skip to main |
skip to sidebar
December 2, 2016
The DMN e-News and an occasional hard copy DMN News are published by the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association (DMNA) on an “as-needed” schedule. The Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association, Inc. has been working to unite neighbors to solve mutual problems and promote fellowship among neighbors since 1973. Our neighborhood is in Madison & Fitchburg.
President: Yannette (Janet) Cole, yfcole@gmail.com 332-7003
News contact: Mary Mullen, mmullen4337@charter.net 298-0843
Website: http://www.dunnsmarsh.org <http://www.dunnsmarsh.org>
On Facebook: Type Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association into the Facebook search box.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARTICLES (All articles written by Mary Mullen unless noted otherwise)
LIQUOR STORE UPDATE
1 - Liquor License at City Council, Tuesday, Dec. 6
2 - Liquor License Recommended by ALRC, Nov. 16
3 - See and Hear the Entire Liquor License Hearing
4 - What the Neighbors Said at the Hearing (Attachment: “1 pics neighbors at ALRC.jpg”)
5 - The Other Side of the Argument
EVERYTHING ELSE
6 - Fitchburg Board of Public Works Approves Little Free Library Move
7 - Bus Company Recognizes the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood
8 - City Flag to be Featured on Bus Fare Items
REWARD - You’ll have to go there to see it.
---------------------------
ARTICLES
LIQUOR STORE UPDATE
1 - Liquor License at City Council, Tuesday, Dec. 6
On Tuesday, December 6, the Madison City Council will act on the recommendation of the Alcohol License Review Committee (ALRC) to approve a Class A Liquor and Beer License for the former Zimmer's Liquors at 4217 West Beltline Highway.
The Council could decide to approve the license with all the conditions recommended by the ALRC, or it could vote to approve the license but lift some or all of the recommended restrictions. [See the article below to learn about the recommended conditions.] The City Council also has the power to deny the license entirely, but according to staff in the City Clerk's office, the Council usually goes along with what the ALRC recommends.
The new liquor store owner has stated that she plans to ask to have some of the conditions lifted.
Anyone can express an opinion about this license and its conditions. One way is by attending the Council meeting, 6:30 pm, Tuesday, December 6, Room 201, in the City-County Building. Register in favor or against the item, and for most effect, check that you wish to speak. (You may speak for up to 3 minutes.)
Another way is to communicate with our Alder Maurice Cheeks. His e-mail is <district10@cityofmadison.com> One can also communicate with all the alders at once directly through the city website: http://www.cityofmadison.com/council/contact/ <http://www.cityofmadison.com/council/contact/>
2 - Liquor License Recommended by ALRC, Nov. 16
The Alcohol License Review Committee recommended giving the license to the new owner of Zimmer's at 4217 West Beltline on Wednesday, November 16. However, it put many conditions on the license. The conditions include indoor and outdoor video surveillance, motion lights all around, no sale of 50 mL, 100 mL, or 200 mL hard liquor, no sale of single bottles or cans of beer or similar beverages except for microbrewery beer that comes in no other way, and meetings once every 3 months with the Dunn's Marsh Neighborhood Association. There might have been other details I missed.
When all liquor licenses come up for renewal in May, this license will get special attention from the ALRC, and I believe neighbors will have the chance to speak out on how things are going.
The ALRC meeting ran from 5:30 pm-11:30 pm. This item came up at 9:25 pm. Neighbors who spoke actually waited for more than 4 hours. Originally, 9 neighbors came, and 5 stayed to speak. This item took about 2 hours from start to finish.
3 - See and Hear the Entire Liquor License Hearing
Looking for 2 hours of entertainment? J Well, maybe not entertainment, but definitely reality, if not a reality show. It’s the video recording of the Alcohol License Review Committee’s hearing about the application for a Class A Liquor and Beer License for 4217 West Beltline, the former Zimmer’s Liquors.
The entire proceedings on November 16 at the ALRC ran 6 hours. The hearing about 4217 West Beltline ran 2 hours and 2 minutes. The Internet address is listed at the end of this article.
If you want to try listening, go to 3:47:00 (3 hours and 47 minutes into the meeting). If you only want to hear neighbors appearing before the Committee, here’s that schedule:
· 4:11:07 - Paul Rogovich’s testimony
· 4:16:27 - Dale-Harriet Rogovich’s testimony
· 4:20:10 - Mary Mullen’s testimony
· 4:28:30 - Sam Shesman’s testimony
· 4:30:-- - Julliane Carbin’s testimony (next-door business NAMI)
· 4:42:-- - Alder Dorothy Krause’s remarks read
· 4:43:-- - Alder Maurice Cheek’s comments
The motion recommending granting the license was made about 5:49:45 (about 5 hours and 49 minutes into the hearing).
These are the URLs to try:
http://media.cityofmadison.com/Mediasite/Play/948658461753436bb825826242243f721d?catalog=a276c683-8080-49bc-a2bb-c4f7380818fc
If that URL doesn’t work for you, try http://www.cityofmadison.com/citychannel/meetings/alrc/ and choose
the November 16 ALRC meeting.
4 - What the Neighbors Said at the Hearing (Attachment: “1 pics neighbors at ALRC.jpg”)
It was a long night at the Alcohol License Review Committee (ALRC) November 16, but a group of neighbors stuck it out for 6 hours to have their say about licensing the the liquor store at 4217 West Beltline and hear what the ALRC members would decide. Some of them had written to the ALRC prior to the meeting as well.
Except for the applicant, all the neighborhood speakers came out against granting a license for the new owner of the establishment, formerly Zimmer’s Liquors.
First to speak was Paul Rogovich. He said he is always super cautious when passing 4217 West Beltline because vehicles tend to careen out of the liquor store parking lot. This kind of aggressive driving is not true of neighboring businesses on the frontage road.
Paul is an Arboretum steward. He mentioned that while some customers use the frontage road to get to their apartments down the road to the east, others use the the paths in the Arboretum as an alternate route. As a steward, he picks up after them - mostly flask-sized bottles and beer containers. Would a change in management change that litter problem? He thought not: “The problem is intrinsic to having a liquor store,” he said. He concluded that denying a liquor license “would be an opportunity to free the neighborhood” of all the problems associated with a liquor store.
He also handed in petitions signed by 57 neighbors opposing a liquor license.
Next, his wife Dale-Harriet Rogovich spoke. Her main point was that Danbury Street has a school bus stop, and she does not want elementary school kids exposed to the inebriated customers who have passed out in yards on or near Danbury.
Mary Mullen had recently picked up recyclables along the Beltline and Verona frontage roads. She displayed 2 large garbage bags filled with the alcohol containers. The majority of containers were the small 50 mL “airplane bottles” although containers of all sizes were represented. She said she had only recently learned that liquor store customers were getting drunk to the point to falling unconscious nearby and that an open-air drug market was apparently in full swing among liquor store customers who overflowed into the NAMI parking lot next door to the store. Mary noted that the applicant had not contacted the neighborhood association as required as part of the license application.
Sam Shesman, a new resident on Danbury since May, said he thought it was amusing the first time his 2-year-old daughter brought in a liquor bottle she had picked up in the yard, but it is no longer funny. Now his first act every morning is ridding his property of alcohol containers. Twice, drunk customers have passed out in his yard. He said he felt there were a lot of alcoholics living in the neighborhood and that proximity to the liquor store enables them. “The liquor store is a hub of the problems,” he said. As one of the neighbors who passed a petition against the license, he pointed out that signatures were easy to get.
