Madison is quite nice. There isn't as much excitement as in New York or San Francisco, but I'd take it over suburbia (including Bay Area suburbia) in 1/5 of a heartbeat.
If the three worst things about a place are December, January, and February... that's a pretty good place to live.
I grew up less than a mile away from the Fox River, one of the worst in the state, and I must say, I never thought of myself as saddled with a horrible legacy. There are plenty of places to go if you like being in the water.
That's not to say that I don't think all the pollution sucks, I do, I just don't think it factors in very much to the everyday quality of life as much as say, the weather.
If the three worst things about a place are December, January, and February... that's a pretty good place to live.