Mayor Dave Cieslewicz enters year two of his second term this week, which explains his appearance before Downtown Rotary and several editorial boards. Festivities will heighten at Tuesday's Common Council meeting where he'll deliver his "State of the City" speech.
Now, I doubt he'll begin this way, but based on some conversations I had over the weekend, the state of the city is kind of freaked out right now, due primarily to the murder of UW-Madison student Brittany Sue Zimmermann in her apartment last week. Cieslewicz admitted at a downtown safety meeting over the weekend that he lived near Zimmermann's Doty St. apartment building while he was in college. This incident, when coupled with the January murder of Joel Marino at his house on the near south side, has made downtown residents particularly uncomfortable.
The Madison Police Department generated significant public support over the summer when Chief Noble Wray, along with several city alderpeople, convinced Cieslewicz to add 30 new police officers to his 2008 city budget. Residents believed Wray when he said the cops were over-extended and needed to bolster the force in order to respond to their concerns about a perceived increase in crime. Instead of focusing their ire on Wray's management of the police department's operations, they sharply criticized the mayor for advancing transit issues at the expense of public issues.
Six months later, Wray and his department are under pressure to make some headway on these two high-profile disturbing cases, lest they lose some of the confidence and clout they benefitted from in the budget process.
MAYOR CIESLEWICZ WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Monday, April 7, 2008
8:30 a.m. Breakfast with Ald. Lauren Cnare
10:00 a.m. Policy staff meeting
11:00 a.m. Plan Commission agenda review
12:00 noon Lunch with Chancellor John Wiley
1:30 p.m. Rick Phelps and Joel Plant
2:00 p.m. Mark Hanson quarterly meeting
3:00 p.m. Fire Department recruits class welcome (MATC Fire Service Education Center, 1750 Pearson Street)
6:00 p.m. Meeting with Ald. Thuy Pham-Remmele and southwest neighborhood leaders (West District Police Station)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
8:30 a.m. Mayor's Management Team meeting 10:00 a.m. Channel 3 editorial board meeting (WISC-TV Channel 3, Raymond Road) 11:00 a.m. The Capital Times editorial board meeting (Fish Hatchery Road) 12:00 noon Lunch with Stephanie Rearick, Joel Plant, and Katherine Plominski 2:00 p.m. Wisconsin State Journal editorial board meeting (Fish Hatchery Road) 3:00 p.m. Third Sector Housing Group meeting (Foley & Lardner) 5:30 p.m. Test drive of Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) (in front of CCB) 6:30 p.m. Common Council meeting and "State of the City" speech (CCB 201)
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
9:00 a.m. Read at Sennett Middle School "Literacy Morning" (502 Pflaum Road) 10:00 a.m. Staff meeting 12:00 noon Speak at Downtown Rotary (Inn on the Park) 2:00 p.m. Brad Murphy quarterly meeting 6:00 p.m. Speak at kick-off meeting for the Downtown Plan (Overture Center, Promenade Hall)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
8:15 a.m. Speak at Edgewood High School Career Day (2219 Monroe Street) 9:00 a.m. Major Projects Group meeting (MMB LL-130) 2:00 p.m. Chief Noble Wray monthly meeting 4:30 p.m. Common Council leadership meeting 7:00 p.m. Wisconsin Women in Government annual banquet (Monona Terrace)
Friday, April 11, 2008
1:30 p.m. Donna Katen-Bahensky, Shiva Bidar-Silaff, Mario Mendoza, and Janet Piraino
3:00 p.m. Visit to the set of Jeopardy! taping and presentation of proclamation (Kohl Center)
Saturday, April 12, 2008
10:00 a.m. MATC Small Business Resource Center open house (MATC)
1:00 p.m. Read at Literacy Network "Literacy 24/7" (Border's Books, University Avenue)
