Smart Growth, Valley Girl Style

Another letter in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News for my "Carnival of Hypocrisy" column should Mayor Chaney announce plans for a Moscow Home Depot:

Don’t make us Anytown, USA

I grew up in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, and I wonder why anyone would want to make Moscow more like that mess.

Moscow needs a big-box size cap ordinance, the smaller the better. I understand Tri-State is around 50,000 square feet and the existing Moscow Wal-Mart is around 100,000. I’m not convinced we need anything bigger.

The Greater Moscow Alliance seems bent on attracting more chain stores here. Do they want Moscow to look like Anytown, USA? Perhaps they should move to Spokane, where they can drive up and down Division Street to their hearts’ content.

Seriously, if we love the special quality of life in Moscow as it is now, we should be careful about changing it into something different. We should be smart and selective about what gets built here.

The last things we need are more and bigger chain stores surrounded by more and bigger parking lots.

Cathy Porter, Moscow

The irony is that Los Angeles is one of the areas of the country that has fought the hardest to keep big box stores out. Ms. Porter should just go back home.

Also, speaking of irony, it was bitingly noted in this speech:

The Los Angeles area is considered the epitome of sprawl, while Portland is the shining example of "smart growth." The population density of greater Los Angeles is about 7,000 people per square mile. In fact, three of the 10 most densely populated cities in the United States are found in the greater Los Angeles basin. No one in the smart growth movement seems to know this. The population density of the Portland metro area is about 3,500 people per square mile. If you ask people in Portland, or any other western state, they will tell you that Los Angeles represents the future they wish to avoid. Yet Portland’s master plan for the year 2040 calls for increasing Portland’s density to—7,000 people per square mile—exactly the density of Los Angeles today. So, is Portland less likely to be like Los Angeles at that density—or more like LA?

"Smart" growth?