Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Downtown Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council adopts 2024 State Street pedestrian mall experiment report; BID warns of unbudgeted programming costs
Summary
The Common Council adopted the 2024 State Street Pedestrian Mall Experiment Report. Madison Central BID reported it produced 36 events in 2024 that attracted roughly 94,000 visitors but said existing city contract funding did not cover programming costs incurred for the mall experiment.
The Common Council adopted the 2024 State Street Pedestrian Mall Experiment Report after staff and partner remarks. The report documents the pilot pedestrian-mall experiment that ran on State Street in 2024 and outlines next steps.
Matt Trammell, representing the Madison Central Business Improvement District, told the council the BID produced 36 events in the 400–600 blocks of State Street in 2024 and cited aggregated pedestrian-tracking data indicating more than 94,000 visitors during that period. Trammell said those events cost the BID more than $15,500 and consumed roughly 350 staff hours between May and October; he noted the city allocation for public programming through the BID’s summer contract is $62,225 but is distributed across the BID’s entire service area rather than reserved for State Street-specific programming.
Trammell urged the council, as it considers extending the pedestrian mall, to account for the time and resources required for programming; he warned that absent additional funding the BID will prioritize core and highest-attendance events. Council members and the mayor publicly thanked staff and partners for the collaborative experiment and recorded a unanimous vote to adopt the report.
