First, I'd like to say that BFW's handling of the Seminole Interchange would be a great topic to bring up at the 2008 Annual Members Meeting TOMORROW!
2008 Annual Members Meeting Date and Time: Saturday November 8, 2008 10:00 AM Location: On Wisconsin Room Red Gym University of Wisconsin Campus 716 Langdon St Madison, WI 53706 Second, I'd like to share my observations about the last year of the BFW as a conversation starter: I agree with Robbie 100%, and I would like to point out that the issue of poor communication was mentioned several times at the listening session last year. I guess the BFW wasn't listening. Keep in mind the following observations are just my opinions and in most cases I have been unable to get the view from the "other side" to balance this out. Several times since that "listening" session, I have contacted BFW-Madison staff about various issues, and more often than not instead of staff listening to me, they were lecturing me. After I pointed out that they were not listening, I got a lecture about how mistaken I was, with some non-sequiter examples of how they were listening to me. I was happy to see BFW staff at several meetings of the Mayor's Platinum Biking Committee, and at the adoption hearing before the Common Council (after a little prodding). The thing that concerns me the most, especially when I see that only BFW-Madison staff have had input into the Seminole Interchange with WisDOT, is that I have picked up signs what I would call an "anti-Madison" attitude. There appears to be a belief that the previous EDs at BFW were part of a circle of friends with Madison advocates prior to becoming ED. As far as I know, that is absolutely not the case - especially with Dar Ward, who actually got off to a rocky start with a few of us. The difference between BFW-Madison now and Dar is that from my perspective, Dar didn't shut-off communication. Beyond this "circle of friends" issue, there appears to be a suspicion at BFW-Madison that previous ED's and staff parlayed special favors to Madison advocates and not to outside groups. The evidence of this is supposedly in the e-mail archives at the BFW. E-mail can be misread, so I asked BFW-Madison staff if they had consulted with previous staff before coming to their conclusions about these "special favors" - BFW-Madison staff have refused to answer this question, which I have re-posted several times over the last few months. As yet, there is no answer. BFW-Madison's lack of trying to get both sides of the "circle of friends" story is deeply concerning to me - but follows the pattern of Madison advocates not being listened to. As Robbie said, this really needs to change, and the best way to accomplish this change is to just “suck it up” and deal with it. However, I gave this very advice to BFW-Madison staff about a year ago and it seems they weren’t listening. - Have a nice weekend! > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [Bikies] FW: Seminole Interchange Signalization: > Burleigh's Post of 11/01/08 > From: "Robbie Webber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri, November 07, 2008 1:00 pm > To: bikies@danenet.org > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Draw your own conclusions. I'm sorry, I've tried to let Bike Fed get its feet back on the ground, and reach out to the Madison transportation biking community. However, it seems that the refusal to post even FYI items on this list has turned from clumsy ignorance of the grass roots power of this community to dangerously willful disregard for the importance of communication with the front line troops. To Bike Fed staff and board: When there is a meeting, people need to know about it. It doesn't matter how much ones feelings have been hurt in the past by a few people on a list. I deal with that daily with this list, my own neighborhood listserv, and others I'm on. Suck it up and realize that this is where the activists reside. You need to use the tools you have. _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list Bikies@danenet.org http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
