Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

What a tangled web we weave: Franklin impanels a group to examine the development process

As posted by Greg Kowalski on his Franklin Today blog, listed below are the suggested members of new Mayoral Ad Hoc Development Process Review Committee, proposed by Alderman Steve Taylor and charged with untangling the development process here in Franklin.

At Monday's Economic Development Commission meeting, both James Kerr and I answered the call for volunteers (the mayor requested one each from the Economic, Environmental, and Plan commissions). Given Mr. Kerr's enormous experience in process management (he was Deputy Airports Director/COO for the Milwaukee County Airport Division from 1983-2005), I notified the mayor via email that I think his skill set is exactly what this effort needs.

I'll be attending the meetings, however, because the prospect of hearing developers give real-life examples of their frustrations in working with the city promises to be fascinating.

Suggested step one: Invest in a HUGE whiteboard and create what will likely be a complicated, multi-colored process map. And make sure you have lots of fresh markers ....

CHAIRMAN: Mayor Tom Taylor

ALDERMANIC REP: Common Council President Steve Taylor

DEVELOPERS: Mark Carstensen, Jim O'Malley, and Jim Kupfer

PLAN COMMISSIONER: Randy Ritter

ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSIONER: Maryjane Ingersoll

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSIONER: James Kerr

Midwest Intercity Passenger Rail Program AT LAST?

Decades late, but here is what the beginning of a sensible transportation program looks like, via a federal grant.

Awardees : Wisconsin Department of Transportation; Minnesota Department of Transportation

Total Approximate Funding (entire corridor) : $823,000,000

Benefiting States : Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois

Miles of Track : Upgraded - 144 miles, New - 32 miles, Planned - 275 miles (est.), Total - Appx. 441 Miles

The corridor stretching from the Twin Cities to Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago is an essential segment of the Midwest rail system. However, there is currently no passenger rail service between Milwaukee and Madison, the two largest metropolitan areas in Wisconsin.

Using grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), intercity passenger rail service will be established between Milwaukee and Madison with stops in Brookeld, Oconomowoc, and Watertown at speeds of up to 110 mph. Service is expected by 2013.

Improvements between Chicago and Milwaukee will ultimately reduce travel time by more than 30 percent and increase maximum speeds from 79 mph to 110 mph. Eventually, passengers will be able to travel from Chicago to the Twin Cities at a top speed of 110 mph, saving time and energy compared to driving.

Summary of Corridor Investments

Chicago - Milwaukee: Station construction, infrastructure enhancements, and signal and track improvements will increase on-time performance and reliability and create the building blocks for future 110 mph service. The increased speed will eventually reduce travel time between the two cities by more than 30 percent.

Milwaukee - Madison: Implementation of a new service by upgrading infrastructure along 80 miles of track connecting Wisconsin’s two largest cities. This project also includes new and refurbished stations, as well as positive train control. Approximately 76 percent of Wisconsin’s total population lives within 30 miles of the rail stations on this corridor.

Madison - Minneapolis/St. Paul: Planning and environmental work will begin to lay the groundwork for connecting the rail line through Wisconsin to Minnesota at speeds of up to 110 mph. Several route alignments will be considered in the planning process.

Read the rest at: Fact Sheet: High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program: Minneapolis/St. Paul - Madison - Milwaukee - Chicago | The White House

Getting closer: Wisconsin lands $800 million for high-speed rail

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Wisconsin will receive more than $800 million to build a high-speed rail line carrying passengers between Milwaukee and Madison at 110 mph and recapture a piece of a regional rail system largely abandoned six decades ago.

The high-speed line could be up and running as early as 2013, the state says.

President Barack Obama mentioned the federal investment in high-speed rail in his State of the Union speech Wednesday night and was expected to announce the specific awards for 13 projects nationally at an event in Florida on Thursday morning.

A fact sheet issued by the White House lists the $810 million for the stations and track improvements necessary for the high-speed line connecting the state's two largest cities, along with improvements to the Amtrak Hiawatha line between Milwaukee and Chicago that will serve as the building blocks for a 110-mph service along that route.

Ridership on that line nearly doubled from 397,518 passengers in 2002 to 766,167 in 2008, then leveled off in 2009. The decrease was blamed on the recession, which decreased travel across various modes of transportation.

The federal funding is part of an $8 billion package of rail grants approved by Congress in the 2009 economic recovery act. It provides money to build up the tracks and start operation of a high-speed rail connection that had been stalled in Wisconsin for decades.

"I am really pleased with President Obama's investment in the future of Wisconsin's economy," Gov. Jim Doyle said late Wednesday. "This is a major job creation project that will provide a long-term boost to our economy.

"Through high-speed rail we will connect the major centers of commerce in Wisconsin and in the region. This was a national competition, and the results clearly demonstrate that Wisconsin had a very strong application."

As it pursued the federal funds, the state last year decided to purchase two 14-car train sets manufactured by the Spanish company Talgo Inc. Those cars are expected to be built in Wisconsin.

The advance work helped put Wisconsin in a favorable position to win the federal stimulus dollars. The effort also benefited from the planning and engineering work done on the tracks that will be used to carry the high-speed trains.

