Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Digging into TIFs

A perfect storm of holiday travel, remodeling, and deadline glut has precluded me from posting recently. In the meantime, check out Fred Keller's multipart series on the strange, mostly-misunderstood world of TIF (Tax Incremental Finance [or Funding]) Districts.

It'll surely be a platform for further discussion and exploration.

The Town That Neil Young Built

This comes via Strange Maps:

332 - The Town That Neil Young Built:

Each year around November 12th, whenever their schedules allow for a collective weekend off, a dozen not-so-young urban professionals leave the comfort of their city homes to sample the rugged charm of a remote log cabin. In the backwoods, the men (it is an all-male fellowship) don flannel shirts of the type favoured by Neil Young, and play his music non-stop. Thus, they celebrate Young’s birthday — and also by drinking a lot of beer, and by behaving like the uncouth backwoodsmen that any group of men eventually revert to when collectively removed from their womenfolk.

Christof Rutten is one of those men, recently returned from the latest of those outings. He sends in this map, culled from the latter part of Young’s weird, erratic oeuvre. Young has produced some of rock ‘n roll’s most emblematic anthems and ballads, but has also ventured down experimental avenues never explored before, or since, and all the better for it. Young tried his hand at rockabilly after its heyday, and electronic music before it was fashionable. He also penned a rock opera (or “concept album”, to use an even more suspect term).

Greendale, released in 2003 by the transplanted Canadian (Young lives in LA) is about life in a fictitious Californian coastal town as seen through the prism of the Green family. The songs on Greendale deal with some of Young’s favourite themes — war (and anti-war protest in general), environmentalism, social ostracism, violent crime and all of their social consequences. Greendale focuses on an ageing patriarch (also a pioneer and hippie) his son Earl (an artist and Vietnam vet), granddaughter Sun (environmental activist), and the spiel kickstarts when ne’er-do-well Jed kills a policeman.

The story, amplified by a dvd and a very extended booklet included in the packaging, echoes the energetic political activism of the Sixties — or tries to, and possibly fails (depending on how big a fan you are). The album cover for Greendale is a map of the fictional town, showing how its centre hugs the Californian coast (the outskirts continue on the back of the album). On the album’s very own website, you can scroll over the map to enlarge certain details relevant to the songs (*):

• Captain John Green’s boat (left of the left hand pier);
• Jed’s seafish apartment (to the right of the boat);
• Scene of the crime (on the far left, where the road that dissects Greendale enters the map);
• Carmichael’s house (between the road and the ocean, near the centre of the map);
• John Lee’s bar, Greendale Mortuary (scene of Carmichael’s service), Sun’s room at rooming house (scene of FBI raid), Greendale High School, Motel (all near the ocean, between the pier and the far right of the map);
• Double ‘E’ Ranch (in the bottom left corner of the map);
• Jail, grandma and grandpa’s house, gallery (all below the main road, near the center of town).

In keeping with Young’s  abrasive, anti-commercial image, the map does not link to a place where you can buy the album. It merely states: This town is now available.

Many thanks to Mr Rutten for sending in this map; does anybody have it in a higher resolution? Also, any extra information on the map’s (and the album’s) back story is more than welcome.

*: this album cover spans only the western end of town; the website covers double as much ground. 

The End of the Bake Sale

Sometimes good intentions don't allow you to have your cake and eat it, too.

Governing.com: 13th Floor: The End of the Bake Sale:

posted by Zach Patton

Bakesale When I was growing up, bake sales were a fact of life for school, sports teams, academic clubs, whatever.

There was even one especially memorable bake sale in high school, when I served as co-chair of the cafeteria committee (yeah, I said it -- and I was proud of it.  I got those kids a pizza cart, a jukebox, and outdoor patio seating), and the cafeteria ladies allowed us to use their wholesale ingredients (which, given that it was a public school, may have been just a little bit illegal, now that I think about it) to make breads and cakes and what have you, and we sold them in front of the Wal-Mart and made several hundred dollars in just a few hours, and we donated it all to a shelter for abused women and children.

Anywho...

Right, bake sales.  Big deal.

