Monday, February 24, 2014

What you may not know: Week of February 23

The Appleton Common Council wraps up February with a full week of committee meetings, and here are some of the highlights I'll be following:

Municipal Services, Tuesday, 5:30 pm

Two weeks ago the Municipal Services Committee received a request to waive the parking fees at the city's "Yellow" parking ramp once annually during the American Cancer Society's annual "Sole Burner" 5k. The committee rejected the request by a 4-0 vote, noting that waiving the fee would set a precedent that could lead to other groups that hold downtown events reaching out for similar consideration. After hearing from representatives from the Sole Burner at Wednesday's council meeting, I elected to refer this matter back to the committee, where it will be heard again on Tuesday night.

I sent this matter back to committee because I think there's a conversation to be had about compromise. The Cancer Society came to us because they're looking to reduce costs for their event to allow more of their proceeds to go to their mission: supporting cancer research. The committee rejected a request to waive the fee because they don't want to open up the ramp for free. Somewhere in the middle, I think we can reach an agreement.

Currently, the city opens up the ramp from 6-9 am on the day of the event, and the Cancer Society pays $2 (the normal fee) for every car that enters the ramp during that time. In 2013 that was about $1500. It's likely that not all of those cars were there for the race. It's also likely that 750 cars is significantly more than use the ramp most Saturday mornings that time of year (this is before the outdoor farmers market begins).

While I recognize the city's reluctance to give up the parking revenue for free, I also think finding a way to help the Cancer Society achieve their goal of spending less on parking and more on cancer research is the right thing to do. I hope we'll find a way to do that.

Parks and Recreation, Wednesday, 6 pm

A month ago, as we finished debating a proposal to allow dogs into Appleton's parks (a proposal which failed), Alderperson Cathy Spears submitted a resolution calling for the city to build a "dog friendly" area on Water Street at the location of the city's former Water Treatment Plant.

During the debate on dogs in parks I attempted to make it clear that dogs in parks and dog parks are very separate issues. Dog parks are a place to let your dog run free and exercise off-leash, while allowing dogs in parks would allow for dogs to be in a much more controlled state and setting. The activities involved in the two proposals are very different.

With that said, I would be in favor of the city adding an additional dog park. Before we select this as the right location, however, there are several questions I'll need to have answered:

  • First of all, is this parcel of land the right size to accommodate this use? 
  • Would the proximity to the river create any issues? 
  • What are the alternatives for this property? Could we be turning away a possible opportunity to put riverfront property back on the tax rolls?
  • Is this location our most convenient option for potential users?
I appreciate any effort to make Appleton a more dog-friendly community, but I'm entering this conversation as a bit of a skeptic.

You can see agendas for all of this week's meetings and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Making the council's activity as accessible as possible to as many people as are interested is part of my goal to make it easier for more people to get involved with issues that matter to them.

Monday, February 10, 2014

What you may not know: Week of February 10

We have a relatively quiet committee week ahead of us for the Appleton Common Council, but here are two of the items I'm watching:

Municipal Services, Tuesday, 5:30 pm

On Tuesday it will have been two full months since the Municipal Services committee first heard Alderman Joe Martin's request to install decorative lighting on the Skyline (Oneida Street) bridge during its repairs in 2015. The issue has been held over twice by the committee, but will come forward again this week.

The state Department of Transportation is working with us on the bridge project, but any lighting upgrades would be done at city expense. The estimated cost of installing lights similar to those on the College Avenue bridge and throughout downtown is around $160,000. That's a pretty significant expenditure, so I expect to hear spirited debate on the value of that investment.

Safety and Licensing, Thursday, 5 pm

It passed relatively quietly, but on December 12 of last year Assembly Bill 8 was enacted by the state. It bars local governments from banning bow and crossbow hunting within cities, allowing us only to restrict hunting in the following ways:

  • We can prevent hunters from hunting within 100 yards of a home without permission of the homeowner, and
  • We can require that arrows only be fired toward the ground (from a tree stand or another elevated structure).
Our current municipal code bans hunting in the city unless the Chief of Police issues a permit, so we'll have to modify our ordinance language to comply with the new state statute. We've received recommended language from the city attorney's office, and it will be reviewed and discussed on Thursday night.

You can see agendas for all of this week's meetings and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Making the council's activity as accessible as possible to as many people as are interested is part of my goal to make it easier for more people to get involved with issues that matter to them.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

What you may not know: Week of February 3

Sorry for the late post this week: It's been an unusually busy couple of days.

This week I'll update you on five topics I discussed two weeks ago, as four of them will come before the full council on Wednesday night:

Community Development Block Grants

Two weeks ago the Community and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to recommend distributing $124,900 in federal block grant money to the following organizations:
  • Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity will receive $33,600 (requested $60,000).
  • Harbor House will receive $19,800 (requested $25,000).
  • National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) will receive $16,600 (requested $28,000).
  • Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities will receive $16,300 (requested $45,800).
  • Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley will receive $15,000 (requested $15,000).
  • STEP Industries will receive $13,600 (requested $37,000).
  • Fox Valley Warming Shelter will receive $10,000 (requested $10,000).
  • Compassionate Home Health Care will receive no money (requested $50,000).
That was also the recommendation of a six-member advisory board which included two members of the committee. Barring a major change in direction, I do not anticipate any changes being made to those award amounts.

Decorative lighting on the Skyline (Oneida St) bridge

The Municipal Services Committee elected to hold this item instead of making a recommendation to the full council. It will come before the committee again when they next meet on February 11.

Recycling bins

After some debate, the Municipal Services Committee recommended that the city solicit quotes for four options for the city's new smaller recycle bins, including one 48-gallon bin and three 64 or 65 gallon options. Assuming the council approves that recommendation, the next step will be for the committee to receive those quotes and recommend a final selection. If you'd like to get on the waiting list to receive a smaller cart, call the department of Public Works at (920) 832-6474 and they can help you.

Bike corrals

One of last week's surprisingly controversial topics was a proposed pilot project that calls for a bike corral to be installed in front of Harmony Cafe on College Avenue from April-October of this year. I've heard concerns raised about the need and location, and the lost revenue from giving up a metered parking spot on College Avenue.

All told, though, doing a pilot project is the right way to evaluate a proposal like this. Right now we have concerns and questions, but being able to install this for six months and see how it works will put us in a better position to evaluate a permanent plan. The loss of parking revenue is not insignificant, but the hope is that people who cannot park immediately in front of Harmony Cafe will simply use another city parking spot.

Dogs in Parks

Finally, two weeks ago the Parks and Rec Committee voted 3-2 to approve an amendment to the amended park rules that would delay allowing dogs in parks until May of 2015. I proposed that amendment to give our Parks Department time to consider and potentially install added infrastructure like bag dispensers and to ensure that we'll be taking every possible step to do this well if we decide to allow dogs in parks.

Wednesday, finally, this issue comes before the council for a final vote. I've written extensively about this matter in the six months it's been in front of the committee but I think we've finally exhausted all the conversations that we need to have on it. We've heard from multiple departments, we've spoken to other cities, we've taken steps internally to prepare and now it's finally time. On Wednesday I hope we'll approve this matter and move on.

You can see agendas for all of this week's meetings and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Making the council's activity as accessible as possible to as many people as are interested is part of my goal to make it easier for more people to get involved with issues that matter to them.