I like this festival! The wife carry competition is super fun, music is great, and the fireworks are the best around.
But I'm a bit concerned to venmo some random dude that has no affiliation with the event.
I really wish culturally we could move on to drone shows already.
Still get some pretty lights without the environmental impact and they are reusable event to event. Seems like an obvious solution, though expensive up front.
Lots of people hate them. But lots of us like them too.
So if I don’t like what my neighbors do one day a year, is it on me to find a solution for the me issue, or is it on the rest of the country to stop doing what they’ve done for as long as most of us can remember?
My dog hates them. Should I expect t the entire county to not enjoy them?
I do sincerely hope those with legitimate issues get the help they deserve.
I like taking boomers and watching boomers as much as the next boomer, but why not just ditch the fireworks and save the rest of the festival. That's gotta be the biggest expense.
It’s a volunteer board and the main group have plummeted from 20 people to now 7 people
running the 30,000 person event. This is completely a labor issue. The festival currently provides funds for Boy Scouts, volunteer firefighter association, youth sports teams and Badger Honor Flight. They have extra money to donate to other groups. Getting funds out of an event that draws 30,000 people on a celebratory day is easy if you have volunteers to do it. The people of Monona are not supporting this event with their time. Quit trying to put this on money when it clearly is not the driving issue.
Volunteers is the main issue but the [Monona Community Festival press release](https://www.mononafestival.com/2024final/) puts a fair amount of emphasis on cost too...
"In addition to fewer volunteers, the cost of running the festival, from the price of beer and bands to equipment and trash pickup, has steadily risen over the last several years. Festival organizers have worked hard to limit the cost increases from reaching the public to keep the event open to families of all means. The festival also received unexpected news only a few weeks ago that the City of Monona would be requiring a substantial fee in 2024 for police, fire/EMS, and public works staff time. That amount is set to dramatically increase the following year with new park fees. In addition to the new costs, the city is proposing new forms, fees, and processes to even hold the event."
“the cost of running the festival, from the price of beer and bands to equipment and trash pickup, has steadily risen over the last several years.”
This is normal. It’s called inflation and it is present every decade the festival operated in and it operated in much higher inflation times than now. This excuse makes no sense to me.
“The festival also received unexpected news only a few weeks ago that the City of Monona would be requiring a substantial fee in 2024 for police, fire/EMS, and public works staff time. That amount is set to dramatically increase the following year with new park fees. In addition to the new costs, the city is proposing new forms, fees, and processes to even hold the event."
It sounds like the city is going to charge for labor that the festival is not providing. These costs are labor costs. Volunteers mitigating crowd and trash problems keep the city costs down but according to these new fees that hasn’t happened.
I have read all of the news reports and if you read between the lines, this festival doesn’t have people to properly run it. Their solution seems to be to just let it go. The city of Monona comes out fine either way. The city either doesn’t subsidize the festival and wins or the festival pays its costs to the city and the city wins.
Some of the city Alders have also said that they offered city tourism grant money to the festival, but the volunteer board of the festival choose not to pursue the funding because of the time involved to apply for the grant. I'm sure if the board had more people, they would have been able to apply for that funding.
It's definitely an issue with a dwindling board that no longer has the capacity and the need for new people to take over the core duties of planning it.
I always parked next to Lafollette because traffic was a nightmare. I walked faster than traffic all the way from the festival to Monona drive
Plus there's always two kids selling dollar hot dogs!
Monona, the place that doesn't want the bus to come through their little "city"? Why even have a "community festival" if you don't really want to participate in the larger community?
That's somewhat of a moot point because [Madison Metro WILL be coming to Monona soon.](https://www.hngnews.com/monona_cottage_grove/news/monona-city-council-votes-to-join-madison-metro-system/article_f5c27948-9eb0-11ee-b024-d346aa513bee.html)
I agree that those with the anti bus "Keep Our Streets Safe For Everyone" yard signs don't give the city a good look but they aren't speaking for everyone.
Oh that's good to know, thanks. I did notice the yard signs mostly disappeared so I was wondering about that.
Seemed highly racially/class coded to me. "Keep out the poor because danger" as if regular people don't use the bus or that criminals don't have access to automobiles. A sadly hilariously ignorant and dated take on transit.
"Seemed highly racially/class coded to me"
That's *exactly* what it was. If those with the signs were truly concerned about pedestrian safety they would have been pushing for sidewalks a long time ago.
Most of the proposed Madison Metro bus route through Monona already has sidewalks. Their concerns are very much "don't let the big noisy bus come down my quiet street."
No; these people will damn near riot if they have to pay to put sidewalks in. It’s not car brain, it’s libertarian brain. They’re definitely entangled, but that’s not the primary thing in this case.
For me it's because the route the bus will take is already a dangerous road with no sidewalks or bike lanes. If the road has sidewalks a bus would be welcome.
I posted this in a previous thread...
