Uncommon Council: Recent Episodes
Uncommon Council
Discussion and analysis of the Madison, WI Common Council meetings. Your hosts will talk through the major events, share research that goes beyond the contents of the meeting, and make things entertaining.
Ben and Sam celebrate the efficiency of the in-person Common Council meetings by pulling in other local news happenings. Topics include CARES team expansion, birds, imaginary coal, disability pride month, bus rapid transit, affordable housing, batting practice, and shallow stepbacks.
Meeting Agenda
Consent Agenda - Items excluded from discussion
CARES team expansion announcement - Community Alternative Response Emergency Services team
CARES team article
City goals for carbon emissions, local-owned businesses, and women/BIPOC-owned businesses
W Washington zoning documents
Ben and Sam talk about the first in-person Common Council meeting since the start of the covid-19 pandemic. Main topics include a Common Council harassment policy, subcommittee self-evaluations, and new citywide lighting policy changes. Your intrepid correspondents also touch on pickle ball, curtain hangings, county reproductive health services, simmering public policy, LEDership, Robert's Rules, the merits of a 5-point scale, and Common Council recreational traditions.
Meeting Agenda
Public Health Expanding Reproductive Services in Dane County
List of County Reproductive Health Services
Sample Subcommittee Self-Evaluation Form
International Dark Sky Association
Ben and Sam catch-up on the June Common Council meetings covering protest petition changes, metro redesign, and several rezoning proposals. They also touch on significant local government happenings, bookcases, Park street coffee destinations, state supreme court decisions, cat lactose tolerance, new alder appointments, naked bike rides, and malls in Singapore.
City Resources
6/7 Meeting Details - Agenda and minutes.
6/21 Meeting Details - Agenda and minutes.
Protest Petition Proposal - Alder Bennett's proposal to change protest petition process for rezoning amendments.
Metro Redesign Proposal Map - New routes as well as impacts to geographic areas in terms of wait times and walking distance to access.
City of Madison Zoning Ordinance - Differences between TR - U1 and TR - U2 zoning rules. TL;DR TR - U2 is denser.
Articles
WPR: The Highland Park shooting suspect considered a second attack in Wisconsin, police say
WPR: Open letter to UW-Madison leaders calls for action following attack on international student near campus
WPR: The Wisconsin Supreme Court says ballot drop boxes aren't allowed in the state
6 Ways to Advance Equity in Public Transportation
Ben and Sam cover the introduction of new alders, comment process changes, suggested lighting practices, Lake Mendota sidewalks, more special recovery charges, and historic preservation changes.
Meeting Agenda for 5/24
Comments from Smartgrowth on historic preservation changes
Blog post from Alder Figueroa Cole about Common Council process changes
Outdoor Lighting best practices
Ben and Sam welcome Reez Bailey to the Uncommon Council for an interview about his experience running to be alder in district 4. Reez shares tips on how to get involved in local politics and what it takes to get your message heard. We also talk PFAS, Pokemon cards, Dostoyevsky, stand-up cliches, and local cuisine.
See more of Reez talking about police reform and surprisingly still relevant sports references here.
Stuff from the episode:
Capital City Theatre website.
The average price for a studio apartment in Madison is now above $1100.
Well 15 PFAS clean-up background.
Spring brings a wave of new Common Council appointees and the approval of a host of new projects. The alders say yes to the address on Linden Ave for a new housing development and give a free hand to expand the previous landfill. Ben and Sam look at what all of the new faces and approved places mean for the city.
Agenda - for Consent Agenda items and more links/resources
Alders Martin (11), Albouras (20), Abbas (11), and Lemmer (3) resigning. See this page for submitting and application to be appointed if you live in district 20 or district 11. The district 3 deadline has passed and district 11 has not been announced yet.
Women's Medical Fund - accepting donations to help connect women with abortion resources
Police Quarterly Report - overall downward trends in crime from last year
Artist renderings of the Linden Ave development proposal - including "Passive House" efficiency measures
Far East Sustainability Project - future option to expand old landfill and add more sustainable waste disposal options to keep tipping fees low
Well 15 PFAS Treatment - proposal for a contract to remove undesirable PFAS from well water
This latest Madison Common Council meeting must have been dry clean only because Ben and Sam shrank the content down from 9.5 hours to a cozy 1. We welcome a President and Vice President for the council and still have time for lively road resurfacing and body worn camera pilot debates.
