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the hornblower

Spring 2000
Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association

Hornblower

www.dmna.org
Sponsored by Fullfeed Madison, lnc.

In this Issue...
Slow Down! Watch for Pedestrians
DMNA Annual Meeting
President's Column
DMNA Long Range Plan
Help Calm Traffic
STOP! or at least slow down and smell the roses
Volunteer Positions
Block Captains
Piano and drawing lessons
Garden Committee
Oak Savanna Spring Celebration
Friends of the Arboretum Native Plant Sale
Annual West Side Garden Club Perennial Plant Sale
UTOYPIA
Doreen Speckmann Quilt Show and Fabric Sale

Slow Down! Watch for Pedestrians

The DMNA Transportation Committee is sponsoring monthly "Small Actions" on neighborhood streets this year, supported by the police traffic unit officers, to remind drivers to slow down and to yield to pedestrians. Because a city ordinance prevents us from placing signs on the tree lawn or terrace, we need to use residents' lawns for no more than three or four signs, placed as close to the sidewalk as possible, placed and removed in the same day. Since we will be doing monthly activities all over the neighborhood with a variety of people participating, it seems a huge job to leaflet each home each time. Instead, we would ask that any neighborhood resident who DOES NOT want signs in his/her yard to call 238-5612 so we can add you to our don' t-sign list which we will make available to anyone planning to use our "slow down/watch for kids" signs. We already have the names of three Watch for Pedestrians Slow down! See related stories below.

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Don't miss the DMNA Annual Meeting, Sunday, April 30, 2000

The Spring 2000 Annual Meeting is very important to DMNA. The membership will vote on two progressive matters of business.

The first vote, the culmination of a year's work by our treasurer, Bill Klein and Attorney Madelyn Leopold, deals with whether to approve filing for 501(c)3 status. This designation will give DMNA legal non-profit status, allow tax-deductible donations to the association, and enhance our eligibility for competitive funding opportunities. The second vote seeks approval of the final version of the neighbor-hood's Long Range Plan. This plan, developed over the last five years, is ready for formal submission to the City of Madison. We urge you to attend and participate in these important decisions!

Along with this important business meeting, we will of course have the ever popular pie and ice cream social. Anyone who has enjoyed this treat at past annual meetings has the advantage of knowing how to secure their favorite piece of pie before it disappears. Add a BIG scoop of Michael's Frozen Custard (thank you, Michael's) and you've got a treat!

While enjoying dessert and chatting with neighbors, you will be able to view exhibits from the Lake Wingra Watershed study conducted by the Water Resources Management Graduate Program at the UW-Madison and funded in part by a donation from DMNA. Kevin Little, from Friends of Lake Wingra, will present study results and suggested follow up activities. (For example, did you know a dark sky "preserve" at Lake Wingra is in the works?)

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President's Column
By Bill Barker

I discovered the power of oratory thanks to WUOG, the college radio station at the University of Georgia-Athens. They used to broadcast a show called "Martin Luther King Speaks" every Wednesday night. I loved it because these weren't the famous speeches we all know so well. The show mainly consisted of taped sermons delivered by Dr. King on Sunday mornings at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. I used to like to sit out in my car and listen in the hot, hot summer evenings, the cacophony of crickets and katydids serving as an amen corner. I'd get the speakers balanced just right, carefully adjust the treble and bass, close my eyes and listen to a message delivered years before. Once in a while, Dr. King would employ a carefully and beautifully honed phrase, perhaps delivered with his inimitable, thundering "Thank God Almighty, We Are Free at Last!" intonation and I would be transported, left goosefleshed, weeping and gasping for breath. Such is the awesome power of the spoken word! I have been President of the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association for two years now, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about exactly how a good neighborhood association goes about the mission of strengthening its community. For some reason, whenever I ask myself this question, I hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s voice in my head, shouting Mitigation! Facilitation! Now I know full well that it is Jesse Jackson, an orator of far lesser power, and not Dr. King who employs the rhyme as a device to increase the power of his message. Nonetheless, it is King's voice that answers me when I ask.

