Hello Neighbors,
Please see my updates below, including a tour of conservation practices at farms and parks for the Land Conservation Committee, an update on the Cultural Affairs Commission I was recently appointed to, and updates on the voter registration drive at The Beacon and cannabis legalization advisory referendum.

Hello Neighbors, I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weekend. I am writing to update you on a voter registration drive at the Beacon (the homeless day resource center in our district), updates on efforts by Yahara WINS and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program for clean lakes including harvestable buffer strips and aerial cover crop planting.  I also wanted to highlight the great efforts in our neighborhood to expand solar energy.  There is also some quick updates on the advisory referendum on legalizing cannabis, capital city trail closures, and neighborhood news.

In the past few weeks, I toured Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, discussed lake levels in a joint EANR and Lakes and Watershed commission meeting, and helped move forward an advisory referendum on legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana in Dane County and other counties in Wisconsin.  Here is more detail:

On Thursday night at the County Board meeting, I introduced an advisory referendum to be placed on the ballot in Fall 2018 to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. The specific question is:

"Should marijuana be legalized, taxed and regulated in the same manner as alcohol for adults 21 ears of age or older?"

Channel 3000 provides a good summary of the referendum here:

https://www.channel3000.com/news/advisory-referendum-to-conduct-opinion-poll-on-legalizing-marijuana-is-introduced-in-dane-county-1/751027514

Summer is off to a bang with the recent heat wave. If you spent some time in Yahara Place Park, you might have noticed a large red floating sphere in the water by Yahara Place and Schurz ave. This is part of a Clean Shoreline Pilot project. As we work to clean up our lakes, we need to take an all of the above approach. 

At every County Board meeting, there is a prayer / inspirational message. The supervisors deliver this message in alphabetical order and it is my turn next. I am going to talk about my experiences as a first generation American and the concept of belonging in America.

My parents sacrificed so much for the opportunities that I have and I constantly asked myself if my efforts are worthy for everything they gave up. I am happy my mom and dad will be there in person as I address my colleagues and neighbors. It would be great to see you there this Thursday at 7:00 in City-County Building room 201. If you can't make it, I will post video of the meeting in a future update.