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President’s Message
Get Ready for New Neighbors!
by Ed Rogers
JULY-AUGUST 2016
Calendar: July 8: Summer Nights at Segoe, No Name String Band, Segoe Park, 7
to 8:30 p.m.
July 12: Neighborhood Watch,
Midvale Community Lutheran Church, 5:30 p.m.
July 15: Summer Nights at Segoe, Nighttime Quartet, Segoe Park, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
July 16: Friends of the Library book sale, Westgate, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
July 22: Summer Nights at Segoe, High Ridge Band, Segoe Park, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
July 29: Summer Nights at Segoe, TBA, Segoe Park, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
NO MHCA monthly board meet-ing in July.
August 6: Friends of the Library book sale, Westgate, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
August 15: Copy deadline for Sep-
tember-October Midvale Messen-ger.
August 16: Neighborhood Watch, Midvale Community Lutheran Church, 6:30 p.m.
August 23: MHCA monthly board meeting, Sequoya Branch Library, 6:45 to 8:45 p.m.
September 3: Friends of the Library book sale, Westgate, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
September 3-4: MHCA annual gar-age sale, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. both days.
Midvale Messenger
You may have noticed, as I have, that “For Sale” signs are sprout-ing up in Midvale Heights yards faster than dandelions. Across Dane County, we are experiencing our lowest foreclosure rate in years, along with an Indian summer of interest rates favorable to buyers. As a result, it appears to be a seller’s market, with many homes quickly finding new owners. In fact, for five years running, August and September have had the highest number of home sales in Midvale Heights – usually about 30 homes per month—so there is likely more to come this year. For those of us who are staying put, please give a warm welcome to our new neighbors. In addition to sharing your thoughts about this wonderful neighborhood, don’t forget to let folks know the great things your neighborhood association does to build commu-nity and connection. On Fridays in July, we’re hosting bands to play music in the evenings at Segoe Park (weather permitting). Our Green Team has been doing a marvelous job sprucing up the me-dians along Tokay Blvd. and a new volunteer at the Bison Prairie Gateway is organizing volunteers to improve that site as well. And for neighbors with kids, it’s never too early to mention that neigh-borhood homes can get an in-person visit from Santa in Decem-ber. If you have a new neighbor, stop by, and drop off this Messenger (after you’ve had a chance to enjoy reading it yourself!), and welcome them to Midvale Heights. And to any new neighbors reading this, please get in touch! We’d love to give you our free New Neighbor Welcome Packet, and answer any questions you have about life here in Midvale Heights. We hope you will find us right neighborly.
MIDVALE MESSENGER
The Midvale Messenger is published six times a year by the Midvale Heights Community Associa-tion. Copy deadlines are the 15th of February,
April, June, August, October, and December.
Editor: Denise Lamb
newsletter @midvaleheights.org
Distribution: Kelly Murdock
President: Ed Rogers
Area11@Midvale Heights.org
Printed by Lakeside Press on recycled paper.
Did you forget to renew your MHCA membership?
Our membership drive officially ended on June 30, but you can still join for 2016-
2017 and continue to receive our member discount card, membership directory,
and the Midvale Messenger.
We’ll be sending reminder postcards to those who have not signed up for 2016-
17 in the next couple weeks. To sign up now, go to http://midvaleheights.org/
MHCAregister and follow the instructions. Thank you for supporting your neigh-
borhood.
Page 2
Neighborhood News Briefs
Friends of the Library
Book Sales
Upcoming book sale dates are Saturdays July 16, August 6, and September 3 from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m. at Westgate Mall next to
TJMaxx. A $2 bag sale on dis-counted items
begins at 2 p.m. Proceeds from the Friends of Sequoya sales supported a sub-stantial donation for replacing worn carpet, new furniture in the children’s and fireplace are-as, and more seating for laptop and tablet users. To volunteer with the Friends, ask at the Se-quoya help desk, come to the shop at Westgate on Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon, or call the shop at 608-288-9848 and leave a message. Book donations can be left at the library.
Advice From a Neighbor
If you are planning to be gone for long periods of time this summer, be a good neighbor and arrange for someone to cut the grass and keep an eye on your property. This is important not just for security reasons, but because an unkempt yard makes the whole street look neglected. Potential home buy-ers take a look at other homes on the street as well as the house they may be considering.
