Funny how long some stories gestate. This Madison Magazine piece on the city’s long-sought connection of the Capitol Square to Lake Monona goes back more than 25 years. Back then, while I was at Isthmus, I edited several insightful cover pieces on downtown planning by a fine writer named Bruce Webendorfer who tied together the visionary plans of John Nolen, Wesley Peters and others to improve the city’s lake access. That history stuck with me over the years.
The drafting of an updated downtown plan seemed like an excellent time to point out how lakefront access has bedeviled the city for 100 years. Time and again, Madison has fumbled historic opportunities to capitalize on its extraordinary assets as a lake city. This story for Madison Magazine allowed me to highlight the new plans to make Law Park a destination for visitors, downtown residents and boaters.
As you’ll read, there’s a lot of history here. But curiously enough, the real object lies 110 miles to the east at Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Stories by Marc Eisen 