But not in California, not anymore.  State regulations now strictly limit what foods can be sold to students. And the hallowed bake sale -- and its verboten, obesity-inducing carbs -- is falling out of favor:

The old-fashioned school bake sale, once as American as apple pie, is fast becoming obsolete in California, a result of strict new state nutrition standards for public schools that regulate the types of food that can be sold to students. The guidelines were passed by lawmakers in 2005 and took effect in July 2007. They require that snacks sold during the school day contain no more than 35 percent sugar by weight and derive no more than 35 percent of their calories from fat and no more than 10 percent of their calories from saturated fat.

School clubs are could still sell to non-students off campus. But they're being hit hard.

Maybe they should start having a broccoli sale?

(Via Governing.com: 13th Floor):

Next American City in Milwaukee: Public Transportation Symposium

Next American City in Milwaukee: Public Transportation Symposium:

During the symposium, panelists discussed the pros and cons of improving the public transportation system in Milwaukee. Featuring Rob Henken, president of the Public Policy Forum and Anita Connelly, CEO of the Milwaukee Co. Transit System, as panelists, the symposium is now available to you in full, exclusively on AmericanCity.org.

(Via NAC Daily News and Intelligence.)

The drive-to-lunch syndrome

Certainly a problem facing Franklin; you need a car to do the most minor of daily errands, including lunch.

(Via Switchboard, from NRDC.)

One of the main differences between a walkable, amenity-rich environment such as the one being created for Station Park Green and automobile-dependent sprawl is that workers have to drive to lunch unless they bring it in from home.  This can be the case even when a place to eat is within what would be walking distance if the roadways, parking lots and entrances were not configured in a way that is dangerous or not welcoming to pedestrians. 

My friend Constance Beaumont used to have a couple of slides in her presentation that showed two suburban retail stores right next to each other, but separated by a chain-link fence that precluded walking from one to the other.

The result is not only inconvenience for customers and hungry office workers but also extra air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and traffic congestion.  Constance's photos were taken, naturally, in Tysons Corner, Virginia, subject of previous blog entries.  Part of me resists picking on Tysons so much because it is such an easy target, and because at least Fairfax County's planners are doing something about it.

But, meanwhile, an easy target it remains.  Writing in The Washington Post, Eric Weiss reports that "so many workers drive to lunch in Tysons Corner that it has created a third rush hour during the middle of the day that actually exceeds the morning rush.."  Weiss continues:

"Having so many of the approximately 115,000 Tysons workers on the road, often driving less than a mile to grab a sandwich, is complicating construction plans for a Metrorail extension and Capital Beltway toll lanes that will rip up the streets around the area. An analysis of traffic counts shows more than 23,000 vehicles on the major Tysons thoroughfares, routes 7 and 123, between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., surpassing the morning rush by 24 percent."

This, of course, is occurring despite the fact that Tysons is Virginia's most concentrated jobs and shopping hub, with literally hundreds of eating places within a short distance of its 110,000 workers.

The Post also has a graph of the amount of traffic through Tysons at various times of day, along with a nifty video of the traffic "flow" during a typical day.  They are encouraging bloggers to share the video, and I am happy to oblige:  

For the entire story, go here.

Oil Prices: Reality still hasn't descended upon mainstream media

Milwaukee isn't the only region in denial when it comes to the upcoming crisis. A confused nation waits for Dr. Phil to tell them how to feel:

All this reality content is beginning to penetrate the collective consciousness in the US, but the result is mostly panic or paralyzed disbelief rather than any set of intelligent responses. For example, I got a call from one of Katie Couric's producers at CBS news on Friday. Somehow, they had noticed that oil prices were becoming a problem in America. They called me for a comment. The scary part was they were clearly treating the issue as a "lifestyle" story. Did I think more suburbanites would move downtown? And would that be a good thing...?  They have no %$#ing clue how broadly and deeply these dynamics will affect the life of this nation, or even our ability to remain a nation. Also, by the way, this demonstrates how the nightly network news has become the equivalent of the old "women's pages" of the daily newspapers.

James Howard Kunstler, Cluster$%$ Nation

Was that so hard? 27th Street Committee launches website with a sane name

south27thstreet.com.

How much did THAT name cost?

