It’s not that easy being green Having to spend each day the color of the leaves When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold Or something much more colorful like that -Kermit the Frog

Bein’ green might not be that easy for Kemit, but for some development projects it seems all to easy “bein’ green.” In fact it seems easy to be Silver, Gold, or even Platinum, “Green,” or in this case LEED certified.

LEED certification takes into account a number of green practices and technologies. These might include the re-use of materials, utilizing renewable energy sources, the use of energy efficient windows and lighting, weatherization, grey water systems, and numerous other items all of which are a great step towards being green. But missing from LEED certification seems to be a key component of actually bein’ green.

Transportation.  A site can fail any true measure of bein’ “green” if it requires automobile use to access or is for the express purpose of serving the automobile.  Be it the emissions, heavy metals and toxins auto’s spread, oil consumption, storm water impacts due to land use demanded by automobile use, the automobile brings with it negative environmental impacts that need to be taken into account.

A not so green, “green” development is a planned “net-zero” sub division being developed in suburban Chicago. In fact this project, Prairie Ridge Estates, is being developed on farmland forty miles from Chicago. Starting with location, it will require automobile use simply to access the homes. Additionally, as a single-use, single-family subdivision it will require automobile use to get work, for grocery shopping, to access entertainment options, essentially to do any activity outside of the home it will encourage additional vehicular trips. Although the community is being billed as ‘net zero’ in regards to energy use, in truth that’s only if you leave out half of the equation.

Here in Milwaukee, the recently completed parking garage at The Brewery project received LEED Gold Certification, because it used LED lighting and recycled building debris allowing it to receive enough points to meet the standard. No question, it is good the project used these methods and incorporated energy efficient features, but the the purpose of a parking garage should disqualify, or at least severely handicap it, in its ability to receive LEED certification. The building’s primary use is to support, essentially encourage, automobile use, an inherently anti-green function. The LEED standards are a start and a step in the right direction, but it needs continual refinement and improvement if it wants to truly be green.

• UWM’s growth touted for new jobs By Tom Daykin
• Rail stops that make sense By Matthew Trussoni
• The Inconvenient Truth About Traffic Math: Progress Is Slow By Carl Bialik
• City vendor may get $1.2B from parking-privatization deal By Cory Schouten
• Moderne high-rise loan guarantee wins final OK, work to begin soon By Tom Daykin
• Communities push to replace Oconomowoc as high-speed train stop By Larry Sandler
• Wisconsin Republicans should get on board with high-speed rail By Ralph Munro
• Settlement reached on Wisconsin Tower condo foreclosure suit By Tom Daykin
• Driving Lessons By Tom Bamberger
• An architectural jumble at Marquette’s Eckstein Hall By Mary Louise Schumacher
• HSR: Answering the Critics By Scott Rogers
• Western Wisconsin coalition lobbies for high-speed rail By BizTimes Daily
• The bus vs. rail debate By The Baltimore Sun
• A healthier life? Try public transportation – Transit Score helps get you there By Chelsea Allinger
• ‘Maximizing urban cores’ vitality and infrastructure must be the basis for any definition of sustainability’ By Kaid Benfield
• The truth about home ownership By Gretchen Schuldt
• Bicycle Film Festival 2010 By Bicycle Film Festival
• See for Yourself How Solutions for Dirty Stormwater Work By David Beckman
• Rethink siting of campus By Cheryl Nenn
• More Parking for Wolski’s? Changes afoot on N. Pulaski Street By Michael Horne

September 1, 2010

Common Council Meeting

September 1, 2010 9:00 am

City Hall
200 East Wells St.
Common Council Chambers
Milwaukee, WI 53202[...]

Port of Milwaukee Redevelopment Plan

September 1, 2010 6:00 pm

Alderman Zielinski is holding a neighborhood meeting to discuss the Port of Milwaukee Redevelopment Plan on Wednesday, September 1st, 6 p.m. at the Port of Milwaukee, 2323 S. Lincoln Memorial Dr.The City of Milwaukee approved the boundary for the Port Redevelopment Plan in March 2009 and directed the Department of City Development to prepare a [...]

