Eye on the Pie: Some battles never end - Shelbynews

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Spring must be near. The clocks will need to be changed. Waterfowl fly northward across the sky. The creek behind the house travels fast and full from the runoff of developments upstream. Tiny green shoots appear in the garden.

So too did Faye of the Forest, as before perched on the deck rail. “You’ve seen it?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “The map from the Department of Metropolitan Development highlighting encroachment on environmentally sensitive areas in Marion County; it’s most concerning.”

“Most concerning?” she sneered. “Don’t your eyes tell you that right here in your backyard is the center of the most concentrated amount of residential development in all of Marion County?”

I fell silent before a flood of words rivaling the flow of the creek just yards away.

“Don’t you see the need to stop development, not only here, but in most counties of this state?” I knew this was a declaration, not a question.

“Frankly, Faye,” I fluttered, “I don’t see that. If development is stopped, it will just spillover into adjoining counties. We’ll be repeating errors of the past, turning farmland, open space, and timbered acres into more roofs tops and paved areas, generating more automotive and truck traffic.”

“But,” she challenged, “wherever more people, buildings, cars and trucks locate means more pollution, congestion, and pressure on every resource. It would chock the city, the driver of growth for the entire state?”

“And what would you, a figment of cerebral fermentation, do?” I asked. “Deny people the right to live where and how they please?”

“I’d have strict enforcement of regional zoning based on strengthening the entire metro area. We’ve seen the results when developers and irresponsible local governments chase the easy dollar. Design transportation corridors for tomorrow’s technologies not just rebuilding and extending the past. Let’s end the silly contests for power, glory and property taxes among the competing suburbs.”

“It’s been thought of,” I objected, “and it doesn’t work.”

“That’s the whole point,” she emphasized each syllable. “Indianapolis is too important to be left to Marion County residents alone.”

“So!” I had her now. “You support Republican efforts to take power away from the city and give it to the surrounding parasites. You’d prefer a dysfunctional conglomeration over the well-entrenched chaos we have now?”

“Look,” Faye smiled at me. “If the suburbs don’t understand how metro areas thrive through joining forces, sharing resources, and building strong networks, they’ll suffer. It’s not about juggling power but joining in purposeful progress.”

She was on a roll. “Every bit of under-utilized, previously developed ground in every core city needs to be incorporated into today’s world, either through preservation, redevelopment, or by set-aside to maintain environmental quality.”

“Sure,” I said, “and let me sell you shares in a bridge from my hometown.” But Faye had faded.

The Link Lonk


March 10, 2021 at 06:00PM
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Eye on the Pie: Some battles never end - Shelbynews

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