Eli Judge

Dear Residents of the 8th District,

Recent details about my attendance on the 911 Communications Board have raised many questions about what has happened over the past couple months.

On May 15th of 2007, about a month after I was sworn in as an alder, I was appointed to the Communications Center Board. I fully admit that I overlooked this specific legislative file and at that time I was not aware of my appointment. This spot on the board is required by ordinance to be filled by an alder that serves on the Madison Public Safety Review Board (which I had just two weeks prior been put on by the Mayor). While this is the case, at the time I was never told of the required appointment nor was I consulted on my availability to make it to the board's meetings. In fact, no information was passed to me about this body until I was informed, about three months later, that my attendance was less than exemplary. During that period I was moving into my fall semester of this academic year and I had classes scheduled during the monthly meeting time of the board. Understandably, I shared the reasoning why I was unable to make the meetings with representatives of the board at a Public Safety Review Board meeting in either August or September and suggested that I be replaced as the representative from the Common Council as I knew I would be unable to make it to meetings. I felt this was the responsible action given the need of the board to find a suitable replacement.

Some time passed and as the New Year rolled around I was informed by the Mayor of the frustration felt by some members of the board with regards to my continued absence. I was, as you might imagine, surprised and disappointed by this revelation given my previous suggestion that I be removed due to my academic conflicts. My spring semester schedule was equally prohibitive of my attendance at board meetings, despite my best efforts to make room for both the Communications Board and the several other committees I serve on for city business. I replied to the Mayor with the same suggestion that I offered the board representatives months prior which was to remove me from the board due to my conflicts academically.

I feel obligated to offer a full apology to my constituents, along with the City of Madison at large, for not having pressed harder for my removal from the Communications Board. I realize now that, although I communicated my inability to attend board meetings on several occasions, I should have marched into the Mayor's office and informed him that I would not leave until my removal was complete.

Questions have been brought up about my attendance on other committees that I have been appointed to and currently serve. For your reference, I have requested the record of all of my attendance since I was elected in April of 2007 (please note, some of the "excused" meetings are either duplicates or were double-marked in error during a roll call vote, indicating I was both present and excused. Council staff informs me that this indicates that I was "present"). That data can be found here. I would also point out that two of the “absences” noted on the list took place during other city meetings (the first during an “Alder Training” class, the other during the final night of the budget process). I believe the one absence in December and January was due to my brief return home to Chicago for winter break.

As a resolution to the Communications Center Board issue, during the Common Council meeting tonight, Paul Skidmore will be reappointed to the Communications Board as the Common Council representative. I hope to provide what support that I can for Ald. Skidmore in his representation of Madison to the county committee and I believe this will solve what appears to have been a case of miscommunication and red-tape at the city level.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this issue or any other, please feel free to give me a call (please use area code, 6083226358) or send me an email (district8@cityofmadison.com). We can either communicate through phone/email or set up a time to meet in person.

As always,

Eli

A press release from University Communications. More to come:

The University of Wisconsin Police Department is adding extra patrols and asking for vigilance in the wake of the death of a young woman in the 500 block of West Doty Street in Downtown Madison.

Madison Police Department is identifying the victim as a UW-Madison student. Dean of Students Lori Berquam is urging all students to pay close attention to personal safety.

All evening events and classes are continuing as scheduled, however members of the campus community are urged to walk in groups or take advantage of SAFEwalk and SAFEride programs available on campus. Call (608) 262-5000 for detailed information.

If you are a student interested in crisis support as a result of this, or any other situation, call University Health Services Counseling and Consultation Services' 24-hour crisis line, (608) 265-5600, or the Offices of the Dean of Students, (608) 263-5700.

If you are a faculty or staff member in need of counseling, the Employee Assistance Office can be reached at (608) 263-2987.

If you have any information about this case, please call Crime Stoppers at (608) 266-6014.

For additional information as it becomes available, visit http://www.wisc.edu or local media.

There have been a lot of questions raised, along with some interesting accusations made, of the State Street reconstruction project, so I felt it warranted a detailed post.