Westwood Christian Plans Vacation Bible
School
Westwood Christian Church, 5210 Odana Road, is sponsor-
ing a vacation bible school, “Submerge in God’s Word,” for pre-schoolers through 5th grad-ers from Sunday, July 24, through Thursday, July 28. Ses-sions will run from 6 to 8 p.m. each evening. Activities will in-clude songs, lessons, crafts, and games. To register or for fur-ther information, call West-wood Christian Church’s office at 608-274-0266. Sandy Polcy is the Vacation Bible School di-rector.
Bethany Community Block Party Set for
August 21 Bethany United Methodist Church, 3910 Mineral Point Rd., will hold its annual Com-munity Block Party from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, Au-gust 21. The party will feature free burgers and hot dogs, along with snow cones and ice cream. There will also be bounce houses, face painting, live music by Radio Feedback, and more. Everyone in the neighborhood is invited to at-tend.
Local Food Pantry
Serves Needy Midvale
Height Families
Westwood Christian Church, 5210 Odana Rd, runs a food pantry that is open every Thurs-day from 5:00 to 6:30 pm (except for holidays falling on Thursday). Doors open at 4:30 p.m. The pantry serves low- and no-income individuals and fam-ilies. If you or someone you know is in need, please call the church at 274-0266 on Thurs-
days between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to make a reservation to receive food. Church staff will assist applicants in detailing their qualifications and provide fur-ther information about the food pantry.
New Community
Garden Proposed
Westwood Christian Church is proposing to use part of its property on Odana Road to establish a community garden. Randy Peterson, who cares for the plantings near the Midvale Heights Neighborhood sign at Odana Road and Odana Lane, has volunteered to organize a committee to explore the possi-bility. With a waiting list at the Midvale School garden and ex-pressed interest in another gar-den in Midvale Heights, he hopes to hear from neighbors who want to make this a reality. If you are interested in working on a garden committee with Randy or renting a plot if the garden is established, contact him at [email protected] for further information.
Page 3
Neighborhood Watch News
by Wendy Reichel
According to Detective Justine Harris of the Mad-ison Police Department’s Burglary Crimes Unit, there are three types of burglars in Madison: ca-reer burglars who skillfully commit planned crimes; opportunistic burglars who take advantage of open garages, unlocked cars, and untended purses to steal bikes, laptops, phones, and credit cards; and drug-motivated burglars, who need quick money to pay for their habit. Drug-motivated burglars look for money (e.g., loose change in an unlocked car) or hard-to-trace items they can quickly sell for cash like CDs, DVDs, video games, and jewelry.
There is an underground market on Facebook that allows thieves to easily sell stolen items. Oth-er items may be sold on the street, on Craigslist, or through pawn shops. When thieves steal purs-es, they use credit cards to charge items and then take the items back to a different store location to “return” them for cash. While it’s challenging for the police to locate stolen items, you can improve the odds by recording the serial numbers (where applicable) or taking photographs of your valua-bles.
How can you protect yourself from becoming a victim? Lock your home, garage, and vehicles at night, since many thefts occur overnight. When shopping, take only the credit cards you need and don’t carry large amounts of cash. Use motion detector lights outside your home and lights on timers inside your home so it appears occupied. You can also put a loud TV or radio on a timer when you are away so if someone approaches your home they’ll hear noise and assume someone is inside.
Be aware of what’s normal and not normal in your neighborhood. If you see someone you don’t rec-ognize peering in your neighbor’s car or house windows, err on the side of caution and call 911. Get to know your neighbors and let them know when you will be away. You can also fill out the MPD’s Vacation Watch Request Form. The infor-mation you provide on its secure site, including departure and return dates and emergency contact information, is given to district officers who send
patrol officers to check your property while you are away: The address is: https://www. cityofmadison.com/police/forms/vacationWatch.cfm
The Midvale Heights Neighborhood Watch group hosts educational events on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at Midvale Communi-ty Lutheran Church. On Tuesday, July 12, meet officers and horses from the MPD’s Mounted Pa-trol Unit. This special event will start one hour earlier (at 5:30 p.m.) to accommodate the unit. It’s a great event for children! And on Tuesday, Au-gust 16, learn how to keep yourself safe during severe weather from WKOW Channel 27 meteor-ologist, Branden Borremans.
For more information about the Midvale Heights Neighborhood Watch and how you can join or become a volunteer, please visit our website: http://www.midvaleheights.org/Neighborhood_Watch.
Happy Summer! Hope
everyone is doing well.
Here is some of what
we have been doing on
the county board:
Day Resource Shelter,
Take 4: The county is
considering a new loca-
tion for a permanent,
daytime resource center for homeless and hous-
ing-unstable individuals to be during the day.
