Category Archives: Madison Commentary

You Don’t Have to be Political to Love Radicals

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Madison’s pro Ultimate Disc team is winning fans in second season

Madison Radicals Defender Mike Swain appreciates his fandom, the UW-Whitewater grad and U.S. Army veteran is a fan favorite.

Mike Swain, a Madison Radicals defender and U.S. Army veteran ,appreciates his fandom.

While Madison tries hard to support its professional sports teams for as long as they exist; I believe, after attending my first American Ultimate Disc League game recently, that the Madison Radicals may be the truest form of social and sporting expression that this city can make.

For as long as I can remember, warm sunny days in any Madison park, but surely James Madison, have fostered the fertile natural and native talent of disc players, much like hockey seemingly grows from the soil of Minnesota. As amatuer teams still thrive in this city, its deep bench is also able to stack a strong group of “paid” players that almost won the professional league championship last year.

My first Radicals game two weeks ago (May 9) was at Breese Stevens Field, a glorious historic stadium that the City of Madison has steadfastly has committed to keeping active, mostly through soccer tournaments.

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Burrito Drive and Players Robberies ‘Likely Related’

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Police say chemical irritant was used during recent incidents

Players Sport Bar (left) and Burrito Drive were robbed recently through the same combination of guns and a chemical irritant sprayed on the victims.

Players Sport Bar (left) and Burrito Drive were robbed recently through the same combination of guns and a chemical irritant sprayed on the victims.

Madison Police are saying they believe that two armed robberies in the last three days on the Near East Side are related. Late Sunday night (May 4) at 10:50 p.m. two men wearing masks and carrying handguns stole cash from Burrito Drive, a restaurant near the corner of Brearly and Williamson Streets.

Last night (May 6) at 12:40 a.m. two men (one was armed with a handgun) with a similar general description entered Players Sport Bar & Grill on Winnebago east of Schenk’s Corners, ordered all employees and patrons to floor and stole an undisclosed amount of money. The strongest tie between the two robberies aside from the number of assailants and weapons was the use of a chemical irritant which was sprayed on victims during the incident.

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Blake Rickert Fundraiser Sets Blueprint for Low-resource Organizers

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Donations triple expectations during auction event

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Donation jars at the ready for the Help Blake Beat Burkitt's Fundraiser. Bartenders also donated their wages and tips. Photo by: Brett Williams

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Gallery photos by Brett Williams and Willy Street Blog 

 

Nearly three months ago, when organizers started planning the Help Blake Beat Burkitt’s fundraiser, they never thought they would nearly triple their even most ambitious monetary goal. But thats what happened when approximately 200 people packed the Atomic Koi in Fitchburg for four hours Sunday (April 27) and raised through a silent auction, raffle and donations $13,591 to help offset the cost of 4-year old Blake Rickert’s successful treatment of Burkitt’s Leukemia.

The star of the event was Blake himself who got permission to leave the hospital for a few hours to attend the fundraiser. Despite fighting an illness all week, he was all smiles as he connected with friends and family and was fascinated, as were all the kids in attendance, by the “Balloon Guy”, who fashioned balloon figurines. Other kid favorites included face painting by Blake’s Aunt Stacy Laufenberg Schmidt and temporary tattoos of the “SuperBlake” logo.

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Willy Street Blog @ “2”

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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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722 Willy Developers to Present Project Changes

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Three design variations to be presented this week at special P&D meeting

MNA’s Preservation & Development Committee will hold their monthly meeting at a special time on Wednesday October 23 to view proposed changes to the 722 Williamson development. The 722 Williamson Subcommittee of P&D has met several times with the project developers, Baldwin Development Group, and committee chairman Bruce Woods reports that BDG will present several changes based on neighborhood input.

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722 Willy Working Group Outlines Concerns

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MNA committee sends UDC its initial take on proposed development

It is unknown at this point if meetings between a special Marquette Neighborhood Association working group and Baldwin Development Group will yield any changes to a development planned for the 700 block of Williamson Street. The MNA 722 Subcommittee was formed to work through concerns about the project with BDG after the developer signaled it would seek exceptions to building guidelines developed by the neighborhood.

The 722 Williamson Subcommittee, part of MNA’s Preservation & Development Committee, has met several times now with BDG and last week committee chairman Bruce Woods sent a letter to Madison’s Urban Design Commission outlining their initial concerns. The letter gives no indication that BDG was planning any changes based on the discussions. What the letter does do is formalize and organize the varying concerns and plaudits that have been expressed about the design so far.  Continue reading →

An Inconvenience Store Truth

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 Atwood BP station wants to sell beer, neighbors say prior problems not yet solved

BP Gas Station owned by Lake Management, LLC. It was once a Clark station and the corner suffered from crime and drug activity.