Meeting Agenda
Isaza, Gabrielle T., et al. "Evaluation of police use of force de‐escalation training: assessing the impact of the integrating Communications assessment, and tactics (ICAT) training program for the university of Cincinnati, oh police division." (2020).
Cap Times article about Lake Mendota road resurfacing
Resource Recovery special charge (recycling)
Turner, Broderick L., et al. "Body camera footage leads to lower judgments of intent than dash camera footage." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116.4 (2019): 1201-1206.
Ben and Sam don't always know what they've got til it's gone. But they do know how to volunteer for Earth Day, whether you can fire a fire chief, the size of the Vilas Zoo committee, how to wish they were Oscar Mayer wieners, and how to bring noise pollution down to zero.
Get city-provided gloves, bags, and rakes by signing up for the Earth Day challenge on 4/23.
Find current committee vacancies and apply.
What's a PFAS?
Oscar Mayer Special Area Plan
Roadway Cafe Proposal Summary
Vision Zero Plan
Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell)
Ben and Sam celebrate 2sday's Uncommon Council by reviewing another marathon meeting. Major topics include a watershed rezoning debate about the morality of building new housing in F-35 zones and approval for accepting a federal police funding grant. People come for the parliamentary procedural changes but they stay for that sweet, sweet crackle sound.
Agenda and Minutes
Trojan Horse Affair, This American Life podcast
Madison TIF Resources
The World Bank on Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
Jetline F-35 film project
US DOJ COPS Hiring Grant
Ben, Claire, and Sam are back together to talk through the 2/1/22 city of Madison Common Council meeting. We talk positive covid-19 trends, alcohol samples, Kiva (and Keva), Canadian business incursions, where ducks swim, and literally being exponential.
Read through the agenda or watch the video of the .
Know Your Alder with Gary Halverson of A.D. 17 by checking out his candidate website and this Q&A with Cap Times.
Get encouraged (right now) by positive trends on the Covid-19 dashboard.
Read about totaled dump trucks, entrepreneur grants for women, "artist at work" grants, and Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program grants.
Be reassured that our city has staff constantly work to line up with Disadvantaged Business Enterprise guidelines.
Ben and Sam get together to talk free sand, trapeze, police reports, and body worn cameras. Sam takes over hosting duties this time and lets the world know how he really feels about 3D charts.
Minutes and Agenda
Watch the meeting
Free Sand from the City
2021 Q4 Police Report
Madison Body Worn Cameras Feasibility Report
Ben, Claire, and Sam are all together again to discuss the first Madison Common Council meeting of the new year. Big topics include the TFOGS recommendations, amendments to the South Madison development plan, and proposed CCEC structure changes. Special shout-outs to the NCAA volleyball champions and stormwater credits.
YouTube video - Madison Common Council Meeting
Minutes - Meeting Minutes with links to more resources
Dick Wagner Obituary - Honoring loss of longtime Madison gay politician and mentor.
List of Zoning Districts and zoning permitted/conditional use table
Stormwater Credit Policy
TFOGS Powerpoint
South Madison Plan (draft)
Ben and Sam talk about the 12/7/21 Madison Common Council meeting. This week touches on zoning conversations, tips for government petitions, and how to slam-dunk on irresponsible pet practices.
Youtube video - Madison Common Council meeting
Minutes - Meeting Minutes
Operating Budget sources by fund type - Resource Highlight
Who is Jeff Erlanger - Jeffrey Erlanger on Mr.Rogers tv show
Zoning Project Proposal for Oliv Madison
Ben, Claire, and Sam chat about the 11/16/21 Madison Common Council meeting. For the first episode we do a little discussion of what we want the podcast to be and the principles that will guide our discussion. And of course we have some silly fun.
Links:
11/16/21 Common Council Agenda
Redistricting Map
Alder Michael Verveer probe (Isthmus)
Zonta (16 Days to End Gender Violence)
Low-Cost Student Housing proposal
TFOGS Memorandum on city government structure