Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Property taxes: "Why am I paying so much?" PART 2

Let's talk about one of the main reasons - besides sprawled, center-less conditions and resultant costs to communities like Franklin - that property taxes are so high and getting higher.

First, an interesting progression -

Share of total state tax contributed by corporations in Wisconsin:

1979: 10%

1989: 7.0%

2000: 4.6%

2006: 3.5%

The Dairy state is bad for business? Wisconsin was recently ranked 41 out of 50 states in businesses’ share of state and local taxes. A study found that 26 of the largest 35 companies based here paid no tax at all and further reported that 62 percent of companies that make over $100 million in revenue pay no state tax.

And as that corporate number goes down, the slack is taken up by property tax payers. This is a nationwide phenomena.

How do large corporations lower their tax burden? Well, they certainly have friends in high places. Republicans traditionally propose and enact legislation friendly to big business on the theory that what's good for them will trickle down to us eventually. The Bush administration has a long history of easing tax burdens for the top earners - corporate and individual - on the theory that this will stimulate the economy. Mike Moneybags will buy TWO houseboats instead of one, so the company building the boats gets more business and more workers are hired.

But politicians also know who butters their bread: Running for office is expensive, and those bucks come from corporations. And they want something in return.

Huge companies like Wal-Mart used their leverage and influence to lobby for seemingly inconsequential - and numbingly complex - procedural changes that have allowed for very aggressive, very "creative" tax avoidance of the sort that a typical home owner could never attempt. Wal-Mart was so comfortable with their position, in fact, that they sued North Carolina last year to obtain a $33 million tax refund. (Hold your nose and read Wal-Mart: The Low Tax Leader, Always.)

Amazing.

Let's not forget that Wal-Mart and the other big corporations and chains routinely demand and receive

• colossal tax abatements
• TIF funding
• land grants
• public service freebies
• interest-free loans
• condition-free grants, etc.

... from the very municipalities and states to whom, in return, they pay little or no tax.

Another bonus for big corporations: They are not required to report what they pay in state taxes on a state-by-state basis, which effectively obscures their deceptions.

On an estimated $852 million in Wisconsin profits between 2000 and 2003, Wal-Mart paid only $3 million in Wisconsin taxes. In theory, corporations in Wisconsin pay 7.5% income tax. Wal-Mart pays about 0.35%.   

You pay what they don't.

But the hubris of companies like Wal-Mart might cost them.

The evasions of giant corporations and big box chains are being looked at closely in the courts, and about twenty states have already taken a vital step toward making the tax system more fair to property tax payers and small businesses.

What are some ways that huge corporations avoid taxes?

The main tool of corporate tax avoidance is a scheme called SEPARATE ACCOUNTING. It's basically a way for multi-state corporations (i.e. big corporations that contribute to political campaigns) and businesses to cherry-pick where they will pay taxes (i.e. they will pay in the low-to-no tax state) while locating elements of their business  - - which use public utilities in each state - - all over the country.

Here's how Home Depot does it:

Home Depot has Delaware-based subsidiary called Homer TLC Inc - little more than an address. This is called a "passive investment company ("PIC"). Homer TLC Inc "owns" the company's trademark. Home Depot stores across the country pay the paper subsidiary a huge - and completely self imposed -  fee for the right to use the trademark, effectively shifting profits out of other states and into the Delaware subsidiary. Delaware does not levy corporate income taxes on earnings from intangible assets such as trademarks - - Magic time! Profits transferred in this manner are free of state corporate income taxes.

And that paper subsidiary will also lend money to the rest of the corporation, creating another stream of profit transfer via payment of interest on the loan.

Kmart shifted $1.25 billion into its Michigan subsidiary, Kmart Properties, Inc., from 1991 to 1995. Between 1992 and 1994, Limited Brands transferred more than $1.2 billion from its retail chains into Delaware subsidiaries.

Shady? Yes - - it's an utter sham, practically money laundering on an epic scale. But there are companies eager to package this dodge as a service. Arthur Anderson will get you set up with a Delaware trademark-holding company for $100,000. PriceWaterhouseCoopers sells a comprehensive plan it titles "Utilization of an Investment Holding Company to Minimize State and Local Income Taxes."

Is it any wonder a giant like BP Oil can pay pennies in state taxes? From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, said the company "pays its fair share of taxes, no matter how you approach the numbers."