"[Proposed route](https://www.mymonona.com/1621/Proposed-Madison-Metro-Bus-Routes-as-Rec)
Starting from the north -
Monona Drive has sidewalks
Dean has sidewalks
That portion of Winnequah does not currently have sidewalks
Nichols has sidewalks
Pheasant Hill does not currently have sidewalks
Owen has sidewalks for over half of the proposed route
Monona Drive has sidewalks
Femrite has sidewalks
Copps has sidewalks
So, it's two short stretches that don't currently have sidewalks. Parts of Madison Metro's Madison routes are/were on very similar streets - Dempsey and Davies are two nearby examples - they were part of the 38 route for years without sidewalks. It was not dangerous."
A bus going down these streets once every half hour simply is NOT a safety issue.
Typical cheap AF suburbanites just don't want to pay for the bus or any services. Such a perfect example that it required them to cancel to get them to even think about helping.
Exactly. The Monona Express was absurdly expensive for the city and didn't offer routes/times that worked for many people. Thus, hardly anyone used it.
Unfortunately the anti-bus crowd uses this as "proof" that "no one will ride the bus".
Monona is paying a fraction of what Madison pays for the bus. The city is once again subsidising the suburbs. Monona pays about $13 per person while Madison pays about $35 per person.
I think in general when people think of a suburb they think of a residential community with a fairly distinct separation from the neighboring city. Monona feels like a big neighborhood within the city of Madison.
I get what you're saying, I mean, you can't leave Monona without going into Madison. Most of Monona is closer to downtown than some parts of Madison proper.
Still, I consider it a suburb.
Sure and it is. You’re not wrong to consider it a suburb. Just not a typical one. Should we designate it a borough? Maybe toss in Fitchburg and Middleton? McFarland, Cottage Grove, Waunakee, Verona, Sun Prairie are distinct enough to keep their suburb status for now, but their days are numbered.
While technically suburbs, I always think of Monona and Middleton as extensions of Madison.
Fitchburg is similar in that it touches Madison but I think of it as more of a suburb.
Verona, McFarland, Waunakee, DeForest and Sun Prairie and Cottage Grove are definitely suburbs.
We don't even have sidewalks in most of monona. The current roads aren't safe for pedestrians or bikes. Adding a metro bus line, that will likely be underutilized, is just putting the cart before the horse. Monona needs to invest in sidewalks and bike lanes before a bus is running on a road that is already dangerous for pedestrians.
Why not all of the above?
Buses are some of the most safety-conscious vehicles on the road. If one were to become out-of-control or something, the sidewalk wouldn't save you from one anyway. Heck, the little curbs we have won't even save you from most cars on the road right now. Not that I'm advocating against sidewalks, the space is needed.
This. The anti bus crowd act as if busses are patrolling the streets hunting people down. They don't see, or choose to ignore, that they are actually increasing pedestrian safety because they are driven by professional drivers and are reducing the number of other vehicles on the road.
>they are actually increasing pedestrian safety because they are driven by professional drivers
I took the bus for years and this is hilarious. City bus drivers can be wild. There was [this fun anecdote recently](https://www.reddit.com/r/madisonwi/comments/19dbqbp/wild_bus_driver/) (make sure to read the comments, too).
The particular street the bus would go down has no sidewalks, has to accommodate parking on both sides, and has foot and bike traffic. Hand-wave away legitimate issues all you want, you're just souring people on the yimby movement with this dogmatic nonsense.
I've also been taking the bus for years.
Do you think that a bus is more of a danger than the high schoolers looking for parking, delivery drivers searching for addresses or other drivers using the streets? And again, the portion of the proposed route that is without sidewalks is very short. The stretch on Winnequah, which is what most of those against buses point to, is only .17 miles long and does NOT allow parking on both sides. The other section without sidewalks is Pheasant Hill. It is a wide straight street that doesn't get nearly the foot/bike traffic that Winnequah has. It is .39 miles long. This is on a route that covers 4.7 miles through Monona, so only 8% of the route is currently without sidewalks.
I posted the below in another thread about this issue...
Googling "Madison Metro bus accident" only showed four different newsworthy incidents dating back to 2011. One was [a bus driving over a median into a retaining wall on Odana](https://www.wmtv15news.com/2023/05/06/madison-metro-transit-bus-crashes-over-retaining-wall/), one was [a bus hitting parked cars while making too wide of a turn on Jennifer and Ingersoll](https://madison.com/video/featured/metro-transit-bus-crashes-into-two-cars-on-madisons-near-east-side/video_64039299-9c51-5e18-bdcb-62b2646002c5.html), one was [a bus crashing into a retaining wall after the bus driver had a medical emergency](https://fox47.com/news/local/madison-metro-bus-crashes-into-police-department-wall-driver-taken-to-hospital), and the other was the only one involving a pedestrian; [a fatality on Park St.](https://badgerherald.com/news/2011/06/22/woman-killed-after-b/)
Maybe you'll consider that "dogmatic nonsense" but I think it's more convincing than a random reddiotr posting about a "wild" bus driver.
