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Originally Posted by kai
but does it have to be a foregone conclusion? is there no way to fight sprawl? is there no way to stop walmart? is it hopeless?[....]
my little rural town up here in Mass has prevented fast food and chain stores from coming in through numerous zoning laws: preventing electrified signs (wooden only, lit by a single bulb - or something like that - certainly no neon or back lit plastic signs), regulating parking lot sizes and distance/visibility of parking lots from the road, regulating the style of construction, limiting lighting options for parking lots, banning drive thrus, etc. with land prices here being so expensive, they've basically made it impossible to advertise businesses, or locate them accessibly. it sounds harsh, but economically we're doing perfectly fine- the farms are survivng, the quality of life has been preserved, and we're not even an hour outside of Boston. We have an interstate on the edge of town (and en exit onto main street).
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Clearly, with strict zoning restrictions and SUPERB urban planning -- which few large U.S. cities really posess -- that (sub)urbanization and sprawl can be steadied, if not stopped. But I wager it, too, comes at a price -- a financial one, in terms of much higher taxes and higher land costs. More controlled areas tend to command a higher price -- a "luxury tax" if you will, even though in this case the "luxury" may be nothing more than not having a neighbor's bedroom window within arm's reach of your bathroom window, as in more suburban areas.
We do have some reasonably well zoned and controlled communities that are physically located within San Antonio's city limits yet are their own entities. Their strength is in their size -- they're small (relatively speaking). Hollywood Park. Hill Country Village. They're mostly residential areas, places people have taken a firm stand to protect because it's where they live -- what they see outside their windows in the morning, on the way to work/school/church/daycare/etc., rather than "on the other side of town" or "across the river" or "down in the valley". It's why some Helotes and area residents are fighting Walmart, while other folks (yes, like me) grimace, then shrug -- "Another Walmart. Big surprise. {sarcasm}"
Clearly, Walmart and other businesses won't move in where they're truly not wanted, and showing them they're not wanted is generally done through strict (excessive?) taxation or legislation -- ultimately, anyway. But I guess the carry-on to your questions is -- do people really not want that supermarket around the corner, that superstore on their way home from work, that Blockbuster video where their teenager can work summers and they can pick up a flick on a Saturday night? And a surprising array of "Mom & Pop" stores do open in those ugly strip malls we all hate (judging by the looks on fellow drivers faces whenever I have to visit one.
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As much as I'd like to call myself an good environmentalist, I'd be dishonest if I didn't admit I wasn't also part of the problem. Was I not silently happy when a do it yourself car wash sprouted up near my home (not within sight of it, but conveniently accessible from it)? Or the locally-owned, but franchised mail center? Or the drug store (formerly Eckerd, now owned by CVS, as the new neon sign declares)?
It's easy for me to grouse when I see signs announcing a new bar, low rent apartment complex, or strip mall with stores I'll never visit. In the same way, Walmart's sort of an easy scapegoat. A big, faceless corporation coming to take over a defenseless town. But corporations aren't really faceless, and towns really aren't defenseless -- they're both made up of people, citizens and stakeholders.
So even as I find myself grousing about the increasing traffic on the main thoroughfare that goes by my "doorstep", as more housing developments sprout up further and further into what once was "a rural area" down the road, I have to admit I'm part of the "great flight" and sprawl, too. People leaving what they perceive as crowded areas for something that feels more natural, more peaceful, more safe, more prosperous (jobs, economy), or whatever they're searching for.
How does it stop? I guess the answer is to get ruthless in setting zoning and deed restrictions, but that doesn't happen in areas that are struggling economically; indeed, restrictions are the first things to get relaxed when a big business shows an interest in moving in. San Antonio's a fabulous example of that particular phenomenon!
I paint a pretty bleak picture, I know. I don't see how to paint it any other way. I don't think sprawl is a uniquely Texan phenomenon, though our land area makes it especially easy to spot -- Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, anyone?