Round and round

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is close to delivering on her campaign promise to bring a bus rapid transit system, known as BRT, to Madison. The $160 million project would be a major transportation infrastructure upgrade for the city, which faces increasing traffic congestion as Madison continues to grow. But in recent months, the debate over BRT has shifted from how to move people around a city with a geographical bottleneck (the isthmus), to one about the future of downtown.

The general concept for BRT seems to have broad support. However, a vocal and influential bloc has emerged objecting to routing the new 60-foot buses down the top three blocks of State Street. Rhodes-Conway says any change to the downtown route would delay the project by six months to a year. She’s plowing forward.

Carmelo Alfano, owner of the Madison Modern Market on State, says he’s frustrated by the mayor’s unwillingness to compromise.

“State Street stakeholders and community members are desperate for the mayor to forgo her myopic careerism and consider our vision for the future of one of Madison’s most iconic corridors,” Alfano testified at the July 13 meeting of the Common Council Executive Committee. “State Street is a world class culture center. Not a transition depot.”

Rhodes-Conway is frustrated, too.

The mayor tells Isthmus that routing BRT off State Street at this stage could potentially jeopardize more than $100 million in federal funding — effectively killing the project. She says the city is roughly halfway through an environmental impact report needed to secure the federal funds and changing the downtown route would mean starting over on that requirement of the project.

“We have a lot of agreement on the importance of downtown and State Street in particular. Where we differ is that I think BRT is a solution to bring people downtown and deliver customers to their front doors, and they don’t see it that way,” says Rhodes-Conway. “So I am surprised because the evidence from other cities that have implemented bus rapid transit solutions is that it actually helps the economy.”

The opposition has coalesced into a new group called “No BRT on State Street” to urge the mayor to reconsider the downtown route for BRT. One idea is to put the two proposed State Street stations on nearby Gorham and Johnson streets.

Tiffany Kenney, executive director of Madison’s Central Business Improvement District (BID), recently surveyed business owners up and down State Street. All but one opposes the plan to put BRT buses on the street. She says she understands why the mayor doesn’t want BRT to be delayed but downtown businesses feel duped.

“Nobody I talk to is anti-BRT,” says Kenney. “This is all about feeling left out of the process.”

Kenney explains that as BRT was being discussed in 2019 and 2020, her group and other downtown stakeholders were supportive. They want a faster, more reliable transit system to bring people to and from downtown. But as city staff prepared the all-important application for federal funds, Kenney says the impression was the proposed downtown route would at some point be up for discussion.

“That just didn’t happen,” says Kenney.

She says it came as a shock to the BID and State Street businesses when city staff informed stakeholders in May that it was too late for a discussion about the downtown BRT route. That’s when opposition started to gain momentum.

Former Mayor Paul Soglin, who was instrumental in the creation of State Street in its current form, has been a thorn in the current mayor’s side. While never mentioning Rhodes-Conway by name, he’s been active on Facebook in support of keeping BRT off State Street. In one post, he declares BRT would destroy “the SENSE OF PLACE on State Street and the Square and the atmosphere of downtown.”

“The most important thing is to understand that the process that we’ve had so far was designed to introduce BRT — the concept — to the Madison public,” Soglin tells Isthmus. “Most of the meetings were attended by people focused on transportation. There was never a discussion about the future of downtown and State Street.”

But Rhodes-Conway says having that discussion, now, would jeopardize the whole project.

“Starting over on the environmental review could set us back a year, which then means that we are putting in jeopardy the federal cycle that we’re on right now. If we miss that timeframe, it’s possible the funding is still there in the federal budget; it’s also possible that we get bumped for another project,” says Rhodes-Conway. “There were 35, 36 projects that applied at the same time we did. Six of them, including us, got funded. So there’s plenty of people in line that would be happy to take the allocation that we currently have.”

Soglin thinks the funds are more secure than that.

“When a federal commitment is made, there is usually a window of five to six years long in regards to utilization of the funds,” says Soglin. “So no, I don’t think the federal funds are in jeopardy. But yes, an alternative route for downtown will cause a delay.”

During the July 13 meeting of the Common Council Executive Committee, dozens testified against routing BRT on State Street and blame was placed squarely on the mayor for not seeking more public input. Just two residents spoke in favor of the current BRT plan.