The last neighborhood speaker was Julianne Carbin, Executive Director of the National Association for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), the business located just to the west of the liquor store. She told of how liquor store customers often park in the NAMI lot and apparently conduct their illegal drug transactions there. She has seen wads of money exchanging hands and people shooting heroin. She and other employees have to be very careful when leaving work because of these issues.
Mark and Krisann Miehe of Midwest Financial Service at the corner of Seminole Highway and the frontage road could not stay, but their communications with the ALRC noted that people cut through their parking lot to get to the store - the parking lot has driveways opening on Seminole and the frontage road - and they had to pick up alcohol containers discarded on their property. Likewise, Crystal Hester, a NAMI employe had to leave prior to the hearing. She would have corroborated Juliane Carbin’s statements. The other neighborhood resident attending the hearing and opposed to the license was Patty Stockdale who preferred to listen.
Fitchburg Alder Dorothy Krause had another meeting, but she left her statement to be read to the ALRC. She was in favor of granting the license if the DMNA requests were met.
5 - The Other Side of the Argument
The argument for granting the liquor license so the store at 4217 West Beltline could continue to operate was presented by the new owner, Gurpreet Ghuman, her lawyers, and by Wanda Smith, a neighborhood organizer who has worked with the Jamestown neighborhood and was in support of small business owners.
Mrs. Ghuman spoke before other registered speakers were called, and the ALRC asked questions before going on to the rest of the hearing.
Mrs. Ghuman said she had already purchased the business and that she had considerable experience in running a liquor store since she owns Rocky’s on Milwaukee Street and previously owned a store in Jefferson. In her presentation she said there were no complaints from neighbors at those stores, but she was willing to make changes wanted by this community. She said she was already planning to do 3 of the 4 things the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association had requested - getting outdoor motion lights and outdoor cameras and reporting any illegal activities. The other request was to stop selling the 50 mL “airplane bottles.” She said that most sales would be small bottles. When Mr. Donnelly, one of the ALRC members, asked her how much of the business was small bottles, she said, “20%, not including beer and snacks.”
A lengthy discussion followed during which Alder Verveer, an influential member of the ALRC, asked her if she was aware that airplane bottles are illegal in the downtown campus area. Eventually, the motion passed by ALRC recommended adding all the restrictions imposed on downtown liquor stores. These include no sales of 50 mL, 100 mL, and 200 mL liquor bottles and no sales of single-serving beer or ale containers.
During the long wait for the hearing to begin, neighbors had spent some time in the hall discussing the problems associated with Zimmer’s. Mr. Petri, one of Mrs. Ghuman’s lawyers, had been part of this discussion. On the hearing stand he said that the hall time was good, that good information was shared. He said that Zimmer’s had been in operation since 1970, but that Zimmer was “behind the times.” Zimmer’s had no security measures. Petri said the liquor store owners could agree to meet every 3 months with the nextdoor business, NAMI. He said a big difference would be that the Ghumans would own the building whereas Mr. Zimmer only owned his business. Thus the new owners would have more of a stake in the neighborhood.
The second lawyer, Jay Smith, said that the conditions suggested by the DMNA were all reasonable.
After that, the neighbors were called on to speak, and the ALRC members also asked them questions. All opposed granting the license.
Following them, Wanda Smith was called on. She described herself as “a community organizer in favor of the minority business owner.” She mentioned working with the Jamestown community. Ms Smith said she had met with the applicant’s husband, and they were “trying to get the community together” and “to bridge the gap.” She reported that he would “sponsor stuff for neighbors and kids.” People would “see a positive role model.” She said that Peace Network would partner with him. According to the Internet, Wanda McCann-Smith is the registered agent for Peace Network Inc, and on LinkedIn she describes herself as a mental health specialist.
Most of the rest of the meeting was devoted to discussion among the ALRC members. Mike Verveer, Michael Donnelly, Fernanco Cano Ospina, and Stefan Fletcher were the most frequent members to talk; two alders on the Committee had to leave for other meetings before this hearing came up.
In the end, the Committee called the owner back to the stand to ask her if she would be amenable to the restriction on smaller liquor bottles that had been discussed - mentioned above - plus the video surveillance, motion lights, and meetings with the neighborhood association every 3 months. At this point she said she felt that she was being discriminated against because of her minority status. “Nobody complained for 36 years,” she said, referring to the fact that the neighborhood had not objected to renewal of Zimmer’s license at any of those times. [Editor’s note: Neighbors become aware of new license applications by a big orange sign on the door of the business, but there is no notification of the yearly liquor license renewal process.]
ALRC members did their best to explain that they were not singling her out, but were trying to balance the needs of the neighbors and the needs of her business. Alder Verveer noted that she could come in to apply for a change in conditions any month.
Alder Maurice Cheeks, who had earlier ceded his chance to talk, then said a few words. He said he felt it wasn’t necessary to present the DMNA requests since it was clear that the ALRC was well aware of them. He asked about the prevalence of restrictions such as those recommended for 4217 West Beltline and further suggested that the ALRC should be striving to understand unintended effects of their decisions on minorities and poor people. He did not actually come out for or against the license or its conditions.
As things wound down for the evening, Thomas Landgraf, chair of the ALRC, noted that the owner could object to the ALRC-recommended conditions at the December 6 City Council meeting.
At the store a few days later, Mrs. Ghuman stated that she would be protesting the conditions that the ALRC recommended.
EVERYTHING ELSE
6 - Fitchburg Board of Public Works Approves Little Free Library Move
While a July e-News article suggested that the Little Free Library (LFL) would be moved from its Danbury/Lumley location to below Crescent Road, it wasn’t until this November 21 that Fitchburg actually gave its official approval to allow placement of the LFL there.
On that Monday night, 2 DMNA Council members visited the Fitchburg Board of Public Works to advocate for the Board’s permission to relocate the LFL to public land down near Apache Pond. They were Elvice McAlpine, who did all of the legwork with Fitchburg on this issue and who will sponsor the LFL, and Mary Mullen, former DMNA president.
The Board devoted a fair amount of discussion to the request. Apparently, this LFL would be the only one where permission was asked to locate one on public property in Fitchburg. There may be some in street right-of-ways that were put up by homeowners.
The discussion focused on whether granting permission would set a precedent and what liability the City might be accepting. One Board member wanted to delay setting of the LFL until the city attorney was consulted and a policy was written, but in the end, it was decided that the City should go ahead and give permission right now.
One Board member then requested that a short policy should be written about privately-owned facilities on public property. He suggested a 1-page policy, “actually 1 paragraph.” Don’t say that there’s no humor in government.
The City will decide on a good location, get the utilities marked, and actually dig the hole for the post.
Meanwhile Elvice and her husband Tom are working at getting the LFL removed from its present location.
7 - Bus Company Recognizes the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood
A few weeks ago, I was out on the street when Bus 19 appeared from the gloom, its electronic sign shining brightly above the windshield. As I glanced in its direction, I was shocked to see “Dunn’s Marsh” come up as one of the destinations.
“Wow!” I thought, “That’s the first I’ve seen any recognition on a bus that we exist as a neighborhood.” I felt proud. Then I wondered, “Is it only as the bus goes through our neighborhood that it displays Dunn’s Marsh on its destination sign?”
Just last night I got my answer when I saw the 19 down on the Monroe Street. The answer is that the sign flashes “Dunn’s Marsh” far distant from our neighborhood.
Does anyone know how long we’ve been a named destination on this bus and whether Bus 18 also flashes our name?
