False Choices
Seafood or steak, hot or cold, my way or the highway. False choices.
It is a way to simplify decisions, we use them all the time - particularly with those under age 5. However “the deliberate attempt to eliminate options that may occupy the middle ground on an issues or a different solution” doesn’t belong in the conversations to envision a city’s future. Particularly a suburban one. Here in our suburban landscape, we see things changing & it seems we only get to choose from predictable urbanism or suburban decline. This folks, is a sad and dangerous false choice.
For quite a few years I have read headlines everywhere that tell us the suburbs are wastelands of boredom, loneliness and sprawl. Everyone is moving to the urban areas, no one wants big lots or subdivisions; the suburbs are dead. Well, that is just not my experience. My lifetime of living in the suburbs has been rich. Rich in relationships, experience, connections, and memories. My freshman in college recently told me at Christmas break, “why did you make my life so great that it is so hard to leave?” Yes, I would do it all over again. Right here in the suburbs.
I also know that our suburbs are maturing, growing up as well. It is time for many of them, like Roswell, to envision futures that protect that which is best and replace that which no longer contributes - without threatening the single family lifestyle that many still choose.
“The False Choice of commodity urbanism or suburban decline steals the potential for the best future for our suburban cities”
The next time you see a development changing, being proposed, do not ask - how do I stop this but is this the best possible way for our community to grow? Are their other choices that are not on the table? Are incentives and regulation opening the door for the best developments? Then find out how YOU can be part of that better solution.
Originally posted in Full Intention-Full Disclosure in February 2017