The most recent public hearing on the State Street Redesign Plan closed Tuesday evening before the Downtown Coordinating Committee moved on to hire a consulting arborist and debate details of proposed bus shelters, sidewalks and lighting fixtures.
During the public forum, UW-Madison sophomore Susan Evans, an interior design student, expressed some concerns about the proposed bus shelters, which would be entirely glass and smaller than the existing ones.
\I've been out late at night when bars let out,"" she said. ""I think [the clear shelters] would be targets for vandalism'people are drunk and they're kind of crazy.""
To combat vandalism, the city would install anti-graffiti plastic shields on all the shelters. If people tried vandalizing the shelters by scratching them or painting them with acid, the replaceable plastic shield would absorb the impact, according to committee member Zack Brandon.
""It doesn't make sense to spend all this money on something that's gong to be worn out by graffiti a year from now,"" he said. ""[Vandals] can scratch all they want and the glass is always going to be preserved.""
Committee member Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8, advocated putting a bus schedule and map in all the new bus shelters. This improvement would really help students riding the bus, said UW-Madison graduate student Karen Olsen.
Olsen, who was waiting for the bus on State Street Tuesday evening, said clear shelters would make her feel safer because ""you'd be more visible from the street if something sketchy was happening.""
Committee chair Mary Lang-Sollinger stressed the importance of incorporating design elements that are welcoming and which would make residents feel safe. For example, the committee considered putting more light fixtures on the buildings along State Street.
""People get more of a feeling of safety and light from storefronts"" than they do from glitter lights, committee member Diane Shuck said.
The committee was sharply divided over the proposed granite aisle in the sidewalks, which some thought would give the street ambiance and others argued were too expensive.
Jarrell said he wanted more room for public art in the design plan, but not in the form of ""two-dimensional, mono-color, very expensive"" granite.
""It's such an exorbitant cost,"" he said. ""They're [going to be] beautiful streets for more people to sleep on.""
The only item the committee passed at the meeting was a proposal to hire a consultant from Appleton, Wis., to assess the life expectancy of the existing trees on the 100 and 200 blocks of State Street.
