The DFW area. The Big D, with all of its suburban areas, is HUGE. And what makes it a crisis is that the public transit system sucks, as does the highway system.
Drive from one suburb to another, and you can see something more disturbing. McMansion neighborhoods surrounded by WalMart-Kohls-Target-Home Depot shopping centers, with the same chains of restaurants: Olive Garden, TGI Fridays, Starbucks, Red Lobster, blah, blah, blah. Our suburbs are turning into miniature corporate America leaving NOTHING unique or original.
Natch.
The solution is for the people who are bothered by "suburban sprawl" to move either back into the inner city or way out to the country.
"Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds as sung by our commie friend Pete Seeger in 1962:
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
Words and music by Malvina Reynolds.
Copyright 1962, Schroder Music Company
So what to do? Start mandating that we only build high-rises?
And the market dictates what stores/architectural types/etc survive and thrive in America. If folks don't buy the houses, then developers won't build those houses. If people don't shop at WalMart, then WalMart closes its doors.
FWIW, I agree with you about the houses. I absolutely loathe these new subdivisions where every single house looks like every single other house. These folks are in for a rude awakening re: resale value when they try to move. My wife and I live in the newest house we've ever lived in, and it was built in 1952.
The main argument that I hear in favor of these tract homes is the maintenance argument. I disagree. You spend the first five years fighting to get the builder to fix defects related to shoddy construction, after which you begin an artificially accelerated maintenance schedule caused by the same shoddy materials and workmanship.
So - for the most part, I agree with you. But what can you do when the consumer drives the growth?
"Drive from one suburb to another, and you can see something more disturbing. McMansion neighborhoods surrounded by WalMart-Kohls-Target-Home Depot shopping centers, with the same chains of restaurants: Olive Garden, TGI Fridays, Starbucks, Red Lobster, blah, blah, blah. Our suburbs are turning into miniature corporate America leaving NOTHING unique or original."
Such businesses are thriving, so I guess they're meeting the needs of the residents.
However, one needn't live in the suburbs. When my wife and I moved to Minnesota 18 months ago, we found our home in the city of Saint Paul. If we want the big chain stores, we merely have to drive to the nearest suburb. If we want non-chain businesses, they abound in the city itself.
Just last night, we went to a hole-in-the-wall neighborhood bar, had a drink, then walked a few doors down to a small restaurant and had dinner. I had the rabbit stew, and my wife enjoyed a couple of quail. We know the owner of the restaurant, and our waitress lives a couple of blocks from us.
Folks CHOOSE to live in suburbs.
I don't disagree with what you say. Then again, as long as they're building, I wouldn't mind a Chilis or Macaroni Grill. I live in one of NJs last bastions of rural living. But they're putting in a Lowes (we got Home Depot last year), they're putting in a Staples, we just got Marshalls, and Bed Bath Beyond, etc. It's all happening. I think they are gonna build an Applebees. And a big outlet mall is coming if the lawyers ever settle up. Plus there is constant talk of 500 unit developments here or there. Senior housing. Convenience stores (we just got a Quick Check down the road a piece. The commute to the corporate jobs is still 40 miles though, no matter how many stores they put up here near our homes. I figure the sprawl/growth will pay off nicely for me. I'll sell this place in about 8 years or so, turn a hefty profit, and leave the state. Maybe get a place in New Mexico.
My first thought also when I read this article. I disagree with the author, sprawl is a problem.....perhaps if he made the commute from Granbury Tx. to Dallas every morning he would change his tune.
Here's a night-time view of Texas. The blue spotches are the lights of cities and towns.
To give an idea of scale, the distance from the center of El Paso (at the westernmost tip of the state) to the center of Dallas (in the northeastern quadrant of the state) is 643 miles.
I don't think it can be both.
I don't find that disturbing at all.
So true. Arlington, North Richland Hills, Plano, Mesquite. They're almost identical.
I used to enjoy the occasional Saturday shopping excursion but no longer.
Now it's an all day ordeal of traffic jams, big box retailers full of overpriced junk and crowded chain restaurants serving lame food.
*shudder*
I can't wait to get out of here.
you can see something more disturbing. McMansion neighborhoods surrounded by WalMart-Kohls-Target-Home Depot shopping centers
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Yes, this drives me to near psychosis. I lost 35 hours of sleep thinking about it last night.