By Sasha VanAllen
If you head east from the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, down East Washington Avenue, you’ll start to notice the thriving businesses and upscale downtown restaurants start to fade. These fade into vacant lots and old residential rental properties that have been ran down throughout the course of time. The smooth asphalt transitions to into cracked concrete and potholes barely filled with rubble. The once prosperous building complex now only holds a Subway restaurant, an old gym and a small beauty supply store, all with bars over the storefront windows.