1. Introductions:

   Attending were Mark Shahan, Steve Siehr, Brian Osborne, Sue Reindollar, Paul Beckett, Char Thompson, Ann Clark, Melissa Mullikew, Laura Brown, Tony Fernandez

2. Announcements:
   • Vine Plantings:

     Laura & Mark got 3 neighbors permission to plant vines at the Harrison St. access to cover up graffiti. Wild grape, Virginia creeper, Virgin's Bower were planted. Planting couldn't be done at Prospect St. because the erosion control consisted of big rocks and no top soil. Laura suggested hauling in top soil next spring and planting Virginia creeper.

   • Spooner St. Bridge Construction:

     Tony said the bridge has been paved but the contractor is still putting erosion matting down. No landscaping has been done yet.

   • Vale Circle:

     Laura & Mark report many plants blooming from seed.

   • Seed Collection:

     Laura said the University Research Park may be a seed source particularly for grass seeds. Laura said Scott Sauer, manager of the Waubesa wetlands, has said people could harvest seeds at the wetlands. Laura also said Mary Hunt Bergen wants prairie at Parman Terrace. Laura said Mary has prairie plants she can supply and will contact Audubon's Goose Pond since she is a former Audubon board member. Laura told Mary to contact Tony Fernandez about her plans to make sure the city is aware of the plantings and so that they conform with city maintenance policies. Laura also told Mary to contact the Westmorland Neighborhood Association and Jana Stewart.

   • Odana Plantings:

     Sue said 700 plants went in with help from numerous people. Jerry Gunderson of Middleton and the Atwood Prairie helped organize the plantings. Unfortunately, someone stole a bunch of flags that marked the plant locations. An Edgewood student is helping as a community project.

   • MG&E transmission line:

     MG&E has proposed burying a transmission line along the SW Path from Fitchburg to the Odana Golf Course as part of a project to connect the Fitchburg substation with a proposed Tokay substation (by WKOW TV station) and with the West Towne substation. MG&E says the project will not disrupt the operation of the path as they will be working in the area to the side of the path and that this may be a way to install an official access point at the Odana Golf Course. MG&E may also be willing to help reseed the area with prairie seeds. If approved by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, construction will be 2003-2004.

3. Broadening Friends:

   Mary Kirkendall couldn't attend the meeting so discussion turned to generally increasing participation from within and between neighborhoods. Melissa thought the emphasis should be on increasing participation from within the neighborhoods and felt the friends had not done very much to involve the neighbors along the path. She gave as an example her neighbor who did not know about the proposed new Right-of-way encroachment policy and the small number of people who show up for the meetings. Sue stated that she had put up signs about the April 25 Friends organizational meeting along the path, at various spots in neighborhoods and businesses, and libraries plus information on the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association (DMNA) website. She also wrote numerous articles which were published in at least three other neighborhood newsletters. Laura pointed out that people had gone door to door canvassing neighbors about their vision for the path, that most of the neighborhoods along the path had carried articles about the April 25th meeting in their respective newsletters, that we got press coverage of the April 25 meeting, and that at the April 25th meeting we had people fill out a survey asking their input about governance structure and the level of involvement they desired in the organization. Laura added that the results of the survey clearly showed that people wanted an informal structure without bylaws as we now have and that most people didn't want to attend meetings even though they were interested in the organization. Mark stated that we needed to broaden the Friends within and between neighborhoods. Tony said outreach needs to be ongoing the whole year and suggested contacting Project Home as a contact within the Allied Drive neighborhood. Paul said he would contact project home before the next meeting. Char said Nells Diller is willing to help with building kiosks as as a way to involve kids. Paul said we need better contact with Westmorland as well as Allied Drive and that we should become involved with a bike rodeo as suggested by Steve Meyer. Ann agreed we should keep building contacts; however, she said most people don't go to meetings but will help with projects. It was agreed that the Friends should have another big spring meeting.

4. New policy on Right-of-way Encroachment:

   Tony drafted the policy under strict guidelines and it was stricter than he wanted. The policy was not in the same category as planning the path originally. The policy was brought to the Mayor's Public Works Infrastructure Committee and the mayor said to implement it but to first take the policy to the Alders for the area to get their support and the to the neighborhood Associations for their comment. The policy he said was not open to debate and the input the city was looking for was in fine tuning the policy for things that might have been overlooked. Mark suggested friends could help set up an informational meeting on the policy if one were deemed necessary. Char & Melissa thought the process to develop the policy was unfair. Melissa thought neighbors would be very angry with the policy and that she understood Tony to be saying at the last meeting that Friends should keep the policy secret and not show it to anyone. Tony said he doesn't want the Friends to get in front of this train for or against. He also said that the city is treading thin ice to be as permissive as they are; the city couldn't be this permissive if this were city land. Laura said the Friends has no decision making power and shouldn't get involved with this issue. Paul agreed with Laura and didn't believe there was an attempt to keep the policy secret. Char said the policy was not the issue; the process was pathetic. Melissa maintained that individuals should be free to pass out the policy to people and that the Friends shouldn't get involved because the Friends is not democratic and not representative, i.e., the Friends is not the voice of the Path. Tony explained that he didn't want a mass mailing of the policy that would confuse people as to its origin but he had no problem with giving the policy to people in person. Laura pointed out that the city would mass mail the policy to adjacent property owners an people could comment at that time. Tony reiterated that the city would accept fine tuning of the policy but not a yea or nay on the policy. He would draft a cover letter to adjacent land owners soon. Melissa said the policy was being implemented by non elected officials and that people should voice objections to the policy and process. The consensus was that the Friends can not take a position on the encroachment policy.

