< PREVIOUS ] [ 2000 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >
The hot issue in Colorado continues to be growth, and if you could trust the World Almanac, Salida would have plenty to worry about. The Almanac's 2000 edition says that our 1990 population was 4,737, while our 1998 estimated population was 107,301.
That estimate seemed rather accurate on a recent chilly morning when I was waiting to cross D Street to complete my walk to the post office while a cavalcade of huge new spewts and shiny dual-wheeled diesel pickups rumbled by.
But that was just my attitude problem -- any time I have to wait to cross a road, I figure Salida has too many people -- and it did provide some time for contemplation.
Specifically, what is it about growth that bothers us so much? And if we could figure that out, why can't we find some ways to enjoy certain benefits of growth while mitigating the things that bother us?
Salida has grown during the past decade, though certainly not at the 47.7 percent annual rate listed in the World Almanac. At the risk of getting thrown out of the Curmudgeon Club, I can list some benefits:
· A bigger library with expanded resources, open for more hours.
· A brew-pub which makes excellent local beer.
· Half a dozen good signals on the FM dial.
· Improved parks, hiking paths, playgrounds and the like.
What's not to like about more books, beer, music and recreation?
And if Salida's growth followed the existing pattern of
development (front porches, narrow streets, wide sidewalks,
small lots, alleys -- what they call the new
urbanism
although it's not new in any respect), it
could be accommodated without changing the fundamental
nature of the town.
But growth around here doesn't follow that pattern. Salida was designed in 1880 for blue-collar railroad employees who walked to work at the roundhouse and to shop downtown.
Modern development doesn't follow that pattern. If it's commercial, it's in a big box or strip mall, suited for automotive access but not pedestrian convenience, and it's usually a franchise or national chain. If the development is residential, it's on big lots and again, automotive convenience is paramount.
Such developments produce social changes. You greet people on the sidewalk; they're in the way if you're driving. Thus informal social contact is reduced, and we get more and more suspicious, since we increasingly live among strangers.
The profit-exporting national store doesn't support local media, which reduces the amount of local knowledge available, and it probably won't be a contributor when the high-school band needs new uniforms.
Thus growth, which could be a means of increasing both
social capital
and financial capital,
tends
to diminish both -- at least the way that we go about it in
Colorado.
Nor is this likely to change, at least around here.
One current proposal is for something called Trout
Creek Village
along the highway near Buena Vista. One
of the developers told the county planning commission that
the time is right for this project. We've watched
places like Frisco and Silverthorne grow and feel the
potential is here for similar growth.
Yes, and the potential is here for a cholera epidemic, too. If people want to live in the Sacrifice Zone, what's stopping them from moving there? Why must it be brought here?
Another current proposal is for Fawn Ridge,
a
closed-gate community
with about 70 multi-acre house
lots near Poncha Springs.
Why on earth would I want to import people who despise me and my neighbors so much that they want to put up a gate to keep us from driving or walking past their mini-mansions? Couldn't they just buy some moated feudal castles in Europe if they insist on living this way?
And besides, we already have a guarded and gated community in Chaffee County. It's called the Buena Vista Correctional Facility.
Not that prison expansion represents desirable growth, but then again, it looks like a perfect spot for those people who need gates, as well as those who promote Silverthorne and Frisco as models for growth.
< PREVIOUS ] [ 2000 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >