American Dream

No-growth and smart-growth advocate Eban Fodor, author of "Bigger, Not Better" and advocate of compact development, opposes an infill development in his neighborhood in Eugene, Oregon. Development has been proposed on a two-acre parcel of undeveloped land, but local residents have named it "Madison Street Meadow" and are trying to raise funds to buy it and "preserve it."

The owner of the property is willing to sell to them if they can raise the money, but says, "It's not like this is some pristine oak savanna or woodland. It's just this old, leftover chunk of semirural farmland. Half of it was completely bulldozed over at some point."

But Fodor says, "We have lots of poorly constructed buildings all over town," apparently implying that any buildings built here would also be poorly constructed. "This is one that is already open space, and it has an established value within the community. People recognize it's important to them as open space."