Revenue Department reports say BP companies paid $27,037 in corporate income taxes from 2003 through 2005, while the company reported worldwide profits of $48.3 billion. Dean said those taxes were paid by one subsidiary, BP Products North America, which has a company-owned gas station in Pleasant Prairie.

A gas station pays $27k in three years? Find me a locally-owned gas station - or hardware store, or craft shop, or plumber - which uses public utilities and has somehow paid less than $27,037 in business income tax any three year period.

That's right --- locally-owned businesses (the ones that pay full-time workers a living wage) do not have these dodges available to them. They pay full-boat taxes, and thus are dying off at a stunning rate, replaced by big-box chains that pay minimum wage, low-to-no benefits, and then pay negligible taxes.

NO contribution to the local school district, for instance. You pick up that cost.

Where's the good in that?

Companies known to engage in the "PIC" sham include

• Circuit City
• The Gap
• Home Depot
• Ikea
• Kmart
• Kohl's
• Limited Brands (which owns Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret, The Limited, and several other chains)
• Payless Shoes
• Sherwin Williams
• Staples
• Toys "R" Us

(source: The New Rules Project).

Let's make this clear: What these companies don't pay has to be picked up elsewhere.

So, your PROPERTY TAX is going up? Sure, scrutinize the school district's spending (all government spending should be looked at), but also hold business to their side of the social contract.

Solution: Make it FAIR with Combined Reporting

About twenty states have begun to turn things around by instituting COMBINED REPORTING requirements.

Combined reporting requires that companies combine profits from all related subsidiaries before determining what portion of their profits are taxable in that state. (To determine how much of their total earnings are taxable in each state in which they operate, multi-state companies must apportion their profits according to formulas which consider how much of the firm's property, payroll, and sales are in each state.)

States with combined reporting are effectively able to tax the percentage of an out-of-state subsidiary's profits that can legitimately be attributed to a firm's in-state operations. Combined reporting has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

This is not a "leftist agenda" idea. When Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he took a long, hard look at their fiscal inequities and proposed Combined Reporting for the state - - before he was "taken aside" by the entities that he needed for re-election and/or a presidential run; he withdrew his proposal once he woke up to political reality (hint: $$). However, the wheels were already in motion; with the option on the table, several Massachusetts think-tanks and government committees agreed that Combined Reporting would be good for the state's economy and lessen individual tax burdens. Now Governor Deval L. Patrick - a Democrat - has footing to institute the change.

Elsewhere: The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue's commission recommended that "the state adopt mandatory unitary combined reporting as a means of broadening the corporate tax base and lowering the tax rate."

Combined Reporting is part of the Wisconsin Senate-passed state budget. Assembly Republicans are opposing that budget. The Republican spin is that requiring Combined Reporting is a "tax increase" for business and will therefor drive business away. Sample that vibe here; Republican state senator Neal Kedzie assures us that big businesses - tax-paying or not -  are so very good for us:

They create jobs, provide health insurance for their workers, stabilize and grow local economies, provide a wealth of goods and services to improve our own way of life, and from time to time, engage in charitable causes for the good of their community.

A rosy picture of our friend, the Big Business.

"Provide health insurance"? Sometimes, and only begrudgingly. And if they let you work enough hours per week to qualify.

"Stabilize and grow local economies"? Make no mistake - even after a city or town provides tax breaks and incentives, they pull out as quick as they go in.

"Provide a wealth of goods and services to improve our own way of life"? Not provide - sell. 

"And from time to time, engage in charitable causes for the good of their community"? With the exception of a few truly community-minded businesses (and they are out there, make no mistake), that's small consolation when the alternative is that they merely pay their fair share - and be a true part of the community.

Why are your property taxes so high? Because someone has to pay for the way communities like Franklin sprawl without regard to sustainability or integrated planning - - and it sure isn't going to be the corporations who pay to get lawmakers in office.

And, of course, they love it when the finger is pointed at the local school district's "greed," effectively distracting us from the fact that Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott makes $8,434.49 per hour while his stores avoid paying school district-sustaining taxes and his workers flood the social services of every state in the country.

We need to watch what our property tax money is spent on, but we also have to make sure everyone pays their fair share.

Property Taxes: "Why am I paying so much?" PART 1

PART 1

A sore subject in Franklin and many sprawled suburbs: property taxes.

The property tax looms large because it is a simple, straightforward number that the average person can look at in relationship to the value of their home, and then compare to the numbers in other communities.

James Howard Kunstler says the American system of property taxation “may be the single most insidious, pathogenic factor contributing to the geography of nowhere."

