Something we DON'T need. (cul-de-sac, transplants, house)

[JJG]

America has alot of good points. But this country has so many things that we really, really don't need. Things that, if America didn't have them, we'd be alot better off. A WHOLE lot better off.
Too much Reallity T.V., people becoming famous without actually earning it, people who blame everyone else for THEIR problems that THEY placed on themselves....

But what I hate the most about America is the racism and P.C. police.
It seems that you can't do or say ANYTHING without offending someone. I hate that most people can't get out of the 1960's and accept other races.
Two big problems with race now is: 1. racial profiling Muslums and people from the Mid East. And 2. Illegal immigration.

Now alot of people have a problem with #2. It's become a huge issue over the pass few years and people always accuse those who speak against it as racists. You might not be racist, you could just be scared, or concerned about your country and who enters. But one thing you have to realize if you live here....people will always put you into a category and lable you a racist at one point or another. It happens to everyone here whether you like it or not. And I for one don't like it.

[Dedalus]

Sure. I just do what I started doing in California. I say just what I mean regardless and let them be offended.

[plaidmom]

Wouldn't we be better off without T.V. period?

I'd also like to see fast food, "big box" stores, cigarettes, and "stripper chic" go away while we are at it.

Cars should only be allowed on interstate freeways, not in town and city centers.

And cell phones should instantly and automatically "disconnect" whenever one comes within 20 feet of another live human being.

Darrrrn that felt good! Dedalus, I think you are on to something!

[SteelCityRising]

I'd like to see urban sp-r--a---w----l outlawed in this nation before all of our open space is lost to tract housing and big-box stores! It's so sad to see the beautiful mountainside scenery here in Pennsylvania being ravaged by unchecked sprawl at one of the worst rates in the country as people continue to flee here from NY/NJ to escape these same problems! Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Carbondale, Hazleton, Nanticoke, Pittston, and all of our other core cities in the region have hundreds upon hundreds of vacant homes that could be refurbished again into true showplaces, yet all of our new transplants instead thumb their noses at our existing neighborhoods in favor of our newer, posh, $400,000 "planned communities." While our downtowns are all struggling to survive, the once-pristine Montage Mountain just outside of Scranton's city limits is being scalped to house Scranton's second major big-box retail corridor with the area's third Target, fourth Lowe's, major "lifestyle center", etc.!

As our core cities continue to empty and our suburbs sprawl themselves even further outward, all that is occurring is a loss of open space, an increase in traffic congestion, the destruction of natural habitats, additional taxes to pay for new schools, infrastructure, etc. Why can't you NY/NJ people consider giving SCRANTON itself a chance instead of insisting on tearing down an acre of trees in Clarks Summit or Moscow for your new "mansion?" Please don't let us become the next North Jersey!

[bmurphy]

I hate being mean but SWB, it's what people want. They want big box stores. They want all that stuff. As long as they want it, it's gonna happen. People couldn't care less about land or trees being preserved.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by bmurphy

I hate being mean but SWB, it's what people want. They want big box stores. They want all that stuff. As long as they want it, it's gonna happen. People couldn't care less about land or trees being preserved.

Very true. I'm also an advocate of freedom of choice, and if the masses want big-box retailers, tract housing, fast-food restaurants, neon signs, gridlock, etc., then the government shouldn't intervene to tell them they can not enjoy these options. I'm just tiring of feeling like I'm the only one who wants to move into an existing neighborhood in either Scranton or Wilkes-Barre after graduate school to raise my family within walking distance to anything we could ever possibly need. 99.9% of the people in our area are abandoning our very liveable cities in droves and fleeing to these new large-scale housing developments on the hillsides (which is also why I think flooding issues have worsened so much in the past several years, but what do I know?) If people want this, then I'm not going to stand in their way. After poring over hundreds and hundreds of threads on various state forums though, I'm beginning to realize that urban sprawl is still, sadly, "the wave of the future."

[bmurphy]

Believe me, it's happening EVERYWHERE. There's virtually no area with people in it where urban sprawl is not occurring to some degree. Most people -- I would say 90-95% -- don't care what we tear down. It's all convenience. The more shops and stores a city has, the better for them.

Preserving land is pretty but it doesn't do much as far as practicality. Unfortunately, that means that most empty land in most places is going to diminish rapidly.

[plaidmom]

Originally Posted by bmurphy

I hate being mean but SWB, it's what people want. They want big box stores. They want all that stuff. As long as they want it, it's gonna happen. People couldn't care less about land or trees being preserved.

Sometimes though, don't you wonder :

A) What people reallywant
B) What people have come to accept
C) What people have been programmedto believe they want (see "T.V." listed above)???



This may be too deep for this board, but I think about this kinda stuff a lot.
It seems to me that too many people go about life mindlessly, almost as if in a dream.

I, for one, do not want a life like that.

But, that's just me.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by bmurphy

Believe me, it's happening EVERYWHERE. There's virtually no area with people in it where urban sprawl is not occurring to some degree. Most people -- I would say 90-95% -- don't care what we tear down. It's all convenience. The more shops and stores a city has, the better for them.

Preserving land is pretty but it doesn't do much as far as practicality. Unfortunately, that means that most empty land in most places is going to diminish rapidly.

As a budding urban planner myself, I've read many books on this issue. My favorite is probably Thomas Hylton's "Save Our Land; Save our Towns," which highlights PA's uncontrollable addiction to sprawl, the negative consequences of it (segregating social classes and races, increasing our dependency upon foreign oil, abolishing mixed-use zoning areas, loss of open space, demise of traditional Main Streets, etc.), and case studies of other cities in the Pacific Northwest that have been successful at curtailing unchecked sprawl through "growth boundaries." Whenever I mention any of this stuff to the locals, I get a "Derp" type of reaction, even though I think, as our population will soon be soaring with new transplants from NY/NJ as the Pocono Mountains continue to "fill up", long-range urban planning is an essential focus for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area at this point. With an upcoming medical school, commuter rail line to NYC, affilliation with the NY Yankees, cargo airport, Wall Street West, etc., our area is only going to become more attractive to new residents in the upcoming years. Where we try to lure them to relocate is another matter entirely---onto cul-de-sacs or into revitalizing core cities?

[plaidmom]

Preserving land is pretty but it doesn't do much as far as practicality

Uhm, unless one likes to, you know....breathe...and stuff.