Mitigation! A good association is vigilant and guards against things detrimental to a neighborhood. Sometimes these things can be prevented altogether, sometimes not. Especially in the latter case, a healthy and properly functioning association serves as a conduit for discussion to minimize the negative impact of an issue. Facilitation! A good neighborhood association strives to ensure that opportunities for positive change are seized upon and, if possible, enhanced. Again, the association achieves this by fostering discussion among interested parties. Of course, things are rarely black and white and even a manifestly good thing can have undesirable aspects. The conversion of the abandoned railroad to an alternative transportation corridor is a prime example. While most folks would agree that a new bike and pedestrian path is a fine addition to the neighborhood, many were unhappy with the original extensive lighting scheme. DMNA formed a special committee, held innumerable public meetings, formulated a position paper strongly arguing against lighting and in the end figured prominently in the welcome decision not to extensively illuminate the path uniformly along its length. And that is just one of the shining accomplishments of the past two years.

I am come to the end of my time as President of the Dudgeon Monroe Neighborhood Association. This column has been my own bully pulpit, so to speak, and I have used it to try and rouse us to action in support of our neighborhood. Many of you have indeed responded and our community is the better for your efforts. Thank you all very, very much.

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DMNA long range plan completed

In April the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Long Range Plan will be formally adopted by the DMNA Council and submitted to the City for review and approval.

The Plan is the result of a comprehensive and detailed planning process that began in 1996. Led by the Planning Committee, the process has also involved most of DMNA's substantive committees, and has included consultation, via survey or direct participation, with hundreds of DMNA residents. The plan has been shared in draft with City staff for review and comment. This winter, the draft Plan was revised and updated for formal submission. DMNA hopes and expects that the Plan will be formally reviewed and approved by the City. It will be the first Madison neighborhood long range plan to receive such formal consideration and adoption by the City government. Since the planning process began, the draft Plan has served as a valuable guide to our activities. The completed Plan will continue to do so and we hope that it will be of equal value as a guide to City staff as Plan components are implemented.

But as we submit the Plan, says DMNA President Bill Barker, we do not intend it as a static document graven in stone. Rather, the Plan is put forward as a dynamic and changing working document that will continue in coming years to reflect an ongoing process of neighborhood planning.

The Plan includes a summary of issues and recommendations, sections on the Neighborhood's history and demographics, and chapters on major planning categories: transportation issues; the residential housing stock; the Neighborhood's commercial districts; our community facilities; and our parks and playgrounds.

More than 60 pages long (with Appendices additional) the Plan is available at DMNA's Web site (www.dmna.org) and at the Monroe Street Public Library. A detailed summary of the plan was included in the winter 1998 Hornblower.

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STOP! or at least slow down and smell the roses

It is GLORIOUS SPRING, and the favorite time of residents who have climbed out of those winter snow banks to enjoy spring flowers, chat with their neighbors, walk to the park, and *walk* not *run* their errands. It is a time which should reaffirm our sense of being part of a pleasant, comfortable, close knit community.

Instead, walkers are met at each street crossing by streams of large speeding vehicles driving by in a blur, oblivious to the charms of the neighborhood and the needs of the pedestrian (not to mention yield-to-pedestrian laws). These cars are not just an annoying obstacle to advancement across the street; they are dangerous. The faster cars travel, the more likely crashes are to occur and the more severe injuries will be. A car moving 20 mph has a 40-foot stopping distance (combination of reaction time and actual braking distance); a car moving 40 mph has a 315 foot stopping distance. A car unable to stop, and still moving at 20 mph kills 5% of the pedestrians it hits and most injuries are slight. At 40 mph, 85% are killed.

Perhaps it's time to re-prioritize. Our great romance with the car empties our pockets, especially with rising car and gas prices. Our waistbands expand with our sedentary lifestyle. Our hearts contract as we fail to interact with others. Vehicle-caused air pollution contributes to global warming in a major way.

Maybe it's time to enjoy your neighborhood rather than hurtling through it as fast as possible. Remove one foot from the treadmill occasionally. Realize that your older children can actually walk, bike or bus to school and to after-school activities. Take the bus to work and walk home. Study your neighbors* gardens for the perfect flowering bush for your lawn. Initiate the First Weekly Floating Block Picnic. Welcome back to a sane and fulfilling existence!

