Marsha can only win with YOUR support
Add your name!

Donate electronically:

Top Issues

• East Washington "Capitol East District" corridor

  The city has taken important steps to adopt design guidelines and implement the recommendations of the Capitol Gateway BUILD Steering Committee that focus on creating an employment district on the south side of E Washington Ave and market this key district for jobs and housing opportunities. I have been involved in planning since I was MNA President and attended meetings of the East Rail Corridor Plan Advisory Committee. I was a member of the Capitol Gateway BUILD Ccommittee since its inception and once elected, I worked on refining the design guidelines which were subsequently adopted as Urban Design District #8.

• Metro Innovation Center

  One of the first big changes was the announcement that the UW Research Park would lease space in the Marquip building and create the Metro Innovation Center. Currently seven out of ten suites are leased to UW students with a focus on computer science, software development and internet-based businesses. I will work with city staff and the consultants to continue to engage with the Mullins Group to reposition their properties in the district.

• Landbanking

  In 2010, the Council approved a resolution to purchase the Don Miller site as well as the Schappe parcel on the south side of the Avenue using land bank funds. This purchase follows years of discussion involving the adjacent neighborhoods, Capitol East businesses, alders and other stakeholders on how to grow and green this historic commercial and industrial corridor. I support this first step in the evolution away from a suburban oriented highway development and towards the creation of a more sustainable and urban live-work employment district.

• Madison Sustainability Commerce Center

  For years I have advocated the greening and re-use of this former industrial center of Madison and supported business incubation as a strategy for this area. I am very excited about the proposal to construct a Sustainability Center. Preliminary funding for this project has come from the City and from the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar America Cities program ($30,000 for the partnership of a consultant with connections to Freiburg, Germany's Solar Info Center) as well as support from the Delta Redevelopment Institute funded in part by the US EPA brownfields "k6" research grant ($20,000 to date). Supporters of the Center include a project group that includes representatives of Madison Gas & Electric, Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation, the Energy Center of Wisconsin, the Delta Institute, Thrive, and other stakeholders. Over the past year, members of this project team have held several meetings with area businesses and many expressed interest in locating their businesses, if a Center were constructed. A well-received stakeholder meeting was held in March 2010 with over 50 attendees, including many representatives from surrounding neighborhoods. Once built, the Center will maintain this engagement and connection to its surrounding neighborhoods through the educational programming that it will provide, and the quasi-public space that is envisioned to be a part of the Center. The Center will be constructed in a sustainable manner, utilizing the expertise from project partners at Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation, Energy Center of Wisconsin, and Project Home to develop a high performance building. With its location along transit routes and a major commuter bike path, employees will have alternative transportation modes to choose from besides single-occupant car trips. Nearby neighborhood commercial districts and downtown Madison will provide additional amenities. The new business locating and expanding within the Center will generate new jobs. Many of these businesses will likely be within basic-sector industries with strong multiplier factors to encourage even more job creation. The jobs associated with construction of the facility and the long-term property tax generated from the building will provide a positive return to the community. The ability of the general public and other business leaders to access the technologies and ideas developed in the Center could benefit the entire region. This will be a catalytic project that will reverberate for years to come. The Capital East District will continue to be my major focus for sustainable economic development for the city. At least two public neighborhood meetings will be held in 2011 with alders, the consultant team, and city staff to and communicate and get input on the progress made to date.

• Union Corners

  I was one of the sponsors of purchasing Union Corners utilizing city land-banking funds. Surrounding neighborhoods and the city will have the opportunity to plan for the rebirth of this key east side parcel and insure any proposal for redevelopment meets the broadest possible community need. For over a year, interested neighbors, members of SASY, Worthington Park and Emerson East Neighborhood Associations, nonprofit housing providers and the East Isthmus Neighborhood Planning Council have convened a group called Friends of Union Corners. They have focused on creating a Community Benefits Agreements to guide the development of Union Corners. Some of their ideas include a focus on local hiring and training in green energy skills to fill some of the future construction jobs, establishing LEED building standards, creating public spaces, incorporating multi-modal transportation linkages, and encouraging a mix of housing options including co-housing and senior housing. More recently members of the SASYNA Council created a committee to look at interim and transitional uses that could help establish a model for other land-banked properties. The committee has met with me, city Planning staff and will meet with the Mayor soon. I will organize a community meeting to be held in early spring to review the McGrath plan, try to develop a consensus around development principles and expand the brainstorming that has already taken place. The Congress for the New Urbanism is holding its annual conference in Madison June 1-4 and will include a site visit to Union Corners as part of a workshop on how to redevelop a single block. My goal is to hold the neighborhood meetings before the CNU conference and encourage the neighborhood and other stakeholder to participate in the workshop at the conference. The resolution the Council passed to purchase Union Corners includes $60,000 to be used for a site review analysis, redevelopment plan and development of a process for accomplishing that plan so we have funds to engage the community in a process that will guide future developers and the city.