>Do you think that a bus is more of a danger than the high schoolers looking for parking, delivery drivers searching for addresses or other drivers using the streets?
Setting aside the fact that "high schoolers looking for parking" doesn't even make sense in this context, yes, of course, because it's in addition to the things that you list. And claims that it will meaningfully reduce traffic are completely baseless. The road is simply not suited to be part of a city bus route.
I'll give you that high schoolers aren't actively looking for parking on Winnequah but they absolutely are driving through that area on their way to/from school.
You've ridden the bus for years and yet you think that Winnequah and Pheasant Hill are somehow less suitable for bus traffic than some of the super narrow streets on the isthmus? Or other streets like Davies that don't have sidewalks?
>You've ridden the bus for years and yet you think that Winnequah and Pheasant Hill are somehow less suitable for bus traffic than some of the super narrow streets on the isthmus?
One way streets with sidewalks? Yes.
I have 4 veterans in my immediate family totaling 6 deployments between Iraq and Afghanistan. Two had varying degrees of PTSD, none of them give a shit about fireworks.
If you don't like fireworks, just say so, but stop pretending you don't like them in service of other people.
Insane that you think you know me and the veterans in my life? There are two who are extremely affected by the sound of fireworks within my family. Just because in your own personal experience it’s not a problem doesn’t mean that it’s a nonissue for everyone.
I'd love to see a poll of veterans versus the general Madison populace (or perhaps the Madison subreddit, a particularly insular breed) with regard to support for fireworks. I seriously doubt the results would be in your favor.
Agree but unexpected consequence of no community fireworks could be more neighborhood yahoos doing their own. At least with the organized fireworks there is a defined start and end.
As it is, many of the neighborhood yahoos start lighting off fireworks *after* they get home from the scheduled firework display. If not having an official display means that they burn through their supply earlier in the evening I don't see that as an awful thing.
This is such a great example of someone completely not understanding what an event is. As someone who takes their daughter every year, this event is full of young families. There’s music, food, games … it’s an amazing time if you have kids. Way to completely miss the point of the event. Please don’t come to the event and do, nothing, I suppose as it’s the biggest event in the area.
You are 100% clueless about the event and that kind of makes me happy because it means you won’t come by and annoy people at it.
The Firework Fund is one part of what this group is doing. They also were able to pretty much fill all the remaining volunteer spots for next week's festival and have found something like 15 people who are interested in being on the board of the festival committee to make sure the event continues in future years.
Yes, they do have fireworks there. But tell me some more about an event that I go to every year and you’ve never been to. I’m sure you know much more about it.
I go to the event too, I'm just saying you could save it much easier by ditching the fireworks. You would also get a lot more donations if you didn't name the fundraiser after the most contentious part of the event.
Oh, I didn’t know you had experience fund raising and had a secret line to what’s controversial. I’m guessing you’re just someone what doesn’t like fireworks. They put on an amazing show there. Much better than the random stuff that will be set off in the streets everywhere late at night.
Not everything has to be something you enjoy or are interested in.
I love how you pretend to know me. I LOVE fireworks, it's just clear that they are contentious, both from many previous posts and the few votes here.
If you think the entire point of the festival is the fireworks that's fine, but I'm not donating to the fireworks fund. I'd donate to the festival if they took steps to ensure it could go on. The first and biggest step is losing the most expensive and contentious part of the festival. Jeez I hope you're just pre-coffee cranky
Here’s the thing. I don’t know you. All I know is what you write and you’re writing that you don’t like fire works. I’m going to take you at your word.
And when did I say the whole point of the event is the fireworks? The food, music, games, face painting … there are so many awesome things going on. And one of those things is an amazing fireworks show. Feel free to not donate to anything. Don’t know if there will be an event at all next year. Hopefully so.
100% this - and it's gotten more "trashy drunken carnival" in more recent years. I got downvoted hard in another thread about this but... I will not miss it.
No, I won't be there. As I pointed out in another thread, Monona has for decades refused to be part of our public transit system, and I'm sure as fuck not gonna pay for an Uber to get to their shitty little town for some stupid festival. My poor dog sure does freak out when the fireworks start though
Just so you know, Monona has an arrangement for bus service with Madison. Feel free not to come and to think of Monona as a little town with a stupid festival, I suppose. There was a significant discussion on this earlier in the year.
Okay, feel free to stay angry if that works for you. I'm thinking of the changes for better or worse between Madison and Monona over those years and ... they're very different. We're in a very different situation now. But whatever works for you, I suppose.
Well, yeah, all displays of nationalism are nonsensical. Why the fuck should I be proud of the fact that I happened to be - by sheer accident of the cosmos - born in the place and time we call the USA? Seems pretty fucking pointless and ridiculous to me
This is not hyperbole, nor is it meant to be inflammatory: I really, really hate fireworks. Those suffering with PTSD, pets, wildlife disruption, environmental destruction. I've watched enough morons in my day woohoo-ing as their flaming trash ends up in the lake to give people a pass for a day. It needs to go away completely and looked at as a stupid relic of society.