This is the fourth proposed location but is cer-
tainly the best: on E. Washington Ave. blocks
from the Capitol and the nighttime shelters, with
good access to frequent bus service. I support
this location, just as I have the past three, be-
cause this needs to be done; we need resources
and physical space for people to be. I will work
with the county board to ensure this new loca-
tion has resources—space to secure belongings;
showers and laundry facilities; resources for
health, employment, and housing services; and
of course, respite from the weather. We will
need to work closely with the Madison City
Council and the neighborhood associations to
make this a success, and failures to do so in the
past have been our pitfalls. Stay tuned.
Affordable Housing for Individuals: A long-time
supporter of developing more affordable hous-
ing studio and one-bedroom units, I am pleased
to announce that the county paired with the city
and private developers build the Rethke project .
It opened this spring with 60 units for formerly
homeless or housing-unstable individuals. More
than 40% of the 60 units are reserved for veter-
ans. The housing comes with wrap-around ser-
vices, including medical, mental health, and ad-
diction help. All 60 units are expected to be oc-
cupied by August.
County as an Address for Voting: The County
Board approved allowing homeless and housing-
unstable individuals to use the Dane County De-
partment of Human Services as their proof of
residency for purposes of securing a voter ID by
the State of Wisconsin. The state, likewise, has
approved the county designating an address for
citizens otherwise able to vote but for not hav-
ing an address. This is a small but essential step
in the many efforts the county has made to en-
sure everyone is able to vote.
Office of Equity and Inclusion: The County
Board established this new department in the
2016 budget, and we have appointed its inaugu-
ral director, Wesley Sparkman. He has worked
for Dane County for many years in the county
executive’s office on issues of equity. I have al-
ready met with him and will be supporting this
important work.
As always, let me know if you have any ques-
tions or comments. You can reach me by cell
phone at (608) 658-7333 or by email at
Page 4
County Board Supervisor Report by Carousel Bayrd
Three cheers for long sum-mer days! This is one of my favorite times of year. There is plenty going on this sum-mer on the city council. Here are a few updates:
Voter Registration Mod-ernization: In my last col-umn, I noted that I was working to introduce a reso-
lution calling on our city to create new automatic processes for registering more people to vote. Now, each time a resident visits a city office and presents proof of residency documents for any reason, city staff will offer the resident an oppor-tunity to register to vote by default. This simple innovation promises to help keep our city on the forefront of municipal voter registration practices.
Family Medical Leave Grant: Many of you know that I became a father in January. As major life experiences tend to do, this one expanded my horizons to consider an important issue facing our community. We are all likely to face care-giving responsibilities in our lifetime, whether it is to care for a newborn, tend to a seriously ill or injured family member, or recover from our own serious illness. And while cities and states are moving to-ward policies that empower employees to care for their families while maintaining their job, as of 2011, the state of Wisconsin prohibits communi-ties from providing a uniform structure for mod-ern family leave. Despite this, I supported partner-ing with the University of Wisconsin to apply for a Department of Labor grant to conduct research
on paid leave in the City of Madison. Our city won’t shy away from being a model to the country on such an important issue.
Youth Gun Violence Prevention: For the past year, I’ve been working with my colleague, Alder Matt Phair, to outline the best practices for reduc-ing and preventing gun violence, particularly among Madison youth. We recently announced a report with several evidence based violence pre-vention strategies. These include: increasing fund-ing for successful summer youth internships, in-creasing partnerships with existing mentoring pro-grams, creating a “Madison Peace Project,” fund-ing strategic re-entry programs, and working to create a “restoration center.” I will report on our progress in implementing these goals in future col-umns.
As always, please be in touch with me with any suggestions, concerns, or feedback. I can be reached at [email protected] or 608-620-1994.
Page 5
Common Council Alder Report by Maurice Cheeks
MadiSUN, a new city program that makes it easier and cheaper for local homeowners to install roof-top solar electric by purchasing equipment as a group, is recruiting interested households through September 16. To support these purchases, Mad-iSUN has partnered with Summit Credit Union to offer low-cost Solar Energy Loans to residents installing solar. Madison households can borrow up to 100% of the installed cost of a solar energy system at competitive fixed rates, with no collat-eral, no fees, and flexible repayment terms. The maximum loan amount per household is $20,000. MadiSUN’s initiatives will complement state and federal incentives. These include a 30% federal tax credit in place through 2019, as well as possible Focus on Energy solar rebates up to $2,400.
