Willy Street Blog @ “2”

Neighborhood blog to continue hyper-focus

What do you give the neighborhood that has everything? Well certainly not another person with an opinion. When you start a blog, its like any good essay, pick a few central themes and nurture them with attribution and reasoned analysis. But it is no small challenge to write about by far the most engaged, opinionated, funky, and cool neighborhood in the nation.

Willy Street Blog was born in March 2012, in the midst of the recall drive, but soon turned away from state politics as plenty of great voices were already speaking to the issue. In a city that features stupendous local reporting from numerous outlets, why should anyone bother to read some random blog?

The key is to really not care.

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Marsha Rummel Wins Fourth Term

Challenger Scott Thornton says rogue mailer sunk his bid

Marsha Rummel

Alder Marsha Rummel won a fourth term representing Madison’s Sixth Aldermanic District.

What was termed as a competitive race by area media turned into a strong victory by a yawning margin for incumbent Marsha Rummel over challenger Scott Thornton in Madison’s Sixth Aldermanic District.

Tuesday’s vote total showed Rummel winning by 1500 votes in the hyper-aware Near East Side which was roiled by the appearance of a shadowy political mailer days before the election from a union-backed outside democratic group that normally meddles in state level issues.

“What a good night. Thank you!” Rummel posted on her personal Facebook page soon after several people reported on Twitter that she had declared victory.

Marsh Rummel and Scott Thronton, both neighborhood leaders, were not known to be rivals before the election and had worked together often in the past. The two candidate’s similarities on the issues left Thornton needing to find any angle to sow doubt about Rummel in the eyes of district residents. He attacked her communication, her votes on City Council, and her supposed lack of spine when it came to taking positions on issues.  Continue reading

Rummel and Thornton Find Little Daylight

Personalities may drive choice between highly qualified candidates

District 6 Alder Marsha Rummel (right) and Challenger Scott Thornton (left) following a candidate forum March 25, 2013

District 6 Alder Marsha Rummel (right) and Challenger Scott Thornton (left) following a candidate forum March 25, 2013

Madison District 6 incumbent Marsha Rummel and her challenger Scott Thornton talked neighborhood and citywide issues Monday night (March 25) at the final candidate forum before next Tuesday’s general election. Nearly 100 people crowded into a basement room of St. Bernard Catholic Church to hear the opponents argue more over style than substance.

It was as though we were back in the spring of 2008 and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were giving their most earnest reasons why they should be elected. The stellar resumes of both Alder candidates has cracked the door on the less perfect and poor electoral measure that may make the difference: Personality.

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District 6 Candidate Q & A: Marsha Rummel

Three-term incumbent wants to continue forwarding progressive agenda

Madison 6th District Alder Marsha A. Rummel is running for a fourth term on the Madison Common Council.

Madison 6th District Alder Marsha A. Rummel seeks a fourth term on the Madison Common Council.

Marsha A. Rummel has been Alder of Madison’s Sixth District since 2007, and in that time she has seen lots of change.

Before being elected she had been active in the Marquette Neighborhood Association (MNA), serving for a time as President, and was interested in such issues as urban planning and affordable housing.

With a week to go before the election Willy Street Blog talked with Marsha Rummel about city planning, economic development, homelessness, her challenger Scott Thornton, and why she was briefly banned from a restaurant earlier this month.

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District 6 Candidate Q & A: Scott Thornton

Challenger says Ald. Rummel has failed to lead and communicate with residents

Scott Thornton. Courtesy Scott Thornton for District 6

Scott Thornton. Courtesy Scott Thornton for District 6

Scott B. Thornton, 49, has lived in District 6 since 2000 and Madison since the late 1980s. One of his first jobs in Madison was working for the United Neighborhood Centers of Dane County which had its offices in the Atwood Neighborhood Center and he has been tied to the near East Side neighborhoods ever since.

However Scott has made his strongest impacts as President of the Marquette Neighborhood Association (MNA) for the past four years, nearly quadrupling the membership during his tenure. He also secured tax exempt status and aggressively developed a public art program in conjunction with the Madison Arts Commission that has flowered in public and private spaces around the Marquette neighborhood.

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