NEWS
For Peace Park, a second chance
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Also by Michelle Orris:
- UW band to play pre- and post-game Music City Bowl (December 11, 2003)
- UW advertising project receives national attention for study (December 4, 2003)
- UW advertising project receives national attention for study (December 4, 2003)
- Greenberg telecasts live from Madison, lectures students (November 14, 2003)
Related Stories:
- Design approved for Peace Park (September 9, 2003)
- Committee approves Peace Park renovations (February 19, 2004)
- Peace Park committee mulls several plans (January 28, 2003)
- Cieslewicz sets aside millions in budget for State Street (September 23, 2003)
- Students get involved in Peace Park (January 30, 2003)
by Michelle Orris
Monday, January 27, 2003
A city committee is trying to revamp the Lisa Link Peace Park on State Street, an area notorious for panhandling, violence and police attention.
The Lisa Link Peace Park committee held a public information meeting Saturday to introduce improvement plans, with another scheduled for Monday night at 7 p.m. Committee member Charlie Rogers said the public, especially students, are encouraged to attend.
“One of the distressing things about this committee is that students don’t come,” he said. “I wish they would have been part of the planning.”
Committee spokesperson Sue Schmitz said ASM member Bryan Gadow came to a few meetings but stopped coming.
ASM member Bryan Gadow said he assigned an ASM representative to the committee last spring and did not know the student stopped attending the meetings.
The committee has worked for over a year to find ways to make the park accessible and safe for everyone in the community.
Lisa Link Peace Park holds the highest number of police calls in Madison, according to Rogers.
Princess of India Import owner Abdul Lababidi, whose business sits next to the park, said he is relieved that improvements will be made soon.
“That would be fantastic,” he said. “There is so much begging here that customers go to the other side of the street to avoid this place, so I get less business. The peace park is not peace, it is only trouble.”
Princess of India Import’s windows have been smashed three times this past year, Lababidi said. The bill for a new shop window in his store runs above $1000, after a city subsidy.
“I can’t afford to bay the bills for new windows anymore,” he said.
Lababidi said he repeatedly has problems with alcoholics in the area who swear, fight and create disturbances. He told of a stabbing incident two months ago where blood covered the benches of the park and several incidences where loiterers from the park tried stealing his merchandise.
“I can’t leave from behind the counter,” he said. “When I tell them I will call the police, they say ‘Call the police, it’s warmer in jail.’”
The first phase of the park overhaul will begin this summer. Improvements include removal of the current stonework and creation of a stage.
Rogers said performance events and new vendors will be encouraged for the park. He said the committee organized three movies in the park last summer.
“People were surprised the movies were happening at the first movie, but attendance really snowballed and the last one was really big,” Rogers said.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said his vision for Peace Park is similar to Library Mall, where students and city residents can stop to relax.
Committee members have stressed that the goal of the park improvements is not to oust the park’s current users.
“No one’s excluded, we’re not displacing anyone,” Rogers said. “We’re trying to make the park more user-friendly.”
Monday night’s meeting will be held in the Civic Center’s Marquee Room at 7 p.m.
