Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

How Wal-Mart became (somewhat) organic

More WalMart news, this time of a positive nature.

The $300-billion global cotton industry uses more pesticides and synthetic fertilizers than any other crop. Cotton Inc., the industry trade group, says that's nothing to worry about, but you don't have to be a scientist to know that applying tons and tons of pesticides to the soil - more than 50 million pounds in the United States alone - probably isn't a good thing.

Just ask H. Lee Scott, the chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores (Charts), which in the last couple of years has become the world's biggest purchaser of organic cotton.

 

"Those toxins don't stop at the field, but can leach into the
waterways, and may eventually find their way into animals, food and
children," Scott said in a speech last year.

You probably know by now that Wal-Mart has launched a sweeping drive to adopt business practices that are good for the environment. You may have heard that Wal-Mart has been selling organic cotton. This is the story behind the story - how and why the company got involved, and how it's changing an industry.

The story begins, not with Scott, but with a woman named Coral Rose. A native of southern California, Rose buys organic food, wears organic clothes and uses all-natural cleaning products for her home.

"I've lived an organic lifestyle for about 15 years," says Rose. Both her parents died of cancer; that'll get you thinking about chemicals in the air, water and food supply. Rose worked for the clothing chain Wet Seal before joining Sams Club, a division of Wal-Mart, as a ladies apparel buyer.

In the spring of 2004 - before Wal-Mart launched its sustainability initiative - she placed an order for organic cotton yoga outfits for Sams Club.

Although Sams Club is aimed at owners of small businesses, the stores stock a limited selection of women's clothes, as a "pick-me-up" for customers who are there to buy other stuff, Rose explains.

The pastel-colored yoga tops sold for less than $10, the loose-fitting pants for less than $14. They were a big hit - about 190,000 units sold out in 10 weeks.

That got Lee Scott's attention. "We gave our customers something they wanted, but something they might not have been able to afford at specialty stores," he said. It was an early sign that Wal-Mart's working-class and middle-income customers would be willing to buy "green" products, so long as they were affordable.

Link: How Wal-Mart became organic - Jul. 26, 2006.

Chicago City Council OKs 'Living Wage'

This is a measure aimed largely at WalMart (who will undoubtedly soon roll out their brand new 89,999 square foot WalMartEttes).

CHICAGO -- The City Council brushed aside warnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to approve an ordinance that makes Chicago the biggest city in the nation to require big-box retailers to pay a "living wage."

The ordinance, which passed 35-14 Wednesday after three hours of impassioned debate, requires mega-retailers to pay wages of at least $10 an hour plus $3 in fringe benefits by mid-2010. It would only apply to companies with more than $1 billion in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000 square feet.

"It's trying to get the largest companies in America to pay decent wages," Alderman Toni Preckwinkle said.

The minimum wage in Illinois is $6.50 an hour and the federal minimum is $5.15.

Mayor Richard M. Daley and others warned the living wage proposal would drive jobs and desperately needed development from some of the city's poorest neighborhoods and lead giants like Wal-Mart to abandon the city.

Link: Chicago City Council OKs 'Living Wage'.

A step in the right direction for young pedestrians and bikers

A personal pet peeve for me has always been the single-street entry into Franklin's Pleasant View Elementary School. As a father who drops off and picks up my kids (despite our fairly close proximity to the school, it's utterly impossible for us to walk or bike due to the lack of a road grid - - but that's a problem for another post), I watch twice a day as huge buses squeeze through the single, sidewalk-less, shoulder-less road that accesses the school.

Here's the road, which I've highlighted red. Note that on either side of the road running parallel in front of the school there are DEAD ENDS just a few feet before subdivision roads!

Let's make something clear: Pleasant View Elementary is over 40 years old, so this problem didn't sneak up on anyone.

If you're a kid that would like to walk or ride a bike to school, that little strip is a virtual gauntlet. Never mind a sidewalk; there isn't even a navigable shoulder to retreat to. It's a tight squeeze and a nail-biter for kids trying to work their way through. (Ironic, given the proclivity for over-wide streets in suburbs.)

Above you see a fairly typical situation: Bus approaching oncoming minivan, whose right-side wheels are nearly off-road. The kids have their backs to the oncoming bus and can only hope that the bus driver threads the needle - and the bus after that, and the van after that, etc.

Apparently the city has been trying for some time to connect the subdivision road (seen in the upper right of the top picture) only to be thwarted by the property owner near whose house the connective road would need to appear (I'm having a difficult time imagining this guy saying "No" and sticking to his guns despite the possibility of a kid or kids getting hit because of his obstructionism).