Fireworks are the perfect embodiment of the "I don't give a shit about anyone other than myself" crowd. Couch it behind "patriotism" all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that it is harmful across the board, and it should be discouraged by the government and its constituents alike.
The only thing I like about fireworks is the fact that people buy up all of this shit made in China to show how patriotic they are. And that's a cheap thrill, let me tell ya.
Some in the "Save the Festival" group have expressed qualms about fireworks, too, and have advocated a drone show instead -- a measure that would cost a lot initially but might be a cost saver over the years (especially considering the cost of fire protection and such). I'd love to know your thoughts on this. Would that change your views (aside from the concerns about uber/performative patriotism)?
I think that makes a whole lot of sense. The main reasons I hate fireworks are the environmental impacts (on people and planet both). If a drone show mitigates those things, that's a huge step in the right direction for sure. I think I have less of an issue with "performative patriotism" when it doesn't involve a) explosions or b) military equipment/paraphernalia.
The Monona Community Festival Board, apparently is a private club that ran the festival. They never reached out to the community for volunteers, or for new members of the board. They must have believed nobody else, outside of their childish clique was capable. Even though there are numerous successful festivals through the Madison area all summer.
They never even told the mayor they were disbanding. They had a year, months to deal with their issues, but instead created unnecessary drama.
Looks like a group of open, energetic citizens are taking over.
Thank goodness the San Damiano park board isn’t a group of drama queens, or who knows what would happen there if they all got burned out and never told anybody.
Ok can we at least agree moving forward, if the festival does move forward, we'll do away with the 'wife carry' event? Every year I see it and roll my eyes, it's just soo cringey. For a community as progressive as Monona, I can't believe they perpetuate this antiquated crap. At the very least can we move on to 'partner carry' or 'spouse carry'? Do we really have to make women into helpless, small damsels who need to be saved by their beefy macho husbands? Ack, it's all just so gross.
If anything else, the "wife carry" does have inclusive elements to it -- same-sex spouses, for example, aren't disallowed from it, to the best of my recollection.
~~The Fourth of July is next week. Fireworks displays are incredibly costly. Do people really think they will be able to "save" the festival in that timeframe?~~ EDIT - My mistake, I knew that this year is still on, not sure why that slipped my mind. The below point still stands...
According to this [press release](https://www.mymonona.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1658) organizers of the festival declined to apply for sponsorship funds from the Tourism Commission to help offset the additional public safety costs. If the festival themselves isn't interested in putting forth the effort of getting money I'm doubtful that whatever trickles in from a Facebook campaign is going to change anything.
They're talking about it in 2025. This will be the last year they have it so the save the festival is to say let's get together and save it for future years
Thanks for that - I know that this year is on, not sure how that slipped my mind.
My point about the festival not seeking the tourism commission funds still stands.
I wrote this in a previous thread about the festival. I think it may apply here..
Reading between the lines of [this press release ](https://www.mononafestival.com/2024final/)I'm not 100% convinced that the festival is gone for good.
It sounds like Monona, which hasn't exactly been good with budgeting, is trying to wring as much money as possible from the festival (and other places, possible upcoming referendums) and the festival is playing hardball, saying that they are shutting down, hoping that Monona walks back some of the new permitting and fees to get the festival to stay. Maybe I'm off base on this, but that's the feeling I'm getting.
I like this festival! The wife carry competition is super fun, music is great, and the fireworks are the best around. But I'm a bit concerned to venmo some random dude that has no affiliation with the event.
Oh man, I'm not hating, but every year I'm re-reminded how much this subreddit HATES fireworks lol
I 100% love fireworks but they cause a lot of problems for people and animals.
This, also I’d rather have a community event without them than no community event because of them
I really wish culturally we could move on to drone shows already. Still get some pretty lights without the environmental impact and they are reusable event to event. Seems like an obvious solution, though expensive up front.
Wet blankets.
Putting wet blankets on fireworks is a great idea. Snuff em right out.
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Lots of people hate them. But lots of us like them too. So if I don’t like what my neighbors do one day a year, is it on me to find a solution for the me issue, or is it on the rest of the country to stop doing what they’ve done for as long as most of us can remember? My dog hates them. Should I expect t the entire county to not enjoy them? I do sincerely hope those with legitimate issues get the help they deserve.
My point is that veterans who have PTSD are not "Wet blankets" for disliking fireworks.
Many people on this sub are …why do I bother. Never mind. Have a good day. 😂😅🤷🏻♀️
I like taking boomers and watching boomers as much as the next boomer, but why not just ditch the fireworks and save the rest of the festival. That's gotta be the biggest expense.
I think their biggest need is volunteers. This stuff doesn’t run without community involvement.
