Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Kid-friendly senior housing proposed - JSOnline

By Tom Daykin of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Feb. 6, 2009

Grandparents who are raising their grandchildren - often because the parents are in prison, have drug addictions or other problems - would have apartments designed especially for their needs through a development proposed for Milwaukee's north side.

The $10 million project, Villard Square, would create 47 apartments in the 3400 block of W. Villard Ave. It would be among a small but growing group of U.S. apartment developments that combine senior housing with kid-friendly features. The idea is to put children from broken homes into a stable environment, said Chris Laurent, of the development firm Gorman & Co.

Oregon, Wis.-based Gorman, which has built several apartment complexes in the Milwaukee area, and Northwest Side Community Development Corp., a neighborhood nonprofit group, would develop Villard Square.

It would be the first Milwaukee apartment building specifically marketed to grandparents who are the main caretakers for their grandchildren, said Laurent, Gorman's Wisconsin market president. Similar apartments have been built in Chicago, Boston, New York and other cities.

There's a strong demand for such housing in Milwaukee, Laurent said. According to the 2000 census, there were 7,052 grandparents in Milwaukee who were responsible for their grandchildren.

Read the rest at  JSOnline:

BREAKING: Franklin aldermen learn that the mayor has submitted a stimulus "wish list" to Madison with NO INPUT

Franklin's common council learned via a three-page memo that Mayor Taylor has already submitted to Madison a stimulus "wish list" - with dollar amounts attached - without consultation with the council, Economic Development Commission, Environmental Commission, Finance Committee, etc.

It's going to be a heck of a Common Council meeting tonight in Franklin. Any alderperson worth his or her salt will be pounding the table, at the very least.

More as information comes in....

UPDATE: Number ONE on Mayor Taylor's wish list - - $3,750,000 for the long-debated - - and, frankly, UNNEEDED - - Drexel interchange. The Common Council-requested Economic impact and benefit study is still pending.

Wow.

NYT: Our love affair with malls is on the rocks

Factoid of the day from Daniel Pink: Today’s NY Times Business section reports that 11,000 people work at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Equally staggering, “Forty million visitors arrive here each year, which, according to the mall’s promotional material, is more than visit Disney World, the Grand Canyon and Graceland combined.”

Meanwhile, Our love affair with malls in on the rocks.

The economic crisis has caused shoppers to go into an essentials-only mode. But the mall has never trafficked in essentials. You can’t, for instance, fill a prescription at the Mall of America, because it doesn’t have a pharmacy. You can, however, buy a vanilla hazelnut fragrance candle in the shape of a miniature cooking skillet. Or a $13 baseball hat that looks as though it’s made of cheddar cheese. A store called Corda-Roy’s sells a variety of bean bags that convert into beds. Magnet Max sells a battery-operated guinea pig that runs continuously on a spinning exercise wheel.