9 alders and the mayor are asking MATC to be more creative, close the west side campus, not downtown AND build the south side campus. Frankly, I don’t get the either/or nature of downtown and southside.
May 2, 2016
Madison Area Technical College Board of Directors
1701 Wright St.
Madison, WI 53704Dear Board of Directors,
We reviewed the Madison College proposals with City of Madison Planning, Community, and Economic Development staff and join with others who support a south side Madison location and the retention of a presence downtown. Having received the Madison College proposal of April 6, 2016, and after review with city staff, we conclude the following:
· It makes no sense for Madison College to maintain three Madison sites in addition to the main Truax site. We concur in closing the present west side site at Gammon and Mineral Point Roads and not investing in another west campus.
· We concur that there should be a site as close to the Beltline as possible serving a significant student population from the Stoughton Road area to Gammon Road. A central Beltline site that is proximate to the students would be on Park Street. We renew our offer to provide more space at The Village on Park.
· The most central location for all of Madison College is downtown Madison. Despite expansions elsewhere over the past thirty years it remains the most convenient location, particularly for students who cannot afford an automobile. We note that while student attendance for credit courses shifted to Truax in 1986, and then again in 2013, today it still serves almost 3,000 students per semester making it the second largest of the campuses.
· We are cognizant of the budget constraints facing Madison College, but we are not satisfied that all options for maintaining the DTEC site have been explored. We believe further examination of utilizing the oldest building with privatization or other public use of a portion of the remaining site is a viable alternative, and one that preserves it for the college for further growth. We are prepared to offer a resolution to the Common Council committing our Planning staff to collaborate on such an endeavor. We note that others have made a similar suggestion.
City of Madison officials have supported Madison College and its significant referendums over the past 45 years. When the major referendum of 1978 was approved by the voters it was premised that the new campus was to be located in downtown Madison. We know what happened. When the voters turned out to support the most recent referendum, there was a commitment to provide monies for the downtown campus. The Board had voted to allocate some of the funds to relocate the culinary program to the DTEC campus.
The city of Madison has always been a fair and vigorous supporter of Madison College. The largest numbers of students from any one community are from the city of Madison. We are cognizant of the challenges for students, faculty, and staff. An accessible downtown campus is essential. We understand the need to better serve the needs of the residents of south Madison.
We believe that there are viable options for mixed uses and other utilization of the downtown campus so that Madison College can support both downtown and south Madison campuses.
Sincerely,
Paul R. Soglin, Mayor
Alder Mike Verveer, Council President
Alder Marsha Rummel, Council President Pro-Tem
Alder Ledell Zellers, District 2
Alder Zach Wood, District 8
Alder Larry Palm, District 12
Alder Sheri Carter, District 14
Alder David Ahrens, District 15
Alder Samba Baldeh, District 17
Alder Rebecca Kemble, District 18
