On Sept. 23rd, Jeff Shimpff replied:
One thing we can use help with is contacting the City Plan Commission to
voice opposition to the proposed 1285 space West Campus parking ramp.
It's
a sure way to make waste of whatever TDM activities the University is
working on. They are not short 1285 parking spaces, they are short 2500
employees with the modicum of courage it takes to rideshare, bike from
Shorewood, get on a bus, improve campus shuttle services, etc.
> ----------
re:
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED][SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 2:02 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [Bikies] Drive-Less Proposal
>
>
> It's too bad the editor of "Wheels" didn't suggest an approach that
would
> get people to actually leave their cars in the garage and pick up
another
> set of wheels that doesn't rely on the burning of fossil fuels in an
> internal combustion engine for power.
---------------------------------------------------------
So this what we were able to find out:
....The Regent Neighborhood Association (RNA) transportation committee
will be meeting in the next few weeks to discuss the project (contact
George Hall about when), and will have the UW's initial proposal and the
City's written response which was sent around last week. The goal of the
meeting will be to collect neighborhood feedback that can be presented at
the October 23rd meeting of Joint West when the committee will identify
its "points of agreement and points of departure", then make a
recommendation on the project.
The UW will then submit the project to the City's decision-making bodies,
reaching the Plan Commission (probably in December) where there will be a
public hearing. Joint West's recommendation will accompany the proposal,
and RNA will have submitted its comments in written form by then
also.....
Soooooo, that's what we've been able to find out. The local neighborhood
folks have the most to lose from not just from the building of the
parking lot but more by it's operation. It will draw users from
everywhere, of course, and add more SOVs (single occupancy drivers) to
several of Madison's thoughfares. No doubt, it will draw a few even from
the Sauk City area, just waiting for the next segment of Highway 12 to be
completed. Not only will they have had the state build them a new 4-lane
highway, but also a new fancy parking ramp to park their car in every
week day to boot!
hat concerns me is not so much the local impacts of this on Shorewood and
RNA, although I do use those routes occasionally by bicycle and will
enjoy them less with the new parking lot in operation.
It's really sad, the UW teaches the policies of smart growth and
sustainability but fails to employ those same principles in the design of
its own campus. In fact, the UW continues to cater to -- and in fact
promote -- more and more urban sprawl by its providing parking capacity
for SOVs.
The University has gone from a relatively clean and quiet campus that
catered to pedestrians, to one that is degrading the entire city of
Madison by its overblown numbers of students, faculty and staff, many who
drive back and forth to Madison each day, alone in their cars, often
talking on their cell phone or eating sandwiches. I know, I see them
many of them as I wait patiently at the corner of Vilas and Park St.
(currently under construction), every morning and late afternoon, waiting
for one driver to stop and let me cross. Usually, I have to inch out and
make it look like I'm nuts before someone will stop.
BTW, the suggestion I was looking for from the editor of World of Wheels
magazine, who is encouraging car drivers to get out of their cars and
pick up two wheelers instead of four wheeler, was for the state to offer
them financial incentives to drive less, paid for by increased gas tax
money. Instead, the state uses our money to build parking lots on
campus and 4-lane highways outside of Madison, while Madison taxpayers
like Jeff and I and our families not only get to pay the cost of
maintaining the roads for the increased numbers of commuters to the UW,
we get to breathe their hazardous exhaust fumes as well, daily.
As an alumni of UW, I second Jeff's statement: "the elements of pride I
have felt for the UW have been thoroughly overshadowed by a tide of
disgust". /Mike Neuman
"The only thing in American politics that speaks more loudly than money
is a riled-up citizenry. So get riled up!"
- Dennis Hayes, "The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair", 2001.
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