8 - City Flag to be Featured on Bus Fare Items
from Madison Metro
To give background and attention to the official flag of Madison, Metro Transit will be proudly displaying its image on 31-day passes and transfers starting this winter.
The flag was designed by current Metro Transit driver Dennis Stone when he was a member of the Madison Drum and Bugle Corps.
Flag details:
· The City of Madison adopted the design as its official flag on April 12, 1962.
· The flag consists of a light blue bacground bisected from lower left to upper right by a white band. This symbolizes Lake Mendota and Lake Monona and the isthmus between them.
· In the center of the flag is a black cross, which symbolizes the four lakes (Mendota, Monona, Wingra, and Waubesa), as well as the cross shape of the Wisconsin State Capitol.
· Overlaid on the cross is a Native American sun symbol, called the ZIA, which is similar to the sun symbols on the state flag of New Mexico, and the municipal flags of Wichita, Kansis and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Find more about its history on the Madison Metro site: http://www.cityofmadison.com/metro/madisonflag/stone.cfm
And now for your rewards…
-----------End of the DUNN’S MARSH NEIGHBORHOOD E-NEWS for 12/2/16 -------
Thanks for reading.
-----------End of the DUNN’S MARSH NEIGHBORHOOD E-NEWS for 12/2/16 -------
Thanks for reading.
THIS is a RESENT copy because the second attachment was not a jpeg file. Doc files don’t show up in our e-News files.
November 14, 2016
The DMN e-News and an occasional hard copy DMN News are published by the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association (DMNA) on an “as-needed” schedule. The Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association, Inc. has been working to unite neighbors to solve mutual problems and promote fellowship among neighbors since 1973. Our neighborhood is in Madison & Fitchburg.
President: Yannette (Janet) Cole, yfcole@gmail.com 332-7003
News contact: Mary Mullen, mmullen4337@charter.net 298-0843
Website: http://www.dunnsmarsh.org <http://www.dunnsmarsh.org>
On Facebook: Type Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association into the Facebook search box.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARTICLES (All articles written by Mary Mullen unless noted otherwise)
LIQUOR LICENSE FOR ZIMMER’S LOCATION
1- Liquor License Public Hearing Set for Wed., Nov. 16, 5:30 pm (Attachment: “1 4217 ap.pdf”)
2 - Have an Opinion, But Can’t Go to the Hearing?
3 - Informational Meeting Held at Zimmer’s Nov. 3, Attracts Small Crowd
4 - WSJ Coverage of Informational Meeting / DMNA Position on Liquor License
5 - Litter Along the Frontage Roads Yields Many Alcohol Containers (Attachment: “2 alcohol containers Nov2016”)
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
6 - New DMNA Council Gets Off to Good Start
7 - DMNA Council Contact Information
8 - DMNA Accomplishments, Past Year
9 - Annual Meeting Notes
10 - Keep Up with Us
----------------------------------------------------------------
LIQUOR LICENSE FOR ZIMMER’S LOCATION
1- Liquor License Public Hearing Set for Wed., Nov. 16, 5:30 pm (Attachment: “1 4217 ap.pdf”)
Zimmer's Liquor Store has been sold to a new owner, and that owner, Gurpreet Ghuman, wants to open her own liquor store in the building. The new owner of the location at 4217 West Beltline Highway must first get a liquor license in her own name.
The hearing about issuing the license comes before the Madison Alcohol License Review Committee this coming Wednesday, November 16. The meeting starts at 5:30 pm in Room 201 of the City County Building, 210 Martin Luther King, Jr., Blvd. Although this item is #21 on the agenda, items are often moved up when there are people wanting to speak for or against the license.
There’s an etiquette you’ll want to know if you wish to speak before the committee.
1. Arrive early enough to park, walk to the building, locate the room, find the registration forms, and fill them out before the meeting time of 5:30.
2. Fill out the form. It asks you to list your name and maybe your address, the agenda item (#21), whom you represent (yourself), and check offs - for/against, wishing to speak/not wishing to speak.
3. Hand in the form to the person collecting them at the podium.
4. When the item comes up, you will be allowed only 3 minutes to speak. It helps a lot to write out and time your talk. If you don’t want to write it out, at least have outline notes, and practice it to see if it fits in the 3-minute limit.
To see the application, look at the attachment, or go to http://www.cityofmadison.com/rss/alrc.cfm <http://www.cityofmadison.com/rss/alrc.cfm> If you use the link, you will have to click on the agenda, and then go down to item 21.
It is interesting to this reporter to see that the new owner is so confident of receiving a license that a brand new neon green poster on the door of the former Zimmer’s says there will be a Grand Opening of the store under new management on Friday, November 18.
2 - Have an Opinion, But Can’t Go to the Hearing?
Those who have a strong opinion on whether the alcohol license applicant should or should not be granted a license have another option in how to make that opinion known.
Communicate with the Alcohol License Review Committte (ALRC) via e-mail. Write an e-mail to the Madison City Clerk at clerk@cityofmadison.com <mailto:clerk@cityofmadison.com>
A suggested subject line would be “ALRC, file #44846, 4217 W. Beltline”
By snail mail, write to City Clerk, City-County Building, Room 103, 210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Madison, WI 53703. However, since Madison’s mail now is transported to Milwaukee before being sent to addresses in Madison, there’s probably not time to mail a letter. You could hand deliver a letter to the Clerk’s office.
3 - Informational Meeting Held at Zimmers Nov. 3, Attracts Small Crowd
Eleven people gathered at the Zimmer’s Liquors building at 4217 West Beltline Highway on a sunny but brisk Thursday morning, November 3. All were there to talk about the change in ownership of the liquor store and the new owner’s application for a Class A Liquor and Beer license. Liquor licenses cannot simply be passed on. They belong to the owner, not the premises.
Manpreet Ghuman, husband of the applicant for a liquor store to replace Zimmer’s, gave a short presentation and then answered questions. His wife Gurpreet Ghuman is the applicant. She did not attend the meeting. Mr. Ghuman explained that the application is in his wife’s name because the money for purchase came from sale of her family’s land in India.
The Owner’s Family. Mr. Ghuman portrayed himself as a family man with 2 young children and noted that his family would run the store - he, his wife, and his mother. Later he said that he would be the one managing this store while his wife and mother would be in charge of their Rocky’s Liquor store at 4429 Milwaukee Street. They’ve had that store for 2 ½ years. His own family had been in the alcohol business for 20 years, he said. His wife is the licensee for the Milwaukee store as well as the applicant for the Zimmer’s location.
Attendees had a lot of questions and concerns.
Problems Next Door. Staff members from the immediate nextdoor neighbor, NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) pointed out that liquor store customers often park on the NAMI property and that NAMI has had to call 911 due to drug deals made there by liquor store customers. When Mr. Ghuman said that he’d have cameras outside the liquor store, he made it clear that he would only be monitoring his property. “NAMI should get their own cameras,” he said.
In further talk, Mr. Ghuman was hazy on what kind of camera system he would install. When someone asked how long the recordings would be saved, he said, “I don’t know: it depends on the system.” He also could not say how often he would review the recordings.
Inebriated or Underage Customers. Another issue was about selling alcohol to inebriated customers. Nearby neighbors have experienced cases where people have passed out in their yards. Mr. Ghuman said he would not sell to customers who were alcoholics or were drunk. He also suggested that the neighbor who brought this up didn’t know if the unconscious persons had purchased alcohol at the store. He mentioned that the city has a list of people that liquor stores are not supposed to sell to. Whether these are the people who have passed out in local yards is another question. But, he added that he was responsible only for people on his premises, not what they do after they leave his store and property.
