4 ms·

I lived in Collin County for almost 20 years. I've seen the suburban sprawl explode. I like the explanation brought forth in this article but I think its much

I lived in Collin County for almost 20 years. I've seen the suburban sprawl explode. I like the explanation brought forth in this article but I think its much more complex than investing locally. There are so many reasons why people choose their home, job, and transportation. In my opinion the best way to change behavior is to make an incentive for that behavior. Reduce taxes on urban areas and housing. Unregulate businesses that promote local economy. Make small businesses more favorable instead of giving large exemptions to big corporations. Perhaps the biggest thing you can do is to participate in the local government and municipalities. Find out who and what is driving the local economy and make reasoned recommendations for change.

distances 8y ago
> giving large exemptions to big corporations. I agree that giving tax breaks to large companies gets it backwards. Small companies, due to larger overhead, are probably employing more. Thus, the rational thing would be to tax larger companies harder, as they generate proportionally less wage taxes. Giving tax breaks should be illegal altogether though. It's distorting the marketplace. It's perhaps beneficial for a town that gets the Amazon delivery center, so the legalization should be on a higher, perhaps federal level -- not sure if that's possible.
kodablah 8y ago
> There are so many reasons why people choose their home, job, and transportation [...] best way to change [...] make reasoned recommendations for change What if the citizenry is happy and doesn't want change? This option never seems to appear in suburban sprawl discussions because so many of the discussors think clearly it's not wanted. I think, especially compared to others, the county's situation is ideal for most.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  Because after the initial debt laden spending spree results in happiness, once the bills for upkeep and debt service come due at the same time, the cuts in quality of life will then result in unhappiness. And now you have a bunch of wasted resources with not enough people to support them, and it causes more pollution. But it’s not reasonable to expect people to not be short sighted. If people really want the future to be gated insular communities like in TX and FL, then I guess that’s what they deserve, but I’ve been to Africa and India and Brazil and the visual class divide it shows is unappealing to me.
  - kodablah 8y ago
    This has not been my experience, as I've seen many-decade old suburbs continue to thrive thanks to not being so short-sighted to promote extreme density. The ability to continually rebuild/improve with continual turnover is a great benefit compared to often decaying urban sectors missing replenishment.
    - Pulcinella 8y ago
      The Texas model has been to keep growing to the point where the old suburbs are now practically just part of their city. Richardson (home of Texas Instruments) is literally* just another part of downtown Dallas now. In another decade, Oklahoma City will just be the newest suburb of Dallas. *not literally. Though also not entirely a joke.
lotsofpulp 8y ago
The simpler thing would be to stop incentivizing undesired behavior. Stop giving tax breaks to everyone, start tolling all roads using license plate readers so people feel the actual costs of driving, require environmental costs to be included in manufacturing (I know this one is difficult, but at least we can attempt it and provide the environmental data openly to all to review it).

distances 8y ago

> giving large exemptions to big corporations. I agree that giving tax breaks to large companies gets it backwards. Small companies, due to larger overhead, are probably employing more. Thus, the rational thing would be to tax larger companies harder, as they generate proportionally less wage taxes. Giving tax breaks should be illegal altogether though. It's distorting the marketplace. It's perhaps beneficial for a town that gets the Amazon delivery center, so the legalization should be on a higher, perhaps federal level -- not sure if that's possible.

kodablah 8y ago

> There are so many reasons why people choose their home, job, and transportation [...] best way to change [...] make reasoned recommendations for change What if the citizenry is happy and doesn't want change? This option never seems to appear in suburban sprawl discussions because so many of the discussors think clearly it's not wanted. I think, especially compared to others, the county's situation is ideal for most.

lotsofpulp 8y ago
Because after the initial debt laden spending spree results in happiness, once the bills for upkeep and debt service come due at the same time, the cuts in quality of life will then result in unhappiness. And now you have a bunch of wasted resources with not enough people to support them, and it causes more pollution. But it’s not reasonable to expect people to not be short sighted. If people really want the future to be gated insular communities like in TX and FL, then I guess that’s what they deserve, but I’ve been to Africa and India and Brazil and the visual class divide it shows is unappealing to me.
- kodablah 8y ago
  This has not been my experience, as I've seen many-decade old suburbs continue to thrive thanks to not being so short-sighted to promote extreme density. The ability to continually rebuild/improve with continual turnover is a great benefit compared to often decaying urban sectors missing replenishment.
  - Pulcinella 8y ago
    The Texas model has been to keep growing to the point where the old suburbs are now practically just part of their city. Richardson (home of Texas Instruments) is literally* just another part of downtown Dallas now. In another decade, Oklahoma City will just be the newest suburb of Dallas. *not literally. Though also not entirely a joke.

lotsofpulp 8y ago

The simpler thing would be to stop incentivizing undesired behavior. Stop giving tax breaks to everyone, start tolling all roads using license plate readers so people feel the actual costs of driving, require environmental costs to be included in manufacturing (I know this one is difficult, but at least we can attempt it and provide the environmental data openly to all to review it).