Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Now the mainstream takes note: Reinvent America's suburbs - USATODAY.com

 

ABOVE: Missed opportunity - - where Franklin's city center could have been; instead, a monument to unbridled gas consumption and the now-passed era of "happy motoring."

Welcome to the mainstream: The cover of yesterday's USA Today features what can only be called The New Reality - - at the 11th hour. How long until cities change their approach to developers so that we can get them in line with The New Reality while they continue to desire quick payoffs based on the Old Paradigm? 

Here in Franklin, we have yet to see a developer take seriously any aspect of traditional neighborhood development, city center design, sustainable development, or walkable community planning in their projects. It's been business as usual - - for which certain developers expect honors and tributes on top of their windfall profits.

I recall TWO speakers at the opening of the Shoppes at Wyndham Village's Sendik's actually saluting developer "Mark Carstensen's vision of Franklin"  - - a truly surreal concept, to say the least. Any community that abdicates its fate and vision to a modern developer will get exactly what it deserves - - as we did in the abysmal Target strip mall (with bonus single family house built in back!).

And this is not the fault of the developer (well, except in this case for the single family house trick); they are profit-based entities that operate under a quite different set of strictures and requirements than does a community that has to think about how various city componants will work together in the long term. This is why a strong, independant Plan Commission is absolutely vital, and it's why alderman Steve Taylor's recent call for a close look at the role of Franklin's Plan Commission - - one that has been made systematically weaker and weaker - - will be covered here in great detail.

A survey done this month by the (sprawl-loving) National Association of Home Builders (included with the USA TODAY story) found that developers are slow to react and change their business plans.

Among the sentiments from the 380 who responded to multiple choices, 28% said they would build smaller homes in the suburbs; 25% would build smaller homes closer to cities; 14% would build homes on smaller lots close to the city; 10% said homes on smaller lots in the suburbs.

"But 51% said they have no change in plans," says Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president for research. "This is just the beginning. More and more people will come to realize that what we're doing is not working."

It will take time, he adds. "There are 80 million single-family homes in the country, and 75 million are owner-occupied. People are not going to abandon them or convert them into two-family homes," he says.

From USATODAY.com:

Gas prices drive push to reinvent America's suburbs

By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY

MARICOPA, Ariz. — Mayor Tony Smith proudly waves a thank-you letter from a major builder telling him that no city has ever reached out to him in his 30-year career the way Maricopa did.

What Maricopa has been doing is unusual, especially for a distant suburb. This city about 35 miles south of Phoenix is asking builders not to develop just isolated subdivisions behind walls, but whole communities that encourage walking by including stores, schools and services nearby.

"The people of Maricopa don't want to be a bedroom community, a city of rooftops," Smith says. "They want a self-sustained community."

URBAN DESIGN: Large cities are rethinking growth patterns, too

HEALTH BENEFITS: Neighborhood layouts can improve residents' behavior

Especially today. As gas prices hover around $4 a gallon, the nation's far-flung suburbs — which have boomed because they could provide larger homes at cheaper prices to those willing to drive farther — are losing their appeal.

Soaring energy costs and the foreclosure epidemic have jolted many Americans into realizing that their lifestyles are at risk. For many, ever-lengthening commutes in the search for affordable homes no longer make financial sense.

In Maricopa and elsewhere, a movement is underway to transform suburbs from bedroom communities that sprang up during an era of cheap gasoline to lively, more cosmopolitan places that mix houses with jobs, shops, restaurants, colleges and entertainment.

Suburbs on the far edge of metro areas are turning aside strip malls and creating new downtowns and neighborhoods that favor pedestrians. They're trying to attract more employers and services such as hospitals, colleges and small airports.

The appeal of urbanism is spreading to far suburbs such as Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.(about 42 miles east of Los Angeles), and Huntersville, N.C., about 16 miles north of Charlotte. Centers that combine residential, retail, office and entertainment are becoming popular far from urban centers.

Small historic towns on the edge of metropolitan areas such as Brighton, Colo., northeast of Denver, and Plainfield, Ill., southwest of Chicago, are emphasizing their Main Streets and history to provide a sense of community outside the walls of sprawling subdivisions.

Mass transit is being embraced by towns that wouldn't have been born without the automobile. Here in Maricopa, the city introduced bus service to Phoenix and Tempe this year, providing the first mass transit alternative to residents, many of whom commute about 35 miles to Phoenix.

