The collections will benefit the Clean Lakes Alliance, which works to clean up Dane County's lakes, said James Tye, the group's vice president.Annoying. Just avoid restaurants for a week and you'll be free of this dunning. Or, skip the water and, since this is Madison and not New York City, order a large soda. (Or as they say in NYC, where people are hipper and also more babyish, a sugary drink.)
"We're not telling people, 'Don't drink water,' we're just telling them to be aware that the water that's coming to your table is not free and any water being left on the table is just being tossed away," Tye said.
ADDED: Here's an idea. When the waiter asks you for $1 for your water, say I will add an extra dollar to your tip, and you can put it in the water fund if you want.
Posts
128 comments:
It would be better to use water-tax funds to put contraceptives in the world's water.
That would solve not only the water-shortage problem, but also the problems of:
war over lebensraum
extermination of numerous species
global warming
traffic congestion
etc
In fact, instead of taxing water, we should all be taxing breeding.
Given them the donation, but note that it comes out of your tipping budget.
Instapundit posted a link to this the other day.
Cheap, clean water may soon be available for the whole planet. According to Reuters, defense contractor Lockheed Martin has developed a filter that will hugely reduce the amount of energy necessary to turn sea water into fresh water. The filter, which is five hundred times thinner then others currently available, lets water pass through but blocks all salt molecules. It will use almost 100 times less energy than other methods for making salt water drinkable, giving third world countries another way of expanding access to drinking water without having to create costly pumping stations.
Instead of giving a donation to your waiter, give him a copy of this article.
What nonsense. Drinking water is a tiny fraction of the total daily water use in the US. According to the intertubes, the average American uses 575 "litres" of water per day. Figure one litre of that is drinking water.
It doesn't makes sense to wantonly waste water, and we do pay for it, so what's their point -- it does not cost enough, so people think they can waste all they want?
Jimbino, sorry, contraceptives in the water supply just won't do. We need suckers to enter the bottom of the ponzi to fund the welfare state. No kids, no future transfer payments.
Don't forget that *(most)* servers don't want to do this either - they are well aware that there is no tipping upside to the behavior.
It's a tough job, no need to make it any harder.
_XC
The essence of Liberalism is making people feel guilty about every aspect of life.
Ya gotta wonder about a business that sees your choice to take your business to them as an opportunity to hit you up.
Another imaginary concern foisted upon the rest of from the same clear-eyed folks who have shanghaied the country's political discourse to focus on gay marriage -- as Althouse put in an earlier topic, though she was drinking an extra large glass of sugary Kool-Aid in that case:
...just a figment of the imagination of American liberals who somehow suddenly see this once-unknown issue as the centerpiece of civil rights...
Instead of giving a donation to your waiter, give him a copy of this article.
In the meantime, the Madison Chain is a hot mess of filthy and harmful algae not fit for even pets to swim in. Any idea what causes it and how to clean it up?
I've lived in the west, where water tends to be scarce, and I've lived in the east, where water tends to be plentiful. This is 100% stupid.
Now let's start talking about fossil fuels.
This might make more sense in Albuquerque.
jimbino said...
It would be better to use water-tax funds to put contraceptives in the world's water.
That would solve not only the water-shortage problem, but also the problems of:
war over lebensraum
Haven't had one of those in 65 years.
extermination of numerous species
Yes, but they're going to bring them all back
global warming
joke
traffic congestion
Where, the Serengeti?
etc
Yeah that etc is getting worserer and woserser all the time.
In fact, instead of taxing water, we should all be taxing breeding.
That mean taxing sex. Then poor jimbino would have no place to go to get away from Amerika.
Ironically, unreliable, low density methods for energy production, including photovoltaics and windmills, are perfectly suited for reclamation of water from the ocean. If potable water is a concern, then California and other liberal Utopias could be seized under Eminent Domain and converted into a large-scale solar and wind farms for national energy redistribution and local desalination plants.
