2019 Survey Follow-up

This is a great opportunity for our neighborhood to reflect on progress since the CMNNA Annual Meeting in September, while also looking ahead and sharing ideas we are excited for in 2019. CMNNA has done a significant amount of legwork since the Annual Meeting. The Board has internalized the feedback we received at the meeting and through the survey. We have also gotten to know each other as there was significant turn over in the positions; this is great to see as we can be confident that democracy is alive and well in our small corner of the universe.

Each question is included, with a key, in order to provide context for understanding the results.  The sections below summarize some of the key findings from the survey, as well as related accomplishments and future plans.

• Good Neighbor Project

Although this is publicized by the city, there is no project/program outside of the name. The idea is simply getting to know your neighbors and watching out for each other. Having social events in order to better understand your neighbors so you can recognize what is normal or abnormal and therefore should be reported.

The goal of this “Program” seemed extremely close to the goals of our Neighborhood Association and local neighborhood social groups, including book clubs, Neighborhood Parties/Block Parties, etc. The Association highly encourages involvement in these types of gatherings and residents getting the word out through social media and local publications such as “Under the Oaks”,”The Oak Leaf”, “University Neighbors”, and simply talking to each other. The Board will continue to help promote and facilitate the building of social and community ties throughout the Neighborhood. We are also working to create relationships with organizations currently operating within CMNNA boundaries so that we can work together, forming synergies instead of siloing and wasting community resources.

Other ideas which were floated-

-Neighborhood Block Call Tree – Operating on some blocks but not Neighborhood wide.

-Community Based Camera Network

-Private security patrols for individual neighborhoods

-Walking neighborhood patrols by residents

There were pros and cons to each of these ideas and the board ultimately did not have enough support to move forward with them. If there are community members who feel passionately that there is support and would like to work towards implementing these or any other ideas, please reach out. At this time, our approach will continue to be building a caring, connected, supportive, situationally aware community that values open dialogue among all its members.

Resources- How to have a block party  www.cityofmadison.com/specialEvents/blockparties/applicationProcess.cfm

Crime Prevention-
http://www.cityofmadison.com/police/safety/crimeprevention/

Crime Committee Chair-Vacant

The Safe Streets Committee is working to address identified areas of concern throughout the Neighborhood, and discussing options with those directly effected by the issues. If you have identified an area of concern such as a crosswalk without a curb cut, dangerous crossing, sidewalk with service gap, or unsafe pedestrian throughway, please bring it to the attention of the Safe Streets Committee.

Traffic information-

The Traffic Committees efforts should be recognized here as Sharon Koenig has done an amazing job of embodying our goal of citizen empowerment. She has led measures to explore the traffic issues of Seminole Hwy and particularly at the intersection with Winslow Ln. The work has entailed being trained and utilizing the MPD rentable speed laser gun, and collecting survey results from the neighbors effected by the intersection in order to present a case to Traffic Engineering with data to back it up. The Committee is currently in talks with Traffic Engineering as to a time line of implementation and specific improvements and their implementation.

Highlighting a lesser known city program-

City of Madison Traffic Engineering developed the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) which works with neighborhoods on active and passive traffic measures in response to community concerns about traffic in neighborhoods. The CMNNA has a good working relationship with Traffic Engineering personnel and will continue to develop that relationship through the Traffic and Safe Streets Committees.

Additional traffic ideas can be found in the 2018 National Association of City Transportation Officials Urban Street Design Guide (https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/).

Most well known parks in the area, such as Westmorland and Nakoma, have had community financial support. With the help of $1000 from the Nakoma League, CMNNA was able to secure $7500 in additional funding in order to significantly expand the age range of children served by the park equipment and provide a greater variety of learning experiences.

Our Greenspace Committee has been tasked with enhancing our open spaces and creating greater awareness of The Neighborhood(CMNNA). The present focus will be two-fold: maintaining and enhancing the space under the pedestrian/bike bridge spiral ramp at Whenona Drive, which is the site of our Butterfly-Pollinator Garden, and exploring the possibility of a neighborhood sign at the corner where the Beltline exit ramp meets Seminole Highway.

We are also excited to announce that the Butterfly Garden has just become a certified Monarch Waystation, a program of Monarch Watch: https://monarchwatch.org/waystations/

Greenspace Committee Co-chairs:

Carol Buelow: crbuelow@wisc.edu

LaVonne Bennett: Jonlavon@tds.net