I am Tom Christensen, resident of 1243 Jenifer for almost 30 years.  I am “on the ticket” running for the Willy St. Coop Board.  I ask that you vote for me.  I understand that there are 6 people seeking 5 openings.  So, mathematically, the odds are good I will be on the Board by the end of the Summer.  Watch for the Coop Reader for a list of my qualifications.  I will bring some new thinking, new perspectives, and thus new freedoms to be successful to the Board. 

I do recognize the Board is the voice of the members.  I want to be informed of members’ attitudes, opinions, desires and especially creative ideas.  Following is one set of ideas I will expect the Board to review.  When I offer ideas I don’t expect them to be received by anyone simply as they are.  Ideas are offered into a community for them to become part of a larger conversation.  Out of that pool of expertise, opinion, and related conversations, some version, at least influenced by these ideas gets implemented. So, I ask that you pass these ideas around, reply here, bring the topic up where ever it is entertaining, and send back comments of any kind, to Anya, the Board, and me.  I would particularly like to have feedback to take into my first Coop Board meeting.  Thank you.

There is broad agreement that there are traffic problems associated with the success of our Coop. All Coop internal thinking, that has been revealed to date has been on how to manage this traffic so as to solve some of the traffic problems. I have tried to get Anya and the Board to see the picture in a larger context, beyond just counting cars, and have been, as many of you know, totally unsuccessful.  Maybe this will help.  I would suggest that we do not have a traffic problem. Our problem is that our Coop has morphed from a neighborhood grocery provider, to a Regional Whole Foods provider.  Our Coop has become too big for its location.  Our Coop does not belong, at its current level of operation, where it is.  It simply can’t act as a good neighbor or reduce the problems it is creating unless it is reduced to a size appropriate to its location. 

What could happen is that our Coop be reduced to one third its current size, and limited to operations on the Willy St. half of its parcel.  Another site, such as Union Corners, should be the location of a Regional Whole Foods Center.  More on that site below.   A reduced size Coop would have sufficient space to provide grocery necessities to the neighborhood.  The more specialized items that would be removed from inventory at this location could be ordered and picked up at this site, or travel could be taken to, say, Union Corners.  See below for additional benefits of, and solutions to, reducing Coop inventory.  Our Coop grew on a smaller foot print before, and we can keep it financially healthy on a smaller foot print again.

The Union Corners site, as an example, has extra space that could be converted to organic gardens, either for production of Coop product, or leased out as community gardens to members.  In addition, the Voight farm, near Woodman’s, Milwaukee Street, is less than a mile away.  There is acreage for sale there, and with some combination of rental and purchase a Coop Farm could be developed and more regional food made available thru our Regional Coop Site.  Taking a view farther to the future, the Coop should buy up, say, the Brennan’s business, and locate satellite Coops in all of these tried and true locations.  No, I haven’t asked Brennan’s, but everything is for sale at some price.  And it might be that this larger vision of providing healthy foods to a larger community would justify paying the price.

Back to the current location, the back half of the parcel, consistent with 80 years of neighborhood activism, and the prior zoning on this parcel, would be converted to residential housing.  This would eliminate in the present and in the future our Coop’s current threat to diminish the quality of life, safety, and value of the abutting residential neighborhood.  The housing would be architecturally consistent with the rest of the neighborhood, and would be configured so as to enhance and improve the general residential feel of Jenifer Street.  This would be a real embodiment of serving the value of social-environmentalism, a value I believe members hold as dear as physical-environmentalism.  The housing should be rental, belong to the Coop as an asset, and be limited to those age 55 or older. The parcel would be developed under a PUD that specified minimal parking. The units would be occupied by those who make use of Community Cars, mass transit, and walking or biking to the major service and product providers that are all within 1 block of this location, e.g. groceries, drug store, health supplies, hardware needs, haircuts, liquor, gifts, kitchen supplies, prepared meals, and other misc.   The integration of a significant number of our elders into a neighborhood measuring low on this demographic would add to our diversity and again increase the health of our local culture.  At some point this housing could be converted to a Housing Coop, consistent with the general Coop vision.

In addition to removing the Coop as a Regional Destination, and thus reducing a great measure of traffic to this site, there are many other benefits to our neighborhood in terms of additional business stability, diversity, and employment for neighborhood residents.  All the coop toiletries, and print media  inventory could be expected to be carried by Schaffer pharmacy; its health aids could be provided by Red Sage;  its kitchen supplies, could be provided by The Kitchen Gallery (and yes, I own this, but I won’t for more than another 8 years or so, and it would be a benefit to everyone if I had a thriving business to pass on to the next owner.), and the Jenifer St. Market could be expected to receive a boost in sales.  The Coop would then become a support for, and peer level actor in,  the vision of the 1200 and 1300 block of Willy St as one big business enterprise, where each business thrives because of the growing success of all the others.  Reducing the size of the Coop here, plus adding residents in the new housing,  would be an economic boost, and a socio/cultural-environmental boost, across a broad swath of our community.  And caring for our community is an explicit Coop value . Having more thriving and diverse businesses, is a great improvement over having one large overly healthy business, trying to solve its success problems by diminishing its neighbors.

The Coop has evidenced an isolation mentality recently. This would naturally occur as it grew to the size that its problems demanded a huge focus internally.  We all can remember complaining about the downside of big business.  Well, here we have an example showing that even a business with the highest of values gets naturally absorbed in its own interests as it becomes a big business.  “We have met the enemy and they is us.”, Pogo.   As members, we are responsible for what our Coop is becoming.  Accepting that responsibility,  I have offered above, a solution to the traffic problems, egress problems, and second site concerns, that honors the trend of growth and its contribution to our region.  Further my vision points a way into the future for broader realization of Coop values, and transforms our Coop’s presence from a threat to a broad spectrum neighborhood contribution.  What do you think?

Tom C.

Tom Christensen, Broker SRES, RECS, ABR, GRI, CRS

Robin Kaltenberg, Office Manager

T. Christensen Co. LLC
Central Madison Residential and Investment Real Estate
Solving People's Real Estate Problems Since 1983
1336 Williamson, Madison, WI, USA  53703
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