Apparently, the issue of people who have over indulged is not only a problem in local yards. In response to the article that appeared on November 4 in the Wisconsin State Journal about the informational meeting, a new Fitchburg resident who lives about a mile from the store e-mailed about experiences he had had with two different inebriated men. One was face down on the concrete near the store. Another passerby and he stopped and called 911. The other man had been walking drunkenly down Seminole Highway, and again this new resident called 911. It was determined that both men had purchased their alcohol at Zimmer’s.
Concern was also expressed about underage drinkers. One attendee said that her underage son had often taken the bus to Zimmer’s in order to buy alcohol and drugs. Mr. Ghuman said that of course he wouldn’t sell to underage drinkers. He also said he’d look outside to see that there weren’t undereage drinkers sitting in cars waiting for alcohol to be purchased for them.
Litter. Others brought up the litter problem on the frontage roads and nearby streets. They asked if the new owner would cooperate in picking up the alcohol bottles that accumulate nearby. Mr. Ghuman assured everyone that he would keep his own property cleaned up. But he bristled at the idea of picking up litter anywhere else. “You can’t even prove that those bottles came from the store,” he said. He also said that he could not ask his employees pick up litter that accumulates on the other side of the frontage road from the liquor store “because of liability.“ He did not answer Alder Dorothy Krause’s question about whether he could work with the Court system to use helpers who were court-ordered to do community service.
The majority of alcohol containers found discarded on the frontage roads and on Britta Parkway are the 50 milliliter “airplane” bottles. A recent few days of picking litter from the frontage roads starting at Seminole and going all the way to the Summit entrance to Verona Road found that 53% of the alcohol containers were bottles that size. (Others ranged upward to 750 mL.) One person asked if the Ghumans would be amenable to not carrying the little one-dose bottles. Mr. Ghuman said that a condition of a license in the campus area was that airplane bottles not be sold. It seemed that he would rather be able to sell them, but if the City required it, he would not carry them.
Plans. The conversation turned to his other plans. He said he asked the Zimmer staff to work for him, but they had refused. The store would be closed from November 11 to November 18 for clean-up. He would be asking for a temporary license to operate starting then even though the City Council wouldn’t be scheduled to approve the license until December 6.
A call to the City Clerk’s office turned up the fact that a Provisional License can be issued to a new owner if the ALRC has recommended approval of the license and the premises has passed all inspections. This “pre-City Council” license is issued because the City Council ordinarily rubber stamps whatever the ALRC recommends. The staff member estimated that only about 1 in 200 cases has the Council chosen a different action than the ALRC recommends.
Meeting Attendees. Attendees at the meeting included 5 neighborhood residents - Annette Shesman, Patty Stockdale, Fitchburg Alder and County Supervisor Dorothy Krause, DMNA President Mary Mullen, and DMNA Council member Thea Bach. Also attending were business neighbors Nate Schorr and Crystal Hester from NAMI, Joe Schlesing from the Meadowood Community Center, Barry Adams from the Wisconsin State Journal, and one other person who preferred not to be named.
4 - WSJ Coverage of Informational Meeting / DMNA Position on Liquor License
One of the attendees at the informational meeting about the liquor license application for the Zimmer’s location was Wisconsin State Journal reporter Barry Adams. He wrote an article for the paper.
In the article, published on November 4, he says that the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association opposes the liquor store. In actuality, at the time of the November 3 informational meeting, the people attending the DMNA annual meeting [October 27] had only taken a position to inform the neighborhood of the meetings about the liquor store.
Since the informational meeting, the newly-elected DMNA Council held its organizational meeting and passed a motion regarding the license application. The motion passed on November 11 asked only that conditions be placed on the liquor license if one is issued.
This is the wording of the motion, that: “The DMNA, based on past history, requests the following conditions if a liquor license is granted to the owner of the 4217 West Beltline location: (1) no sales of alcohol in small [50 mL] "airplane" bottles, (2) outdoor lights with motion sensors for all sides of the building; (3) outdoor cameras on the premises that cover the entire property, of a quality that could be used in court, and which retain at least 2 weeks of recordings; (4) reporting to police of all illegal activities found on camera recordings or seen in person.”
Mr. Adam’s article can be accessed at <http://host.madison.com/wsj/business/old-liquor-store-with-new-owner-brings-opposition/article_348cd69b-f5e6-55db-a76d-39c70853024c.html>
5 - Litter Along the Frontage Roads Yields Many Alcohol Containers (Attachment: “2 alcohol containers Nov2016”)
Did you recently see an older woman in a construction green neon shirt with an orange pail, a white pail, and a garbage bin labeled Marlb Garden along the frontage road? That was me. Periodically I pick up litter along the Beltline and Verona frontage roads.
Almost always I separate the “treasure” into 3 categories: alcohol containers, non-alcohol recyclable containers, and everything else. “Everything else” is styrofoam, paper products, snack bags, plastic bags, cellophane fragments, and anything else that isn’t recyclable.
I went out on 3 different sunny, warm days in November. November 3, November 5, and November 10. I also had picked up drink containers in Marlborough Park on October 4.
What did I find? First of all, more alcohol containers than combined soft-drink, juice, and water bottles and cans. The ratio was 144 to 108. Secondly, 2 pretty full small garbage bins of non-recyclable litter. I would have filled more bins, but I was running out of time and eventually just picked up recyclables and left the rest of the litter where it lay.
Finally, I found a larger proportion of alcohol bottles nearer to the liquor store and more soft drink, juice and water bottles closer to the gas stations that sell those kinds of beverages as well as beer. It was only on the day that I combed the area that included the Verona Road frontage road that the alcohol containers were exceeded by water/juice/soft drink containers. The ratio that day was 18 alcohol vs 45 other. Along the Beltline and in Marlborough Park, alcohol containers greatly outnumbered the non-alcohol containers. One day it was 71 alcohol vs 31 non-alcohol containers. Another day it was 46 alcohol vs 31 non-alcohol containers. In the park, it was 9 alcohol containers and 1 pop can.
For those who like statistics, I did keep track of the kinds of alcohol containers I found. Not counted are the 10 or so bottles crushed into the grass by mowing machinery.
Number of containers / % Size of containers
77 53 % 50-milliliter “airplane” hard liquor bottles
8 6 100-milliliter hard liquor bottles
11 8 200-milliliter hard liquor bottles
11 8 375-milliliter hard liquor bottles
1 1 750-millitliter hard liquor bottles
12 8 Beer or similar-strength alcohol bottles
24 17 Beer cans
144 TOTAL 101 %* Alcohol containers
* totals to more than 100% due to rounding error
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
6 - New DMNA Council Gets Off to Good Start
A peaceful election on October 27 and an even more satisfying first Council meeting brought a transfer of power to the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Council. The DMNA Council is the governing body of the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association.
Seven members of the Council were chosen at the DMNA Anuual Meeting on October 27. Five of the six were returning members. Those elected that night - in alphabetical order - were Thea Bach, Yannette Cole, Faith Cholvin, Elvice McAlpine, Mary Mullen, Shonita Roach, and newcomer Peter Schmitt. Peter had served on the Council several years ago.
Because the Council can be as large as 12 members, more members were sought. Two more volunteers rose to the occasion at the first meeting of new Council on November 10. They were Dale-Harriet Rogovich and Sam Shesman. Both are complete newcomers to the DMNA although Dale has lived in the neighborhood since 1973. Sam just moved here in April.
