Dressed in Badger red, Madison’s City Council honored the University of Wisconsin’s men’s basketball team Tuesday for its historic season, before approving recommendations to improve downtown restrooms.
Mayor Paul Soglin along with all 20 Madison alders drafted a resolution commending the team on their 36 season wins, Big Ten title, Final Four appearance and specifically their win over Kentucky.
“[A]long the way the student athletes, groomed by Coach Bo Ryan, captured the hearts of fans around the world and ‘Made ‘Em Believe,” the resolution said.
UW’s Nigel Hayes and Coach Bo Ryan were in attendance and expressed their own gratitude to the community and joked about the Council’s stenographer, or lack thereof. To Ryan’s and Hayes’ dismay, Soglin informed them there is no stenographer present, as everything is digitally recorded.
“Thank you for recognizing the work of some of the greatest young men as people, as representatives of the university [and] as student athletes,” Ryan said. “We appreciate where our home is … and we can’t thank you enough.”
Hayes also addressed the council and expressed his hopes for next year’s season and said hopefully the team will be able to pull off one more win and make everyone proud.
The whole room gave a standing ovation for the two home-town celebrities and the resolution passed unanimously.
.@NIGEL_HAYES says he hopes next year they can win one more game #totheship #Badgers @BadgerHerald pic.twitter.com/NLF2oY8cAG
— Hayley ✨ (@hksperl) May 5, 2015
After the Council concluded their salute to the Badgers, business carried on as usual.
In a swift action, the Council approved recommendations from the city’s Downtown Public Restroom Committee to improve signage and conditions of downtown restrooms and Porta-Potties.
The city’s Board of Estimates previously heard the issue, which is an attempt to improve life for Madison’s homeless, according to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4.
Bathroom business: city board approves proposal for public downtown restrooms
Currently there are public restrooms and Porta-Potties in various downtown locations; most are in parking garages.
For the past two years, there has been $300,000 sitting in the city’s budget to fund additional public restrooms downtown, but it hasn’t been touched. Verveer said this is largely because funding for restrooms could be pulled from other sources.
Verveer said this proposal will not change much in terms of short-term action other than improving restroom signage and restroom appearance. But he said in the long-term, it will allow the city to work with private developers to create more public restrooms or use the money in the budget to extend the hours of Madison’s Visitor Center.
