| Political winds change quickly in our great country. One constant seems to be that the majority of Americans get what they want. It was 1973 and we were hysterical about energy shortages. People fought to get gas to keep their rig on the road. Reaction resulted in efforts for greater energy, selfsufficiency. Conservation was stressed, with people urged to use less (more efficient cars, car pooling and mass transit). These ideas were logical and for a time adhered to. It wasn't long before we resumed our old habits. The American way seems to be freedom to go where we want, when we want, and buy what we want. The consumer is an 800 pound gorilla.
Today, 28 years later, we have all the car makers selling SUVs on truck chassis' that are powerful, big and inefficient. There is little said about this issue, because it reflects the will of our consumers who are also voters. We live in a free(ish) market economy, and in a democratic republic (republican democracy?) The latest hew and cry is about who is doing what to whom about water and power. Government agencies blame the corporations and vice versa. Nobody dares to blame the consumer.
An issue that to me far exceeds these In importance is government's role in housing and landuse planning. Hearing little outward antagonism from private property owners and home buyers, government bodies at all levels have decreed that people are to repopulate our urban areas. Rural lands are to be off limits for subdivision. Future new housing is to happen in cities where infrastructure already exists and people are close to shopping and transportation. These too are logical (if unrealistic) concepts. What landuse planners and politicians are not seeing is paragraph one above. Consumers are going to demand what they want, and legislation is easy to change.
Americans escaped from the cities after World War II as quickly as their means permitted. They wanted as much house as they could afford and some grass and privacy for their families. This desire has not changed in the past 50 plus years. Consumers are going to demand that they be permitted to buy as much housing as they can afford. There is going to be reluctance to be pushed back into urban areas, no matter how much positive spin is given to doing so.
For politicians and landuse planners, the message is: 800 pound gorillas don't like to be irritated. It is time to take a more realistic approach to future lauduse. Ponder these ideas with me while we tool down the road I'm the guy in the black pickup.
Mark Williamson
Port Orchard. |