• Historic Preservation

  The 6th district is home to three city historic districts and one national historic district. In addition to many residential buildings dating from the earliest days of Madison, the district contains many beautiful commercial buildings that should be preserved and rehabbed. Older buildings provide an affordable option for existing businesses and nurture new ventures. The city's Facade Improvement grant has been used throughout the district to improve facades of historic commercial buildings. New development should respect our historic scale and character. Community based planning helps us identify areas for new development at higher densities and areas for conservation as well as buildings worthy of preservation. I supported two recent infill residential projects that involved positive collaboration with neighbors, the alder and the Landmarks Commission. The first project at 1246-1252 Williamson proposed by Scott Lewis located at the corner of Baldwin and Willy, is now occupied with residents and a new ground floor retail business. Lance McGrath's proposal at 517-523 E Main St, the corner of Blair and E Main, is now under construction. Since elected, I have supported the efforts of several residential property owners to work their neighbors, MNA's Preservation and Development Committee, and Landmarks Commission to build new single family dwellings or renovate existing homes in ways that respect the character of the Third Lake Ridge Historic district. In my first term, the Council approved the creation of Neighborhood Conservation Districts as a zoning overlay. Neighbors petitioned to request that E Wilson-Dewey Ct-Schley Pass-Baldwin become the first area to be studied. The public neighborhood review process began in early 2010 after delays because of demands on Planning staff due to the Edgewater proposal. The study is now complete and I will be hosting a meeting of neighbors in the proposed district to review the findings and chart the next steps.

• Edgewater and the development review process

  The Edgewater process sent alarms throughout many Neighborhood Associations and among residents concerned about the integrity of the committee approval process. The collateral damage of this project has resulted in cynicism and distrust among a swath of neighborhood activists who were shocked to hear the Mayor's criticisms about "unelected, unaccountable, and undemocratic" citizen committees and the need to "fix" a broken process. Many thought the Edgewater, whether or not they supported it, was not a typical project but in fact an outlier and not something that should set precedent for the future. When the Mayor announced in his State of the City speech to the Rotary in June 2010 his intention to seek the recommendations of business and labor and ask the Economic Development Commission to vet those changes with the input of the community at large and have EDC alders make ordinance amendments to transform the process, I became alarmed and organized two Neighborhood Summits and invited my fellow alders, commission members involved in the review process, and city staff to insure that neighbors and alders had a place at the table in the process. On July 31, over 100 people representing NAs all over the city convened in a church basement on Atwood Ave. We asked attendees how they could be effective participants in the development process, what was working in the existing process and what changes would they recommend. The notes for the July meeting and the follow up review of the EDC recommendations held Oct 23 were forwarded to EDC and are in Legistar along with a long list of other thoughtful documents. There were common themes from both sessions that I think capture the spirit of the Neighborhood Summits. Overall, most participants would say the development process is not broken. They support the mission of citizen committees, respect citizen expertise and recognize the need for ongoing training of city committees. Overwhelmingly participants did not support changing the requirement to have a supermajority of the council to overturn Landmarks decision nor did they support Landmarks and UDC becoming subcommittees of the Plan Commission. But there were improvements that would be welcomed by attendees. I support them and will work to implement them.

  1.Communicate in multiple and redundant ways. Widen the 200' notification for public hearings. Increase alder's budgets for mailing to residents so a broader area can be informed that a development project is being proposed. Developers should contribute to cost of mailing notification. Create a web based project registration to track development proposals and generate automatic notifications to anyone signed up. Earliest possible contact with staff, alder and neighborhood association should be the goal to insure that the pre-application process addresses concerns and issues at the front end and that evolving plans are shared with residents once submitted. Enhance the property look up function to provide links to development project web sites. Post development project info at local public/civic spaces like libraries, coffee shops and on neighborhood list serves etc. Developer should provide handouts of proposed plan at meetings.