It is almost impossible to discuss. It involves numbers and formulae resembling mathematics, from which many otherwise healthy adults shrink in tearful bewilderment. It implies the confiscation of one's earnings and chattels (i.e., one's security and well-being), which provokes a mindless terror that no mere talk can overcome. The impenetrable jargon of economists does not make it any more inviting -- they don't call it the dismal science for nothing. So, we complain about taxes, and vote for candidates who promise vaguely to make them lower (and are eternally disappointed by them), but we leave the details to presumed experts because taxes are too painful and baffling to think about.

[Read his A Mercifully Brief Chapter on a Frightening, Tedious, But Important Subject from the book Home From Nowhere; he makes a good point about how taxing the BUILDING on the land rather than the LAND ITSELF. "Under this system, a rational person has every reason to put up crappy buildings that will not be highly assessed, or he has every reason to let his property run down, or build nothing at all. This is a major reason for the current desolation of American towns and cities." ]

So - Why are property taxes so high?

Here are three very simplified theories I hear most often:

THEORY 1: Sprawl and lack of planning

Here in Franklin as in other sprawled communities, developers find fertile ground for dead-end projects that have little to do with the surrounding community (and in fact display outright disdain for neighboring residential areas). More subdivisions flung out hither and yon mean more wires and pipes have to be expensively run out to whatever farmer's field has now become a cluster of homes at the whim of a developer's spreadsheet. And each cluster of homes brings a cluster of kids who need educational facilities.

ANOTHER WONDERFUL CLUSTER OF HOUSES: Three years ago(!) when he put this attractive sign up on a street to nowhere, did the developer clap his hands together with pride and say; "Beautiful! My job here is finished...."?

Developers build; Franklin reacts. "Planning" is a concept rather than an actual activity.

On average, sprawling, low-density residential development usually costs local governments more to provide public services than it returns to local coffers; Franklin is regularly cited nationwide as an example of that sad fact.

THEORY 2: We pay too much for our schools

Many disgruntled taxpayers look at what their property tax is paying for and realize that their school district takes a pretty big bite (a hot, contentious topic at the franklinnow.com blogs).

Summarized thus: "They want more money? My property tax is high enough!" It gets pretty raw at times, and suddenly everyone is a comptroller. After all, we're paying for that schoolin'.

THEORY 3: Franklin needs more commercial and industrial development to pick up the slack - save us Mr. Big Box!

In an effort to lower the homeowners' share of the burden, there is lots of talk from Franklin administrators about encouraging more commercial and industrial development. Back in 2000, a feasibility plan called the Ticknor Report was prepared for the Franklin Common Council. That plan talked about creating a strategy to attain a 74/26 ratio (residential assessed value/commercial assessed value).   

Translation: More commercial and industrial development means they pick up more of the tax tab. get out of their way and let 'em toss money in the coffer!

****

Anything to add? Please do.

I have a theory of my own - which incorporates elements of the above - that I'll share tomorrow in PART 2.

"They're a quality company, but we have the ability to demand quality standards, and our residents expect us to hold to those standards."

The loser here is the big retailer - they want the Grafton market more than Grafton needs a bunch of minimum wage jobs. Menards will be back.

Also, I sense there is other information at play (in terms of demands made by Menards) that didn't make it into the story.

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Menards drops Grafton plans

Company cites village requests

By LAWRENCE SUSSMAN
[email protected]

Posted: Aug. 20, 2007

Grafton - Menards has dropped plans to build a warehouse store at the east end of Grafton near the I-43 / Highway 60 interchange, saying village officials insisted on too many changes in the company's plans, a Menards official said Monday.

"We just went as far as we could go revising the plans, and finally we said it wasn't worthwhile," said Marv Prochaska, the company's vice president of real estate. "At some point, you have to operate your business, and it was beyond the point where the deal made any sense.

"It was just numerous, numerous small things that all added up to way too much, and it just didn't make any sense," he said.

This would have been the first store in Ozaukee County for Eau Claire-based Menards. Prochaska declined to say whether Menards was considering other sites in the county.

The Menards complex was to be on 18 acres on the east side of Port Washington Road about one-quarter mile south of Highway 60. The complex would have been just south of a Home Depot-Target complex.

Menards had proposed constructing a primary store with 162,340 square feet, with an additional 40,608 square feet of storage next to the building in what a Menards officials described as an enclosed structure. An unheated warehouse building, with 26,420 square feet, was to be located on the east side of the site.

