Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

“Leave Your Car in the Garage” as sell copy for real estate

The trend toward walkability as a real estate selling point is noted at How We Drive, the Blog of Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic 

Trawling through some real estate brokerage sites, typically in fairly dense small towns and pre-war suburbs, a refrain keeps catching my eye: “Leave your car in the garage.” The listing will then note the proximity to trains, schools, etc. I’m not sure who first came up with this rallying cry — and based on what I’ve seen in some of these towns (pedestrians being mostly people moving to and from their cars) I wonder if it might be more real-estate bluster than anything else — i.e., the potential of walking is there, as is the potential for the great room to be great and the massive chef’s kitchen to produce fare worthy of Grant Achatz, but in the end this potential gives way to some real or imagined vehicular reality (I need to get groceries, it’s just easier). But I can’t say I’ve ever seen a real estate ad that promised: “Take your car out of the garage, often!”

Read the rest at: How We Drive, the Blog of Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic » Blog Archive » “Leave Your Car in the Garage”

Making trails part of USEFUL INFRASTRUCTURE rather than appendages and afterthoughts

ABOVE: What passes for a road shoulder in Franklin on the road leading to its middle school and Little League Complex. Good luck, kids!

Sometimes it's the little changes that make the difference. Let's hope this sensible Comprehensive Master Plan amendment, initiated by Plan Commission member Kevin Haley via the Trails Committee on which he also serves, is the beginning of the end of random, pointless trails in Franklin.

Item III.F on the July 8th Plan Commission Agenda:

F. City of Franklin (Adoption of Milwaukee County Trails Network Plan)
Property: City-wide
Zoning: City-wide

Regarding: 1. (Comprehensive Master Plan Amendment) AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CITY OF FRANKLIN 2025 COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN TO INCORPORATE THE MILWAUKEE COUNTY TRAILS NETWORK PLAN AS A GUIDELINE REFERENCE WITHIN THE COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN 


One more step to sane streets: 76th Street reconstruction includes a sidewalk

ABOVE: The untenable parking situation that occurs at the Franklin Little League Complex every game day as a result of lack of safe pedestrian and bike alternatives.

Last week the Franklin Common Council voted to ensure that a sidewalk will be part of the configuration of 76th Street when it is rebuilt from W. Terrace Drive to W. Puetz Road. (The four configuration choices are listed after the jump.)

The sole "no" vote was by Alderman Steve Olson, who, while interested in seeing a sidewalk added to the stretch of road (which includes the city's Little League complex and would provide a walking/biking route to the Rawson-76th Street commercial area), evidently saw nothing in any of four alternatives presented by the county that he would support. He was also, apparently, more interested in creating in his constituents the notion that he voted against spending city money (see below).

Lest he try to make hay of the notion that he "voted against city spending," you will recall that Olson is one of the major proponents for Franklin's $500,000 expenditure on the Drexel Interchange in Oak Creek. I await his economic mitigation plan for the damage that particular move will cause; it's an episode that will be looked at in hindsight as one of the steps to the path of Franklin's Edge City status if steps aren't taken.

Also, Olson did not mention in his letter to constituents addressing the vote on 76th Street the fact that Jack Takerian, interim director of the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation and Public Works, explained to the council that new federal policy and related grant funding all but ensure that part or all of Franklin's $860,000 portion (Olson rounded up to $900,000 for the "benefit" of his constituents) will be eliminated. The street is within 2 miles of the middle school, for instance, so it is eligible for Safe Routes to School funding. Much, much smaller communities than Franklin -- who have committed to the grant application process -- have spent a few thousand dollars only to see a half million come back in funding for sidewalks and walking amenities.

During the discussion, Alderman Steve Taylor made a good point: There are numerous subdivisions along 76th that are effectively cut off from one another by the dangerous street. A sidewalk would be an enormous amenity, and also allow access to the businesses on Rawson.

Mayor Tom Taylor had this to say before the vote:

While I originally vetoed this proposal and only wanted to go with alternative A; if alternative B was selected tonight, I would not move to veto it.

...

I think that Mr. Michlig, Mr. Fowler [Franklin Trail Committee Chair], Alderman Sohns [former Trail Committee Member], Alderman Kristen Wilhelm, and many others in the community have totally convinced me that we need to be pedestrian friendly; we need to have a connected city.

Still think things can't change if you agitate a bit?

Add this to the 51st Street reconstruction in front of the high school, which includes pedestrian facilities at last (Olson voted against that, too), and it becomes just a bit easier to foresee a community build to serve people as well as vehicles.

Big Box reuse in Milwaukee: Old Menard's converted to indoor bike park

Big Box reuse in Milwaukee:

Trek Bicycle Corp. didn’t just give Ray Petro a little boost to ensure he would be able to open a Ray’s Indoor MTB Park for riders in Milwaukee. The Waterloo-based company bought Ray’s business.

That was the news in a release sent out promoting the expected opening of a Ray’s in a shuttered Menard’s store at 8365 N. 76th St. in November.

