2022-09-23 Neighborhood News & Updates

Mayor Rhodes-Conway Releases 2023 Executive Capital Budget Prioritizing Affordable Housing, Climate Resiliency and Strong Neighborhoods

Mayor Rhodes-Conway released her 2023 Executive Capital Budget and 6-Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which detail her funding proposals for buildings, infrastructure and other capital investments in Madison. The Capital Budget is one major piece of the City’s budget. In a month, she will introduce her 2023 Executive Operating Budget, which focuses on services, staffing and programs. (See included links for the full capital budget, summary and project map.)

Wayne Strong Received Annual Reverend Wright Human Rights Award

The 2022 annual Reverend Wright Human Rights Award was given to Wayne Strong (posthumously). Unfortunately, Wayne passed away earlier this year. The award was presented to Wayne’s wife, Terri, at the Common Council meeting on Tuesday, September 20, 2022.

Wayne was passionate about all forms of justice. He knew that young African American men needed positive role models and activities to succeed in spite of the racism and barriers that they experienced. Thirty years ago, as a neighborhood police officer, Wayne got involved in the Southside Raiders Youth Football and Cheerleading Program. He kept the program going long after he left the force. He was there for all youth, even those who were justice-involved, had trouble in school, or had fallen through the cracks in other ways.

General Election is November 8, 2022

The General Election is coming up on November 8th and voters can view a sample ballot for their address on the MyVote Wisconsin website.

A number of offices are up for election:

• Governor/Lieutenant Governor
• Attorney General
• Secretary of State
• State Treasurer
• U.S. Senator
• U.S. Congressional Representative – District 2
• State Senator – District 27
  • Voters who reside in District 27 will see this office on their ballot
• Representative to State Assembly – Districts 46, 47, 48, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80
  • Voters who reside in each district will see that district’s race on their ballot
• Dane County Sheriff
• Dane County Clerk of Circuit Court

All Dane County voters will see three referendum questions on their ballots. Voters who reside in the Sun Prairie, Waunakee, Middleton/Cross Plains, or Verona Area School Districts will also see school district referendum questions on their ballot.

Absentee Ballots in the Mail

Voters are encouraged to ensure their absentee ballot certificate envelope is sealed and complete before returning it to the City Clerk’s Office. A complete absentee certificate envelope will include: Voter signature, Witness signature, and Witness address.

Complete Green Streets Public Presentation

Join City of Madison staff and project consultants at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, for a virtual public presentation to share the draft Complete Green Streets framework, including priorities and decision-making elements that will shape how the City plans to design streets moving forward.  More information and a link to register for the Zoom meeting is online at www.cityofmadison.com/talkstreets

Town of Madison Final Public Information Meeting

The City of Madison will hold a Final Public Information Meeting for the Town of Madison Attachment on October 20, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. This public meeting will be conducted virtually and prior registration is required. Join us to meet City of Madison staff and learn about the Town of Madison attachment.

Madison Public Library is offering Birding Backpacks

Thanks to a generous donation from the Feminist Bird Club-Madison Chapter and the Madison Public Library Foundation, birding Backpacks can be checked out for 7 days at a time and Madisonians will find two backpacks at each Madison Public Library location. No holds are available for the bags, so they are first-come, first-serve.

Streets Division Updates

Residents get three curbside collection opportunities in the fall – Yard waste and leaves can be placed on the terrace, which is the grassy space between the sidewalk and the curb. If no terrace is available, it can be placed at the road edge or in the driveway apron. Click here for more information.

Updates from Alder Wehelie

• Fair Housing Training: 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, September 29, 8:30am – 10am and on Wednesday, November 9, 6pm-7:30pm. The seminar will include information about the protected classes and prohibited practices delineated by local, state and federal fair housing laws, as well as emerging issues such as sexual harassment and hate incidents in housing situations. To register for this free online seminar, visit https://tinyurl.com/MadisonFairHousing or call 608-257-0853.

• MFD virtual recruitment open house events: For the first time ever, the Madison Fire Department (MFD) will host a series of virtual recruitment open houses aimed at introducing new audiences to the idea of becoming a career firefighter/EMT.
  • The first virtual open house takes place Monday, September 26, 6pm-8pm. Register here to participate.
  • On Tuesday, October 4, 6pm-8pm, the MFD will host a virtual recruitment open house for women. This event is designed to connect women interested in fire/EMS with other women currently serving at the MFD, and to share job-related information that is especially relevant to women. Register here to participate.

• Business District Support Program: The Business District Support Program website is now live and is accepting applications on a first come, first served basis. This program will provide grant funds to eligible local organizations that can activate or reactivate business districts by promoting small businesses and other economic growth activities such as programs, assistance, and events such as markets or festivals. In addition, this grant can be for existing business associations or new groups interested in exploring or starting a new business district.
• Indigenous People’s Day 2022 Tribute: Adams Outdoor Advertising is seeking art from native students for a week-long digital display in honor of indigenous nations in Wisconsin. These designs will appear at different times throughout the day and week on digital billboards in the Madison area (Sun Prairie, DeForest, Waunakee). Each design will feature an image of the artwork, the artist’s name, and the title of the artwork. Submissions are due by October 1. Questions? Contact Evan Schultz at 608-271-7900 or eschultz@adamsoutdoor.com.
  • What to submit
    • Photo or JPEG file of the artwork
    • Artist’s full name and tribal affiliation
    • Title of artwork, if applicableOpen to all artistic mediums (may be cropped to fit billboard
  • Where to submit
    • Evan Schultz, eschultz@adamsoutdoor.com
    • Abbey Chitwood, achitwood@adamsoutdoor.com
• Dane CORE 2.0: Dane County and the City of Madison were notified this week that their requests for additional emergency rental assistance funds have been approved. That means more federal funds will soon be available to continue the Dane CORE 2.0 program. The Dane CORE 2.0 application portal, which temporarily closed on September 15, will re-open at 12:00 am CST on Wednesday, October 5, for persons interested in submitting new applications and additional funding requests (AFR’s). Applications received prior to the September 15 pause will continue to be processed without interruption, and eligible claims will be paid. It is not necessary to resubmit those applications when the portal re-opens. Anyone wishing to review the status of an application that has already been submitted to see if there are any open tasks and that all information is up to date should log into Neighborly. Please note that the program changes described in our previous message will go into effect for any applications submitted after the portal re-opens. These changes are designed to reserve funds for those households facing the greatest economic hardships. They include the following:
  • Program benefits will be available only to those with household incomes at or below 50% of the County Median Income. (Previously, the income threshold was 80% of County Median Income).
  • The program will provide assistance only for past-due (unpaid) rents.
  • Only arrears accrued since July 1, 2021 will be eligible.
  • Assistance will not be available for forward/future rent payments unless paired with security deposit assistance.

• Credit card outages in City parking garages and lots: The Parking Division anticipates intermittent credit card processing outages due to network maintenance beginning at 7am on Saturday, September 24. This maintenance will temporarily disable the use of credit and debit cards at nearly all City-owned parking garages and lots. We expect credit and debit card services to resume later in the morning. More information here.