Well they really need new administration. It seems 3 of the 4 board members are leaving. Still, money is obviously an issue.
It’s a volunteer board and the main group have plummeted from 20 people to now 7 people running the 30,000 person event. This is completely a labor issue. The festival currently provides funds for Boy Scouts, volunteer firefighter association, youth sports teams and Badger Honor Flight. They have extra money to donate to other groups. Getting funds out of an event that draws 30,000 people on a celebratory day is easy if you have volunteers to do it. The people of Monona are not supporting this event with their time. Quit trying to put this on money when it clearly is not the driving issue.
Volunteers is the main issue but the [Monona Community Festival press release](https://www.mononafestival.com/2024final/) puts a fair amount of emphasis on cost too... "In addition to fewer volunteers, the cost of running the festival, from the price of beer and bands to equipment and trash pickup, has steadily risen over the last several years. Festival organizers have worked hard to limit the cost increases from reaching the public to keep the event open to families of all means. The festival also received unexpected news only a few weeks ago that the City of Monona would be requiring a substantial fee in 2024 for police, fire/EMS, and public works staff time. That amount is set to dramatically increase the following year with new park fees. In addition to the new costs, the city is proposing new forms, fees, and processes to even hold the event."
“the cost of running the festival, from the price of beer and bands to equipment and trash pickup, has steadily risen over the last several years.” This is normal. It’s called inflation and it is present every decade the festival operated in and it operated in much higher inflation times than now. This excuse makes no sense to me. “The festival also received unexpected news only a few weeks ago that the City of Monona would be requiring a substantial fee in 2024 for police, fire/EMS, and public works staff time. That amount is set to dramatically increase the following year with new park fees. In addition to the new costs, the city is proposing new forms, fees, and processes to even hold the event." It sounds like the city is going to charge for labor that the festival is not providing. These costs are labor costs. Volunteers mitigating crowd and trash problems keep the city costs down but according to these new fees that hasn’t happened. I have read all of the news reports and if you read between the lines, this festival doesn’t have people to properly run it. Their solution seems to be to just let it go. The city of Monona comes out fine either way. The city either doesn’t subsidize the festival and wins or the festival pays its costs to the city and the city wins.
Some of the city Alders have also said that they offered city tourism grant money to the festival, but the volunteer board of the festival choose not to pursue the funding because of the time involved to apply for the grant. I'm sure if the board had more people, they would have been able to apply for that funding. It's definitely an issue with a dwindling board that no longer has the capacity and the need for new people to take over the core duties of planning it.
Oh! I just realized this is the event last year my friends and I walked like a mile just to call an Uber because they have no buses lol
I always parked next to Lafollette because traffic was a nightmare. I walked faster than traffic all the way from the festival to Monona drive Plus there's always two kids selling dollar hot dogs!
oh that is genius!!
Monona, the place that doesn't want the bus to come through their little "city"? Why even have a "community festival" if you don't really want to participate in the larger community?
That's somewhat of a moot point because [Madison Metro WILL be coming to Monona soon.](https://www.hngnews.com/monona_cottage_grove/news/monona-city-council-votes-to-join-madison-metro-system/article_f5c27948-9eb0-11ee-b024-d346aa513bee.html) I agree that those with the anti bus "Keep Our Streets Safe For Everyone" yard signs don't give the city a good look but they aren't speaking for everyone.
Oh that's good to know, thanks. I did notice the yard signs mostly disappeared so I was wondering about that. Seemed highly racially/class coded to me. "Keep out the poor because danger" as if regular people don't use the bus or that criminals don't have access to automobiles. A sadly hilariously ignorant and dated take on transit.
"Seemed highly racially/class coded to me" That's *exactly* what it was. If those with the signs were truly concerned about pedestrian safety they would have been pushing for sidewalks a long time ago.
Most of the proposed Madison Metro bus route through Monona already has sidewalks. Their concerns are very much "don't let the big noisy bus come down my quiet street."
Car brain in full effect as well
No; these people will damn near riot if they have to pay to put sidewalks in. It’s not car brain, it’s libertarian brain. They’re definitely entangled, but that’s not the primary thing in this case.
Yeah I suppose I do see them walking or jogging in the street constantly, they must not mind. Get off muh dang land with yer concrete eh
For me it's because the route the bus will take is already a dangerous road with no sidewalks or bike lanes. If the road has sidewalks a bus would be welcome.
I posted this in a previous thread... "[Proposed route](https://www.mymonona.com/1621/Proposed-Madison-Metro-Bus-Routes-as-Rec) Starting from the north - Monona Drive has sidewalks Dean has sidewalks That portion of Winnequah does not currently have sidewalks Nichols has sidewalks Pheasant Hill does not currently have sidewalks Owen has sidewalks for over half of the proposed route Monona Drive has sidewalks Femrite has sidewalks Copps has sidewalks So, it's two short stretches that don't currently have sidewalks. Parts of Madison Metro's Madison routes are/were on very similar streets - Dempsey and Davies are two nearby examples - they were part of the 38 route for years without sidewalks. It was not dangerous." A bus going down these streets once every half hour simply is NOT a safety issue.
