Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

One of the many concepts that were reinforced for me while recovering from this month's flooded basement adventure was the idea that adversity can bring out the best in your neighbors. In my case, my next-door neighbors opened their house completely to me and my family as we struggled to put things back together without running water or electricity. They also let me stay in their guest room so I could get up every couple hours at night to pour gas into the generators so the sump pumps and fans could keep running. (And, I shouldn't neglect to mention, introduced me to a Mexican dish that is incredible, and may soon become a staple in our house as well.)

This great op-ed ran in the New York Times recently. It's about a guy who decided to ask all the people in his neighborhood if he could stay over night at their house, just to see if that exercise might bring down some of the walls we erect around ourselves in modern communities. It makes for a very interesting piece.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

By PETER LOVENHEIM 

THE alarm on my cellphone rang at 5:50 a.m., and I awoke to find myself in a twin bed in a spare room at my neighbor Lou’s house.

Lou was 81. His six children were grown and scattered around the country, and he lived alone, two doors down from me. His wife, Edie, had died five years earlier. “When people learn you’ve lost your wife,” he told me, “they all ask the same question. ‘How long were you married?’ And when you tell them 52 years, they say, ‘Isn’t that wonderful!’ But I tell them no, it isn’t. I was just getting to know her.”

Lou had said he gets up at six, but after 10 more minutes, I heard nothing from his room down the hall. Had he died? He had a heart ailment, but generally was in good health. With a full head of silver-gray hair, bright hazel-blue eyes and a broad chest, he walked with the confident bearing of a man who had enjoyed a long and satisfying career as a surgeon.

The previous evening, as I’d left home, the last words I heard before I shut the door had been, “Dad, you’re crazy!” from my teenage daughter. Sure, the sight of your 50-year-old father leaving with an overnight bag to sleep at a neighbor’s house would embarrass any teenager, but “crazy”? I didn’t think so.

There’s talk today about how as a society we’ve become fragmented by ethnicity, income, city versus suburb, red state versus blue. But we also divide ourselves with invisible dotted lines. I’m talking about the property lines that isolate us from the people we are physically closest to: our neighbors.

It was a calamity on my street, in a middle-class suburb of Rochester, several years ago that got me thinking about this. One night, a neighbor shot and killed his wife and then himself; their two middle-school-age children ran screaming into the night. Though the couple had lived on our street for seven years, my wife and I hardly knew them. We’d see them jogging together. Sometimes our children would carpool.

Some of the neighbors attended the funerals and called on relatives. Someone laid a single bunch of yellow flowers at the family’s front door, but nothing else was done to mark the loss. Within weeks, the children had moved with their grandparents to another part of town. The only indication that anything had changed was the “For Sale” sign on the lawn.

A family had vanished, yet the impact on our neighborhood was slight. How could that be? Did I live in a community or just in a house on a street surrounded by people whose lives were entirely separate? Few of my neighbors, I later learned, knew others on the street more than casually; many didn’t know even the names of those a few doors down.

(Read the rest at NYTimes.com)

Fountains of Franklin: No tenants, but looking to build. Here's a suggestion -

(Image above from Cooltown Studios)

Let me make a (in light of my current situation, rather selfish) suggestion to the developers of Fountains of Franklin: TWO STORY BUILDINGS with co-working spaces up top - - WiFi, phones, electric, desks and chairs - - that collect nominal monthly/weekly/daily "user fees" whether or not the commercial spaces below are leased. Maybe a handy FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Center moves in. Starbucks loves these gatherings of coffee-swilling laptop pounders who can be counted on to show up every day (better yet, let a locally-owned coffeeshop get in there).

Imagine - - actual all-day foot traffic! People coming and going! Impromtu meetings in the greenspace! Bike racks!

Truth is, you should have done that with the ANDY'S building, which now has attractive empty windows on either side of the service station section of the building - no tenants.

C'mon - think outside the box already. Shoppes at Wyndham Village is certainly no threat to do something the least bit innovative or outside their build-a-stripmall kit - - make yourself stand out! Create a positive vibe over there!

Or build another strip mall.

See also:
Third place coffeehouses and coworking sites as economic development tools
Attract more creatives with 'anchored coworking'

From FranklinNow.com:

For the second time in six weeks the Plan Commission conditionally approved a plan for the next phase of the Fountains of Franklin Sendik's development. The Common Council has yet to cast its vote on the plan.