“I can’t ignore hearing from all these constituents…. The theme of tonight’s conversation was there was no transparency, there was no communication and there was no collaboration with State Street,” said Ald. Nasra Wehelie. “What went wrong?”

“The outreach done on this project has been more extensive than most infrastructure projects,” replied Rhodes-Conway. “Alder, if you really want to know what went wrong, you should ask your colleagues who declined to support State Street last year. I think that’s a lot of what went wrong.”

Ouch. The mayor is referring to a heated vote last year where alders initially rejected a proposal from Rhodes-Conway and downtown Ald. Mike Verveer to provide $250,000 in aid to repair property damage on State Street after George Floyd protests turned destructive in June 2020. Kenney says that vote left some business owners feeling abandoned by the city. Downtown is also still recovering from the pandemic.

“It’s hard to untangle all that from the [BRT] debate,” says Kenney. “I think the general opinion from a big portion of the downtown community is that they aren’t being heard.”

Kenney acknowledges that routing BRT buses on State Street was always going to be a tough sell.

“But if [Rhodes-Conway] is right, she should be able to convince them,” says Kenney. “She and her staff shouldn’t have to work behind the scenes trying to convince each business owner it’s the right thing. It’s a divide and conquer strategy. If it’s the right thing, the mayor should be able to persuade everyone publicly.”

In recent years, downtown advocates have been pushing for the city to consider removing buses from State Street entirely. The 700 and 800 blocks of the iconic thoroughfare, Library Mall, have been a full pedestrian promenade for years and most days is full of people and food carts.

The success of the Madison Night Market on State Street and creation of Mad Lit, a new event every other Friday night at the top of State, are also seen as proof that turning State Street into a pedestrian mall is a good idea; the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board has also been pushing the concept hard this year.

“Madison’s signature shopping and entertainment corridor downtown is struggling and needs help. Windows were boarded up on nearly half of State Street’s 150 storefronts last week. Many shops were empty, and foot traffic was light despite a sunny Thursday with mild winter temperatures,” read a Jan. 24 editorial. “COVID-19 fears and restrictions have kept people away. So have periodic looting and vandalism that spun out of local protests over police brutality in Minneapolis, Kenosha and elsewhere.”

The editorial presents a top-to-bottom promenade as the solution to State Street’s woes. But the editorial fails to mention the millions of dollars and years of planning needed to truly enact that vision. There are also hurdles like how to preserve a dedicated fire lane. The mayor’s current plan for BRT, which includes routing the new buses on the first three blocks of State Street, is in obvious conflict with that plan. But it doesn’t preclude the city eventually extending the look and feel of Library Mall another three blocks up State.

“I worry that the mood among business owners on State Street is shifting from being against this route, to more of an anti-bus campaign,” says Kenney. “I don’t think that’s the right thing for our community either. And I wish there was someone in the mayor’s office who would see that a compromise is needed. This issue isn’t going away even if the mayor keeps moving forward.”

Ald. Grant Foster, who was active on transportation issues before being elected to the city council in 2019, sits on several city transportation committees and has had a front row seat to the city’s effort to implement a BRT system.

He says what’s being lost in the current debate are the very real logistical issues with Madison’s downtown streets.

“If BRT is going to be on the Capitol Square, putting the route on Gorham and Johnson just doesn’t work,” says Foster. “I have yet to see a true alternative to the current route.”

Foster is worried the kerfuffle between downtown advocates and the mayor will scuttle the opportunity for federal funds to pay for a multi-million dollar transit upgrade that would benefit the entire city — and not necessarily because a delay means the Biden administration yanks support. In upcoming and future city budget discussions, pulling the plug on local funding for the project could derail the whole thing as well.

“At the moment, it’s hard to say where the council is at on BRT,” Foster says.

Rhodes-Conway still believes State Street businesses will ultimately embrace BRT and she is making no moves to open up the debate. One local politico told Isthmus, on condition of anonymity, that BRT “is the hill the mayor is willing to die on.”

