Great essay on downfalls of development

“I read this essay on High Country News, a paper on mountains, environmental culture and the like.

It talks about how you move some place you like and then it -- and you -- become all those things you don't like. I found it very true, whether a mountain town, or in my own small, rural downtown area and the "urban sprawl" starting to happen here.

How I Lost My Town by George Sibley”

“That thing was way to long, but a good read. I saw a lot of what happened to our small town in that too and I could relate to it having come from a farm family that loved the land.”

“solution for these towns:
ban Yuppies
ban cellphones
ban 2wd SUV's(as wellas all benz,bmw,lexus suvs)

towns that had this problem:aspen,telluride,frisco,pagosa springs etc”

“Reads like something Ted Kaczynski would write.”

“We're getting a little 'yuppified' round here,too, but not as bad. Actually I'm very lucky to live in my tiny hamlet with the village pub only 600m away - especially as we are only 70km away from a major city (Montreal). But then, it's a pretty kick-ass city too.”

“Do not move to Kansas! All those ugly rumors you have heard about the state don't come close to the real hell-hole that it is. Move to Florida! Move to LA!”

“Is there anyone left up north? Seems like they all moved to Columbia County in the last fifteen years...”

“davex, you forgot to ban Steve Hiker.”

“I second the sentiment, Kleetn.”

“Yeah we're having the same problem. Damn yankees are thicker than fleas on a stray dog around here. We hear them in Walmart and the Winn Dixie all the time. You'll be standing in the check-out line, minding your own business and then this whiney nasal accent will pipe in with crap like, "I wish they would do things here like we did them in Detroit." Then if I was as rude as they are I would turn around and tell them that there are planes, and trains and boats and roads all leading right back from where you came from. And why don't they get their lame asses back home where they belong. We were doing just fine without them.


signed,
a polite and unrepentant Confederate-American”

“Why on earth would anyone want to move to the South anyway?

The only reason the confederate states are part of the U.S. is because Mexico didn't want them.”

“SH - You're in deep do do if people down there are comparing to Detroit! It's a frickin' mess 'round here....


But, they do have a new Mayor with some pretty good plans.....”

“Q: How do you know when you're staying in a South Carolina hotel?









A: When you call the front desk and say "I've gotta leak in my sink" and the person at the front desk says "go ahead".”

“The county's population where I live increased in population by 100% in the nineties - 50k to 100k.

I took a walk in the pretty wood across the "rural" road from my house one sunny Sunday afternoon. The bulldozers came the very next day. The woods is now a 160 home subdivision. I've met some of the residents, and they all say they moved there to enjoy the "country". Bastards.

My commute to work gets longer on an almost daily basis. Most of the folks moving down here are either from the north, or the "occupied" city of Atlanta...

Idaho beckons...”

“I grew up in a rural area of NJ. The area where I used to ride my horse or dirt bike is now a golf course surrounded by million$+ homes. I liked it the way it used to be.”

“I own three undeveloped lots in town and ten acres just out of town, in addition my my home.

Bring on the developers! I want a bidding war over my properties. Property values have not risen much since the purchases. Give me a return on investment.”

“Damn, y'all sound old.
Three things in life are certain:
Death
Taxes
Change”

“Everyone complaining about growth should get sterilized IMMEDIATELY.”

“Hey we tried to leave, gordon, but everyone else started raising Hell about it, LOL

(and I know you have lust in your heart for our millions of acres of pine forest... at least the ones we haven't paved over, yet)”

“I live on the edge of 2+ million acres of National Forest and 1+ million acres of commercial forest. 4 Wilderness areas and a National Park within rock throwing distance.

No sidewalks, no traffic lights, and no fast food for at least a 40 minute drive over a mountain pass. Our town is so small we don't have a town drunk, we all take turns.

I'll stay here.”

“Christ. Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the fncking Peace Corps.”

“But that's the 'beauty' of sprawl, gordon. You don't have to move a muscle; it'll come to You.

