It's like they have a contest at the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation between Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman as to who can be the most liberal and write the most inane opinion column. The difference is sometimes Cynthia stumbles upon the truth. A stopped clock is right twice a day. Unfortunately, Jay is never right. His latest column is titled Free market would never pick sprawl
Now WTF would a commie like Jay know about free markets?
There are two kinds of people: Us and them. And where the line falls between the two depends entirely on context.
Like jay is a commie and I'm a capitalist.
Sometimes us and them is a matter of gender — "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," as the book title goes. Or, as columnist Maureen Dowd asks in her new book, "Are Men Necessary?"
As long as there are dildos neither Maureen nor Jane (Sorry. Just can't help it.) needs a man.
Then there's the line we draw depending on how and where we live. To suburban dwellers, the city is often viewed as a corrupt heart of darkness, in more ways than one. To city dwellers, the suburbs are perceived as rather soulless and pale, again in more ways than one.
Atlanta: Crime infested. Homeless people. Panhandlers. High taxes. Failing schools.
Suburbs: Low crime. Peaceful. Nice place to live. Lower taxes. Better schools.
Yep. I see the differences.
For example, one of the Atlanta region's biggest challenges is controlling sprawl, a development pattern that consumes tax dollars and open land and greatly complicates transportation planning and environmental problems. One of the options available to mitigate sprawl and its impact is an approach called "smart growth" — areas of higher-density development that mix residential, commercial and business uses.
Remember, to a liberal, sprawl is a dirty word.
Unfortunately, though, some suburban dwellers hear criticism of sprawl as some sort of a value-laden condemnation of suburban life.
Because that is exactly what it is.
They respond by launching a defense of sprawl that can be paraphrased with the following:
"What others deride as sprawl is actually just the free market at work, the result of millions of Americans choosing the lifestyle they prefer. And any effort to control or limit 'sprawl' is a misuse of government power promoted by elitists who want to instruct us common folk how to live."
Sounds like a pretty good summary to me.
Well, I've covered enough county commission and zoning board meetings to know that's just romantic mythology.
Kinda like the romantic mythology that socialism, centralized planning, and price controls work. Or the romantic mythology that Jimmah Carter was a good president. Or howza 'bout the romantic mythology that Bill Clinton is an honest man?
First of all, the free market, left to its own devices, produces dense development, not sprawl. Developers want to put as many units as possible on their property, because that's how they make the most profit; you don't see them going to court demanding the right to build fewer homes per acre.
Proof positive that Jay does not have a clue as to how the free market works. Developers want to build houses that people want to buy. For example people are buying houses up in Canton Georgia and Cartersville Georgia because land is cheap and they can get houses with one to five acre lots. Developers are doing this because they can make money doing it!!!!
Sprawl is possible only through intense government regulation. It is an artificial growth pattern achieved by laws that frustrate the free market's tendency toward density. The free market, left to its own devices, would never produce five-acre minimum lot sizes, or 2,500-square-foot minimum house sizes, or bans and moratoriums on apartments. The free market, left to its own devices, would produce growth patterns more like "smart-growth" policies.
Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit! If people want sumpin' and are willing to pay for it, someone will provide it. That is the way the free market works, but Jay doesn't know anything about the free market because he is a farking socialist!
In fact, smart-growth alternatives impose fewer restrictions on developers than does sprawl-inducing zoning, and infringe less dramatically on developers' property rights. Philosophically speaking, it ought to be a conservative's dream.
Maybe it would, but not everyone wants to live in a condo in a city. City taxes are higher for one thing. Also cities are run by liberals which means more crime, failing schools and higher taxes.
The claim that critics of sprawl are elitist is equally hard to swallow, given that one of the hallmarks of sprawl is economic segregation. Go to a county commission meeting and you'll see owners of $500,000 homes on five-acre lots protesting the construction of $250,000, one-acre homes nearby, and owners of $250,000 homes fighting against apartments and town houses.
But that's why people want to get away from the city. They want to get away from elitist snobs like Jay trying to tell us how to live. Y'know what they have against sprawl? The automobile. They hate cars. They want us to live in cities and use mass transit.