Village President James Brunnquell said Monday that Menards wanted outdoor storage, something Grafton does not permit. He also had objected to the number of openings to Port Washington Road that Menards had requested.

In addition, he said, Grafton officials had wanted adequate screening for the Hunter's Crossing subdivision on the other side of Port Washington Road and west of the Menards complex.

"For them," Brunnquell said, "it was a business decision, which just didn't quite meet with the requirements of the village and for that area.

"They're a quality company, but we have the ability to demand quality standards, and our residents expect us to hold to those standards."

Nevertheless, plan commissioners - including Brunnquell - reacted favorably to the initial Menards plans at a July 24 meeting.

"It was the consensus of the commission that this was a good start, and the overall building is very nice," the commission minutes said.

Left and right

"The old dispute between left and right has exhausted its capacity to clarify issues and to provide a reliable map of reality. In some quarters the very idea of reality has come into question, perhaps because the talking classes inhabit an artificial world."

Christopher Lasch in The Revolt of the Elites: And the Betrayal of Democracy

Wal-Mart and New Urbanism - again?

This odd combination twice in one week?

From USA TODAY:

Miss. Wal-Marts may apply 'new urbanism' in rebuilding

By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY

Wal-Mart, the big-box giant sometimes accused of contributing to sprawl, traffic jams and the demise of downtown merchants, is considering an urban look and downtown locations for two of its Gulf Coast stores destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Urban planners invited by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to bring fresh rebuilding ideas to 11 hurricane-damaged communities have devised concepts that would turn Wal-Mart's big-box stores into corner stores.

Many of the architects and planners from across the USA and other countries who are advising Mississippi's rebuilding team embrace "new urbanism," which calls for a return to old-fashioned town design that encourages people to walk from home to stores. They say executives from the world's largest retailer want to meet with them in January at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. Among the proposals:

• Wal-Mart Village. Apartments, condominiums and town houses would surround the giant store. Streets and sidewalks would allow easy access on foot. Parking would be hidden behind the building rather than forming a sea of concrete in front.

"It humanizes big-box retail," says Ben Pentreath, a British architectural designer with the Prince of Wales Foundation for the Built Environment. Pentreath was part of a team developing a plan for rebuilding Pass Christian, Miss., where a Super Wal-Mart was destroyed. "If it's really successful, it cuts down on car traffic," he says. A similar concept is being discussed in Ocean Springs, Miss., site of another Wal-Mart.

• Downtown Wal-Mart. The store would have an urban street-front façade rather than a strip-mall front. It would anchor a downtown shopping district that would include smaller retailers.

"We got a very positive reception (from Wal-Mart)," says Laura Hall of Fisher & Hall Urban Design in Santa Rosa, Calif., who headed the rebuilding team in Pass Christian.

Wal-Mart is considering the options, but "we haven't made any commitments to these specific designs," says Glen Wilkins, community affairs manager for Wal-Mart's Southeast region. "We definitely want to keep our options open."

The company is experimenting with more urban designs in denser parts of Atlanta where space is at a premium, Wilkins says, including underground parking garages. "It's not your typical Wal-Mart," he says.

Adopting a new urbanist vision would be a departure for Wal-Mart.

"Wal-Mart is able to do a lot of things better than anybody on the planet," Hall says. "But what they're not good at is building beautiful buildings that fit into the rest of the town. ... They've contributed to the dislocation, the disconnection of urban form in towns because they're such a huge building and a huge parking lot."

Some communities have resisted Wal-Mart stores over concerns about the stores' impact on sprawl and locally owned businesses. The company has been criticized in recent months over issues such as pay and health care benefits for its workers. A documentary attacking its business practices, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, is playing in theaters in many cities. Wal-Mart has released its own, more positive film: Why Wal-Mart Works: And Why That Makes Some People C-r-a-z-y.

After one supermarket went bankrupt, Wal-Mart was the only food store in Pass Christian, pop. 6,758. "We didn't have shoe stores, clothing stores," says Malcolm Jones, chief administrative assistant to the mayor.

The idea of a Wal-Mart Village on the edge of town may appeal more to local residents than a downtown store, he says, because it won't disrupt the town's historic district.

Another plus: Creating housing is a key to Pass Christian's comeback. The city lost 75% of its 3,600 homes. The proposed residences around Wal-Mart would replace at least a quarter of those units, Jones says. "We're in such financial straits that we have to try to figure out the best way to replace our tax base and protect the charm of our community," he says.

