Madison’s mayor and the Dane County executive were in Europe to tour bicycle-friendly cities in Germany and the Netherlands. Now the ash cloud from Iceland has them stuck, along with millions of other travelers. From Amsterdam, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz says he and Kathleen Falk hope to fly out Wednesday. “We don’t know whether that’s going to happen yet, or not,” the Mayor says. “It seems like things are loosening up a little bit, and some flights from southern Europe are getting out. So we’re hopeful that we’re going to be able to leave on Wednesday, but it’s really day to day.
In the meantime, Cieslewicz credits technology for keeping in him in touch with his office in Madison. “I’ve got my Internet thing figured out,” says the mayor. “We’re working on Skype, to see if we can get that to work. We’re trying to take advantage of all the modern means of communication. Our biggest problem right now is just the time difference. It’s seven hours later here.”
Chandra Lynn, WIBA