Born March 3, 1957 Chicago, Illinois

1980 UW-Madison BA Political Science

I've lived in Alder District 6 since 1982.

In July 1989 I co-founded Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative. First paid staff person and manager since 1991. Member of American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers for Free Expression, Greater State Street Business Association (GSSBA), and Dane County Buy Local Campaign. I took an early stand against the Patriot Act when it became clear that the FISA court allowed unprecedented access into the reading habits of Americans and booksellers could not legally refuse to provide info. I was quoted by Matt Rothschild in the Progressive about the dangers of the Patriot Act. The article circulated around the globe. As a cooperatively-owned independent bookseller, we've faced the market challenges of the arrival of big box retailers and Amazon.com.

I was a member of the Wisconsin Labor and Farm Party (LPF). In 1986 I ran for Dane County Treasurer as the LPF-endorsed candidate. In 1988 I was chair of the state LPF. In 1992 I was one of the original founders of Progressive Dane, formed as a merger of the Wisconsin Labor and Farm Party, the Wisconsin Greens and the New Party which had formed a Progressive Milwaukee chapter. I was PD co-chair with Jim Cavanaugh the first year and served on the steering committee for the first few years. I have been a member ever since but not in a leadership position since the early days. I drifted away but got re-energized when Brenda Konkel was elected to the council. Currently I am a member of the PD Economic Issues Task Force which we formed about two years ago to take action on local minimum wage, TIF reform, big box retail ordinance, sick leave and now Buy Local.

I was first elected to the Marquette Neighborhood Association Board in 1994. I've been Board President since 2002. The highlight of my first year on the Board was to get involved in saving the Ela Building. There was a proposal by a local developer to tear down this beautiful building in order to expand the adjacent parking lot. Luckily new owners had a vision for restoring the building. To this day, I'm proud that my opposition resulted in a great adaptive re-use project, home to the Eldorado Grill and Ground Zero Coffeehouse (among others).

Over the years, I've come to appreciate the Third Lake Ridge and First Settlement Historic Districts with their mix of merchant and working class housing. Willy Street is one of the original "live-work" neighborhoods, a mixed-income neighborhood located in a vibrant industrial- commercial employment district and served by a neighborhood business district that provides basic goods and services. This makes us unique and has contributed to making Willy Street the bohemian, artistic and eclectic neighborhood it is today.

MNA also participated in discussions in the adjacent First Settlement Neighborhood about the redevelopment of Block 115, home to the Essen Haus and the First Settlement Historic District which is bounded by Blair, East Wilson, Franklin and East Main Street. A series of developers made proposals that would have severely impacted the First Settlement historic district. On behalf of MNA, I participated in a series of meetings. I was concerned a precedent would be set that would threaten the rank-and-file houses that contribute to the Third Lake Ridge Historic District. I was also concerned that we seriously address the traffic impacts of all new developments.

In May 2006 I was honored to receive an award from the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation for my efforts to save 1025 Williamson, a two-flat house that was damaged in a kitchen fire. Someone bought the property with the intent to demolish the building and fill up the large lot with an oversize project. MNA balked and worked with the city to change the zoning to allow a second house (condo) to be built on the lot with granny flats above two new garages. The Trust recognized my work as an example of Preservation and Compatible New Construction. I also received a surprise award from the Trust that night. In 2004, I helped organize a city-wide effort to landmark the Woman's Building, an important part of our Progressive and early feminist history. I was very proud and honored to receive recognition for both efforts.

When I became MNA President in 2002, I became immersed in the East Rail Corridor (ERC) Plan Advisory Committee planning process. I attended all the meetings and got very interested in economic development strategies for the Gateway Corridor and captivated by the idea of a Central Park. In November, the Urban Open Space Foundation, the nonprofit developer of the park honored me and several other "super" volunteers, for our efforts to make the park a reality.

Because of my interest in the ERC Plan, I was able to provide leadership in the formation of Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) District 36 to insure that there was a stakeholders group that discussed all aspects of the TID. Five neighborhood associations participated in this planning process. One of the recommendations of the ERC plan is the creation of a "neighborhood conservation district" for parts of E Wilson, Dewey Court and Schley Pass to protect the scale of this area. MNA agreed to support TID 36 only if the city would create a conservation district ordinance which has now been introduced for approval.

I became a citizen expert on TIF and see several areas where we could improve public participation and make information and decisions more transparent. I take credit for being the first member of the public to insist that the city Planning Department put maps, budgets and goals for each active TID on their website. As a result of questions I raised with others about the lack of budget information for future projects, the Mayor started itemizing TIF future commitments and the status of existing TID districts in his last two capital budgets. I believe my vocal support for improving the blight letter that is sent to all property owners prior to public hearings about the formation of a TIF district spurred a discussion on the Plan Commission that led to a new letter that will explain what blight means. In November 2006, the Mayor appointed me to a new TIF Policy Committee.

Throughout 2005 and 2006, I was an appointed member of the East Washington Capitol Gateway BUILD committee where we established core values based on public and stakeholder input and tried to create standards for new buildings in the East Washington corridor that would make sure developers respect the scale of adjacent neighborhoods, the Capitol-view building height limit and the role of East Wash as a place for new employment.

When I became President of the Marquette Neighborhood Association in 2002, I immediately got MNA more active in affordable housing issues, particularly the Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) debate. Along with Common Wealth Development, we organized a one-day affordable housing conference for the neighborhood. MNA was the only NA to participate in the original passage of the ordinance. As a neighborhood dealing with new residential development, we were frustrated that housing for people earning less than $15/hour was not being built. I also followed the recent effort to amend the IZ ordinance and attended most of the meetings of the Mayor's IZ Work Group. The Mayor's final report included a recommendation I made to cover 95% of the gap between market rate and IZ rate housing. This was eventually adopted when the ordinance was amended. This time around more neighborhood associations were interested in how the ordinance would be amended because there was an effort to override neighborhood plans. We were able to amend the ordinance to respect neighborhood plans. Subsequently the Mayor appointed me to the IZ Advisory Oversight Committee.

One of the outcomes of the IZ debate was an effort by the city Planning Department to create a "Best Practices" document that lists the roles of developers, neighborhood associations, city commissions and committees and the council to insure that the process of approving new construction is open and transparent. This spurred me to create a Developer Questionnaire that MNA could use to make the development review process more rational for our volunteer Board. We created a best practices committee that I've been a member of to refine the questionnaire. We worked with Capitol Neighborhoods which was also engaged in a similar project. Eventually our best practices committee morphed into a Preservation and Development Committee. The committee meets with developers and collects the information for the questionnaire that is presented to the Board with recommendations.The Board now has more time to be proactive on a wide range of issues.

Authorized and paid for by: Friends of Marsha Rummel, 1337 Jenifer St, Madison, WI, 53703 Bert Zipperer, Treasurer