The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup

The High Cost of Free Parking makes the American Planning Association’s 100 Essential Books of Planning, and for good reason. Not because it is a particularly easy read, but because it will challenge the way you think about parking, that is assuming you think about parking.

This book spells out how to make our cities better, by charging the right price for street parking. Donald Shoup, the author, makes the argument that in high demand parking areas, the problem isn’t that there isn’t free parking or that there isn’t enough parking, the problem is that street parking is priced incorrectly. He argues for “three reforms–charge fair-market prices for curb parking, return the resulting revenue to the neighborhoods that generate it, and remove the zoning requirements for off-street parking.” The first reform, would adjust on-street parking rates so as to meet demand while always leaving a space or two available on the street for customers. The second reform, would allow the new funds raised by charging market rates to stay within the district to pay for improvements and maintenance, making the rate structure desirable to local business owners and residents. Finally, the third reform would eliminate regulations that require parking which would allow the market to determine the number of parking spots for a project rather than an arbitrary regulation.

To learn more about market based pricing of parking, and an entirely new approach to parking management that cities, such as San Francisco, are actually implementing today, this book is required reading.

Station Gateway Plaza

The preparation of the Downtown Plan Update has involved various public input sessions, countless hours of community and stakeholder input, resident surveys, the involvement of the business community, and the work of city staff. The process is still ongoing and the presentation before the City Plan Commission for approval was the next step in the process.

As previously reported the plan update spells out eight catalytic projects designed to increase density, improve connectivity throughout downtown, and create a sense of place. The eight catalytic projects, would as City of Milwaukee Planning and Development Manager Greg Patin, explained build on the catalytic projects from the 1999 plan.

Surprisingly, at the commission meeting there was some opposition. Pat O’Brien, President of the Milwaukee Development Corporation and the President of the M7, argued that the plan should focus on the remaining catalytic projects from the 1999 plan, that the plan should focus on demand generators, and it should prioritize catalytic projects. Vanessa Koster, City Planning Manager, responded to the critisim saying “We don’t prioritize catalytic projects” and indicated that this will allow the market to respond and drive the projects. She added that “we have many pearls downtown,” and that “this plan strings them all together.”

Broadway Connection

Wispark President Jerry Franke, spoke of a need to create a matrix to guide development, specifically to prioritize TIF use, and that the area laid out in the downtown plan was to far reaching.

Alderman Bauman spoke last saying that he was surprised about there being any controversy, stating that “this is a land use plan, this is not a statement of the City of Milwaukee TIF policy.” He added later that he was glad to hear that the M7 and the MDC are interested in demand generators in downtown Milwaukee. In fact he hoped to hear soon that the M7 has changed their position regarding UWM’s expansion in Wauwatosa, and that he looked forward to the subsequent article by Tom Daykin entitled “M7 calls for demand generators in downtown Milwaukee… like the Engineering School.”

Despite calls for the City of Milwaukee to set TIF policy within the land-use plan, the Downtown Plan Update moved forward with unanimous support from the City Plan Commission.

• Apartments proposed for east side seek $8 million HUD loan guarantee By Tom Daykin
• A Case for Open Data in Transit By Elizabeth Press
• That beautiful brownfield By milwaukeenewsbuzz.com
• APTA Report Prescribes Public Transport to Improve Public Health By Noah Kazis
• DOT to build new train shed at Milwaukee Intermodal Station By Real Estate Weekly
• Myths and Facts About the July Flood By Louis Fortis and Lisa Kaiser
• The wall is coming down: More video lessons from Europe By Dave Schlabowske
• Aurora moving 240 HQ, administrative employees to The Tannery By Tom Daykin
• Exploring The Brewery By Bobby Tanzilo
• Exploring The Brewery By Bobby Tanzilo
• Next Generation shifts focus for downtown project to 2014-15 By Real Estate Weekly
• The case for living small By Kaid Benfield
• Supervisor Johnny Thomas challenges Scott Walker’s proposed Freeway Flyer cuts By Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors
• Use it (transit) to lose it (weight) By Kaid Benfield
• Walker cites deal he opposed as model for derailing train By Larry Sandler
• Downtown office conversion project moving forward By Tom Daykin
• Commuting is Very Bad for You By Richard Florida
• County supervisor C-SPAN By milwaukeenewsbuzz.com

