Category: Business/Technology

Dear Editor: I find myself more often than not appreciating and agreeing with the editorial page of The Capital Times. I thought you really missed the mark, however, with your recent editorial criticizing Mark Bugher’s leadership as chairman at one meeting of the city’s Economic Development Commission.

If there is a person in this city who knows how to put politics aside, how to listen to all sides, how to seek consensus, and how to be the voice of reason in a heated debate, it’s Mark Bugher.

Mark Bugher is an active and valued contributor to the economic development debate in Madison, but he needs to respect the fact that not everyone is going to agree with him. Bugher…now serves as director of University Research Park and as chairman of the Madison Economic Development Commission.

It was in that latter role that he presided this week over a lengthy commission meeting that heard testimony regarding a proposed city ordinance that would require larger Madison employers to provide paid sick leave to workers. Bugher’s skepticism about the ordinance mirrors that of many in the business community, and he certainly has a right to his opinion. But as the chair of a city commission, he also has a responsibility to treat citizens and expert witnesses appropriately.

University of Wisconsin Business School senior Joe Jennings is kicking back, enjoying his last few months of college life. And why shouldn’t he? Jennings received four job offers by the end of the fall semester and accepted a position at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Chicago in late November.

Jennings says he was surprised by how easy it was to land a job. “It was awesome,” he says. “I got offers from companies I’d never even heard of — extremely painless.” The 23-year-old, who will earn a starting salary of $53,500 with a $2,

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Just as American Family Mutual Insurance is gearing up to start selling auto and homeowners policies in Washington – including the high-income/high-growth Seattle area – the company gets hammered by a nearly $3 million punitive damages award.

The case, which was settled out of court last week, included damaging testimony that American Family employees in the Colorado office routinely joked about the company’s get-tough policy regarding paying claims.

Those revelations were enough to tilt a jury in Boulder, Colo., last November in favor of Dominic Peressini, who earned a Ph.D in education from UW-Madison in 1996 and had been a tenured professor at the University of Colorado.

Bob Sieger knows he’s fighting an uphill battle in getting approval for a six-story condominium and sports bar development at the busy corner of Monroe and Regent streets.

But the Madison architect thinks the $15 million project fits perfectly across from Camp Randall Stadium and the UW Fieldhouse.

“I know some people think it’s too tall but I’m pretty excited about it,” Sieger said (last week).

The Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau is banking on Madison’s intellectual capital and reputation as a “top city” as part of a campaign to attract more tourists, meetings and convention business.

Both the bureau and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are capitalizing on the city’s national rankings, prominent industry leaders and renowned facilities and entertainment venues.

Klinger was one of the speakers at the Fusion 2006 conference at the Fluno Center on the UW-Madison campus. About 250 people attended the event, which focused on emerging information technology trends.

….The City Council Tuesday night is expected to approve the Wingra Creek Market Study, a comprehensive plan for a 64-acre triangular-shaped area on the city’s south side.

Over two years in the making, the plan aims at maintaining Park Street as a commercial and business area with Fish Hatchery Road remaining more of a residential corridor. It also calls for increasing housing densities on the south side to make light rail or other public transit a viable option. Park Street from the Beltline to the University of Wisconsin campus has been identified as a possible route for the city’s first trolley line.

Rural Dane County residents might feel that the heavily developed Beltline is an ideal corridor for a proposed transmission line that would be the largest in the county. But others say the Beltline is no place for the 345-kilovolt line planned by the American Transmission Co.

“We are taking a very firm stand against a transmission line running along the Beltline in front of the Arboretum,” said Kevin McSweeny, executive director of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. “If it is in fact chosen as a route, we will insist that the line be buried such that our viewscape is not contaminated.”

The American Transmission Co. will give a presentation Wednesday night to explain how the University of Wisconsin Arboretum could become part of a corridor for a high-voltage transmission line.

With 500 new stores planned in the next five years, Kohl’s Corp. needs that many new managers, and twice as many assistants.

Those are just a few of the jobs that the fast-growing department store chain will create in the coming years, President Kevin Mansell told students in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s retail program, part of the School of Human Ecology.

This year, about 1,000 low-income workers – primarily in Milwaukee and Madison – will receive tax preparation assistance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center on Business and Poverty. John Hoffmire, the director of the center, was interviewed via e-mail by the Journal Sentinel’s Mark Maley.

So, I say “Madison,” and your first thought is . . .

Romantic? Maybe: USA Weekend calls it a top romantic destination, for some reason.

Corrupt? Sure, that’s top-of-mind. Weedstock? Legendary for puffery, to be sure.

But entrepreneurial? The People’s Republic of Madison, entrepreneurial?

Yes, argue some people close to Wisconsin’s growing biotech industry: The reason research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has led to a slew of new companies is that the university and the community are congenial to entrepreneurs. The rest of Wisconsin can take a lesson from that.

….Many independent businesses along this stretch have moved or closed to make way for a new development by The Mullins Group, which owns much of the property. Others will soon relocate. They include Etes Vous Prets coffee at 518 Highland Ave. this spring and, eventually, Lulu’s restaurant, which has been at 2524 University Ave. for over 21 years.