Such changes could have a profound effect on the way the nation develops as it prepares to absorb an estimated 100 million more people by about 2040.

The scent of change is in the air in Maricopa, even in the way city officials talk. Words such as "bedroom community" have become dirty words. "Green," "sustainable," "walkable," "mass transit," "conservation," "open space" and "energy-efficient" punctuate the suburban dialogue.

"Absolutely, suburbs are not going to go away," says David Goldberg, spokesman for Smart Growth America, a national coalition of groups pushing for conservation and sustainable growth. "But the math is becoming very clear."

Until now, people were willing to drive increasingly far for a home they could afford. "Drive-till-you-qualify collapsed," Goldberg says. "It's done. It's not going to work as a housing strategy anymore."

Living costs soar

In the past year, as gas prices skyrocketed, the housing bubble burst and transit ridership soared, the cost of living farther out for many Americans went from manageable to pricey.

An analysis of real estate data by Fiserv Lending Solutions shows that home prices have fallen more in towns and neighborhoods far from urban centers than in close-in suburbs.

Developers traditionally have flocked to fields at the edge of metro areas to avoid the stricter zoning rules and higher fees they face in older, more densely populated communities. But that could be changing.

"The trends that pushed housing demand toward distant suburbs and rural areas were not sustainable," says David Stiff, chief economist at Fiserv. "The problem is that it can be two, three, four times as expensive to develop in close-in neighborhoods vs. outlying neighborhoods, if there's any space at all."

If gas prices continue to climb or government provides incentives to build more densely and closer in, development patterns should evolve, planners say.

"People respond to economic incentives," Stiff says. "Reducing commuting costs, trying to be more environmentally conscious and trying to find the cheapest housing affect decisions simultaneously."

"We're sort of stuck with retrofitting the suburbs," says Scott Bernstein, head of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, which for years has urged that transportation costs be a criterion for mortgage qualification. "That's not all that bad. … There's nothing like a crisis to get people to try something."

Fresh ideas about development are spreading. A new website gives "walk" scores for more than 2,500 neighborhoods in the 40 largest cities (walkscore.com). Bernstein's group publishes a housing and transportation affordability index for 52 metropolitan areas (htaindex.cnt.org/).

Kenneth Himmel says now is "the perfect moment to be doing everything we're talking about."

The developer of the Reston Town Center in Virginia, the Time Warner Center in New York and City Place in West Palm Beach, Fla., says: "Some people will say, 'For $300,000 to $325,000, what are my options to live closer?' Maybe it's a smaller home. … Do they want to drive or do they want to be five or 10 minutes from their office? People will make the trade."

The new reality

The Phoenix area is legendary for sprawl. The city alone covers 517 square miles. Surrounding it is 14,000 square miles (twice the size of New Jersey) of desert dotted by seas of rooftops.

Foreclosures have hit the region hard — more than 5,500 the first six months of this year. Home construction permits have slowed by more than half in many communities. Still, building crews are grading tracts of land far from downtown.

Buckeye, more than 30 miles west of Phoenix, and Maricopa, a similar distance to the south, are the suburbs that have the highest number of new single-family home permits.

It's there that the seeds of change are taking root.

"We've got to get jobs to keep people from driving," says Buckeye Mayor Jackie Meck, who worries that gas "could easily go to $8, $10" a gallon.

Meck and town manager Jeanine Guy say Buckeye's goal was never to be a bedroom community but a gateway to California and the Pacific Rim. Already, developers of a master-planned community on 1,100 acres 30 miles beyond Buckeye — 60 miles from Phoenix — are rethinking their project because of fuel costs. They want to turn it into a distribution center that would cut gas costs for truckers from the West who are delivering goods to the Phoenix area.

In Maricopa, the city for the first time is encouraging builders to create sustainable communities that use alternative forms of energy or are near jobs, goods and services. Already, the city is home to Arizona's first ethanol plant and a facility that uses recycled water to flush toilets. And there are the commuter buses to downtown Phoenix and Tempe.

When gas prices inched toward $4 a gallon, Donna Nance bemoaned her 40-mile, one-way commute to work her job as the court clerk in downtown Phoenix. Gas would now cost her $60 a week, a blow for a single mom who had moved here to get a house at a better price.

