tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post779063425790269103..comments2023-11-05T04:34:10.303-05:00Comments on The Naked City: EPA video spotlights Charlotte, DilworthUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-9740383900233292682010-02-02T06:30:40.919-05:002010-02-02T06:30:40.919-05:00Experts have talked about this before. How many ti...Experts have talked about this before. How many times have you read about the importance of ‘adding value’ for your audience? How many times have you read about ‘building trust’ with your readers/prospects? <br />Many, many times. You know it well. Every marketing guru has spoken about this topic. I’m sick of hearing it. But it STILL bears repeating. <br /><br />www.onlineuniversalwork.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-8587093142369836062010-01-20T14:54:50.384-05:002010-01-20T14:54:50.384-05:00"My gripes with government - federal, state a..."My gripes with government - federal, state and local - is that there is not one single task in this world that government can do as efficient, expiditious or cost-effective as the free market or private business/citizens. And I definitely feel that if there were private companies building mass transit options, they'd cost less than half of what they do with government building them."<br /><br /><br />And that's something both sides of the aisle will agree with!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-73102184882954731562010-01-20T13:05:14.363-05:002010-01-20T13:05:14.363-05:00Anon 1/19 09:01 - I'll confess that I can'...Anon 1/19 09:01 - I'll confess that I can't tell if you are agreeing with me or calling me an idiot. <br /><br />I do believe most elements of the New Deal need to be done away with. I'm not saying "let Grandma fend for herself" as much as I'm saying that caring for the elderly and/or disabled is better accomplished by charitable groups and persons. What if the only way we could assist Haiti was to send a check to the US Treasury in Washington, and Washington would dispense the aid? I'll tell you - Haiti would get about 25 cents for every dollar donated, and they wouldn't get any help until at least 2011. About 6 or 7 years ago, Mark Packer announced on WFNZ that he ran into an executive from a local food bank, who told him that they were at least 1,000 turkeys short of giving all the families they serve a Thanksgiving dinner. So Packer started the "Street Turkeys" event, and that first one, on less than a week's notice, got 1,200 turkeys, plus tons of canned goods and a big load of cash donations. If people could keep all the money they earned (i.e. if consumption were taxed instead of income), I believe that individual citizens would answer the call to groups like that who attend to the needy.<br /><br />My gripes with government - federal, state and local - is that there is not one single task in this world that government can do as efficient, expiditious or cost-effective as the free market or private business/citizens. And I definitely feel that if there were private companies building mass transit options, they'd cost less than half of what they do with government building them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-39343950091300583682010-01-19T13:45:50.747-05:002010-01-19T13:45:50.747-05:00Do they spoof in North Carolina?Do they spoof in North Carolina?consultanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06212860754280555647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-77565047962015742392010-01-19T10:15:12.803-05:002010-01-19T10:15:12.803-05:00Spoofer,
You may need to inform Consultant that y...Spoofer,<br /><br />You may need to inform Consultant that you are only "spoofing", or what "spoofing" is, so that he won't misunderstand.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-20924468482819772442010-01-19T09:53:01.755-05:002010-01-19T09:53:01.755-05:00Hey, consultant!
