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| From | "Julie" <daisyknowsrock@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Wal-Mart and urban sprawl |
| Date | Fri, 5 Dec 2003 01:33:51 -0600 |
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preface: my dad founded something at the University of Illinois at Chicago
called "the Urban Transportation Center" and has even contributed a chapter
to a text called "Suburban Sprawl" (by Wim Weivel). He's considered one of
the top public transit people in the country and has been called "mr.
demographics" by some weird organization. so i hear alot about this stuff.
and can also tell you why the CTA sucks in chicago. <g>
Ultimately, one of many things that it all comes down to is that out in the
middle of nowhere (way back when) they "needed" wal-marts, etc. - especially
in nowheresville, Nebraska or wherever in order to attract people to move
there for jobs AND because Mr. Jones' country store was the only place in
100 miles you could go to get bread...
also, in the big cities, walmart expanded to its outer suburbs, in order to
attract frist time home buyers that can't afford to pay more than $125k or
so. Around Chicago this is very significant, considering that a crap 2
bedroom basement "condo" (ie former apartment) in a "up-and-coming" (ie
dodgy) neighborhood can run you 300k. and those 125k starter homes are in
Plainfield, IL - 1/2way to bloomington, IL.
People no longer commute to the city for jobs, they commute 40 miles away
from the city. Dad's actually trying to get the train service to change its
schedules to reflect this, as in the morning rush there are zillions
(including express) trains going IN from the furthest burb into the city,
but one or two an hour going OUT.
He just gave a lecture about this somewhere - Growth in DuPage county up
300% in past 10 years or so - mainly because jobs moving out of big cities.
and although wal-marts were initially created so people in nowheresville,
iowa could get good deals on stuff, they are, indeed ruining the downtowns
of many smaller cities, esp. college towns.
3 years or so ago i worked in sales for a music distributor to indie record
stores. I was SHOCKED when i was told by the couple of record stores that
were left in the champaign/urbana area that there no longer was any sort of
"downtown" like i rememeber going to schoool near there in the late 80's -
all the cute vintage stores, the bustling "main drag" was essentially gone,
because Fred Meyer moved into town. and many of the record stores i sold
stuff to ended up going under.
There ARE exceptions to the rule, though. For example, Arlington Heights,
IL has a bustling downtown area. So does Highland Park, Elmhurst and a
couple of others. Nothing is really left where I grew up in Glenview, IL.
What are you gonna do, though? Sam Walton created a zillion dollar monster.
And i'll even admit to having my mom take me to walmart when i go visit her
in the far northwest burbs for toilet paper, paper towels, no-carb
chocolates (cheap!) and stuff i pay 2x for downtown. their DVD/CD
collection is weak and is something that i'm not interested in. They buy
what sells and what sells is what's played on the radio by Clear Channel,
who as we know, own one out of every 5 commercial stations in the country.
And when a kid who lives 40 miles outside of Lincoln Nebraska needs a CD, he
buys it on the internet at amazon or at wal-mart.
Will it ever change? It's doubtful, but at least the internet has given
people choices like Not Lame and CD Baby. More and more people are becoming
aware and choosing these options. But we gotta remember, we audities people
represent only .5% of the total population, if that. <g>
love,
julie, who can't sleep and apologizes for such a long ranting thing about
her dad, of all things.
----- Original Message -----
From: <DanAbnrml9@aol.com>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 8:23 AM
Subject: Re: Wal-Mart
> In a message dated 12/4/2003 2:26:27 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> audities-owner@smoe.org writes:
> <<It's easy and fun to point at Wal-Mart and say it's all their fault,
which
> > is why it's so popular to gang up on them. But start talking about
> infill,
> > neighborhood renewal, mixed-use zoning laws, historical preservation and
> > tax credits for downtown businesses -- you know, the stuff that actually
> > *combats* urban sprawl -- and people's eyes glaze over. Much like those
> of
> > 87% of those reading this thread.>>
>
> I agree with Stewart more and more every day...
>
> Maybe it's because we both live in Massachusetts, and we see the negative
> results of initially well-meaning measures to curb sprawl (mandating a
minimum
> lot size to build a home, heavily restricting construction of both
privately
> owned structures and public infrastructure, etc). For example, most of
Boston's
> outer-ring suburbs demand that you own ridiculous amounts of land--over an
> acre, sometimes over two, which is a lot in the suburbs--
> to build a house. The intention was that this would preserve "rural
> character" for these towns. Instead now we have outrageously wealthy
suburbs that few
> can afford to move to and don't have the tax bases to upgrade roads and
schools
> to accomodate the influx of residents. It also forced development out
another
> ring--or two, or three--and caused people to have massive commutes on
> highways that were not designed for heavy traffic. These strict
development
> laws--which exist in many Mass. towns--have helped make Eastern
Massachusetts one of
> the most drasically overpriced parts of the country to reside. But if you
tell
> these people who live in these towns; people who drive massive SUVs and
feel
> that they've helped save the character of Massachusetts, about any of the
above
> concepts that Stewart mentions, you'll merely get a rather typical
NIMBY-ish
> reaction, only it'll be buttered by further self-righteousness. --Jason
>
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