the currently vacant lot directly across from Madison Fire Station #13, located on the south side of Town Center Dr, along Metro Terrace. If approved, they would construct the far west building first, which would have 24 units. Construction of the other two buildings would happen later and timing would be based on market conditions. These are market-rate units with a mix of studio, one and two bedrooms, and the buildings would be three stories. They were originally approved back in 2005, but never constructed.

Video of the neighborhood meeting for this proposal. 

ATM for Rolling Meadows Shopping Center at Plan Commission on Monday

US Bank intends to install an ATM in the parking lot of the Rolling Meadows Shopping Center, 4706 Cottage Grove Road. This will require conditional use approval, and will be at Plan Commission on Monday, June 7.

Video and materials from last week's Greater East Towne Area Plan meetings

City Planning Staff presented some initial Plan concepts and maps at the May 24th and 26th Phase 2 Public Zoom series of meetings on these plans. 

• Draft Land Use and Transportation Concept Presentation, May 24th and 26th, 2021

• May 26th,2021 Public Meeting Video

Community

New Backwater Valve Program Provides Financial Incentive, Homeowner Protection

All eligible property owners who install a backwater valve in their home may be eligible to get reimbursed 75 percent of the installation cost up to $1,500.

City Engineering is offering a backwater valve incentive program to residents who want to protect their home from experiencing a sewer backup. A sewer backup is when sewer wastewater has no place to go but back through the pipe into a basement, or the path of least resistance, when its traditional path is blocked. If residents have a backwater valve, it can protect a basement from the wastewater flowing back into the home.

New "Flower Flash" Going Up at Madison Public Library's Central Library This Friday

A site-specific public art installation will be created Friday morning, June 4, at the Madison Public Library's central location at 201 W. Mifflin Street. Molly Stentz is a floral artist and flower grower. For this site-specific "Madison Flower Flash, 2021"  installation, she has curated a selection of Wisconsin-grown seasonal ephemerals. Fresh and vibrant florals are intertwined with the iconic Madison Public Library letters to welcome visitors back to the  library. This public art project celebrates Madison's community resilience and vibrant spirit with a floral array that creates a wonderful artistic expression.

Updates on Salvation Army's temporary family shelter at 4502 Milwaukee Street 
(Borrowed from Alder Foster's blog)

From Tara Barica at Salvation Army: "We are wrapping up our third week since opening the Family Shelter in the old Karmenta facility. The move from hotels to this facility has been great! Families are getting settled in and it has been great to see all the kiddos playing in the new space! We are currently serving 35 families in shelter and 4 families have permanent housing move-in dates projected for June 1st so we will be able to move some more families in soon."

More details including info on volunteering and donations.

Schedule your large item collection 

The new work order system for large items is now available. You can now schedule large item pickups.

Access the work order system

Video of how to use the new system

Survey open: Help prioritize flood projects

City Engineering invites the public to take a survey to help engineers prioritize flood projects.

Engineering also hopes to be more transparent with how projects get chosen and approved. 

Improve Your Green Thumb This Season

Learn about resources to get involved with Rain Gardens and Adopt-A-Median. The City of Madison Engineering Division invites everyone to help support the stormwater infrastructure system by digging into a couple of programs that beautify the community and get residents involved:

Rodger Bannerman Rain Garden Program

A rain garden is designed to capture and infiltrate water into the ground and is often made of native shrubs, perennials, and flowers planted in a shallow depression, which sometimes is built on a natural slope.

Adopt-a-Median program

The Adopt-A-Median program is a program for Madison community members to take care and maintain existing traffic calming circles and medians across the City.

Transportation

Chip sealing

Several roads in the Rolling Meadows neighborhood are receiving chip sealing.

The Chip Sealing Program is designed to improve the quality of your street and delay the need for resurfacing or total reconstruction. See this year's program details and the chip sealing program website.

Memo on the chip sealing with contact information.

Additional COVID-19 updates

From Public Health's weekly Data Notes Blog Post:

• During this period, there was an average of 19 cases per day, which is the lowest we've had since our June 22, 2020 Data Snapshot.

• Two in three Dane County residents (66.5%) have at least one dose of vaccine.

• For the first time since they began tracking case clusters, there were no cases linked to childcare facilities during this 14-day period.

COVID resources

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

• How Can I Talk to Someone About Getting Vaccinated?

• How Variants Affect COVID Risk For Children And Adults

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

• 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