Do you know what the phrase &qu...Hey, consultant! <br /><br />Do you know what the phrase "tongue-in-cheek means"? Look it up, and then reread the droll commentary you criticized. For someone with liberal views, you sure take things literally. Talk about showing ignorance!<br /><br />And yes, I know the name of the capital of North Carolina.<br /><br />It's Really.Or spelled something like that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-44818711197700049382010-01-19T09:43:53.089-05:002010-01-19T09:43:53.089-05:00From the future Online Observer, Jan. 19, 2030:
...From the future Online Observer, Jan. 19, 2030: <br /><br />City officials have announced that they are seeking state and federal transportation funds to build 500 new helicopter pads across central Charlotte to accommodate commuters who insist on living in Linville, Myrtle Beach and Mount Airy, but working in Charlotte.<br /><br />“We’ve become financially overwhelmed and need to look elsewhere for help”, explained Mayor Anthony Foxx, Jr. <br /><br />“We had hoped to curb urban sprawl back in my father’s day and age. We thought a solution had been found when conservatives hijacked Congress in 2010. They, as you know, immediately ceased funding of all public transportation initiatives – roads and rail travel in particular. We figured folks would now move to where their jobs were, accept denser multi-use development, and eliminate unnecessary travel.”<br /><br />“But apparently where there’s a will there’s a way,” noted the mayor. <br /><br />Charlotte now has an estimated 10,000 helicopters occupying its air space as this region continues to stretch the boundaries of suburbia. Yet elderly President Limbaugh’s stand on the role of government may offer no financial solution to Charlotte and other cities.<br /><br />“We’ve held off levying an income tax on Charlotte employees for decades. But given that the region’s aero-commuters do not pay anything toward support of the very infrastructure that houses their source of wealth, we felt that at the very least part, of their federal income tax money should come back to us for that purpose,” said Foxx.<br /><br />Limbaugh and members of the political group Stop Taxing Us Please In Dollars (STUPID) vow to fight that proposal.<br /><br />City council and county commissioners took major steps last year to reduce infrastructure and operational costs by building a wall around Char-Meck and requiring non-residents who drive or ride light-rail to pay for access. This year, said Foxx, solons are investigating the use of a huge dome to cover the city.<br /><br />Meanwhile, some members of STUPID are vowing to build tunnels beneath the city to reach their jobs, if they can get the federal tax money to do so.The Spoofernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-47297654584424753362010-01-19T09:42:27.164-05:002010-01-19T09:42:27.164-05:00"Yep, the Constitution was intended to be a s..."Yep, the Constitution was intended to be a static, set-in-concrete document."<br /><br />The essence of ignorance. In your world 2 + 2 =6 and George W. Bush was a great President.<br /><br />Do you know the capital of North Carolina? Really, do you?consultanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06212860754280555647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-44048289258745813692010-01-19T09:01:06.490-05:002010-01-19T09:01:06.490-05:00J, I have to agree with you.
Yep, the Constitutio...J, I have to agree with you.<br /><br />Yep, the Constitution was intended to be a static, set-in-concrete document. None of this make-believe that it was designed to be some sort of flexible framework to accommodate the nation’s new growth, new ideas, change and maturity.<br /><br />But the gosh durn liberals started messing things up with those changes. First they wanted the dang Bill of Rights. Then they came up with an amendment that says slaves are not only free, but they can vote! Just where in the original document you reference does it say slaves are free persons?<br /><br />To make things even worse, they amended it to allow women to vote. What ever happened to “keep them barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen”?<br /><br />Then not long after we added a real good amendment to legislate morality and keep Pa away from the liquor bottle, we had to remove it. Wonder why? Durn communists, no doubt.<br /><br />Income tax? Sales Tax? Excise Tax? Tariffs? We don’t need no taxes. We’ll all be so rich from our untaxed income that we’ll gladly donate cash to support any essential services. <br /><br />We’ll just live and work in tiny self-contained communities and never have to drive, fly or travel elsewhere, or use facilities in other communities. And we’ll never get old and never die.<br /><br />The Great Depression messed up the Constitution. The government got into all kinds of places it shouldn’t, claiming it was trying to put folks back to work and stimulate the economy. The very nerve! <br /><br />That big ‘ol war that came along was all that was really needed to solve our problems. Screw FDR! Thank God for Tojo, Hitler and Mussolini.