RENEW Wisconsin, a local nonprofit organiza-tion promoting renewable energy statewide, will administer the program on behalf of the city. Mad-iSUN will host workshop sessions across the city to help residents determine whether their home might be a good fit for solar and learn more about the MadiSUN programs. Westside workshop dates and locations are:
Alicia Ashman Branch Library, 733 N. High Point Rd., Thursday, July 7, 6 p.m.
Meadowridge Neighborhood Library, 5726 Ray-mond Rd., Tuesday July 12, 6 p.m.
First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Dr.,
Sunday July 24, 1 p.m.
To learn more about the program and find other workshop locations, visit www.madisunsolar.com. Please RSVP for a workshop by emailing [email protected] or calling 608-255-4044 Ext. 5.
Page 6
New Madison Program Supports Solar Power Installations
Friday Night Segoe Concerts Begin July 8
Summer Nights at Segoe will begin its 2016 season on Friday, July 8, with the No Name String Band, playing from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Other dates for the series are July 15, 22, and 29, with neighborhood groups the Nighttime Quartet and High Ridge Band per-forming on the 15th and 22nd, re-spectively. Rain dates for all perfor-mances will be the following Saturday nights. Bring the kids, a picnic, chairs, and blankets for some great summer music almost in your own backyard. See you at Segoe!
The No Name String Band, shown here playing at Segoe Park for Make Music Madison in 2014 , will kick
off this year’s Summer Nights at Segoe on July 8.
Page 7
Bison Prairie Gateway Welcomes New Coordinator
Hello, I'm Nancy Kieraldo, the new coordinator for maintaining the Bison Prairie Gateway. Living next door to this wonderful neighborhood feature, I get to enjoy the plantings every day. Now, I have the good fortune of having the time to coordinate its health and well-being. As one of our BPG team said recently, “Prairies are low maintenance but not NO maintenance.” I’m certainly finding this out quickly.
We currently have a team of five or six people who helped with spring cleanup and are now identifying plants, weeds, and invasive species and assisting with mowing and weeding. We’ve worked to keep Garlic Mustard, Leafy Spurge and Canada Thistle at bay . Unfortunately, this will always be an ongo-ing project.
The Bison Prairie Gateway is blooming. Current flowering natives include Wild Quinine, Spider-
wort, Pale Pink Coneflower and Meadow Rue, to name a few. It’s always fun to visit and see what is blooming. I'm amazed at how often the park is used and enjoyed by humans, birds, bees, and oth-er insects. This area welcomes all visitors to the Midvale Heights neighborhood in such a positive, natural and ecological way.
If you have the interest and a little time, we would love to have you on our BPG team. Upcoming projects will include fall planning/infrastructure work to improve the BPG sign area, fall cleanup, a spring burn, pruning, and weeding. Your level of participation is based on your interest and availabil-ity, so please contact me even if you only have “a little time” to help out. Many hands make light work. Please contact me via email at [email protected] to learn more about the Prairie and what the BPG team is doing.
Annual Garage Sale Set for September 2 and 3
Start cleaning out those closets—the Midvale Heights annual garage sale is only two months away. Official dates and times for this year’s sale are Friday and Saturday, September 2 and 3, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Participants can choose to hold their sale on one or both days and can set their own hours. Between 40 and 60 Midvale Heights neighbors usually participate in the sale. There is strength in numbers: the more homes participating, the bigger the crowds shopping the sales!
The MHCA advertises the sale in the State Journal and Isthmus newspapers, online at Madison.com, the Isthmus Daily Page, Craigslist, and many other websites. Participants are encouraged to run their own ads in the State Journal and other locations for added visibility. A feature of the sale is an inter-active map on the MHCA website (midvaleheights.org) that sellers can revise and buyers can download to guide theme through the sale. Organizers also arrange for St. Vincent de Paul to pick up unsold items for donation on Sat-urday afternoon.
A $10.00 registration fee covers advertising, neigh-borhood signs, and maps for participants to dis-
tribute to sale shoppers. A packet containing sale guidelines, a sign designating participants, maps for shoppers, and a list of those wishing to have St. Vincent de Paul pick up unsold items will be dis-tributed to participants before the sale.
The garage sale registration form is on p. 8 of this issue. Forms can also be downloaded from the Midvale Heights website. Diana Peterson is the new chair of the garage sale and can be reached at [email protected] with ques-tions. Forms are due back to Diana no later than August 5 in order to be included in the online in-teractive map and the St. Vincent de Paul pick up list.
