The invisible force that is progress seems to constantly be wreaking havoc on the city of Madison. Someday, the city skyline will no longer be peppered with cranes and the streets won't be covered with dump trucks, but that day keeps moving farther away. Last week, Madison's Planning Department met to discuss what to do about the historic Mifflin Street area.
Urban progress is not always pretty. Treasured districts are cast aside in favor of more efficient structures with less character, the face-lift smoothing out all those little lines of history. Regardless, we can't forget that progress also holds the promise of a new beginning.
It is time for the city of Madison to revamp Mifflin Street and the surrounding neighborhood; there is simply no point in delaying the inevitable any longer. But there are many directions this project can go. In order to ensure success and keep the integrity of the existing neighborhood, the effort must be composed of equal contributions from students, residents, and developers.
At this point in time, Mifflin Street is a decaying collegiate neighborhood. It's a textbook example of feedback loops and instability; students don't take care of the houses and landlords don't want to invest in fixing up houses that no one will care for. In the end no one benefits because rent remains high, and the quality of the house and property remain substantially under par.
The biggest complaint that development faces is that any renovations to Mifflin Street will stifle the character of the area. Some old gothic-style houses and primarily student residences will have to be removed in order to update the street. The city cannot wait for the process of attrition to take the houses, and acting now is the right decision. Again, there is still plenty of room for proper discourse and an agreeable resolution for the neighborhood.
The Mifflin developmental project should continue, but the developers must take the voices of their inhabitants into consideration. It's not unfair to say that the developers should know exactly what the neighborhood's residents and the population of Madison want for the neighborhood, and then give it to them. Again, this is a district that has defined Madison and the living conditions of its student population for quite a while, so development must be cautious to leave some trace of the past neighborhood.
The Greenbush Neighborhood near Regent Street received a similar update some time ago. The area still fondly holds on to its past with illustrated plaques of remembrance and some more antique edifices like the Greenbush Bar and the Italian Workman's Union building still standing. There is no reason that Mifflin Street cannot go the way of the Greenbush Neighborhood and redevelop with respect to its lush and storied past.
Development should also combine the best of functionality and amenity to benefit the community as a whole. In a way, Lucky Apartments is a great example of a multi-use building. Although the mall space is not completely full, the shops and food court are fairly popular. They provide an alternative to State Street and are helping to spread out consumer traffic in the cramped Downtown Madison area.
If the Mifflin Street neighborhood follows suit, perhaps the street could become a haven for local businesses and new entrepreneurial endeavors. Multi-purpose buildings seem to be the route more traveled these days, and there are plenty of tangible benefits that they bring along with them. However, we have been neglecting one of the bigger points of student and resident interest; the venerable Mifflin Street Block Party.
The infamous block party started years ago in response to the Vietnam War and has taken its own route and assumed a different identity today. If we turn the page on Mifflin Street, will we lose the block party as well? Only time will really be able to tell, seeing that the party has lasted as long as it has. Last year, a proposition was made to move Mifflin to another block. If the city goes ahead with its plans, the party will always have its roots on Mifflin but will have to find a new home.
It is difficult to sanction this development of Mifflin Street, a place that the student body is strongly attached to, but it is just part of the natural cycle of urban development. Madison is a growing city and that growth needs to make Mifflin as appealing as it can be.