Sprawl is not a rejection of elitism; it is the expression of elitism. It is people using the power of government to protect "us" against the incursion of "them."
Jay was actually right for a change. We do want to get away from "them". We want to get away from the liberals who have fucked up the big cities. We want to live in big houses. We want lower taxes. We want less crime. We want more land. We want better schools. We don't want smug assholes like Jay Bookman telling us how to live our lives.
That is not, however, an argument in favor of trying to eliminate suburban growth patterns or the suburban lifestyle. Such things are ingrained in metro Atlanta, and are a large part of the region's success. Here in Georgia, only the most zealous of smart-growth advocates want to ban large-lot zoning and other sprawl-inducing mechanisms. Instead, they ask only that zoning laws be relaxed enough to allow smart-growth developments to compete for customers, so that people can be given a real choice.
And given that choice, most of the people will still live in the suburbs. In spite of the horrible traffic in Atlanta and the dreadful commutes, people are still choosing to live where land is cheap and they can live on a large lot. That is how the free market works.
Given the success of smart-growth projects around metro Atlanta, when people are given that choice, they jump at it.
Actually they jump at the big lots and the big houses in the suburbs even with the horrible traffic. If they didn't, why are there so many developments being built in the suburbs? It's called the free market Jay, and the free market actually likes sprawl.
Posted by denny at December 7, 2005 07:26 PMThis is a funny post to read. Metro Louisville is much like the situation you portray in Atlanta, and yes, it is run by liberals too. Growth exploded outward (away from them) beginning in the 70's and is continuing, while beatnik socialist commie intellectuals such as Jay live in comfortable "enclaves" within the city, sometimes behind guarded gates and always with a lot of police presence. This is even more evidence that these people believe their own sanctimonious brand of intellectual crap, and also the reason that they are hypocrites at the same time.
By the way, we are under a winter storm warning Mr. Denny. The first snowflake has appeared on radar, and battalions of snowtrucks are out. Several school districts have already closed, even before the first snowflake has appeared. (By the way, there are two great puns to be found in winter driving matters: 1) I was going down the interstate and saw two highway trucks, one with giant white container with a silvery cover, and another with a giant black container with a silver cover. What were they? Salt and Pepper trucks! 2) I was going down the interstate and saw a highway truck loaded with salt, but it also had missles and machine guns. What was it? An assault truck!
I have my bread and milk. I'm ready!
Posted by: kentuckyjoe on December 8, 2005 08:38 AMWhere exactly does Jay Bookman live? Is he huddled behind high fences, or did he flee to the country?
My new house is on 21 acres about five miles from town. There is a lot of development between me and the city. Most of those folks are people who ditched the city for a reason, and now as the city tries to annex their new homes, they have repeatedly told the county board that they do NOT want to be annexed, and that they would either sell, or move the house leaving an abandoned lot if the city annexes them.
The city has responded by buying a vacant lot on the river bank, and now plans to construct a bridge north of us where there is less resistance to incursion.
dear, dear...haven't been able to comment as i have been reading you at work where it's not possible. but, i wholeheartedly agree. i think the urinal and constipation should give YOU a column. you are the only one in the sprawl that makes any sense.
blogmeet is up, are you coming??
Posted by: shoe on December 8, 2005 09:10 AMLove your essay. There are two kinds of people in this world. My kind of people and assholes.
Posted by: Tom M. on December 8, 2005 09:15 AMDenny,
What Jay doesn't seem to understand is that the people who jump at the 'smart growth projects' around metro Atlanta are those people currently living in urban areas that have not been gentrified.
Ken
Posted by: Ken J on December 8, 2005 09:26 AMDenny,
Reading Jay Bookman is like a trip into a fantasy land. I get the AJC everyday (I live in East Cobb), and I used to read all the columns. Now, I see his face and know to just pass it over because I know it's going to be some sort of liberal propaganda.
Thanks for a great site. I try to read it everyday.