Just give it time.”

“"Why on earth would anyone want to move to the South anyway?

The only reason the confederate states are part of the U.S. is because Mexico didn't want them."
gordon
02:08:54 PM
03/20/02

I loved living in the South until about ten years ago. There are still great things about the people, the weather, and the land that make it desirable to reside here. A new house here that sells for $250,000 would cost you $750,000 or maybe even a cool million in California. Land is still available and relatively cheap ($5,000 to $10,000 an acre)although the price for a lot on one of the big lakes like Keeowee or Hartwell will cost you upwards of a hundred grand.

And that's the trouble, rich retirees from the Snow Belt have discovered the inexpensive housing, great weather, and low taxes. We have whole subdivisions of yankees in these great big $300,000 homes on postage stamp sized lots. This is on land I used to quail hunt just 15 years ago. The traffic is terrible to us (Southerners) but the yankees are used to it. And to make things worse (thanks to Clinton), the Mexicans have also discovered this place and they seem to want it too. They're invading the South in droves.

So Gordy why don't you tell me where you live. Then me and the rest of my Southern redneck cracker buds will come move in on you. Maybe we might even teach you poor yankees how to cook real BBQ.”

“southerners don't know how to BBQ if it's not a 'dillo. Tex-mex = phony-mex.

A southerner is one who thinks a evening of dining and entertainment with a lady is taking your ex-wife to eat a corn dog at a tractor pull.

If there was a back door on the alamo there would not be a texas today.”

“I think the folks in Northern California are great, but why they put up with gordon... I'll never know.

Rednecks are not constrained by geography --- he's living proof, LOL! All the goobers around here agree with HIS views on environmentalism.

Enjoy that tractor-pull...”

“The Washoe Valley (Reno) has about 200,000 right now. According to the newest population and expansion report by 2030 the population will exceed 600,000.
Question 1. Where will they live.
Question 2. Can the proposed volume of traffic continue to move freely on existing roads.
Question 3. Will there be any open space left in the valley.

I can only hope that the report is way off the mark.”

“Whadafuh does TexMex have to do with BBQ?

New Jersey is the nations only state classified as 100% urban.

Vermont is the nations only state where the majority (50%+) of the residents are classified as rural inhabitants.

Montanna is 100 times the size of Rhode Island, at about the same population.

California has the highest percentage of non-native residents.
Pennsylvania has the lowest. These stats are from the early nineties, and prolly dated.

In the nineties, Georgia lost 1 million acres to development, Texas 1.5 million, and Pennsylvania 2 million.

When flying into Atlanta, vast tracts of red dirt (development) can be seen beginning as far away as AL, TN, and SC.

Wyoming, at about 70k square miles (estimating), has a population about equal to Macon, GA - 1/2 million.

By the year 2025, metro Atlanta's population will be equal to Manhattan's.

In the nineties, Atlanta's population grew by the equivilant of adding a Birmingham, AL.

Even though Georgia's population is growing at a dramatic rate, an appreciable percentage of the state's counties are dropping in population as the residents flock to the regional hubs of Albany, Brunswick, Augusta, Macon, etc, in search of jobs. Much of the abandoned land is being used for farming and timber production.”

“Atlanta is exactly what you DON'T want an urban area to become. I never really understood what they meant when everyone was talking about growth, growth, growth in ATL. The, on assignment to cover a tanker truck spill on the highway, I went up in a helicopter by Lake Lanier and I saw, for the first time, the endless horizon of #&%!$tie, cookie cutter homes and I understood. County planners in Gwinnett, Cobb and Fulton counties fecked up BIIIIG time. They ruined a cool city and South's last hope of ever being respected on a national level.”

“There's nothing at all respectable about the entire South?


I was at a local Chili's restaurant the other day when a traveling couple from Michigan asked me "whattafuhs going on around here?" I welcomed them to Henry County, and informed them that they were seeing first-hand what is meant by "boomtown".

