1. Land Use
"Compact, contiguous development" is said to be the inverse of sprawl. Much development on the edge of Madison has been of the auto-dependent variety, with big box stores, like the Target shopping center on the west side.

Do you support compact, contiguous, pedestrian-friendly development? If so, how would you avoid further undesirable development on Madison's edges? For planning in general, what opportunities do you see for the city council in the comprehensive planning process that the city has recently started?

District 6 is the poster child for a "compact and contiguous pedestrian-friendly" neighborhood. It is walkable, with a mix of successful locally owned businesses that offer basic goods and services and other amenities, family-friendly, close to schools, parks and accessible by all forms of transit. The mix of single-family homes and apartment units provides the opportunity for an economically and racially diverse mix of people to live side by side. Of course I support it! It's a great way to live.

Sprawled forms of development: mostly single family residences built around cul-de-sacs, with strips of commercial and big box retail at the edges don't facilitate traditional neighborhood development. I have seen the city try to incorporate principles of TND in the new developments on the edge. The problem is that they tend to be approved with very low densities compared to Marquette and other downtown neighborhoods. We should utilize a mixed-use approach to plats and subdivisions, with a mix of housing types and levels of affordability interspersed throughout, with some approximation of the neighhorhood business district on arterial streets. But without higher densities in these edge developments, it will be difficult to create and sustain a user base for Metro or create the social "congestion" that we need to create vital n'hoods.

Downtown neighborhoods get constant reminders about our obligation to combat sprawl. We've negotiated/accommodated more density. But there is a question of fairness for those of us who live on a narrow isthmus and who treasure the historic scale and character of our older neighborhoods. There are several buildings in the Marquette n'hood that date back to the 1850s, these have value too. The comp plan has identified areas for densification in what I would call the third ring of the city, generally post 1945 construction. We have already seen development proposals for neighborhoods like Midvale and Westmorland that haven't seen much change since the day they were built. They don't have specific n'borhood plans that prioritize goals.

The council must find a way to help n'hood associations and residents who are newbies to PUDs and GDP/SIPs and all the development lingo navigate the development process so that they can effectively participate in planning for what they want their n'hood to look like. Some areas will benefit from creating specific plans and the council should prioritize planning for those n'hoods in the budget. The reorganization of the Planning Dept is an opportunity for the council to discuss what the new Planner 3 position should do. What will shape the future more than anything else will be the rewrite of the zoning code in the next few years. I am in favor of a public process for this revamp.

2. Air and Lakes
2.a. Mayor Cieslewicz signed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, committing Madison to Kyoto Protocol-like CO2 emissions reductions.

How will you ensure that Madison upholds this commitment?

I support efforts to study the feasibility of converting MGE, the Capitol Heat and Power Plant and the UW's Charter St plant to a co-generation plant. It is possible that any extra capacity generated by this plant could be used by adjacent consumers located between the Capitol and the UW. I would encourage the city to plan to convert it's fleet, including Metro buses, from gasoline to bio-diesel fuel sources. Currently the city has installed solar panels in some areas. So far, this is more of a symbolic gesture. The city should walk the walk and step up it's renewable energy efforts. As a community we need to recognize that techno-fixes like power lines or industrial ag based plant fuels will not resolve the problem.

2.b. Over 900 Madison residents have expressed, via postcards and testifying unanimously at DNR hearings, that outdated coal plants with no modern pollution controls are unacceptable for Madison's air and lakes. Citizens are concerned about the mercury fish advisories and the increases in children's asthma rates associated with these polluting plants. The Sierra Club has endorsed a cleaner-fueled cogeneration plant to replace MG&E's Blount St. Plant, UW's Charter St. Plant and the State's Capitol Heat and Power Plant.

Do you favor the City of Madison convening a comprehensive feasibility study for a replacement cogeneration plant among the State of WI, MG&E, UW, City of Madison and Dane County? If not, what is your plan to cut pollution and health risks and bring our energy production into the 21st Century?

