You can see we're getting into the patriotic Christmas spirit here at the Stately Manor.
Yes, Ald. Thuy is considering a run for mayor.
Don't dismiss her chances, Sconzinator. I had breakfast with Thuy and husband Dave a couple of weeks ago at the Original Pancake House on University Avenue and I was blown away by the number of people who knew Thuy and came up to say hello and still others who asked, "Aren't you Alder Thuy?" and urged her to keep up the fight.
She is something of a folk hero. The tea party spirit lives in Thuy. She may RESONATE! But I tend to doubt that she will pull the trigger. A shame, really.
Here is an excerpt of her statement, still in draft form:
For almost four years you have trusted me to be the voice of District 20 at City Hall. With your support we have shown city officials that Madison is more than just the Downtown Isthmus. As the first and only Asian-American elected official serving on Madison Common Council I have been treated with a disrespect & intolerance that I have never encountered elsewhere! It's has been a journey of great honor and a lesson in humility.
I have devoted full time to my aldermanic duties while putting many cherished personal plans on hold. I have often been the lonely voice raising concerns about many issues impacting our area including the urban decline caused by city's misguided ongoing housing initiatives.
More on the struggle here on the Southwest side of Madison, but first some of this and some of that:
- Jon Hochkammer is out of the race for Dane County executive. I saw Jon at a function last week and winced; he was on crutches with a huge cast on his foot. He said then that the injury would not slow him down but I could not envision him negotiating a long campaign trail covered in ice and snow. The man busted his right ankle (I believe) over the Thanksgiving holiday in a fall at his home. He has several screws holding the ankle together that won't come out until after the April 5 election.
- Will Jonathan Barry join Sup. Eileen Bruskewitz, who will announce this week, as the great conservative hopes?
- The nation turns from blue to red, no state more so than Wisconsin, and whom does the UW-Madison invite for its December 19 winter commencement exercise? Only Comrade John Nichols' favorite: U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Kaptur was once named "Most Valuable Member" of the House by The Nation. A staunch trade protectionist. Can't the UW find a conservative speaker? Is the Havens Center in charge of programming? Memo to Biddy: intellectual diversity trumps such ephemera as gender and melanin.
- How much do fili-blustering Bernie Sanders and the rump Democrats in Congress represent America? In a Pew Research Center poll conducted Dec. 9-12, 60 percent of those surveyed said they support [extending the Bush tax cuts for all income levels], while 22 percent said they disapprove of the deal, Politico reports. In Wisconsin, it's 44-34% in favor.
A neighbor tells it like it is
Yesterday's blog described the circumstances in which a Southwest Madison resident's e-mail to Ald. Thuy Pham-Remmele was intercepted by the Common Council's office manager, Lisa Veldran, who replied directly to the resident.
That resident is called G.S. here at her request to protect her safety. I am reproducing, in two parts, with some deletions for brevity, G.S.'s response to local power broker and liberal apologist Lisa Veldran.
This resident was previously unknown to me; she lives in the Prairie Hills neighborhood just west of Meadowood -- generally, the area between Prairie Road and McKenna Boulevard.
From: G.S.
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 12:49 AM
To: 'Lisa Veldran'
Subject: RE: Drug Raid on McKenna Blvd. ?!
Lisa,
Actually, I'm very aware of where you and [County Supervisor Matt] live. ... it is getting VERY bad in the area over between Meadowood Shopping Center and McKenna. The concentration of Section 8 housing is causing most of the problems. I'm really glad that my kids are adults and no longer attend schools in my neighborhood. I would not want them playing, walking, or riding bikes in an area where there is so much drug activity, gun violence, and where teenage toughs are roaming the streets at all hours, shouting at each other and picking fights.
One summer evening while on a nice walk, I ended up in the middle of a large group of older teens, male and female, gathered at the corner of McKenna and Putnam, and it was getting so heated up with screaming, shoving, hair pulling and threats, that a police car drove up because someone must have called it in.
And then the 30 person "melee" business going on over in the vacant lot on Raymond where an officer was attacked by an adult at midday, just two blocks from the elementary/middle school, with another incident involving shotguns (one fired by a 15-yr old) only 3 days later. And then the shootings on Russett the other night. Plus the drug house over on Leland, the raid on a house immediately across from me, and neighbors talking of a meth lab that was behind me??
Used condoms on the lawn
The letter continues:
You should be very glad that you don't live over on the streets with, or immediately near, multiple unit housing anymore. I don't have a choice in my situation, but I hope folks on the City Council and County Board take notice of what is going on over here. I've heard the "paradise" comment quoted and just couldn't believe it, because it certainly isn't over on this side of Whitney Way, and residents don't just get all riled up in huge standing-room-only neighborhood meetings of concern over nothing.
Allied Drive has merely been displaced, and expanded, and drop kicked into what used to be a nice, safe, middle-class neighborhood.
I've had cars idling in front of my house night after night at all hours. I've always suspected that it was people making drug pick-ups….I guess they were clients of the raided home! The street's residents and visitors leave liquor bottles, beer cans, complete fast food meal trash, and, oh yes, used condoms on my lawn and neighbor's lawn, and in the gutter in front of our houses….EVERY DAY….or night. I am NOT exaggerating.
One night I thought someone was being generous when a DVD player was left on my lawn, but alas, it was smashed up. And I've found those little ziplock crack baggies on my lawn more than once…empty, of course. ... More than once, I've had to ask yet some OTHER neighbors not to sit in their parked car in their driveway with their car stereo blaring so loud that my walls were thumping after midnight.
How often do you cross the street in your pajamas and robe after 12:30 PM, on a weeknight, over there on Tolman to do this? It happens with regularity for me. They never apologize -- they're usually just really angry that I have to knock on their car window to get their attention.
More to come.