Read the rest at: Trek buys Ray's Indoor MTB Park - ensures expansion in Milwaukee - JSOnline

"To stay competitive, suburbs need to create walkable urban places with a critical mass of activity"

ABOVE: Enjoying an evening in Sierra Madre, California

Many suburbs like Franklin, with committees and commissions populated by folks who settled here back when most of their neighbors were farmers and open fields, have a hard time with this concept.

Good center cities need not only retail and housing but offices as well, to make these places come alive day and night. On the commercial corridors, revitalization efforts should focus on the key intersections, where the shops and restaurants already want to go. People go where they will see other people.

"People go where they will see other people." The opposite of the "I moved here to get away from people" paradigm of the early far-flung suburbs -- but not mutually exclusive. Large suburbs can create central civic centers while maintaining sparse subdivisions, and people will self-select newer dense neighborhoods.

I'm quoting from a white paper entitled "The New Urban Workplace" by Rod Stevens of Spinnaker Strategies. The white paper describes the exodus of corporate headquarters from suburbs to downtown:

Talented young workers increasingly pick the city first and the job second.

The make-or-break for both companies and cities is their ability to draw college-educated workers who have come of age since the turn of the millennium. This is a generation that has grown up with more choice than ever before, that has learned to mix and match not only the clothing it buys, but its work and leisure time as well. Flexibility and convenience drive their lives. Many start the workday in mid-morning, break for a workout or a meal out with friends, and then go back to the office for more work far into the evening. The office of the future may look a whole lot more like the neighborhood coffee house.

Milwaukee Magazine's Newsbuzz site reports that the growing popularity of downtown is measureable:

In 2000, following the completion of the last U.S. Census, the Brookings Institution studied American downtowns and pegged Milwaukee as one of five (and the only one in the Midwest) with a residential population “on the edge of takeoff.” A couple years prior, in response to a Brookings survey, Milwaukee leaders guessed Downtown’s population would grow to 13,500 by 2010.

It’s beaten that mark, according to a report released earlier this year by Milwaukee’s Downtown Business Improvement District. Downtown population estimates prepared by a GIS consultant say about 15,000 people live in Milwaukee’s Downtown, more than Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Memphis or Nashville.

Why They Hate Us: A New Urbanist dissects the movement’s critics

Libertarians, Mods, and Saint, oh my ....

To drive to Kentlands from historic Georgetown is a disappointment, but to drive there from sprawling Tyson’s Corner is a revelation. That experience, and the hard slog that led to it, is what keeps us in the fight.

Read the rest at: The Evolving Debate Over Smart Growth - Urban Development, Planning, Design - Architect Magazine

The Search for Community One Sleepover at a Time? | Planetizen

From a review for the book IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: THE SEARCH FOR COMMUNITY ONE SLEEPOVER AT A TIME:

What was most interesting to me was that almost all of the neighbors on Lovenheim’s street had an intense need to be part of a community and a social network, but they didn’t have the facilities to achieve it. One neighbor observed that public spaces have largely been privatized into commercial spaces. Think about the coffee shop, king Starbucks, bookstores. These are little self-contained units with a small entry fee.  Another neighbor contrasted American neighborhoods to African tribal villages whose homes are traditionally organized around acentral space out of a primal need for survival. She observed that American neighborhoods are designed for privacy to fuel the prevailing ideology that we can survive alone. And then she suggests the antidote to this landscape of isolation…parks! Brilliant.

Read the rest at: The Search for Community One Sleepover at a Time? | Planetizen

I'm trying in vain to imagine the faintest possibility of something so progressive and economically foresighted occurring in my suburb

The greening of Greendale:

But Greendale has gone even greener by implementing a digital energy management system, timing lighting and recycling the heat that escapes from the pool’s surface. Grants from both WE Energies and Focus on Energy helped fund the pool’s thermal heating system. The total cost was just over $55,000 but Greendale paid only 30 percent, with grants from Focus on Energy ($19,343) and WE Energies ($19,343) paying the rest.

Read the rest at: The greening of Greendale | Milwaukee News Buzz

New Report: “Bright Flight” means younger, more affluent cities. And suburbs sit on their collective hands.

ABOVE: Cities, like Washington, D.C., are attracting a younger, more affluent, white population. Photo by Poldavo (Alex).

From “Bright Flight” Means Younger, More Affluent Cities | TheCityFix.com:

A new study from the Brookings Institution, “The State of Metropolitan America,” shows that, for the first time, America’s suburbs are more likely to be home to minorities, the poor and a rapidly growing older population, while younger, educated whites move to cities for better jobs and shorter commutes. The report analyzes census data from 2000-2008 in the United States’ 100 largest metropolitan areas, revealing a reversal of historical demographic trends. (See an interactive map here.)

So, the question is: What will suburbs like mine do to meet this challenge?

I can tell you what Franklin, Wisconsin is currently doing: Nothing.

No initiatives, projects, forums, or incentive programs. In fact, we just pledged a half million dollars to a neighboring community for a superfluous highway interchange, a move that tells the world that Franklin is still about a decade behind the curve.