And these clever guys went out and locked down all the domain names with "Boomgaard" in it, and were prepared to pay giant money to the holder of domain rights to one particular version of the name.

Whoever thought of south27thstreet.com - buy that person a cold beer or their preferred beverage.

They need a new copywriter, though. Whoever wrote this:

....this up-and-coming area has all the amenities of a great Milwaukee suburb – including easy freeway and interstate access, commercial development and a sense of character.

... is either in on the joke or hasn't recently visited a suburb ("sense of character"?)

So, ladies and gentlemen of Franklin and Oak Creek, allow me to list your amenities:
- easy freeway and interstate access
- commercial development
- a "sense of character"(!)

That's all, move along.

So, so sad.

"Why are streets and land uses in postwar suburbs arranged so that everyone has to have a car to reach even the most routine daily destinations?"

From Planning Quote of the Day:

"Why do we lay out subdivisions that make it impossible for a ten-year old to walk to a store for a Popsicle or a loaf of bread? Why are streets and land uses in postwar suburbs arranged so that everyone has to have a car to reach even the most routine daily destinations? Wouldn't it be better if everyday necessities were easy to reach and if the streets and sidewalks were designed as convivial places for meeting friends and neighbors?"

-- Philip Langdon, "New Development, Traditional Patterns" (in Planning Commissioners Journal #36)

FLICKR set of Charlette, NC transit photos

PA130097, originally uploaded by davereid2.

Thanks to Dave Reid at UrbanMilwaukee.com for the great shots.

The very definition of obstinacy: I-94 widening

The very definition of obstinacy; in the face of an obvious oil crisis, throw $1.9 billion (BILLION!) at more asphalt while at the same time further crippling any possibility of sane mass transit that would address the upcoming oil crisis.

Can you imagine these minds addressing supply issues during WWII? "Rationing? Why it's every American's RIGHT to hoard newsprint and hosery!"

Be sure to read Ms. Schulte's blog, Milwaukee Rising, regularly.

Via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

I-94 widening will bring woes

By GRETCHEN SCHULDT

It's unfortunate that Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi is rejecting his department's own finding that widening I-94 in Racine and Kenosha counties will not improve traffic flow. Busalacchi, instead, in his stubborn support of expansion, is investing his faith in a 5-year-old, politically driven, fundamentally flawed and inaccurate report by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

Did I mention that SEWRPC put a road builder lobbyist on the committee overseeing the report and that the consulting firm that helped the agency determine that freeway expansion is needed is the same one that the DOT later hired to help it determine that freeway expansion is needed?

Here are the facts about the North-South I-94 expansion project:

• It will hurt the redevelopment of older commercial districts in Milwaukee, while spurring sprawl in southern suburbs.

• It will increase by 50% the impervious area devoted to the freeway in Milwaukee County, leading to more polluted runoff. The DOT, by the way, has not proposed any methods for dealing with potential flooding that results from the additional lanes.

• The proposed expansion will bring the freeway closer to homes and schools, especially in Milwaukee, subjecting residents and students to more illness-inducing pollutants.

• The expansion will make necessary the construction of more ugly sound walls. Conversely, it will increase traffic noise in areas that do not qualify for sound walls.

• The state hasn't even figured out how to pay for the project. It says only, "We'll figure it out later."

• The project will destroy a large amount of wetlands, and the state has not determined how to replace them in the affected river watersheds.

• The project will destroy needed floodplain.

• The project will increase greenhouse gases; the DOT is not proposing any mitigation of that issue.

• The project will provided only minimal traffic improvements throughout the corridor.

• The traffic projections the study uses are based on unrealistically low gas prices ($2.30 a gallon in 2005 with a 3% inflation rate built in - that's $2.51 in 2008).

And, of course, the project will eat up revenue needed for transit. Busalacchi says that highway money can't be used for transit, but that is an extremely cynical, misleading argument that he should be embarrassed to make. The state can reduce its highway spending and modify its budget to increase transit funding. It's that simple.

If the DOT doesn't engage in wasteful highway projects, it doesn't need highway money from a federal fund that is rapidly going broke anyway.

Gretchen Schuldt of Milwaukee is co-chair of Citizens Allied for Sane Highways.