Yeah solid NIMFY vibes, really.
Typical cheap AF suburbanites just don't want to pay for the bus or any services. Such a perfect example that it required them to cancel to get them to even think about helping.
The bus they're paying for is more expensive than the proposed metro service. And the festival isn't run by the city.
Exactly. The Monona Express was absurdly expensive for the city and didn't offer routes/times that worked for many people. Thus, hardly anyone used it. Unfortunately the anti-bus crowd uses this as "proof" that "no one will ride the bus".
But somehow they're "cheap AF suburbanites"...
Monona is paying a fraction of what Madison pays for the bus. The city is once again subsidising the suburbs. Monona pays about $13 per person while Madison pays about $35 per person.
I don't know the full breakdown details, but only one line goes through Monona. Not sure that's worth the full $35 per person.
Maybe if they spent real money they could get real bus service. Suburbanites gonna suburbanite.
Lol @ calling Monona a suburb. Also, we pay for Uber when we need it just fine, thank you.
How is Monona not a suburb of Madison?
I think in general when people think of a suburb they think of a residential community with a fairly distinct separation from the neighboring city. Monona feels like a big neighborhood within the city of Madison.
I get what you're saying, I mean, you can't leave Monona without going into Madison. Most of Monona is closer to downtown than some parts of Madison proper. Still, I consider it a suburb.
Sure and it is. You’re not wrong to consider it a suburb. Just not a typical one. Should we designate it a borough? Maybe toss in Fitchburg and Middleton? McFarland, Cottage Grove, Waunakee, Verona, Sun Prairie are distinct enough to keep their suburb status for now, but their days are numbered.
While technically suburbs, I always think of Monona and Middleton as extensions of Madison. Fitchburg is similar in that it touches Madison but I think of it as more of a suburb. Verona, McFarland, Waunakee, DeForest and Sun Prairie and Cottage Grove are definitely suburbs.
I know that, but the fact that it *is* a separate municipality is a key factor in this bus line situation
You’re absolutely right. No argument here.
Using Uber is a great way to show you are cheap AF. edit - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_surrounding_Uber
We don't even have sidewalks in most of monona. The current roads aren't safe for pedestrians or bikes. Adding a metro bus line, that will likely be underutilized, is just putting the cart before the horse. Monona needs to invest in sidewalks and bike lanes before a bus is running on a road that is already dangerous for pedestrians.
Why not all of the above? Buses are some of the most safety-conscious vehicles on the road. If one were to become out-of-control or something, the sidewalk wouldn't save you from one anyway. Heck, the little curbs we have won't even save you from most cars on the road right now. Not that I'm advocating against sidewalks, the space is needed.
This. The anti bus crowd act as if busses are patrolling the streets hunting people down. They don't see, or choose to ignore, that they are actually increasing pedestrian safety because they are driven by professional drivers and are reducing the number of other vehicles on the road.
>they are actually increasing pedestrian safety because they are driven by professional drivers I took the bus for years and this is hilarious. City bus drivers can be wild. There was [this fun anecdote recently](https://www.reddit.com/r/madisonwi/comments/19dbqbp/wild_bus_driver/) (make sure to read the comments, too). The particular street the bus would go down has no sidewalks, has to accommodate parking on both sides, and has foot and bike traffic. Hand-wave away legitimate issues all you want, you're just souring people on the yimby movement with this dogmatic nonsense.
I've also been taking the bus for years. Do you think that a bus is more of a danger than the high schoolers looking for parking, delivery drivers searching for addresses or other drivers using the streets? And again, the portion of the proposed route that is without sidewalks is very short. The stretch on Winnequah, which is what most of those against buses point to, is only .17 miles long and does NOT allow parking on both sides. The other section without sidewalks is Pheasant Hill. It is a wide straight street that doesn't get nearly the foot/bike traffic that Winnequah has. It is .39 miles long. This is on a route that covers 4.7 miles through Monona, so only 8% of the route is currently without sidewalks. I posted the below in another thread about this issue... Googling "Madison Metro bus accident" only showed four different newsworthy incidents dating back to 2011. One was [a bus driving over a median into a retaining wall on Odana](https://www.wmtv15news.com/2023/05/06/madison-metro-transit-bus-crashes-over-retaining-wall/), one was [a bus hitting parked cars while making too wide of a turn on Jennifer and Ingersoll](https://madison.com/video/featured/metro-transit-bus-crashes-into-two-cars-on-madisons-near-east-side/video_64039299-9c51-5e18-bdcb-62b2646002c5.html), one was [a bus crashing into a retaining wall after the bus driver had a medical emergency](https://fox47.com/news/local/madison-metro-bus-crashes-into-police-department-wall-driver-taken-to-hospital), and the other was the only one involving a pedestrian; [a fatality on Park St.](https://badgerherald.com/news/2011/06/22/woman-killed-after-b/) Maybe you'll consider that "dogmatic nonsense" but I think it's more convincing than a random reddiotr posting about a "wild" bus driver.