The good news, as conveyed to me by Aldermen Ken Skowronski (District 6) and Alan Hammelman (District 3), is that the city has managed to acquire the right of way they need to get the street through those final few feet, plus a sidewalk. Here's the photocopied plan from the engineering memo:

Additionally, a bike path may be appended, stretching through the land between connector roads Rawson and Drexel. Great for bikers,; great for pedestrians.

A step in the right direction!

JS Online:Editorial: Better early than late for developer fees

A foolish new law for Wisconsin - in a nutshell:

Until the measure was approved by the Legislature in the waning days of the last session - with little public discussion or input, by the way - developers paid an upfront impact fee to a particular community for, as an example, the lots planned in a new subdivision. The municipality then used that money to pay for whatever it was going to build, and the developer passed on the cost when it sold the lot or home.

Under the new law, there would be no upfront payment by a developer, and the impact fee on a particular lot would not be paid to the municipality until an occupancy or building permit was issued for the lot. Which means the money would be collected on a piecemeal basis, often over a period of years as lots get sold.

Problem? To attempt any measure of proper planning, the municipality needs to build the subdivision-serving park (and other supporting infrastructure) before they see the developer's payment - - so the money comes from general revenue rather than from developer-paid impact fees. That means the distinct possibility of increased property taxes, and the municipality will likely forego building the park (or other amenity) rather than pass the charge on to homeowners.

One of the few constraints on developers at this point is the fact that they have to pay up-front impact fees before constructing subdivisions. If you think new subdivisions sprawled all over the place before, wait until those developers no longer have to factor in an immediate impact fee into their plans!

From the editorial:

J. Scott Mathie of the Metropolitan Builders Association told us that the current practice inflates costs for developers and, thus, for consumers, driving up the costs of housing and making it more difficult to provide housing that average workers can afford. He also points out that "an empty lot is not going to use a park" so there is no substantive public impact until the lot is sold.

Those might be fair points, but I personally find it easier to believe (and history bears me out) that those developers will get out their Excel spreadsheets and do the math on building bigger subdivisions and bigger (less affordable) houses with the savings they experience under the new "build now - pay later" scheme. Let's face it - - cost increases almost universally trickle down to consumers in the form of higher prices, but cost decreases most often do not. Bottom line: The developer will feel free to sprawl out more empty lots, because he/she need not pay impact fees for them.

How do you sell that empty lot to a homeowner when there is no municipal park or other amenity nearby? It may just stay empty until the price comes down, and then you have another neighborhood with no public space - - this is what people who require reasonably-priced homes deserve, I guess.

This new law is just another blow against a municipality's ability to plan in a smart manner. And smart communities are striking back:

Given those financial difficulties, "Why would any community allow a new subdivision?" [Mike Miller, former West Bend mayor] asked. The answer is they probably won't, as the Cedarburg Common Council demonstrated shortly after the bill became law when it declined to give preliminary approval to a 54-lot subdivision. "A community can't plan to make those improvements if they don't know when the cash is coming in," said Mayor Greg Myers in a statement blasting the new law. Forget more affordable housing; now, there may be no new housing.

Link: JS Online:Editorial: Better early than late for fees.

Global village: Digital technology helps rural Hilbert, Wisconsin become base for international firm

By JOHN SCHMID
[email protected]

Posted: July 23, 2006

Hilbert WI - This rural hamlet of 1,089 residents and no traffic lights was a decidedly sleepy place until Todd C. Thiel returned and began to globalize his hometown.

After a 10-year stint as an investment banker, Thiel moved back, acquired the town's red-brick bank building - built in 1908 for the State Bank of Hilbert - and turned it into the international headquarters for his financial services group.

As he settled in, Thiel lobbied Cingular Wireless to upgrade its local network to the international standard for cell phones. Before long, also at Thiel's behest, the village had rigged a wireless Internet transmitter to its bright blue water tower.

"I love where I'm from," said Thiel, chief executive officer and founder of the McKinley Reserve, an investment firm with offices around the world and $1 billion in assets under management.

Thiel, 36, is one of a new breed of entrepreneurs who are able to gravitate toward rural venues because digital technology untethers companies from congested urban centers. If the American heartland is to survive in a global economy, it will need more like him, economists say.

"Innovation and entrepreneurship will be decisive in the economic well-being of the rural Midwest," said Sarah Low, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Rural America, an arm of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Mo.

