Will do. I had erroneously thought it was a CNU photo.

Clearly, I need to get out of my parents' house next time I visit!

With all due respect, Anonymous, a quick look at Google Maps will show you that, if Franklin DOES employ a grid, it is not a HUMAN-SCALE grid by any stretch of the imagination. The main roads (which are the only ones that can be remotely thought of as "gridlike") are aligned with the mile-square platting that original survey maps provided. Subdivision developers, in fact, plotted their roads to ELIMINATE the possibility of a grid. This means that Franklin, like many suburbs, is auto-centric and full of places you can SEE but cannot get to safely on foot. Furthermore, emergency vehicles have to take circuitous routes to reach, for instance, Pleasant View Elementary School. That's not to say that there aren't discrete areas of Franklin where a pseudo-grid exists; it's a huge suburb. However, this is a city built for FAST CARS, and woe to you if you are elderly, differently-abled, or a kid. Further information (with maps and illustrations) The Collector Road: http://fullyarticulated.typepad.com/sprawledout/the-collector-road.html Roads as sewers: http://fullyarticulated.typepad.com/sprawledout/roads-as-sewers.html

If the Segway could gain a foothold as a Zipcar-type shared device, we'd see them all over the place downtown. My eyes would have popped out of my head if I would have happened upon you and your Segway here in Franklin ....

I learned recently that the Franklin Public Library has a nice bound archive of HUB newspapers that you can look at.

That sounds like a bit of nirvana, David. Next year my daughter starts high school right across the street from us - however, it's about six or seven city blocks door-to-door (HUGE parking lot, etc.). Hopefully, we can make a habit of walking together once a week or so. Then again, what high schooler wants to walk with their dad to school?

Pardon my lack of subject-verb consistency in that last sentence.

A man-made physical blight is bad enough when it disfigures the land it occupies, but these acres-wide Wal-Mart megaplexes are destructive for blocks and blocks beyond the area upon which it sits.

I see your point, but the cleanup accounts for "only" $1.8 million of an estimated $3.05 million in costs to the city. That estimate does NOT take into account infrastructure and utility improvements that the city will have to make and maintain in order to serve the Wal-Mart megaplex. You can be sure that Wal-Mart will enumerate their requirements and expect the city to deliver. Consider road/street costs alone - lights, turning lanes, etc. Then add in the new wear-and-tear on existing roads and streets nearby. Wal-Mart's tiny $275,000 in annual property taxes will not even cover that aspect of the impact. And, the already-strangled school district, which relies on property taxes for funding, will see NOTHING from this investment until AT LEAST 11 years have passed. Believe me, 11 years is very, very optimistic. The tax revenue-per-square-foot of these retail monoliths is pitiably TINY compared to a much smaller multi-story, multi-use structure. On top of that, you can count on detrimental effects to surrounding businesses that pay family-supporting wages. No, the city of South Milwaukee has been taken for an expensive ride.