Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Walmart, Target, Best Buy & Other Big Box Retailers Embrace Sales on Smaller Scale | Moneyland | TIME.com

ABOVE: Meijer artist rendering; retail as far as the eye can see .... 

As Franklin faces the impending addition of a gigantic Meijer big box, dismantling the Crossroads Regulating Plan in the process, the rest of the commercial world sees the benefit of ... smaller: 

While the big-box retail model is far from dead, stores such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Cabela’s are realizing that the enormous, one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for all shoppers—nor all locations. To grow, many retailers are shrinking, sometimes with smaller stores, sometimes by introducing smaller, more intimate and approachable locations within larger stores.

Read the rest at: Walmart, Target, Best Buy & Other Big Box Retailers Embrace Sales on Smaller Scale | Moneyland | TIME.com

Franklin council delays action on Meijer proposal - JSOnline

Above: A Meijer community meeting in Franklin.

Here's an article that oversimplifies a more complex issue. As a member of Franklin's Economic Development Committee and Plan Commission, I can tell you that there are, actually, myriad issues that have NOT been dealt with relating to DNR permits (Meijer subverted the process a bit when they went to a DNR pre-plan meeting with a full plan) and the DOT's fairly tone-deaf road requirements. Homeowners who live nearby are in for quite a change.

Meijer has proposed a take-it-or-leave-it 24-hour big box with an ocean of new impervious surface. The DNR requires that a site plan be submitted that does not impinge upon the floodways and wetlands to the extent that the current plan does; Meijer is then charged with proving that the improved site plan is impossible.

Meijer has not submitted that plan or its reasons for not creating a more location-sensitive site plan; the DNR has made it clear that the burden of proof resides with Meijer. The Franklin Plan Commission voted on the site plan and other accommodations for Meijer WITHOUT access to the alternate site plan (I was the lone "no" vote on the Commission).

Communities get the development they deserve. Big box stores of this size demand a large market share and will drain that market share from surrounding businesses (the Franklin Pick and Save Center on 76th Street is already for sale; they know which way the wind blows). A store like Meijer is certainly welcome, but they should develop the property with sensitivity to the community, surrounding neighborhoods, and local long-term economy. The answer is there, but Meijer has not presented any alternatives.

Read the rest at: Franklin council delays action on Meijer proposal - JSOnline

Census says: more bikes on the road in Milwaukee - JSOnline

I had a great time at the grand opening of the Milwaukee Bike Federation's new headquarters earlier this week. Brew City appears to be transforming itself -- slowly but surely -- into a bike-friendly city.

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The "share the road" group has increased its share on the road in Milwaukee, based on the latest figures compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and released in the American Community Survey.

The number of Milwaukee workers who bicycled to their jobs more than doubled from 2006 to 2008, and now accounts for more than 1% of the total commuter traffic.

In the surveys conducted last year, 2,508 workers cited bicycling as their primary mode of commuting to work in the previous week. That's up from 1,154, in the 2006 census survey.

The volume of pedaling public is still dwarfed by the motoring public, but the growth has been encouraging, said Dave Schlabowske, the city bicycle and  pedestrian coordinator.

"It's been a steady, almost exponential increase in the number of people cycling, and anecdotally, you just see more people riding this year," Schlabowske said. "It confirms that we're doing the right things, if we agree, and perhaps not everyone does, that it's a good thing to get more people riding bikes to work."

Milwaukee has outpaced the nation in the increase of people turning to their bikes as a mode of transportation, but it still lags behind a number of leading cycling cities in the overall numbers and the ratio on the road.

In Portland, 5.9% of the workers bike to their jobs. In Madison, the percentage is 3.8%; in Minneapolis it's 4.2%. The national figure is .5%.

Schlabowske said the notable figure for Milwaukee has been the growth, increases of 17%, 29% and 43% in the past three American Community Surveys.

"More people are riding bikes for different reasons: gas prices going up, being environmentally conscious and looking to be in better health," Schlabowske said. "I think it's also fair to say it's because we've made very significant improvements in our infrastructure and combined that with the very active encouragement efforts by the Bicycle Federation of  Wisconsin."