The route is expected to include stops in Brookfield, Oconomowoc and Watertown.

Eventually, the high-speed line could be extended from Madison to the Twin Cities.

Job creation cited

Doyle promoted the Milwaukee-Madison rail link as an initiative to create jobs in Wisconsin and provide a missing element in southern Wisconsin's transportation  options. In earlier lobbying, he said the high-speed line would create nearly 13,000 jobs, reduce auto trips by 7.8 million over 10 years and save millions of gallons of fuel.

Obama also touted the job-creating benefits of rail projects and included the federal grants in the economic stimulus package pushed through Congress last year. Nearly half the states submitted 45 applications for the high-speed rail funding.

The administration promised that the grants would be allocated based on the merits of the individual projects.

The work to upgrade the tracks to accommodate the high-speed trains from downtown Milwaukee to the Dane County Regional Airport is projected to cost roughly $651.8 million. Doyle sought $817 million in federal funds to cover contingencies and inflation.

Advocates and opponents have debated the value of investments in high-speed rail for decades.

Those opposed to the rail project argued that it would waste transportation dollars that the state can't afford to spend, and reduce the amount of money available to maintain and improve freeways.

The high-speed line funded with the federal allocation follows and expands on a rail corridor that existed throughout the early part of the last century, and eventually gave way to I-94.

"There have been discussions along this line for 20 years at least," said Craig Thompson, executive director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin. "It's very expensive, and we've been having trouble finding money to meet existing needs."

The challenge in the future will be to find the money for ongoing operations of the high-speed rail system, Thompson said.

Rick Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, called the award an "exciting first step" in building a system that connects cities in the region and ultimately across the country.

"Currently, people are forced to drive, and that's the most expensive and least productive way to travel," he said. "We have to find more convenient, faster and less-expensive ways to travel in order to have a strong economy."

Patrick Marley and Diana Marrero of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Read the rest at: Wisconsin lands $800 million for high-speed rail - JSOnline

Moving the Tipping Point for Creative Places

Human-scaled, creative development can't gain a foothold because most of the money in real estate comes from institutional investors that prefer predictable, large scale projects like subdivisions and strip malls, says Neil Takemoto of CoolTown Beta Communities:

Why is it that the vast majority of new development is at an institutional scale, and we don't see human-scaled fine-grained urban fabric, the kind that makes historic neighborhoods so desirable? Well, it's mainly because the vast majority of real estate development investment dollars come from institutional investors, and where does that money come from? Your pension and insurance dollars are sourcing this tremendous pool of capital that has to be invested somewhere. To those investment managers with billions to manage, why manage fifty projects if you can manage only ten instead? That simply means they'll prefer investing no less than $5 million at a time, which translates to $15 million projects. That precludes most every single human-scaled building you’d find, explaining why human-scaled neighborhoods weren't built since the 1920s, leaving only large-scale strip malls, subdivisions, office buildings…

The thing is, the emerging you-centric market is demanding customized and personal, not mass-produced and commoditized. So how in the world is the supply of investment capital going to accommodate this? By focusing on the long tail - which is essentially anything and everything else that’s a 'non-hit' or 'non-blockbuster', but in sum is greater. The good news is that it's inevitable - witness the rise of Netflix instead of Blockbuster; Amazon/eBay/iTunes instead of Wal-Mart; YouTube instead of TV, all of which focus on the thousands of individual niches of smaller interests that are in sum greater than the only the most popular interests. All that was missing was a reliable system of delivery.

Read the rest at: Moving the Tipping Point for Creative Places | Planetizen

Will Franklin cultivate and support local small business owners?

My repeated suggestions to the Franklin Economic Development Commission to construct and steer incentives to small, locally-owned businesses -- indeed, to give any sort of overt, structured support to local businesses -- has fallen on deaf ears thus far. 

Why make any out-of-the-ordinary effort to support local small businesses? A nice encapsulation appears on the New Rules Project website:

Local Character and Prosperity
In an increasingly homogenized world, communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character have an economic advantage.

Community Well-Being
Locally owned businesses build strong communities by sustaining vibrant town centers, linking neighbors in a web of economic and social relationships, and contributing to local causes.

Local Decision-Making
Local ownership ensures that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions.

Keeping Dollars in the Local Economy
Compared to chain stores, locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into the local economy, enriching the whole community.

Job and Wages
Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.

Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship fuels America's economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out of low-wage jobs and into the middle class.

Public Benefits and Costs
Local stores in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure and make more efficient use of public services relative to big box stores and strip shopping malls.

Environmental Sustainability
Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers-which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.

Competition
A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.

Product Diversity
A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based, not on a national sales plan, but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

Monday's EDC meeting includes the following agenda item: "Discussion Concerning Possible Incentive Programs for Development."

Though the EDC has been ambivalent thus far to my calls to create an overt program of support for small- and locally-owned businesses, perhaps "peer pressure" from nearby municipalities will get their attention this time around.

Cudahy, Shorewood OK aid to businesses - JSOnline.

Cudahy has created a cash and loan program that would give up to $57,300 to businesses, and Shorewood has approved a loan and a grant to help a restaurant move into larger space.