Better late than never: Franklinnow.com makes blogger's professional affiliation clear

Context is everything.

On more than one occasion - to his livid consternation - I've pointed out in this space that Franklinnow.com blogger Kevin Fischer is an employee of Republican state senator Mary Lazich. This important fact appeared nowhere in his bio atop the blog or in the longer "more about Kevin" page. It was conspicuously missing.

His day job, combined with his stints as fill-in host at local right wing talk station WISN, is arguably dependent upon his maintaining the party line and adhering to the talk points disseminated daily to Republican staffers and media spokespersons. Go against the Republican agenda in a posting or two? He'd likely be out of a job, and WISN would quickly lose his phone number when fill-ins are needed ("seeing both sides" doesn't play well on talk radio).

His employer, Republican State Senator Mary Lazich, wrote a letter in support of the Shoppes at Wyndham Village project (before seeing a final site plan); can Kevin Fischer - her legislative aide - possibly write in a critical or objective manner about that project?

I sent a note or two to NOW online editor Mark Maley pointing out the discrepancy; it is, after all, the responsibility of the publishing entity - in this case, the Franklinnow.com website - to avoid "omissions of convenience" such as the one on Mr. Fischer's blog.

I never got an answer until much later, when Mr. Maley asked if I'd consider blogging for Franklinnow.com. My reply:

I'm flattered that you've asked me to blog for FranklinNOW.com. I've been reading the blogs there daily. Marjorie Pagel, for instance, is quite a breath of fresh air, and it's been intriguing watching Greg Kowalski evolve. At his age, I was interested in little more than when the next Springsteen album was coming out.

This may strike you as misplaced "journalistic piety," but I remain very uncomfortable (as I mentioned in an email to you back in February) with the fact that Community Newspapers provides a venue to Kevin Fischer - - an employee of a Republican state senator and person who aspires to host a show on right wing-only WISN - - without clearly indicating who (and what) he works for. "He now works for the state of Wisconsin" is simply disingenuous, and people are led to believe that the dogma he trots out regularly is simply representative of a middle-aged guy who lives in Franklin. I have no problem with his right to write whatever he'd like or even call people names, but it should be made clear that he derives a paycheck from touting certain platitudes and advancing the programs of certain persons. Making his agenda clear via an honest bio line above the blog is the responsibility of the news organization that legitimizes his material by hosting his blog; the current bio appears to willfully ignore an 800-pound gorilla in the room. 

In contrast, Fred Keller's "eFishWrap," while idealistically consistent with Fischer's blog, seems to genuinely represent the viewpoints of "a 'regular guy' who is doing his best to be a good husband, father, and friend." I can certainly disagree with Fred, but I respect the fact that he is the genuine article.

So, realizing that you are not likely to correct Mr. Fischer's bio on my account, I will have to respectfully decline your offer. Thanks, however, for asking.

Best regards,

John Michlig

Frankly, I held out very little hope that the change would be made even though Mr. Maley said I'd raised a good point (irrespective of whether or not I'd agree to blog for him, I should add).

Yesterday I noted the following item added to Mr. Fischer's blog bio:

"Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) ..."

It's only a dozen-or-so words, but they are words Kevin Fischer seemed loath to admit. (He even wrote in one entry "Another local blogger on a different web site likes to go after me and my profession" - -without mentioning his profession. Well played!)

This "don't mention my day job" thing seemed to be Mr. Fischer's Achilles heel - - it's "nasty and personal" to point out the way he makes a living. Is it because, like the educators he regularly comments upon, his paycheck comes from the taxpayers?

However, having it made plain at the top of his blog who and what he works for makes all the difference in the world. It provides the proper context for many of the positions he takes; the discerning reader now knows the relationship between his viewpoints and his livelihood. There is nothing wrong with that relationship as long as the "day job" is made clear. I'm grateful to Mr. Maley for making the change and thus improving accountability.

The shame of it is that, like Mr. Fischer, I'm a huge Elvis Presley fan (not to mention a product of 12 years of Catholic school). The impersonal, often hostile nature of blogging (I've fallen into the trap myself on occasion, I'm embarrassed to say) means Mr. Fischer has identified me as an enemy combatant to the extent that we seemingly cannot agree to disagree on certain issues (I'll abstain from the school district debate since my wife is a teacher) while swapping EP bootlegs, vintage 45s, and horrific nun anecdotes on the side.