Read the rest at: Census says: more bikes on the road in Milwaukee - JSOnline

The more they see, the less they like: 10 reasons why opposition to the House transportation bill is growing

Ten reasons opposition to the House transportation bill is growing

1. Ends three decades of dedicated federal funding for public transportation.
2. Cuts overall transportation funding for nearly every state and relies on risky and speculative funding sources.
3. Takes away local control, planning authority and resources.
4. Ends the “Safe Routes to School” program and other dedicated funding to make streets safer for walking and bicycling.
5. Eliminates the bridge repair program and offloads responsibility for thousands of deficient bridges to local governments.
6. Allows transportation money in a pollution-control fund to be used on new roadways for solo drivers.
7. Requires more bureaucracy at transit agencies.
8. Bets big on little-known “State Infrastructure Banks.”
9. Undermines basic safeguards to protect human health and the environment, and to give citizens a voice in the project review process.
10. Abandons any true “national” interest in transportation.

Read the rest at: Transportation For America » The more they see, the less they like: 10 reasons why opposition to the House transportation bill is growing

Road Widening: Contemporary Blood-Letting

 

ABOVE: Rawson Avenue - non-vehicles beware. Subdivisons full of children who attend a nearby elementary school face this barrier.

 

After decades of catering to cars and the people able to drive them at the expense of people who cannot or chose not to drive (Rawson Avenue in Franklin, WI is a living monument to that vision), city planners and transportation officials are finally (slowly) starting to see the value in making communities accessable to all. However, it isn't going to be easy to convince the public at large that we needn't provide the means to travel at 60 mph through residential areas:

We have been so thorough in making cars happy for the past several decades that much of our world is designed in such a way that it is impossible to travel without a car.

Tragically, convenient, easy car travel we have bankrupted ourselves in creating is not conducive to creating safe, lovable, human-oriented, sustainable, enjoyable places that induce civic pride (indeed, it is utterly destructive of a better place to live). Those of us who have discovered this, then, are stuck with the enormous task of trying to point out that the path to a better community – to a better future – lies in doing something that at least initially, seems harmful to our happiness: inconveniencing car travel and car parking (and making car use more costly)

Read the rest at: Road Widening: Contemporary Blood-Letting | Dom’s Plan B Blog

"The human body works better when we walk."

The picture above is one I took this morning while out for a walk. While this blog is often where you see horrific examples of asphalt gone wild in the suburbs, anyone who lives in a community like mine can attest to the beautiful stretches of road that exist - - especially at this time of year.

If a person could string together a mile or so of the sort of roadway you see above -- particularly if it creates a useful route from home to a grocery store or cafe, for instance --  it wouldn't be hard to create an opportunity to walk each and every day. However, the majority of my route this morning was along 51st Street, where traffic averages 45-50 mph (it's posted 35 mph) and the "pedestrian lane" is a narrow edge of the roadway deliniated by a white line.

Fortunately, the city is working to continue a sidewalk that runs in front of the high school and currently gets you about 1/5th of the way between Drexel and Rawson. It connects people to the grocer, pharmacy, and convenience store/gas station that are at the corner of 51st and Rawson. Eventually, many people will be able to make a morning or evening walk towards a cup of coffee or a few groceries part of their daily routine.

That's the challenge we face: Connecting roads like the one above to other roads like the one above. That way, walking becomes organic to daily life.   

Why is this important? Watch and listen to the video below (BONUS: This gentleman has an enormously relaxing speaking voice, you'll find). 

This Sunday, help a neighbor recover from a devastating bicycle crash

Mark Dudzik (pictured above with his wife, Denise, and children Austin and Kaela), is a Franklin resident and newspaper reporter/editor for the Burlington Standard Press, Waterford Post and Westine Report.

Mark was critically injured in a bicycle crash on Sept. 17 and faces months of recovery and rehabilitation. Proceeds from a benefit event scheduled for Sunday, November 15th will help defray the enormous medical and logistical expenses that the Dudziks now face.

There will be live music, a fabulous soup buffet, and great silent auction items --- No Packer game this Sunday, so please make plans to come out and support a neighbor in need.  

Where:  Veterans Terrace  589 Milwaukee Ave., Burlington  

When:  Sunday, Nov. 13, 1-5 p.m.  

What:  Dinner, live music, dancing,  silent auctions, cash bar  

Tickets: $10  

Contact Tracy Ouellette at  (262) 763-3512 ext167  for tickets

Donations may be sent directly to:
Friends of Mark Dudzik Benefit
North Shore Bank, 116 S. Pine St.
Burlington, WI 53105

Builders know: For suburbia to survive and thrive, higher density, connectivity and placemaking are vital

Aware of the crushing costs of continued sprawl, the ’burbs are embracing slightly higher density and giving rise to a new generation of urban villages and mini cities.

At last night's Trails Committee meeting, we began the process of putting in place a Complete Streets policy for Franklin, Wisconsin. In summary, Complete Streets are an effort -- adopted via resolution, policy, and ordinance in cities across the country -- to build road networks that are safer, more livable, and welcoming to everyone.