August 23, 2010

City Plan Commission Meeting

August 23, 2010 1:30 pm

The City Plan Commission (CPC) is the City’s official planning body established under State statute and is responsible for master planning activities. The CPC advises the Common Council on a variety of land development issues including zoning map changes, revisions in the zoning ordinance, subdivision approvals, business improvement districts, street and alley vacations, public land [...]

August 24, 2010

Milwaukee Intermodal Station Train Shed Public Meeting

August 24, 2010 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is announcing a public information meeting to discuss reconstruction of the train shed at the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. The train shed is a 50,000 square foot facility immediately south of the station that is used to protect trains and passengers from the elements. The project will bring the facility [...]

The Monarch Trail Summer Moon Picnic!

August 24, 2010 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Join the Monarch Trail Friends for a picnic and watch the sunset and moonrise over the County Grounds.Irish Music provided by: Ceol Cairde www.ceolcairde.comWhere: The Monarch Trail – Milwaukee County Grounds, 9480 W Watertownplank Rd. Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
When: 6:00 – 8 pm, (simultaneous sunset/moonrise: 7:15 pm)
What: There will be a guided tour at 6:15 pm
Why: Due [...]

UWM

Recently, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago announced his resignation from UWM to become the Chief Executive Officer of the Hispanic College Fund in Washington, D.C. I imagine our long time readers would expect us to be dancing a jig or throwing quite the party at the possibility that his departure could derail the Wauwatosa expansion, but believe it or not, we’re disappointed he’s leaving UWM. Despite our long disagreement with Chancellor Santiago over the expansion in Wauwatosa, his vision of growth and research, as well as many of the initiatives put forward under his leadership are commendable, worthy, and should move forward.

During his time at UWM, the university has seen more development than under many of the previous administrations. The recent acquisition of the Columbia St Mary’s site literally expands UWM’s main campus, will alleviate some of the parking ‘problem’, could allow for more on-campus housing, and provides for more classroom space. UWM has also been pursuing the construction of new student housing on the East Side, which now will provide university housing for over a thousand students that previously had to be denied because of a bed shortage. The Kenilworth Square Apartments, RiverView Hall, and the soon to be open Cambridge Commons have all made UWM a bigger part of Milwaukee and the community, quite literally.

His vision of turning UWM into a first-rate research university is vital for UWM and for Milwaukee. This vision has lead directly to the creation the School of Public Health and the School of Freshwater Sciences, while also driving the desire to expand the Engineering School. In the short run, it has lead to formation of the Southeastern Wisconsin Energy Technology Research Center, which for the first time brings the colleges of engineering from UWM, MSOE, and Marquette together to collaborate on a significant research initiatives. These universities are already working together on cutting-edge research in areas such as wind turbines, Li-Ion Batteries, and CO2 recycling and sequestration via algae.

The School of Public Health will play a role in improving the health of Milwaukee’s inner-city population, while at the same time helping to revitalize downtown Milwaukee. The choice of locating the program at The Brewery will allow UWM to serve the needs of Milwaukee residents, while keeping the program  within a short bike ride or bus trip to the main campus.