The $25 million to $30 million project would feature two commercial buildings totaling 39,700 square feet. Both structures, which do not have tenants yet, would be adjacent to the 61,500-square-foot Sendik's Fine Foods, a popular store that opened in November.

After reviewing revised architectural plans, the commission on June 19 conditionally approved a revised certified survey map for the next phase of the multiphase development in the 5300 to 5400 blocks of West Rawson Avenue. The commission called for more tweaking, particularly to the larger building's south elevation, which will face Rawson Avenue.

The commission approved a similar plan last month, but it was rejected the the Common Council on May 20.

Free Wi-Fi is all Starbucks needs to conquer the world - and it arrives Tuesday

This could be the final nail in the coffin of locally-owned coffee-houses: Affordable (read: FREE) Wi-Fi at Starbucks.

Frankly, free Wi-Fi is probably the number one factor for me in choosing a spot to sit and drink expensive coffee - - a "third place" where I can escape the home office for a bit. I imagine this'll bring in the laptops by the bucketful.

From USATODAY.com:

Starbucks offers new flavor: Free Wi-Fi
By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

Thirsty for more business during the worst slump in its history, Starbucks will try to lure more customers by offering two hours of free AT&T Wi-Fi a day.
The Wi-Fi freebie will be available starting Tuesday to customers who purchase a minimum $5 reloadable Starbucks Card, register online for the Starbucks Rewards Card program, and use the card at least once a month. The two hours must be consecutive. New members also receive a voucher for a free drink.

Starbucks' 7-year-old relationship with T-Mobile for Wi-Fi service is being phased out in 2008.

For the coffee chain, the move is an attempt to entice its shrinking customer base — cutting back on pricey treats during the economic downturn — to return. Traffic and sales have been shrinking for months as founder Howard Schultz searches for a way to revive the brand. He's hoping the Wi-Fi freebie will attract more traffic to its 7,000 company-owned U.S. stores.

"Customers have let us know they want to be recognized for choosing Starbucks," says Brad Stevens, vice president of customer relationships. Particularly, he says, at a time when "budgets are tight."

While the Starbucks Card is 6 years old, the rewards program attached to it was rolled out in April. Rewards program members who register online already receive free syrup and milk options with drinks as well as free refills of hot and iced brewed coffees and a free drink when they buy a pound of coffee beans.

One brand experts says Starbucks still has a ways to go to revive the brand's image.

"They are desperate to keep the traffic going in their stores," says Eric Zeitoun, president of Dragon Rouge USA, a brand consulting firm. "But free Internet access won't get you there. Starbucks needs to fundamentally rethink the environment of its stores."

But Stevens says that free Internet will become a "core benefit" of the rewards program.

The Starbucks Card has become a behemoth — with more than $1 billion loaded onto cards last year.

Nearly 14% of all U.S. transactions at Starbucks are paid for using the Starbucks Card, says Stevens.

The card's new rewards program gives Starbucks an opportunity to gather personal information on its best customers (if they opt in), including details on what they like to eat and drink, and even when.

Starbucks is trying to figure out ways to market individually to consumers based on those preferences. "The Holy Grail is to reward customers with exactly what they want," says Stevens.

If you buy a scone each time you visit Starbucks, the chain is looking at programs that would reward you in the future with a free scone from time to time, he says.

Starbucks also is looking at ways to put card data on key fobs, cellphones and even travel mugs.

"Why are streets and land uses in postwar suburbs arranged so that everyone has to have a car to reach even the most routine daily destinations?"

From Planning Quote of the Day:

"Why do we lay out subdivisions that make it impossible for a ten-year old to walk to a store for a Popsicle or a loaf of bread? Why are streets and land uses in postwar suburbs arranged so that everyone has to have a car to reach even the most routine daily destinations? Wouldn't it be better if everyday necessities were easy to reach and if the streets and sidewalks were designed as convivial places for meeting friends and neighbors?"

-- Philip Langdon, "New Development, Traditional Patterns" (in Planning Commissioners Journal #36)

Is Ed McMahon the Rock Hudson of the mortgage lending crisis?

Bear with me.

Remember when AIDS was considered by the high-minded to be some sort of punishment from on high sent to punish libidinous homosexuals for their morality-flouting lifestyles?