First, to the above poster (Assuming that this isn’t, as was suspected, an April Fools joke), this project is fully funded on both ends of its development. The city has allotted over five million dollars for the streets’ demolition and redevelopment. As an anonymous city official put it when I inquired into the potential truth behind the above poster, he/she said, “The city provides the wonderful service of rebuilding roads after we’ve had our fun destroying them. (Cue substantial sarcasm)”

The project will be completed around September 12th of this year. The project will include street and curb improvements, lighting upgrades, trees that will replace the ones removed during construction, an overhaul of “Concrete Park” (the space between Statesider and Towers private residence halls), the installation of a public art piece in the space between State St. Brats and University Inn, and, finally, bike-rack improvements. In essence, this stage of State St. construction is the continuation of what was done to the first four blocks two years ago.

For your reference, the plans of the project, compliments of the City Engineering division, can be found here.

While this round of downtown construction will certainly be disruptive to the student population and downtown business in general, completing the final stage of this necessary project over the summer, when students, for the most part, will be elsewhere, is best should we hope to keep it’s impact to a minimum.

If you have any questions that weren’t addressed, please feel free to contact me by phone (6083226358, please use the area code) and/or email (district8@cityofmadison.com) so we can clear things up. I also invite you to visit my “Alder Hours” at Lakefront on Langdon (in the Memorial Union) at 11:30 every Monday morning.

*EDIT*

Below, I've added a segment of an email regarding bike racks in the State St. area. Due to the construction, many of the racks in the area had to be removed. The email spells out where new replacements are/may be placed.

"We have taken a look at our options to add bike racks around the State St. project limits and have found/are exploring some options:

1. We are going to add bike racks outside the city ramp in between Hawthorne Ct and Frances St.

2. A city ordinance does not allow us to put bikes on Library Mall, but we are exploring putting some on Murray St, near the intersection of Library Mall.

3. We also are exploring adding some around the Gilman St corner of the job. Perhaps inside Peace Park."

(For some background on this post, I suggest you consult some recent articles published in various campus and Madison papers. Some are listed below)

http://badgerherald.com/oped/2008/03/25/its_not_me_its_you.php
http://dailycardinal.com/article/2407
http://badgerherald.com/news/2008/03/12/langdon_plans_capito.php
http://dailycardinal.com/article/2401
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/278040

Over the past couple months, there has been a growing feeling of discontent among the student population towards the group in the downtown area known as Capital Neighborhoods Inc (CNI). CNI, for those not privy to the neighborhood beat, is a conglomeration of several different smaller groups all around the capital square area. The recent catalyst of what could, at times, be described outright anger and rage on the part of most of campus was the “list of ideas” for the downtown that CNI’s Alcohol Issues Subcommittee released to the public in late January. These ideas or proposals included an increase on taxes on alcohol in the city and, more shockingly, the suggestion that all UW students should go through an alcohol issues screening program.

I touched on these issues in my letter addressed to the CNI executive committee (EC) which I am sure will find it’s way onto the internet in short order.

Tonight, the State/Langdon representatives of CNI addressed the EC with the intention of announcing their succession from the central city neighborhood association. Several individuals, including Jess Pavlic (the president of State/Langdon), Josh Monisi, Mikeala Loui, Han Lee (all representatives from the State/Langdon group), and myself, presented a list of grievances to the EC relating to various policy differences, conflicts, and points of contention that the two neighborhoods have. While they didn’t speak, the two-dozen or so State/Langdon residents that attended the meeting listened attentively on the edges of the somewhat crowded room the meeting was held in. A lively, fortunately civil discussion ensued.

A point that was brought up by CNI’s EC centered on the potential lack of longevity that a new student neighborhood could attain. The transient nature of the student population, it was said, would lead to a potential failure of the concept of a campus area group. To that, State/Langdon representatives and I pointed to groups like ASM and the College Democrats/Republicans (all of whom seemed to have an interested representative at this meeting), which, over time, had become institutions of the campus. We felt that the potentially larger territory that a campus neighborhood would encompass would give us a greater pool of people to recruit from and potentially more success in the fight over membership numbers that State/Langdon has had problems with for many years.

A member of the EC pointed out that support from CNI in such an expansion could be beneficial for both our group and theirs. While that is potentially true, we disagreed in that most students familiar with neighborhood politics, even before the alcohol proposals of last January were released, had a very negative view of CNI as a whole. It had become clear to the State/Langdon representatives that recruiting was being hampered, if not made nearly impossible, by our direct association with CNI. The final straw, so to speak, that the January round of policies created led to the “tainting” of what chances State/Langdon had of growing the campus group effectively while maintaining our connection to CNI.

