Saving older ‘hoods
Re: “Millennial Magnet” (8/22/2019): So millennials want to walk to coffee, bike to coffee, “multiple transit options” to coffee. Check, check, and checks. Many of us — going back decades — have implored the city to develop in a sustainable manner, hoping to diminish or even obviate the globalwarmingmobile. Some even clawed their way onto various planning and transportation commissions. At every step of the way we made a strong case to build for conviviality and sustainability, replete with green infrastructure. The kind of places that attract people with spirit and spark!
Obviously, we had some success in saving the human scale of our older ‘hoods. But not without a fight. Currently cool neighborhoods weren’t always so. New businesses were forbidden unless there was one car stall per two seats in each cafe/restaurant/bar. All of the quirky cool that makes Willy and Atwood what they now are? Forbidden under 1950s parking regs. To comply, buildings were getting torn down along Willy to put up parking lots. Atwood was moribund for decades. We fought hard enough and frequently enough to halt the destruction and desolation. We harangued the city into granting parking exemptions in our older ‘hoods. Eventually we even got parking requirements abolished in the zoning code. Our older neighborhoods flourished. In other words, neglected ‘hoods-cum-millennial playgrounds didn’t just happen.
Out in the burbs? Total defeat. We could have replicated the scale and walkable, bikeable connectivity of Atwood, Willy, Tenney-Lapham. Instead, we got giant highways and strip malls.
Until we get political leadership with the vision and courage to demand something more than the urban design out of a Des Moines developer’s catalog, we’ll continue to get the geography of nowhere — and the people who like those anti-places. The people of yesterday’s economy.
— Michael Barrett, via email
No need for ATC line
Re: “Power politics” (8/29/2019): The Public Service Commission’s decision to approve the Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line in southwest Wisconsin was appalling. Previous transmission projects have already pushed Wisconsin near the top of states paying high electricity costs. Area utility companies report Wisconsin energy use has been steady or declining for the past decade. There’s no need for this project!
The project developers have fooled many into believing it’s good for the environment because it brings wind energy east from Iowa. However, it will transmit mostly dirty energy. More efficient, reliable, and cheaper local alternatives were proposed, which the PSC disregarded. Gov. Tony Evers’ plan for 100 percent clean energy by 2050 is good, but the proposed line won’t get us there. Its antiquated technology burdens us with additional costs, dirty energy, and irreparable destruction of the Driftless Area — a rare area left untouched by ice age glaciers. The line will wipe out habitat of threatened animal species, disrupt eco-tourism which numerous communities depend on, and negatively impact property values.
Representatives of Illinois, Michigan, local municipalities, nonprofit organizations, farmers, property owners, and ratepayers all testified in opposition to this project. The Commission disregarded expert testimony from energy and natural resource witnesses, including that of their own staff! Bipartisan communications from state legislators were also ignored. The Commission voted against the public good and in favor of for-profit utility builders. There is something terribly wrong with this process.
— Tamlyn Akins, via email