Officers were chosen on November 10. Yannette Cole stepped forward to take over the presidency from Mary Mullen who thought it was time to step back from leadership after 3 years in the post. Yannette also represents the Marlborough area of the neighborhood. We all breathed a sigh of relief that Yannette was willing to lead the DMNA. She is extremely capable. We can thank her for putting together our completely revamped website www.dunnsmarsh.org <http://www.dunnsmarsh.org>
Elected as Vice President was Shonita Roach, a resident of the Allied area of our neighborhood. This is her second year on the Council.
Elvice McAlpine, who has had half a term as secretary, agreed to continue in the post for the coming year. Elvice represents the Belmar part of the neighborhood and is starting her third year on the Council.
Finally, Faith Chovin volunteered to take over the treasurer’s position. That was the post that Yannette Cole held for the past 2 years. Faith represents the Crawford area of the neighborhood and is starting her second year on the DMNA Council.
We thank the retiring members from last year who did not find it possible to continue: Karen Walters, Susan Watson, Tony Williams, and Sina Davis.
7 - DMNA Council Contact Information
Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Council representatives are the people who make decisions for the DMNA between membership meetings. Their positions and contact information is provided so that you can contact them with your concerns or ideas for how to make this neighborhood and even better place to live.
The small map shows where each of the 4 areas are that Council members represent.
Marlborough Reps
Yannette (Janet) Cole, President - 332-7003, yfcole@gmail.com
Mary Mullen - 298-0843, 4336 Milford Rd., mmullen4337@charter.net
Thea Bach - 274-7730 (h), 239-9810 (cell), 1905 Danbury St., bachtown2@live.com
Sam Shesman - (814) 806-2427, 1806 Danbury St., samshes@gmail.com
Dale-Harriet Rogovich - 274-6709
Crawford Rep
Faith Cholvin, Treasurer - 213-7832, 4337 Britta Drive, #1, cholvinfaith@gmail.com
Belmar Rep
Elvice McAlpine, Secretary - (608) 208-3819, 4526 Crescent Rd., e.mcalpine@yahoo.com
Allied Rep
Shonita Roach - 509-1645, 2426 Allied Dri., #4, svictoriascott@yahoo.com
Peter Schmitt - 338-4519, P15jschmitt@gmail.com
We still have room for 3 more people on the Council. We’d like to get at least one from the Belmar area and one from the Crawford area. If you think you might be interested, contact one of the current members and then come to the next Council meeting on Thursday, December 8, 6:30 pm, at Prairie UU Society, 2010 Whenona Drive.
8 - DMNA Accomplishments, Past Year
Annual meeting attendees each received this list of DMNA accomplishments during the past year.
DMNA Council met every month Nov. 2015-Oct. 2016 (although 3 times we did not have a quorum), and members set priorities for the year; planned DMNA events; kept up on buying club, grocery store, home-building progress and other issues; and heard informational speakers. Invited speakers were Co. Supervisor Richard Kilmer, Deirdre Garton from the Verona Road Business Coalition, Ravi Singh from the BP service station, Police Officer Mike McWhinney, and Brad Herrick and Michael Hansen from the Arboretum. (Council members who attended the majority of meetings: President Mary Mullen, Secretary Elvice McAlpine, Treasurer Yannette Cole, Thea Bach, Faith Cholvin, Shonita Skinner, and Susan Watson; other members Karen Walters, Tony Williams, and Sina Davis).
Published 6 issues of the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood e-News (by e-mail on 2/9, 3/31, 6/20, 7/31, 10/25 and 10/26) and 3 hardcopy flyers (6/17, 8/1, & 10/24, delivered door-to-door to over 600 residences). Content & design by Mary Mullen; delivery by Thea Bach, Sharon Grant, Pam Flinn, Mary Mullen, Faith Cholvin, Kim Zinski & daughters Sage & Olivia, Elvice McAlpine, David Martin, Kent Seeker, Julie Lyne, Mary Somers, Patty Stockdale, Donna Sarafin, James Luscher, Tony William, Melanie Sax, & Rachel Potter.
Kept up a Facebook page. (Mary Mullen)
Our Treasurer Yannette Cole developed an all-new website www.dunnsmarsh.org <http://www.dunnsmarsh.org> which required uncounted hours of her time. It is now hosted through GoDaddy.
Held a neighborhood book and movie club that attracted 4-10 people monthly to discussions and potlucks. (Thea Bach)
Co-sponsored Make Music Madison with Prairie UU Society & provided volunteers to help run the day, 6/21. (Mary Mullen, Yannette Cole, Elvice McAlpine, Faith Cholvin, Patty Stockdale). Neighborhood performers included Mary Mullen and Jesse Cole. Attendees for each act ranged up to 41 people, with an average of 30. The community participated in a Maypole dance at the end of a beautiful day.
Held Annual Picnic, August 5, which attracted over 55 people. Attendees had a chance to chat with Co. Executive Joe Parisi and staff member Wes Sparkman, Fitchburg Mayor Steve Arnold, Alder Maurice Cheeks, and Alder Dorothy Krause. (Yannette Cole, Thea Bach, Cindy Harrington, Mary Mullen, Shonita Skinner)
Worked on relocating the Little Free Library now at the corner of Lumley Road and Danbury Street, due to repeated vandalism. (Elvice McAlpine)
9 - Annual Meeting Notes
Although the annual meeting of the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association was not very well attended, members accomplished the necessary work.
Representatives to the Neighborhood Council were chosen, as detailed in previous articles.
People got a chance to say what they liked about the neighborhoood and what they thought the DMNA should work on during the year. Ideas filled a flipchart page.
Attendees learned that the organization is solvent, with an ending bank balance of $1,128.53 - $4 more than the starting balance of October 2015. Most of our funding goes to communicating with the neighborhood. Most of our income comes from dues, donations, and advertising.
A new by-law change was voted in with the purpose of helping the Council maintain a quorum. During the past 2 years the Council had several meetings without a quorum due to low attendance. The by-law change defines what is deemed a resignation: “Three consecutive absences from Neighborhood Council meetings without valid excuse or without informing the President or Secretary of the Association, or five absences for any reason -- consecutive or not -- within a term of service, shall be deemed a resignation.” The language in italics is new.
We heard at length from our Madison Alder Maurice Cheeks about progress toward a grocery store in the neighborhood. A market study has been completed. The findings were that a small “corner store” or a store connected to some other attraction such as a neighborhood center would be most likely to be successful. Putting a store in a “business district” might be another way to bring in customers.
Besides Alder Cheeks, 2 other elected representatives attended the meeting, Fitchburg Alder and County Supervisor Dorothy Krause, and County Supervisor Richard Kilmer. Co. Sup. Krause represents the Fitchburg part of the neighborhood and Kilmer represents the Madison portion. We thank all 3 representatives for taking the time to join us for our meeting.
10 - Keep Up with Us
Want to know what’s happening in the neighborhood and what the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association is doing?
There are 3 good ways to do so.
For day-to-day information, check out our Facebook page, Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association.
For a much broader picture, look at our website www.dunnsmarsh.org <http://www.dunnsmarsh.org> There you can learn about our history, our bylaws, our publications, our parks and open space, the many bike trails, and about other community resources. We’ve been around since 1973!
Through the calendar on the home page and another separate calendar page where you can see whole months at a time, you can learn about meetings of the DMNA Council and of the Allied Community Co-op that is working on a grocery-buying club as well as on getting a grocery store.
