Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Madison Compost Bin and Rain Barrel Sale

Madison’s annual compost bin and rain barrel sale will be held on May 7^th this year! From 10 am to 2 pm at the Alliant Energy Center rain barrels with diverters and compost bins will be up for sale at a discounted rate. Those who pre-order before April 25^th will save an additional $10.

The compost bin and rain barrel sale, which has been going strong for over 20 years, is an excellent way to work towards sustainability goals in Madison. Backyard composting and rainwater collection improve city-wide management of leaves and stormwater to improve waterways.

For more information on the May 7^th sale or to pre-order your compost bin or rain barrel follow the link below:

http://www.cityofmadison.com/streets/compost/CompostBinSale.cfm

 

ShredFest 2016

Mayor's Blog - Mayor Paul Soglin - Mayor's Office - City of Madison, Wisconsin

ShredFest 2016 is here in time for your spring cleaning! If you have documents at home containing personal or confidential information that you need to get rid of, be sure to come out to Access Information Management on Friday, April 22nd between 10 am and 3 pm or Saturday, April 23rd between 9 am and 12 pm. Access is again offering confidential shredding of up to 100 pounds, free of charge, at both their Eastside and Westside locations. Donations are accepted and will benefit Second Harvest Foodbank. Location details are below:

WESTSIDE

3700 Commerce Drive

EASTSIDE

2538 Daniels Street

Thank you to Access Information Management for another year of ShredFest!

 

Congratulations Madison Public Library!

I was pleased to hear that the Madison Public Library has been placed among the 30 finalists for the 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Service! The National Medal, presented by the Institute of Museum and Library Service, recognizes institutions that have shown a commitment to innovative public service in their community.

For years the Madison Public Libraries have provided accessible facilities for learning, activities, children’s programming, and internet access. I could not be more proud of the work they have done thus far and will continue to do to serve our Madison community and am confident that they are deserving of this recognition. Congratulations on this achievement and thank you for all you do!

Project SOAR Kickoff

Recently I joined 100 Black Men of Madison President, Dr. Floyd Rose; Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent, Dr. Jennifer Cheatham; United Way of Dane County President and CEO, Renee Moe; Police Chief Mike Koval; County Executive Joe Parisi; Journey Mental Health Executive Director, Bill Greer; and CUNA Mutual Executive Director, Steve Goldberg, to kick off the 100 Black Men's new initiative, Student Opportunities, Access and Readiness or Project SOAR.

Photo Credit: Paul McMahon

Under Project SOAR, 100 Black Men and community partners will mentor 300 African American male students, ages 12-17, who are currently enrolled in the Madison Public School District. The Project SOAR mentoring program will pay particular attention to those students who are economically disadvantaged, from single parent homes, homeless, in foster care, or in the juvenile justice system.

When conducting the youth and young adult surveys and interviews for President Barack Obama's My Brother's Keeper (MBK) Madison initiative, our boys and young men of color frequently mentioned a desire to see increased opportunities for mentorship. I am pleased to support Project SOAR as it aligns with our MBK Madison goals and seeks to address a critical need within our Madison community.

City of Madison Recruitment Ads

You may have noticed new ads on the sides of City of Madison Metro buses. The ads, or bus wraps, are the result of a combined effort between the City of Madison Human Resources Department and the Public Works agencies to recruit women and people of color for city employment! The bus wraps, which will run for four weeks, feature Streets Department employees Rachel and Felix.

Staff took it a step further, including two Parks employees, Charles and Juan, in the Metro Ride Guide, advertising seasonal Laborer opportunities.

The bus wraps and Ride Guide ads are a great demonstration of the City of Madison’s commitment to hiring a diverse, and representative work force to serve all residents.

City Bowling Tournament

It was nice to see so many City employees coming together for the City Bowling Tournament recently. Every year participating City of Madison agencies put together a bowling team that gets matched up with another agency. This year staff headed out to Bowlavard Lanes for the friendly competition.