  2.Decisions should be based on the next generation, not the next election. Insure that neighborhood plans cover the entire city and provide a vision of who will be living/working here in 10 years. Review and update plans every 10 years. Create impact statements for development that include environmental, economic, traffic, archeological, historic, view shed, trees, soil, water quality, storm water management, salt, air quality, noise and housing. Community benefits agreements.

  3.Education. Orientation for alders about development process and meeting facilitation skills. Train NAs in facilitation and other skills. Create a NA Council to share info and experiences. Create city wide neighborhood list serve. Revive idea for Office of Neighborhood Support. Experienced NAs can mentor less experienced NAs. NAs should understand how to effectively communicate with city committees and understand jurisdiction over project. Education of developers about laws, adopted plans, communication and process. Annual review of committee work .

  4.Transparency/ Predictability/Consistency. Timely lobbying reports. City staff reporting of meetings with developers. Confirmation that meetings with neighbors and developers have taken place. DAT minutes in legistar. Expectations that applications satisfy minimum standards and incomplete submittals will not be put on committee agendas.

• Diverse and affordable housing

  Racism and growing levels of inequality affect our lives every day, in schools, on the street and in prisons. We need a housing strategy that builds a diverse community and doesn't just move poor people around or segregate racial groups. The Inclusionary Zoning ordinance was intended to create hundreds of owner-occupied units for residents who earn 80% of median income and benefit low income students who would mingle with kids of higher income brackets. Studies showed that this mix helped low income kids improve academically. While the program did create some new units, the ordinance was complicated and was sunset in 2009. I have been serving on the post IZ, Housing Diversity Planning Ad Hoc Committee. The committee has been developing recommendations to further the availability of housing choices for families of all income levels. We have been focusing on elementary schools as a way to frame our approach because good schools are key to our city's health and success. We must explore all the tools at our disposal to create affordable housing, such as the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the TIF 10% Set Aside, CDBG funds, WHEDA housing tax credits, Section 8 vouchers, city programs for first time homebuyers and the continued reinvestment in city owned housing

• Monitor the safety of our drinking water and the health of our lakes

  Our water quality has been impacted by the east side's industrial legacy. Well #3 was permanently abandoned in April 2008 because excessive amounts of carbon tetrachloride found in solvents and produced from industrial processes. I have been focused on water quality ever since I was elected in 2007. I participated in a public participation effort to assist the Water Utility to find a replacement well for Well #3. But the effort was not successful based on the mapping of underground storage tanks and other contaminants. I also participated in a citizen's advisory panel for Well #8. Well 8 has operated seasonally in the summer only and will continue at this level until a filter is constructed to remove the iron and manganese, currently budgeted for 2013, or an alternative to filtration is identified and incorporated into the Utility's Capital Improvement Program. Iron levels exceed the recommended level, or secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL), and manganese levels are near the SMCL. The SMCL is a guideline established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for substances that impact the aesthetic quality (taste, odor, or appearance) but not the health or safety of the water. In the fall of 2010, the Madison Water Utility initiated a significant review of East Side water demand and water quality to insure the long-term supply of safe water to east side customers. With the assistance of consultants from Black and Veatch, the Water Utility will complete a water demand analysis and assess expected water conservation measures. The consultants will evaluate drinking water quality and summarize the quality of the groundwater; review treatment technology such as filters to remove iron and manganese and propose potential pilot tests, as needed. They will determine whether the existing distribution system can supply future water needs in the east side pressure Zone 6 taking into account the new automatic water metering system adopted in the last city budget that will make conservation billing practical. Black and Veatch will conduct a well site selection study to assess whether and where a new well can be sited if needed to meet future demand. The Water Utility will complete these tasks with the guidance of the East Side Citizen's Advisory Panel. I am a member of the CAP. The scope of the CAP includes Wells 7, 8, 15 and a replacement for Well 3. CAP volunteers will participate in meetings and workshops with the project team to help formulate the capital improvement program for the study area and communicate that plan to the neighborhoods. A lot of useful information about the project can be found on the Water Utility's home page http://www.cityofmadison.com/water. We live in a densely developed area and must make a conscious effort to recharge our aquifers through responsible conservation programs such as rain gardens, rain barrels, permeable paving options and LEED standards for green building to manage water use and runoff. Under MGE's Energy 2015 plan, Blount St power plant is scheduled to discontinue burning coal at the end of 2011. This will reduce particulate contamination and reduce CO2 emissions that run off into our lakes. Insuring safe drinking water will require a commitment to investing in our infrastructure and I am committed to working with the Water Utility and citizens to take care of this vital resource.

