sprawl.jpgA community member recently forwarded a link to this article entitled “The Next Slum?” from The Atlantic website. The article poses the idea that most Americans today are very aware and concerned about repercussions from the subprime crisis but that this issue is perhaps only the tip of the iceburg of what may actually be part of an oncoming larger fundamental change in American life. The article states,

“For 60 years, Americans have pushed steadily into the suburbs, transforming the landscape and (until recently) leaving cities behind. But today the pendulum is swinging back toward urban living, and there are many reasons to believe this swing will continue. As it does, many low-density suburbs and McMansion subdivisions, including some that are lovely and affluent today, may become what inner cities became in the 1960s and ’70s—slums characterized by poverty, crime, and decay.”

If what this article poses is an accurate account of what may come to pass in our cities, how does this relate to our rural small town setting? Is there any way to control how the “pendulum” swings and to offer lower income folks better alternatives than just the rejected homes of the middle and upper class? If the picture this article paints of the future is inaccurate, what other scenarios are we envisioning for our cities and for our valley? This is a very relevant conversation right now in our county as many folks are working hard to think through these issues. Read about the county rezoning process here.

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