Yes. I have learned a lot about this issue thanks to the Sierra Club and I appreciate your efforts to create a community campaign for a co-gen plant. It's hard to believe that there are two 100 year old power plants next to one another in District 6; one which produces steam and one which produces electricity, and they have existed this long without combining efforts. The effort to study how we can create a cleaner power supply is an important step and coordination between the various government entities and the UW is long overdue. Yet we need to be mindful that natural gas is also a scarce and politically contested resource.

3. Transportation
Transportation and land use are closely related. Solutions to either one greatly affect outcomes with the other.

3.a. Highways.
The Beltline forms a barrier around the City, which separates neighborhoods and makes it difficult for people to get from one side to the other on foot or by bicycle. Meanwhile, several highways, which cross the Beltline, such as Old Sauk Road, have been expanded to four lane highways, facilitating development and automobile commuter traffic into the City while making it still more difficult for bicyclists and pedestrians to cross the Beltline.

What is your position on the expansion of roads out of town? What is your position on building additional roads or Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridges/Tunnels crossing the Beltline?

I think road expansion only encourages more driving and more calls for further road expansion as the roads quickly fill to capacity. This exacerbates sprawled forms of land use, leapfrog development and creates more impervious surfaces that impact water quality. Most road expansion projects in the city are buried in the capital budget and don't get a lot of public scrutiny. We need to change the process so that these proposals are less influenced by Traffic Engineering, and more accountable to the Planning Department.

The pedestrian bridge under the Beltline at Stoughton Road is a good step towards more bike connectivity for the periphery of Madison. Many people living at the furthest reaches of the city can not bike, even if they wanted to, let alone become bike commuters. We need to remember the street belongs to all users, not just cars.

3.b. Transit improvements.
The Transport 2020 commission, a joint effort of the City of Madison and Dane County, recently published its conclusions. Those conclusions recommend commuter rail from East Towne to Middleton, regional bus service to outlying communities, and, at a later date, local streetcar service.

Do you support the recommendations of the transport 2020 commission, and other recent proposals such as the Mayor's streetcar proposal or a proposal to implement commuter rail on a pilot basis from Middleton to downtown Madison?

Are there any improvements or changes to the existing Madison Metro transit system that you would pursue?

I support the recommendations of Transport 2020 commission to create a commuter rail line from East Towne to Middleton and to facilitate the development of a regional transit authority. If the county continues to grow, rail provides an option and has the potential to slow the growth of auto congestion. We hear a lot about the benefits and necessity of regional economic development; it becomes clear that we also need a regional approach to getting people around.

But I am a streetcar skeptic. I see much of the motivation for streetcars as a economic strategy to promote infill development, not to resolve transit issues. Isthmus n'hood residents are already dedicated transit users, we take the bus and bike in very high numbers. Why should a more expensive solution be provided for isthmus residents that might displace bus service? If we want to discuss appropriate places for infill, let's do that. We have a series of n'hoods plans to guide us. Most people in District 6 aren't interested in being "developed" out of their homes.

I have much enthusiasm for commuter rail. If commuter rail plans had been in place a few years ago we might not have the same scope of reconstruction of East Washington taking place, and that it might have been designed differently.

Metro should expand hours of service to accommodate a 24/7 workforce. I support the proposal to extend the bus pass purchasing pool to small employers. One of the most important improvements would be to add express routes to link transfer points. I would be willing to review the success of the transfer locations. Many near-east side bus riders don't want to sacrifice their existing service to expand a regional network. A simple solution; bus stop signage on streets should describe route and hours of service, then you wouldn't need a three inch booklet to understand the bus system.

3.c. Pedestrian and bicycle access. As mentioned in a previous question, Madison residents experience the conflict between automobile traffic and travel by foot or bicycle on a daily basis.

What will you do to make Madison a more pedestrian and bicycle friendly city?

