Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

In Wisconsin, killing the economy today and into the future: "Technical schools say they're in a vise grip" - JSOnline

How do you kill a state's vitality and economy? Put your boot on the neck of its educational infrastructure.

If and when Wisconsin Governor Walker's budget is passed -- corporate tax breaks or not -- businesses will trip over themselves abandoning a state that does not bother to develop a valuable workforce. Vocational schools provide opportunities for a wide array of potential taxpayers, and creates a crucial labor/creative resource for business and industry.

Wisconsin is about to shutter its windows and go dark....

State funding for Wisconsin's 16 technical colleges would drop to a dollar level not seen since the late 1980s, despite enrollment growth of 40% over the last decade, if cuts in Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget ultimately gain approval, college officials said last week.

That could lead to longer waiting lists for classes, more limited access to courses and programs, and ultimately, challenges for Wisconsin manufacturers, health care providers and other employers looking for skilled workers as the state's economy struggles to recover, officials said.

"We had to turn away a lot of students last year because we had filled classes," said Lee Rasch, president of Western Technical College in La Crosse. "We easily turned away a couple thousand students. The jobs are here, but we don't have the funding to increase capacity. If the goal (stated by Walker) is to create 250,000 jobs, these are the kinds of jobs we need."

Read the rest at: Technical schools say they're in a vise grip - JSOnline

 

See also The Death of the Covenant:

Radomski says what the state would lose is a unified effort to promote college planning in the state. Most states, he says, have now implemented some kind of “pledge” program for students exchanging state assistance for meeting some academic standard.

Shoppes of Wyndham Village, in Franklin, faces foreclosure - JSOnline

Well. Maybe we saw this coming.

The Shoppes of Wyndham Village, a Franklin shopping center anchored by a Pick 'n Save supermarket and a Target store, is facing a foreclosure suit.

SBI General Portfolio Owner LLC's suit, filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, names shopping center owner Wyndham Village Retail LLC and developer Mark Carstensen as defendants. A receiver has been appointed to operate the property, according to online court records.

I haven't been able to review the court file yet. Reporter Sean Ryan's story in the Milwaukee Business Journal says Wyndham Village Retail defaulted on a $19 million loan.

Carstensen didn't return a phone message seeking comment.

Wyndham Village, at the southeast corner of Highway 100 and Drexel Ave., saw its Sendik's supermarket anchor close in July 2009, about a year after it opened. A Pick 'n Save opened in the former Sendik's space in November 2009.

The 248,076-square-foot Wyndham Village has around 22,200 square feet availabe for lease, according to property listing service Loopnet.com, along with undeveloped land.

The shopping center was opposed by nearby residents who wanted more upscale retailers, and by other critics who said its design was a missed opportunity to create a pedestrian-friendly development.

Last year, in a separate suit, a vacant parcel planned for expansion of another Franklin retail center, Fountains of Franklin, went into foreclosure. However, that action didn't involve the existing Fountains of Franklin, which is anchored by a separately owned Sendik's Food Market, at 5200 W. Rawson Ave.

More later, obviously.

Read the rest at: Shoppes of Wyndham Village, in Franklin, faces foreclosure - JSOnline

UPDATE: City to Legitimize Mystery Stop Signs,

Just go with it: Update to "Mystery Stop Signs" post from last November - 

A city official said they believed that the mystery signs had been put up by "housing developments over the years" that had not followed the right protocol to codify the signs. Translation: they have no idea. I prefer to think that they all just appeared one night, like crop circles, and so that's the explanation I'm going with.

Read the rest at: UPDATE: City to Legitimize Mystery Stop Signs, Report Says - Lowering the Bar

“One-third are willing to pay for the ability to walk. They don’t want to be in a cookie-cutter type of development. …The suburbs will need to evolve to be attractive to Gen Y.”

ABOVE: Nobody's dream landscape -- across a sea of asphalt, a McMansion roof peeks over inaccessible retail outbuildings.

REMINDER: Please mark your calendar for January 24th, 6-8pm, and plan to attend the Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan Open House so you can voice your concerns regarding making Franklin a competitive community that is travel-friendly for children, the elderly, and differently abled persons.

At this week’s National Association of Home Builders conference, there has been much talk about the estimated 80 million people that comprise the category known as “Gen Y,” born roughly between 1980 and the early 2000s. The boomers, meanwhile, number 76 million. From the Wall Street Journal:

Here’s what Generation Y doesn’t want: formal living rooms, soaker bathtubs, dependence on a car.

In other words, they don’t want their parents’ homes.

Something to keep in mind here in Franklin, as we struggle to create a wider and deeper tax base as well as attract young talent. However, as I noted in yesterday's post, we're still mired in outdated notions about trails and sidewalks as mere "recreational opportunities" when they are in fact crucial infrastructure.

