GROWING PAINS (sprawl has a good side! duh!)

The Atlanta Journal & Constitution ^ | 9/10/2001 | Staff

[FreedomPoster]

GROWING PAINS
Staff
Monday, September 10, 2001

Metro sprawl has a good side

As metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, battle sprawl, a new study by Tufts University shows some positive sides to suburban growth: more affordable housing and greater opportunities for home ownership, particularly among blacks.

The conclusions of the Tufts study are twofold: Sprawl increases the supply of affordable housing; and restrictions on sprawl under "smart growth" models can reduce the supply.

The research found more affordable housing prices in sprawling metro areas such as Atlanta compared with areas where there is less sprawl. Additionally, the home ownership gap between whites and blacks closed modestly in "sprawling" areas.

However, Phillip Thompson, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology expert on urban planning, told The Boston Globe that the notion that sprawl uniformly increases home ownership is illusory.

Thompson said that more blacks may own homes in metro Atlanta, but the quality and location of the housing stock are less than ideal. "Sprawl increases polarization," he said. "The level of segregation is what you need to look at, and the value of the housing assets that blacks actually have, and where they are."

[FreedomPoster]

The statist "planners" have their panties in a wad over the fact that someone has documented that suburbanization leads to affordable housing. The statists want us all living in nice urban apartments stacked on top of each other, where it's much easier to watch us and control us. There's plenty of land to support suburban living in all but the most crowded areas.

Note also that one of the reasons the statist uses to attack suburbanization is that it increases (racial is implied) polarization. Ahh, so if we live in his urban planned communities, they'll all be multi-cultural utopias! < /Sarcasm> Sorry, but I'm happy here in my brick Federal-style 2-story here in the 'burbs, as are my (successful!) white, black, and asian neighbors. And I doubt any of us wants any Title 9 "planned" housing nearby.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

The conclusions of the Tufts study are twofold: Sprawl increases the supply of affordable housing; and restrictions on sprawl under "smart growth" models can reduce the supply.

Amazing!! These revelations border on the tautological