Here's one advantage, I suppose. Metro Atlanta (and points beyond) has the worlds largest toll-free dialing area - prolly 15,000 square miles.

Say what you will, I still LOVE to drive the freeways around here (except during rush hour, natch). It seems that every time I drive through other cities, I end up conducting classes on how to get from point A to point B with some degree of efficiency. "Move over, grandma!"”

“There's a lot I love about the South. But I think it has a stigma, most recently from the 60s civil rights stuff, that cast a negative shadow on the region as a whole. I believed Atlanta was a chance for the region to show it could play with the big boys, be a progressive metroplitan area and show the rest of the country that the south isn't a bunch of hicks waving around the stars and bars, drinking Dixie, giving rebel yells and fitting the stereotype that still permeates today. Instead they opted to invest in crummy design with no vision and as a result, produced just another suburban craphole with a souless downtown. IMHO, they blew it.”

“That is soooooo,
uh...
sixties.

Seems to me that the majority of civil unrest has most recently occured in places like NYC, Cincinatti, and LA.


Why does Atlanta (or the South in general) need to "show" anybody anything? As far as I'm concerned, people who still believe the stereotypes of yore simply need to get out more...”

“I agree with ya Gojo. I'm just saying what I think based on my interactions with people from around the country. Half the dumbasses I talk to think ATL is located on the coast!!”

“Gordy,
You don't know crap about the South. You're just like all the other bigots getting their facts and opinions from TV and the movies. Come on down and we'll invite you to a real pig picking. We'll be as nice to you as anyone you've ever met. But leave the South bashing trash talk at home. We're tired of hearing it and to be honest, I'm not sure I could bail you out of a serious ass kicking if you didn't keep your mouth shut.”

“Finally!!!

Somebody has some backbone.”

“Northern California sucks. The northern Sierra Nevada mountain range is highly over-rated. Further north, the reason the Trinity Alps & other areas are so sparse is that they are truly terrible places to visit, let alone live.

We have tax problems, education problems, and, I can assure you, every single complaint you've ever heard about California is true.

I wish everyone well, but sincerely think you should stay where you are. Don't come here, this is a miserable place.”

“I'll be moving to northern California as soon as I can. In fact, I'll be on a land buying expedition this summer. But I want some land (1000 acres)where I can cut down all the trees on it. That way I can see the great vistas. Nothing like mountain forest scenery.

Thanks for the tip wanderer! :)”

“The California state motto is

"The Granola State"

Everyone is a fruit, a flake, or a nut.

But all seriousness aside, Californians will be the ones laughing when the big earthquake hits and the rest of the U.S. sinks into the Atlantic Ocean.”

“Application to Live in California

Name________________________________________

Name of your stockbroker________________________

Name of your personal trainer_____________________

Name of your plastic surgeon______________________

Name of your divorce attorney_____________________

Number of children named Muffy, Bambi, or Sierra________

Name of their private school____________________________

Number of pro-environment bumper stickers on your SUV_________

What is your favorite white wine?_______________________________

What temperature do you keep your hot tub?________________________

How many shares of tech stocks do you own?______________________

How many pierced body parts do you have?
Above waist____________ Below waist___________

What is the immigration status of your maid and/or nanny? (check one)
legal (_) illegal (_)

How much is the second mortgage on your ski condo?____________________

Favorite pastimes

(_)Buying art (_) Appraising antiques

(_)Attending political fundraisers (_)Wine and cheese tastings

(_) Laying in a tanning booth (_)Complaining of urban sprawl

(_)Attending movie openings (_)Sipping fruit juice at private gym

(_)Attending environmental rallies (_)Catered outdoor parties”

“Having lived in California, I can validate that it is a genuine utopia.

Except for the people of course.”

“California has given me a good income in a great place to live. Post-retirement I intend to move to a cheaper place with no state income tax.”