City of Madison
Bus on State Street
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway wasted little time in puncturing the State Street pedestrian mall balloon.
“I don’t support removing Metro from State Street or (Capitol) Square entirely. Transit is an important part of our community and should be at our front doors, where it can best serve employees, customers, visitors and residents,” she told the Wisconsin State Journal last week.
At this point I need to look down, kick some snow and mutter, “Okay, mayor. You’re right. But can’t we just have a little committee?”
Rhodes-Conway’s comment came in response to an announcement that Metro would further reduce bus traffic on the street in preparation for the bus rapid transit system. Combined with reductions that have already taken place because of COVID-19, overall bus trips on the street could be reduced by around half.
The mayor is doing what mayors do. She’s being the responsible adult. A lot of Madisonians, including me, see the mall idea as cotton candy and Rhodes-Conway is basically saying we need to eat our dinner first and then we’ll see.
Only she’s not really saying “we’ll see.” Her statement was, in my view, a little too dismissive of the idea. No doubt she’s hearing from a lot of city staff explaining to her why this can’t be done. (I found that staff believes it's their job to tell silly mayors why they can’t do things. The fact that they’re often right only makes that more irritating.)
Downtown Madison Inc. kicked off this debate with a report on the pedestrian mall idea, which has been around for decades. While DMI actually made no recommendation, the State Journal has picked up the cause and its readers have shown enthusiastic support — actually, somewhat more than I would have expected.
But you knew there would be another side to the question. The DMI report acknowledges that the city would have to figure out how to keep or replace about $900,000 a year that comes from the federal government for State Street being a “fixed transit guideway.” And city Transportation Director Tom Lynch has pointed out that there needs to be a consideration of “fire lane requirements, challenges with State Street’s four existing pedestrian-only spaces, and equitable access to the Downtown.”
All fair enough, but on the other hand, State Street needs a boost after the body blows it has absorbed in the last year. And, even if those hits hadn’t happened, business and cultural areas just need to reinvent themselves from time to time to stay fresh and interesting.
Also, we need to adjust to the new reality that the street is evolving into more of an entertainment venue than a retail center. That means that having more room for outdoor cafes and for just strolling along — and removing the noise and smell that comes from busses — is at least worth exploring.
My guess is that the mayor is already getting pushback for her early rejection of this idea. She would be better off doing what Madison does so well: form a committee.
Maybe ask longtime downtown Ald. Mike Verveer to chair a task force including DMI, neighborhood associations, business and property owners, and city staff plus anybody else who is relevant to the discussion, and hash out all the issues.
What the city should NOT do is pay for an expensive outside consultant to do a study. The issues here are really straightforward and the necessary information can be easily gathered by city staff. It also doesn’t need to take forever, and hiring a consultant with the necessary requests for proposals and evaluation process, would take months. Ask for a report by Labor Day at the latest.
Look, maybe the mayor’s right. Maybe we need to just eat our brussels sprouts and we’ll thank her when we’re grown. But it’s worth at least giving us some hope that there’s cotton candy in our future.