If it means creating and maintaining a lively, productive give-and-take (particularly on Franklin city/community development issues) that stays away from vindictive attacks, this is my olive branch. Let's disagree or agree, explain why or why not, and see what comes out of it.

In the name of Elvis, who died too soon to deliver us from light jazz and J-lo ...

New Urbanist development anchored by... Wal-Mart?!?!

This one bears watching - - the odd couple of New Urbanism and Wal-Mart in a shotgun marriage.

Architect Michael Treanor is wildly optimistic:

The Wal-Mart store — which has been fought by neighbors for nearly five years — still must receive approval from city commissioners. But Treanor is excited that plans for the mega-retailer are moving forward.

“If we could have the big, comparison-shopping anchor, Wal-Mart, on one corner, then on our side we would have more of the specialty stores, lifestyle, pedestrian-oriented shopping,” Treanor said. “We think it would be a good mix.”

Hmmmm....

Think the choice of anchor retailer doesn't color the sorts of commercial investment to follow?

The project received the necessary rezoning approval in January 2006, but it has been slow moving because potential retail tenants wanted to know whether Wal-Mart would be on the opposite corner, Treanor said.

“We had to have an answer to that question,” Treanor said.

From LJWorld.com (Lawrence, Kansas):

New Urbanism development moving ahead
With Wal-Mart proposal going forward, Lawrence architect can solidify plans

By Chad Lawhorn

July 30, 2007

Now that a plan for a new Wal-Mart store in northwest Lawrence is moving forward again, activity is starting to pick back up on the intersection’s other major development proposal.

Lawrence architect Michael Treanor said city commissioners soon will see new plans for the Bauer Farm development, which seeks to put a mix of retail, offices and residential units on the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. That places it across the street from a proposed Wal-Mart store that received Planning Commission approval last week.

The Wal-Mart store — which has been fought by neighbors for nearly five years — still must receive approval from city commissioners. But Treanor is excited that plans for the mega-retailer are moving forward.

“If we could have the big, comparison-shopping anchor, Wal-Mart, on one corner, then on our side we would have more of the specialty stores, lifestyle, pedestrian-oriented shopping,” Treanor said. “We think it would be a good mix.”

The Bauer Farm development, which would have a mix of about 220 homes and apartments along with a retail area, has been billed as the city’s first significant foray into the concept of New Urbanism or Traditional Neighborhood Design. That means the project will feature narrower streets, homes with alleys, and a business district that mixes retail, office and residential uses like a mini-downtown.

“It is a little bit more like the traditional neighborhoods around downtown,” Treanor said.

Treanor said he would like to start moving dirt for the project in late fall, with construction beginning in early 2008. Treanor has touted the project to city leaders for the last three years. The project received the necessary rezoning approval in January 2006, but it has been slow moving because potential retail tenants wanted to know whether Wal-Mart would be on the opposite corner, Treanor said.

“We had to have an answer to that question,” Treanor said.

The project, though, is tentatively scheduled to go before city commissioners again on Aug. 14. Treanor will be asking commissioners to allow for more retail space than previously approved and to lift conditions that prohibit liquor stores and businesses that sell liquor-by-the-drink.

Treanor wants commissioners to allow 72,000 square feet of retail space in the development, up from 62,000 square feet that has been approved. Treanor said the intersection can handle the additional retail because the proposed Wal-Mart store is significantly smaller than what traffic designers previously planned for.

On the liquor issues, Treanor said that he saw no reason to prohibit liquor stores or restaurants that sell liquor from the development. The conditions were placed on the plan by a previous Planning Commission as a last-minute addition, Treanor said, presumably because of its proximity to Free State High School.

Planning staff members are recommending approval of the liquor changes. The development meets the state liquor requirements for being the necessary distance away from schools.

“Any liquor store operator in that location is going to be more cognizant of young people rather than less cognizant,” Treanor said. “If you’re going to have a neighborhood, we just feel you should have a place to go walk to and buy a bottle of wine.”

Planning commissioners already have recommended approval of the liquor changes and the increase in retail space.

“I think this is probably the most exciting real estate development I’ve seen in about a half century of living here,” said Planning Commissioner Joe Harkins. “I would like to do whatever I can, within reason, to help it succeed.”

Originally published at: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/jul/30/new_urbanism_development_moving_ahead/

From the right: "Who’s to blame for bridge collapse?"