It wasn't just southern evangelists. Ronald Reagan's communications director, Pat Buchanan, stated that AIDS is "nature's revenge on gay men." Reagan's response to the growing epidemic was anemic at best. It was a problem confined to "others," people outside of his conception of reality (he fought World War II on a soundstage, remember).

The message was clear whne it came to AIDS: Fund programs for prevention, education, treatment and a cure? Why should we upstanding heterosexuals pay for the profligate lifestyles of morally bankrupt homosexuals - - i.e. bad people?

Because, you see, only bad people got AIDS.

How deep did the notion pervade the Reagan administration? From an article called Reagan's AIDS Legacy: Silence Equals Death:

Dr. C. Everett Koop, Reagan's surgeon general, has said that because of "intradepartmental politics" he was cut out of all AIDS discussions for the first five years of the Reagan administration. The reason, he explained, was "because transmission of AIDS was understood to be primarily in the homosexual population and in those who abused intravenous drugs." The president's advisers, Koop said, "took the stand, 'They are only getting what they justly deserve.' "

Not even a medical problem, they thought.

Things changed on July 25, 1985, when the American Hospital in Paris announced that Rock Hudson, a mainstream star in the Reagans' circle of acquaintance - - high profile good people! - -  had AIDS. Though Reagan and his administration remained resolutely silent on the epidemic (he finally publicly addressed AIDS in 1987, near the end of his second term), mainstream Hollywood rallied around the cause all the more fervently, campaigning for government funding and intervention. 

Because, you see, good people get AIDS. "Gosh, this could happen to anyone!" the people in Ron and Nancy's circle began to say to themselves.

If this could happen to Rock Hudson ...

Compare the pre-Rock Hudson attitude of righteous conservatives toward AIDS with local right wing columnist Patrick McIlheran's cold condescension toward those unlucky enough to be swept up in the mortgage lending crisis wave. He quotes an "angry renter":

"It just seems so wrong that these people made a wrong decision," she said, "and now they're crying for help and they seem to be getting it."

McIlheran himself lectures further:

Rage as you will about liars' loans and bankers' bonuses, what's still more outrageous is when we make it official public policy to punish the prudent and to help the profligate. It's grim that some people could lose their houses and have to rent for a while. It would be far worse if Big Mama Government swooped in to undo their mistake - with money taken from people who wanted to stop renting and never got the chance.

In this case the federal government has decided to take action; foreclosures are occurring at record levels, and, frankly, the banks are the main beneficiaries of the bail-out (it pays to have friends in high places). If some actual American citizens see a bit of relief, so much the better.

But, McIlheran sputters, why should we upstanding homeowners pay for the profligate habits of all those bad people? Because, you see, only bad people get into mortgage trouble. Only bad people can be taken in by fast-talking loan representatives who profit enormously from ridiculous mortgages. Only bad people experience bad breaks. McIlheran apparently can no more muster compassion for these deadbeats than Pat Buchanan could for the promiscuous, hedonistic queens he saw in his mind's eye when contemplating the scourge of AIDS.

We now learn that Ed McMahon - - by all accounts a sensible, good person with money and lawyers and powerful pals! - - is facing foreclosure on his mansion.

From CNN:

King: And the payments, you can't make -- what's the problem?

Ed McMahon: Well, if you spend more money than you make, you know what happens. And it can happen. You know, a couple of divorces thrown in, a few things like that. And, you know, things happen. You want everything to be perfect, but that combination of the economy, I have a little injury, I have a situation. And it all came together.

Anyone even vaguely acquainted with pop culture of the past half-century is aware of McMahon's countless hosting and spokesman gigs. The guy was always working, tireless - - and don't forget his profit and syndication participation in shows like Star Search and TV Bloopers And Practical Jokes (on NBC from 1982 until 1998!). I'm fairly certain he never has to pay for his Budweiser, either.

And yet, it is happening to him - - a man with armies of agents and lawyers watching over him. He's not a guy known for tossing around money or being particularly "profligate." He's known as one of the "good eggs" in Hollywood. But, nonetheless, misfortune swooped on him (a broken neck, a bad real estate market, etc.) and now he faces a crisis.

Sure - you can see gold-encrusted Evander Holyfield getting into money trouble - that fits the McIlheran "you had it coming" profile. And the McMansion-lusting young couples who jumped from dorms to five-acre cul-de-sacs via mom and dad loans and made-up income numbers - - I admit to feeling they cooked their own goose.