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You can Help Calm Traffic in Our Neighborhood

1. SET A GOOD EXAMPLE slow down to 25 mph on neighborhood streets and yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. We are the majority of drivers on residential streets; even on Monroe Street we represent 40% of the traffic. We are a large enough group to influence other drivers if we model safe driving. 2. VOLUNTEER TO HELP with our monthly Small Actions.: Call Ann Clark @ 238-5612 to learn what you can do to help. We have jobs for everyone, the utterly untrained, after work, before work, for the directionally impaired, and the recovering drive-aholic.

3. DO IT YOURSELF! You can reserve the Police Dept's unmanned speed board for your street (266-4703), or call Ann @ 238-5612 for a copy of our how-to cheat sheet for a variety of other small events.

4. GIVE THANKS! As a pedestrian, wave to and thank drivers who stop for you, and motorists who drive slowly. Thank the police officers from the traffic unit when you see them in our neighborhood. Writing tickets to drivers with road rage cannot be a high, but your supportive comments will be!

5. COMMUNICATE THE TRAFFIC PROBLEMS YOU OBSERVE. Call the city Speeder's Hotline at 266-4624 with the license number and car description to report drivers you have observed driving in an unsafe manner, and they will receive a warning letter. Contact Ann Clark @ 238-5612 or adclark@madison.tec.wi.us about problem streets or intersections in the neighborhood for the Transportation Committee's Traffic Plan record.

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VOLUNTEER POSITIONS

The DMNA Home Page Committee is looking for a neighbor to join the committee to help with HTML markup. The workload amounts to a couple of hours a month. The committee meets for an hour and 15 minutes every month. (We don't know why, it just seems to work.) If you are interested, send your name to webmaster@DMNA.org. This is a great site.

The Hornblower is looking for a new editor. Work with the council to generate content. Assign and edit stories. Work with the ad coordinator, graphic designer and distribution coordinator to publish our neighborhood newsletter. Call Jim Beal 263-0611(day) Email jbeal@engr.wisc.edu

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Block Captains

Block Captains: Please call Shawn Schey, 238-7937, for welcome kits for new neighbors. Neighbors: Please let your block captain know about new neighbors. To determine your block captain, see the listing on www.dmna.org or call Paula Benkart, 255-2690.

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Piano and drawing lessons:
28 years experience with 800 students, all ages. Teacher soloed with Madison Symphony. National art reputation, collectors include Tony Bennett. Call Larry. 233-0546. See www.psalm40.org/toepfer.

Green your thumb. Join the Garden Committee

PLEASE JOIN US! A Chinese proverb says, "If you want to be happy for a day, get married. If you want to be happy for a week, kill your pig and eat it. If you want to be happy for a lifetime, plant a garden."

The Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association Garden Committee has the basic goal of encouraging a more attractive, greener, more livable neighborhood: a diversity of gardens adding visual and ecological variety, with fewer lawns with their high demands of time, energy, chemicals and water. We maintain the garden at the neighborhood sign at Grant and Monroe streets, and in conjunction with the Vilas Neighborhood Association, the planters along the eastern end of Monroe Street. We plant and maintain the flowers in the planters at the boat house at Wingra Park.

Our major continuing project is a garden tour every year or two, presenting a dozen or so gardens of all types. We will be presenting the third tour this summer on July 15 (tentative). The tour serves to showcase the neighborhood to the greater community, to provide ideas and solutions to problems for other gardeners, and to encourage others to take up gardening . . . for a lifetime of happiness - or at least of rewarding exercise, which will add beauty, diversity and value to your property and the neighborhood. Although not primarily a fund raising project any profits from the tour are used to further the goals of the committee and the neighborhood.

Presenting the tour is a challenging and rewarding activity. It involves scouting the neighborhood for possible gardens to include (this is a very interesting, worthwhile activity in itself), obtaining the participation of the gardeners, and coordinating the publicity and logistics necessary for a successful tour. Signs and banners must be made and displayed, brochures and maps must be designed, drawn, printed and distributed to those attending. Ticket sales must be coordinated and the returns accounted for, and bills must be paid. Donations of services and goods for the pre-tour party (which all volunteers and gardeners participate in) and publicity to reward the merchants providing the assistance must be arranged. Two assistants are necessary for each garden on the day of the tour. They spend a half day each helping a gardener and allowing necessary breaks away from the garden. To reward them for their help they get free admission to all the garden sites during the other half of the day. Volunteers of gardens for the tour and for all these positions are always needed and appreciated.