<br /><br />And just where in the original Constitution does it call for Social Security or Medicare and Medicaid? Some leftist slug will no doubt claim that the general welfare clause of the Preamble allows all this crap. <br /><br />But what we really need to do is throw out all the current representatives and substitute good old conservatives, so we can scrap those programs. Let the poor and grandma and grandpa fend for themselves. All we need to do is pass a law giving every indigent and senior citizens 2 acres of undeveloped land of this country so they can grow their own food and raise chickens. That will work, right?<br /><br />And you are right again about roads. The federal government has no business being in the road business. <br /><br />We had turnpikes and toll-roads back in the early 1800s. They were privately owned. If folks want to expand I-485 and I-77, or Providence and Statesville roads, we just need to turn them over to entrepreneurs. They’ll fix things up and be quick about it, right? It only took 100 years to go from pikes to an interstate highway system.<br /><br />Yep, this conservative has his. I’ll be damned if I’m letting anyone else get theirs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-13442636905316866462010-01-18T16:35:37.750-05:002010-01-18T16:35:37.750-05:00For poster at 2:33--
My property tax bill to CharM...For poster at 2:33--<br />My property tax bill to CharMeck this year was over $4500. My husband pays the city a business tax, we pay taxes on our cars. And we of course pay sales taxes every time we shop. <br />Yet, I'm sure you consider my home to be in the suburbs and that we're the bad guys, as I live far from the center city on a 1/3 acre lot. I'm watching a herd of 8 deer meander through the woods behind my house, as I write.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-16277127030095558712010-01-18T14:33:30.531-05:002010-01-18T14:33:30.531-05:00"People also form much stronger and resilient..."People also form much stronger and resilient communities in small towns and villages as opposed to mass-urban areas or anonymous mass-suburbs. in those places the focus is much more on the family and local relationships."<br /><br />I think you're conflating the symptoms of the last 60 years of US policy with what's 'natural.' <br /><br />Urban neighborhoods are often more tight-knit and "family-oriented" (whatever that means). Ask anyone who grew up in a big city before the 1970s about how much more you feel a part of a community when living in an urban neighborhood than in the anonymous suburbs. <br /><br />The fact is, for 60 years, we've starved the cities, provided easy credit for homes in the suburbs, but not to rebuild homes in the cities...Allowed suburbanites to rape and pillage cities of their economic vitality while giving little back aside from the sales tax on a business lunch. Any wonder the cities decayed? <br /><br />What we need is policies to promote infill development, to make it more attractive to build in the cities than in the suburbs -- just as 60 years of government policy has done the opposite.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-76723846119502183572010-01-18T14:17:14.890-05:002010-01-18T14:17:14.890-05:00Consultant - Email and the internet are tone-deaf,...Consultant - Email and the internet are tone-deaf, so I could easily be mistaken here, but your last post had a certain "I'm better and smarter than you, so let me help you out" aura to it. I'd like to point out a few things.<br /><br />The writers of our Constitution never, not for one second, intended the USA to be a democracy. It was intended to be a republic - a representative form of government. Pure democracy lends itself to mob rule, which the writers rightly determined to be only slightly better than the monarchy they had escaped from in England. <br /><br />Also, the Constitution was written such that the government should have limited powers. You love to criticize conservatives as people who hate government but want government's benefits. It's not that we hate government, we just hate the ever-expanding government that we have been experiencing the last 150 years. The Constitution had to be amended to allow the government to tax our income (the single worst mistake the USA has ever made). And nowhere in the original constitution or the first 10 amendments (the Bill of Rights) do you see any mention of it being the government's responsibility to provide transportation, education, or health care to the citizens. But now, as the government has expanded, people now view those things as entitlements and fully expect the government to provide them. <br /><br />There are legitimate forms of government - the police, fire and other emergency responders, the millitary, and the functions of the judicial branch. <br /><br />When you have a President who says that when the current economic situation was at its worst, "only government can address a situation of this magnitude," anyone who has ever read the entire Constitution should cringe.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-85645233216601780292010-01-18T13:53:32.688-05:002010-01-18T13:53:32.688-05:00The best thing we can do to protect the environmen...The best thing we can do to protect the environment of the USA is to cut off ALL immigration to the nation - otherwise in a few more decades the population of the country will shoot up majorly...500 million, 600 million, 700 million, ..., 1 billion...when does it stop?