But Ed McMahon? There he is on Larry King saying, "You know, things happen"! He's a veteran of two wars!

Gosh, this could happen to anyone!

So, what about non-celebrity people who are equally "good eggs," not particular greedy (though McIlheran preaches incessantly that greed and wastefulness are our God-given rights as Americans), and didn't/don't have that army of lawyers and agents nearby to check the paperwork for them? What about the ones that didn't "over-buy," but just bought a modest house for their family while trusting their mortgage broker?

Remember that paperwork when you bought your house? Remember the whole afternoon of signing and initialing? Did you have a lawyer present? You don't think they could have slipped one by you during that process?

Think again. One does not have to be "profligate" to be victimized. There are solid, coupon-clipping, flag-waving citizens out there who are in a deep hole because they took bad advice.

And to the "Angry Renters" quoted in McIlheran's piece: Rather than wallow in smug self-involvement and blame the victims, count your lucky stars (as I do; I bought my house before the boom and have a "sane" fixed mortgage). You dodged a bullet - the slightest shift in circumstances and you would have been in a chair at CountryWide Mortgage with a grinning rep hovering over you, paperwork in hand, American Dream in sight. "Only a fool would pass up this deal in this market. Are you going to be a fool?"

Because if it can happen to Ed McMahon ...

RELATED: The mortgage lending crisis explained

"It's time for Milwaukee to get on board before our long-term competitiveness and quality of life are left at the gas station waiting for the big numbers on the sign to get smaller."

Great piece in Sunday's paper from Steve Filmanowitz of the Congress for the New Urbanism. It will not be read closely by any of the old guard here in Franklin, I wager.

Noteworthy automatically-generated ad in the Journal Sentinel web page for this article: Countrywide mortgage services (see "The mortgage lending crisis explained").

From Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Design, build communities more intelligently

By STEPHEN FILMANOWICZ

Soaring gas prices have revealed an inconvenient truth about the communities we've been building around greater Milwaukee: They're designed perfectly for the cheap oil of years past.

Spreading subdivisions, malls, office parks and schools along highways made some sense back in the "Happy Motoring" days of $1-per-gallon gas - and back when the earth's climate seemed stable. But designing communities this way leads people to rack up lots of costly, carbon-generating driving miles, about 23,000 per year for the average U.S. household.

With the world's thirst for oil threatening to outpace exploration, the smartest thing we can do is design cities and towns to ease both our pain at the pump and the pain we inflict on the planet.

Fortunately, these communities don't have to be invented. Examples in our backyard include downtown Whitefish Bay, the older parts of West Allis and Milwaukee's fast-growing Third and Fifth wards. Here, stores, schools and often workplaces can be found around the corner - or even downstairs - from residences. Trips are shorter and don't always require a car.

Experts say that neighborhoods and their transportation options play a major role in determining our vulnerability to gas prices and our contributions to climate change. Even rail critic Randal O'Toole acknowledges that when you look not just at Priuses but at all cars, minivans and light trucks on the road, these vehicles generate 70% more CO2 per passenger mile than light rail systems and twice as much carbon as commuter rail like the proposed KRM line. They use 50% more energy per passenger mile than either commuter or heavy rail like Chicago's "L."

And because traditional neighborhoods conveniently mix uses, the daily distances people travel - whether by car, transit, bicycle or on foot - drop significantly. A transit ride becomes just one aspect of reduced car dependency. A 2007 study by the American Public Transit Association found that public transportation is so closely linked with efficient neighborhoods that every passenger mile on transit is actually associated with two miles of eliminated automobile travel. That means 37 billion fewer pounds of carbon in the atmosphere each year.

To see these differences at work around Milwaukee, explore the new interactive maps created by the Center for Neighborhood Technology for the Brookings Institution (htaindex.cnt.org). The maps use neighborhood characteristics across 52 metropolitan areas to calculate the amount of driving and transit use that result (based on detailed Census surveys).

A click shows, for instance, that in the subdivisions north of Highway 60 beyond Cedarburg, average households drive an estimated 22,386 miles per year, pretty typical for our exurbs. Around downtown Wauwatosa, the figure is 12,291 miles. In the Third Ward, it's 9,344. At Cass and Kilbourn, it's 7,974. In a compact Chicago suburb like Evanston with great transit service, these driving miles (and resulting emissions) are lower still. And the report has eye-opening comparisons of what happens when you factor transportation costs into monthly budgets. Those lured to "drive till they qualify" in far-flung subdivisions shoulder a heavy burden.

