Upcoming 2024 Neighborhood Grant Program
It’s time to initiate discussions with your neighbors to brainstorm ideas for community improvement projects! Grants, usually $5,000 or less, are allocated for Neighborhood Leadership and Capacity Building and Community Enhancements, including physical projects. The Planning Division is presently in the process of revising the Neighborhood Grant Program, and the final details will be posted in mid to late December. The application deadline for this program is February 12th at 4:30 pm. In the interim, you can refer to last year’s guidelines for assistance. Once you are ready to start an application, please contact City Planning at Neighborhoods@cityofmadison.com, and share your project idea with your alderperson.
Madison Public Market Official Groundbreaking on Nov. 27!
The City’s new Madison Public Market has entered the official construction phase. On Monday, November 27, 2023, the City of Madison, Madison Public Market Foundation, and project stakeholders conducted a formal groundbreaking ceremony at 202 North First Street, marking the site for the upcoming Madison Public Market (MPM). City leaders and project stakeholders provided insights into the project and its expected influence during the groundbreaking event. See the press release here.
State Street 2024 Pedestrian Mall Experiment
The City of Madison is embarking on an experiment to transform the 400-600 blocks of State Street into a pedestrian mall. Scheduled for the summer of 2024, the experiment aims to implement changes, and City staff will be presenting the initial design concept for these blocks. Discussions about options for the closure of these blocks to private vehicles will be a key focus. For those interested in learning more and participating, an upcoming hybrid public meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 4, 2023, at 5:30 pm. The in-person location will be the Madison Municipal Building, 215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 215. To attend the meeting virtually, please register in advance.
Streets Division Updates:
- Last Chance for Leaf Collection: All Madison residents will get one more leaf collection opportunity. Set the leaves out on Sunday, December 3 for pickup. The entire city shares this set out date, so please be patient as crews cycle through Madison one absolute final time collecting leaves from the curb. Pickup is not guaranteed, however. If a winter storm hits before this last chance round is completed, crews will transition to performing snowplowing duties as that is a higher priority.
- Drop-off Sites Now on Winter Hours: Sycamore and South Point sites are no longer open on the weekends. The Olin Avenue site is completely closed. The hours at Sycamore and South Point have also been reduced. Please check the drop-off site website before loading your vehicle: www.cityofmadison.com/dropoffsites. Why did the hours change? This is an annual occurrence that happens when the Streets Division’s seasonal staff term comes to an end, so the extra drop-off site hours they are able to provide are no longer possible.
- Salt Route Map: Streets Division salt routes were reduced by about 6% this winter compared to last winter, which leaves 778 miles of traffic lanes through the City of Madison as still part of the salt route network. You can see a map of the areas that the City of Madison Streets Division will be treating as salt routes at www.cityofmadison.com/Winter. The map only shows the Streets Division salt routes. So you may also be wondering why some roads, like Stoughton Road, or the UW Campus, are not showing as being salted on this map when you know that they are, in fact, salted when it snows. The Streets Division is not the only agency that maintains roads in the City. For example, Stoughton Road is actually a state highway and it is maintained by Dane County Highway, just like the Beltline, Highway PD, and other areas around Madison. (University Avenue from Blackhawk Avenue west is also maintained by Dane County). The UW Campus is also not maintained by the Streets Division. That is maintained by the campus itself. We are working on a better map that is more interactive and with more features – but that is taking more time to pull together than the PDF map that is currently available. We hope to have this improved map available later this winter.
- Still Time to Help Your Trees with the Spongy Moth: Egg masses can still be removed from trees, sheds, log piles, and other places around your lawn. You want to find them and destroy them before they hatch in the spring. You can read more about the spongy moth and how to appropriately destroy the egg masses at www.cityofmadison.com/SpongyMoth
- Holiday Recycling Guide: With the holidays comes lots of cardboard, wrapping paper, and other stuff – and also lots of recycling questions. Be sure you check out the holiday recycling guide at www.cityofmadison.com/Recycling.
