Saturday, August 06, 2005
Who needs cities?
Nicholas Kristof writes in the New York Times about Hermiston, Oregon, where you can drive for miles on an Interstate freeway or city streets and have free, high-speed wireless access the entire time. Thanks to a federal grant, the city has installed it over a 600-square-mile area.
I am not thrilled about government subsidies for wireless. But think about it: how is smart growth's desire for density and centralization going to fight the movement to suburban and exurban areas when people can get wireless access in those areas? Increasing numbers of Americans have jobs that depend on computers and the Internet, and those people have decreasing reasons to stay in cities. Smart growth may actually accelerate the process of exurbanization by making cities more congested and less affordable.
I am not thrilled about government subsidies for wireless. But think about it: how is smart growth's desire for density and centralization going to fight the movement to suburban and exurban areas when people can get wireless access in those areas? Increasing numbers of Americans have jobs that depend on computers and the Internet, and those people have decreasing reasons to stay in cities. Smart growth may actually accelerate the process of exurbanization by making cities more congested and less affordable.
Comments:
Just what we need. More chemical weapons to enhance the progress of technology. Better living through big government!
Hermiston, Oregon is a place hardly anyone would want to live, on the windblown steppe of Eastern Oregon, even if it is on the Interstate. The ONLY reason for its existence is the presence of major military activity; otherwise Hermiston would resemble declining places like Burns, Oregon.
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