April 2020 Fitchburg Star

I’m alwI’May STILLs her HERE!e for you! It’s your paper! 26 years in VASD Housing Market Kathy Bartels Friday, April 10, 2020 • Vol. 7, No. 2 • Fitchburg, WI • ConnectFitchburg.com • $1 608-235-2927 [email protected] adno=152188 Inside Fish Hatch, Making the most of being shut in McKee work Page 2 dominate Election continues despite late construction confusion Page 3 season Mayor gets City will see completion emergency of subdivisions, spending power corporate buildings Page 3 KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group Star begins community helpers There won’t be many road projects in Fitchburg this year, but three listing planned across the city could cause major disruptions. Page 6 A rebuild of McKee Road to cap Photo by Kimberly Wethal Absentee ballots are counted on election day, held on April 7, at City of Fitchburg’s District 3 polling place in the the seven-year Verona Road proj- Community Center. ect and two projects reconstruct- ing Fish Hatchery Road and part of McKee will reduce lanes for travelers throughout the next few months. The state Department of Trans- portation is entering its last year In quarantine with the Verona Road project, which has plagued Fitchburg travelers with slow commute times Shutdowns throughout city, state aimed at to Madison the past few years as it widened the highway to three Yahara Bay preventing spread of virus lanes and built an overpass at McK- producing hand ee Road and an underpass at Wil- liamsburg Way. sanitizer JIM FEROLIE This year, that project includes Fitchburg Star editor rebuilding part of McKee Road Page 8 in Fitchburg, after months of con- he experiences people in struction and lane changes dam- Sports Fitchburg and the rest of the aged the road near the overpass. It Tcountry have had the past will be widened to three lanes each month would have been practi- way from Fitchrona Road to Com- Panthers’ title cally unimaginable just weeks merce Park Drive. shot blocked by ago. In conjunction with the state’s As the novel coronavirus swept project, the city will reconstruct WIAA from Asia to Europe and then Amer- a portion of McKee Road from ica, the United States took the world Commerce Park Drive to Seminole Page 11 lead in confirmed cases of COVID-19 Highway. by a nearly 3-1 margin. That highly Fish Hatchery Road reconstruc- contagious respiratory illness has to tion, from the Beltline in Madison Schools date claimed the lives of more than to Brenden Avenue started April 1. 83,000 people, with 95 percent of The project has been split into two Oregon, Verona those deaths coming after the World phases to be completed over two Health Organization declared it a pan- years. begin virtual demic March 11. The state will also repair bridg- Since then, efforts to stop the virus, The Fitchburg Senior Center closed its doors to visitors from the public learning mid-March as the county and state imposed restrictions on public es on U.S. Hwy. 14 from McCoy which spreads through airborne parti- Road to Hwy. 138, south of the cles, forced schools and many Fitch- gatherings. The senior center is still offering services for residents, such as Page 15-16 meal delivery and mental health help, just not from its physical location. city. Bridges at Hwy. 138 and burg businesses to close temporarily, McCoy Road will be replaced, and events large and small to be cancelled, the bridge deck overlay at County Business parks to be restricted and people to clear that we’re all going to be stuck in In recent weeks, much of the usual Hwy. MM will be repaired. stay in their homes under most cir- our semi-quarantine for several weeks springtime activity has been halted. The only other road in the city Promega producing cumstances. Many of those things or more. Playgrounds and parks that would slated to be resurfaced is Irish Lane were already happening before the By the second week of April, the normally be teeming with children as between Syene Road and Hwy. COVID-19 testing governor’s March 24 executive order sight of people wearing face masks the weather has warmed are closed, MM on the east side, which is set material put the power of the state behind them had become commonplace and a fight and traffic on many of the city’s main to be reconstructed, city transpor- all. over whether to postpone a statewide roads is noticeably reduced. tation project engineer Bill Balke Page 19 Though some hoped for a quick election came to a head, with a steady Businesses whose parking lots are told the Star. shutdown and a return to business as stream of voters at Fitchburg polls that usual, by the end of March, it became had