“I understand how upset business owners are on State Street. It’s been an incredibly difficult year and a half for them for a lot of reasons. We went into the pandemic in a place where retail was already struggling. That obviously was made worse by the last year and a half,” says the mayor. “The current route is the most logical given our not so lovely grid. So I remain convinced that BRT will be a boon for downtown. All the data supports that.” n

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is close to delivering on her campaign promise to bring a bus rapid transit system, known as BRT, to Madison. The $160 million project would be a major transportation infrastructure upgrade for the city, which faces increasing traffic congestion as Madison continues to grow. But in recent months, the debate over BRT has shifted from how to move people around a city with a geographical bottleneck (the isthmus), to one about the future of downtown.

The general concept for BRT seems to have broad support. However, a vocal and influential bloc has emerged objecting to routing the new 60-foot buses down the top three blocks of State Street. Rhodes-Conway says any change to the downtown route would delay the project by six months to a year. She’s plowing forward.

Carmelo Alfano, owner of the Madison Modern Market on State, says he’s frustrated by the mayor’s unwillingness to compromise.

“State Street stakeholders and community members are desperate for the mayor to forgo her myopic careerism and consider our vision for the future of one of Madison’s most iconic corridors,” Alfano testified at the July 13 meeting of the Common Council Executive Committee. “State Street is a world class culture center. Not a transition depot.”

Rhodes-Conway is frustrated, too.

The mayor tells Isthmus that routing BRT off State Street at this stage could potentially jeopardize more than $100 million in federal funding — effectively killing the project. She says the city is roughly halfway through an environmental impact report needed to secure the federal funds and changing the downtown route would mean starting over on that requirement of the project.

“We have a lot of agreement on the importance of downtown and State Street in particular. Where we differ is that I think BRT is a solution to bring people downtown and deliver customers to their front doors, and they don’t see it that way,” says Rhodes-Conway. “So I am surprised because the evidence from other cities that have implemented bus rapid transit solutions is that it actually helps the economy.”

The opposition has coalesced into a new group called “No BRT on State Street” to urge the mayor to reconsider the downtown route for BRT. One idea is to put the two proposed State Street stations on nearby Gorham and Johnson streets.

Tiffany Kenney, executive director of Madison’s Central Business Improvement District (BID), recently surveyed business owners up and down State Street. All but one opposes the plan to put BRT buses on the street. She says she understands why the mayor doesn’t want BRT to be delayed but downtown businesses feel duped.

“Nobody I talk to is anti-BRT,” says Kenney. “This is all about feeling left out of the process.”

Kenney explains that as BRT was being discussed in 2019 and 2020, her group and other downtown stakeholders were supportive. They want a faster, more reliable transit system to bring people to and from downtown. But as city staff prepared the all-important application for federal funds, Kenney says the impression was the proposed downtown route would at some point be up for discussion.

“That just didn’t happen,” says Kenney.

She says it came as a shock to the BID and State Street businesses when city staff informed stakeholders in May that it was too late for a discussion about the downtown BRT route. That’s when opposition started to gain momentum.

Former Mayor Paul Soglin, who was instrumental in the creation of State Street in its current form, has been a thorn in the current mayor’s side. While never mentioning Rhodes-Conway by name, he’s been active on Facebook in support of keeping BRT off State Street. In one post, he declares BRT would destroy “the SENSE OF PLACE on State Street and the Square and the atmosphere of downtown.”

“The most important thing is to understand that the process that we’ve had so far was designed to introduce BRT — the concept — to the Madison public,” Soglin tells Isthmus. “Most of the meetings were attended by people focused on transportation. There was never a discussion about the future of downtown and State Street.”

But Rhodes-Conway says having that discussion, now, would jeopardize the whole project.

“Starting over on the environmental review could set us back a year, which then means that we are putting in jeopardy the federal cycle that we’re on right now. If we miss that timeframe, it’s possible the funding is still there in the federal budget; it’s also possible that we get bumped for another project,” says Rhodes-Conway. “There were 35, 36 projects that applied at the same time we did. Six of them, including us, got funded. So there’s plenty of people in line that would be happy to take the allocation that we currently have.”

Soglin thinks the funds are more secure than that.

“When a federal commitment is made, there is usually a window of five to six years long in regards to utilization of the funds,” says Soglin. “So no, I don’t think the federal funds are in jeopardy. But yes, an alternative route for downtown will cause a delay.”

During the July 13 meeting of the Common Council Executive Committee, dozens testified against routing BRT on State Street and blame was placed squarely on the mayor for not seeking more public input. Just two residents spoke in favor of the current BRT plan.

