Link to March 20 Capital Times editorial.
Excerpt: When it came to major development projects, building a new Central Library in downtown Madison was Job 1 for local officials.
Unfortunately, as time and energy was squandered on the Edgewater Hotel renovation project, the plan to have the Fiore/Irgens team build an especially appealing library on West Washington Avenue fell apart.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz says, “There is no bad guy in this story. (The development team) negotiated in good faith and tried hard to make it work, and so did we. But it was a complex proposal from the start with lots of moving parts. In the end, we just couldn’t reach agreement.”
Despite the “no bad guy” line, the mayor says he is “disappointed.”
In fact, everyone should be. A classic public works project with some smart partnerships will not go forward, while the controversial and questionable Edgewater project remains in play.
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