Gen Y housing preferences are the subject of at least two panels at this week’s convention. A key finding: They want to walk everywhere. Surveys show that 13% carpool to work, while 7% walk, said Melina Duggal, a principal with Orlando-based real estate adviser RCLCO. A whopping 88% want to be in an urban setting, but since cities themselves can be so expensive, places with shopping, dining and transit such as Bethesda and Arlington in the Washington suburbs will do just fine.

“One-third are willing to pay for the ability to walk,” Ms. Duggal said. “They don’t want to be in a cookie-cutter type of development. …The suburbs will need to evolve to be attractive to Gen Y.”

Read the rest at No McMansions for Millennials - Developments - WSJ: ""

 

January 24, 6-8pm: Make your voice heard on Franklin's Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan

 

ABOVE: From a previous post on SPRAWLED OUT: An example of a trail that is certainly "recreational," but A) does not connect any destinations (it merely loops through a park), and B) empties into a blind curve on a suburban speedway, further shielded by trees and shrubs (indicated with green boxes).

 

The City of Franklin has been working for some time on a new Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan, and is now inviting public input.

I encourage people to come to the open house and make their concerns about CONNECTIVITY in the city of Franklin heard. As a member of the city's Trails Committee, I am sorry to report that there is precious little interaction between us and the city's Parks Commission. In fact, there has been considerable tension in Trails Committee meetings when I or any other member made requests for information on the ongoing Recreation plan.

A member or the Parks Commission who also sits on the Trails Committee has made it clear that he considers the trails proposed by the Parks Commission as completely separate and unrelated to the sidewalk and trail network we on the Trails Committee are trying to create. He has repeatedly spoken in "us vs. you" terms when the subject of funding comes up.

The problem is this: Trails are, indeed, recreational. However, it's time to look at trails as part of the city's overall connectivity plan. Trails (and sidewalks) are infrastructure, and it's important that we provide a way to get from place to place in Franklin without a car.

The Parks Commission, unfortunately, does NOT plan trails with usefulness or connectivity in mind. To the Parks Commission, trails are mere recreational playthings. Take a look at our current trail system (and some of the insanely dangerous junctures with blind curves on roads) and you'll agree,

This will not be my last post on the subject (nor is it the first), but please mark your calendar for January 24th, 6-8pm, and plan to attend the open house so you can voice your concerns regarding making Franklin travel-friendly for children, the elderly, and differently abled persons.

I've pasted some material from the city's press release below, and linked to fellow Trails Committee member Greg Kowalski's Scribed-posted PDF:

This update is set forth in a draft document entitled Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan: 2025 for the City of Franklin, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. This Plan is being prepared to maintain the City’s eligibility to participate in many cost-sharing programs for the acquisition and development of its park, open space, and outdoor recreation system. When completed, the updated Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan will look 15 years into the future at the City’s anticipated park, open space, and outdoor recreation needs.

Before the draft is completed, the Planning Department staff of the City of Franklin would like to provide an opportunity for the public to ask questions and to provide additional comments about this draft Plan. Therefore, an Open House has been scheduled for January 24, 2011, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Community Room at the City of Franklin City Hall, 9229 W. Loomis Road.

Copies of maps and other select information from the draft Plan will be on display at the Open House. The entire draft Plan will be available for viewing on the City website and at the offices of the Planning Department approximately one week before the Open House.

It is envisioned that the public comments provided at the Open House will be summarized and provided to the City of Franklin Parks Commission for their review and consideration immediately after the Open House or as soon thereafter as the Parks Commission may determine.

If you have any questions, or need additional information, please feel free to contact the Planning Department at 414-425-4024, or visit the City of Franklin website at www.franklinwi.gov.

 

Parks Plan Open House

The planner's dream gone wrong: The New Provincials

Coming off of a bit of a work-enforced break from blogging, I stumbled upon a new resource out of  Chicago. It's hard to argue with the title of Jason Tinkey's blog -- The Planner's Dream Gone Wrong -- and, given the epic Packers-Bears struggle scheduled for this coming Sunday, it's as good a time as any to engage a flatlander in a friendly manner before kickoff.

Jason discusses American provincialism in this particular blog entry, quoting Barcelona Deputy Mayor Jordi William Carnes making the observation that "America is important to the rest of world, but spends too much time looking inward."