“I can’t ignore hearing from all these constituents…. The theme of tonight’s conversation was there was no transparency, there was no communication and there was no collaboration with State Street,” said Ald. Nasra Wehelie. “What went wrong?”

“The outreach done on this project has been more extensive than most infrastructure projects,” replied Rhodes-Conway. “Alder, if you really want to know what went wrong, you should ask your colleagues who declined to support State Street last year. I think that’s a lot of what went wrong.”

Ouch. The mayor is referring to a heated vote last year where alders initially rejected a proposal from Rhodes-Conway and downtown Ald. Mike Verveer to provide $250,000 in aid to repair property damage on State Street after George Floyd protests turned destructive in June 2020. Kenney says that vote left some business owners feeling abandoned by the city. Downtown is also still recovering from the pandemic.

“It’s hard to untangle all that from the [BRT] debate,” says Kenney. “I think the general opinion from a big portion of the downtown community is that they aren’t being heard.”

Kenney acknowledges that routing BRT buses on State Street was always going to be a tough sell.

“But if [Rhodes-Conway] is right, she should be able to convince them,” says Kenney. “She and her staff shouldn’t have to work behind the scenes trying to convince each business owner it’s the right thing. It’s a divide and conquer strategy. If it’s the right thing, the mayor should be able to persuade everyone publicly.”

In recent years, downtown advocates have been pushing for the city to consider removing buses from State Street entirely. The 700 and 800 blocks of the iconic thoroughfare, Library Mall, have been a full pedestrian promenade for years and most days is full of people and food carts.

The success of the Madison Night Market on State Street and creation of Mad Lit, a new event every other Friday night at the top of State, are also seen as proof that turning State Street into a pedestrian mall is a good idea; the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board has also been pushing the concept hard this year.

“Madison’s signature shopping and entertainment corridor downtown is struggling and needs help. Windows were boarded up on nearly half of State Street’s 150 storefronts last week. Many shops were empty, and foot traffic was light despite a sunny Thursday with mild winter temperatures,” read a Jan. 24 editorial. “COVID-19 fears and restrictions have kept people away. So have periodic looting and vandalism that spun out of local protests over police brutality in Minneapolis, Kenosha and elsewhere.”

The editorial presents a top-to-bottom promenade as the solution to State Street’s woes. But the editorial fails to mention the millions of dollars and years of planning needed to truly enact that vision. There are also hurdles like how to preserve a dedicated fire lane. The mayor’s current plan for BRT, which includes routing the new buses on the first three blocks of State Street, is in obvious conflict with that plan. But it doesn’t preclude the city eventually extending the look and feel of Library Mall another three blocks up State.

“I worry that the mood among business owners on State Street is shifting from being against this route, to more of an anti-bus campaign,” says Kenney. “I don’t think that’s the right thing for our community either. And I wish there was someone in the mayor’s office who would see that a compromise is needed. This issue isn’t going away even if the mayor keeps moving forward.”

Ald. Grant Foster, who was active on transportation issues before being elected to the city council in 2019, sits on several city transportation committees and has had a front row seat to the city’s effort to implement a BRT system.

He says what’s being lost in the current debate are the very real logistical issues with Madison’s downtown streets.

“If BRT is going to be on the Capitol Square, putting the route on Gorham and Johnson just doesn’t work,” says Foster. “I have yet to see a true alternative to the current route.”

Foster is worried the kerfuffle between downtown advocates and the mayor will scuttle the opportunity for federal funds to pay for a multi-million dollar transit upgrade that would benefit the entire city — and not necessarily because a delay means the Biden administration yanks support. In upcoming and future city budget discussions, pulling the plug on local funding for the project could derail the whole thing as well.

“At the moment, it’s hard to say where the council is at on BRT,” Foster says.

Rhodes-Conway still believes State Street businesses will ultimately embrace BRT and she is making no moves to open up the debate. One local politico told Isthmus, on condition of anonymity, that BRT “is the hill the mayor is willing to die on.”

“I understand how upset business owners are on State Street. It’s been an incredibly difficult year and a half for them for a lot of reasons. We went into the pandemic in a place where retail was already struggling. That obviously was made worse by the last year and a half,” says the mayor. “The current route is the most logical given our not so lovely grid. So I remain convinced that BRT will be a boon for downtown. All the data supports that.”