"...as they say in NYC, where people are hipper and also more babyish ..."
No need to get snippy about it, just because you miss it and wish you were here.
We should tax the "nanny" and other fanatics who place their greed (or good intentions) before reason.
jimbino:
I'm not familiar with your position. Are you a member of PETA, ELF, or similar group?
As for breeding, in addition to redistributive change (e.g. taxes), you need to promote behaviors constituting evolutionary dysfunction, including: homosexuality, promiscuity, abortion, etc. As people embrace voluntary genocide as normal, their numbers will fall geometrically, or even exponentially, depending on which dysfunctional behavior is favored.
Note that redistributive change alone will not accomplish what evolutionary dysfunction will and after only a single generation. Recall that some of the poorest people in the world are also the most prolific breeders. The final solution... nay, the optimal solution, is a voluntary generational genocide.
They should just tip a little water onto the table as a libation and drink the rest.
It's a stupid idea, of course.
But I actually knew someone who would insist on being served water, even at a brewpub, who never drank it.
That might be something worse than merely stupid.
I appreciate that we enjoy fresh water, but it's cheap here and there are other things to think about if you need to think about something.
I find this risible because the lake water quality of the surrounding area has a long history which predates modern civilization. See for example the etymology of the word Winnebago.
Madison's water does not come from its lakes. It's pumped up from deep sandstone aquifers.
SteveBrooklineMA said...
Madison's water does not come from its lakes. It's pumped up from deep sandstone aquifers.
Exactly. My FIL used to work for the Madison Water Department and once explained this to me. I forgot most of it but what you say rings a bell.
Drug, grocery and department stores are increasingly asking for donations when you check out. Now maybe restaurants want in on that hot action?
we're just telling them to be aware that the water that's coming to your table is not free and any water being left on the table is just being tossed away
Dumb. It's built into the cost of the food and the cost of the restaurant. If the restaurant cares, they'll start offering water only upon request. Many restaurants don't bring you drinks until you've ordered anyway.
What is this 1 dollar donation going to, anyway?
I read once that water flowing down the Mississippi gets recycled seven times between its use in the Twin Cities and its reuse in New Orleans. Glad I grew up in the Twin Cities.
Garage: The toxic blue-green algae is either farm fertilizer runoff, cow edutcher or improperly treated sewage.
Garage: The toxic blue-green algae is either farm fertilizer runoff, cow edutcher or improperly treated sewage.
Whatever it is, don't study it. I don't want to know!
If Wisconsin believes that it is short of water, then all reality has disappeared and fantasy is all they have left.
Garage asks: In the meantime, the Madison Chain is a hot mess of filthy and harmful algae not fit for even pets to swim in. Any idea what causes it and how to clean it up?
I suggest they harvest and dry the weeds and algae and burn it in electric power plants. Use waste heat for the drying. Sell the nutrient-rich ashes to farmers.
Uh, the water has already been paid for via water utility billing.
These clowns just want a cut of the water action and are using guilt to get money.
@Hoard & Gargae: please don't import your personal to yet another thread.
thanks
*Howard and Garage*
What breeders don't seem to grasp is the idea that non-breeders have absolutely no interest in future generations. If they did, they'd be breeders.
I hope to die broke, and our nanny state is helping me by stealing my wealth and income to support the breeders and their mania for future generations of the most destructive species to inhavit the planet.
we're just telling them to be aware that the water that's coming to your table is not free and any water being left on the table is just being tossed away
Next there will a surcharge for the water used to clean the cutlery. Perhaps as a cost saving scheme they can offer the customer clean or unclean cutlery. Just think of all the water that could be saved if the restaurants closed their restrooms. Water isn't free.
@chikelit
The Public Works Dept does cut weeds on parts of Monona and Waubesa. Don't know what they do with it though.
Throw them a dime, and tell'em you're paid up for the year. Which should more than cover it.
