Voting, Development, Metro redesign, MPD listening sessions, Sidewalks and utility poles, Events and announcements

Hello neighbors,

A few updates and reminders this week:

Voting

• The spring election is next Tuesday, April 5. Please check your polling place at myvote.wi.gov if you have not already voted absentee, as many polling places have changed due to redistricting and the pandemic. Polls will be open from 7am to 8pm.
• Please remember that absentee ballots must be submitted by the person casting the ballot. As I reviewed my training to be a poll worker on April 5, I was surprised to learn this goes so far as if two people drive up to the polls in the same car wishing to drop off their absentee ballots, the poll worker must accept the ballots from each person individually; one person cannot hand the other their ballot to provide to the poll worker. Similarly, you must place your own ballot in a mailbox if you are mailing it in.
• If you wish to drop off your absentee ballot in person prior to the election, you may do so at the Clerk’s office: 210 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd #103, 10am-7pm weekdays, and 11am-4pm on Saturday.
• You may also vote absentee in person at various locations around town now through April 2.
• Candidate statements are available from the League of Women Voters of Dane County and Madison.com

Development

• The proposal for the mixed use development on Speedway at the former Stop n Go/Kwik Trip was unanimously approved by the Plan Commission for conditional use last Monday. The proposal will likely come before the Common Council in April.
• The Smoky’s redevelopment proposal is going before the Urban Design Commission Wednesday, March 30 for final approval. Once the Urban Design Commission approves, this project will begin. Construction is expected to start sometime this summer.

Metro redesign

• Thank you to everyone who came out for our neighborhood meeting on the Metro Redesign Project. If you weren’t able to attend, the meeting was recorded. I was very pleased to see amendments to the plan to improve service in our District have already been recommended, including more frequent service along Mineral Point and Speedway.
• Please take the survey if you haven’t already!

Madison Police Department (MPD)

• The MPD is hosting community listening sessions in each district in preparation for their strategic plan. Our area is covered by the Midtown District (housed on Mineral Point Rd.), and that meeting will be held April 12 at 6:30pm. Please register in advance to join.

Sidewalks

• The resolutions authorizing sidewalk repair in our District will be presented at tomorrow’s Common Council meeting (Agenda items 70, 71, and 75). In particular, you can review the repair list to see if the sidewalk on your property will be repaired.
• The public information session on this topic will be April 13 at 5:30pm.

Utility Poles

• There was a lot of discussion on neighborhood list serves regarding old utility poles in the area. We received this update from MG&E:

“MGE appreciates the cooperation that we have received from our customers while we upgraded our electrical system in portions of City of Madison Aldermanic Districts 5 (Alder Vidaver), 8 (Alder Bennett) and 13 (Alder Evers). Altogether, MGE replaced the majority of the wood poles, upgraded the transformers, and replaced all aging high voltage wires. In addition, distribution automation was implemented to assist with outage identification and allow for more efficient restoration efforts.

This project will result in a more resilient and reliable electric distribution system for these neighborhoods. Although the majority of our construction work is complete, communication wire transfers from certain poles have been lagging. This issue has delayed the removal of many old poles.

In 2022, MGE is focusing our efforts to improve coordination with the impacted communication companies and their subsequent response to transfer their wires to the new poles. Once this step is completed, the old poles can be removed. Thank you for your patience as we work through this last step in this important project.”

Community Events

• The Black Business Hub groundbreaking will be Friday April 8 at 1:30pm at 2222 South Park Street.
• Join your neighbors at Quarry Park in the morning of April 23 to help with trash pickup and pulling garlic mustard.
• Explore downtown Madison with the StoryWalk, now through April 25. Families can read 'Everybunny Dance!' in order by starting at the Downtown Madison Visitor Center at 452 State St. Families will walk up State St. from there and make their way around the Capitol Square to Madison Children's Museum, the final location of the story.
• The Madison Senior Center's Artful Affair annual celebration of local artists age 55+ is back. Artwork should be brought to the Madison Senior Center on Tuesday, April 26, 9:00am-3:00pm, along with a completed registration form and the $20 fee. 
• The Fair Housing Center of Greater Madison is offering a free online fair housing training seminar for owners and managers of rental properties, or staff operating residential programs, in Madison on Thursday, April 28, 11:00am–12:30pm.
• Picnic in the Park benefiting the Madison Parks Foundation will be held May 21 at Olin Park.

Announcements

• Yesterday I was honored to be able to join Alder Myadze to tour the new transitional housing site The Umbrella Transition Program has acquired for men experiencing homelessness. Right now, in addition to general funding, the organization needs donated computers (preferably laptops), and people willing to help with pro bono grant writing, and indoor painting (you provide the paint).
• The South Point Road drop off site opens tomorrow! South Point will accept trash, recycling, yard waste, brush, electronics, Styrofoam, and the other materials. The Badger Road site is closed. Please use the online system  if you are dropping off an item that requires a fee payment.
• Applications for the Dane County Small Business Awards are due this Thursday, March 31.
• The Dane County Broadband Task Force is asking members of the public to complete a survey about broadband access in Dane County by April 15. 
• If you have children under age 18 at home, please check out ChildTaxCredit.gov to ensure you are receiving all of the tax benefits available to you. You can also use this site to get help with filling your tax return, which is due April 18.
• The City of Madison along with The Bubbler at Madison Public Library offer an exciting opportunity for an artist(s) to have an 11-month residency in a dedicated art studio at Thurber Park. Applications are due April 18.
• Make Music Madison registration for its tenth annual outdoor, citywide musical celebration held on the summer solstice, June 21, opened on Friday, March 25.
• Madison BCycle and Madison Public Library have relaunched the Community Pass Program, which enables riders to use their Madison Public Library card to access one of over 350 electric bikes.
• Anyone with a Madison Public Library card can now enjoy 30,000+ free videos from Kanopy  thanks to support from the Madison Public Library Foundation.

Be well,

Regina Vidaver