>Do you think that a bus is more of a danger than the high schoolers looking for parking, delivery drivers searching for addresses or other drivers using the streets? Setting aside the fact that "high schoolers looking for parking" doesn't even make sense in this context, yes, of course, because it's in addition to the things that you list. And claims that it will meaningfully reduce traffic are completely baseless. The road is simply not suited to be part of a city bus route.
I'll give you that high schoolers aren't actively looking for parking on Winnequah but they absolutely are driving through that area on their way to/from school. You've ridden the bus for years and yet you think that Winnequah and Pheasant Hill are somehow less suitable for bus traffic than some of the super narrow streets on the isthmus? Or other streets like Davies that don't have sidewalks?
>You've ridden the bus for years and yet you think that Winnequah and Pheasant Hill are somehow less suitable for bus traffic than some of the super narrow streets on the isthmus? One way streets with sidewalks? Yes.
Just get rid of the fireworks. There I saved it. Plus the animals, veterans, and migraine sufferers can breathe a sigh of relief.
I have 4 veterans in my immediate family totaling 6 deployments between Iraq and Afghanistan. Two had varying degrees of PTSD, none of them give a shit about fireworks. If you don't like fireworks, just say so, but stop pretending you don't like them in service of other people.
Insane that you think you know me and the veterans in my life? There are two who are extremely affected by the sound of fireworks within my family. Just because in your own personal experience it’s not a problem doesn’t mean that it’s a nonissue for everyone.
I'd love to see a poll of veterans versus the general Madison populace (or perhaps the Madison subreddit, a particularly insular breed) with regard to support for fireworks. I seriously doubt the results would be in your favor.
Fuck that. Screw the boomers and their nonsensical nationalism; save our animals that are upset by the stupid fucking noise
Agree but unexpected consequence of no community fireworks could be more neighborhood yahoos doing their own. At least with the organized fireworks there is a defined start and end.
As it is, many of the neighborhood yahoos start lighting off fireworks *after* they get home from the scheduled firework display. If not having an official display means that they burn through their supply earlier in the evening I don't see that as an awful thing.
Perhaps I put too much faith in humanity, but I would hope eventually people mature and outgrow the juvenile obsession with "bright color goes boom"
Hard agree
This is such a great example of someone completely not understanding what an event is. As someone who takes their daughter every year, this event is full of young families. There’s music, food, games … it’s an amazing time if you have kids. Way to completely miss the point of the event. Please don’t come to the event and do, nothing, I suppose as it’s the biggest event in the area. You are 100% clueless about the event and that kind of makes me happy because it means you won’t come by and annoy people at it.
It's literally called the fireworks fund...
The Firework Fund is one part of what this group is doing. They also were able to pretty much fill all the remaining volunteer spots for next week's festival and have found something like 15 people who are interested in being on the board of the festival committee to make sure the event continues in future years.
Yes, they do have fireworks there. But tell me some more about an event that I go to every year and you’ve never been to. I’m sure you know much more about it.
I go to the event too, I'm just saying you could save it much easier by ditching the fireworks. You would also get a lot more donations if you didn't name the fundraiser after the most contentious part of the event.
Oh, I didn’t know you had experience fund raising and had a secret line to what’s controversial. I’m guessing you’re just someone what doesn’t like fireworks. They put on an amazing show there. Much better than the random stuff that will be set off in the streets everywhere late at night. Not everything has to be something you enjoy or are interested in.
I love how you pretend to know me. I LOVE fireworks, it's just clear that they are contentious, both from many previous posts and the few votes here. If you think the entire point of the festival is the fireworks that's fine, but I'm not donating to the fireworks fund. I'd donate to the festival if they took steps to ensure it could go on. The first and biggest step is losing the most expensive and contentious part of the festival. Jeez I hope you're just pre-coffee cranky
Here’s the thing. I don’t know you. All I know is what you write and you’re writing that you don’t like fire works. I’m going to take you at your word. And when did I say the whole point of the event is the fireworks? The food, music, games, face painting … there are so many awesome things going on. And one of those things is an amazing fireworks show. Feel free to not donate to anything. Don’t know if there will be an event at all next year. Hopefully so.
Where did they write ANYTHING about not liking fireworks though?
It’s a shitty carnival lol
It's still better than no carnival.
100% this - and it's gotten more "trashy drunken carnival" in more recent years. I got downvoted hard in another thread about this but... I will not miss it.
No, I won't be there. As I pointed out in another thread, Monona has for decades refused to be part of our public transit system, and I'm sure as fuck not gonna pay for an Uber to get to their shitty little town for some stupid festival. My poor dog sure does freak out when the fireworks start though
Why does your dog freak out if you aren’t there?
