Sunday, December 03, 2006

And I'm Running Again

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So, I have decided to run for another term on the Monona City Council. Here is an edited version of my official press release....(Maybe I'll have t-shirts made with "Doug" written across the front ala a certain local political figure? Nahhh)....

Doug Wood announced his candidacy for re-election to the Monona City Council today. Wood was elected in 2003 and 2005 and also previously served on the council from 1989-1993. Wood previously received the city’s Distinguished Service Award (Comment: That means I have hung around city hall for a long time).

In his current term Wood has supported maintaining the current level of services while continually searching for more efficient ways to operate city government. He is also a strong supporter of the Monona library and Monona parks. Wood has taken a leading role in restoring Woodland Park (Comment: No, I did not personally wield the axe - and besides we are restoring the park to an oak savanna).

He feels the city has also made good progress on repairing our streets and utilities (Comment: They were so bad, it's not that hard to make progress?). “We rebuilt nearly a mile of streets this year, seal-coated over 5 miles of roads, and used a new process to line several thousand feet of storm sewer without digging up the road, but we still have a long way to go.” (Comment: Gee, that's really fascinating).

Wood tries to adhere to the Wisconsin Idea, as expressed by Adlai Stevenson (ironically also an Illinois native), "...a faith in the application of intelligence and reason to the problems of society. It meant a deep conviction that the role of government was not to stumble along…in the dark, but to light its way by the best torches of knowledge and understanding it could find." (Comment: I confess I really like this quote).

Wood currently co-chairs the Parks and Recreation Board and the Public Works Committee, chairs the License Review Committee, and serves on the Library Board. In addition, Wood is chair of the Ad Hoc Monona Skatepark Committee and is a member of the Monona Drive Ad Hoc Advisory Committee. Mayor Kahl also appointed Wood as Monona’s representative to the state’s Stoughton Road Policy Advisory Committee. (Man, I need to get a life!)

A native of Southern Illinois, Wood has lived in Monona for over 21 years. He resides in Monona with his wife, Susan Adams, and his four children. He bleeds St. Louis Cardinal red in October and Wisconsin Badger red during basketball season, but also like the Brewers, football Badgers, and Packers. Wood reads an absurd number of books and writes "book reviews" for Amazon.com.

Wood is an attorney for the state Office of the Commissioner of Railroads and has extensive professional experience in transportation matters. (That means I drive the Beltline every day and, yes, I work for Uncle Rodney.) He received his law degree with honors from the University of Wisconsin in 1982.

Contact: Doug Wood 5605 Thunderbird Lane Monona, WI 53716
266-9536 (day)
222-8572 (evening)
Monona Alder
aldr.dwood@ci.monona.wi.us
http://mononadoug.blogspot.com/
Posted by Doug Wood on 12/03/2006

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousWednesday, December 06, 2006

    Hey Doug, although lofty and worthy, and maybe an idea from Wisconsin, that's not "the" Wisconsin Idea. The Wisconsin Idea has to do with the relationship between the University of Wisconsin and the residents of this state and is best described in the following link http://www.wisconsinidea.wisc.edu/history.html

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  2. Doug WoodThursday, December 07, 2006

    I agree with you that your definition is one frequently used and most generally accepted, but there are other related strands. Clearly the UW system has been aleader in reaching out to and serving the larger community.

    One other strand connects the Wis. Idea to progressive politics - in the 1900-ish sense.

    To me the idea behind the Idea is that the problems, especially problems, should be approached by appying reason to knowledge.

    Wikipedia's definition acknoweldges the connection to progressivism around the turn of the century.

    For a somewhat rambling discussion of the Wisconsin Idea see the article by Jack Stark from the state Leg. Reference Bureau:

    http://www.irp.wisc.edu/newsevents/pr10-25-06.htm

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