She considered moving closer, at the risk of giving up her three-bedroom, single-family home and might have done it if Maricopa had not introduced Phoenix-bound commuter buses in April. Nance, 43, now drives 7 miles to the bus stop and enjoys the ride. Even if gas prices keep climbing, Nance says she has no reason to leave.

"We hit a sweet spot starting a transit program here," Mayor Smith says.

It's a reflection of how some suburbs are trying to replace their "middle of nowhere" image with a "there." "Maybe gas drops to $3 a gallon and people will say we don't need to do this anymore," says Guy, the Buckeye town manager. "We do."

Tang and Fight at Grandma's house: Lost forever?

As you might expect, there is a negative flip-side to allowing citizen input to the planning process - - the rise of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard). Kaid Benfield has a great two-part post that discusses low tolerance in today's isolated suburbs (excerpt and links below).

This weekend I was in my hometown, Wausau, Wisconsin, and photographed my grandparents' house. My grandfather recently died, so the small structure is empty after years of hosting family gatherings of all sorts. It was odd to be there alone and without uncles, aunts and cousins scattered about.

I know embarrassingly little about the circumstances that led to this, but my dad and his brothers (my aunt was born later) lived in the basement of this house for years because my Grandpa couldn't afford to build the actual structure right away. I've seen pictures of my dad and his siblings in toolbelts building this house as teenagers, most likely a "kit bungalow" of the sort popular after World War II and into the early 50s. A truck drops off the wood, components (sometimes including cabinetry and plumbing) and plans, and you supply the manpower.

Amateur construction sometimes means eccentric angles and "features"; my grandparents' house had a staircase with steps that started normal and then finished about 5 inches deep at the bottom. You just learned to turn your foot sideways when starting up the stairs. There was also a door on the second floor that led to open air; a balcony had never been built (one was finally added in the 80s).

Down the hill from my grandparents' home were softball and baseball fields, the lighted football stadium used by all three local high schools and the drum and bugle corps, as well as a public pool - - all still there. After a long afternoon steeping in chlorine, my friends and I could trek up a steep trail (since grown over) to stop in my Grandma's kitchen for peanut butter cookies, Tang, and a few dozen hands of Fight. Down the street in the other direction was a small grocery store and a hamburger place called Buddies.

Now that I think about it, my Grandma must have really enjoyed those afternoons, having her grandkids so close and able to stop by all Summer long. She played a ruthless game of Fight, though. Never cut me a break.

 

ABOVE: The trail, now overgrown - - no longer used?

The fact that my grandparents' corner had no sidewalks was quite a novelty to us, yet we could travel with impunity between the various amenities in the neighborhood - - thanks in part to the trail cut into a hillside by the traffic of countless kids. When I wanted to go to the pool or the park (with a side trip to Grandma and Grandpa's), I simply got on my Huffy and I was off, master of my own destiny.

It was - - and is - - a nice neighborhood, and the homes just to the east of my grandparents' corner were and are pretty high-end; my dad pointed out what was, during his boyhood,  "the doctor's house," and 'the lawyer's house," all yards away from their little bungalow.

I expect that someone will quickly buy my grandparents' lot, bulldoze the little house, and put a snout house on that corner. It's a good spot with access to everything a kid could possibly need.

But, as Benfield touched upon in his posts, could a neighborhood like that be built today? A factory worker living within a stones' throw of a doctor? A "noisy" sports facility in earshot of expensive houses? A public pool that could create kid traffic? All signs point to "no"; we are a society more interested in stocking our backyards with toys than equipping our communities with amenities and diversity of income levels.

From Kaid Benfield's Blog:

I’ve had this post milling around in my head for a long time.  What finally prompted me to write is a ferocious battle in my neighborhood challenging a Baptist church’s proposed addition to its building.  The addition would house a non-profit child care center, a language school for kids, and the Washington Conservatory of Music, which the church hosts.

  

Sounds fine to me.  But some neighbors say that wouldn’t be the end of it.  They say the church has also hosted all sorts of other nefarious activities, such as meetings of Overeaters Anonymous, summer camps, a girls’ chorus, the City Choir of Washington, and even a program for “troubled youth,” according to a quote in the neighborhood newspaper.  What next, the neighbors must wonder.  Pot-luck suppers?  Musical classes for the homeless?  The traffic and people are already unbearable, goes the argument.