A vastly expanded Engineering School is certainly a key part of helping UWM raise its level of research and will allow it to better collaborate with other institutions and industry partners. Our issue is how and where this expansion should occur, not that it shouldn’t occur. It simply would serve Milwaukee and our region better to build on relationships with MSOE and Marquette as that would create a strong engineering core within the region, while building a stronger urban core. Further, this alignment would allow UWM to stake out more of a niche, possibly within advanced manufacturing, energy technology, or possibly nanotechnology, rather than becoming one of hundreds of schools chasing the biotech dream. That said, the goal of increasing the role, size, and scope of the Engineering School is a laudable one that needs to be successful.

Finally, the proposed School of Freshwater Sciences is truly visionary. The School of Freshwater Sciences has a chance to put Milwaukee back on the map as a world leader. This school is a key part of the M7 Water Council’s goals, which despite detractors claims, might be an area where UWM and Milwaukee could differentiate themselves from their peers. The Water Council is already spurring collaboration between UWM and Marquette, and has received funding by area companies including Badger Meter Inc. and A.O. Smith Corp. Although the idea of splitting the school in to two facilities isn’t ideal, the Reed Street Yards location has already gained interest from American Micro Detection Systems Inc., a water industry company, to possibly locate a facility with up to 300 jobs near the school.

Chancellor Santiago brought about many great changes and set a grand vision for UWM. We can only hope that his efforts to establish the School of Freshwater Sciences, his most game-changing initiative, continue to move forward in his absence.

• Last night I dreamt of Daniel Hoan By Dave Schlabowske
• What is ’smart growth,’ anyway? By Kaid Benfield
• UWM may buy Columbia site by end of year By The Business Journal of Milwaukee
• What a lovely charrette! By milwaukeenewsbuzz.com
• UWM purchase of hospital property wins Building Commission approval By Tom Daykin
• The Phony Sewage Issue By Bruce Murphy
• Free rides on CTA far exceed predictions By Jon Hilkevitch
• Wauwatosa TIF District for UWM Engineering School on Hold By Nick Schweitzer
• Turning the Tide in the Great Lakes By Emily Knoll
• Wauwatosa defers UWM campus vote to Sept. By The Business Journal of Milwaukee
• Justice Department probes New Berlin over denial of housing proposal By Mike Johnson
• Innovation Park proposal gets favorable comments from Plan Commissioners By Tom Daykin
• Dan Maes Was Right About the Red Threat! By copenhagenize.com
• Official: UWM development plan is speculative, but drawing strong interest By Tom Daykin
• Cincinnati Streetcar: No Going Back Now By Barry Horstman

August 16, 2010

Irish Fest Summer School

August 16, 2010 9:00 am to August 20, 2010 9:00 pm

If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about Irish music, dance, song, arts, history, language and culture – this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. To help celebrate the 30th anniversary of Milwaukee Irish Fest, a talented and engaging group of instructors will pass along their knowledge to those who enroll in the 2010 [...]

August 17, 2010

Brookfield: Common Council Meeting

August 17, 2010 7:45 am

The Brookfield Common Council is holding a public meeting to discuss the station location for the Amtrak Hiawatha extension.Please consider attending the meeting to show your support for the project. It is important to use this opportunity to educate the Common Council and the public about the level of support for rail and the [...]

August 20, 2010

Harris Presents the 2010 Milwaukee Wine Festival

August 20, 2010 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm

inPLAY EVENTS announces the return of the 2010 Milwaukee Wine Festival presented by Harris to be held Aug. 20-21 on the grounds of the Milwaukee Art Museum The two-day, outdoor event, will provide festival-goers an opportunity to sample more than 200 fine wines from around the globe in a relaxed setting along the shore of [...]

August 21, 2010

Harris Presents the 2010 Milwaukee Wine Festival

August 21, 2010 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm

inPLAY EVENTS announces the return of the 2010 Milwaukee Wine Festival presented by Harris to be held Aug. 20-21 on the grounds of the Milwaukee Art Museum The two-day, outdoor event, will provide festival-goers an opportunity to sample more than 200 fine wines from around the globe in a relaxed setting along the shore of [...]