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-2696128362919543352010-01-18T06:16:50.751-05:002010-01-18T06:16:50.751-05:00The history of black people in the US is somewhat ...The history of black people in the US is somewhat different than the previous poster would have us believe. Family structure was 'excellent' until relatively recently, and still is in many cases. Neighborhoods reflect ownership and income - as they do with other groups. <br /><br />My personal experience is that black people are more, much more, social than white people. That is the only real difference unless you want to delve into the statistics found in "The Bell Curve" which, while probably accurate, is a portrayal of intellectual capacities and symptoms, not social differences. <br /><br />One other thing - as young men, black men have much more of the male attributes - which places them at odds with established 'old white guy' society. Their abilities in the 'violent' sports of football and basketball are reflective of this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-81224345741618349512010-01-17T23:25:01.759-05:002010-01-17T23:25:01.759-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-72202746406611387912010-01-17T23:07:41.865-05:002010-01-17T23:07:41.865-05:00Mary Lou is right - quite simply, development and ...Mary Lou is right - quite simply, development and 'sprawl' is occurring because the population of the USA continues to grow, as it should because we have a huge nation that still isn't filled up yet. I think the population should be allowed to grow organically though and that almost all immigration should be cut off to the USA and other Western nationd, because right now 3/4 of the Second and Third World would like to pour in to the USA (see Latin American immigrant invasion). Some nations are overpopulated though: China, India, the Netherlands, Belgium, Malta, many Central American countries, and so on. <br /><br />We have a huge bountiful amount of land and resources in the USA - thus why shouldn't we seek to spread out more if we clearly have the land and resources to do so? Many other nations aren't as lucky as us. Why should we live rat-like lives in massively overpriced rip-off crackerbox center-city apartments when there are vast expanses of the USA just waiting to be settled by industrious people?<br /><br />The problem in the modern USA is not overpopulation, but rather over-concentration of populations in urban and suburban areas. <br /><br />As FDR suggested in his above quote back in the 1930s, we should seek to spread out populations much more in the USA. Many Midwestern states are very thinly populated, and a traditional network of mostly self-sufficient small towns could easily be recreated there (or here in The South). Even large parts of eastern North Carolina have been losing population as more and more people leave them due to economic stagnation, and that stagnation is caused by too much money and economic power concentrated (communistically centralized) in urban areas.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-27991988334295088892010-01-17T20:35:11.550-05:002010-01-17T20:35:11.550-05:00"Maybe we should just put our cards on the ta..."Maybe we should just put our cards on the table and come right out with it. People move from central Charlotte to the outer suburbs, or newcomers are directed there by realtors, because they don’t want to live with black people, and because they think black people are morally bankrupt criminals, whose children would rather cause classroom fights than learn. (And Myers Park has pretty good public schools)."<br /><br />Ah yes, I was waiting for that to come out--that suburbanites live where they do because they're all racists. That's a favorite line here in Charlotte. Of course, we all should have chosen instead to live in diverse Myers Park, Eastover, or Dilworth perhaps,or maybe Southpark, where all the good people live. I believe that people who are so certain that others fear blacks are actually projecting onto others their own fears that they don't want to admit. I think there's a lot of that in "old" Charlotte.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-65333805098605309092010-01-17T19:59:29.405-05:002010-01-17T19:59:29.405-05:00Anon @05:54 p.m. wrote: “Many people move the subu...Anon @05:54 p.m. wrote: “Many people move the suburbs when they start having children because the schools are often MUCH better there and also they are also better environments for raising those children - less crime, more greenspace, nicer neighbors, etc.”<br /><br />Let me say I like your ideas for smaller, less dense population centers, although I’m not sure of their practicality. We had such a thing in the late 1800s. Most folks lived in small farming communities. They had a few cottage industries at those crossroads as well. <br /><br />What wasn’t consumed to sustain the local population could be traded thanks to railroad connectivity to larger towns and cities. <br /><br />Back then, there was enough farmland owned by the original settlers to divide among the kids who didn’t want to find jobs in the cities. <br /><br />Problem is, God wasn’t making land anymore, unless you count volcanic activity in the Pacific, but he was (and is) still making people. Way too many if you ask me. <br /><br />One small farm will only sustain so many people. One small cheese factory can employ only so many workers. So eventually the kids, unless they could get Mom and Pop to feed and house them forever, moved to where the most jobs were – the cities. Industry begets more industry. The cities boomed. Pay increased. <br /><br />The grownup kids discovered that money can buy a whole lot of things: nice cars, great vacations, fine clothes, admission to good entertainment, great schools.