Maybe it’s just me, but these sound like the sorts of things that churches have always done, and our communities are better because of it.  I can’t imagine this kind of ruckus being raised in my youth.  (And I’m glad, since my band used to rehearse in our church’s social hall and host musical performances there.)  If it meant a little more traffic or whatever, that was OK, because our community was actually proud of this stuff.  And by the way, I walk, ride my bike, and drive by the Baptist church in my neighborhood all the time, at all hours of the day.  I have yet to see anything remotely approaching the “constant stream of traffic” cited by the complainants.  In fact, there is hardly ever any significant traffic, by city standards.

The same neighborhood paper (they call themselves "a crusader of information" and love citizens-up-in-arms stories) also has an article about a different but nearby neighborhood’s recent victory, keeping a movie theater (below left) from following through on its plans to host Sunday morning services for an evangelical church. 

 

“Some residents worried about the traffic and parking problems” (wouldn't the theater's usual movies present the same issues?) and others, well, just didn’t like the kind of church it was. They fought the plan on zoning grounds and eventually the theater withdrew its proposal.

Read the rest of part one at Switchboard, from NRDC › Kaid Benfield's Blog › Community ain’t what it used to be: neighborhood challenges to churches and schools (part 1)

Part two is here.

Victory for government transparency: "Beaver Dam Area Development Corp." exposed

Imagine learning that Wal-Mart is plopping a huge distribution center into your community only after your City Council approves - - without discussion - - an agreement with the company that includes zoning changes, water service, fire protection, and $6.18 million in incentives.

Imagine further that a group of people met secretly for months to set up that situation, and you have no right to know they exist or the content of their meetings. Nor can you identify elected officials on that shadow committee who have banked large financial contributions from the Walton family and their affiliates.

A developer's paradise - - now endangered by a wise court ruling.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

High court says Beaver Dam meetings should be public

By DAN BENSON

dbenson@journalsentinel.com

A state Supreme Court ruling that a Beaver Dam economic development group is a quasi-governmental organization and must obey the state’s open meetings and open records laws has been hailed as a victory for open government and criticized as a threat to economic development.

The Beaver Dam Area Development Corp. secretly negotiated for months in 2003 with Wal-Mart to build a $55 million, 1.2-million-square-foot distribution center on about 400 acres north of the city. The group negotiated zoning changes, water service, fire protection and other items, including $6.18 million in incentives.

Those details did not become public until the City Council approved without discussion a 13-page memorandum of understanding with Wal-Mart.

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, called the 4-2 decision “a good ruling,” saying the development agency “had no legitimate right to claim that it was exempt” from the open meetings and records laws.

Jim Hough, a consultant to the Wisconsin Economic Development Association, said “there’s not a lot of guidance” in the court’s decision, which held that whether a group is quasi-governmental needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

“This case has left everybody confused,” Hough said.

“It’s hard to provide legal advice in light of that decision. It’s difficult, if not impossible."

Legislative action?

The association’s board of directors met Wednesday to discuss drafting legislation to clarify rules governing private-public development partnerships.

The issue is important because hundreds of counties and municipalities across the state employ private economic development groups to attract industry, coordinate development, and, as in Beaver Dam’s case, negotiate on the local government’s behalf.

Case history

Then-Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager sued the city in 2004, saying the corporation was a quasi-governmental body subject to state open records and meetings laws because its offices were in city hall, the city was its only client, and elected officials sat on its board of directors.

In March 2006, a circuit court judge ruled against the state, saying the development group was not created by city ordinance, does not make decisions on behalf of the city, and operated independently from the city and was therefore not subject to those laws.

The state appealed.

In its July 11 ruling, the court said factors that can be used to determine whether a private corporation is subject to the records and meetings laws are its source of financing; whether it serves a public function; whether it is subject to government control; and whether the public thinks it’s a government entity.

Criteria may be vague

Lueders agreed that the justices failed to define the exact legal boundaries for economic development groups.

“Basically, it says if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. It didn’t precisely define what a duck is, however, so there’s always a chance someone will look at the duck and say it’s a goose,” Lueders said.

Hough said, however, that the two criteria that the court should have looked at and that should be addressed in any new legislation are: “Does the local government control the economic development corporation, or does the corporation have the authority to bind government?”

Hough and others said it’s possible the court’s ruling could have a chilling effect on Wisconsin development

Some confidentiality

“Very clearly there needs to be a measure of transparency when government funds are being allocated for economic development,” said Jim Paetsch, director of corporate expansion and relocation for The Milwaukee 7, a consortium of private investors and local governments in the Milwaukee metro area.

