Arboretum Neighborhood Association

March 13, 2024

Hi everyone!

It has been a minute hasn’t it?!  So just a few items of attention for the neighborhood to start thinking about:

PRESCRIBED BURNS

It is prescribed burning season for the UW Arboretum.  You will receive notifications periodically from myself announcing a planned burn typically the day of (as wind patterns are generally only known ahead of time with short notice).

So in line with that there is a prescribed burn planned for TODAY.  From Mike Hanson at the Arb:  

“We plan to do some burning today starting around 1130a. 

One of the units we want to do is the clearing along Arboretum drive across from the houses. Likely won’t get to that area until this afternoon. 

East – southeast winds should take our smoke away from the houses, but we’ll monitor it closely.”

SPRING ANA MEETING

The date for our semi annual Spring meeting is still to be determined.  While we are in the planning stages we would LOVE to hear from all of you if there are topics of general neighborhood concern that you would like to hear addressed.  Please reach out!

NEW YEAR, NEW ACTIVITIES?

The ANA tried encouraging several gathering ideas of various themes last year.  We would appreciate your feedback on what you would like to see more of (or less of).  I have created a simple feedback poll here: Neighborhood Association Event Ideas

Follow the link and you can rate the ideas already tried along with some new ideas proposed.

As always, the ANA is a non profit organization.  We do not ask for membership dues like other neighborhood associations.  Our activities and efforts are 100% funded by donations.  If interested in making a donation please reach out to ANA Treasurer Nancy Gores, or any ANA board members.

2024 NEIGHBORHOOD GRANT UPDATE

The City of Madison offers annual grants to neighborhood associations for improvement and community building initiatives.  The ANA pursued our proposed idea of installing 2 or 3 interpretive signs in our neighborhood focusing on the biographies of the namesakes of our two parks along with the storied history of the “Lost City” development our neighborhood is built upon.  Unfortunately we have been stymied by “red tape” as the City is developing a new set of policies regarding non official City signage.  This is not to say that the project can’t happen, it just cannot happen until the new policies have been hashed out and approved within City government.  So the project has been shelved until next year.

ANA LOGO DESIGN

Calling all neighborhood artists!  The ANA would like to create a logo for our neighborhood association.  We can put this to use on our website and in future communications and hopefully on the future interpretive signs discussed above.  If you have creative design ideas, we want to them!  Reach out to myself or anyone on the board with your input.

Park & Open Space Plan Open House Drop-In SessionsFrom Madison Parks:  Parks is updating its Parks and Open Space Plan (POSP) and seeking input from area residents. The purpose of the POSP is to guide and inform public park policies and park facility decisions in the city of Madison. Additional information about the POSP is available on the Parks Projects, the main source of information as the project moves forward. Parks is hosting a series of open houses to introduce the project and gather input from attendees.  The open houses are drop-in sessions, held at various locations throughout the city in April and May. Participants may stop by anytime during the two-hour event, each held from 5:30 – 7:30pm. POSP Open House Sessions

• Thursday, April 4, Vel Phillips Memorial High School, 201 S Gammon Rd; Wisconsin Community Room
• Thursday, April 25, Warner Park Community Recreation Center, 1625 Northport Dr; Meeting Room
• Thursday, May 2, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, 3330 Atwood Ave; Atrium
• Thursday, May 9, Madison Parks Lakeside Offices, 330 E Lakeside St; Board Room

To be clear these sessions are NOT specifically pertaining to our two neighborhood parks.  The planning meetings regarding the rehabilitation of Schmidt and Fraust parks will be starting in the coming months.  “The goal of these meetings is to gather public input that will steer Parks efforts for years to come. The more we hear back from folks on their thoughts and priorities for our park system, the better we can design our parks to serve the public.”
BRUSH/YARD WASTE PICK UPSAs we start to ponder cleaning up our yards for spring, please consult the brush and yard waste pick up schedule just released by the City to guide your work efforts.  The schedule can be found here:  

Brush, Leaf, and Yard Waste – Streets & Recycling – City of Madison, Wisconsin
That’s all for now folks!  Happy Spring!
Alison Stawicki, ANA Secretary