Capital Community Citizens (CCC) is a Madison, Wisconsin, public membership, volunteer organization founded in 1964 to address local environmental problems. An outgrowth of a Tenth Ward citizens' group organized to defeat a referendum which would have abolished the Madison Redevelopment Authority and thereby ended federally-sponsored urban renewal in Madison, CCC began with an invited membership of forty-five citizens selected for their concern with urban problems in Madison. By 1974, largely due to an active membership drive during the early 1970s, it had expanded to six hundred Dane County citizens including business people, government workers and officials, and University of Wisconsin faculty and students.
During the period covered by these documents, CCC sought, often successfully, to affect government policy through a variety of activities. By testifying at public hearings, recommending qualified members for appointments to public advisory boards and commissions, and cooperating with other local organizations, CCC was instrumental in winning City Council approval of bicycle path proposals (1965), billboard and sign regulation laws (1966), and parking lot landscaping ordinances (1970). Its standing and ad hoc committees produced in-depth studies on subjects such as transportation (1966), pollution (1970), and urban growth (1971). CCC also sponsored public information meetings and media campaigns, which helped to focus public attention on environmental problems. It has been probably best known for its annual “Orchid and Onion” awards to individuals, organizations, and commercial enterprises whose actions demonstrate concern or contempt for the environment. Other major efforts included the preservation of park lands such as Willows Beach (1965) and litigation opposing the construction of a new power plant in Portage by the Wisconsin Power and Light Company (1974).