There’s lots more, and lots of photos. You can also join the DMNA and pay your voluntary dues online and find other volunteer activities.
The third way to keep up is to attend the monthly Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Council meetings. They are held on the second Thursday of the month, 6:30 pm, at Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society, 2010 Whenona Drive. (Enter on the Crawford Drive side.) Any resident is welcome to attend. The next meeting is December 8.
If you want the Council to take up a particular issue, it’s best to contact the president, Yannette (Janet) Cole, at 332-7003 or yfcole@gmail.com
-----------End of the DUNN’S MARSH NEIGHBORHOOD E-NEWS for 11/14/16
November 14, 2016
The DMN e-News and an occasional hard copy DMN News are published by the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association (DMNA) on an “as-needed” schedule. The Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association, Inc. has been working to unite neighbors to solve mutual problems and promote fellowship among neighbors since 1973. Our neighborhood is in Madison & Fitchburg.
President: Yannette (Janet) Cole, yfcole@gmail.com 332-7003
News contact: Mary Mullen, mmullen4337@charter.net 298-0843
Website: http://www.dunnsmarsh.org <http://www.dunnsmarsh.org>
On Facebook: Type Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association into the Facebook search box.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARTICLES (All articles written by Mary Mullen unless noted otherwise)
LIQUOR LICENSE FOR ZIMMER’S LOCATION
1- Liquor License Public Hearing Set for Wed., Nov. 16, 5:30 pm (Attachment: “1 4217 ap.pdf”)
2 - Have an Opinion, But Can’t Go to the Hearing?
3 - Informational Meeting Held at Zimmer’s Nov. 3, Attracts Small Crowd
4 - WSJ Coverage of Informational Meeting / DMNA Position on Liquor License
5 - Litter Along the Frontage Roads Yields Many Alcohol Containers (Attachment: “2 alcohol containers Nov2016”)
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
6 - New DMNA Council Gets Off to Good Start
7 - DMNA Council Contact Information
8 - DMNA Accomplishments, Past Year
9 - Annual Meeting Notes
10 - Keep Up with Us
----------------------------------------------------------------
LIQUOR LICENSE FOR ZIMMER’S LOCATION
1- Liquor License Public Hearing Set for Wed., Nov. 16, 5:30 pm (Attachment: “1 4217 ap.pdf”)
Zimmer's Liquor Store has been sold to a new owner, and that owner, Gurpreet Ghuman, wants to open her own liquor store in the building. The new owner of the location at 4217 West Beltline Highway must first get a liquor license in her own name.
The hearing about issuing the license comes before the Madison Alcohol License Review Committee this coming Wednesday, November 16. The meeting starts at 5:30 pm in Room 201 of the City County Building, 210 Martin Luther King, Jr., Blvd. Although this item is #21 on the agenda, items are often moved up when there are people wanting to speak for or against the license.
There’s an etiquette you’ll want to know if you wish to speak before the committee.
1. Arrive early enough to park, walk to the building, locate the room, find the registration forms, and fill them out before the meeting time of 5:30.
2. Fill out the form. It asks you to list your name and maybe your address, the agenda item (#21), whom you represent (yourself), and check offs - for/against, wishing to speak/not wishing to speak.
3. Hand in the form to the person collecting them at the podium.
4. When the item comes up, you will be allowed only 3 minutes to speak. It helps a lot to write out and time your talk. If you don’t want to write it out, at least have outline notes, and practice it to see if it fits in the 3-minute limit.
To see the application, look at the attachment, or go to http://www.cityofmadison.com/rss/alrc.cfm <http://www.cityofmadison.com/rss/alrc.cfm> If you use the link, you will have to click on the agenda, and then go down to item 21.
It is interesting to this reporter to see that the new owner is so confident of receiving a license that a brand new neon green poster on the door of the former Zimmer’s says there will be a Grand Opening of the store under new management on Friday, November 18.
2 - Have an Opinion, But Can’t Go to the Hearing?
Those who have a strong opinion on whether the alcohol license applicant should or should not be granted a license have another option in how to make that opinion known.
Communicate with the Alcohol License Review Committte (ALRC) via e-mail. Write an e-mail to the Madison City Clerk at clerk@cityofmadison.com <mailto:clerk@cityofmadison.com>
A suggested subject line would be “ALRC, file #44846, 4217 W. Beltline”
By snail mail, write to City Clerk, City-County Building, Room 103, 210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Madison, WI 53703. However, since Madison’s mail now is transported to Milwaukee before being sent to addresses in Madison, there’s probably not time to mail a letter. You could hand deliver a letter to the Clerk’s office.
3 - Informational Meeting Held at Zimmers Nov. 3, Attracts Small Crowd
Eleven people gathered at the Zimmer’s Liquors building at 4217 West Beltline Highway on a sunny but brisk Thursday morning, November 3. All were there to talk about the change in ownership of the liquor store and the new owner’s application for a Class A Liquor and Beer license. Liquor licenses cannot simply be passed on. They belong to the owner, not the premises.
Manpreet Ghuman, husband of the applicant for a liquor store to replace Zimmer’s, gave a short presentation and then answered questions. His wife Gurpreet Ghuman is the applicant. She did not attend the meeting. Mr. Ghuman explained that the application is in his wife’s name because the money for purchase came from sale of her family’s land in India.
The Owner’s Family. Mr. Ghuman portrayed himself as a family man with 2 young children and noted that his family would run the store - he, his wife, and his mother. Later he said that he would be the one managing this store while his wife and mother would be in charge of their Rocky’s Liquor store at 4429 Milwaukee Street. They’ve had that store for 2 ½ years. His own family had been in the alcohol business for 20 years, he said. His wife is the licensee for the Milwaukee store as well as the applicant for the Zimmer’s location.
Attendees had a lot of questions and concerns.
Problems Next Door. Staff members from the immediate nextdoor neighbor, NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) pointed out that liquor store customers often park on the NAMI property and that NAMI has had to call 911 due to drug deals made there by liquor store customers. When Mr. Ghuman said that he’d have cameras outside the liquor store, he made it clear that he would only be monitoring his property. “NAMI should get their own cameras,” he said.
In further talk, Mr. Ghuman was hazy on what kind of camera system he would install. When someone asked how long the recordings would be saved, he said, “I don’t know: it depends on the system.” He also could not say how often he would review the recordings.
Inebriated or Underage Customers. Another issue was about selling alcohol to inebriated customers. Nearby neighbors have experienced cases where people have passed out in their yards. Mr. Ghuman said he would not sell to customers who were alcoholics or were drunk. He also suggested that the neighbor who brought this up didn’t know if the unconscious persons had purchased alcohol at the store. He mentioned that the city has a list of people that liquor stores are not supposed to sell to. Whether these are the people who have passed out in local yards is another question. But, he added that he was responsible only for people on his premises, not what they do after they leave his store and property.
Apparently, the issue of people who have over indulged is not only a problem in local yards. In response to the article that appeared on November 4 in the Wisconsin State Journal about the informational meeting, a new Fitchburg resident who lives about a mile from the store e-mailed about experiences he had had with two different inebriated men. One was face down on the concrete near the store. Another passerby and he stopped and called 911. The other man had been walking drunkenly down Seminole Highway, and again this new resident called 911. It was determined that both men had purchased their alcohol at Zimmer’s.
