Franklin Today

Mayor Taylor revitalizes debate on 27th Street's future

Back in April, Mayor Taylor called a special Common Council meeting to discuss the future of the 27th Street corridor, in particular the 27th Street Steering Committee. Back then, discussion amongst the council members included several options:

1. Keep the current status-quo with the committee in place and keep trudging forward
2. Eliminate the committee and create a new entity that will have more oversight and attention to the development of the corridor
3. Modify the committee and possibly its membership

At that time, option #2 seemed to really have support from the mayor and Common Council President, and was strongly opposed by the current Chairman of the committee, Alderman Steve Olson. The council at that time debated the issue, to which Alderman Sohns proposed a motion to "determine which members of the Common Council are willing to delegate their authority, including control over the money that is available to spend, for the implementation of the development of the 27th Street Corridor area to a separate entity." All voted YES to that motion. However, nothing came of it. That is, until now.

Astronautics looks elsewhere

Back in September, 2008 I wrote an entry simply titled, "OK Franklin EDC, we need you!" It was in reference to the desire by Milwaukee-based Astronautics Corporation of America looking for a new headquarters, and seeking proposals from potential communities.

Now, over a year later, it was announced in today's Journal Sentinel that the former Pabst Brewery site downtown and a former printing plant in Brookfield are in the company's "short list". How unfortunate. I wonder what (or if) Franklin officials did to encourage the company to relocate in our community.

More land goes up FOR SALE

Heading home, I drove past the usual farmlands along Ryan Road between North Cape and Loomis Roads. Something was different with today's view, however. One of the farms has up a large FOR SALE sign, with MLG Commercial as the broker.

The land this farmer has up for sale for development is 130+ acres. This could easily become a business park with the proper installation of sewer and water services to that portion of Franklin. In comparison, the site that would house the Shoppes at Legend Creek development (aka the "Crossroads") at Hwy 100 & Loomis is a meager 33 acres, according to the "available" sign by MidAmerica Real Estate.

150 and it keeps building up

Earlier tonight, the Aquatics Center petition hit 150 signatures. I can't really say it enough, I am impressed and pleased with the overall support the petition has received by residents and some elected leaders in the community. Also last night, I joined in with two fellow residents, one being a member of the Franklin Community Development Authority, in pointing out that Franklin needs a facility such as this proposed center. It is my hope that perhaps the push for this facility will garner the support from both the Parks Commission and Economic Development Commission in the near future.

This item was proposed in Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's budget, which provided taxpayers with a 0% tax levy increase. That means, if Walker won approval of his budget by the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, this facility could be built and your county taxes would not increase.

It's also worthy noting that if a facility was built in our community, the resulting revenues could assist Milwaukee County in funding many of its current pools within the City of Milwaukee. Revenues would come from the selling of season passes and admissions to the center, as well as additional tax revenue from increased development in residential and commercial as a result of the facility.

The petition encourages the county to take a second look before automatically dismissing our community due to its "status". Thinking out of the box, Milwaukee County Supervisors can turn the matter into a win/win/win for themselves, Milwaukee County, and the City of Franklin.

Please make sure to have your name added to the petition today!

You have a say on the CMP

I figured it would serve you better to post two separate entries on the Comprehensive Master Plan. The first post was regarding what the CMP recommended to the council. This piece is about what YOU, the residents of Franklin, want and what PDI/Graef (the consultants who worked on the CMP) felt about it.

Business Journal names off top hot spots in metro area - where's Franklin?

As a subscriber to the Business Journal, I receive their weekly paper and on a regular basis they will have random inserts/publications to read about specific topics. Last Friday, the paper included a tiny publication discussing the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area's top "hot spots" in real estate growth.

For those who might not know, many sitting on the Common Council were elected based off of their ideals to bring forth increased economic development. Most of them got in via a wave created by the now defunct organization Franklin Citizens for Responsible Leadership (FCRL) back in 2004-2005; however many prior to their council sitnts also sat on many key commissions that would encourage economic development.

So they get elected thanks to the negative campaigning, and we begin to push the fast forward button. I hope you can keep up with the ups and the ultimate downs that we're now being impacted by in our community. These downs are so big that Franklin did NOT land in the Business Journal publication on Friday; it's bumped aside by Grafton, the Historic Third Ward, the Kenosha Area, New Berlin, and Wauwatosa. An interesting observation I made (and is really telling to how the situation could be kinda bleak in Franklin) is that the Business Journal's Editor, Mark Kass, also sits on the Community Development Authority.

