WELCOME... to all new residents of the Tenney Lapham neighborhood! You’ve moved into a wonderful area of the Isthmus, full of vibrancy and diversity. I hope your stay here will be an interesting, enjoyable one and that you’ll discover the great shops, parks, and people of your new neighborhood. Please don’t hesitate to contact me about any issues of interest or concern, as your representative on Madison’s City Council.

A couple of weeks ago, I was honored to welcome people to the Centennial celebration of Tenney Park. I must emphasize that this was one of the most amazing events I’ve been involved in district-wide during my four year tenure. Listening to the beautiful music of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra outdoors on a sunny evening in the park with the lagoon and Yahara River close by was beyond words; the ducks, geese and seagulls seemed to enjoy the music as much as the people! I couldn’t help but think that this is the type of thing we should be doing more often - bringing community together in an open air atmosphere, using our beautiful parks. Let’s start thinking about next year...and meanwhile, a big thanks to Urban Open Space Foundation for their tremendous efforts in putting this together!

Shortly, perhaps before you receive this newsletter, I’ll be introducing a city resolution I’ve been working on with staff from the Building Inspection Unit to revise the way they’ve been conducting systematic inspections in the Isthmus area, which is the area containing the oldest buildings in Madison, so that inspections will be done on a 6-year basis rather than the 13 years it now takes. This should be an important step in preserving the neighborhood character of our Isthmus neighborhoods.

The reconstruction of North Baldwin Street between East Johnson Street and Sherman Avenue is completed. This is part of the overall process, together with the work which will begin in Burr Jones Field and North Thornton Avenue, to replace the old, inefficient stormwater sewers as well as the sanitary sewers, to alleviate the chronic flooding problems in the Baldwin Street area as well as part of the Marquette neighborhood. By the time of this reading, adding two street medians on North Baldwin to help in traffic-calming will already have made its way through the Pedestrian Bicycle Motor Vehicle Commission and on its way towards construction yet this fall.

Finally, I urge everyone interested in being part of working together with surrounding neighborhoods on issues of similar interest to become involved in the movement of the creation and functioning of the EAST ISTHMUS NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL. We, as a city, are moving in the direction of forming these groups, synchronizing efforts of various neighborhoods together, with existing ones on the northside and the southside. Funding for the East Isthmus organization will be something possibly included in the 2000 City Budget. To become involved, contact Randy Glysch at 244-0054 or myself.

-Alder Barbara Vedder

Return to September/October Table of Contents: http://danenet.wicip.org/tlna/web-data/news/news09/091999.html