To make Madison more pedestrian and bicycle friendly we have to create more possibilities for connectivity for bikers and pedestrians. Next spring the last underpass of Yahara River Parkway will be completed creating a new connection across E Washington. This is an issue I've been involved in for years and it will be thrilling to be able to walk or bike between the two lakes safely. The next big opportunity for connectivity is to link up existing bike paths to routes through the North Side which is isolated and difficult to get to by bike.

Four downtown neighborhood associations adopted a multi-n'hood traffic plan. It includes exploring the possibility of removing rush hour parking restrictions on Williamson and Atwood. Rush hour turns our neighborhood business districts into part-time highway bypasses and makes it difficult for all users to deal with the street safely. I would also like to continue to push for lower parking stall requirements for new developments and shared parking structures when feasible.

4. Parks and open space
Development pressures continue to impact available land for green space in Madison and Dane County, and funding for protection is increasingly limited.

Do support active implementation of the city's open space plan to protect parks, green space, and wildlife conservancies ahead of new development?

If yes, would you support a dedicated land acquisition fund similar to the county conservation fund for the city to help implementation of the open space plan?

Yes. I believe it is important to protect our remaining parks, open land and natural areas, either as parkland, managed habitat or restored to some level of native wildness. Sustaining a vital foodshed should be one of our goals too. We live in one of the richest agricultural areas in the country. The city's comp plan sets forth an ambitious agenda for creating and permanently preserving a "community separation" area or a ring of wilderness and agriculture around our city.

Yes. I would be interested in investigating other possibilities for preserving open space such as directing a portion of Parks fees assessed to new developments for conserving/purchasing open space and establishing partnerships with existing conservation organizations such as the DNR, The Nature Conservancy, and Urban Open Space Foundation. I would support a city version of the "transfer of development rights". I could imagine being persuaded by the argument that density stops sprawl (I have my doubts that there is any direct correlation now) if we could literally trade extra floors in a new development, beyond recommended heights in adopted plans- with the preservation of agricultural land in the county.

5. Recycling
Madison is home to numerous outdoor annual events, like art shows, neighborhood festivals, and music concerts. These events are currently not required to offer recycling facilities for attendees, nor purchase and utilize recyclable products, like beer cups.

Would you support a process to put these requirements in place?

The three neighborhood festivals in the Marquette neighborhood already have a recycling plan in place! I am proud that Paul Abramson's Recycling Away From Home is a District 6 original, it could be a model for other festivals.

6. Renewable Energy
The Sustainable Design and Energy Commission is considering a recommendation that the Madison purchase 20% of its electricity from MG&E's next wind farm.

Would you support this recommendation? Are there other sources of renewable energy for the City that you would support?

Yes. The city of Madison is going to have to purchase electricity from MGE's next wind farm in order to achieve the Kyoto-style obligations the Mayor promises to uphold. As mentioned above, we should utilize solar panels as sources of renewable energy. Geothermal is another possibility. But alternatives alone are not the solution for our future. Powering our vehicles on plant or animal based biofuels requires industrial agricultural methods to provide supply and could lead to battles over land for food, fuel, or habitat. We need to cut down on use and be more efficient and intentional with what we do use. The city is going to have to get serious about conservation. There is a growing concern about the depletion of oil and other fossil fuels. We cannot continue to engage in short term thinking and ignore the social costs of overconsumption, waste, and pollution.

7. Clean Energy
7a. Green Construction: In 2004, the City released its “Building a Green Capital City” report that included a recommendation that Madison adopt a Sustainable City Program. In late 2006, the City of Boston passed a new ordinance requiring that all buildings over 50,000 square feet be certified by the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Environment and Energy (LEED) standard.

Would you support an ordinance requiring new large-scale buildings in Madison be built to similar certified standards?

I would very much support an ordinance requiring new large-scale buildings to be built to some level of LEED certification and I look forward to learning more about policies put in place by the City of Boston and what challenges and success they have experienced. The council adopted this provision in the comp plan: "Amend the Zoning Code to include a Green Building Ordinance that specifies energy conservation building materials and construction techniques for all new sites and structures." We just need the political will to make it happen.