Concern was also expressed about underage drinkers. One attendee said that her underage son had often taken the bus to Zimmer’s in order to buy alcohol and drugs. Mr. Ghuman said that of course he wouldn’t sell to underage drinkers. He also said he’d look outside to see that there weren’t undereage drinkers sitting in cars waiting for alcohol to be purchased for them.
Litter. Others brought up the litter problem on the frontage roads and nearby streets. They asked if the new owner would cooperate in picking up the alcohol bottles that accumulate nearby. Mr. Ghuman assured everyone that he would keep his own property cleaned up. But he bristled at the idea of picking up litter anywhere else. “You can’t even prove that those bottles came from the store,” he said. He also said that he could not ask his employees pick up litter that accumulates on the other side of the frontage road from the liquor store “because of liability.“ He did not answer Alder Dorothy Krause’s question about whether he could work with the Court system to use helpers who were court-ordered to do community service.
The majority of alcohol containers found discarded on the frontage roads and on Britta Parkway are the 50 milliliter “airplane” bottles. A recent few days of picking litter from the frontage roads starting at Seminole and going all the way to the Summit entrance to Verona Road found that 53% of the alcohol containers were bottles that size. (Others ranged upward to 750 mL.) One person asked if the Ghumans would be amenable to not carrying the little one-dose bottles. Mr. Ghuman said that a condition of a license in the campus area was that airplane bottles not be sold. It seemed that he would rather be able to sell them, but if the City required it, he would not carry them.
Plans. The conversation turned to his other plans. He said he asked the Zimmer staff to work for him, but they had refused. The store would be closed from November 11 to November 18 for clean-up. He would be asking for a temporary license to operate starting then even though the City Council wouldn’t be scheduled to approve the license until December 6.
A call to the City Clerk’s office turned up the fact that a Provisional License can be issued to a new owner if the ALRC has recommended approval of the license and the premises has passed all inspections. This “pre-City Council” license is issued because the City Council ordinarily rubber stamps whatever the ALRC recommends. The staff member estimated that only about 1 in 200 cases has the Council chosen a different action than the ALRC recommends.
Meeting Attendees. Attendees at the meeting included 5 neighborhood residents - Annette Shesman, Patty Stockdale, Fitchburg Alder and County Supervisor Dorothy Krause, DMNA President Mary Mullen, and DMNA Council member Thea Bach. Also attending were business neighbors Nate Schorr and Crystal Hester from NAMI, Joe Schlesing from the Meadowood Community Center, Barry Adams from the Wisconsin State Journal, and one other person who preferred not to be named.
4 - WSJ Coverage of Informational Meeting / DMNA Position on Liquor License
One of the attendees at the informational meeting about the liquor license application for the Zimmer’s location was Wisconsin State Journal reporter Barry Adams. He wrote an article for the paper.
In the article, published on November 4, he says that the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association opposes the liquor store. In actuality, at the time of the November 3 informational meeting, the people attending the DMNA annual meeting [October 27] had only taken a position to inform the neighborhood of the meetings about the liquor store.
Since the informational meeting, the newly-elected DMNA Council held its organizational meeting and passed a motion regarding the license application. The motion passed on November 11 asked only that conditions be placed on the liquor license if one is issued.
This is the wording of the motion, that: “The DMNA, based on past history, requests the following conditions if a liquor license is granted to the owner of the 4217 West Beltline location: (1) no sales of alcohol in small [50 mL] "airplane" bottles, (2) outdoor lights with motion sensors for all sides of the building; (3) outdoor cameras on the premises that cover the entire property, of a quality that could be used in court, and which retain at least 2 weeks of recordings; (4) reporting to police of all illegal activities found on camera recordings or seen in person.”
Mr. Adam’s article can be accessed at <http://host.madison.com/wsj/business/old-liquor-store-with-new-owner-brings-opposition/article_348cd69b-f5e6-55db-a76d-39c70853024c.html>
5 - Litter Along the Frontage Roads Yields Many Alcohol Containers (Attachment: “2 alcohol containers Nov2016”)
Did you recently see an older woman in a construction green neon shirt with an orange pail, a white pail, and a garbage bin labeled Marlb Garden along the frontage road? That was me. Periodically I pick up litter along the Beltline and Verona frontage roads.
Almost always I separate the “treasure” into 3 categories: alcohol containers, non-alcohol recyclable containers, and everything else. “Everything else” is styrofoam, paper products, snack bags, plastic bags, cellophane fragments, and anything else that isn’t recyclable.
I went out on 3 different sunny, warm days in November. November 3, November 5, and November 10. I also had picked up drink containers in Marlborough Park on October 4.
What did I find? First of all, more alcohol containers than combined soft-drink, juice, and water bottles and cans. The ratio was 144 to 108. Secondly, 2 pretty full small garbage bins of non-recyclable litter. I would have filled more bins, but I was running out of time and eventually just picked up recyclables and left the rest of the litter where it lay.
Finally, I found a larger proportion of alcohol bottles nearer to the liquor store and more soft drink, juice and water bottles closer to the gas stations that sell those kinds of beverages as well as beer. It was only on the day that I combed the area that included the Verona Road frontage road that the alcohol containers were exceeded by water/juice/soft drink containers. The ratio that day was 18 alcohol vs 45 other. Along the Beltline and in Marlborough Park, alcohol containers greatly outnumbered the non-alcohol containers. One day it was 71 alcohol vs 31 non-alcohol containers. Another day it was 46 alcohol vs 31 non-alcohol containers. In the park, it was 9 alcohol containers and 1 pop can.
For those who like statistics, I did keep track of the kinds of alcohol containers I found. Not counted are the 10 or so bottles crushed into the grass by mowing machinery.
Number of containers / % Size of containers
77 53 % 50-milliliter “airplane” hard liquor bottles
8 6 100-milliliter hard liquor bottles
11 8 200-milliliter hard liquor bottles
11 8 375-milliliter hard liquor bottles
1 1 750-millitliter hard liquor bottles
12 8 Beer or similar-strength alcohol bottles
24 17 Beer cans
144 TOTAL 101 %* Alcohol containers
* totals to more than 100% due to rounding error
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
6 - New DMNA Council Gets Off to Good Start
A peaceful election on October 27 and an even more satisfying first Council meeting brought a transfer of power to the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Council. The DMNA Council is the governing body of the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association.
Seven members of the Council were chosen at the DMNA Anuual Meeting on October 27. Five of the six were returning members. Those elected that night - in alphabetical order - were Thea Bach, Yannette Cole, Faith Cholvin, Elvice McAlpine, Mary Mullen, Shonita Roach, and newcomer Peter Schmitt. Peter had served on the Council several years ago.
Because the Council can be as large as 12 members, more members were sought. Two more volunteers rose to the occasion at the first meeting of new Council on November 10. They were Dale-Harriet Rogovich and Sam Shesman. Both are complete newcomers to the DMNA although Dale has lived in the neighborhood since 1973. Sam just moved here in April.
Officers were chosen on November 10. Yannette Cole stepped forward to take over the presidency from Mary Mullen who thought it was time to step back from leadership after 3 years in the post. Yannette also represents the Marlborough area of the neighborhood. We all breathed a sigh of relief that Yannette was willing to lead the DMNA. She is extremely capable. We can thank her for putting together our completely revamped website www.dunnsmarsh.org <http://www.dunnsmarsh.org>
Elected as Vice President was Shonita Roach, a resident of the Allied area of our neighborhood. This is her second year on the Council.
Elvice McAlpine, who has had half a term as secretary, agreed to continue in the post for the coming year. Elvice represents the Belmar part of the neighborhood and is starting her third year on the Council.
