Our water infrastructure

In the wake of Super-Stormicane Sandy, much of the East Coast has far too much water on its hands. Yet water may be the most threatened resource for the millions of Americans affected by the storm:

The Scariest Thing About Sandy: Guarding the Water Supply

With Sandy bearing down upon us...[w]hat we all should be worrying about is plumbing. It’s not the water lashing the beaches that matters; it’s the water in your faucet and toilet.... More than email or mass transit or your favorite diner, all of urban life depends on plumbing—defined in practical terms as the effective provision of clean water for drinking and the regular removal of waste to a place nowhere near the source of clean water....

Yet most of today’s survival tips out there have only to do with keeping your food from spoiling or your ice icy.... But the problem is not one of food shortages but, alas, one of excrement. Raw sewage. Shit. In your water supply.

Flooding is the most common way a water supply can be compromised—for example, the Midwest floods of 1993 cut off my Des Moines relatives' water supply for nearly three weeks. But there is another way that the author hints at with his reference to Milwaukee's cryptosporidium outbreak of 1993: inattentiveness to our water infrastructure.

A better North Sherman Avenue?

(I wanted to put a nice picture at the top of this post, but Google couldn't find one. Apparently there's no such thing as a nice view along North Sherman Avenue. How appropriate!)

Tonight, Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway convened a community meeting at Warner Park to share data and collect resident input on traffic and safety along Sherman. The meeting was well attended (I'd estimate the crowd at 70-80, although the crowd skewed older) and came hot on the heels of a resolution she pushed through the Common Council just last week on this issue.

Is Rhodes-Conway reopening the fight over our neighborhood's Main Street?

Be a Northside Partner in Giving

The annual Partners in Giving campaign started today for state and UW employees throughout the Northside. Last year the campaign raised almost $2.5 million for local, statewide, and national charities. If you're someone like me who prefers to direct your dollars to individual charities, there are a number of participating organizations who work right here in our neighborhood:

• Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (1115): Offers support to domestic violence survivors and their children through a 24-hour crisis line, legal advocacy, shelter, support groups, crisis response, outreach, and community education.
• Friends of Madison School & Community Recreation (1183): Values Madison School & Community Recreation as a vital community resource. Friends support public recreation to enrich the lives of individuals and the community.
• Habitat for Humanity of Dane County (1196): Builds simple, decent homes with families of limited means. Volunteers, training, cash and in-kind contributions, sweat equity, and zero-interest mortgages make the American dream a reality.
• Kennedy Heights Neighborhood Association (1153): Provides a focal point for the low-income community of Kennedy Heights through social, recreational, and educational activities for all ages at no charge to community members.
• North/Eastside Senior Coalition (1156): Provides programs, advocacy, and resources to help senior adults remain independent, active, and influential in the community.
• The River Food Pantry (1232): Provides food, hot nutritious meals, and clothing to those in need. We treat those we serve with respect and build them up through hope and encouragement.
• Vera Court Neighborhood Center (1182): Provides programming for children, families, and the entire Vera Court community. Empowers community residents and responds to community needs as they develop. Programming reflects the strengths and diversity of the Vera Court community.
• VSA Wisconsin (506): Provides arts opportunities in music, dance, visual arts, drama, and creative writing for children and adults across the disability spectrum.

(The numbers in parentheses are codes to enter on your pledge form.)

Of course there are many other charities doing great work with our Northside neighbors, but these eight stood out to me. Have more ideas? Please share them in a comment!

FEED Kitchens Coming to Northgate?

At last month's SNA meeting, Ellen Barnard of the FEED Kitchens project gave us a status update...and it turned out to be a lot more than we expected! Ever since the project was first announced, their intent was to build the facility on Pankratz Street (the frontage road between Packers Avenue and The Bridges, where the new Ale Asylum and Lakeland College buildings have been going up). However, Ms. Barnard shared that they'd been in discussions this summer with Alexander Co., owners of Northgate Center, about building in the parking lot and were close to a deal.

Why is this great news?

Potpourri: Ride the Drive, Pondamonium, Ale Asylum, Smart Meters

It's been a busy few weeks for us and for the neighborhood, too. I wanted to catch up on a few things:

• By all accounts, Ride the Drive Northside was a big success. It got Northsiders out and about in a more human-scaled way and drew attention to our side of town. Kudos to all the volunteers and City of Madison staff who made this event happen!
• The Mallards' inaugural Pondamonium festival was more of a mixed bag. While the poor weather didn't seem to dampen enthusiasm for headliners Garbage and The Flaming Lips, the earlier acts weren't a huge draw. I appreciate how punctual organizers were about their 10:30 p.m. permit ending time, but the show was still too loud, too late for a weeknight in a residential neighborhood. (Doesn't that sound like such an old man thing to say?) Move it to Friday or Saturday next year.
• Word from the Ale Asylum guys at the Great Taste of the Midwest is that the tap room at their new location should be open by mid-September, with brewing operations to follow a week or two later. They have to be out of the Kinsman Boulevard location by October 1, when new brewpub Karben4 takes over their old location (and equipment!). Ale Asylum is part of a flurry of new development on the airport land along International Lane and Anderson Street. Credit goes to Supv. Paul Rusk and Dane County here...too bad the City of Madison isn't nearly as aggressive with Northside development.
• Finally, a fun fact for the anti-smart meter crowd: It's too late, the UN tricked MG&E into giving you cancer years ago! The utility teamed up with Big Meter powerhouse Itron to install a "drive by" system, where our meters are read wirelessly by trucks that drive by our houses every month. That project was finished in 2003(!) with the full blessing and support of the Public Service Commission. More recently, MG&E won a stimulus grant to pilot a full-on cellular smart grid with all the bells and whistles we've heard so much about. Food for thought for those who expect the PSC to ride in on a white horse and save them from the Water Utility...

Well 7 meeting goes...well...well!

Tonight, Sherman neighborhood residents had an opportunity to hear from Al Larson, engineer with the Madison Water Utility, and Ald. Rhodes-Conway about the planned project to replace and upgrade Well 7, located along Sherman Avenue next to Shabazz High/Sherman Middle. I was surprised at how good the turnout was -- about 25 by my estimation! -- and the beautiful weather certainly helped. The consensus seemed to be that folks felt a lot better about the project after the presentation.

Pedestrians and cars, it goes both ways

I read Isthmus' cover story on pedestrian safety a couple of weeks ago, went on a work trip to DC, and came home to a speed trap on Packers Avenue. All this churned together in my head, and helped me realize that our problem in Madison isn't just one of big steel cars with careless, malicious drivers.