The discussion brought up an essential truth with regards to the interaction of both campus and CNI territory. It was said that some of the issues that the isthmus faces could be best tackled as a combined front, or united effort, of both neighborhood groups. Issues like safety, for example, could be universally addressed and improved by joint interaction. While this was the case, I was quick to bring up the fact that issues, like safety, do not operate within a bubble. One of the primary motivations behind alcohol policies, CNI’s or otherwise, is to control alcohol intake in order to promote public safety and order. It is my opinion that, while we may all agree that we want a safe, fun place to live, having fundamental differences on how we go about building that neighborhood (and the policies that form it) stands in the face of being effective in combating even the most fundamental of problems.

I fully understand the need, now more than ever, for our two communities to start a discussion about where the downtown is going and how our groups are going to interact with each other. The isthmus is a tiny place and neither of our to communities are going anywhere. State/Langdon and I understood that dynamic and considered, at great length, the possibility of remaining a part of CNI. In the end, though, we firmly felt that something new and separate from CNI would be needed should we hope to find anything resembling long-term success.

Even so, at the end of our meeting tonight, State/Langdon and the CNI EC formed an ad hoc committee that comprised of members of both bodies. This group will serve as a transition entity for State/Langdon into independence and also as the new first step into the improved communications between campus and CNI. This plan was met with approval on both sides of the debate and was given a unanimous vote in favor of its undertaking. While a timeline has not been immediately set for State/Langdon’s full independence, I have great faith that the move will be conducted expeditiously and with great concern for detail. I encourage any resident of the campus area to contact me should they desire to voice an opinion on the formation of the new group (contact info below).

All things considered, I believe this will give the campus area the opportunity it needs to truly make a successful neighborhood organization. State/Langdon will continue, and improve, the discourse it has been having with CNI and, hopefully, will also forge a new group capable of lasting for decades.

I had promised a recap of the meeting tonight, and I hope I have done something resembling that. If you have any questions, or just want a first hand account of what happened, feel free, as always, to call me (6083226358), send me and email (district8@cityofmadison.com), or visit my “alder hours” (Mondays at 11:30am in Lakefront on Langdon in the Memorial Union).

On a separate note, tomorrow's (now today's, the 26th) debate between the two candidates for Dane County Board in the 5th district will be held at Tripp Commons (in the Memorial Union) at 5pm. I strongly urge you to stop by if you haven't had a chance to see either (alphabetically) Manning or O'Hagan.

Classes in Van Vleck have been canceled today, I’ve heard, due to flooding. Who says being a math major doesn’t pay off?

Also, this Wednesday, the photo ordinance will be discussed and voted on in the Housing Committee. The meeting is at 5pm in Room LL-110 in the Madison Municipal Building (215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd). I strongly encourage students to come to that meeting and register or speak in support! If there is no way you can make it, you can send an email in support to Meg Zopelis (mzopelis@cityofmadison.com) or me and we will make sure your opinion gets into the hands of the committee members!

Sorry about the short notice, but today's "Alder Hours" are going to need to be pushed back a bit. Instead of its normal mid-afternoon slot, I will be pushing today's session back to 4:30 pm. It will still be at Lakefront on Langdon on the first floor of the Memorial Union.

I'm sorry for whatever inconvenience this causes to anyone. If the new time wont work for you, feel free to give me a call (6083226358, please use the area code) and we can set up a one on one time.

Today is certainly not "business as usual" around campus. On my way home from class about an hour ago, I saw three very telling events. I watched a group of three people sledding down the stairs on observatory drive. Of course, these steps are meant for walking pedestrians. Continuing down the hill, I watched the 85 bus struggle to free itself from a mound of snow on the street, even though four or five people were shoveling sand at the tires and snow away from them. Upon taking a short cut through the Union to my apartment on Langdon, I noticed that the usually busy Rathskeller was almost completely empty.

Let my comments not be mistaken for criticism towards the university's efforts of street and sidewalk clearing. The reason I mention the state of pedestrian corridors on campus is that the university simply cannot keep up with the excessive amount of snow being dumped on the region.

