The Mifflin Street Block Party and Central Library plans were discussed Wednesday during the West Mifflin Street Neighborhood meeting.
The city's Common Council already approved two sponsors for the block party, as well as plans to block off Mifflin Street. Local music company DCNY Pro will accompany the UW-Madison's own radio station WSUM as the sponsors.
Among the two sponsors of the party, the plans also include implementing a beer garden on a former Planned Parenthood site.
""This will cut down on the people filling the streets with no place to go,"" said Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4. ""It also opens up a location to legally consume beer; you won't have to literally be in a house or a yard to drink.""
Plans on the renovation of a new Central Library were also discussed during the meeting.
The current plan is to remove everything out of the current library and remodel it on the same site, temporarily moving the circulation and books. Although the library board unanimously voted to accept Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's earlier plan to build a totally new library, the proposal failed.
""I feel very disappointed and let down,"" Verveer said. ""I was looking forward to a beautiful new structure on West Mifflin Street, but in reality I just don't think it's going to happen.""
Verveer said the deterioration of the structure of the existing building is an issue, along with possible complications of the temporary move.
""What the public doesn't see in this building is more important than what they do see,"" Verveer said, and said the falling plaster in the bathrooms was a ""possible catastrophe'' if the city waits much longer to go into construction.
The Madison Plan Commission has already interviewed ten potential architects for the site, with the possible new structure occurring in one year.
Also discussed at the meeting was the demolition of the former Plant Parenthood building, which will be replaced with a 33-unit apartment structure.
A representative of the aparments, Jerry Connoly, said they do not own the building yet, and are in the initial stages of planning.
The neighborhood group proposed having another meeting with renderings of the prospective apartment during the first week in May.
