I think about this a lot… You might already know that I’ve worked in commercial real estate development for over 25 years. I came up through accounting and finance, and long ago learned important investment concepts like opportunity cost, time value of money, capital cost and risk premium.

But did you also know that after graduating from Northern Illinois University (summa cum laude), I undertook post-graduate study there in accountancy? … I confess that I never finished this. My primary motivation was to buy time so that I could directly assist in the home birth of my first child. I worked in the hospitality industry as a night auditor for University Guest Rooms, and studied obstetrics in addition to my accounting theory texts.

At that time, I was also deeply involved in the local community food cooperative – Duck Soup Coup. So naturally, I gravitated to studying “human value” and “ecological value” in my accounting theory work. That’s when I first recognized how significantly flawed are current financial reporting systems. Only reporting value for “financial capital” and ignoring these other economic values? That’s ridiculous! We all know that human resources are an investment. We all know that pollution creates a cost upon our society. But financial statements don’t reflect this, and bad decisions are made as a consequence!

By the time I got involved in real estate, I had also connected these values to the importance of “quality of place” in our quality of life… Quality of place affects people at their soul. In my mind, “quality places” are inviting, welcoming and comfortable, soothing or enriching, and appropriate to their surroundings. Like human value, quality of place has value too – even if it is not recognized in the equation.

One of my joys in working for The Fiore Companies over the years has been the opportunity to participate in developing a number of really nice additions to the community. These developments have all been authentic in material and design, functionally practical, and appropriate to their place. Fiore earns a modest return and the projects work. I’m proud of this.

Most recently I’ve been thinking a lot about “home” and “roots.” I just returned from “a trip of a lifetime” where I saw my daughter marry a great guy in Ireland, toured the country, and felt a deep connection with my family history… We stayed three nights in Ennis – a 750 year old city that has held a weekly farmers market every Saturday since obtaining permission from the King of England in 1609! While there, I mentioned to a wonderful Irishman – Paul Corey (who photographed my daughters wedding) – that I thought it must feel amazing to be surrounded by so much history. And he said, “Sure, but we are all just humans right?” That made me really think about how “my people” are from Chicago (by way of New Orleans, Canada and Roscommon), but my place is now here in Madison Wisconsin – my home for the past 30 years – and the birthplace of both my children with Aszani.

I live on a street named after an insightful urban planner (Phil Lewis) who long ago foresaw a future where Madison and Chicago are part of a continuous megalopolis. He thought we should recognize this and plan accordingly – protect our environmental resources by building vertically. Chicago – Milwaukee – Madison already form a single regional triangle, don’t you think? … I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago – Chicagoland. But from a broad perspective, Madison is also part of Chicagoland – it’s one region.

Likewise, Madison’s metropolitan service area (MSA) includes all of Dane, Columbia and Iowa Counties. That’s Madisonland! The political boundaries between Madison and surrounding communities are simply historical anachronisms. We’ve got to recognize this because, in the end, we will rise and fall together. So I am hopeful that in the future we will work together for the common good within “Greater Madison”!

This is a very good place… it’s worth nurturing!