Competitive pressures of globalization hit rural areas harder than metropolitan regions, the center's findings show. Rural America, which often relies on one-factory towns, has a 16% greater concentration of low-tech industries that fare worse against global competitors, the center found, while metropolitan areas have synergies and businesses better suited for international business.

Factory farming, meanwhile, often puts small farms out of business. Census figures show that some of the nation's poorest communities are in rural America, not always in the inner cities.

"Globalization tilts the economic advantage to urban areas," Low said.

Link: JS Online:Global village.

Editorial:The grass roots are organizing to save their places from sprawl

James Rowan is a writer whose resume includes stints as staff member for Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, former executive director of the Progressive Foundation of Madison, and aide to Madison Mayor Paul Soglin. (Or, to quote the blog of Milwaukee County Executive Scott "let 'em swim in puddles" Walker: "Rowen is not a "mainstream" commentator. He is married to the daughter of George McGovern, holds a masters degree from UW Madison (1969) and worked at Berkeley." Oh my goodness, Mr. Walker!)

By JAMES ROWEN, from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Posted: July 22, 2006

The march of suburban sprawl across southeastern Wisconsin has been reflected in a spate of recent news stories, including:

• A million-square-foot shopping mall announced for Pabst Farms, the 1,500-acre planned community of single-family homes and businesses on once-agricultural farmland at state Highway 67 and I-94.

• An office, retail and residential project twice as large as the Pabst Farms mall proposed on Delafield open space at I-94 and Highway C extending to the edge of Lapham Peak State Park in the Kettle Moraine.

• The City of New Berlin's surprise, precedent-setting request to pipe Lake Michigan water across existing legal and geographic boundaries.

• The City of Waukesha Plan Commission's preliminary approval for a 300-acre annexation for $100 million of upscale housing close to the Vernon Marsh, one of the region's premier surviving wetlands.

• The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's adoption of an updated regional transportation plan with 446 miles of new or widened major highway lanes in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties, though state funds to pay for them have deep projected deficits.

You might conclude that there is only one spending mind-set - "go-go development" - in the region despite spiking gas prices, rising road-building costs and mounting opposition to taxes and government spending.

But there is an alternative message in southeastern Wisconsin pushed by a growing number of grassroots groups along I-94 from Milwaukee to the Jefferson County line.

Made up of volunteers, these organizations have a broad, non-partisan conservation agenda - one that combines the classic conservative tenets of public-sector tax and spending restraints with basic environmental, or resource conservation, all aimed at preserving neighborhood-scale living, whether in a rural setting, a small town or big city.

For example, when Delafield developer Bob Lang proposed a $200 million "lifestyle center," with housing, a hotel, shops, offices and parking for 5,000 cars where Highway C joins the south side of I-94, Delafield area residents quickly formed CARE (Conserving A Rural Environment) for Lake Country ( www.careforlakecountry.org).

Initial Web site postings show CARE is concerned with "potential destruction of virgin woodlands, disruption of wetlands (and) introduction of salt and chemical-laden runoff from large paved parking lots," and other environmental issues.

The group also questions the costs of storm water management related to 2 million square feet of development, along with zoning, policing, traffic and costs falling to taxpayers.

Link: JS Online:The grass roots are organizing to save their places from sprawl.

Park East breaks ground

In the aftermath of a rare instance where a portion of freeway was actually REMOVED, new development is taking place in downtown Milwaukee:

After three years, a small slice of the promise of the 64-acre Park East redevelopment area on downtown Milwaukee's northern edge became reality Wednesday.

Ground was ceremonially broken on The Flatiron, a project that will bring 38 condominiums to a 10,200-square-foot vacant parcel at 1541 N. Jefferson St. The developer, Legacy Real Estate Development LLC, of Deerfield, Ill., announced the plans just over a year ago and began marketing the condos through Shorewest Realtors.

As of Wednesday, 11 units have been sold in advance of construction, allowing Legacy to secure construction financing from The Private Bank and recently complete its purchase of the city-owned parcel for $230,800.

Grading work will begin in earnest within a week or two, said Legacy owner Rod Engel, with the construction project to be completed by late summer 2007. Engel expects to have 75% of The Flatiron's units sold by then, saying increases in mortgage interest rates over the past year haven't greatly dampened demand for downtown housing. The condos are priced from $169,900 to $299,900.

Link: JS Online:Park East breaks ground.

Wi-Fi wars

A few years ago, while I was doing some consulting work with the Racine County Economic Development Corporation, I expended quite a bit of time and effort trying to get everyone on board with a "Wireless Racine" initiative as part of a strategy to burnish the city's image as a techno-friendly community.