Heidi Fischer, from the City of Madison Planning Division, took the fun a step further last year, organizing a food drive for Second Harvest in conjunction with the bowling tournament.  This year the tradition continued and I am proud to hear that City employees raised $1,093.67, which will provide for 3,281 meals, and collected 221 pounds of canned food items, which will provide for 184 meals! Thank you to Heidi & her team in Economic Development for their leadership and to all those who contributed. It is great to see such generosity from City of Madison staff.

 

 

 

Madison's Platinum Status as a Bicycle Friendly Community

I am delighted that the State Assembly passed an Assembly Joint Resolution congratulating the City of Madison on our recent achievement of Platinum status as a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. We appreciate the recognition from our State Representatives! Special thanks to State Representative Lisa Subeck for all of her work. Without the hard work and collaboration between Madison B-Cycle, Trek, Madison's cyclers, and City of Madison officials, we could not have made it this far. Congratulations to all and keep up the good work!

From left: Representative Taylor; Arthur Ross, City of Madison Pedestrian-Bicycle Coordinator; Scott Langer, Assistant Traffic Engineer; Alder Clear, Representative Subeck; Representative Berceau; Representative Sargent; Representative Kahl

Smart Madison. Shared Madison.

How should Madison design its future smart transportation system? How will we use smart transportation technology to get around?

Those are the questions we are asking you to respond to so we can better prepare our proposal for the $50 million Smart Cities Challenge.

The Smart Cities challenge, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation and Vulcan, asks mid-sized cities to submit their visions for a smart transportation future. One city will win the prize intended to launch the Intelligent Transportation revolution. This will include: Driverless and electric vehicles; automated transit corridors; vehicle-to-vehicle communication; advanced parking management; and open data sharing facilitating a truly multimodal system.

We envision a transportation future in which shared data creates a more equitable and responsive transit system. People have the information they need to make the best transportation choice for each trip, and connections between transportation modes are easy and intuitive. Frequent buses serve main routes, while on-demand shuttles connect people to destinations across the city - day and night. Connected vehicles find the most efficient routes and drivers are guided to the best parking spots from blocks away. A smart delivery system connects regional farmers and other producers with city vendors and buyers. Without building or expanding roads, we create a safer, cleaner community and protect Madison’s environment.

Share your ideas at www.cityofmadison.com/smartmadison

We will be collecting ideas until January 18, 2016.

The Greening of Monroe Street

Don't forget to head over to the Monroe Street Festival this Saturday, October 10th! This year the long-running Monroe Street Festival will highlight a new initiative focused on green urbanism, including street design and overall infrastructure. The initiative, called "The Greening of Monroe Street", will transform the area into an "eco district" by featuring ten different stations that offer a look into different approaches to green urbanism. The stations will include landscaped pop-up parks, zero waste stations, educational materials, tours along the Dudgeon Monroe Neighborhood Nature and History Trail, and much more!

This year's initiative presents an opportunity to remember the importance of considering sustainability and the environment, even in urban areas, to protect the natural areas we know and love.

To view the "Green Passport" and see what will be happening at each of the ten stations, click on the link below:

http://weigogreener.org/images/Monroe%20Street%20Green%20Passport.pdf

To learn more about the initiative follow the link below:

http://weigogreener.org/images/Media%20Advisory.pdf

Mayor's Neighborhood Roundtable 2015

Be sure to mark your calendars for the 2015 Mayor's Neighborhood Roundtable on October 24th at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center! Registration begins at 8:00 am with a program from 9 am to 12 pm.

The Neighborhood Roundtable will begin with some networking and large group Q & A and then offer a few options for breakout sessions including "Neighborhood Projects and Funding Opportunities", "Neighborhood Engagement, Organizing, Involvement", and "Topic Table Discussions".

The Mayor's Neighborhood Roundtable presents a great opportunity to bring residents, businesses, community organizations, and other stakeholders together to discuss how we can make Madison's neighborhoods even better to live, work, play, and learn!

For more details or to register follow the link below. I hope to see you all there!

www.cityofmadison.com/neighborhoods/