Casper Green is president of the Franklin Senior Citizens group. Just to name a few of his endeavors, he was instrumental in creating a senior meal program dining site here. He's also an active volunteer, works on Franklin's Personnel and Negotiations committees, participates in his church and its choir, and visits homebound seniors. Mr. Green is a familiar fixture at various city meetings, keeping tabs on city 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 community is quite an understatement.
Mr. Green was kind enough to return my call recently to discuss development issues as they impact the senior community, the Shoppes at Wyndham Village project in particular. As I described a few days back, the special Plan Commission meeting regarding the Shoppes site plan was a full house, mostly made up of senior citizens mobilized by Mr. Green to support the project.
Were the senior citizens actually "mobilized"? This is not a supposition on my part; Mr. Green confirmed it when I spoke to him.
Though he demurred at my suggestion that he has influence over the senior community, Mr. Green has a history of activating the senior voting block. In 2001, when debate over renovating an abandoned fire station for a senior citizens center was put on hold as officials explored the possibility of placing the center in City Hall, Mr. Green made his intentions clear. The mayor at the time, Fred Klimetz, vetoed the common council's decision to spend $1.1 million on the renovation, saying the firehouse was not centrally located and was never meant to be used as a public meeting facility.
From the May 2nd, 2001 edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Casper Green, who heads the 300-member senior group, urged the council to override the mayor's veto and suggested its members would retaliate at the polls against those who blocked the fire station proposal.
"You're either with us or against us, and we do remember," Green said.
Then-alderman (now mayor) Tom Taylor moved to override Klimetz's veto (later withdrawn when temporary space was suggested). Klimetz and more than a few aldermen disappeared from Franklin government soon afterward as a pro-development common council was swept into office.
Pro-Mark Carstensen
Mr. Green said he's never been to a Sendik's, but checked out the new Target in Oak Creek and was very impressed. "Beautiful layout. Very well kept, not cluttered up. As senior citizens wanting a place to shop, we like Target," he said. "I've been told that this Target store will be the best in the state, if not the whole country."
What became obvious during our conversation is that, first and foremost, Casper Green holds Wyndham Hills developer Mark Carstensen in very, very high regard; "An honorable corporate citizen of Franklin, true to his word." He also mentioned that Mr. Carstensen contributes money to the local seniors, as does Icon Development.
"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.
When it became clear that Mark Carstensen may need support to get "Shoppes" off the ground and through the city bureaucracy, Mr. Green said he told the seniors to be sure to attend the special plan commission meeting. And they came out in great numbers to support Mark Carstensen, if not the Shoppes at Wyndham Village.
Mr. Green mentioned the comments made by Doug Wheaton, Franklin’s Director of Economic Development, at the meeting. “He’s sharp. He could have taken lots of other jobs; he’s a lawyer,” he noted. “You heard his remarks, how he recommended going ahead. And he has nothing to gain from saying that.”
I disagree: “But isn’t his mandate as Director of Economic Development to bring in new business? That’s his job; we want him to aggressively bring in business and commercial development, and if he gets this new retail center approved, that’s good for his department and him professionally. Wouldn’t he be apt to want 'Shoppes' to succeed regardless of site plan issues that he considers minor?”
“No, he doesn’t benefit,” Mr. Green insisted. His faith was unshakable, and his irritation with me evident.
The Franklin Plan Staff, by the way, reports directly to the Director of Economic Development.
Site plan and the elderly
I mentioned site plan issues; how might an elderly person with mobility difficulties move among the various buildings and be able to enjoy multiple stores and amenities independently if they must traverse a bleak landscape of landscaping islands across uninterrupted parking space? Couldn’t the buildings be arranged in a manner that makes them more accessible from one to another? Mr. Green explained that the original site plan that he recalls seeing had the building grouped closer together and the large anchor stores at the Drexel side of the property. “Mark had to move them after meeting with the neighbors across the street and hearing their concerns.”
I explained an overarching issue: that the ingredients seem wonderful, but the vehicle-centric and sprawled site plan makes the Shoppes just another strip mall, not to mention further enforces the segregation of our elderly and physically challenged population by making it difficult for them to move among the buildings in a public space shared by people of all ages - - the nominal city center of Franklin. Mr. Green indicated that he didn’t think that would be a problem; the elderly could get in and out of Target easily.
Regarding the fairly unimpressive Target architecture - - what if the Target store remains less-than-great? Mr. Green was unwavering in his unconditional faith in city government: “If the mayor and common council say ‘no,’ then Target can’t build,” he asserted.
It appears that the expectations of Mr. Green and local seniors with whom he works are met.
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