| Get up, eat breakfast, give
the dog a scratch and a treat, go to work.
My routine is just like that of many employed
adults in America. But where the daily routine takes
a marked turn is when I stop by a hidden fishing hole
on the west edge of town for a couple hours after work
to cast to hefty, healthy, wild trout sipping bugs from
the surface of a relatively clean, free-flowing river.
The livability, or quality of life, of our
cities, as Daniel Kemmis writes in this week's Western
Perspective, is crucial to the preservation and progress
of the West as a region, and our region's immersion
into a global society.
Many cities and towns can claim they are
"livable." My home town of Philadelphia is often called
livable because houses are cheaper and amenities easier
to reach compared to the other regional cities.
But the West offers a unique brand of livability. Our
recent economic growth is fueled by the desire by many
to move here for the open spaces, both the smaller ones
that border our towns and the wider ones that stretch
across our states.
Losing open space has become a crucial issue for many
towns and urban areas in the West simply because we
still have that open space to lose. Not that open space
is a new thing in the West.
Our wild and undeveloped lands have always been--and
one can argue--still are, the resource base that provides
the West a place in the global village. But it's our
cities that are going to keep us there.
If it is our effort to preserve that which uniquely
makes our cities livable, then what are we doing toward
that end? And what are the stumbling blocks to come
along the way?
There are certain universal needs that emerge whenever
a city is formed or grows. They include housing, transportation,
access to amenities, a clean and healthful environment,
and an allowance for the economy to grow.
These aren't necessarily unique to the cities in our
region, but because we're younger than most other cities,
we can take the lessons of others to heart when planning
our light rails, downtown growth and redevelopment.
Light rail is attracting supporters across the country,
especially as traffic congestion and gas prices increase.
Phoenix,
Denver and Salt
Lake City all have growing light rail systems. And
these cities are finding that, not only does the system
move people around more effectively, light rail stations
are also becoming driving
forces behind commercial and residential development
. Build a station and the townhouses and offices
follow.
Kemmis also calls for the promotion of downtown living,
which is a shift from the way cities are built across
this country. Cars and the desire for larger homes have
pushed our cities outward, creating sprawl, a primary
threat to the open spaces that border our towns. Light
rail and downtown redevelopment will help pull people
back toward a center. Boise
just opened a new downtown mall, and condos are
selling in downtown Salt Lake City before they are even
built.
Installing wireless Internet access is another feature
cities such as Phoenix
and Colorado
Springs are using to pull people back downtown.
The trick in revitalizing downtowns will be to properly
manage traffic, mix affordable
housing among the luxury places and find a way to
balance sprawl with infill, a challenge that has plagued
big cities and small towns alike. The sprawl-versus-infill
debate comes down to what citizens find tolerable.
Determining what is tolerable infill has
often led to squabbles between homeowners, city officials
and developers in places such as Missoula
and Durango.
In other cities, such as Salt Lake City, inaction has
allowed huge new houses to sprout up haphazardly in
older neighborhoods with more modest homes. After years
of debate, Boise
finally passed a slate of new infill laws.
Sprawl, in turn, affects almost every urban area, from
the small ski town to the mega-metropolis.
This sprawl-versus-infill debate is closely
tied to the housing market, which has provided a boom
for many in several Western towns and cities, including
developers and the little old lady next door, who may
have sold her home for hundreds of thousands of dollars
more than for which it was purchased. The boom and the
creative mortgages now offered have allowed many more
people to own homes, but many low-income people remain
priced out of the market.
Though as much a regional issue as an urban one, illegal
immigration and education will also continue to be major
factors shaping the West. Without a sustainable, efficient
and just way to handle the influx of mostly Latino immigrants
and the education of all of our kids, regardless of
their race or where they live, the West won't make it
in a global world.
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