Greetings Northside Neighbors,

As I write this, I’ve been in office less than a month, and it’s been a whirlwind of meetings, events and experiences. I am very impressed with the knowledge, expertise and dedication of City of Madison staff. We have many challenges facing our great city, and we look forward to tackling them with robust community engagement.

As you know, I am no stranger to city government as I represented District 12 from 2007‒2013. I’ve served on a number of city committees as both an alder and resident including, most recently, Madison’s Food Policy Council and the Oscar Mayor Strategic Assessment Committee. One of the first things I began working on is the capital budget, which focuses on the city’s infrastructure needs. I’ve asked staff to focus on housing affordability, providing rapid transportation options to the entire city, and addressing the impacts of climate change, always with a focus on racial equity and examining the needs of all our communities. By the time you read this, the budget process will be well underway.

But we can use your help. One way we can broaden the conversation and meet the needs of the diverse residents of our wonderful city is to ask you to consider applying to serve on one of our dozens of city committees and commissions. You can learn more about these committees, and apply to be on one, by utilizing the city website and accessing the Mayor’s page (cityofmadison.com/mayor). There is a Join a Committee link on the bottom left for more information. I welcome your participation and interest, as I would like to see the makeup of the committee structure mirror the population of the city.

Hope to see you in the corridors of the City County Building, and around our beautiful city.

Mayor Satya