Last week Franklin Alderwoman Susanne Mayer arrived at the Common Council meeting with a plan that if successful might have derailed the proposed Ballpark Commons.

Mayer’s resolution to reconsider a vote approving a TIF district for the multi-use development was a colossal failure. Not one of her colleagues stepped forward to second her motion to reconsider.

Her resolution was based on, or so she claimed, a concern that the Ballpark Commons TIF District, a development she voted in favor of just a few weeks prior, was suddenly not financially viable. No one except some malcontents in the audience was on board.

Though not as grand as Miller Park the Ballpark Commons, for a municipality the size of Franklin, is still a monumental deal. Filled with moving parts and stipulations the process is complex. This is one Franklin project where the deliberations moving slowly is actually warranted (but not too slowly, to be clear).

That there are naysayers isn’t surprising.

Speculation behind the scenes is that Alderwoman Mayer had some help coming up with her reconsideration plot that completely bombed. That’s probably true because I don’t believe Mayer is that cunning politically to have mastered the plan on her own.

Someone had to convince her that a) Ballpark Commons was flawed and b) she could provide the remedy. Mayer bought in and quickly concocted, with help I’ll bet, a resolution that left her wearing a four-egg omelet facial.

Here’s the larger issue to remember. Mayer’s catastrophic maneuver was just one salvo. More negativity is sure to come.

We’ve already seen clear demonstrations from the NIMBY crowd they won’t stand for this. Word is they’ve hired attorneys to fight for their cause.

Be prepared. No opposing argument will be considered out of bounds.

It will be too noisy.

Lights will be too bright.

You might actually have, GASP,  cars motoring into and out of Franklin.

We’ll have to build more schools if we build apartments. That’s an odd one to me. A lot of people asserting that are poised to vote for the school referendum in November. So help me out. Is school construction a good thing or a bad thing?

And then some of my favorites.

Wish I had a dollar for every time I heard, “You know it’s on a landfill don’tcha?”

Thanks for the enlightenment.

We will destroy our environment.

We will destroy our children (Yes, I’ve actually heard that).

You’d think Ballpark Commons was going to explode to Smithereens during a 7^th inning stretch one night.

We also should know that the project simply is not going to work. At all. Period.

I’m not sure if that came from a crystal ball or Ouija board.

As stated previously I understand a project of this magnitude will not win everyone over. And I suspect that the tone of the dissenters will, and this is as nicely as I can put it, unfortunate.

Rude. Arrogant. Condescending. Mean. Hyperbolic. Downright false. Supporters of the project need to respond, but with good manners.

And what of Alderwoman Mayer? Is she and her confidant still stinging from that embarrassing defeat? If so will she return with another effort to try to torpedo Ballpark Commons?

This is Franklin, folks. Nothing is too strange.