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Mayor and aldermen:
The new Monona Drive looks great--the extra money spent to bury utilities and provide upgraded landscaping was well worth it. I also support the effort to improve the sail feature--these aesthetic improvements are well worth their expense and will make driving around town an enjoyable experience, as well as make our city attractive to potential residents and investors.
They also act to extend the beauty of our surroundings into our city. Considering that most people access Monona from the beltline, we're lucky that our part of the beltline is so scenic. It is among the more scenic highways I've seen. This scenery is enhanced by a lack of billboards. The next time you are traveling east on the Beltline, pay attention to how you feel as you approach the bridge at about John Nolen Drive, which is just where you leave the advertising bombardment that is the Town of Madison's portion of the beltline. If the traffic is flowing, and you're like me, you'll feel slightly calmer on Monona's section as the billboards go away and the scenery opens up.
Installing a large, lit digital billboard at Ahuska is definitely going to ruin this feeling our Beltline has now. I know it may sound silly to some to talk about a busy highway like the Beltline like this--most of us associate this road with bad traffic. But a lot of us drive this road everyday--why not strive to make it as nice as possible?
A billboard here is bad enough, but a lit variable message sign as proposed is even worse. There is a similar sign on I-94 between here and Milwaukee—experienced at night, its bright changing colors seem to reach out for a mile and it is quite jarring. It really disrupts any calm feelings you may have as you drive through the country here. I've really grown to resent it.
While the leasing of land at Ahuska Park for the placement of this sign along the Beltline is certainly a creative revenue generator, I do not see the income gained from this worth the drawbacks. For all the value we've placed on improving the way things look in our community, please do not take a giant step backwards by granting a variance for this sign in our community. Better yet, please don't allow the construction of any more billboards along the Beltline, but certainly not a variable message board.
Respectfully submitted,
Ben Redding
6019 Queens Way
Monday, November 15, 2010
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I agree-those signs are a hazard and the issue should be refereed to public safety.
ReplyDeleteAs so often seems the case, unless one is able to go to all the city's committee meetings you don't know what's up until it's in your face at the council meetings.
ReplyDeleteMy questions: What sign? Where would it be? Who proposed it to the city? And, who at the city is pushing for this?
When is Mr. Redding going to run for the council? He's one of the most reasonable individuals to come onto the Monona scene in the recent past.
ReplyDelete"As so often seems the case, unless one is able to go to all the city's committee meetings you don't know what's up until it's in your face at the council meetings."
ReplyDeleteRead the Rag-It will keep you up on all the latest news.
"When is Mr. Redding going to run for the council? He's one of the most reasonable individuals to come onto the Monona scene in the recent past."
ReplyDeleteI agree... we should draft Mr. Redding into service. Ben Redding for alderman! He's going to need some convincing, though, so here's his email address: redding.benjamin@gmail.com
Sorry, but I don't believe in reading anonymous sources like the Rag. Why people give that site and its writer or writers any respect or add their own commentary to it is beyond me. Pull back the curtain and show us who is pulling the levers. Otherwise you're just any other website. I don't respect a those who would create a site that purports to share news, but then hide behind a pseudonym. It ain't right. No, no. (And before you claim I'm calling the kettle black, I'm just commenting on someone else's site, not writing on one of my own.)
ReplyDelete"I agree... we should draft Mr. Redding into service. Ben Redding for alderman!"
ReplyDeleteOooh, you're baaad. I'd love to see Ben's response when he read your comment Scott!
Cute, but I ain't running. If Scott's participation in City Council has learned me anything, it's that Council ain't a young man's game. I don't know how you guys handle the time commitment, but I certainly appreciate the work you all put in.
ReplyDeleteMore appreciation: thanks for posting my letter, Doug. Not everyone would've posted something like that if they disagreed with it. Monona residents are lucky to have this forum.