What they should be asking for is a donation for the cost of Obamacare. I've already heard of companies adding this to their bills like they started here in CA with environmental costs years ago.
We will have to raise prices too, but I doubt we will say why. It sounds too much like an excuse, but it really is a significant increase in costs - over double what it used to cost for our company.
I think someone with a nice soapbox lied about that quite publicly and got rewarded for it. What a country. Yea, water is our problem.
garage mahal said...
Instead of giving a donation to your waiter, give him a copy of this article.
In the meantime, the Madison Chain is a hot mess of filthy and harmful algae not fit for even pets to swim in. Any idea what causes it and how to clean it up?
Quit fertilizing your lawn. Get your neighbors to quit fertilizing their lawns. Pretty soon, no more algae.
Jimbino. There's already more female hormones in your water than trace e-coli.
Howard said...
Garage: The toxic blue-green algae is either farm fertilizer runoff, cow edutcher or improperly treated sewage.
I think the only cow stuff around here around here is people like Howard and the moronic things they say.
@garage: They probably compost it.
The Public Works Dept does cut weeds on parts of Monona and Waubesa.
I first read that as "cuts weed" and thought - hey! good way to shore up the revenue situation..
garage mahal said...
@chikelit
The Public Works Dept does cut weeds on parts of Monona and Waubesa. Don't know what they do with it though.
They shouldn't. The weeds and long grass act as a barrier to local runoff. Filtering stuff before it get to the lake or river.
Guilt for living normally and "contributions" because they do not think we pay enough taxes.Maybe they need an appropiate shaming.Maybe a little tar and feathers.Or a pillory.Really we just haven't expressed our displeasure enough enough with the Miss Grundys and other meddlers.
Quit fertilizing your lawn. Get your neighbors to quit fertilizing their lawns. Pretty soon, no more algae.
Also, stop growing food in the surrounding counties. Encourage people to leave as well. ;)
Algae sequesters CO2, so fertilize your lawn more, because grass does too. Oh shit, then I have to cut the grass, which releases more CO2. Dammit! Suicide is all I have left.
I would leave.
Here in Cali (where water shortages are not imagined) during droughts, cities require restaurants to place cards on tables indicating you have to ask for water.
It's all about awareness and educating the public to be sensitive to environmental limitations and to help save the planet for endangered species stressed out from global warming.
"Welcome to our restaurant. Now how about if I say something outrageously cheap and rude."
garage mahal said...
Instead of giving a donation to your waiter, give him a copy of this article.
Madison Man -
In the meantime, the Madison Chain is a hot mess of filthy and harmful algae not fit for even pets to swim in. Any idea what causes it and how to clean it up?
What causes it:
a. Ag runoff.
b. Too much housing development
How to clean it up:
a. Move excess liberals to Detroit or S Chicago so they can appreciate the true fruits of their ideas. Restore buffer areas where liberals houses once stood.
b. Import grass carp. Serve them in restaurants in Madison.
c. At the same restaurants, have the staff collect all the unused water from their half-empty glasses and convey it to the Madison lakes in a carbon-netral manner and pour it in. That sould make the same marginal difference as callous diners "wasting" said water by not drinking it all.
Edutcher: you go girl
C-4
Ahem.
White people are not going to eat carp unless you unless you can call it Talapia or Orange Roughy or some other nice sounding name that they do with other disgusting fish they sell to yuppies.
We got pushed into bottled water 20 years ago because of green scaremongering about chemicals in city water. Having created the water bottle monster, now they crow about the waste.
I was recently asked if I wanted tap water in a NYC restaurant and I said sure I'll have the Catskill springs. The young waitress looked flummoxed so I told her NYC has the best city water from reservoirs in the Catskills built 150 years ago. Such advanced engineering would be forbidden today
Howard said...
Edutcher: you go girl
Projecting again, I see.
@Peter,
Ya gotta wonder about a business that sees your choice to take your business to them as an opportunity to hit you up.
