🗳️ It’s Spring Election Day!

🍻 Essen Haus Won’t Get the Boot After All

• Essen Haus, a long-time German bar and restaurant that has been marked for demolition multiple times as part of a Wilson Street redevelopment plan, will survive after all.
• In August 2024, the city approved plans for an Eau Claire developer to buy up properties in the 500 block of East Wilson Street, including the Essen Haus and neighboring Come Back In, and replace them with apartments and a hotel.
• But those plans are now dead, and the Essen Haus owners are upgrading the space in the hopes of luring back customers who had assumed the bar was kaput. [ 🔒WSJ]

🚌 Abandoned Bus Transfer Point Could Give Way to Apartments

• The site of the shuttered Metro Transit North Transfer Point could become the home of a pair of affordable apartment buildings.
• DevCo Residential Group wants to build two four-story apartment buildings totalling 163 units on Huxley Street near the former Oscar Mayer Plant location. That land includes the former North Transfer Point, which closed in 2023 as Metro Transit redesigned and streamlined its routes.
• If approved by the city, the project will open in spring 2028. The buildings would be located north of a much larger residential development on the former Oscar Mayer site that just began welcoming tenants. [ 🔒WSJ, 🎧 City Cast Madison, Cap Times]

💸 DoorDash Delivered $2M in Lobbying Money to State Capitol

• Corporations and special interest groups spent $47 million in 2025 to lobby Wisconsin lawmakers, a 10-year-high, according to a Cap Times investigation.
• While usual suspects like Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and the Wisconsin Hospital Association were in the top 10, by far and away the biggest spender was the food delivery company DoorDash.
• DoorDash spent over $2 million and 250 hours lobbying lawmakers, primarily in favor of a bill that would exempt gig workers (like DoorDash drivers) from minimum wage and workers’ compensation laws. The bill passed the Republican-controlled Legislature but was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. [Cap Times]

Meet Cowboy! Cowboy can be a little nervous meeting new people, but once he warms up, he’s a friendly, wiggly, goofy guy who leans in for pets. Cowboy is energetic and loves to go for walks and run around the yards. He also enjoyed fence running with another dog, but introductions should be done slowly.

This nearly 50-pound pup might be a little too rowdy for small kids. He’s looking to ride off into the sunset with a family who will work with him on his positive reinforcement training, while also spoiling him with fun adventures, companionship, and love. Cowboy is ready to lasso your heart so stop by to meet him!