BP Gas Station operated by Lake Management, LLC. It was once a Clark station and the corner suffered from crime and drug activity.

City officials are weighing issues of fairness regarding a business owner’s right to sell beer against neighbor’s objections due to a history of problems on the property and a present day problem of public intoxication at a nearby park. The proprietor, Lake Management, LLC., runs the BP Gas Station  at 2801 Atwood Avenue and has managed to have a conditional use restriction regarding alcohol lifted, but faces a tougher road at the Alcohol Licensing Review Committee.

In 2005, it was known as the Clark station and was home to occasional sketchy activity. There were periodic armed robberies, occasional drug activity and other recurring incidents that began to affect the residential properties nearby. Late that year, Murthy Polasa and Kuldip Singh Mavi, of M & J Petroleum, LLC., purchased the property and proposed tearing down the structure and building a new convenience store along with the gas station under the BP Brand.

The new store was a hard sell to the neighborhood, especially to the immediate neighbors. After numerous neighborhood meetings the project was allowed to go forward with promises from Polasa and Mavi of no alcohol sales and that the atmosphere at the property would improve. Judy Olson, the District 6 Alder at the time, lobbied the Plan Commission to place a conditional use restriction on the property that no alcohol sales would be allowed.

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MNA Establishes 722 Willy Working Group

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Subcommittee formed to work with developer to resolve concerns

A view of the north side of the proposed development at 722 Williamson Street.

A view of the north side of the proposed development at 722 Williamson Street.

The one clear fact that emerged from the Marquette Neighborhood Association Preservation & Development Committee (MNA P&D) meeting today (September 18) is that the proposed development at 722 Williamson Street is the first true test of the Williamson Street 600 to 1100 Blocks Better Urban Infill Development (BUILD) Program II plan which was launched 10 years ago.

From the beginning its was apparent the two hours allotted for this monthly meeting would not be enough to deeply discuss the many aspects of the proposal by Baldwin Development Group (BDG) and make a recommendation to the MNA Board that would properly represent the wishes of the neighborhood.

Early on, it was proposed that a subcommittee be formed to meet with BDG on a frequent basis to present the issues raised by the neighborhood and offer guidance as BDG further refines their design in advance of the upcoming City approval processes such as the Urban Design Commission (UDC), which is the next stop for this project.

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Interviewing Wild Orangutans

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Marquette neighborhood grapples with proposed development at 722 Willy Street

An architectual rendering of the proposed development "722 Williamson". Courtesy: Baldwin Development Group

An architectual rendering of the proposed development “722 Williamson”. Courtesy: Baldwin Development Group

Neighborhood planning covenants are playing into the debate over a large mixed-use development proposed for the 700 block of Williamson Street which would fill in the parking lots between and behind Ground Zero Coffee and the Olds building, possibly reaching ten stories into the air.

Baldwin Development Group wants to build a $46-million retail and housing complex on property owned by Williamson Associates, LLC, an entity of the The Rifkin Group, which also owns three other buildings on the block. The three-tiered design, currently named “722 Williamson”, would feature retail and office space along Williamson with seven- and ten-story apartment towers deeper into the property.

The proposal is drawing mixed reactions from the neighborhood, with some hailing its design and density and others bristling that the towering building exceeds the Williamson Street 600 to 1100 Blocks Better Urban Infill Development (BUILD) Program II plan, which seeks to preserve the historic character of the street. District 6 Alder Marsha Rummel says the development would include approximately 220 apartments, 5,600 square feet of commercial space, 386 parking stalls and co-working space.

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Grampa’s Pizzeria Extends Fig Leaf to Moms and Kids

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New Willy Street business gives free pizza to atone for breastfeeding flap

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The intimate table setting in Grampa’s main dining area was too close for one patron who complained about a breastfeeding diner.

Last week at Grampa’s Pizzeria, Managing Partner Marissa Johnson offered a breastfeeding patron a more private area to nurse after another patron had complained. According to an account published on Madison.com the patron did not accept the offer and left soon after.

A small social media firestorm soon appeared on Facebook as some area mothers threatened to boycott the establishment. According to a state law passed in 2009 breastfeeding in public is a protected act and while Ms. Johnson may not have technically run afoul of the law in offering the woman an alternate location; the incident has inflamed passions on the Near East Side.  Continue reading →