I see you've never been to a titty bar.....
Brilliant, jimbino. Let's make absolutely certain that when you retire, there will be no one to support your retirement. Also, no one to harvest the food you will need to eat, no one to drive it to market, no one to intervene if your house should catch on fire ...
You know, dude, most people think of The Children of Men as a dystopia.
garage mahal,
In the meantime, the Madison Chain is a hot mess of filthy and harmful algae not fit for even pets to swim in.
"Even pets"? Quite apart from the fact that if it's toxic for you, it's likely also toxic for your dog, do you really want an algae-covered dog in your house? Even if the algae are clean and beneficial?
@Michelle Dulak Thomson: OT, but never ever ask jimbino about national parks. You'll get an earful.
"In the meantime, the Madison Chain is a hot mess of filthy and harmful algae not fit for even pets to swim in. Any idea what causes it and how to clean it up?"
If only there was a university in town, or at least a state government. Both usually have some scientists and stuff.
No Michell,
You just don't get it. In a free market, folks would produce what the could sell to willing buyers.
We have a surplus of kids in the USSA; that's why the nanny gummint spends billions to encourage breeding, which wouldn't happen naturally, when we could import educated, potty-trained, ready-to-work Mexicans and others.
If parents had to bear the costs of their breeding, they would come up with a different idea. Already they pay some $300,000 to mis-educate a kid through college---all that after taking my tax dollars to support their destructive lifestyle.
bagoh20 said, Throw them a dime, and tell'em you're paid up for the year. Which should more than cover it."
Or your Canadian pennies. Canada has been having some interesting water debates.
In most places in the developed world, bottled water is more expensive than gasoline.
Just saying....
This isn't about bottled water.
Just saying...
If only there was a university in town, or at least a state government. Both usually have some scientists and stuff.
They have been studying it. The current state government will never do anything about it though. They killed a proposed biomass plant in Madison last year. They would rather buy renewable energy from Canada than develop it here. We could invest in manure digesters instead of farmer spraying liquid shit onto our fields, but we know that will never happen either.
Is there some reason restaurants can't already charge for water if they want to?
Doesn't Madison issue a hairshirt to all new residents?
As for the water, the restaurant should withhold it from the white patrons and tell it's meant to atone for their White Privilege.
Shit, Madisonians would line up to be debased like that.
jimbino:
Destructive is a subjective term. The so-called "breeders" are constructive.
What other concerns do you have?
There areseveral manure digesters in Dane County, and more are being developed.
In whose pocket will this money land and why do people think they can solve issues by simply tossing money at them? This is likely to do very little about "water waste" and end up in the campaign coffers of politicians and in the pockets of various NGOs. All this does is to possibly make the person feel good about parting with some of their money.
It is basically nothing more than using people's emotions as a lever to part them with their hard earned. Rather despicable, if you ask me.
Is there some reason restaurants can't already charge for water if they want to?
They already do. It's built into the price of food. They could charge extra for water, like they do for tea and coke which is probably almost as cheap for them to provide as water anyway, but it's not the custom to do so so people would probably get irritated and leave.
There areseveral manure digesters in Dane County
There are two.
In whose pocket will this money land and why do people think they can solve issues by simply tossing money at them?
This is third time this question has been asked. The answer is in the very first line of this post.
"The collections will benefit the Clean Lakes Alliance, which works to clean up Dane County's lakes, said James Tye, the group's vice president"
Or you could just decline to participate in this theater of the absurd.
chickelit said...
Quit fertilizing your lawn. Get your neighbors to quit fertilizing their lawns. Pretty soon, no more algae.
Also, stop growing food in the surrounding counties. Encourage people to leave as well. ;)
You don't have to. In this case it's mostly urban run off.
vegetation buffer helps a lot to keep lawn treatments out of ponds and lakes. For farming areas just dont mow the berm near the river or pond.