<br /><br />Initially the city workers lived in neighborhoods according to their place of origin. As they became more affluent, nationality became less important, and they wanted to live with other affluent, up-and-coming folks like themselves. <br /><br />They probably could have banded together in other parts of the city. Some did and still do. But with better roads and automobiles, many fled to the outskirts where they could be with their own kind.<br /><br />I doubt they cared a rat’s patoot about green space as a reason for their exodus. If they had, we’d still have more green space. I doubt it was because the neighbors were “nicer”. The new neighbors may have had the same skin color and spoke the same language, but that doesn’t mean they were “nicer”.<br /><br />I doubt crime was the reason. Thieves follow the money and the loot; so if you’re taking your loot to the country, expect thieves to follow.<br /><br />But you may have hit the nail on the head about “better schools”, if better means less disadvantaged students to deal with. <br /><br />Maybe we should just put our cards on the table and come right out with it. People move from central Charlotte to the outer suburbs, or newcomers are directed there by realtors, because they don’t want to live with black people, and because they think black people are morally bankrupt criminals, whose children would rather cause classroom fights than learn. (And Myers Park has pretty good public schools). <br /><br />They are not sure if they are right about that assessment, but don’t want to spend their tax money on any innovations that might dispel that myth.<br /><br />Yet the same folks are falling over themselves to send financial aid to Haiti. They don’t want to live with Haitians, or go to school with them, or vacation there. But conscience-wise they don’t want anyone to claim they are anti-Haitian. So they assuage their moral predicament by supporting missionary work, or, in a disaster, sending aid. The population grows. The disasters repeat. <br /><br /> Kind of like a feral cat colony I found here in the city. People don’t want the cats (living with them), so they drop them off at the colony. Then they or others feel guilty that the helpless critters are left to fend for themselves in 15-degree January cold snaps. So they drop off food, water and even housing to sustain the colony, the population of which continues to spiral upward.<br /><br />Nothing sacrificed; nothing solved.Mary Lounoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-41010348057116051462010-01-17T19:11:48.862-05:002010-01-17T19:11:48.862-05:00You forget that a large part of the city of Charlo...You forget that a large part of the city of Charlotte is actually "suburbs". I live almost on the union county border (my husband and I work out of our home so don't accuse us of creating traffic issues) yet we are part of Charlotte. However, our area is also looked upon with disdain by some as being "sprawl". For the record I would much rather we were a small suburban town than part of Charlotte. So when you claim that Charlotte is a large population center, remember that much of that population is suburban, with many employment opportunities in the 'burbs'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-41973665725343474402010-01-17T18:37:00.137-05:002010-01-17T18:37:00.137-05:00"Is 'outer mongolia' a civil comment?..."Is 'outer mongolia' a civil comment?"<br /><br />Based on the anti-center city and anti-smart growth comments seen here, is "urban planner" a civil comment?<br /><br />***********************************<br /><br />"...we ship cities untold tons of food, water, and electricity every day, and all they export to us is waste, sewage, and endless paperwork."<br /><br />You leave your suburban house, drive 20 miles to uptown Charlotte where you work or play, and then have the nerve to claim you are shipping Charlottens something of value and we're sending you crap?<br /><br />Did you pay to use our streets to get here? Did you donate the traffic lights and signs? Did you finance the police who protect you while you are here? <br /><br />Seems to me that every time you go to the bathroom in this city, you're the one leaving sewage here to be cleaned up with my tax money.<br /><br />You write "Most cities are tax black holes...seen the latest stats? Many cities are flat BROKE, taking in far more monies than they produce or export."<br /><br />Well, duh, why do you think cities are going broke? It's because the people who just commute here to use the facilities don't pay for them.<br /><br />I'm all for you having your acre lot and house in the country, just as long as you agree to move all the hospitals, arenas, stadiums, entertainment facilities, and offices out there. That way we can drive to you and use them for free, and leave our waste there as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-72196880474924440312010-01-17T18:14:45.955-05:002010-01-17T18:14:45.955-05:00"There are ONLY 60-70,000 jobs downtown in a ..."There are ONLY 60-70,000 jobs downtown in a metro region composed of at least 2.5 million people?"<br /><br />First off, one job translates into the support or presence of multiple residents. Those 70,000 center city jobs impact more than 70,000 people.