The full weekly meeting schedule can be found on the city's website.

Monday, Oct. 26: Board of Estimates, 4:30 p.m., Room 260 of the Madison Municipal Building, 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

The agenda may look short, but don't be fooled -- the big item for the night is amendments to the operating budget (including potentially restoring funding for WYOU and ice rinks), which should take a considerable amount of time. Another interesting item is establishing a three-year contract with Badger Bus to use the Dutch Mill park and ride. The company recently closed their downtown terminal with some controversy and have modified their service a bit to accomodate that change.

Monday, Oct. 26: County Public Works and Transportation Committee and Personnel and Finance Committee, 6:30 p.m., Room 201 of the City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

I'm going to break with precedent a bit and put a county meeting on here -- the two county committees will jointly discuss creating a Madison-area RTA, and there is expected to be a long public hearing on the subject.

Tuesday, Oct. 27: Water Utility Board, 4:30 p.m., Rooms A & B of the Water Utility building, 119 E. Olin Ave.

There aren't any particular items to highlight, but I found most of the regular reports very interesting the last time I went.

Tuesday, Oct. 27: Pedestrian-Bicycle-Motor Vehicle Committee, 5 p.m., Room 260 of the Madison Municipal Building, 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

Another short agenda, but one potential item of interest is the committee accepting a $120,000 grant to maintain and expand safety education -- I don't know that they'll get into what that money will be spent on, though.

Wednesday, Oct. 28: Urban Design Commission, 5 p.m., Room LL-110 of the Madison Municipal Building, 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

A special meeting to talk about the new zoning code draft.

Wednesday, Oct. 28: Vending Oversight Committee, 5 p.m., Room 313 of the Madison Municipal Building, 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

There are lots of discussion items on this agenda, from vending near schools (which was temporarily banned at last week's City Council meeting after much discussion about the potential safety issues of vending near the really busy streets most high schools are located on), assigning late-night vending locations versus issuing them on a first-come, first-served basis, and reviewing the draft language for a University Avenue vending area, among other topics.

Wednesday, Oct. 28: Community Services Committee, 5:35 p.m., Water Utility, 119 E. Olin Ave.

Can anyone tell me why this meeting starts at 5:35 p.m. versus 5:30 p.m.? I've been curious for awhile. Bigger items on the agenda this week include discussing recommendations for the Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System and reviewing draft program areas, goals and priorities for 2011-2012 funding.

Thursday, Oct. 29: Alcohol License Review Subcommittee on Downtown Alcohol Issues and Ordinances, 4 p.m., Room 103A of the City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

The agenda is somewhat less than helpful, considering it mostly reiterates the name of the committee, but one potentially interesting item is the 2009 review of the city's alcohol license density plan -- the ordinance has a sunset coming up, so discussions of its efficacy and potential tweaks will be important now and in future months if the city is inclined to make the ordinance permanent.

Thursday, Oct. 29: Commission on People with Disabilities, 5 p.m., Room 260 of the Madison Municipal Building, 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

Both of these have been listed on the agenda before, but they're still up for discussion, I guess: an ordinance amendment requiring that all city-built or city-funded (including TIF) housing have at least 10 percent of their units be fully accessible and a discussion of whether paratransit fares should be neutral or adjusted by peak/non-peak times.

Thursday, Oct. 29: Public Meeting on City's Sustainability Plan, 5:30 p.m., Wisconsin Studio of the Overture Center, 201 State Street.

The agenda doesn't say anything, but earlier press releases have mentioned that attendees can hear about the city's Green Capital City projects as well as provide suggestions about how the city can make its "community, economy and environment" more sustainable.

Thursday, Oct. 29: Downtown Community Gardens Group, 7 p.m., Room 204 of the Central Library, 201 W. Mifflin St.

For those who have watched recent public meetings on the budget, there has been a small, but vocal contingent of people supporting a community garden on the roof of a new Central Library. There is some precedent for the gardens on public buildings -- the group cites Milwaukee and Chicago as examples, but some city officials have been concerned about the potential expense of adding one. The group has also pointed out the lack of green space in the downtown, citing community gardens as one way to add that space. To hear the rest of the group's argument and discuss the library's potential for a rooftop garden, check out the meeting this week.

Add or View Comment

Login to post your comment. If you don't have an account, you may register for one.