5. Formal Organization of the Friends:

   Mark thought we had reached the point where we needed officers, especially a treasurer, and bylaws so that we could take on projects like the kiosks. Char didn't think we should pick officers now but should instead elect them in the spring. Mark agreed but said a lot of work needs to be done between now and spring to have those elections. Laura asked who is willing to be an officer (no hands were raised). Hence Laura thought maybe the whole point was moot if nobody was willing to be an officer. Ann asked whether we needed interim officers. Ann was willing to work on bylaws but she wants help. Char and Paul said DMNA could provide a sub account to keep the treasury for the Friends. Sue had concerns about DMNA keeping the treasury as it might exacerbate the appearance that Friends is an extension of DMNA and wondered if another neighborhood association could carry the treasury. Laura said Midvale Community Heights Neighborhood Association couldn't carry the Friends treasury. It was suggested, that until spring, we continue rotating the chair amongst ourselves. It was suggested that we check with the Friends of Lake Wingra to see how they set up their bylaws. Sue suggested we also contact the Friends of the Campus Natural Areas and Roseanne Scott of the Isthmus Path Friends to check out their bylaws. Ann said she would do contact these organizations.

6. Crossing Issues:

   Mark related that this item was brought up at the last meeting in regards to difficulties crossing children going to school during morning rush hour at Commonwealth Ave. There are similar concerns at Odana and Midvale. Sue said she knows about 3 accidents at Odana including one on Sept. 11. She didn't know if any were reported to the police. People brought up the idea of stoplights at Odana and Midvale and how to go about getting them installed. Mark explained that requests for stoplights were made to the city's Traffic Engineering Department and that Traffic Engineering then gathered information about the intersections including counts for pedestrians and bicyclists. A list was then drawn up ranking the intersections for which requests for stoplights had been made against a series of warrants. The warrants included criteria such as traffic volumes on the main street and the side street, and number and duration of gaps in traffic. Of interest to the Friends is the pedestrian warrant which the SW Path might meet. The path might also meet the warrant based on side street traffic since the Path is basically a street and has heavy bike traffic. The list is then presented to the Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission (PBMVC) which recommends to the City Council which intersections to signalize. In response to a question of when to make a request, Mark said requests should be made by about May since the Traffic Signal Priority List is presented to PBMVC in July. Tony said the warrants tend to be auto oriented which may make it difficult to apply to the Path. Sue also suggested requesting school crossing guards at Glenway and Commonwealth. Mark said these requests were also made to Traffic Engineering and came before the PBMVC for approval. Ann said she could find out about accident reports for intersections with the path and report back at the next meeting. A general consensus was that the Friends should gather information on crossing problems to consider recommendations to make to the city before May. Melissa did not think the Friends should make recommendations because we weren't a democratic organization. Laura disagreed saying she didn't think the Friends making a recommendation was any different than the Neighborhood Associations making a recommendation; Neighborhood Associations only had a small fraction of the people in a neighborhood active and attending meetings just like the Friends. Furthermore, Laura felt we would only be asking the city to study traffic light installation at these locations following their normal procedures, not telling the city traffic lights had to be installed.

7. Spring Cleanup Day:

   Postponed discussion until next meeting. Mark suggested people think about a spring cleanup day to announce at the spring meeting.

8. Other Issues:

   Tony announced that Phase 3 of the SW Path would start next year which would include the Carling Drive connection, Hammersley Road access, Harrison St. Bridge and the extension to Randall Ave. City Engineering has started planning on the Missing Link path that would connect the SW Path to the Lake Monona Path. Tony mentioned that the City was looking at possible access to Glenwood Children's Park from the SW Path. Tony said the DNR has started planning for the Badger Path (the extension of the SW Path that will extend to Illinois) and some work should start next year including work on bridges and brush clearing. Finally, Tony said a 6 foot path will be plowed this winter. Mark inquired how a 6 foot path could function safely for two way traffic. Char said she thought the neighborhood had been promised that part of the path would not be plowed to accommodate cross country skiers. Laura said she understood that snow would be plowed to one side so the shoulder, not the path, could be used by cross country skiers.

9. Steve Siehr will organize the next meeting on November 13, 7 PM.

Minutes taken by Mark Shahan

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Last Modified: 03-Feb-08 05:53 PM

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