As an example there's Black earth creek not far from Madison. A nice little trout stream.
Casey:
Punishing waiters and waitresses for this is both morally wrong and dumb.
If you want to punish someone, punish the restaurant owner.
My guess is, a lot of restaurants won't participate, or will officially go along, but do little or nothing at the table, or will regret doing so after they get feedback.
Even if lots of Madisonians will like this, it doesn't take a large share of diners to object for the restaurant owners to decide this is a bad idea. Why annoy even a single customer over something like this?
Now that I think about it, the days of everyone getting a glass of water, automatically, are over hereabouts. You get water only if you ask--which is fine.
But restaurants here usually bring very large glasses of water--which is fine by me, but that's their choice, not mine.
And in lots of places, the servers automatically keep filling them. Again, fine with me.
My fourth law: never mess with people who bring you food.
Lipperman said...
There areseveral manure digesters in Dane County, and more are being developed.
That's encouraging and hooray for Joe Parisi!
The extant phosphate in the lakes is another problem though because it just recycles through the aquatic plant cycle. Phosphates are even added by municipalities to sequester undesired metal ions. Once in the water, phosphates tend to stay there, except for slow drainage down river. Removing excess plant life and fish probably removes some excess, but I'm not sure how much.
Fr Martin Fox said...
Now that I think about it, the days of everyone getting a glass of water, automatically, are over hereabouts. You get water only if you ask--which is fine.
But restaurants here usually bring very large glasses of water--which is fine by me, but that's their choice, not mine.
And in lots of places, the servers automatically keep filling them. Again, fine with me
The thing about water, Father, is that one way or another we get it all back.
I might also add that one of the little courtesies of our country is that if you go into a restaurant, and you don't have much money, you can, at least, get all the cold water you want.
I don't think that's true everywhere. They will bring you tap water in Italy for free, as I recall, but scorn you for it. But here, no scorn at all; just a smile.
It's not a big deal, yet it seems more humane to me to say, we charge you for most things, but water? That we give you free. But progressives aren't really into humane; they're into control.
Rusty:
Want to have some fun? Point out to people that the water they're drinking has been drunk many times before. It's an obvious fact that seems to take many people by surprise.
For that matter, the molecules of what we eat, were very likely once part of other people.
"What breeders don't seem to grasp is the idea that non-breeders have absolutely no interest in future generations. If they did, they'd be breeders.
I hope to die broke, and our nanny state is helping me by stealing my wealth and income to support the breeders and their mania for future generations of the most destructive species to inhavit the planet."
I hope you get your fondest wish bless your heart.
Geez....If these idiots really want to curb water waste, they should be more concerned with the amount of wasted water from old, worn, leaking toilet tank flaps.
the amount of wasted water running down the sewers. I'm all about conserving and not wasting, but I'm not making a religion of it like the Greenies.
Here's the math.
24 hours a day X 60 minutes = 1440 minutes
1440 minutes / 5 minutes = 288 gallons of water down the toilet in one day
288 gallons X 365 days a year = 105,120 gallons a year
105,120 gallons x 10 (at least) other leaky toilets in this hotel = 1,051,200
Over a million gallons a year in just this ONE hotel.
Do something constructive, you idiots, and get off of our backs for wanting a drink of water.
The truth is that water kills folks throughout the world. It would be better to supply every needy person with beer, which, having been boiled and containing alcohol, renders the water fit for adults and kids alike.
Budweiser, entre alia, is nothing but clean water, alcohol, yeast and carbonization.
Though I myself am a person who wouldn't stoop to drink
Budweiser, I would support distributing it, along with rubbers, to anyone in the world who wanted to stay healthy and child-free.
Does the water that is "tossed away" magically disappear or does it show up somewhere else?
The list of participating restaurants actually seems to skew Mad-conservative.
I hate when stores ask for donations for this or that cause. I especially despise when they ask to keep my change ("round up").
