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.

Madison, Wisconsin Protests 3/5/11

Madison Protests 3/5/11, originally uploaded by John Michlig.

Awe-inspiring does not begin to describe the atmosphere on a cold day in Madison, Wisconsin.

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

In effort to foster civility, officials ask input on cuts

If there is one constant in local politics, it's that citizens seem to love being indignant -- about snow plows and the quality of said snow plowers, property taxes, and.... I guess that's about it. Snow plows and property taxes.

And they aren't good at math, but that's a different story.

Stumbled upon this while reading USA TODAY at a coffee shop:

The string of attacks on politicians — angry shouts at town-hall-style meetings, an assassination attempt against Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — has ignited a civility movement in cities across the country.

Officials in large and small cities are eager to calm the overheated rhetoric that has dominated the political landscape. At a time when tight budgets are forcing them to make unpopular cuts in services, city leaders want to learn how they can have a cordial discourse with constituents and, better yet, get them to help decide what cuts to make.

...

In 2009, protesters shouted down members of Congress who held forums on a proposed health care overhaul. That same year, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouted "You lie!" after President Obama, in an address to Congress, denied that health care legislation would provide free coverage for illegal immigrants.

And some saw a connection last month after a gunman shot Giffords, D-Ariz., in the forehead when she met with constituents at her "Congress on Your Corner" event at a Tucson supermarket. Six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, were killed. Giffords is recovering.

(Via - USATODAY.com)

Rural post offices put on notice in face of DIY digital age

My local Post Office seems to be hanging on by a thread. We get our mail at about 4:30pm most days, and the handy-dandy auto-postage machine has been taken out of the our location in favor of a more prestigious P.O.

Of course, the Franklin Post Office is located, like everything else here, near NOTHING. Losing traffic to the Post Office would be meaningless to local commerce.

However...

The prospect of losing a post office is alarming people in small towns everywhere. The post office gives area residents a reason to come to town — and patronize other businesses there — and provides a service they count on and believe their government owes them.

(Via USATODAY.com)

Urban Development Strategies From 1939

A blast from the past from Coronet Instructional Films (score by Aaron Copeland!) shows us the scourge of the city -- from which the suburbs were designed to deliver us.

In 1939 the American Institute of Planners commissioned a film for the 1939 New York World's Fair. The result was The City, a film about the historic importance of rural, small town life in America, the evils of the city that had developed as America industrialized, and the possibility of reclaiming the "good life" through suburban housing initiatives.  You can see the complete film here.

(I was surprised to see in the credits Pare Lorentz the groundbreaking documentarian who made the film The Plow That Broke the Plains and The River, which told that story of the great rivers of the American continent and the work of the Tennessee Valley Authority.) 

via The Atlantic

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

UPDATED: Snowpocalypse 2011 - Snowplow warriors

My daughter caught me attempting to come to a nonverbal understanding with the city snowplow driver. Did he read my story in Milwaukee Magazine about how hard it is to plow cul-de-sacs?

UPDATE:

The City of Franklin did an excellent job clearing my cul-de-sac yesterday -- including some precision work inches from the mailboxes and fireplugs without inflicting any damage. (The crew also had to deal with one of my neighbors coming out to complain that too much snow was being dumped on her property.)

The two-man, two-truck crew spent a total of 38 minutes in my cul-de-sac: Franklin has 211 cul-de-sacs. You do the math, as they say.

“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