• Traffic and Transportation planning

  Four downtown neighborhood associations have adopted a multi-neighborhood traffic plan that explores the possibility of removing rush hour parking restrictions on Williamson and Atwood and restoring two-way traffic on Johnson and Gorham. When Blair St-E Wilson-Williamson St intersection is reconstructed, we need to improve the pedestrian and bike safety features. We need to make our neighborhood arterial streets safe for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists. I will continue to advocate for community based participation in traffic and transportation planning. Traffic and transportatopm should always be linked to discussions about potential land use. We need to create sufficient residential and employment densities throughout the city to allow multi-modal options such as bike infrastructure, Metro and commuter/passenger rail to become realistic and affordable alternatives to single occupancy trips. We need to insure pedestrian safety and walkable neighborhoods served by neighborhood businesses with a variety of goods and services. We need to slow traffic in residential areas and acknowledge that we are the traffic we complain about. We must continue to work on ways to build our city at the periphery as urban not suburban places. We should adopt a "Fix it First" approach to road repair and scrutinize costs and environmental impacts of widening roads. If roads are expanded, we need to insure that dedicated bike lanes, sidewalks and best practices in water infiltration are included. I support the inclusion of a bike station for bike commuters when we redo Government East parking structure. I support a commuter rail system but if RTA goes forward, we should start with rapid bus transit.

• High Speed Rail

  High speed rail took up a lot of time in 2010. It was quite intense period as I tried to leverage opportunities for District 6 and the city and also stave off the worst impacts of street closings and negative impacts on neighbors and neighborhoods. Dealing with the DOT was frustrating at best and many east siders were quite alarmed by the process DOT utilized as they tried to beat the clock to get all agreements in place before the Nov election. Unfortunately HSR is dead for now and the opportunities to connect to other Midwestern cities and create thousands of family supporting jobs will have to wait for another time. Williamson Street Reconstruction The Williamson St reconstruction scheduled to begin in the spring of 2011. The process began over two years ago, was delayed in 2009, restarted in July 2010 and approved in January 2011 by the Common Council. Over the last few months a diverse and engaged group of residents, business owners, Greater Williamson Area Business Association members, Marquette Neighborhood Association Board and Traffic Committee members worked diligently with Engineering staff and me to improve this project. I think it is fair to say that the discussions we had transformed the project in a way that will make us proud of what we accomplished and will benefit other neighborhoods and other "iconic" streets in our city. The first change was to narrow Willy St. from Blount to Baldwin from 48 to 44' to allow more area for terrace trees and outdoor space for businesses to use. Willy St from Baldwin to the Yahara River is currently 42' and it will stay the same width. The stakeholder group requested undergrounding utilities, increased storm water infiltration, pedestrian safety improvements at every intersection, a separated bike lane by the Elks Club, ADA compliant sidewalks and non-glare lights as features to incorporate. Except for undergrounding, these requests are included in the project plan to varying degrees. Undergrounding utilities along the entire street from Blount St to the Yahara River was something everyone supported but the cost and complexity made that impossible to do in one fell swoop. In the recent past, most undergrounding has been paid for using Tax Incremental Finance funds but Willy St in not in a TIF District. I have initiated a process to expand the boundaries of TID 36 to include Willy St. (TID 36 includes most of the rail corridor, E Washington from Blair to 1st St and Don Miller property on the north side of E Wash). But there is a hurdle: our TIF policy requires that the new boundary include a $3M economic generator before we can expand the district. Mayor Cieslewicz offered to co-sponsor a budget amendment with me to allocate $1M to underground the utilities in the 700-800 blocks of Williamson St. It is a 15 vote item that will come before the Council March 15. Engineering staff has also prepared guidelines to establish standards for undergrounding. I have introduced these guidelines as a resolution that will be reviewed by the Board of Public Works before going back to the Council. I hope I succeed in convincing 15 of my colleagues to support the budget amendment, but no matter what happens this new undergrounding policy is another example of how the Willy St project has transformed the process for constructing arterial streets in Madison. Narrowing the street will impact bike riders. While most neighbors agreed that improving pedestrian safety would ultimately make the street safer for bike riders, many urged that we look at improving the Capital City trail to make it more of a true Bike Boulevard. I have requested staff to look at adding stop signs at the non-signalized intersections. Traffic Engineering is also working on a proposal to create a Bike Boulevard from Spaight St to Division and I will hold a community meeting and invite residents to discuss the proposal in the near future. Finally, many neighbors involved in the process want to bring art and other amenities like benches, bubblers, bike racks etc to the street in a way that builds on our unique history and sense of place. At the February 21 neighborhood meeting, we will begin this planning process and I invite all of you to get involved if you are interested. Willy St is an important place for all of us. I hope you will support the local businesses on the street during the upcoming construction season and help GWABA spread the word that Wllly Lives!

