On Aug 20, 12:17 pm, "Amy Blankenship"
Post by Amy BlankenshipPost by PatYes, Amy, this has to do with planning. It has to do with government
interference with planning for the future. I just keep wondering what
the application form for this looks like. I guess it would be some
sort of passport.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227400/site/newsweek/
I think everyone missed the point of my question about your last "No one
will want to comment on this" thread. The point was, since it wasn't
related at all to urban planning, if no one wanted to comment, then that is
only natural. Except, of course, that this forum has nothing to do with
urban planning in all actuality. Which is why it wound up getting so many
comments :-).
True, but you've got to admit, it was at least interesting. And
besides, it didn't have anything to do with bicycling, which was a big
plus.
Lately it's just been "I hate SUVs because I ride a bike threads".
The "infill housing" one deteriorated into arguing over the history of
farming. I don't know about anyplace else, but in NYS the ONLY county
that is gaining in the number of farms is Yates County in the heart of
the Finger Lakes region. There, it's all boutique wineries. The
Amish, too, seem to be expanding. We're growing more and more food,
for less and less money, on less and less land while giving farm
subsidies to huge corporate farmers and rich, "gentleman farmers".
Out here, the Farm Bureau is an ultra-right wing branch of the
Republican party that believes in no taxes for farms, no subsidies for
anyone except farmers, and basically no government except for national
defense and to administer farm subsidy programs (okay, a bit on an
overstatement but not too much). Okay move on with that thread. I've
been staying out of these threads as much as I can because (a) it
doesn't interest me, (2) it doesn't have much to do with planning, and
(iii) you can't convert a zealot. I've even refrained from telling
the bicyclists that I think they make the roadway too dangerous
because they won't ride on the shoulder or sidewalk and people have to
swerve around them and go into the oncoming lane.
Plus, the group had has redefined "urban" as "big cities" not small
cities. There are plenty of "urban" areas with populations under
50,000 or 100,000. At least they all love their cities and hopefully
they will stay there and keep away from me.
Last week I was picking up my son and a friend at Allegany State
Park. I was tieing the canoe onto the van and a woman came over and
asked me to take a picture of here family on here camera. I did.
They said they were from Maryland and asked where I was from. I said
I was from about 10 miles down the road. She said it was so pretty
here -- but there's no economy, so what did I do for a living. I
refrained from telling her that I was a professional saw dust chewer
or I harvested grubs from the hillsides, so I told her what I do for a
living. She was stunned. So I told her that yeah, we have telephones
and internet and email up here now. She just couldn't understand the
whole "small world" thing of being able to work from just about
anywhere -- and that you don't need a big highrise for most things.
Then she asked about housing prices and I told her that THE most
expensive house in the city for sale was, I think, $199,000 but that
there were lots of houses in the $70,000 range she just about choked.
Ahhh, city folk with no real grasp of reality. Now she's back in some
city and I'm still here in Appalachia, so all is good.