This month's chair is Aaron Crandall.

Alder Brenda Konkel will lead us in a continued discussion regarding current issues and setting priorities for the rest of the year.

Madison School Board President Arlene Silveira and County Supervisor John Hendrick will give reports on County and School Board activities.

Individuals who are not members of Progressive Dane are encouraged to attend. Anyone with questions or special needs should contact the Progressive Dane office at 257-4985 or office@prodane.org.

The City of Madison has hired a consultant to develop a Strategic Economic Development Implementation Plan to guide our efforts over the next 3 – 5 years.

Do you like it?

It’s all about your economic future, Madison!

Creating quality jobs, supporting small businesses, encouraging public-private partnerships, up-dating zoning, designing city spending to stimulate economic growth, and preserving quality of life are all on the table.

Matt Mikolajewski, Manager of the Office of Business Resources, City of Madison, will present a draft of the city’s 3 – 5 Year Strategic Economic Development Implementation Plan and respond to your questions and comments.

Learn about the plan and provide input!

Thursday March 13, 2008
Hawthorne Branch Library, 2707 East Washington Avenue
6:00 – 7:30 pm

The earlier you are on board the better!

A draft of the city’s 3 – 5 Year Strategic Economic Development Implementation Plan is now available online at:

www.cityofmadison.com/business/obr

You may also submit your comments and suggestions via e-mail at obr@cityofmadison.com or by calling the City of Madison Office of Business Resources at 267-8721.

Sponsored by Progressive Dane, www.prodane.org, 608-257-4985

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Ashok Kumar, Dane County Supervisor (District 5), Ph: (608) 843-0615
Linda Ketchum, Executive Director, Madison-area Urban Ministry, Ph: (608) 256-0906

(Madison) – Dane County Board Supervisor Ashok Kumar, District 5, will be introducing an ordinance to establish a mandatory fee exemption for inmates earning below the federal poverty line for the electronic monitoring program. It will be introduced at tonight’s Dane County Board of Supervisors meeting and is expected to go to the Public Protection and Judiciary and Personal and Finance Committees.

The Madison School Board has drawn fire from Progressive Dane for a proposed policy change regarding public appearances.

The change would limit public commentary preceding school board meetings to agenda items. Individuals who want to speak on issues that are not part of the agenda would be required to speak after the business portion of the meeting was complete.

"The board has very ambitious agendas this year and several times in the last couple of months we haven't gotten through our business meetings. That's a problem and that's the issue we're trying to address," Board President Arlene Silveira said.

Being able to ride a city bus easily and conveniently is so important to Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway that, when she bought her first house in December 2005 at the age of 34, she chose it in large part because it was one bus ride away from her job on campus.

As the primary champion of the city bus system on the Madison City Council, her ideas about how to improve Metro matter, especially now when the quality of Madison's bus system is so much a part of the regional transit authority (RTA) referendum debates.

At Monday’s school board meeting, a proposal was considered that would limit meaningful public comment at School Board meetings. The proposal as noted on the agenda was as follows:

It is recommended that the Board approve the revisions to School Board Policy 1222 and School Board Policy 1220 as identified in Appendix JJJ-8-6; said revisions affecting public appearances at board meetings, committee meetings, public hearings, and other meetings.

In short, if you are coming to speak about an item that is on the agenda, public speaking will be at the beginning of the meeting. If you are speaking about a non-agenda item, public speaking will be after the business portion of our agenda. If you are a student (K-12), you can speak at the beginning of the meeting even if you are speaking on a non-agenda item.

“This change effectively makes it difficult for parents of children who come to testify to also testify and depending upon how late the meetings run, may limit this input altogether, “ said Brenda Konkel, co-chair of Progressive Dane.

County leaders and community activists to introduce resolution at Thursday's Dane County Board meeting to accept an invitation from the Venezuelan ambassador to create sister relationship with Andres Eloy Blanco, Venezuela

Contact:
Ashok Kumar, Dane County Supervisor, District 5, Ph. (608) 843-0615
Omar Sierra, Venezuelan Consulate – Chicago, Ph. (312) 236-9655
Juscha Robinson, Fellow, Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, Ph. (608) 239-4269
Charity Schmidt, Board Member, Community Action on Latin America, Ph. (608) 334-6370

Madison –Dane County Supervisors Ashok Kumar, Barbara Vedder, and Al Matano will introduce a resolution at Thursday's Dane County Board of Supervisors meeting to create an official sister relationship with the municipality of Andres Eloy Blanco, Venezuela. The resolution is a response to an invitation from Venezuela's ambassador, Bernardo Alvarez. Earlier this year, Alvarez met Supervisors in an effort to establish a sister relationship between Dane County and a municipality in Venezuela.

Dear Capitol Area Regional Planning Commissioners:

The Progressive Dane Alders and County Supervisors listed below urge you to maintain the strong criteria for urban service area extensions, as well as the goals and policies laid out in the draft documents you will be considering on January 24. We are committed to natural resource protection and restoration as well as compact infill and re-development, because we believe that this is the fiscally, environmentally, and socially responsible and sustainable way to grow and develop.

Come to this month's General Membership meeting being held this Wednesday, January 23rd, at Madison Downtown Public Library at 6:30 p.m. There you will be able to meet members of the Task Forces and Committees and hear about some of the projects they are working on this year.

Progressive Dane agrees with the consultant hired to complete this plan when he stated at one of the listening sessions that the new plan must both lead to the creation of good jobs and a strong workforce. The Wisconsin State Journal, unfortunately, editorialized in a cartoon denigrating some members of the community (who bore an uncanny resemblance to some Progressive Dane leaders) as being too out of touch to meaningfully participate in this important discussion.

So let’s set the record straight about what Progressive Dane’s thoughts are about economic development planning:

Dear Editor: Your New Year's editorial regarding the enviro-timidity of the Dane County executive and Madison mayor was dead on. Then the mayor came a-whinin'.

This month's chair is Jim Kellerman. This meeting should prove to be very informative. In addition to some regular reports there will be:

1. an educational overview of the upcoming campaigns,
2. the Steering Committee will unveil the new logo,
3. the Elections Committee will announce some early endorsements, and
4. the City Caucus will seek feedback on a draft list of issues for 2008.

Progressive Dane is a member-run political party. Your input is important. Members of the public are encouraged to attend.