Fortunately, many southeastern Wisconsin leaders now recognize the value of connecting the region's walkable neighborhoods - and fostering new ones - with rail transit. Homebuyers recognize their convenience and value, too.

Yet in too many places, zoning still prohibits traditional neighborhoods. Whether it's funky Brady Street or Main Street USA, you can't build it. Transportation policies hurt, too. While transit projects usually require a local funding match, there are no such requirements for highway projects. So the state is plunging ahead with a $500 million widening and redesign of I-94 from Milwaukee south to the state line (on top of $1.4 billion simply for rebuilding), even though the project's environmental impact statement says much of that stretch is "not currently encumbered by congestion" so "reductions in travel time will be minimal."

Meanwhile, proposed commuter rail waits for local governments to create a new or expanded tax to cover "their share." If we stay on this course, future generations will wonder why the Doyle administration and Legislature invested so many tax dollars upgrading the transportation system of the dying cheap oil era, while starving the alternatives that offered relief and long-term efficiency.

Of course, it's more than future generations that are taking notice. Business investment is flowing to energy-efficient locations protected from gas-price risk. If we were connected to Chicago's Metra rail system, we might better see what's happening at the other end. BP Amoco announced this month that it is moving 1,000 jobs downtown from Chicago's western suburbs, accommodating "the desire of its workers" for an urban environment within "walking distance of rental housing and condos." BP joins United Airlines and CDW in moving jobs to the Loop to benefit from transit and proximity benefits that save employees many millions on gas and parking.

It's time for Milwaukee to get on board before our long-term competitiveness and quality of life are left at the gas station waiting for the big numbers on the sign to get smaller.

Stephen Filmanowicz of Milwaukee is communications director for the Congress for the New Urbanism, which advances walkable, neighborhood-based development. He uses a variety of modes - train, car, bicycle and teleconference - to commute to Chicago.

"Ha! You stink!" cried the dyslexic hecklers

ABOVE: The Atlanta Braves' third base coach at last night's game.

Special thanks to the Brewers' field security guy assigned to the patch of grass in front of our section for A) Tossing a game ball to my daughter and her friend (they were thrilled); and B) Putting the "dudes" in our section on notice to watch their language in deference to the presence of kids.

What a terrific ambassador for the sport and the Brewers - -  who won, by the way, 1-0 (I've never been closer to a major league double play than the beauty Bill Hall turned at third).

Sometimes it's the little things that win ball games and make a ball park great.

Losing the last vestige of public free space

Planning Quote of the Day:

"Public libraries are the last vestige of public free space." -- Joshua Prince-Ramus, who worked on the design of the Seattle Public Library.

From today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Milwaukee Public Library Director Paula Kiely is proposing to shut down four of the city's 12 neighborhood libraries, eliminate 39 jobs and cut the hours the Central Library is open. Kiely said she didn't want to do any of that, but she was faced with the need to slice $2 million from her budget.

[Milwaukee Mayor] Barrett said he hoped private donors would help, recognizing that libraries play a vital role as "institutions of learning and democracy." Murphy said aldermen would try to avoid closing libraries.

Outdoor seating at Sendik's

Sendik's in Franklin, Wisconsin, originally uploaded by johnruexp.

Snapped this about a week ago. I wonder if people will feel comfortable enough in an area surrounded by the parking lot to linger.

Boomgaard: Relax - "professionals" have the situation in hand

The May 22nd Franklin edition of the NOW community paper printed a letter to the editor from Casper Green. As I've noted here previously, Mr. Green is a familiar fixture at various city meetings, keeping tabs on issues and reporting back to the senior community. Deservedly so, he was inducted into the Milwaukee County Senior Hall of Fame this year; to call him an asset to the Franklin community is quite an understatement. If anyone has earned the right to publicly register an opinion, it's him.

Mr. Green is not, in other words, simply an otherwise-disengaged attention-craver lobbing spitballs from the peanut gallery.

The grain of salt ...