• Two Way Winnebago and Winn-Atwood Business district

  Much of the motivation in support of making Winnebago a fully two way street was to improve access to and help revitalize the Winn-Atwood business district. I had worked with affected neighbors, business owners and Engineering to create a proposal that moved the street away from residences, added on-street parking and dedicated bike lanes but it remained a controversial idea and I pulled funding from the 2010 budget. I shifted my approach from Engineering to Planning as my model for planning and decided to focus on reviewing the adopted Schenk Atwood Business Master plan that offered many interesting recommendations to help the Schenk Atwood commercial triangle. As a result of this effort, I've been working with business and neighborhood stakeholders to discuss ideas in the plan like the Town Square at Schenks Corners to create a destination, better signage, arts 'branding' for the business district. This effort can help inform future planning for the reconstruction of Winnebago from 2nd Street to Union Corners and Atwood reconstruction. Parks and open space

• Central Park

  I have served on the Central Park Design and Implementation Taskforce since it was created. I'm very excited by the inclusion of environmental artist Lorna Jordan to design team of "3" (Ken Saiki Design-Schreiber Anderson- JJR) and MSA to design art elements for the park. The city applied for and was awarded a $50,000 NEA grant to pay part of the costs of installing her work. She will be in town in March 2 and March 30 2011 to participate in the public process of reviewing a new draft plan for the park. Central Park went through a bit of upheaval with High Speed Rail which created the possibility of relocating the tracks as once envisioned by the Urban Open Space Foundation/Center for Resilient Cities but with the demise of HSR, we are back to the "3" plan for Central Park with the rail dissecting the Ingersoll-Baldwin parcel. The CRC did sell the city the parcels they own for $1 and we now have the fantastic opportunity to expand the footprint of the park with the purchase of property from Research Products. At my request the Mayor will restart the petition process and ask the State Commissioner of Railroads to permit a new pedestrian crossing at the railroad track at Few St. In the meantime, the Madison Skatepark Fund has started to actively begin fundraising for the skatepark.

• Hudson Beach

  In the 2010 budget, the Council allocated $40K to be matched by neighbors and stakeholders to propose improvements to Hudson Beach. Neighbors have established a Hudson Beach Working Group to create a plan for safe access to the water at the Hudson Beach/Cliff. The funds were reauthorized in 2011 and neighbors and Parks staff have met with the DNR to review potential options that will be presented to the wider community in the spring of 2011.

• BB Clarke Beach

  I've been working on shoreline repair issues at BB Clarke. The city has applied to the DNR to get approval to install riprap to stop shoreline erosion which should be done this year. In 2010, I supported a resolution to install and test beach deflectors at BB Clarke to deter toxic blue green algae.

• Dog Parks

  Two years ago, a constituent wondered if we could create more a dog parks in the near east side that was walkable to the neighborhood. Together we organized a multi-neighborhood group of advocates, the Eastside Dog Park Organizing Committee, and began to work with Parks Dept to locate one or more new dog parks on the East Side. While we did not get a dog park in District 6, I was pleased to celebrate the opening of two new Eastside Dog Exercise Parks in November 2010 at McCormick and Demetral Parks for the official "cutting of the leash".

• Yahara Parkway

  One of the positive outcomes of the Apex proposal to redevelop 222 Merry, which I did not support (now withdrawn), was the purchase of three key riverside parcels lost to the city in the 1920s. These parcels, two owned by Apex and the third to another property owner were part of the historic lands donated to the city by the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive. These parcels were the last remaining pieces needed to implement the recommendations of the Yahara River Parkway Master Plan to create public connections between both lakes and on both sides of the river. I supported this purchase.