“But if we can’t hold confidential what a corporation’s plans are (regarding future development), we’re dead in the water. No way you can compete in that arena if you’re a leaky ship,” he said.

Lueders said it’s best for groups to err on the side of openness.

“If people are in doubt, they should conduct themselves with the maximum degree of openness,” he said. “Doing so will breed trust and support for what they are doing.”

You can't buy a Batmobile at Sendik's.

First impression of the new Shoppes at Wyndham Village Target?

Vast.

Second impression: There sure are a lot of groceries in here. A lot.

Third impression: Sure would hate to try to run a grocery business next door to this monster.

And didn't the representative from Target say, many months ago (September 6, 2007, in fact), that Target had no plans to have a wine selection?

UPDATE and CLARIFICATION: After digging up the tape of that meeting, I heard commissioner Shari Hanneman voice her concern that she'd been to a Target in Roscoe, Illinois "and I was so surprised to see a liquor department. I just want to be clear for the record; Will this particular Target or will it not have a liquor department?"

The answer was fairly long winded. "It's a lot based on the policies of the locale. It's state by state. The SuperTargets, go in ... typically, ask for the wine and spirits. You know, they typically have the beer, the full selection. The newer general merchandise stores these days like to sell wine, but it does depend on the jurisdiction and that conditional use, if liquor is a separate entitlement or separate conditional use. It would be in this store if.. it would be the wine is what would be asked for."

Most assumed that Target would not get a conditional use, being that Sendik's was right next door.

Surprise: Target has a pretty darn substantial wine, liquor and beer selection. They got their license and/or conditional use.

Higher end house brands? Tons.

 

 

Archer Farms is a Target house brand that's specifically designed and marketed to appeal to the sorts of people who shop at or aspire to places like .....

 

See where this is going?

Because here's the thing: You can't buy a Batmobile at Sendik's.

This morning I ran into some friends who stopped at the new Target on their way to the Wisconsin Dells. They needed some road food, snacks, water, etc. Their money went to Target; they never even considered the neighboring Sendik's. Because they figured they could pick up some sunscreen as well; why split the trip?

I stopped at Target because it was opening day, but also because I really wanted that Hot Wheels '60s-era Batmobile that just came out (lost my childhood Corgi version in the flood). I ended up getting some cereal and a Starbucks coffee at the same time. Didn't go near Sendik's - - you can't get a Batmobile there, you know. (Nor can you loiter in an aisle examining dozens of varieties of pens, another favorite pastime of mine.)

Don't think this is significant? Think this is all "great competition?" Then you haven't studied closely the reasons people shop where they shop and buy what they buy. As it happens, I've spent twenty years of my life squandering brain cells on exactly those questions. I'm good enough at it by now that companies regularly pay me decent money to advise them on those exact issues. (Heck, spend a weekend with a book and you'll start to get the picture very quickly. Just don't horn in on my client base).

Grocery stores like Sendik's don't make their real nut on you going in and getting exactly what's on your list. The real money is in incidentals that you suddenly decide you need while you're there - - and that's where the higher mark-up is. On everything else, they have to remain competitive and therefor maintain thinner - - sometimes murderously thin - - margins.

Example: Computer nerds and audio jocks know that you should never buy cables or cords at Best Buy. A nominal length of USB or ethernet line is just outrageously expensive there (recent example from The Consumerist website: Three generic 6-foot optical audio cables from online retailer Monoprice.com for $10.79, shipped. Same product from Best Buy [the cheaper, Acoustic Research brand], shipped price was $97.47 for three).

But Best Buy still manages to make really big money on high mark-up cords because it's an incidental purchase made while picking up a DVD player or iPod. (Best Buy managers encourage their no-commission floor sales crew to push the cables, of course; they sold my mom a $100 cord she could have gotten at Radio Shack for $5.99). And, you guessed it, they don't make much  - - if anything - - on the sale of that DVD player; it's the cables that excite the Best Buy bean counters.

Bottom line: We are about to watch a seasoned nation-wide predator slowly and efficiently absorb its locally-owned prey over the course of a couple years; it has overtly configured itself as if Sendik's does not exist, much less live right next door.

