Dear Neighbor,

I wanted to give you an update of new developments, transportation initiatives, bus service, parks and other existing projects that will affect District 17.

Transportation:
A resolution was introduced from the Mayor's office to encourage the State of Wisconsin, Dept. of Transportation to review and recommend that the Reider Road/Hwy, 51 intersection be improved with traffic lights. This resolution was referred and presented in front of the Pedestrian-Bike-Motor Vehicle-Committee (PBMVC). Several members from the Westchester Gardens Neighborhood
Association attended this meeting, but unfortunately, the committee voted to recommend that the State of Wisconsin accept Alternative II, which is opening up a new road off Portage Rd. and connecting it to Kinsman Blvd. I am convinced that we had little to no chance of having this resolution approved by this committee—it was set up to fail. The philosophy of this committee is more geared towards a pedestrian mode. Another issue that didn't help our cause was what Dave Huntley offered to this committee. Dave Huntley, who works for WISDOT, offered to the PBMVC that there would be bike lanes added to this new road from Federal funding (this was never discussed during our neighborhood meetings) and of course the committee thought this was more feasible and practical and voted for this. I had referred this resolution for a period of 60 days to have an opportunity to speak with the Secretary of WISDOT, Terrence Mulcahy.

I had an opportunity to speak with Terrence Mulcahy. He said that he would be speaking with his staff to come up with a recommendation within a few weeks. That was three weeks ago. I will be calling him in the next few days to see what suggestion or recommendation he has come up with regarding the Reider Rd. & Hwy 51 intersection improvement. I will contact your neighborhood president as soon as I have heard from Mr. Mulcahy. I have not heard from Sen. Jon Erpenbach, nor do I know if he has been in contact with Secretary Mulcahy. If we are still adamant about having some improvements done at the Reider Rd. and Hwy 51 intersection, I would encourage you to continue calling or writing to Sen. Erpenbach with your concerns.

Hwy 30 Bridge:
The State and City will be working on interim road repair on the Hwy 30 bridge. The bridge is in bad need of repair and it is scheduled for this year to have some repair work done. What this means is that traffic on E. Washington Ave. will be reduced to 2 lanes inbound and 1 lane outbound, some ramps will be closed so expect some delays if you plan to use E. Washington Ave. during its construction. The bridge work will start in June and continue to November of this year.

Carpenter St.
Although there are issues to be worked out, Carpenter Street expansion is scheduled for this year. Carpenter Street will expand from the Carpenter-Ridgeway Neighborhood area, east to Wright Street. I believe that this will give the residents not only another access but a safer one into their neighborhood.

Madison Metro Bus System:
As some of you know, due to budget constraints, the bus service was reduced to several areas in our city, one was on the far east side, the temporary bus service that we had going out at American Family Insurance Business park has been eliminated. Prices for fare have increased by 25 cents for both regular bus rides and Metro Plus. The regular bus service and Metro Plus fares are now from $1.25 to $1.50, but the Metro Plus will charge an additional $1.00 during peak hours, therefore charging the rider who uses Metro Plus during peak hours $2.50.

N. Thompson Dr.
I am currently working with Larry Nelson, City Engineer to have him look at obtaining some funding to construct pedestrian islands on N. Thompson Dr. along with Traffic Engineering to do some striping in the middle of the road, so that there can be left hand turns only. This type of engineering will slow some of the traffic down, allow left hand turns, residents who live on N. Thompson Dr. can ease into the road and allow gaps for families who would like to cross the street safely. I am also working with City Engineering to obtain some funds to provide a natural wooded setting noise barrier along I-90/94 south of Lien Rd. to cut some of the noise coming into the Ridgewood neighborhood area.

Developments:
New PDQ store at the intersection of Lien Rd. and N. Thompson Dr. Next to this store is an Oil Equipment Sales Company that has moved in where the old Wolohan's building was.

The District retail development proposal on the far east side of I-90/94 is in the process of being redesigned to add more residential use and therefore will be coming before the council for approval. Our Mayor has directed City staff and the developer to come back with more residential use and if done she would support this project.

Happy Wok restaurant at the American Family Center Business park is being completed, also a new Bar & Restaurant called Tailgators will soon be opened (formerly Lotus Restaurant) at 3737 E. Washington Ave.

New Holiday Inn-Express motel on High Crossing Blvd. will be open soon.

New Famous Footware store on East Springs Dr. will be open soon.

Slumberland, Lazy-boy stores are new by East Towne mall.

Sam's Club is also interested in building on East Springs Dr. across from Menard's, but due to some environmental issues, traffic concerns, sq. ft. capacity, and the design, I am unsure if Sam's Club will be approved at this location.

Hanson Rd. neighborhood master plan has been approved and annexed by the City of Madison. There will be 200 acres of M1 zoning. Hanson Rd. is north of Reider Rd., east of Hwy 51 or northeast of the airport.

Zimbrick VW Auto business has been very successful and would like to expand its parking lot. Zimbrick is located along N. Stoughton Rd. and needs to remove and relocate two houses to make room for its parking lot. One home is on Prairie St. the other is on Concorde Ave. There was a neighborhood meeting, the residents support the expansion, relocation of its homes and they also requested that the homes remain at Hawthorne neighborhood area. Since the residents support the idea, I will support the neighbors.

New multifamily units to be built on American Family Center, off American Pkwy on Tancho Dr. The new units will be called Oakwood East.

Parks:
There will a softball backstop at Westchester Gardens park. Phase II (Tree planting program) will start for Glacier Hill, High Crossing, Tancho, and Village Park. Sycamore Park will have more trees planted for this year. Sycamore Park also has an "off leash fenced in exercise area" for dogs, just remember to bring your own bags to pick up after your pets. The Parks Division will pave the existing roadway and parking areas at Reindahl Park.

If anyone has any questions, ideas, suggestions regarding our district, please feel free to call or email me. Thank you.