Well, leave it to mother nature to upstage all last week’s hype building up to the giant Edgewater redevelopment city council showdown. But now that most of us have finally finished digging out from the old-fashioned meteorological flogging, it’s time for the city to get down to business, and Madison’s informed citizenry to get back to rooting for our favorite side with all the fervor of booze-fueled Badger fans!
So it is I once again extend the open invitation to come watch the big city council debate, throw a few back, argue a bit and laugh a lot. I am convinced this will be the best place in town to follow the proceedings.
6:30 PM. Tuesday December 14. Amy’s Cafe at Gilman and State.
I hope to see a good crowd of interested citizenry, and in addition, I expect a few bloggers, pundits, politicians, former alders and media types, so it could be insightful as well as entertaining. Dane101 will certainly be well-represented. Bloggers are encouraged to come armed (with laptops), and provide amusement for members of the city council, as they are providing amusement for us. I do not have the technological capacity to set up a webcam, but if you do, Alder Mark Clear would appreciate it.
I’ll print off a couple sets of Jill Sixpack’s Madison Common Council Bingo cards for interested players, and I’ve also compiled a final list of rules for the Edgewater Debate Drinking Game. I had some help from readers and a certain Cap Times city reporter, but here’s how the game is played:
Any time an indecipherable city planning acronym is mentioned (TIF, RFP, UDC, etc), last person to blurt out what it stands for takes a drink.
Any time the mayor yields his seat to the city council president, players must sip from the opposite side of their glass for the duration or take an additional penalty drink.
Any time the chair questions whether a quorum remains on the council floor, take a drink.
Any time a city staffer is flummoxed by a baffling question, take a drink.
Any time an absent city staffer is asked a question, take two drinks. (With heavy snowfall forecast, this could be interesting)
Any time a city staffer is asked the same question, worded differently, take three drinks.
If the council takes a recess, players must take a drink for every minute beyond the allotted time the council waits to reconvene.
Any time Alder Tim Bruer makes a bad pun, take a drink.
Any time Alder Tim Bruer makes a good pun, take three drinks.
Any time Alder Bridget Maniaci makes mention of her district, take a drink.
Any time Alder Bryon Eagon mentions students, take a drink.
Any time Alders Paul Skidmore or Joe Clausius speak, at all, drink
Any time Alder Mark Clear sounds suspiciously like Mayor Cieslewicz, drink.
Any time Alder Julia Kerr or Brian Solomon make reference to each other, drink.
Any time Alder Mike Verveer uses the word “memorialize,” take a drink. If any other alder uses it, take two drinks.
Any time Alder Steve King looks like he wants to cut to the chase, drink.
Any time “the 21st alder,” Rosemary Lee, speaks or is mentioned, take a drink.
Any time someone mentions the “viewers at home” while gesturing at the camera, raise your glass to them, and take a drink.
Any time the camera reveals someone wearing red and green, take a drink (once per person) (Thanks, Jill).
Any time an Alder gets caught posting on Facebook or Twitter, drink.
Any time one of the following terms or phrases is mentioned, take a drink — TIF, height limitation, historic district, right of way, waterfront, visually incompatible, media, fabric of the neighborhood, precedent, blight, Lambeau Field, 14 votes, job creation, unelected people.
Any time one of the following words or phrases is mentioned, finish your drink — I agree with Alder Pham-Remmele, hill people, turd spigot, bloggers, ogres, Miami Orange Bowl, John Nolen, Danisco.
If you buy another Edgewater Debate Drinking Game player a drink, you can make a new rule or amend an existing rule in the game.
When the final vote happens, supporters of the project buy the opposition drinks if the opposition wins and vice versa. Those who didn’t pick a side sit back and laugh at how worked up everybody else is, then secretly wish someone would buy them a drink.
If the city council decides to refer the question to another meeting, finish your drink and sprint the half mile to city hall for a howling riot.
See you at Amy’s! Again!
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2010
May 2010 (4)
December 16th, 2009 on 9:44 am
I’m sad I missed this, though with the public testimony not starting ’til bar time, I guess we would have missed the most fun part. Did you head home then or saunter over to the meeting itself?
December 16th, 2009 on 11:25 am
Told ya it’d take that long.
December 16th, 2009 on 12:01 pm
We made it until about 12:30… As they were only about 20 registrants into the public testimony, it kind of dawned on us that A) the meeting was going to be an all-nighter, and B) the drinking game was a suicide mission, especially since a number of the alders had read the rules ahead of time and knew what keywords to work into their conversation (After a text message from Jack Craver complimenting his tie, one Alder texted back, “It’s a Christmas tie…. drink!” And we did…)
If we had played until bartime and then staggered down to city hall… Wow, I don’t know what would have happened, but it probably would have been trouble. We did give consideration (around midnightish) to running down and registering as speakers, but again… it would have taken a pretty epic lapse in judgment.