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Growth in Colorado is getting to be such a serious issue that even the governor has noticed it. Roy Romer issued a nine-point plan which emphasizes local initiative, with each community defining a vision of how it would like to look 50 years hence.
Don't dismiss that as mere Democratic trendy feel-good
stuff. My state representative, Ken Chlouber of Leadville,
is a hard-core Republican. During the campaign, he said
We need some state land-use planning, maybe a 50-year
plan.
Appealing as these half-century notions may sound to the better angels of our nature, they can't represent much more than wishful thinking.
Why? Suppose the Utes had gathered in 1855 for a Visioning Conference to decide how they wanted their communities to look 50 years hence, in 1905.
Imagine leaders of the five Colorado Nuche bands, gathered around a council fire on the Western Slope.
For the past 50 summers, the Dog Eaters and Finger
Cutters have been pressing in from the direction of the
rising sun,
an elder begins. If they were to ally
with their friends the Cruel Serpents, then they might
force us out of our Shining Mountains.
Man with Forked Tongue, who was blessed with a natural
talent for foreign policy, explained that in his recent
negotiations with those nations, all they really want is
the chance to cut lodgepoles in the foothills, and to go on
occasional hunts in the mountains when game is scarce on
the plains. They will push for more, of course, but our
young warriors are strong, and I believe we can hold the
line against them for another 50 summers.
The elder turned to Many Thunders, secretary of defense.
Forked Tongue speaks the truth, for a change. The Dog
Eaters and Finger Cutters are not mountain people and they
quickly retreat. Our soldiers fight well even against real
warriors like the Comanche, Navajo and Apache. Truly we are
in a good position to hold the territory given unto us by
Sinawaf at the beginning of time.
After the pipe went around, Squint Eyes, director of
finance, spoke up. Because of an increase in the number
of White Eyes passing through, we have been able to sell 20
percent more captives for ransom annually at the Taos Trade
Fair. Overall wealth has thus increased; we have many more
horses now.
We know that,
the elder interrupted. But what
of the future, Squint Eyes?
If this commerce continues to grow at its present
rate, by 1905, then every Nuche will own 157.3 horses, and
we will truly enjoy some Shining Times.
In Ute circles, it was rude to interrupt, but Many
Thunders did so anyway. But then we would become an
attractive target for the Comanche. As it is, we are fairly
safe from their raids because we have so little. We could
never support a force sufficient to defend so many
horses.
Squint Eyes pondered that. My brother speaks the
truth. But perhaps we could sometimes trade for fire sticks
instead of horses. Then our land would be secure for time
evermore.
Alas for the Utes, there were outside forces, and long before 1905, they were out of the picture. No matter what they might have envisioned for themselves in 1855, it didn't matter after 1858 when the invasion came.
Perhaps we're better informed than the Utes were, but if so, it's a recent development. I happened across an old Chaffee County planning document from 1967. For the next 25 years, it said, the county should continue to base its economy on mining and the railroad.
By 1992, the end of that 25-year vision, mineral prices had collapsed and the train had long since quit stopping hereabouts. There were even rumors that the Royal Gorge main line might be abandoned.
The people who drew up that 1967 plan were concerned and knowledgeable. But there were emerging forces -- a global economy wherein steel for America would be made in South Korea rather than Pueblo, corporate mergers and acquisitions -- that they couldn't see, any more than the Utes would have foreseen a gold rush caused by the Panic of 1857 that the White Eyes didn't see coming.
So you wonder now. What's the point of a small town
improving its downtown if Wal-Mart decides to open on the
outskirts of town? The community vision
may call for
a vital commercial core; mainstream America has other
plans.
Or consider growth control. Boulder enacted growth limits years ago with the idea of keeping the city an attractive place to live. It was so attractive that real-estate prices shot up.
People who worked in Boulder couldn't afford to live
there, so the growth went to Longmont, Louisville,
Lafayette, Superior, Marshall and Erie. They commute to
jobs in Boulder, creating traffic and pollution which makes
Boulder less attractive. Could anyone honestly say that the
application of an old vision of a right-sized
Boulder actually prevented growth problems?
As the Ute parable demonstrates, community visions can't be much more than pipe dreams. They're interesting, but you've got to wonder what forces might be lurking outside the flickering light of our little campfires.
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