My answer is to shop online. To hell with it.
If restaurants are in the same game, they can go screw as well. If it's a local place, not a chain, I would tell the manager I wasn't coming back until the bullshit was done.
I am paying them to make food.
Shut up and bring!
But progressives aren't really into humane; they're into control.
Odd. The comments in this thread from conservatives [who don't even live here] suggest that they want to "control" the behavior of restaurants.
I got your small donation of water right here!
Water is not used.
It is borrowed.
Trey
"...they want to "control" the behavior of restaurants."
It's voluntary, garage.
If they want me to pay to eat their food, don't preach to me about politics.
That's commerce, not coercion.
If they want me to pay to eat their food, don't preach to me about politics.
Who is preaching to you? Nobody.
I'd be willing to bet that those restaurants that are going to nag you about wanting a glass of water, are wasting more water than you can possibly imagine through bad plumbing, weeping toilet flaps in their crappy run down restrooms. Excessively running the water while washing dishes and much more. Thousands and thousands of gallons. Probably acre feet of water wasted.
Fix your own problems of waste first before badgering your customers over an 8 oz glass of water.
Dopes.
I said:
But progressives aren't really into humane; they're into control.
Garage said:
Odd. The comments in this thread from conservatives [who don't even live here] suggest that they want to "control" the behavior of restaurants.
Well, the sole comment you quoted was mine. And I defy you to substantiate your claim that I'm trying to control what those restaurants do. You totally made that up.
As far as I'm concerned, those restaurants can serve water with bits of beef liver floating in it, and charge $100 a glass. That's their lookout.
As usual garage is whacked out of his mind on heavy drugs.
Let me tell you a story about how some wooly headed progressives get into these things.
A few years ago, I joined a trip to Mexico sponsored by our diocese's mission office. Several of the people on the trip had plenty to say, the entire time, about how awful we rich Americans were, poor Mexicans. Why couldn't we be more like them, etc.
Two episodes, the second one about water.
We're riding a bus up and down this road, from town to town; and it's a long ride, even though the distances weren't that great, because of the speed limit and the traffic.
Someone noticed that they were adding lanes, and lamented this fact! I politely pointed out that several times, the local folks had talked about how much they needed and wanted development and jobs, to alleviate poverty; and better roads are part of that.
Seriously, several of them received that as a revelation. Imagine that! Building a road was a good thing!
Second vignette--this is about water.
We're up in this small village, rather remote. Several of the ladies who took this trip with me kept going on about how scarce water was around there (probably true) and--for that reason, they didn't flush their toilets unless it was, well you know.
So at one point I use the facilities; suffice to say, the ladies' advice not to flush applied. I'm dubious, but I'm trying really hard to respect the locals and be grateful. They are poor, so I don't want to make things hard for them.
So I step out of the lavatory, and softly mention my dilemma to the Mexican priest--from the area--who was showing us around.
He looked at me with utter disbelief, and said, "of course you flush!"
As far as I'm concerned, those restaurants can serve water with bits of beef liver floating in it, and charge $100 a glass. That's their lookout..
There you go. Most people that live here probably would like to contribute one dollar to help clean up these lakes they can probably smell from these restaurants.
Or they could just do what restaurants in the desert do, and give you water if you ask for it.
The cost of the water should be figured into the bill already, and frankly will be minuscule.
I do suspect, however, that those "more than two dozen" restaurants are ones I already wouldn't want to eat at.
Falling for that sort of scam tends to correlate with other sorts of stupid that drive me away, I think.
jimbino said...
The truth is that water kills folks throughout the world. It would be better to supply every needy person with beer, which, having been boiled and containing alcohol, renders the water fit for adults and kids alike.
Water kills no one. Microbes kill people.
Budweiser, entre alia, is nothing but clean water, alcohol, yeast and carbonization.
That's inter alia.