I recall a conversation I had with Mr. Green almost a year ago regarding Shoppes at Wyndham Village development, and I was left with the overwhelming impression that he nurtures almost unshakable faith in "the professionals" and almost anyone in city government. The mayor "assured him" that the Wyndham Target would be "best in the state"; that was good enough for Mr. Green. He said of Doug Wheaton, Franklin’s Director of Economic Development: “He’s sharp. He could have taken lots of other jobs; he’s a lawyer. You heard his remarks, how he recommended going ahead. And he has nothing to gain from saying that.” That sealed the deal for Mr. Green.

I was especially taken with his response when I brought up the poor Shoppes at Wyndham Village site plan - - a layout that is distinctly unfriendly to persons with limited mobility such as the elderly. Mr. Green took this as a personal attack on Mark Carstensen, the developer of the project and, Mr. Green noted, a generous contributer to programs for the elderly:

"People fight him with excuses, not reasons," he said.

“You said 'they' fight him. Not 'they' fight the development?" I pointed out. "You said 'they' are actually fighting Mark Carstensen the person.” Mr. Green clarified that he didn’t mean to make that implication.

But then, later in our conversation: “When someone is against Mark, we …”.

I interrupted to call attention what he'd said; “It appears that you feel that a criticism of the development or elements of the development is personal criticism against your friend Mark Carstensen.” Once again, he assured me that that was not the case. Yet I could not help feel that, in Mr. Green’s eyes, if you hinder the progress of Shoppes at Wyndham Village, you hinder his friend personally.

Mr. Green's "Boomgaard" letter again reflects a rock-steady faith in "the professionals." Apparently, membership on a civic committee and/or employment at a PR firm(!) bestows special powers of perception that we should defer to without question. To wit (with emphasis added by me):

The name Boomgaard is thought, by professionals, to be a name which would attract businesses from all over the world...

In this case, they have started rumors that are not true and have no foundation, according to those on the committee and the Zizzo Group.

The committee expects to eventually attract $2 billion worth of tax-paying businesses to the corridor with only $300,000 budgeted for advertising.

...[M]aybe instead of second-guessing professionals, we amateurs ought to pull in our horns and allow the name to be used.

Let me, with all due respect, remind Mr. Green of some other great (and expensive) ideas dreamed up by professionals:

New Coke
Edsel
Miller Clear Beer
Betamax
Titanic - UNSINKABLE!
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge
The Green Bay Packers game plan in Super Bowl XXXII

All designed and conceived by "professionals." Some "second-guessing" would have been welcome in retrospect, yes?

Here's Mr. Green's letter from the FranklinNOW Public Forum:

Boomgaard! After culling through hundreds of names, that is the name chosen by a steering committee of two Franklin residents and two Oak Creek residents for the South 27th Street corridor. The Zizzo Group, a professional advertising and public relations firm, was also involved.

Now the second-guessing has begun.

I've lived in Franklin for 24 years. I've accepted leadership responsibility in helping run organizations, so I can tell you that no matter what decision one makes, second-guessers show up. Seldom do these second-guessers take on a responsibility of any magnitude, but to hear them talk you'd think they've been around the world at least twice and seen everything and done everything.

I happen to know, very well, the two Franklin men - Ted Grintjes and Jim Rhiner - who are on the 27th Street Corridor committee. I do not know the two from Oak Creek; however, one can bet they are also of upstanding character.

And one would think all four people are concerned citizens who are giving of their time for the good of both cities. These people have given thousands of hours of their time. Yet, when their committee comes up with a name, someone has to complain.

The name Boomgaard is thought, by professionals, to be a name which would attract businesses from all over the world, but that doesn't matter to the second-guessers as they shower committee members with ridicule. How sad.

What bothers me most, personally, is the way second-guessers work. In this case, they have started rumors that are not true and have no foundation, according to those on the committee and the Zizzo Group.

Yes, the name Boomgaard is different, but certainly not offensive.

The committee expects to eventually attract $2 billion worth of tax-paying businesses to the corridor with only $300,000 budgeted for advertising. If the committee is successful, it would be a very small price to pay.

The name Boomgaard is strange to those of us who have lived here all our lives. Some of us have never gone outside the United States and maybe have not even ventured outside of Wisconsin. But if we intend to further 27th Street's long-term image and status, maybe instead of second-guessing professionals, we amateurs ought to pull in our horns and allow the name to be used.

Casper T. Green

Franklin