If it is the case that people cannot move to and from work/class, because doing so risks their personal safety, it is the responsibility of the university to assess the value of keeping classrooms open, against the possible harm that it may cause upon students and staff. Whether it is a student slipping on the snow and ice, or a car sliding through crosswalks, it is only a matter of time until someone gets seriously hurt. If that happens, it will be a terrible day for the university. While we are all here to get an education, the university should not wait to cancel classes until after Madison metro announces a shut down in operations. This is not an appropriate standard. In addition, forcing faculty and staff to use holiday, vacation, or compensation time should they not show up, or leave early today, is irresponsible and shows a lack of respect for the service that those individuals provide to the student population.

I would love to continue into a discussion on how people with disabilities are expected to traverse to class, but I think I would end up getting far too upset to continue.

While the pursuit of truth is a truly honorable goal, if one must sift and winnow through blizzard conditions and impassable roads and sidewalks, one must wonder what harm waiting until tomorrow would do.

Madison Metro will be stopping all service today at 7PM! This includes all campus area Safe Ride busses. Below is the message from the UW administration. I wonder if the class cancelation will apply to the class I am in right now (current time: 3:15). :)

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In light of deteriorating weather and road conditions, UW-Madison will cancel all afternoon and evening classes at 3:30 p.m., Provost Patrick Farrell has announced.

However, campus operations will continue to the degree possible. Individual services, such as Recreational Sports, Libraries and Unions may remain open. Anyone planning to attend evening events on campus is encouraged to call ahead to ensure programs are continuing.

Madison Metro buses, including those serving campus, will end today at 7 p.m. Final trips will leave the transfer points at this time. Passengers are encouraged to leave as early as possible to ensure they are able to make these final 7 p.m. trips.

Madison Metro delays should be expected throughout the rest of the day. Most buses are currently experiencing a 5-20 minute delay.

Employees who would like to leave early due to poor road conditions are advised to use their own discretion regarding their health and safety, but are required to use accrued holiday, vacation or compensation time to cover any absences. Please check with your supervisor.

Employees who are unable to reach campus for evening shifts are also urged to contact their supervisors. Employees in these situations are also required to use accrued holiday, vacation or compensation time to cover any absences.

Supervisors are advised to grant approval of all employee-requested leave in this inclement weather situation.

For more information on Madison Metro service and delays, http://www.mymetrobus.com

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The Housing Committee has been canceled for today. Items, like the Photo Ordinance, will be considered at a later meeting.

The message below was released by the streets department a little bit ago. The university also issued this statement. Looking out the window, I must say I find it disappointing that classes were not canceled today.

Metro busses are saying that they are having delays from times by about 15-25 min.

Still no word on the status of city meetings tonight. Stay tuned to see if Housing, among others, will be convening in this winter wonderland.

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The City of Madison has declared a snow emergency. That means that alternate side parking restrictions will be in effect throughout the entire City of Madison including the downtown/isthmus snow emergency zone.

Madison residents are asked to remove all vehicles from the street if possible. Residents who must park on the street this evening should park on the ODD house numbered side of the street. Vehicles parked on the street Thursday evening February 7th should be parked on the EVEN house numbered side of the street. Violations of the alternate side parking rules are punishable by a fine of $20 outside the Snow Emergency Zone and $30 inside.

The Snow Emergency will remain in effect until at least 7 a.m. on Friday February 8th.

Parking is available in the cashiered sections of city-owned ramps in the downtown area. During a declared Snow Emergency you can park for no charge at the City ramps from 9 p.m. until 7 a.m. If you enter before 9 p.m. or leave after 7 a.m. you are liable for any parking charges before 1 a.m. and from 7 a.m. until the time you leave.

When parking in the ramps overnight, do not park on the top level so this area can be plowed. Be aware that vehicles stored in city ramps longer than 48 hours are subject to being ticketed and towed. Meters in lots and ramps are enforced 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

NEW, Parking is also available at three central city parks. Residents can park in the lots at Burr Jones Park 1820 E. Washington Av, the boat landing lot of Tenney Park, 1615 Sherman AV (located along the east side of the Yahara River), and beach parking lot at Olbrich Park 3527 Atwood Av.

Madison residents can get complete snow emergency information at www.cityofmadison.com/streets or by calling 261-9111.