Though I myself am a person who wouldn't stoop to drink
Budweiser, I would support distributing it, along with rubbers, to anyone in the world who wanted to stay healthy and child-free.
Maybe we can send jimbino to Dr Gosnell for one of his post-partum abortions and put him (or at least us) out of his misery.
Who is preaching to you? Nobody.
Lefties may try to destroy or at least weaken organized religion but they will usurp the preaching role. Remember FLOTUS's admonition: "Barack Will Never Allow You to Go Back to Your Lives as Usual.”
Obama is like the Pope of Hope for lefties.
efties may try to destroy or at least weaken organized religion but they will usurp the preaching role. Remember FLOTUS's admonition: "Barack Will Never Allow You to Go Back to Your Lives as Usual.
Great take.
Joe, Ho, and Mao used it, too.
"We're not telling people, 'Don't drink water,' we're just telling them to be aware that the water that's coming to your table is not free..."
Neither is my time, and what you waste of it with this nonsense is coming out of your tip.
Seriously, no one's told them about the Lockheed mesh?
You can have water
But you can't have bread
When you order One Meat Ball.
One Meat Ball....
"No need to get snippy about it, just because you miss it and wish you were here."
Ha ha. Life with baby hipsters.
I lived in NYC for a academic year a few years back. I got all the NYC I needed to last a long time. Loved getting back to Madison.
But we can move anywhere we want whenever we want (it would require retirement). The question is where. Hard to beat Madison. We are considering everywhere, too.
Before you sit down, squeeze the water glass in your hand until it breaks. Make sure you have the waiters attention first.
So it runs through Sunday. No eating out 'til next week.
My reply to this, if a waitron asked, would be an incredulous "You're joking!"
I very much doubt that waiters are in favor of this.
But we can move anywhere we want whenever we want (it would require retirement). The question is where. Hard to beat Madison
Well of course. Madison is one of the best run cities in America.
24/7 Wall St:
3. Madison, Wis.
Violent crime per 1,000 people: 3.92 (21st lowest)
Poverty rate: 18.7% (40th lowest)
Adult population graduated from high school: 95.1% (3rd highest)
Credit rating: Aaa (stable outlook)
Population: 233,777
Madison, the other capital city on our list, was incorporated in the mid 1800s, and exists today as one of the most well-run cities in the Midwest. Madison is not a particularly wealthy city, with a median household income of just over $50,000. Nevertheless, the capital has a perfect Aaa (stable) credit rating, as well as extremely low unemployment and home vacancy rates. According to Madison city administrative analyst Tim Fruit, “Over the past few years, we have really made a significant effort toward more carefully planning our six-year capital improvement program. In the past, the out years were not well scrutinized. Now, we try to analyze and balance the out years much more carefully.”
Link
Nice synopsis, Garage. It makes me wonder if Madison has some kind of unique and stable "income" that the rest of the state lacks. :)
From City of Madison water utility website:
"Madison drinking water comes from a deep sandstone aquifer, an underground rock formation where water collects in small spaces among the rocks. Groundwater originates as rain or snow, soaks into the ground, and is naturally filtered through layers of soil and rock before replenishing the aquifer. The Madison water system consists of 23 wells, 31 reservoirs, and 840 miles of interconnected pipes."
In other words, Madison's water comes from a regularly replenishing underground aquifer. There is no danger of a shortage, and water consumption by people in Madison does not make water more scarce for people in neighboring areas.
And it certainly has nothing to do with Madison's lakes.
Garage:
Other characteristics of the top five "best governed" cities you cited.
1. Population mostly white.
2. Either a state government or a large university or both.
3. Affluence.
Your assertion that Madison is not an affluent community is ludicrous.
In other words, have a large government institution, lots of white people and a high standard of living and you will be well governed.
Plus lots of taxpayer money (universities and state governments.)
Madison is a very nice fortunate place.
"How long have you been a server, honey?"
Who wants a glass of water that tastes like chlorine?
