Taking slightly after another JU regular (Gideon), I was out and about and in attendance at a civic association type meeting tonite. It was one where my so-called neighbors were out decrying the potential development of a chunk of land that has long been zoned commercial, in an area with other commercial development (much of which is blighted and deteorating from lack of reinvestment and redevelopment) and which currently sits with nothing but a bunch of trees on it.
Knowing my area well, and knowing what the traffic patterns are like, as well as what the housing development situation is like, I am not ashamed to call the area "rural." Much of the land not far from where I live is just that. Hell, most of the county I live in is farm land and is precluded from development because of it. What land that is available for development for housing has seen the McMansions popping up like crazy, though I guess somewhat slower than has occured not that far away in areas surrounding D.C. proper.
Within my immediate area, though, is a portion of property that has been designated commercial use for a long time, and which has sat undeveloped for years. It is part of a very tiny portion of the county that has been designated for commercial use. Something in the order of under 3 percent of the property in the area is designated commercial, with something in the order of 90 percent of the property designated for agriculture use. As it turns out, the vast majority of that 3 percent is in my area though, meaning that if there is commercial development it will likely be right here beside me.
As it turns out, a development group has decided that the piece of property that sits there is prime for a major retail store and some other smaller stores to come to. The developers are proposing a community shopping center. I've seen very similar areas that were developed in cooperation with the residents of another area of the county. It has been a great success, and I expect similar things here if the developers are able to proceed with their plans.
Sadly it may or may not ever happen thanks to a group of NIMBYs and complete anti-development types that are about as rude and ignorant as any individuals I've ever come across. They think they are cute in their little shirts with slogans saying "keep {area} rural" and such, but they have the patience of gnats and absolutely no readily apparent ability to let someone with a different plan provide any information that might educate them or others in attendance at the required public meetings to discuss their plans.
While I am also guilty of having already made up my mind before going to the meeting that I walked out of early, I'm disgusted at the wannabe politicians, and REAL politicians as well as my so-called neighbors -- most of which live well out of the way of the proposed shopping area and don't even have to be concerned with even a few cars of extra traffic in their area -- behave. They all seem to believe that they are the only individuals entitled to speak up, and they all seem to believe that anyone that is in support of the development must be an idiot that just can't understand the beauty of a swamp that sits next to a few decrepit warehouses and buildings that were used for businesses that long since moved and/or were chased out of the buildings by greedy landowners that raised rent levels to points unseen in the hopes of squeezing out just one more dollar from them.
I have my own suspicions of just who is funding the major push behind the now forming "civic association" that is decidedly anti-growth. I'm fairly confident that the local robber barons have provided help to the civic association to help keep away competing business and leave the few businesses that are here on the land to sit by themselves and not need to ever have to make improvements or reinvest in their businesses.
Anyway, I wish that my so-called neighbors had more respect for their fellow citizens, and that they'd have given the presenters (the developers and their representatives) a chance to present their plan without trying to make complete asses of themselves.
