Madison Media Digest: Education, Public Spaces and Buildings & Business

Here’s what we were reading while getting excited for yet another Badger football coach.

Education

Madison’s main public high schools are all under relatively new leadership. The state has lost 2,900 teachers over the past nine years, but Madison has increased its teaching staff. Nichelle Nichols, MMSD’s new director of engagement, wants parents to get involved in the schools. Madison College’s South Campus held an open house and is emphasizing serving Spanish speakers. One City Early Learning Center, which seeks to address the racial academic achievement gap in Madison, is opening its doors this fall.

A donation provided new school supplies at Gompers Elementary and Black Hawk Middle Schools. The South Central Federation of Labor’s annual LaborFest will collect donations for homeless children in Madison schools’ Transition Education program. A group of Madison East students traveled to Kenya. Crossing guards met for a training session last week. The YWeb Career Academy, which seeks to diversify Madison’s tech community, graduated 16 students. 

Public Spaces

A State Journal investigation finds that blacks are arrested at 10 times the rate of white in Madison. The arrests are clustered around State Street as well as East and West Towne Malls. Concerns over safety, from both a building employee and a homeless advocate, clash in the debate over removing homeless from the City-County Building. Despite the rhetoric coming from the CCB, Downtown Madison seems to be doing just fine writes Chris Rickert. Brenda Konkel asks for better media coverage of the ongoing proposals on homelessness in Madison.

Buildings and Business

Madison’s finance committee approved a $201M project to bring Exact Sciences Coporation’s headquarters downtown, which includes $43M in public financing. The deal represents the largest commitment to a private building in the city’s history. The city will be paying Exact Sciences $30,000 per job created. Former Mayor Dave Cieslewicz says the city is making a mistake. An equity analysis is missing from the project, Brenda Konkel reports. This deal has moved too quickly for Chris Rickert to form a real opinion.

Elsewhere, Mayor Paul Soglin believes the major new state office building planned for Hill Farms will spur development downtown. The City is pushing back on what it believes is “demolition by neglect.” The Planning Commision approved a controversial demolition project in Nakoma. Soglin proposed a grant program to help retail outlets downtown renovate their spaces. The city will put $300,000 toward a food co-op on Allied Drive. Alliant Energy has kicked off a project to study solar power generation in Madison. Community members are trying to save local artist Sid Boyum’s home, which is filled with his artwork; it goes up for auction Sept. 16. The Fair Housing Center answers some frequently asked questions about tenant’s rights. Are we ignoring a bigger problem by allowing for more bars on Willy Street, asks Gregory Humphries. Madison is emerging a strong home for start-up businesses. Group Intellectual Ratchet aims to provide a community and events for millennials and young professionals of color in Madison.