Dear Friend, This is it: the day we can have a huge impact on Fitchburg's style and pace of growth. If you live in Fitchburg, please come to the Comm

       
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Working to preserve the land west of Lake Waubesa from poorly planned development

Dear Friend,

This is it: the day we can have a huge impact on Fitchburg's style and pace of growth. If you live in Fitchburg, please come to the Common Council meeting at 7:30 p.m., or if that's impossible, please stop by the Fitchburg City Hall before 4:30 and fill out a registration form with the City Clerk. Details on how to do this are below.

Making a change in local politics takes a lot of work by the organizers, but very little work by the mass of people, as long as they all act at one time. The impact of a full chamber of determined voters is much greater than emails dribbling in over weeks. So please take advantage of this opportunity to influence policy, and come out!

Your chance to be heard is Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m.!

Event: Fitchburg Common Council meeting
Place: Fitchburg City Hall, Council Chambers, 5520 Lacy Rd.
Time: meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.
Topic: Shall Fitchburg apply to the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission for permission to bring its Northeast and North Stoner Prairie Neighborhoods into the Urban Service Area? The Common Council will discuss and vote directly after hearing from the public.
Cost: free if you come and tell your alders what you want; potentially costly if you stay at home!

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This map shows just how much vacant land (the yellow and blue outlines) is already in Fitchburg's Urban Service Area (the green outline).br>Graphic art by Nick Barovic-Hancock

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Photo by Nadia Olker

How to register and/or speak

Never been to a Common Council meeting?

Don't worry, the city of Fitchburg does a great job at making it easy to give your input. Here are the steps.

1. Come to the Fitchburg City Hall at 5520 Lacy Rd, ("City Hall" is carved in stone over the door), and go down the long hallway to the end.

2. Arrive by 7:30 p.m., when the Common Council meeting begins. Our item is #7A5, but sometimes they move agenda items around, and you don't want to arrive when it's over! Bring a book or some knitting to pass the time 'til our item comes up.

3. At the back of the room there is a counter with registration slips. Fill in your name, address, "Common Council meeting" and "agenda item #7A5." Check "register in opposition" and if you're willing to speak, check "wish to speak." Sign the form, and if you don't wish to speak, write a few lines about why you are opposed, which will prove that you DO understand the issues.

Take your slip up and give it to anyone on the dais in front, and they will pass it to the mayor.

4. The mayor will invite people who want to speak to come up to the speakers table, two and a time, usually alternating people who are for and against. When all have spoken, he will read the names of those who registered in support or in opposition, including their written comments.

4. When everyone who wants to be heard has had a chance, the alders discuss the issue, and then they vote. It's really important that you stay for this part if you can, so that they feel your eyes upon them!

5. When the vote is over, we can leave and talk in the hallway about what happened!

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Photo by Nadia Olker

We need speakers Tuesday evening at the Common Council meeting!

Most people don't think they are qualified to speak at a public hearing, but in fact they are! You need not be an expert; you only need to have an opinion that you want to convey to the decision makers. You can try to touch all the reasons (in just 3 minutes!) or you can just talk about one reason that's important to you. Or you can ask the Common Council a rhetorical question – though they aren't obliged to answer you.

We especially need petition signers to speak out and say something like "I signed the petition because I believe that opening the neighborhoods for development is risky and not necessary now," to counter the charge from some alders that you were misled and duped into signing the petition.

Speaking to the Council is actually a painless procedure. Very few speakers get questioned (unless they are experts) and Fitchburg alders are always polite to the public. So please consider speaking – the more effort you put into getting your views out there, the more seriously politicians take you!

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Photo of the NEN by Nadia Olker

Thanks for all that you have done to protect taxpayers and create a better Fitchburg!

Yours,

Phyllis Hasbrouck

Chair of the West Waubesa Preservation Coalition

P.S. Please tell your Fitcbburg friends and neighbors about the Common Council meeting on Tues. Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fitchburg City Hall, 5520 Lacy Rd. If they don't like to drive at night, can you offer them a ride?

www.westwaubesa.org
westwaubesa@gmail.org

Phil Lewis posed

Two sides to every argument

I want to share with you one argument that proponents of this resolution make, because at first blush, it seems to make sense.

They say: "The Northeast Neighborhood may seem far out from the center of Fitchburg, but it's very close to Madison. It's precisely the area that should be developed next, because otherwise, people will be driving in to Madison from even further away, and that's bad for the environment!"

Let's look at that. If you follow this argument to its logical conclusion, you will eventually end up with a city like Chicago, where almost everything is developed for miles from the city center, and you have to drive an hour or more to reach the countryside.

An urban planning solution that creates much better communities, from fiscal, environmental, and social standpoints, is the one promoted by Dr. Phil Lewis, an eminent regional planner whose work was the inspiration for Fitchburg's Uptown neighborhood. (The Lewis 9 Springs E-Way of protected wetlands and 9 Springs Creek just south of the Beltline is named for Dr. Lewis and his late wife Libby.)

spokes wedges map Dane C

Dr. Lewis' map shows the spokes of the rail lines in Dane County, and the wedges in between them.

Spokes and Wedges

Dr. Lewis' idea for an ideal city design is not one huge blob, like Chicago, but one of spokes and wedges. The spokes are the rail corridors, with urban neighborhoods built around each rail station for a radius of a half mile, like pearls on a necklace. The wedges are the areas outside of that half-mile ped-shed (the distance that pedestrians can easily walk to catch a train), where nature and food production can flourish.

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Prof. Lewis' drawing of a potention "Diverse Density Demonstration" in Uptown and the Northeast Neighborhood.

Which kind of city would you rather live in?

I know that I'd prefer one with easy access to farms, woods, wetlands and fields. Fitchburg is lucky to have a rail line that can be re-started, which goes from Oregon to Madison, through Uptown. If Fitchburg sticks with its Phil Lewis-inspired design for Uptown, the Northeast Neighborhood can be a "wedge" of agricultural space to its east.

"Two sides to every argument" is also a good reminder that everyone thinks that they are doing the right thing here, so let's all be firm but civil. Those we disagree with aren't bad people, they are just emphasizing one "good' over another. Or perhaps they don't realize, or don't want to face, the downsides to their preferred course. But as fellow members of our community, let's state our opinions forthrightly, but without rancor. Thanks!

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