Having aired a fairly hard-left opinion re infrastructure decline in this space last week, here's a column from the right side (though not hard right) via gmtoday.com:

Who’s to blame for bridge collapse?
More taxes won’t span the gap in nation’s infrastructure
By JAMES WIGDERSON    

August 8, 2007

Upon hearing the news of a fatal bridge collapse in Minnesota, Marquette law professor Rick Esenberg turned to his wife and said, mocking the left, "It’s Bush’s fault." Unfortunately for Esenberg, the accident was too big to just blame the president. They want to blame the bridge’s collapse on the lack of taxes, a claim without foundation.

The day after the bridge fell, former Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Jim Klobuchar mocked conservatives on his Web site,

"Especially don’t raise the taxes on hedge fund executives and don’t tax the estates of millionaires, don’t close the earmarks and don’t close the tax shelters in the Caribbean that skim billions of dollars from a public treasury that just might have produced enough money to replace a relic bridge before it shuddered and slid into the water."

Klobuchar’s formula for taxing the rich is actually a more specific set of policy preferences than what former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin wrote,

"This is not going to be the last word on bridges, infrastructure, the Minnesota I-35W bridge collapse and the Republican treason and conspiracy to weaken this nation which, unfortunately, includes too many Democratic fellowtravelers. They managed to do what Soviet communism could never do: weaken the infrastructure of this nation and in turn, erode domestic defense and undermine our economy.

"We must be vigilant. Newt Gingrich lead the assault on our nation from Washington 13 years ago, and George W. Bush and his cronies carry on the erosive legacy today. Now there are conspirators and fellow-travelers in the Wisconsin Legislature committed to do the same – destroy our roads and schoolhouses. They are bent upon destroying us from within."

I’m sure that many Americans who wonder why so much of their earnings goes to the federal government would be stunned to hear themselves called "fellow-travelers" to treason. It’s worth noting that at the time the federal highway system was proposed, the marginal federal tax rate for the median family was 20 percent whereas by 2003, the marginal federal tax rate for the median family was 30 percent.

What these writers tend to forget, willingly or otherwise, is that bridges rarely collapse as the result of the passage of a single budget bill. The I-35W bridge over the Mississippi was declared "structurally deficient" in 1990. Two others served as president before the current office holder, one of them for eight years. President Clinton, when he was candidate Clinton in 1992, actually campaigned in part on stimulating the economy by "rebuilding America’s infrastructure." Despite the largest tax increase in American history and a growth in spending, Clinton’s eight years in office did not repair the I-35W bridge.

Meanwhile, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is under pressure to sign a transportation bill that will raise gas taxes in his state, even though it is unlikely that either of the two previously proposed gas tax hikes he vetoed would have prevented the accident.

The New York Times notes that transportation spending nationally is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, infrastructure maintenance is not the glamorous type of government spending politicians like to engage in. Politicians like to build new things that they can put their names on.

Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd is the classic example of this with no less than the Robert C. Byrd Drive, the Robert C. Byrd Highway, Robert C. Byrd Bridge, Robert C. Byrd Freeway and the Robert C. Byrd Expressway all named after him.

Minnesota Public Radio reports replacing the bridge will cost between $300 million and $400 million. Congress is already pitching in $250 million.

Perhaps Wisconsin could do our part to pitch in. Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett cannot agree on what to do with nearly $92 million in federal transportation aid. The aid must be used for "new" forms of transportation, so the mayor has proposed a streetcar that goes in circles downtown and the county executive has proposed adding some county bus routes.

How about giving the money back to improve the country’s infrastructure by rebuilding a bridge that carried 140,000 vehicles daily, serving far more people than either the Walker or the Barrett plans?

(James Wigderson is a blogger publishing at http://wigdersonlibrarypub.blogspot.com and a Waukesha resident. His column runs Thursdays in The Freeman.)

Potential bike trail expansion creates tension

Bike trails - good, right? Not always so simple, particularly when the path closely skirts a quiet residential area. There will obviously be more discussion on the situation.

From Myfoxmilwaukee.com:

Neighbors Oppose Franklin Bike Trail Expansion
Last Edited: Thursday, 09 Aug 2007, 6:14 PM CDT
Created: Thursday, 09 Aug 2007, 6:14 PM CDT
FOX 6 News

FRANKLIN  --
Some neighbors in Franklin are speaking out against a proposed bike trail.

The trail would connect two already-established lines, snaking along a stretch of 116th Street under some power lines. Convenient as it might be, most neighbors are more concerned about privacy.