You will be reading a lot about Complete Streets in this space in the days and weeks ahead. Make no mistake: Complete Streets is first and foremost an economic development tool, as it is more important than ever to extract maximum value from our build environment.

This article from BUILDER MAGAZINE embraces the suburban context, but recognizes as well the economic importance of creating a connected community:

At the same time, schools aren’t the only draw luring die-hard urbanites to the suburbs. As one-time bedroom communities begin to sprout higher-density housing options (rental apartments, condos, lofts, and the like) around transit stops and mixed-use town squares, they’re beginning to feel more like urban villages themselves—places that have appeal for singles, empty-nesters, and DINKs [Dual Income, No Kids] just as much as families. This increasingly multi-nodal landscape, notes Joel Kotkin, a Distinguished Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University, marks the beginnings of what may be best described as “smart sprawl.”

That also means "retrofitting", when possible, existing structures:

Whereas the old suburban growth model was dead set on expansion in the manner of the Oklahoma Land Rush, new approaches are much more focused on redeveloping tired properties with strategic densification. “The truth is we’re not as built-out as we think we are,” Ellen Dunham-Jones, professor of architecture and urban planning at Georgia Institute of Technology, and co-author of the book, Retrofitting Suburbia, noted at a recent Urban Land Institute symposium on smart growth. The imperative now is to use land resources more economically.

Read the rest at: Beyond (and Above) Sprawl - Land, Attached Development, Infill Development - Builder Magazine

Another community taken for a ride by Wal-Mart

Is the death-spiral of the Middle Class still mysterious to people when municipalities PAY to have cash-larded retailers come in to help shutter any and all local businesses?

Wal-Mart throttles South Milwaukee:

The city will spend $800,000 to clean up environmental contamination on the city-owned parcel. The city also will spend up to $1 million on cleanup work on an adjacent 6.5-acre parcel owned by an investment group, led by Briohn Building Corp., that Gatlin is buying.

The city's project costs could total $3.05 million. That amount includes $1.75 million previously spent to acquire and do earlier demolition and cleanup work on its 3.5-acre parcel, minus $500,000 Gatlin will pay South Milwaukee to buy that land.

The Walmart will generate $276,000 in estimated annual property taxes, which will be used to pay off the city's costs, including interest. Once that debt is paid off, the property taxes go to the city, its school district and other local governments.

Do the math. So much for sustainable communities.

Very, very sad.

Slowly emerging from the pit of hiatus

ABOVE: The Franklin Quarry - a rare peek inside. Yes - it's BIG.

Lack of posts does not indicate a lack of activity. 

Since being appointed to the Plan Commission a few months back, I've not seen a site plan for new development of any huge significance -- a sign of the times, to be sure.  

New berms being constructed alongside the quarry, however, have caused consternation among residents nearby. The engineering training of Commission members varies greatly, but Plan Staff is there to assure us that the quarry's operators are within pre-agreed mining limits. Since the berms do not violate any ordinances and are actually required by the city's agreement with the quarry (also called the PPD, and posted below) we voted to allow their design to go forward.  

To the surprise of almost everyone involved, the two companies that operate the quarry located in the heart of Franklin -- near neighborhoods and a school -- are not being monitored independently for possible seismic and particulate violations. Neighbors have been holding meetings to address what they feel are egregious violations.

After a close read of the agreement between the City of Franklin and the quarry operators (a document which was not included in the Plan Commission's packet for agenda items pertaining to the quarry, by the way), I found a clear mandate for action by the Commission. I introduced -- and the Plan Commission passed -- two motions calling for a quarry monitoring group to be put together, and for resumption of independent seismic and particulate monitoring at the expense of the companies operating the quarry, as per the original agreement.

I added an amendment to the motion that prohibits elected officials from serving on the quarry monitoring body; there are compelling examples of the quarry being released from certain obligations and responsibilities with the aid of elected officials who have received financial support as candidates from the quarry operators. Nothing illegal about this, but certainly not within the best interests of the city.

Next on the agenda: introducing the COMPLETE STREETS concept to Franklin. I gave a presentation to the Plan Commission this past week, and expect to repeat it for the Common Council and Forward Franklin Economic Development Commission in the near future. MUCH to say about COMPLETE STREETS and its potential positive economic and social impact in the near future -- in this case, a bit of engineering training is occuring on an ongoing basis -- so watch this space.

Franklin, WI Quarry PDD 23 105 pages