The poetic expression of a McMansion slum
Excess and faith in markets have created our worst enemy as a society. A permanent culling of profitable, long-term agricultural land being used for short-term profit. This could be the end of society and is a perfect example of why capitalism is, in fact, not the best allocator of resources. Instead, we have pavement and homes for pavement and homes' sake. They now sit empty, breeding crime, urban decay, and heartache. Dreams are shattered, people are taken advantage of. This is what happens when your house becomes a slot machine rather than a home.
A part of me wants to say these developers, investors, and consumers get what they deserve. But what good is that? That doesn't help anyone. This is just an expression of social, environmental, and economic misery.
Slumburbia - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com:...look at the cities with stable and recovering home markets. On this coast, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and San Diego come to mind. All of these cities have fairly strict development codes, trying to hem in their excess sprawl. Developers, many of them, hate these restrictions. They said the coastal cities would eventually price the middle class out, and start to empty.
It hasn’t happened. Just the opposite. The developers’ favorite role models, the laissez faire free-for-alls - Las Vegas, the Phoenix metro area, South Florida, this valley - are the most troubled, the suburban slums.
What is the solution? Smart growth, the principles of sustainability, and a measured, long-term focus. It isn't necessarily government oversight, but community involvement does help. The problem, I've learned, with both government and community is that you get power players and the vast majority of people simply don't have the time or inclination to deal with it--they're doing their best to keep their head above water as it is without thinking about long-term impacts of their decisions. This is precisely why we created the representational government structure we have.
We need to make sure we're not culling our breeding hen (as an analogy) because that guarantees that we'll have nothing to work with in the future. This is a prime example of living off the principal when we need to be living off the interest.
A part of me wants to say these developers, investors, and consumers get what they deserve. But what good is that? That doesn't help anyone. This is just an expression of social, environmental, and economic misery.
Slumburbia - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com:...look at the cities with stable and recovering home markets. On this coast, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and San Diego come to mind. All of these cities have fairly strict development codes, trying to hem in their excess sprawl. Developers, many of them, hate these restrictions. They said the coastal cities would eventually price the middle class out, and start to empty.
It hasn’t happened. Just the opposite. The developers’ favorite role models, the laissez faire free-for-alls - Las Vegas, the Phoenix metro area, South Florida, this valley - are the most troubled, the suburban slums.
What is the solution? Smart growth, the principles of sustainability, and a measured, long-term focus. It isn't necessarily government oversight, but community involvement does help. The problem, I've learned, with both government and community is that you get power players and the vast majority of people simply don't have the time or inclination to deal with it--they're doing their best to keep their head above water as it is without thinking about long-term impacts of their decisions. This is precisely why we created the representational government structure we have.
We need to make sure we're not culling our breeding hen (as an analogy) because that guarantees that we'll have nothing to work with in the future. This is a prime example of living off the principal when we need to be living off the interest.