Suburban Nation

I believe the contents of this chapter can easily be applied to last weeks bond issue election held in Starkville.  Chapter 7: The Victims of Sprawl discusses the adverse effects of sprawl and how it hinders every group in our society, specifically middle-class families, the elderly, and our children.  The authors establish a solid argument that even though sprawl appears to be a safe alternative to an urban lifestyle, statistically it has proven contrary.  It confines our children, strands our seniors, and further represses the lower class by requiring the automobile for mobility.  This has occurred at an alarming rate!  Furthermore, it becomes more taxing on an already wearied tax-base.

Additionally, the chapter criticizes the pre-fabricated metal buildings we are implementing as schools, civic centers, and libraries to represent the character of our cities.  Has our society been whittled down to accept this type of mediocrity to build community in our cities?  This brings me to my point on Starkville.  The city tried to pass a bond issue to build a municipal complex that would serve as city hall and the police station. The location of the proposed complex is adjacent to downtown which would be ideal compared to the other location which is located on the bypass.  A group of citizens of Starkville argue that the bypass should be the location and accept that it will be a prefabricated metal building with a brick facade to dress it up real nice due to cost concerns and the taxes that will ensue.  Ladies and gentlemen no matter how you dress up a metal building - it's still a metal building and has no business representing the character of our city.  Do we really want single story metal buildings in the middle of a black topped parking lot to be idiosyncratic of Starkville?  The short sightedness of the public has not realized that by continuing to move the city out on the bypass will require more infrastructure thus more taxes.  To add insult to injury, we put more stress on our elderly and lower class who may not be able to drive or afford to.  In addition to moving our city to the bypass we direct traffic from our downtown therefore stifling business and future commerce.