This is true all the way down to the neighborhood level -- or even single household level, frankly -- but Jason chooses to concentrate of the narrow field of view espoused by new Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker as he reinvents Wisconsin as The Weak Link: 

This provincial attitude reared its tiny head again this past week, when Wisconsin Governor Scott K. Walker (that "K" is crucial to avoid denigrating the proper Scott Walker) slammed Illinois for it's tax hike and invited businesses to relocate to his state. As James Warren wrote, this shows a lack of a broader vision on Walker's part. He's playing for votes within his own little fiefdom, seemingly oblivious to the fact that if Chicago's economy were to fail, Wisconsin's would go down right beside it. As much as I love our neighbors to the north, Milwaukee does not have the transportation infrastructure necessary to link it to a global marketplace. This is the same guy, mind you, who basically ran for office on his opposition to high-speed rail, which would be one of the best possible assets in building a regional economy.

So allow me to state for the record my philosophy of how the future is aligned: neighborhood - city - region - planet. Note that "county", "state" and "nation" do not exist. These are eighteenth-century constructs that serve little useful purpose in a connected, digital global economy. The hard question is asking what it will take to achieve this in these "United" States. No politician has ever voted themselves out of a job, and yet a thorough realignment of local and federal governance is necessary. Industrialized Europe had to be more or less leveled in World War II for the stakeholders to recognize the value of cross-border cooperation and a free exchange of people and ideas. I certainly hope we don't need such a serious jolt.

Wisconsin and Illinois, despite their football-based loathing, have too many issues which demand cooperation. And you can add Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario to that mix, as well. In coming decades, stewardship of the Great Lakes will become crucial to the region and to the world. Transportation linkages already radiate from Chicago like an octopus, in a common region with common concerns, these absolutely must be brought up to speed with the rest of the developed world. There is really no other option.

Read the rest at: the planner's dream gone wrong: The New Provincials

$5 for a gallon of gas in '12; luckily, we'll have the train alternative... oh, wait ...

The incoming governor of Wisconsin chose ideology and bald-faced patronage over common long-term fiscal sense.

No train for us. The citizens of Wisconsin will be paying Scott Walker's benefactors in the asphalt spreading business for years and years to come. 

Bonus points: Did you know asphalt uses petroleum?

Read the rest at: $5 for a gallon of gasoline in 2012 - Dec. 27, 2010

... And we wonder why my community seems stuck in reverse

Prepared a nifty little presentation on Digital Visualization for city planning and development at the request of Franklin's  (deep breath) "Mayoral Ad Hoc Development Process Review Committee."

Spousal negotiation to free up time for prep and presentation/discussion? CHECK.

Projector? CHECK.

Quick tutorial by city engineer on how not to break the projector's $400 bulb? CHECK.

PowerPoint? CHECK.

Adapter for Mac? CHECK.

Cool slides with bullet points and stuff? CHECK.

Handouts? CHECK.

 

Committee Quorum? NOPE.

 

In the age of cel phones, grown adults cannot call to say they won't be able to attend a meeting. So much for ambitious notions, proactive planning, grand plans and out-of-the-box thinking in Franklin, WI.

Pack it up; go home.

The costly cul-de-sac in Milwaukee Magazine

Almost a year ago I wrote a well-received blog entry about expensive cul-de-sacs. That has evolved into an article I did for the November issue of Milwaukee Magazine, which you can download below.  

PDF:  Download Insider Milwaukee Magazine Cul-de-sac

City engineering by "gut": "Let's live on the edge and BUILD THE FOUR-LANER!"

This post is a comment in response to an item at a Franklin blog, Fred Keller's BATTLE JOINED -- please excuse a bit of localese as well as cut-and-paste linkage, as this was done quickly:

 

Fred: Your "Let's widen College Avenue" argument doesn't make a lot of sense, frankly, unless you are merely looking for a cudgel with which to hammer the mayor. And, any cudgel will do, right?

You ask: Why would the mayor and city officials argue for Contest Sensitive Design when a road is being built through our community?

Really?

The idea that road congestion will increase at a steady rate is just FALSE, reinforced by a road-building industry anxious to lay more asphalt. (A mile of freeway costs three to four times the annual operating expense to the state of a rail line connecting us to Madison and Chicago -- has that not occurred to you?)

"But we need to build capacity," you might say. (Actually, what you said was: "Let's live on the edge and BUILD THE FOUR-LANER!")

But - what's that? Traffic can DECREASE? Guess what - the engineers don't account for that in their forecasts. They are all about BUILDING IT UP. If traffic rates go up +.05 in a year, they tend to keep adding the same increase every year.

Let's apply engineer-style traffic analysis: My daughter grew 1.5 inches in the past year. At this rate, she'll be over 9 feet tall by the time she's my age.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/08dectvt/index.cfm (2008)

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/09dectvt/ (2009)

Your stance sees to be "gut instinct" against years of traffic studies NOT DONE BY ROAD BUILDERS that show widening roads actually INCREASES traffic and congestion (it's called "induced traffic"); and that creating alternative travel options (bike and ped) DECREASES traffic and congestion.