Franklin gets new 2nd representative on 27th Street Steering Committee

Looking over the upcoming 27th Street Steering Committee agenda scheduled for tonight at 5:30 @ Oak Creek City Hall, an item announces a welcome of Franklin's newest representative for the committee. Apparently the Economic Development Commission or Chairman Alderman Ken Skowronski himself appointed fellow EDC member James Kerr to be the replacement for Jim Rhiner on the committee. Franklin's representation on the 27th Street Steering Committee has definitely seen its bumps and rocky roads, starting with the Boomgaard controversy in April, 2008.

Oak Creek retail continues to grow; what about Franklin?

Perhaps it's a no surprise anymore to hear more positive retail development occurring in Oak Creek, in particular the stretch of S. Howell Avenue from Drexel south to just before Ryan Road (Hwy 100). Howell Avenue has become an extremely popular spot for national retailers to stake their claims.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Tom Daykin, a strip mall located across from Oak Creek's City Hall, library, and community center could soon see a major revitalization of sorts. The Oak Creek Center strip mall once was anchored by a Sentry Foods before it closed and thus the strip mall fell in tenants and increased in vacancy. Now that is all changing due to the pending announcement that TJMaxx and Petco could take up two spots in the strip mall, bringing the center not only back to life but will add two more national retailers to Howell Avenue.

Franklin Business Park lands new industrial tenant

Journal Sentinel business reporter Tom Daykin reported today that the Franklin Business Park will be landing a new business in the form of an industrial adhesives manufacturer. MLG Development, which currently has control over the Franklin Business Park in conjunction with the City of Franklin Community Development Authority, is planning to construct the 13,200 sq ft structure. Here's the future site of the building.

What should be considered a true enabler for citizen participation?

Prior to the meeting’s end this past Saturday, the discussion amongst the aldermen was the thought of how to tackle several other important items for Franklin’s future. In light of this, Common Council President (CCP) Steve Taylor made it known to both the council and those in the audience that he would like to see these meetings continue on a regular basis until the job is done. He appropriately noted that it’s best to take care of scheduling future meetings right then and there, with all the aldermen present, instead of working through e-mail and/or phone channels outside of city meetings. CCP Taylor waited several months (if not almost a year) for a joint meeting between the Common Council & Plan Commission to take place. Taylor made it clear that wasn’t about to happen again.

Earlier in the meeting, it was noted several times that citizen participation is important to get these items accomplished. Franklin residents should be allowed a say in what they’d like their community to become in the future. What are their thoughts on things a vision, mission statement, future growth, or conservation practices? While the aldermen represent roughly 6000 constituents at this time, without keeping those constituents informed it turns into a community of apathy. Prior to April, 2007 apathy was very heavy among the population in Franklin, and I firmly believe that the blogs and linking of residents via e-mail and Internet has made the entire community more unified.

So, when the thought of future meetings begin to take up discussion amongst the aldermen, what would some of you, the readers of this site, suggest? Would it be a repeat of this past Saturday, which was from Noon to 3pm? Would it be a weeknight, perhaps after work at approx. 6-6:30 – 8 or 9pm? Well, decisions had to be made right then and there, and after Aldermen Olson and Sohns spoke about tending to personal/family needs over the weekends, as well as Alderwoman Wilhelm noting her unavailability for next Saturday morning, well…you guessed it!

The next special meeting of the Common Council will be next Saturday…in the morning…from 8am to approx. 11am. 8am on a Saturday morning will have our council wide awake, ready to tackle things such as vision & mission statements and thoughts on a full time Mayor.

But wait, some of you might be asking. What happened to our thoughts? What happened to citizen participation in these meetings? I suppose you have ample time to set your alarm clocks to 7 or 7:30am on Saturday morning to get up for a meeting at City Hall, but to be honest I’m not expecting it…and I don’t blame any of you one bit for saying, “screw that!”

Perhaps it just drills a hole in the space where all my pet peeves lie, but I get rather irked when I hear of things like citizens should be welcomed to participate only then to make that participation literally become a chore for them. OK, maybe I can understand if now isn’t the proper timing for such citizen thought and participation, but then when would it be? After the council approves motions and makes their final decision(s) and thought(s) on the very issue(s) that they’d be seeking citizen opinions?

Ultimately, I think it should be made a little more clear just when City Hall is ready for residents to speak up. Otherwise, confusion will reign and people will just drop the issue(s) altogether. Maybe that’s what some aldermen want, but I certainly hope not.