• Tree Preservation Ordinance

  After the disastrous loss of trees on Spaight St during a reconstruction project in June 2009, I became concerned about our lack of tree protection policies. My concern prompted City Engineering and Parks staff to convene a work group to look at improving practices to protect street trees, better communicate risks to residents and revise the tree specifications during street reconstruction. The Board of Public Works subsequently amended Section 107 of the Standard Spec book and located all tree preservation provisions in one location. Contractors will be informed of our tree preservation specifications during preconstruction meetings and they will be required sign an acknowledgement that they understand our policies. Penalties will include a fine based on the diameter of the tree damaged due to negligence and the costs of removal, stumping, planting replacement trees, or pruning damaged limbs. Standards will be established for how close to a tree a contractor can grade or excavate, when to seek permission of the City Forester to cut roots, and a prohibition on parking equipment within 5' of any tree to prevent soil compaction. Engineering and Parks have enhanced procedures to insure that a City Forester reviews affected city trees as part of the checklist that goes to Board of Public Works public hearings, in advice of bidding out projects. Property owners will now receive a letter that outlines the level of risk on a per tree basis for trees in their street terrace. All of these policies also codified into an ordinance. In February 2011, the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council selected me to receive an Award for Distinguished Service-Elected Official in recognition of my leadership in enacting legislation to protect Madison's street trees during reconstruction projects. I'm proud that our efforts in improving the care and protection of our urban forest are spreading beyond the city boundaries.

• Support neighborhood-based policing

  Public safety is an important part of personal security in the city - recent news stories of home invasions highlight the concern. Overall most of Madison is safe but we must pay attention to stressed neighborhoods and the safety of the downtown and UW campus. Part of a progressive public safety program is creating jobs, especially with a focus on job mentoring for youth, versus adding more police. We have a 17% poverty rate and we need to work with the city, county the school district, nonprofit service providers and the community to find solutions -whether it is urban agriculture and donations for food banks, Madison Timebank, job skills andtraining, Capital Revolving loans for business owners, affordable housing, and homeless prevention. Community policing requires building face to face relationships in neighborhoods and business districts and I support funding neighborhood resource officers. But I'd rather spend money on social services than police. We don't need the police to be our social workers.

• Communication and Notification

  I attend Neighborhood and Business Association meetings, write articles for the East Side News and Marquette Gazette, send announcements of city business and initiatives to five neighborhood list serves and write occasional electronic newsletters. I post info to the Greater Williamson Area Business Association listserve to inform members of upcoming meetings. I will organize neighborhood meetings to review land use, street reconstruction, transportation initiatives and alcohol license applications and invite residents and property owners. I will reply to emails quickly and phone calls as timely as possible. I will meet with residents, business owners, developers, city staff, and the Mayor to address and resolve the issues of the district or hear your ideas or complaints. I will use my official alder webpage to share info about my committee assignments, adopted legislation, press releases and newsletters.

• Budget

  The budget reflects our values about social and public services, how we want to build our city, and how much can we afford to maintain the services that make Madison a great place to live. I care about maintaining basic services like Metro, water quality, snow plowing/leaf/trash pickup, public safety, building inspection, parks, community policing and social services. I opposed the Metro fare hikes two budgets ago. With other alders, I've successfully added funding for community services in the last two budget cycles and added streets personnel. The Council authorized $5.6 million for the Water Utility to begin implementation of the first phase of an automatic meter reading system. This will allow the utility to initiate monthly billing, a requirement to get PSC permission to use conservation billing. Customers will be able to better monitor and control water use, something that many District 6 residents have advocated for. Alder Rhodes-Conway and I successfully included a $750,000 capital budget amendment for the skate park for 2013 of which $450, 000 will come from private fundraising and $300,000 will be the city's portion, using either TID 36 or Parks funds. It would help to have more alders on the council who will vote for policies that will build a city that encourages connectivity, appropriate density and mixed uses as opposed to more sprawling models of development at the edge of the city. The recession has affected the city by lowering the value of real estate and reducing revenues from property taxes. So far we have been able to avoid serious cuts to city staff and services but with the changes in State government, we will face many challenges. Historically Madison has been sheltered by a local economy because of public sector employment but now we are seeing unprecedented attacks on public workers. I will work to defend public jobs and stand in solidarity with the organizing that needs to take place, maintain quality services and use our resources to leverage sustainable economic development, jobs and social services for those in need.

Authorized and paid for by: Friends of Marsha Rummel, 1020 Williamson St, Madison, WI, 53703 Sharon Kilfoy, Treasurer