And - - given the current state of the economy for smaller businesses - - you have to wonder if any additional tenants are going to be anxious to consider Shoppes at Wyndham Village, a place where they would have to coexist uncomfortably close to a formidable one-stop-for-everything big box that has demonstrated a distinct lack of regard for its nominal co-anchor and, furthermore, controls the entire development. (See also: Strip Mall Vacancy Rate Increases Sharply in Q2.)

By the way, you can't get a GI Joe at Sendik's either ...

Ironically, I bought a Senseo coffee maker at Target this weekend. The whole time, I was thinking: "Couldn't this cart be larger and steer better?"

There may be a bit of the subversive in FranklinNOW's Alisha Fischer's blog posts. Check out her bullet points of "features" to look forward to at the new Target on Drexel and Hwy. 100:

• Large food market with assortment of prepackaged and frozen foods, beer, wine and liquor
• Large better steering model of shopping carts
  
• Sales and specialty brands
  
• Starbucks and Pizza Hut inside
• Attractive inside and outer decor with large parking lot (and a roundabout on drexel ave!)

Yippee.

Allow me to predict the content of one of the speeches at tomorrow's ribbon cutting:

And, ladies and gentlemen, let's recognize developer Mark Carstensen for his grand vision of Franklin, which treats us to a Target with a large food market with prepackaged and frozen foods, beer, wine and liquor - - um ... right next to a Sendik's grocery store. [Nervous coughs from crowd.]

[Recovering momentum] And let's not forget sales and specialty brands! [Pause for applause; instead we hear the buzz of insects at the nearby mosquito hatchery.]

[Louder] Sales and specialty brands, ladies and gentlemen! [Aside] Is this microphone working?

And, ah... a Starbucks and Pizza Hut right inside so we need not venture outside of the sheltering arms of the big box retail environment and risk patronizing local eateries and coffee shops! [Scattered clapping.]

Let's not forget attractive inside and outer decor with a large parking lot!

And sort-of a roundabout! [Some more nervous coughing.]

And, last but not least - - nothing but the best for Franklin! - - a large, better-steering model of shopping cart! [Finally the gathered throng erupts into applause.]

Radio squawker stands by abhorrent autism remarks; WTMJ radio continues to promote his twisted viewpoints

Savage Stands by Autism Remarks - NYTimes.com

I still await Savage's vilification from the right wing and WTMJ radio, which continues to broadcast his show and therefor tacitly lends false "credibility" to his rantings.

Shameful.

Who, by the way, is listening to this Michael Savage clown? The NYT reports that his radio audience ranks in size behind only those of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. And you can bet that there is enormous overlap - - and all that implies.

Disgraceful.

The Political Environment reports a real "meeting of the minds": Vacuous CNN goober Glenn Beck welcomed Savage to his show to allow him to further perpetuate his hate speech.

Sad.

UPDATE: Watch Beck and Savage play paddy-cake at Crooks and Liars.

.... and you keep being classy, WTMJ (and squawk radio in general).

Congratulations Franklin All Stars - District Six Little League Champs!

Big sports day in our household; my daughter and the Franklin girl's softball team won a close one over an extremely tough Oak Creek squad for the District 6 championship. After losing the first game of the tournament to that same Oak Creek team, the Franklin girls won their next five in a row to claim the crown.

Nice work, girls - and a big THANKS to coaches Joe Carr, Willie Versnik, Scott Bauer and Dianna Fredrickson.

THIS is what WTMJ broadcasts on its airwaves: "Autism? A fraud, a racket."

Ah, the compassionate conservatives and their beloved squawk radio:

Boycott this guy and his ilk, and tell WTMJ that the joke's wearing thin. Will local principled conservatives  step out of the echo chamber long enough to repudiate Michael Savage with appropriate intensity?

(via Suburban Guerrilla)

Franklin Fire Station #3 groundbreaking

I had to leave early - I don't think they ceremoniously (ceremonially?) chopped down the tree.

Accountability and transparency: Get used to it

A bit of a continuation of the previous post: Blogger Fred Keller - he of the tax pledge signed by both mayoral candidates in the recent election - is taking the current common council to task over observations made here and in other local blogs - - and spelled out fairly explicitly at Metro Milwaukee Today - - concerning certain inequities in how the city of Franklin treats zoning violations and certain developers. He's awaiting answers.

And, of course, no answer is a pretty clear answer in and of itself.

The old "roll-your-eyes-at-the-naive-citizens" move isn't gonna cut it anymore.