Milwaukee's Daily Magazine Saturday, July 5, 2008
Arts & Entertainment
Bars & Clubs
Blogs & Briefs
Dining
Kids & Family
Marketplace
Milwaukee Buzz
Music
Politics
Readers Blogs
Sports
Travel & Visitors Guide
Business Listings
Classifieds
Event Calendar
Message Boards
Movies
Neighborhoods
Podcasts
Traffic & Weather
E-mail Newsletters
Help
MyOMC Settings
Featured advertisers
Talkback: Sprawl and Sewer Overflows
May 13, 2008, 4:08 p.m.
Regarding Murphy and Bill -- The suburbs were encouraged by the highway and home-building lobbies. Familiar with the phenomenon of "White Flight"? Suburbanization was subsidized by federal policies. The Federal Housing Administration provided government-insured mortgages to whites in the suburbs (while denying them in the inner-city). Policies have also kept gas prices artificially low, while reserving gas tax and highway toll revenues for road-building rather than mass transit, which subsidizes suburban commuters and continued sprawl.
Hence, it wasn't the invisible hand of the market or some magical choice of consumers, but a concerted efforted of well-connected developers, road builders, and lobbyists that were catalysts in suburban development.
Murphy, the statements in the blog don't refer to 20-30 year old hunches, they are from the latest studies conducted. Have you been paying attention to the problems in Waukesha?
And Bill, your claim, "The government doesn't exist to protect stores nobody wants to shop at anymore," is a bit of a half-truth. The government heavily subsidizes Cabella's, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc. They receive huge subsidies (welfare) everytime they extort money from a city when they propose building a new store. Read Stacey Mitchell's "Big Box Swindle" for an education.
Did either of you actually read and think about the blog? Or did just a few key words cause your defense system to kick in and your knee-jerk responses to come out. I encourage you to read the latest research. The empirical evidence contradicts most of your assertions.
Climate change and water scarcity are real, and suburbanization is part of the problem whether you care to admit it or not.
Regarding Murphy and Bill -- The suburbs were encouraged by the highway and home-building lobbies. Familiar with the phenomenon of "White Flight"? Suburbanization was subsidized by federal policies. The Federal Housing Administration provided government-insured mortgages to whites in the suburbs (while denying them in the inner-city). Policies have also kept gas prices artificially low, while reserving gas tax and highway toll revenues for road-building rather than mass transit, which subsidizes suburban commuters and continued sprawl.
Hence, it wasn't the invisible hand of the market or some magical choice of consumers, but a concerted efforted of well-connected developers, road builders, and lobbyists that were catalysts in suburban development.
Murphy, the statements in the blog don't refer to 20-30 year old hunches, they are from the latest studies conducted. Have you been paying attention to the problems in Waukesha?
And Bill, your claim, "The government doesn't exist to protect stores nobody wants to shop at anymore," is a bit of a half-truth. The government heavily subsidizes Cabella's, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc. They receive huge subsidies (welfare) everytime they extort money from a city when they propose building a new store. Read Stacey Mitchell's "Big Box Swindle" for an education.
Did either of you actually read and think about the blog? Or did just a few key words cause your defense system to kick in and your knee-jerk responses to come out. I encourage you to read the latest research. The empirical evidence contradicts most of your assertions.
Climate change and water scarcity are real, and suburbanization is part of the problem whether you care to admit it or not.
 |
Rate this:
Number of ratings: 0 - Average rating: 0.0
|
 |
Post your comment/review now |
 |
May 13, 2008, 4:08 p.m. - Posted by rankville
Regarding Murphy and Bill -- The suburbs were encouraged by the hi ...
Regarding Murphy and Bill -- The suburbs were encouraged by the hi ...
May 13, 2008, 9:00 a.m. - Posted by murphy
This may have been true 20 or 30 years ago but the current regulat ...
This may have been true 20 or 30 years ago but the current regulat ...
May 12, 2008, 3:07 p.m. - Posted by bill
First off, why the need to dis WalMart? I mean this article wasn' ...
First off, why the need to dis WalMart? I mean this article wasn' ...
Featured advertisers
| Top Clicks | Top Searches | Most Talkbacks |
Reader poll
| How would you rank 2008's Summerfest? | |
| Results after 105 votes Archived polls |
