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Show THE ZEPHYR/ APRIL-MAY 2003 | POINT BLANK "MY FELLOW CITIZENS" The Contradictions that Come from Planning 2 Community By Ray Schoch Creating and maintaining a sense of community is not a concept invented by 21st century Americans. More than two thousand years ago, Plato wrote, "Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber." And a good many Romans, town’s "growth management area." A mere three hundred sixty of those acres are zoned for the sort of housing that might be within the financial reach of ordinary families. a few centuries later, agreed with Horace, who wrote, "Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze." Good communities don’t happen by accident---at least, that’s what I used to think. Then I became a planning commissioner. My fellow-citizens want building codes that require their neighbors to maintain their property, but exempt them from maintaining their own. Our median family of four, with an income of about $60,000, cannot° afford our median home, with a price of about $250,000. This means there’s no place in our community for the agricultural worker, the firefighter, the gardener, the teacher, the municipal employee, the day care provider, the police officer, the retail worker, or the children of our community’s current residents. These people cannot afford to live in our community---only to work in it. One fellow-citizen, a former employee of a high-tech company that moved My fellow-citizens want athletic fields; open space in the form of natural areas and parks; smooth, wide streets; protected viewsheds; excellent teachers in their uncrowded schools; safe and loving day care; cheerful and responsive public service from municipal employees; professional and public-spirited firefighters and police; and they want this to be paid for by someone else. My fellow-citizens want jobs and economic development, as long as those jobs don’t bring more people, create more traffic, necessitate new schools, or require new housing. They’d prefer that the workers for those new jobs live somewhere else---just where else isn’t important---but if new housing has to be built, they want it to be just like existing housing---only better. Most importantly, they want the new, better housing to be built with no more than three houses to the acre, while avoiding spit and preserving affordability and open space. : My fellow-citizens, living in expensive homes on a dee at the west edge of town complain that a new development will spoil their view of the mountains, as if their homes have no effect on the view of those who live farther east. Open space disappears behind the "privacy" fences of "quality" subdivisions filled with big homes on large lots. Parks become athletic facilities (which are not My fellow-citizens, living in expensive homes on a ridge at the west edge of town complain that a new development will spoil their view of the mountains, as if their homes have no effect on the view of those who live farther east... the same thing at all), usable mostly by those young, skilled, or affluent enough to play the proper sport. Commercial development near homes, which gives many “old towns" much of their charm, is frowned upon in “new towns,” where the phrase "corner grocery" has never been heard. Instead, "new town’ residents want a separate shopping center, to which they have to drive, while complaining about the traffic. My fellow-citizens have eleven thousand acres of undeveloped land in our 2 RIVERSIDE into town a decade ago, spoke in opposition to a "moderate-income" development at one of my very first planning commission meetings. He wanted to know when we---the planning commissioners---were going to stop the “Californication” of Colorado, as if his own job with that high-tech company, his home, his Subaru, his moving here—from Connecticut instead of California---had no impact. 366 N. 500 lt only hurts PLUMBING =. oa & HEATING when | move. 259-8324 of Utah 476 East South Temple #154 Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 SPRINGTIME... You can almost feel those roots VE) ete wrapping around Wilderness Medicine FIRST RESPONDER ee Prevention Diagnosis Treatment Evacuation Sunday, MAY 4 to Saturday, MAY 10 in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah COURSE COST: $275 Wilderness Medicine of Utah offers the WFR Certification in February and May. Courses are taught by faculty from the University of Utah School of Medicine and certified instructors from Wilderness Medicine of Utah Residential - Commercial - Sales Installation - Drain Cleaning COMPLETE LINE OF PLUMBING FIXTURES Kohler- Grohe- Mansfield Ejer- Moen - Delta- Sterling- Price Pfister HOT WATER HEATERS- GARBAGE DISPOSALS WHIRLPOOL BATHS - SPAS CONTACT US: 801.915.3832 www.wmutah.org PAGE6 |
