DAILY WISCONSIN

Madison

Lobbying, Madison

What are they doing in there?

Quite frankly, it’s quite hard to tell. It’s quite the mess and there is more information missing than available. There is very little information about who paid whom and how much to lobby for which matters.

WHY DO LOBBYING REPORTS MATTER?

I’m pretty sure my regular readers don’t need to have this explained to them. Think of that project in your neighborhood – what went on behind the scenes? Think of big projects in the city like Judge Doyle Square? No reports. MG&E has 5 lobbyists? Clean Lakes Alliance who worked on the James Madison Park plan – no lobbyists in 2018? All those construction projects? Liquor licenses? Who is being influenced to make those decisions? Funny thing is, I have yet to find one lobbyist who reports meeting with the mayor in the past 6 months. Hmm. I know he’s out of town a lot, but that seems highly unlikely. Likewise, I find no reports of lobbyists meeting with Mike Verveer, or Marsha Rummel or Ledell Zellers. With all the liquor licenses and development projects downtown, I hardly think that could be true. And let me be clear . . . the problem isn’t the people who have expense reports shown below. How many lobbyists do you think are missing from this list? Who do you think they are? And who do you think they influence? And how much did that cost?

Via What are [Madison] city lobbyists up to these days? | Forward Lookout

Education, Madison, Schools

Good News, Too 

The Whitehorse story along with the spring elections for the Madison School Board, at times, tend to further a narrative that much is wrong with what takes place in the classrooms.  But if we only pay attention to that narrative we would miss the good work that is happening in our schools.   A teacher and her nineteen fifth-graders, while not making top of the fold coverage, is the flip side to the news we all have come to know.

Two weeks ago my partner, James, and I sat for an hour in a very busy and creative classroom at Falk Elementary School.  Over the school year a number of adults sponsored a student so that each month a new book landed in their hands.  The effort was made possible in tandem with Scholastic Books and related services.  The school reached out to say thanks with Read Your Heart Out Day.  What I witnessed made an impression that lifted my spirit about teachers, students, and our schools.

Via The Other Madison Classroom | CAFFEINATED POLITICS

Local Government, Madison

City of Madison Meetings 

Holy (whatever), this is one huge mess this week. There are 4 meetings in legistar without agendas, 2 committees show up in legistar and aren’t on the weekly schedule and of the meetings that are scheduled 5 are in the middle of the day. No meeting on Tuesday for the election. Don’t forget to vote!

Via Forward Lookout | City Week Ahead

Food, Madison

Blue Agave

Blue Agave opened late last year in the former home of the Bayou, bringing yet another Mexican option to downtown. I’ll probably return for happy hour when the drinks aren’t overpriced and to get more of the delicious guacamole.Similar to the Bayou, Blue Agave turns into a dance club after dinner, featuring Latin music.The menu has the expected chicken dishes, burritos, fajitas, chimichangas and tacos. The entrees here are big and filling.

Via Blue Agave « EatDrinkMadison.com

Cycling, Madison

5.5.18

Plan to spend Saturday, May 5th in Madison for the Wisconsin Bike Summit where you will gather inspiration and ideas from people doing great work across the state.

This year’s program will focus on what’s happening around our state at the grassroots level.  The Summit brings together bicycling and equity advocates, transportation planners, elected officials, and others, all working in diverse ways to make Wisconsin a great place to bicycle.

Via Register for the Bike Summit! | Wisconsin Bike Fed

Madison, Press, Vandalism

Tagging

I can not be the only citizen of Madison perplexed as to why Isthmus writer Dylan Brogan thought it a great idea to follow a tagger in a nighttime journey to see a train car defaced.   Should I assume the local pusher was not able to take the reporter out for a look at how deals are made. Perhaps the local bank robber just thought better of including the press in his holdup.

The bottom line is there is no glory in tagging and certainly no reason to (excuse my bad pun) paint this element for anything other than what they are.  Criminals.  And to suggest in any way taggers are artists is akin to claiming a slicer on the golf course would be a great hire at a deli.

Via Tagging In Madison Is Vandalism @ CAFFEINATED POLITICS.