Blog Changes

Regular readers may recall that this blog originally started as a blog of the Waukesha County Affordable Housing Taskforce, which later changed to the Affordable Housing Taskforce in Waukesha County.  Although housing issues are regularly discussed in this blog, there has not been much news on the Taskforce's activities.

Part of this is because the members of the taskforce have been involved in an introspective discussion of our activities and our mission.  While we will continue to advocate for a Housing Trust Fund in Waukesha County (see our very first post), we are evolving to advocate for better housing policies in Waukesha County. 

As part of the change in our mission, we are transitioning to a new name and a new website.  We are very excited about the change to Thrive Waukesha, and hope that you can be part of it. 

Our mission is to promote communities in Waukesha County that thrive because people are able to live and work in them.

And what will happen to Creating Communities?  For the moment, it'll continue as a housing issues blog, although no longer officially affiliated with Thrive Waukesha, and I'll certainly post updates here on what is happening with Thrive Waukesha.  In the long term,  Creating Communities may evolve into a blog about creating better communities through better policies, not just in housing, but also other areas as well, particularly disability-related issues.  I hope to recruit guest bloggers to discuss specific issues now and then.

Now go check out Thrive Waukesha!

NIMBYism in Hales Corner

I confess to being surprised to read of opposition to the proposed Applewood Senior Living Center given that neighbors usually consider elderly housing to be more desirable than other forms of multi-family housing.  I recall a public meeting in the City of Waukesha where neighbors opposed to a proposed development near the Goodwill building stated they would prefer to see a senior living building there.

Don't mistake me-I consider senior living apartments to be segregated housing and are opposed to them.

But this reminded me of two items I read recently- Matthew Ygelias writing about NIMBYism over solar panels on utility poles and Kevin Drum chiming in with a story of outraged residents being opposed to cellular transmitters atop light poles.

It was over in a neighborhood called Turtle Rock, which is one of Irvine's most upscale "villages" (yes, we really call them that). I got curious, and since it wasn't far away I drove over to take a look. And I looked and looked. Finally I found the offending light pole and looked some more. And there it was! I didn't see it at first, but sure enough, there was a small round doohickey attached to the pole about 20 feet up.

All I could do was shake my head. It was a light pole! And the transmitter was barely even visible. And it was 20 feet off the ground. How could anyone possibly care? But they did.

Sometimes people simply are opposed to change, period.

That doesn't mean there aren't legitimate concerns that could apply to some developments.  But the trick is to find the real issues among the hysteria.

Amtrak Over Time

Didn't realize May 1 was Amtrak's 40th Birthday.  Greater Greater Washington has a neat map showing the evolution, or rather, the devolution of Amtrak and passenger rail over time as roads and other modes of transportation rose (with massive government subsidies).

NLIHC's Out of Reach 2011

The National Low-Income Housing Coalition will be releasing their Out of Reach 2011 on Monday afternoon.  As some of you may know, NLIHC has released a study of housing costs around the country each year, with the most recent being Out of Reach 2010.

If you are interested in using Out of Reach to help you advocate on housing issues, Minnesota gives us some hints on how to do it effectively.

During the week, I'll be posting some data from the new Out of Reach.