7b. With rapidly rising energy prices there are numerous energy saving measures that could be adopted for the City's rental properties that would save tenants and landlords money and improve the quality of the City's rental housing stock.

Would you support an ordinance requiring landlords to install all available energy efficiency measures, including energy efficient lighting, high-efficiency showerheads, and Energy Star appliances that reduce energy use and have a short pay-back period?

Yes, it's important to emphasize that small investments can have an immediate payback. We need to insure that otherwise functional appliances/fixtures would not be put in our landfill if such an ordinance was passed. There are other important steps to increase efficiencies of our current rental properties such as the state's Focus on Energy funding assistance for insulation installation.

7c. Instead of investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources to meet the City's energy needs, MG&E is proposing to purchase large amounts of additional coal-generated electricity. As a consequence, MG&E projects that its global warming emission rate will be among the highest in the nation (on a per kilowatt hour basis) and its overall global warming emissions will increase approximately 15 percent by 2015.

What would you do as a City leader to address MG&E's plans to increase global warming emissions?

I believe MG&E's future coal plans simply export our pollution to Oak Creek and necessitates building transmission lines to bring the power back to Madison, and that is no solution. What is really needed is a constant and driving effort towards conservation, with the city leading by example, and pushing for change at the Public Service Commission. We should push for exploring Time Of Use Metering as well as implementing the use of progressive rate scales (the more you use, the more you pay). One important part of the Natural Step program that people have been touting, is "back-casting". While MGE makes plans for more coal generation based on future load forecasts and projected fuel costs, "back-casting" means we need to look back to the present from the future. When we meet the goals set by the Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement in the future, what will we have been doing right now?

ATC is crisscrossing our county with new, and highly contested transmission lines. Federal energy policy of the last decade has been turning an energy grid that was built by engineers for regulated efficiency into a congested toll road for the profit of energy traders and transmission operators. If construction comes to pass, ATC should bear the cost of undergrounding the line along the Beltline.

8. Please add any other comments or information you would like considered.

Water quality and water conservation are issues which rival fossil fuels as a resource fundamental to our survival. Currently most of our water bill is for infrastructure costs that we have undercapitalized. And we are almost giving water away for free. Since the Water Utility hopes to generate profit, there is a contradictory commitment to conservation. But the Utility is also cognizant that it is a taxing entity and wants to keep rates low. With the densification of our built environment, it becomes more difficult to insure our aquifers can be adequately recharged. We need to mitigate old sources of groundwater pollution and insure the residents of Madison are drinking safe water. The city received EPA Brownfield grants to clean up several LUST sites, we should aggressively seek federal assistance to deal with our industrial legacy. TIF funds could be used to pay for some of the costs. Last year's successful raingarden program should be repeated. We should find ways to make inexpensive rainbarrel systems available through many sources. Green roof techniques are a relatively new phenomenon that developers are beginning to consider as costs become more competitive.

Increasing levels of inequality mean that people's life chances differ dramatically. This country and this city still experience a color line and the damages of racism are reproduced every day, in schools, on the street, and in prisons. We don't have a housing strategy for poor people, we warehouse or incarcerate. We've absorbed neo-liberal ideas about helping middle class people as the way to help poor people. Issues of environmental justice affect poor people and people of color in Madison. This is not a viable solution.

As an independent bookseller competing against Amazon and big box retailers, I've gotten involved in the Dane County Buy Local campaign. I've supported local purchasing as a strategy to keep money circulating in our local economy longer. I was active around city efforts to regulate the big box retailers, predators who drive out small businesses, undermine living wages by sweating labor around the world and externalizing the social costs of health care, They chew up our farm land to create football fields of selling space and parking lots. Not only do we need sustainable energy and land uses, but we need to reform business models so that they foster sustainable practices. For many years I've worked in cooperatives. I've work for Rainbow Bookstore Coop for the last sixteen years. In the mid 1980s I worked at Mifflin Coop. From Mifflin I learned about the politics of food production.

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