Oze
Posted by: Oze on December 8, 2005 10:22 AMI've seen a couple of billboards in the Houston area saying something to the effect of "live closer in to work". Horseshit. One, the property taxes are outrageous, and I don't want to live in an apartment. Not only that but mortgage/rent rates are much higher. I'd pay at least $1000/month for a small 2 bedroom apartment near the Medical Center if not more. I could buy a house for that much, and not have Joe Schmuckatelli door-ding my car every day in the parking lot just because he never learned how to park. Two, the schools are shit. HISD (Houston Independent School District) is one of the lowest ranked in the state. Conversely, Katy ISD is one of the highest ranked in the state. Property taxes are much lower in Katy. Granted, the traffic sucks, but if you carpool you don't have to sit in it (thank God for the HOV lane). And last but not least, the crime rate is much, much lower. When I was single, I didn't worry too much about those things. But since I now have a wife, kid and a (large) dog it's something I must concern myself with these issues for their safety and well-being. Yeah, I could get a real cheap house in the city, but the question arises, "would I really want my family living there?"
Fuck Jay Bookman and the horse he rode in on. He's an unrealistic idiot. People like having their space. I personally don't want to hear or smell every time my neighbor farts.
Posted by: Mike on December 8, 2005 10:39 AMI wonder if Bookman is trying to counter the arguments put forth by author Robert Bruegmann in his new book, Sprawl: A Compact History.
Instapundit, in his real persona as Glen Reynolds, posted a short column about it at Tech Central Station:
http://techcentralstation.com/120805A.html
The gist of the book appears to be that sprawl is not new, nor exclusively American, nor the "bad thing" every whining socialist would have us believe.
Posted by: Ryan on December 8, 2005 10:52 AMAny time some Big Government loving asshole starts talking about some "Smart" design anything, hold on to your wallet and run. People are in the “burbs” for a reason. It's called a better life. Jay should shut up. An article like that in our paper would get the author laughed out of town. People are moving to the suburbs here too and the Colorado Springs is still a pretty good city.
Posted by: scaryguy on December 8, 2005 11:03 AMIt just drives Leftists like Jay Bookman crazy that people vote with their feet. They don't want to live in crowded, expensive and crime ridden cities. They also don't want to live there and be told by snobby elites, who can afford armed guards, that they should not have the means to defend themselves.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam on December 8, 2005 11:38 AMSorry GOC I could only make it through half of this. How does someone this stupid get to write editorials? If you are going to comment on capitalism shouldn't you be required to know a little about it? Its like its not that hard...
Posted by: fastdad on December 8, 2005 11:43 AMJay fits perfectly in your booger eattin moh-ron category.. He knows as much about real estate as Maureen Dowd does of pleasin a man !!
Posted by: Wild Bill on December 9, 2005 01:16 AMDenny & all,
I've been reading this site daily for 2 years but never posted anything but I just couldn't sit this one out. I'm from Marietta but have been living in downtown Atlanta (summerhill - by the Ted) for almost 5 years now. We bought the house as an investment and it's worked out. In this time I've never had a single problem (knocking on that wood). I've always loved the city, ever since I can remember. Downtown isn't as bad as many people make it out, I think it's a beautiful city for the most part. But you know what? Next week I'm moving up to my new pad in Dawsonville. I work in Sandy Springs, why the hell would I buy a place in Dawsonville? Here's why: 11 ACRES, not to mention the house is somewhat bigger than the one I currently live. My commute is gonna jump to around 2 hours each way...but it's totally gonna be worth it. Honestly though, besides the damn crackheads, damn booming stereos, damn noise, damn barking dog 10 feet from my bedroom window, damn murders (I count at least 5 within a half-block radius of my house), and of course the damn city of atlanta gov (Jeezuz...), I've enjoyed living in the city! My neighbors have been cool (except the ones in the projects across the street - farking buttheads) and my house has appreciated nicely. So, all I can say now is it was fun while it lasted, now free me of this liberal mess!
I grew up on 11 1/2 acres in the middle of rural Texas, with nothing but cougars and whitetail deer for miles. I shudder at the sight of cookie-cutter houses crammed together with nothing but a postage-stamp sized yard for the kids to play in...
When we finally get the debts paid off, I'm on the hunt for at LEAST 25 acres of heavily-forested land. If I NEVER have to hear the highway again, I'll be a happy girl!
--TwoDragons
Posted by: Denita TwoDragons on December 9, 2005 08:49 PM