<br /><br />I don't know from where you are pulling your stats, but in 2007, the area most commonly defined as the Charlotte Metro had a population of 1,701,799, of which 687,000 reside within the Charlotte city boundaries. So to which downtown do you refer? I've been discussing Charlotte and its problems. What are you discussing?<br /><br />There are about 70,000 jobs in center city Charlotte, 30,000 in SouthPark Charlotte, not to mention another 20,000 or so in Charlotte University City. That translates into 120,000 Charlotte jobs that support as many as 480,000 residents in 120,000 dwellings.<br /><br />The problem isn't the jobs. The problem is the sprawl from workers who decide to live 30 miles away from their jobs, and then expect someone else to subsidize their rural existence. <br /><br />Those roads they use to get to their jobs in central Charlotte, the water and sewage infrastructure they use at work, the police, fire and medical facilities require to support their 8-hour stay in central Charlotte eat more of our tax monies. <br /><br />Are you volunteering to pay your fair share?JDCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-84651013370027437302010-01-17T17:54:49.689-05:002010-01-17T17:54:49.689-05:00Just wondering: do any of y'all own or work in...Just wondering: do any of y'all own or work in the real-estate industry, especially in terms of leasing or selling the units of these downtown urban apartment towers? Just in the interest of disclosure y'all ought to tell us if you do, because if so it may be skewing your views.<br /><br />All of the above being said, I agree with the critiques of anarchic suburbanization, rampant misuse of energy resources, the possible breakdown of the supply chain, and so on. Facing the facts, both American suburbia plus urban areas are about equally unsustainable - if the energy supplies of the USA ever become severely interrupted all areas aside from some major port-cities are in for a world of hurt. <br /><br />I agree that people should try to work near where they live as to reduce useless energy consumption. That is why I said in my previous posts that we should rebuild the small to medium-sized town model, or convert suburban subdivisions in to mostly self-sufficient villages wherein most of the people living there work there too. These can be interconnected by a hyperefficient smart grid of highways, trains, and so on to facilitate trade and transportation.<br /><br />Many people move the suburbs when they start having children because the schools are often MUCH better there and also they are also better environments for raising those children - less crime, more greenspace, nicer neighbors, etc.<br /><br />We aren't living in a nation as small, overpopulated, and constrained as, say, the Netherlands or Singapore - the USA is a HUGE place as all us well know. Thus there is going to be a lot of spreading out that occurs because we have plenty of land and resources to do so. There is no reason to live in extremely dense settlements in cities when we have such a vast nation, that is just absurd. Density is often taken to extremes - for instance, the state of New Jersey used to have (until recently) a larger population than North Carolina, despite NC of course being MUCH larger than NJ. That population density of NJ was insane, and if you go up there to that very densely settled state it is not sustainable in any way as you all propose it is - they have paved over everything, thus no local production of food or other necessities can occur there, or at least nowhere near enough to sustain such a dense settlement of people.<br /><br />Decentralization of populations and economies and power is the best long term strategy (it is also the traditional American way of life), because it all reduces the environmental strain of paving over an entire area to cram people in it. Same as decentralizing manufacturing was good because it reduces the mass amounts of pollution created in a single city or area and spreads it out, thus reducing the local impact. Same with human populations.<br /><br />People also form much stronger and resilient communities in small towns and villages as opposed to mass-urban areas or anonymous mass-suburbs. in those places the focus is much more on the family and local relationships.<br /><br />My ideal would be a small town or village arrangement of a few hundred or thousand people surrounded by enough farmland and pastureland to feed or almost feed the entire population of the town - the town or village would be located along or close to a major highway, railway, or river that makes trade and commerce much more efficient. It would also be linked up to the internet for cheap and reliable global communications, or telecommuting for jobs, services, etc. This is very achievable in modern times, the creation of these 'eco-towns' or 'eco-villages'; but first we must work to break the economic stranglehold which major economic and financial centers have over the increasingly communistic (centralized) American economy, the undue concentration of wealth ('money' created out of thin air) in select urban areas amongst the globetrotting and decidedly non-local plutocratic 'skyscraper class.'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-44335036722831086972010-01-17T17:30:30.822-05:002010-01-17T17:30:30.822-05:00And yes, I said communists.