Both actions, taken Tuesday by the Cudahy Common Council and the Shorewood Village Board, are aimed at boosting economic development.

will give up to $57,300 in cash and loans to each of five small businesses that open on Packard Ave. Among the incentives that would be offered to the retail businesses: loans of up to $25,000 at 2% interest; matching grants of up to $25,000 to build or improve a storefront façade; up to $10,000 in cash to buy out an existing business' current lease so that the business can move to Packard Ave. Shorewood approved loan of $102,500 at 2% and a $50,000 grant to help North Star American Bistro move across N. Oakland Ave.

"In 2005, we found that the suburban poor population is greater than the urban poor population."

Photo: From the Flickr collection of TheTruthAbout.

One of the main forces compelling people to abandon central cities in favor of far-flung suburbs in the years following World War II (besides government subsidized home loans and highways) was the concentration of poverty in urban environments.

The worm has turned: A long-term series of policies aimed at squeezing/eliminating the middle class combined with suburban growth patterns that have proved unsustainable have created clusters of entire cul-de-sacs and subdivisions that are foreclosed or rapidly degrading. Beyond the blight of abandoned McMansions, property tax-funded school districts are being de-funded to the bone, causing economically stable families to leave - - sprawling further out - - while depleted suburbs are left wondering how, for instance, they'll pay to plow those cul-de-sacs.

Highlights from The Brookings Institute Study:

By 2008, suburbs were home to the largest and fastest-growing poor population in the country.

Between 2000 and 2008, suburbs in the country’s largest metro areas saw their poor population grow by 25 percent—almost five times faster than primary cities and well ahead of the growth seen in smaller metro areas and non-metropolitan communities. As a result, by 2008 large suburbs were home to 1.5 million more poor than their primary cities and housed almost one-third of the nation’s poor overall.

Midwestern cities and suburbs experienced by far the largest poverty rate increases over the decade.

Led by increasing poverty in auto manufacturing metro areas—like Grand Rapids and Youngstown—Midwestern city and suburban poverty rates climbed 3.0 and 2.2 percentage points, respectively. At the same time, Northeastern metros—led by New York and Worcester— actually saw poverty rates in their primary cities decline, while collectively their suburbs experienced a slight increase.

Read more at: More suburban residents living in poverty - JSOnline.

See also: A Cul-De-Sac of Closures, and Responding to the Transport Needs of the Impoverished Suburbs

Franklin alderman wants to speed development process - JSOnline

This is a good idea -- as someone who has followed the progress of individual developments, it's abundantly clear to me that creating something worthwhile in Franklin is hamstrung by obstacles that do nothing to improve the quality of our built environment. I've inquired about this very issue in the past and was directed to the inch-thick "Ruekert/Mielke Planning Department Organizational Study" (see above). It's no fun to read.

If a developer wants to build an ambitious, mixed usage, Middleton Hills-type traditional neighborhood development subdivision, for instance, he or she will find ROOM to do so here in Franklin, but will likely look elsewhere after the first few administrative roadblocks and ambiguities appear.

"Speed" is not the specific issue; there are plenty of municipalities that have enviable fast development processes that lead to terrible results. 

The main thing is this: As long as a city's development process is clear and fair for all, that city can and should demand high quality results that will reward both the developer and the community. When a city's development process appears fragmented and arbitrary, you cannot blame developers who do no more than the bare minimum to assure their financial success.  

See Alderman Taylor's letter outlining his proposal at the Franklin Today blog, along with some conjecture by Greg Kowalski as to who might be on the committee.

Franklin alderman wants to speed development process - JSOnline.

Saying it takes too long to get developments approved in the city, Common Council President Steve Taylor is asking his fellow aldermen to create a committee to review the development process. 

Taylor is proposing a Mayoral Ad Hoc Development Process Review Committee to study what procedures work best in other communities to see if they can be implemented in Franklin. 

He said some developers tell him that a development proposed in other communities can be approved in 90 days but that it takes nine months in Franklin. 

Taylor is proposing that the committee be headed by Mayor Tom Taylor. The mayor would choose an alderman, three people experienced in development, and one member each from the city plan, economic development and environmental commissions to serve on the committee. The members would be approved by the Common Council.

The Business Journal of Milwaukee reports Madison-Milwaukee high-speed rail project on fast track

Came across the headline above after posting this. Still, will that be enough to get my city's administration to take notice?

Read the rest at: High-speed rail project on fast track - The Business Journal of Milwaukee

Suburban conservatives and transit: Getting over the hump

Having tried to bring up transit issues on the Franklin Economic Development Commission - and having been met with snorts of derision at best - I fear my city is woefully unprepared to demonstrate to companies who might consider relocating here that we are capable of leveraging the planned Minneapolis-Madison-Milwaukee-Chicago corridor.

I'm putting together a short "wake-up" presentation for an upcoming EDC meeting, which I'm sure will once again be met with rolling eyes. Perhaps this book will help.

Wisconsin included in America's Fittest Cities? Nope.

America's Fittest Cities - Articles - Travel + Leisure.

I'll save you the time clicking through their balky slideshow of 39 cities: Wisconsin does not appear. At all.