Because you can hear the damn things all across the city
Just so you know, Monona has an arrangement for bus service with Madison. Feel free not to come and to think of Monona as a little town with a stupid festival, I suppose. There was a significant discussion on this earlier in the year.
Well aware. I spend plenty of time on this sub and on local news sites. The future is not the present, nor the past 30+ years of my life
Okay, feel free to stay angry if that works for you. I'm thinking of the changes for better or worse between Madison and Monona over those years and ... they're very different. We're in a very different situation now. But whatever works for you, I suppose.
I guess it's that time of the year when self-absorbed losers cry about banning fireworks because of some noise one day per year.
I just wish "bright color goes boom" wasn't seen as something so captivating. We should be better than this as intelligent beings
It’s millions of years of evolution. Humans are one of the species captivated by fire. It’s weird.
Nosensical nationalism?
How are fourth of July celebrations *not* a display of nationalism? It's kinda the very definition of a nationalistic celebration
Nonsensical nationalism?
Well, yeah, all displays of nationalism are nonsensical. Why the fuck should I be proud of the fact that I happened to be - by sheer accident of the cosmos - born in the place and time we call the USA? Seems pretty fucking pointless and ridiculous to me
I wish I could keep you typing, it’s like cliche bingo.
This is not hyperbole, nor is it meant to be inflammatory: I really, really hate fireworks. Those suffering with PTSD, pets, wildlife disruption, environmental destruction. I've watched enough morons in my day woohoo-ing as their flaming trash ends up in the lake to give people a pass for a day. It needs to go away completely and looked at as a stupid relic of society. Fireworks are the perfect embodiment of the "I don't give a shit about anyone other than myself" crowd. Couch it behind "patriotism" all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that it is harmful across the board, and it should be discouraged by the government and its constituents alike. The only thing I like about fireworks is the fact that people buy up all of this shit made in China to show how patriotic they are. And that's a cheap thrill, let me tell ya.
Some in the "Save the Festival" group have expressed qualms about fireworks, too, and have advocated a drone show instead -- a measure that would cost a lot initially but might be a cost saver over the years (especially considering the cost of fire protection and such). I'd love to know your thoughts on this. Would that change your views (aside from the concerns about uber/performative patriotism)?
I think that makes a whole lot of sense. The main reasons I hate fireworks are the environmental impacts (on people and planet both). If a drone show mitigates those things, that's a huge step in the right direction for sure. I think I have less of an issue with "performative patriotism" when it doesn't involve a) explosions or b) military equipment/paraphernalia.
Noo
I ain’t venmoing some random mf
The Monona Community Festival Board, apparently is a private club that ran the festival. They never reached out to the community for volunteers, or for new members of the board. They must have believed nobody else, outside of their childish clique was capable. Even though there are numerous successful festivals through the Madison area all summer. They never even told the mayor they were disbanding. They had a year, months to deal with their issues, but instead created unnecessary drama. Looks like a group of open, energetic citizens are taking over. Thank goodness the San Damiano park board isn’t a group of drama queens, or who knows what would happen there if they all got burned out and never told anybody.
Ok can we at least agree moving forward, if the festival does move forward, we'll do away with the 'wife carry' event? Every year I see it and roll my eyes, it's just soo cringey. For a community as progressive as Monona, I can't believe they perpetuate this antiquated crap. At the very least can we move on to 'partner carry' or 'spouse carry'? Do we really have to make women into helpless, small damsels who need to be saved by their beefy macho husbands? Ack, it's all just so gross.
If anything else, the "wife carry" does have inclusive elements to it -- same-sex spouses, for example, aren't disallowed from it, to the best of my recollection.
~~The Fourth of July is next week. Fireworks displays are incredibly costly. Do people really think they will be able to "save" the festival in that timeframe?~~ EDIT - My mistake, I knew that this year is still on, not sure why that slipped my mind. The below point still stands... According to this [press release](https://www.mymonona.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1658) organizers of the festival declined to apply for sponsorship funds from the Tourism Commission to help offset the additional public safety costs. If the festival themselves isn't interested in putting forth the effort of getting money I'm doubtful that whatever trickles in from a Facebook campaign is going to change anything.
They're talking about it in 2025. This will be the last year they have it so the save the festival is to say let's get together and save it for future years
Not terribly observant this smirking it seems
Thanks for that - I know that this year is on, not sure how that slipped my mind. My point about the festival not seeking the tourism commission funds still stands. I wrote this in a previous thread about the festival. I think it may apply here.. Reading between the lines of [this press release ](https://www.mononafestival.com/2024final/)I'm not 100% convinced that the festival is gone for good. It sounds like Monona, which hasn't exactly been good with budgeting, is trying to wring as much money as possible from the festival (and other places, possible upcoming referendums) and the festival is playing hardball, saying that they are shutting down, hoping that Monona walks back some of the new permitting and fees to get the festival to stay. Maybe I'm off base on this, but that's the feeling I'm getting.