Part of my argument was that a free "wireless umbrella" installed downtown would be reasonably inexpensive and actually help the bottom line of coffee shops and restaurants that participated. I know in my own case that I'll take my laptop to the local wired coffee shop and spend $7 or so on their overpriced java in exchange for the privilege of being out of my basement office for a few hours; when out of town, the same applies. That's $7 they never would have seen had they not provided an internet connection for me.

Also, I'd read more than one case study that revealed that maintaining a pay-for-connection system in a business was actually more expensive than simply allowing free access to a wireless network on a fairly low-key basis. Panera Bread, for instance, quietly provides free wireless access.

A recent article in The Boston Globe reveals a few possible kinks in the "wireless=profits" scheme, however:

"There comes a time when you have to tell people, `Look, you've been here for three hours, and you've bought only a cup of coffee and it's time to move,' " said Adam Goldberg , owner of Emack & Bolio's in Jamaica Plain. ``We had points in time when people would sit for six or seven hours and not buy anything."

Goldberg, whose shop offers all-day free wireless, has tried to set time limits for customers to use the Internet. He has considered shutting off the signal during busy hours. Instead, he has chosen to keep a vigilant eye on the seating area and confront Internet idlers.

Cafe owners said they must determine which kind of Internet service -- paid or free -- will be most profitable, a calculation based largely on the number of seats and neighborhood competition. Owners of venues that offer free wireless believe it makes them attractive to customers. Shops that charge for wireless bank that they will make more from the access fees than they would in the additional traffic a free signal might bring. But in both paid and free hot spots, owners become concerned when tables are commandeered for hours and new customers cannot find seats.

In Davis Square, Diesel Cafe charges for wireless -- about $14 a month -- but co-owner Jen Park said she also confronts customers who are not buying food. Perhaps the worst offenders are the people who buy coffee at the Starbucks across Elm Street, then head for the comfortable red booths at Diesel with their Starbucks cup in hand, she said.

Link: Wi-Fi wars - The Boston Globe.

More good news for pedestrians

From Planning Living Communities, Sharon writes:

D.C. Police Nail Drivers Who Don’t Stop For Pedestrians

Washington, D.C. police were recently pulling over and ticketing drivers who didn’t stop for pedestrians in crosswalks — those pedestrians being undercover police officers, the Washington Post reports. Good for them! As a pedestrian in the Boston area, I frequently see cars whiz by as I’m already in a clearly marked crosswalk, and it’s dangerous.

No, I don’t want to hear the old, “with all the serious crime in D.C., don’t the police have anything better to do?” Pedestrian deaths accounted for 43% of all traffic fatalities in Washington this year, the paper notes. There isn’t anything better to be doing than trying to save people’s lives.

 

Link: Planning Livable Communities » D.C. Police Nail Drivers Who Don’t Stop For Pedestrians.

The next real estate boom

Great Business 2.0 article via CoolTown Studios (image from their site as well),

Picture the scene: it's 2025, and you and your family are living in a beautiful, leafy-green village that seems more 19th century than 21st, even though it has only been in existence for ten years and is just 20 miles from a major American city.

You know all of the 150 or so souls in the village; you see them at the market where you pick up a box of locally-grown produce once a week. You see half of them in the morning as they board the commuter train for school or work in the city; the other half are the network warriors who work from home or, on warm days, use the free Wi-Fi in the village square.

It all seems a world away from the crumbling old 20th-century suburbs people used to live in, if you could call it living. You shudder to think you could still be living there. Oh, and you see that really nice house just down the bicycle lane? That's yours, the fruits of your smart move to plunk down a payment on a piece of the hottest new trend in real estate...

...Rising oil prices notwithstanding, sprawling car-culture cities and vast suburbs simply do not make economic sense in the long run. As much as 50 percent of the land surface area in any given city or subdivision - we're talking prime real estate - is taken up by roadways. For developers, less space given over to roads means more space for housing.

Not only are roads a drain on landlords' potential income, they're a turnoff for residents -- and are only going to become more so as gridlock, road repairs and air pollution increase.

While you might assume that a higher density community would have more traffic, you'd be wrong. When neighborhoods are dense and walkable, studies show, people make fewer car trips. And some may even forgo owning a second car, especially as families realize that living with one less car can save them $6,000 a year on average (and again, that's not counting price rises at the pump).

Link: Future Boy: The next real estate boom - Jul. 7, 2006.