I never drink 'tablewater' at a restaurant. yuk.
Dust Bunny Queen:
Practical suggestions offer little comfort to ambitious activists. Leading through example is hard and unprofitable. Quite the opposite in fact. Your suggestions would require capital investments. That is not ideal at all. Symbolic gestures is where the world is headed.
garage mahal said...
As far as I'm concerned, those restaurants can serve water with bits of beef liver floating in it, and charge $100 a glass. That's their lookout..
There you go. Most people that live here probably would like to contribute one dollar to help clean up these lakes they can probably smell from these restaurants.
No they wouldn't. people don't give a shit.
You want to help the water quality in your area?
Buy a fishing license.Buy a fishing license with a trout stamp, a muskie stamp, hell every stamp they offer. You want to really contribute buy a non resident license.
Because unlike advocacy groups like Trout Unlimited that lobby Washinington for taxpayer dollars, Your license fees, by law, go to help the environment.
If you miss the progressive mindset, and the latest incarnation of the beat/hippie, the counter culture hipster you could move to:
Williamsburg, Seattle, Portland, The Bay Area, Austin, and the various hipster enclaves where mostly white people feel good about equality, civil rights, and Putumayo humanism.
Ritmo's got a place to crash there in Montana.
No they wouldn't. people don't give a shit.
Maybe you don't give a shit. I do. SO do lots of others.
Your assertion that Madison is not an affluent community is ludicrous.
Where in the fuck did I say such a thing?
garage mahal said...
No they wouldn't. people don't give a shit.
Maybe you don't give a shit. I do. SO do lots of others.
I didn't say I didn't. Hence the licenses even if I don't use them.People in resturants don't want a lecture they want food. You really need to work on your comprehension skills
garage mahal @ 4:46 PM: Madison is not a particularly wealthy city
David @ 5:59 PM: Your assertion that Madison is not an affluent community is ludicrous.
garage mahal @ 7:42 PM: Where in the fuck did I say such a thing?
"Hard to beat Madison."
You must be kidding. It's cold, flat, wonder-bread white, overloaded with 20-something know-it-alls, beery and dreary, and beyond nowhere. With offerings in music to match.
Surely, despite its shortness, life has more to offer elsewhere. Time to move on.
The duties of government are:
Provide potable water.
Plant trees.
Punish evil doers.
Protecting the righteous is God's duty, not government's.
It's not so much runoff from fertilizer on lawns and crops as it is waste from the damn Canada Geese. They crap everywhere. The crap is full of phosphorus. Algae blooms.
Stop protecting the regular Canada Goose (it's the GREAT Canada Goose that's "endangered") and let's get rid of them. So many stick around all year - there's a huge permanent population that doesn't migrate.
Think of all the food that can be donated to soup kitchens from the Canada Geese...
kimsch said...
It's not so much runoff from fertilizer on lawns and crops as it is waste from the damn Canada Geese. They crap everywhere. The crap is full of phosphorus. Algae blooms.
Stop protecting the regular Canada Goose (it's the GREAT Canada Goose that's "endangered") and let's get rid of them. So many stick around all year - there's a huge permanent population that doesn't migrate.
Think of all the food that can be donated to soup kitchens from the Canada Geese...
Hey! I can only shoot so many! Okay?
Who wants a glass of water that tastes like chlorine?
I never drink 'tablewater' at a restaurant. yuk.
The taste of tap water depends entirely on where you live. Where I live, it tastes great, but I will never drink it in Dallas and when I lived in DC I had to buy a filter to drink it.
Stop protecting the regular Canada Goose
They almost had a goose hunt planned here last year, but some idiots complained so they stopped it.
Jesse Jackson said he used to spit in white peoples' food when he worked at the Poinsett hotel in Greenville SC.
After being abandoned for many years, the hotel has been remodeled and reopened, but even if Jesse's not there, I still don't eat there. Or drink their water.
There are others of his ilk who are there.
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