taken on a vastly different look. Turn to COVID-19/Page 9 Turn to Construction/Page 17 151 University of Wisconsin Downtown State Capitol MADISON Mineral Point Rd M University Research Lake PLACES Park Monona likeno OTHER 12 14 18 151 ON FITCHBURG PD 4 UPTOWN 151 2 3 7 1 y Rd 5 cher 6 1. Raven 2. Vista 3. Prima Hat sh Fi FITCHBURG TECHNOLOGY 14 D CAMPUS NEW YEAR, NEW APARTMENT! CONTACT US 4. Riva 5. Turnberry 6. Tralee 7. Kinsale 120 E. Lakeside Street Madison, WI 53715 www.avanteproperties.com (608) 294-4080 adno=150277 ConnectFitchburg.com 2 April 10, 2020 Fitchburg Star Fitchburg residents stuck at home A community finds commenter on the post, told the Star her family celebrated St. ways to pass the time Patrick’s Day two weeks ago. “We read our St. Patrick’s EMILIE HEIDEMANN Day books, colored shamrocks Unified Newspaper Group and put them on our windows,” she said. “We had a leprechaun As a healthcare profession- trap and made shamrock shaped al, Patty Marsh still drives to sugar cookies. In between that, work while most Fitchburgians remain isolated at home, forced I try to do some home organiza- to adapt to new routines and tion projects.” livelihoods amid the COVID-19 Another commenter, Silvi- pandemic. na Arata said she was working There has been no leaving for from home as a tax accountant. a night out on the town, sitting “This is my busiest month,” down with a friend over some she said. coffee engaging in conversation Kim Smith commented she or visiting loved ones. And all was looking for items to donate social events have been either and in doing so, took an unex- postponed or canceled. pected walk down memory lane. Marsh, who works at an “I hooked up my old tape increasingly busy children’s decks, VHS player and dug out hospital in an outpatient setting, some old records,” she said. told the Star via Facebook two “I’m looking at things I haven’t weeks ago she hears from fami- seen in 20 plus years.” lies frightened by the crisis. Rich Eggleson said he sits at Other Fitchburg residents — his computer and frets about the people who are unemployed or impact the pandemic has had have had to set up makeshift on the newspaper and enter- work spaces — are stuck at tainment industries. He said he their residences as they prac- wishes for the return of man- tice social distancing to curb the ual typewriters and teletype spread of the disease. machines. That may be the case for “I am still performing inspec- Marsh when she isn’t perform- tions for the City of Fitchburg, ing the essential duties of her but with some major adjust- rolel. ments regarding the public,” Life has ground to a screech- commenter Jack Pearson said. ing halt. The public is doing its “City staff overall has been out- part to flatten the curve of the standing and we are all trying disease, which the World Health Organization declared a pan- to assist each other in any way demic March 11. possible, especially with elec- The Star received stories like tion stuff going on. Marsh’s on a Fitchburg (WI) Nancy Arnold commented Citizens Facebook group post she’s found solace in workouts, — people who are trying to both live and recorded. build a new semblance of nor- As for Marsh, she said she’s malcy. thankful she still has a job to go Some say they’ve adapted to to and feels for those who have working virtually and others differing circumstances. engage in arts and crafts. More “(These are) crazy times we said they distract themselves by are living in,” Marsh said. reading, cleaning, keeping the Email Emilie Heidemann at Photo submitted kids entertained, working out [email protected] To provide a visual for what the family is doing while they isolate at home, Tiffany Roltgen emailed the Star and checking on loved ones. or follow her on Twitter at @ photos of her children drawing with sidewalk chalk. The end result is geometric and colorful. From left is Stella, 7, Heather Carson Dipko, a HeidemannEmilie. Addy, 9, and MacArthur, 4, of Fitchburg. Festa Italia 2020 canceled because of COVID-19 Organizers will not Cancellation of our event is the responsible thing to reschedule McKee do in order to protect the Farms Park event health and safety of our members, volunteers, ven- this year dors, suppliers, partners, sponsors and certainly our NEAL PATTEN guests,” Antonio Re, IWC president, wrote in the press Unified Newspaper Group We’reabank thatputs release. Festa Italia has become a Originally scheduled for casualty of COVID-19. May 29-31, the three-day the community ﬁrst. The festival, which cel- event will next be held June ebrates Italian and Ital- 4-6, 2021.

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