The Federal Highway Administration found in a study in Milwaukee that induced traffic accounted for 11-22 percent of the area's increased traffic from 1963 to 1991. ("Widening roads to ease traffic congestion is ineffective and expensive at the same time," said Roy Kienitz, Executive Director of the Surface Transportation Policy Project. "It's like trying to cure obesity by loosening your belt.")

I have no time to get fancy (a pillar of your argument: "waste time digging up stats for me!"), so I'm quoting here directly from another web site: A road diet on San Francisco’s Valencia Street reduced automobile through lanes from four to two, adding a center turn lane and two bike lanes. Following this change, collisions involving pedestrians declined 36%, accompanied by an increase in pedestrian traffic and a whopping 140% increase in bicycle riders – all without significantly altering automobile traffic capacity. (http://www.completestreets.org/complete-streets-fundamentals/factsheets/ease-congestion/)

Also: "When travel demand requires three moving lanes in each direction and/or double left turn and right turn lanes, the roadway impact on the adjacent community can become severe. From on urban planning standpoint, volumes of these magnitudes usually indicate too few arterial streets serving that particular corridor or a lack of freeway capacity for the longer trips that should not be on the arterial street system to begin with. Although it is recognized that geographic and urban development constraints may require these six-lane arterials in some situations, these conditions should be dealt with early in the planning process for new or developing suburbs, and some compromises and special design measures may be needed in existing corridors where other alternatives exist." (http://www.urbanstreet.info/3rd_symp_proceedings/Retrofitting%20Urban%20Arterials%20into%20Complete%20Streets.pdf)

"The phenomenon of induced traffic works in reverse as well. When New York's West Side Highway collapsed in 1973, an NYDOT study showed that 93 percent of the car trips lost did not reappear elsewhere; people simply stopped driving. A similar result accompanied the destruction of San Francisco's Embarcadero Freeway in the 1989 earthquake. Citizens voted to remove the freeway entirely despite the apocalyptic warnings of traffic engineers. Surprisingly, a recent British study found that downtown road removals tend to boost local economies, while new roads lead to higher urban unemployment. So much for road-building as a way to spur the economy." (From the book SUBURBAN NATION)

You also proceed from a FORTUNATE standpoint: You and your kids perhaps can (or will) drive. How about a bit of empathy for those of us who want to create an environment of moderate independent travel for the elderly of differently-abled? I can tell you for CERTAIN that I will not live in a community where my son cannot walk a few blocks to get on a bus or visit a friend. 

Interesting statistic: Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20- year-olds. Franklin's 16-to-20 year-olds have NO OPTION but to drive.

Do you know that a pedestrian or bikers chance of death jumps from 45% to 85% when the speed limit jumps from a sane, residential 30 MPH to the Franklin-standard (and enforced by engineering) 40 MPH?

A 27th street public transit hub (i.e. better than the spotty bus service currently available) is a logical next step. The average American who lives in an area that's walkable and has transit spends only 9% of their income on transportation, while a person living in an area that requires driving spends more than 25%. College Ave. can feed bikes and pedestrians to a public transit hub IF ACCOMMODATIONS ARE MADE FOR THEM NOW. 

Of pedestrians killed in 2007 and 2008, more than 50% died on arterial roadways, typically designed to be wide and fast (ala College Ave).  Roads like these are built to move cars and too often do not have meet the needs of pedestrian or bicyclist safety. 

You can dismiss safety, induced congestion, and mobility for the differently-abled and elderly. But how about ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?

http://www.ceosforcities.org/files/WalkingTheWalk_CEOsforCities1.pdf (WALKING THE WALK: How Walkability Raises Home Values in U.S. Cities, by CEOs for Cities)

http://www.walk21.com/papers/Litman(1).pdf (
Economic Value of Walkability)

Want to rely on something more reality-based than your "gut instinct"? Dig into these studies:

http://www.hsisinfo.org//pdf/10-053.pdf (Evaluation of Lane Reduction “Road Diet” Measures on Crashes)

http://www.completestreets.org/webdocs/resources/lanewidth-safety.pdf (Relationship of Lane Width to Safety for Urban and Suburban Arterials)

http://www.vtpi.org/cong_relief.pdf (Smart Congestion Reductions: Reevaluating The Role Of Highway Expansion For Improving Urban Transportation)

http://www.urbanstreet.info/3rd_symp_proceedings/Retrofitting%20Urban%20Arterials%20into%20Complete%20Streets.pdf (RETROFITTING URBAN ARTERIALS INTO COMPLETE STREETS)