Fifty-five people have signed a petition, asking the city to consider other alternatives. They say the trail would disturb their quiet neighborhood and negatively impact the nearby wetlands.

They're also worried about safety, with the proposed trail crossing over several driveways. Neighbors are afraid they could hit someone when they're pulling out.

An alderman on Franklin's planning committee says nothing is final yet. Ken Skowronski says other alternatives are being considered. The common council will have the final say.

"And to be a good citizen means to also ask, 'What does this mean for others?' "

The August 10th Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Perspectives page is a marvel.

In the center of the page, The National Review's Jonah Goldberg expounds on the possible reasons for our current narcissism and overwhelming self interest (Mr. Rogers?), while to the right (literally and figuratively) conservative columnist Patrick McIlheran ties himself in knots attempting to explain that we can somehow continue to get something for nothing; only a true-blue conservative soldier can brag at one point that "Minnesota's tax, 20 cents a gallon, hasn't budged since 1988," then contradict himself in his big wrap-up by wagging his finger: "The notion of a new bridge tax has the same feel of paying again for something we already bought and never got." (But, didn't you just pat Minnesota on the back for not paying for something via a sane and adequate gas tax?)

Could it be that our growing narcissism and self-interest are the ingredients that produce (and support via elections) an ideology that supports higher and higher bus fares for the poorest among us while multimillionaire venture capitalists pay less tax than a cleaning lady.

Then, blessedly, at the bottom of the page comes this reflection on the concept of community by columnist Nancy Bauer-King, who picks up the thread started by Steve Paske.

Reflecting on what it means

By NANCY BAUER-KING

Posted: Aug. 9, 2007

"Humans need meaning," said one of my professors 35 years ago. "We need meaning like we need air."

I immediately tried to figure out what he meant. Thank heavens he explained that a normal response to any event in my life (i.e., an MRI result, a closed ramp on I-94, a granddaughter being deployed to Afghanistan) is to reflect upon what it means to me.

If only the professor had left it there. But, no, he had to go and meddle. He added, "And to be a good citizen means to also ask, 'What does this mean for others?' "

Ever since that class, when reflecting on the daily unfolding of events, I have been plagued with the questions: What does (insert issue here) mean for me? For others?

The Journal Sentinel's Jim Stingl evoked my meaning-awareness reflections in his Aug. 5 column ("Pensioners hit another pay-dirty deal").

What does it mean that Milwaukee County is willing to pay unethical (if not illegal) pensions but not willing to subsidize bus routes to help people get to work?

For me, personally, it means little or nothing. I live in Racine County and have a car.

But what does it mean for others? For three years, I was pastor at a south side Milwaukee church. I knew several people who relied on the bus to get to work. Many of these jobs were low-paying, I might add. (I'm hoping that employers are determining how many of their employees may be affected by the proposed route cuts and fare increases. Perhaps CEOs' complaints would carry more weight than from those who rely on the buses.)

What does it mean for us to watch horrified after a Minneapolis bridge collapses and then scream about a possible increase in Wisconsin taxes that could help repair aging bridges around us?

Or what does it mean that we have fits about money being allocated to alleviate suffering in Milwaukee's inner city but acquiesce as billions are spent causing suffering in Iraq?

"What does it mean," my 91-year-old mother asked me last week, "that they keep inventing new things to keep old people alive but eliminate the things that can help us get through the day?" My mother has a pacemaker and a shelf full of medication, and she wears a necklace that she can poke for help if she falls (and remains conscious).

But she can't see numbers to operate a cell phone. She has difficulty operating her television and radio. A computer is out of the question.

I grew up in an era in which the purpose of education was to prepare productive members of society. Today, the focus seems to be on getting a job that pays lots of money. If this assessment of the current goal of education is true, I don't hear the issue discussed, let alone what it means. What I do hear mostly is selfish whining about paying taxes and nasty rants about "bleeding heart liberals."

"It all depends upon whose ox is being gored," a clergy colleague laughed, referring to 4,000-year-old (at least) laws found in the Hebrew Scriptures (Exodus: 21.28-36). His comment (and the laws) illustrates how long our human communities have found it necessary to regulate self-interest.

Thankfully, I know lots of people who are true public servants. They are the ones willing to look beyond their own self-interest, discuss the complexity, consequences and meanings of events and sacrifice for the good of the community.

Nancy Bauer-King of Racine is a retired clergywoman. Her e-mail address is  [email protected]