Tuesday, December 13, 2005




The unasked question of growth

Tommy Kate, fantastic fellow contributor over at the Sticks (and also of Out in Left Field), recently highlighted a problem to which most everyone in this area (and the entire state) is hyper-aware, our less than satisfactory education system. Everyone knows something is wrong, but no one can seem to agree on how to fix it. Is it limiting class sizes, the FCAT, money, parental responsibility?

Today Tommy gave us a predictably well-put critique of our bumbling board of county commissioners in regards to their apparent ambivalence towards the question of public transportation.

In both cases I don't see that there's any doubt about the root source of our troubles. Tampa (and Florida) are growing wildly, with education and transportatipn both buckling in an attempt to support the growth. Kathy Castor, often the sole voice of reason on the BOCC, had a crazed solution to the problem: don't build until the area can support it.

The concept of zero-growth is normally applied to population and environmental issues. While that is certainly a valid correlation, I think the concept of zero-growth can be better utilized on a local level. How conservative of me.

But no matter the scale, human hubris makes the idea of zero-growth so ridiculous as to rarely even merit discussion. No matter what side of the political fence they occupy, presidents of this country always use economic growth as a sign that their policies are working. I don't doubt that even in the most dire of national situations you could always glean some growth from the myriad numbers used to determine that status. But rarely does anyone ask, "Is that a good thing?"

I think we have a hard time admitting to that we can be bound by factors outside of our control (need more land? Shove the Indians aside - it's destiny). Certainly population and economic growth are still nowhere as dangerous a problem here as they already are in many parts of Asia, where increasing population in already dangerous geography make devastating natural disasters (the tsunami, earthquakes in Kashmir, Iran, etc.) nearly Biblical. But that's precisely why we should take the opportunity of our still advantageous position to address this issue and arrive at sensible solutions.


Dream
Dream dream dream

- The Everly Brothers, "All I Have to Do is Dream"


Posted by Joel at 12/13/2005 02:29:00 PM