Recently it has become apparent that the practice of extensive lawns is undesirable from both aesthetic and environmental points of view. Aesthetically, a diversity of gardens provides a refreshing variety compared to the sameness of manicured lawn abutting manicured lawn. More importantly, traditional lawn care requires harmful inputs of chemicals and uses petroleum energy, a diminishing resource. It produces noise and air pollution from the machines, and harmful runoff from the chemicals and fertilizers used. People are allergic to many of the pesticides and herbicides used (a concern in our family). An ongoing issue for the garden committee is encouraging people through articles, seminars and the like to modify these traditional, but harmful, practices.

Opportunities for volunteers range from an hour or two, to major time commitments, and everything in-between. Many of these don't require even getting your hands dirty, but there are possibilities for that too. It is also a great way to meet your neighbors. We need lots of volunteers. Please call for more information, and get involved. 'Phone Daryl Sherman, 238-5106 or e-mail to snippets@execpc.com.

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Oak Savanna Spring Celebration

On Sunday, May 21 at 2:00 PM the Oak Savanna annual spring celebration will be held at the Wheeler Council Ring in the arboretum at Arbor Drive and Monroe Street.

For the last seven years, volunteers supervised by the arboretum staff have been planting native species and cutting exotics in order to restore the savanna to its pre-European settlement condition. Although we aren't through, yet we've made significant progress and would like to show the landscape to you!

Consequently, we will be having guided tours, a short program, food, music and perhaps a butterfly or moth release to celebrate our progress. (Native plant species are important in supporting native species.) Watch for more information as our plans solidify on the DMNA web page (www.dmna.org) and elsewhere.

Come See What's Up in the Oak Savanna

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Perennial Plant Sale

Annual West Side Garden Club Perennial Plant Sale

May 12 & 13 9am-2pm
Sun/Shade Plants
3918 Nakoma Rd
Near Westminster Presbyterian Church

Mothers Day Gifts

Friends of the Arboretum Native Plant Sale

Saturday May 13, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Over 100 native plant species are for sale, including prairie plants, ferns, woodland plants, and a select group of native shrubs.
All plants are native to the area and, once established, require minimal care.
No plants are dug from the wild.
Experts will be at the tent throughout the sale to answer your questions.
Information sheets detailing care for each plant are available at the Information Tent.
The sale is open rain or shine.
Volunteers are needed to help with the sale.
Donated plants are welcome.

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Say hello to UTOYPIA

Did you like playing with your parents' old toys when you were a kid? Did you like the feel of the wood and like the thought that these toys could last forever? Would you like to be able to buy toys like this for your own children and your grandchildren? UTOYPIA in Knickerbocker Place will be a place you will love to visit.

Craig Coeper, who happens to live in the neighborhood, is the owner of this wonderful toystore. He lived the first eight years of his life on Fox Avenue, and attended Randall school. After college Craig became a sales representative for BRIO toys. That is when he decided he wanted to own a toy store. He still had some connections with Madison and decided this is where the store should be. He and his father picked the name after trying to combine words with a dictionary at hand. It took them all the way to "U" before they finally settled on UTOYPIA.

Currently, the toys in the store are for infants through age 10. Craig is adding some models for older children. And at the suggestion of customers, he will be adding a book section to help fill the void left by Pooh Corner. There will be some videos and CDs and a birthday corner.

But the best parts are the wonderful wooden toys made by BRIO and Learning Curve. The BRIO toys are designed in Osby, Sweden and distributed in the United States through a center in Germantown, WI. They have a guarantee, so parts can be replaced. Once you have the starter set you can buy pieces to extend the set and create new interest. And, when the kids outgrow them you can put them away for the next generation.

Stop in and play with the trains. Pick up a kite and introduce yourself to Craig.

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Doreen Speckmann Quilt Show and Fabric Sale
Proceeds will go to one of Doreen's
favorite charities, The Battered Women's Shelter
Friday, May 12, 9am-8pm
Saturday, May 13, 9am-5pm
Glenwood Moravian Church
725 Gilmore
(608) 231-1563 for questions.

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Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association
Hornblower
Spring 2000

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