Finally, Faith Chovin volunteered to take over the treasurer’s position. That was the post that Yannette Cole held for the past 2 years. Faith represents the Crawford area of the neighborhood and is starting her second year on the DMNA Council.
We thank the retiring members from last year who did not find it possible to continue: Karen Walters, Susan Watson, Tony Williams, and Sina Davis.
7 - DMNA Council Contact Information
Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Council representatives are the people who make decisions for the DMNA between membership meetings. Their positions and contact information is provided so that you can contact them with your concerns or ideas for how to make this neighborhood and even better place to live.
The small map shows where each of the 4 areas are that Council members represent.
Marlborough Reps
Yannette (Janet) Cole, President - 332-7003, yfcole@gmail.com
Mary Mullen - 298-0843, 4336 Milford Rd., mmullen4337@charter.net
Thea Bach - 274-7730 (h), 239-9810 (cell), 1905 Danbury St., bachtown2@live.com
Sam Shesman - (814) 806-2427, 1806 Danbury St., samshes@gmail.com
Dale-Harriet Rogovich - 274-6709
Crawford Rep
Faith Cholvin, Treasurer - 213-7832, 4337 Britta Drive, #1, cholvinfaith@gmail.com
Belmar Rep
Elvice McAlpine, Secretary - (608) 208-3819, 4526 Crescent Rd., e.mcalpine@yahoo.com
Allied Rep
Shonita Roach - 509-1645, 2426 Allied Dri., #4, svictoriascott@yahoo.com
Peter Schmitt - 338-4519, P15jschmitt@gmail.com
We still have room for 3 more people on the Council. We’d like to get at least one from the Belmar area and one from the Crawford area. If you think you might be interested, contact one of the current members and then come to the next Council meeting on Thursday, December 8, 6:30 pm, at Prairie UU Society, 2010 Whenona Drive.
8 - DMNA Accomplishments, Past Year
Annual meeting attendees each received this list of DMNA accomplishments during the past year.
DMNA Council met every month Nov. 2015-Oct. 2016 (although 3 times we did not have a quorum), and members set priorities for the year; planned DMNA events; kept up on buying club, grocery store, home-building progress and other issues; and heard informational speakers. Invited speakers were Co. Supervisor Richard Kilmer, Deirdre Garton from the Verona Road Business Coalition, Ravi Singh from the BP service station, Police Officer Mike McWhinney, and Brad Herrick and Michael Hansen from the Arboretum. (Council members who attended the majority of meetings: President Mary Mullen, Secretary Elvice McAlpine, Treasurer Yannette Cole, Thea Bach, Faith Cholvin, Shonita Skinner, and Susan Watson; other members Karen Walters, Tony Williams, and Sina Davis).
Published 6 issues of the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood e-News (by e-mail on 2/9, 3/31, 6/20, 7/31, 10/25 and 10/26) and 3 hardcopy flyers (6/17, 8/1, & 10/24, delivered door-to-door to over 600 residences). Content & design by Mary Mullen; delivery by Thea Bach, Sharon Grant, Pam Flinn, Mary Mullen, Faith Cholvin, Kim Zinski & daughters Sage & Olivia, Elvice McAlpine, David Martin, Kent Seeker, Julie Lyne, Mary Somers, Patty Stockdale, Donna Sarafin, James Luscher, Tony William, Melanie Sax, & Rachel Potter.
Kept up a Facebook page. (Mary Mullen)
Our Treasurer Yannette Cole developed an all-new website www.dunnsmarsh.org <http://www.dunnsmarsh.org> which required uncounted hours of her time. It is now hosted through GoDaddy.
Held a neighborhood book and movie club that attracted 4-10 people monthly to discussions and potlucks. (Thea Bach)
Co-sponsored Make Music Madison with Prairie UU Society & provided volunteers to help run the day, 6/21. (Mary Mullen, Yannette Cole, Elvice McAlpine, Faith Cholvin, Patty Stockdale). Neighborhood performers included Mary Mullen and Jesse Cole. Attendees for each act ranged up to 41 people, with an average of 30. The community participated in a Maypole dance at the end of a beautiful day.
Held Annual Picnic, August 5, which attracted over 55 people. Attendees had a chance to chat with Co. Executive Joe Parisi and staff member Wes Sparkman, Fitchburg Mayor Steve Arnold, Alder Maurice Cheeks, and Alder Dorothy Krause. (Yannette Cole, Thea Bach, Cindy Harrington, Mary Mullen, Shonita Skinner)
Worked on relocating the Little Free Library now at the corner of Lumley Road and Danbury Street, due to repeated vandalism. (Elvice McAlpine)
9 - Annual Meeting Notes
Although the annual meeting of the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association was not very well attended, members accomplished the necessary work.
Representatives to the Neighborhood Council were chosen, as detailed in previous articles.
People got a chance to say what they liked about the neighborhoood and what they thought the DMNA should work on during the year. Ideas filled a flipchart page.
Attendees learned that the organization is solvent, with an ending bank balance of $1,128.53 - $4 more than the starting balance of October 2015. Most of our funding goes to communicating with the neighborhood. Most of our income comes from dues, donations, and advertising.
A new by-law change was voted in with the purpose of helping the Council maintain a quorum. During the past 2 years the Council had several meetings without a quorum due to low attendance. The by-law change defines what is deemed a resignation: “Three consecutive absences from Neighborhood Council meetings without valid excuse or without informing the President or Secretary of the Association, or five absences for any reason -- consecutive or not -- within a term of service, shall be deemed a resignation.” The language in italics is new.
We heard at length from our Madison Alder Maurice Cheeks about progress toward a grocery store in the neighborhood. A market study has been completed. The findings were that a small “corner store” or a store connected to some other attraction such as a neighborhood center would be most likely to be successful. Putting a store in a “business district” might be another way to bring in customers.
Besides Alder Cheeks, 2 other elected representatives attended the meeting, Fitchburg Alder and County Supervisor Dorothy Krause, and County Supervisor Richard Kilmer. Co. Sup. Krause represents the Fitchburg part of the neighborhood and Kilmer represents the Madison portion. We thank all 3 representatives for taking the time to join us for our meeting.
10 - Keep Up with Us
Want to know what’s happening in the neighborhood and what the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association is doing?
There are 3 good ways to do so.
For day-to-day information, check out our Facebook page, Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association.
For a much broader picture, look at our website www.dunnsmarsh.org <http://www.dunnsmarsh.org> There you can learn about our history, our bylaws, our publications, our parks and open space, the many bike trails, and about other community resources. We’ve been around since 1973!
Through the calendar on the home page and another separate calendar page where you can see whole months at a time, you can learn about meetings of the DMNA Council and of the Allied Community Co-op that is working on a grocery-buying club as well as on getting a grocery store.
There’s lots more, and lots of photos. You can also join the DMNA and pay your voluntary dues online and find other volunteer activities.
The third way to keep up is to attend the monthly Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Council meetings. They are held on the second Thursday of the month, 6:30 pm, at Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society, 2010 Whenona Drive. (Enter on the Crawford Drive side.) Any resident is welcome to attend. The next meeting is December 8.
If you want the Council to take up a particular issue, it’s best to contact the president, Yannette (Janet) Cole, at 332-7003 or yfcole@gmail.com
-----------End of the DUNN’S MARSH NEIGHBORHOOD E-NEWS for 11/14/16
-----------End of the DUNN’S MARSH NEIGHBORHOOD E-NEWS for 12/2/16 -------