in the USSR and in mo...And yes, I said communists.<br /><br />in the USSR and in modern China, they are forcibly urbanizing people, stripping away from their ancestral lands where people lived self-sufficiently for centuries or even thousands of years. Uprooting them from their ancestral lands to become wage-slaves at the behest of urban plutocrats.<br /><br />In the USSR, those who did not forcibly leave their small towns or rural areas, being herded in to cities by the communist authorities, were even starved out; in Ukraine the Holodomor occurred, with many millions dying from the forced urbanization and collectivization. Same in China during the 'Great Leap Forward' - same pattern of forced urbanization and dispossession.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-78000980597058227782010-01-17T17:27:16.636-05:002010-01-17T17:27:16.636-05:00"At last count, and even given the recession,..."At last count, and even given the recession, there were an estimated 60,000 -70,000 jobs in center city, with uptown employers expected to add another 30,000 over the next 20 years."<br /><br />There are ONLY 60-70,000 jobs downtown in a metro region composed of at least 2.5 million people? Thus the reason why people live and work in the suburbs...they have no other choice, there just aren't enough jobs in or near the city. There are only a few tens of thousands of jobs downtown for a population of millions.<br /><br />And 30,000 new jobs over the next 20 YEARS? Wow...the population of this area has grown by well over 30,000 every year for the last decade.<br /><br />I maintain that modern cities, in this age of internet connectivity and decentralized transportation networks, still take in and use much more than they export; again, we ship cities untold tons of food, water, and electricity every day, and all they export to us is waste, sewage, and endless paperwork. And crime. And far-left politics. Most cities are tax black holes...seen the latest stats? Many cities are flat BROKE, taking in far more monies than they produce or export.<br /><br />Conversely, in the suburbs and countryside manufacturing and agriculture are main industries - most cities these days don't even manufacture anything anymore, they are shells of their former selves. And they of course don't grow food either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601020.post-10698793105277081882010-01-17T17:14:10.686-05:002010-01-17T17:14:10.686-05:00FDR on population decentralization:
The North-Wes...FDR on population decentralization:<br /><br />The North-West, consisting of the States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and the section of Montana west of the crest of the Rockies, offers an opportunity, said the President, 'to avoid some of the mistakes and wasteful exploitation of resources that have caused such serious problems in other parts of the country'. The North-West should not be a land of new 'Pittsburgs'. The President continued: 'It is because I am thinking of the nation and the region fifty years from now that I venture the further prophecy that as the time passes we will do everything to encourage the building up of smaller communities of the United States. To-day many people are beginning to realize that there is an inherent weakness in cities which become too large, and inherent strength in a wider geographical distribution of the population.'"<br /><br />Thomas Jefferson on the evils of cities:<br /><br />"'I view great cities as pestilential to the health, the morals and the liberty of mankind.' That saying was directed against financial and industrial magnates, ambitious politicians and demagogues, who arise in cities and only by cities are made possible. The logical end of metropolitan civilization,and its most complete, one-piece form, is totalitarianism which is confessedly and in action 'pestilential to the liberties of mankind'"<br /><br />- http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/Wrench_Recon/Wrench_Recon_20.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com