Swimming in a public pool, staying at State Street Brats an extra hour on the second floor and hearing fewer train whistles are now all possibilities in Madison since a City Council meeting Tuesday.
Ending the long battle for Madison's first pubic pool, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced Irwin and Robert Goodman had pledged an additional $300,000 toward the $500,000 initial fundraising goal. This pledge was timely as the deadline for fundraising efforts was Tuesday and the city was about $350,000 short of its goal as recently as last week. The Goodmans' pledge means public funding is no longer a requirement, but fundraising is planned to continue. In total the Goodman brothers donated $2.8 million, and public funding yielded $120,000.
The Goodmans' donation comes as a huge relief to the members of City Council. Ald. Austin King, District 8, reflected, \We either would have had to raise the rest of the money privately, which had proven pretty difficult, or we would have had to opt for public funding of the gap which would have been politically difficult, or we would have to go with a smaller pool, which no one really wants.""
The state-of-the-art public pool that now has sufficient funding to be constructed will be suitable for serving 1,000 people. According to a press release, the south side pool, properly titled the ""family aquatic center,"" will be located at the former Franklin Field, off Olin Avenue.
Also discussed at the meeting was State Street Brats, 603 State Street. The popular Madison restaurant was struggling with conflicting closing times of its up- and downstairs areas. Due to the upper level having been built after the lower level, the upstairs area was forced to close about an hour earlier than the lower level. The City Council unanimously decided the condition of an earlier closing time for the upper floor would be lifted.
The issue of train whistles was another topic among many discussed. The issue lies in when train whistles should be allowed to sound, outside of just emergency situations. The council unanimously voted to find where railroad tracks meet sufficient requirements such as flashing lights and gates that barricade the oncoming traffic from a passing train at a train crossing.
""We're asking the city to do an assessment of all the railroad crossings and find the ones that meet those requirements,"" said Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5. After finding where the requirements are met, quiet zones can be established where train whistles do not have to blow.
