A Fresh Look At Madison And Development

The Cap Times' editor Paul Fanlund, after the collapse of a controversial hotel expansion on the lake, and other events, offers a myth-busting perspective.

For those who subscribe to the hackneyed assertion that Madison is reflexively anti-development -- a city that cannot put two bricks together -- the past two months would seem to provide plenty of fodder...

Unless, that is, you actually listen to the mayor and the city's economic development director, both of whom express a vision for and urgency about the redevelopment path ahead.

Mayor Paul Soglin and Aaron Olver are focused on a series of infill projects in which tracts would be redeveloped with an eye to creating commercial, retail and residential space, thus enlarging Madison's tax base.