And, unfortunately, the collegial environment depicted in the photo above is virtually nonexistent in my suburb, and it's something savvy first-time home-buyers are much more aware of now than they were, say, ten years ago (I, for one, was not a savvy home-buyer when it came to judging the community surrounding my house.)

Last year I proposed, via my position on the Economic Development Commission, an city-sponsored effort to work with a developer to encourage creation of a coffee shop/co-working space next to the Franklin library. A member of the Commission argued for "green space" instead - next to a park. Another wanted to add a "friendly amendment" to the Commission's recommendation stating that no money whatsoever be spent on the effort.

So much for that.

Many trade city living for the traditionally strong school districts found in suburbs; "Sure, I'm isolated and can't get anywhere without a car, but my kids are in a good school." However, strangled as they are by ill-fated TIF deals and taxpayer revolts ("My property tax is too high!"), suburban school districts are facing imminent decline. Franklin's school district is cutting an alarming number of positions, and the high school is an old relic.

Suburban public amenities? "Community columnists" decry funding community libraries!

Why bother anymore?

We may be looking at a whole new attitude toward the idea of home ownership. From The Atlantic website:

Houses make sense when you're rooted, financially and geographically. The future of the America is itinerant, flexible, and wary of burying money in an immobile "economic trap." Throw in the 100 million Americans we're expected to add in the next four decades, and you've got a congestion problem that suggests we should replace front lawns and sedans with apartments and trains. 

The blog's author, Derek Thompson, is referring to opinions set forth in Richard Florida's new book, THE GREAT RESET (which is the very first e-book I purchased for my iPad).

Thompson quotes the following from Florida's book:

We've reached the limits of what George W. Bush used to call the "ownership society." Owning your own home made sense when people could hope to hold a job for most or all of their lives. But in an economy that revolves around mobility and flexibility, a house that can't be sold becomes an economic trap, preventing people from moving freely to economic opportunity. Not only has that piece of the American Dream grown dark, but it's also clear that financial excess in the housing sector was one of the central causes of the economic crisis. The rate of home ownership has been on the decline for some time now. Many of those who still choose to buy homes will choose smaller ones, while many more will opt for rental housing.

Our new way of life is likely to depend a whole lot less on the car. In October 2009, The New York Times reported "...After more than a century in which an automobile represented the American dream, car enthusiasm may no longer be a part of Americans' DNA." Car culture no longer exerts the powerful pull it once did. More and more families are deciding to share cars, and young people are putting off buying them and using public transit, bikes, their feet or Zipcars (membership-based, easy-access short-term car rentals) instead. It's not just that oil and gas have become expensive, it's that traffic and gridlock have become a deadweight time cost on us and our economy.

Compared with the end of 2008, the average household is now spending an extra $135 a month for fuel. But, to repeat: My suburb just pledged $500,000 to build a highway interchange that we don't need in a neighboring community. And it's not just money that will be going to the edge of town and over the border, it will be development as well. Why build a neighborhood-based coffee shop when you can toss up an offramp-serving drive-thru java shed right next to the freeway?

At the same time, Franklin is pouring money into a streetscape design for a commercial strip that all but ignores transit options like dedicated bus lanes and Zipcar facilities. Instead, our big-ticket item on 27th Street is "enhanced lighting"  - the seventh most popular item mentioned on preference surveys, as Franklin Alderman (and 27th Street Steering Committee Chairman) Steve Olson is fond of reminding us.

If success and sustainability are a destination, perhaps it's time suburbs - mine in particular - realize that the road that brought them here won't get them there.

Smart Growth at 10 seems a success in Wisconsin

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

On the 10th anniversary of the state's Smart Growth law, leaders of the Wisconsin Builders Association and the Wisconsin Realtors Association gave the innovative comprehensive planning initiative a qualified endorsement.

At a conclave sponsored by 1000 Friends of Wisconsin called Smart [email protected], Jerry Deschane, Builders Association executive vice president, said his organization went into the legislative process "kicking and screaming" a decade ago, but participated in the drafting of the law, which he now regards as "a good planning statute."

The new planning approach helped by making local plans "more data driven" and therefore more effective, he said.

Although implementation of the law is just beginning, Tom Larson, director of regulatory and legislative affairs for the Realtors group, said his organization is "cautiously optimistic" it will yield good results.

The drafting of the comprehensive plans at the local level over the past 10 years benefited greatly from the improved level of public participation and from making planning "more proactive instead of reactive," he said.

Nearly 90% of the counties, cities, villages and towns met the Jan. 1 deadline for completing their comprehensive Smart Growth plans. That's a big advance from 2000, when only one-quarter of local units had any kind of plan and only a small percentage had a comprehensive plan.

Many of those who were there at the creation of the Smart Growth Law convened at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison to evaluate what they had wrought. In general, they were happy with the progress, but each had an agenda for improvements.

Read the rest at   Smart Growth at 10 seems a success - JSOnline.