REGENTS GIVE A THUMBS UP TO CONFLUENCE PROJECT
If you’re a fan of the Confluence Project, I’ve got good news. The UW Board of Regents unanimously supported giving $55 million of state funding to the project at their meeting Oct. 5 at UW-Stout. The day before, the Regents’ Capital Planning and Budget Committee unanimously approved it as well. Now, don’t get too excited yet – this doesn’t mean the money’s in the bank. The show of support is more of an encouragement for the project to continue moving forward. In December, the Regents will meet again and look for more details about the funding of the project and come to another decision.

BIKE PARKING ORDINANCE PASSES CITY COUNCIL
At their Sept. 25 meeting, Eau Claire’s City Council approved legislation that requires newly built buildings to provide bicycle parking. The move came after a wave of support from the biking community the night before, where scores of peddlers came to speak in favor. The ordinance requires buildings to have roughly 10% the bike parking as their is car parking, with a minimum of four bike parking spots. So if a building was required to have 70 car spots, there would have to be at least seven spots for bikers. The bike racks can’t be any ol’ pole though; the city has researched and found the best options that can survive the elements and protect the vehicles parked to them. The rule will take effect on Nov. 1.

PINEHURST PARK COULD SEE SOME CHANGES
A public meeting on Oct. 10 launched the first public discussions of what to do with Pinehurst Park, if anything. While no plans are laid yet, Parks and Recreation Director Phil Fieber outlined some ideas of adding hockey rinks, improving the sledding hill and possibly adding trails for biking, cross country skiing and hiking in the woods behind that. At the public input meeting, some expressed concerns over the cost of the project, but Fieber said much of what they were looking to do could come from partnerships with local groups or businesses and not necessarily from taxpayer dollars. The planning is still in very preliminary stages, so this is somthing to follow through the next year.

ALL ABOARD WISCONSIN
The statewide rail advocacy group All Aboard Wisconsin will be hosting a community forum in Eau Claire on Oct. 23 from 7-9pm at CVTC. This is the second in a series of public input meetings where the coalition hopes to inform and converse with citizens on the role of passenger trains in Wisconsin and develop plans to improve both the rail itself, but also work with other transportation methods to encourage efficient travel.