A roundabout and bike lanes in downtown La Crosse, ending “prayer” before council meetings, and cutting judges’ terms to save tax money. Those are the big topics we discussed with Mac Kiel on Monday’s La Crosse Talk PM.

Ending council invocations

After that, we talked about the council voting 9-4 to end “invocations,” which is basically prayer before meetings. Mac, a former council member, shared her perspective on how these moments can feel non-inclusive to those not practicing the faith being represented. The debate compared these religious moments to the council’s moment of silence for the Ho-Chunk people, which serves as a factual historical reminder of the land's history.

The "magical" hybrid bike lanes plan for downtown

Recapping last week’s council meeting, the Wisconsin DOT came prepared for a vote on them coming up with another alternative to the Downtown Corridor Study. The old plans were basically either protected bike lanes down one side of 3rd and 4th streets downtown and losing half the on-street parking, or extending the sidewalks and keeping parking.

But, we discuss the DOT’s new plan, which basically creates the best of all worlds — sidewalk-level bike lanes, keeping the parking, and adding a roundabout at the La Crosse Street-3rd/4th street intersection. This option would only lose roughly seven parking spots, while connecting the 2nd Street cycle track to Vine Street.

Judicial terms and consolidation

Lastly, we discussed how changing a municipal judge’s term from four to two years — which the council also approved — will save taxpayer dollars. By aligning La Crosse’s judicial cycle with the City of Onalaska, the two cities can explore consolidating into a single municipal judge in two years. This would reduce overhead and caseload costs by sharing one judge between both municipalities.

Kiel is a former La Crosse City Council member, who is an advocate for providing the public with what is happening with city government. She also serves on some city boards and works with the unsheltered population.