tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6321070.post5315697896875062075..comments2024-02-27T11:26:39.655-07:00Comments on Southern Rockies Nature Blog: Thomas Jefferson and the 35-Acre RanchetteChas S. Cliftonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923547685265741325noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6321070.post-78583316531432256562008-06-27T07:41:00.000-06:002008-06-27T07:41:00.000-06:00Chas, thanks for the mention, and glad to have you...Chas, thanks for the mention, and glad to have you vist our fair city.<BR/><BR/>Okay... here's my perspective. First of all there is no silver bullet. Localities need a range of tools to manage growth wisely. As has been pointed out, New Urbanism which focuses growth in the areas that already have existing infrastructure is one way. Key to that is buidling greenspace into the design. I feel that pschologically, people flee cities because they feel the need to see living things. If we integrate nature into the city (as well as make it more walkable), then more people would want to live there. <BR/><BR/>Okay, then there is a totally different model... You are always going to have rural areas and people that want to live there. So, how do you preserve farm land and keep it from being irresponsibly carved into subdivisions? Preservation Development is another model which, when done right, can be effective. An example near me is <A HREF="http://www.bundoranfarm.com/" REL="nofollow">Bundoran Farm</A>, which was designed by the guy that basically coined the term. It works by integrating farmland and greenspace into the neighborhoods. That way, the "35 Acre Ranchette", it shared as common space and working farm under community ownership. <BR/><BR/>I do think that if T.J. was around now, he'd definitely have been advocating for many of the new forms of designing our communities. After all, he was a big advocate for using native plants within landscaping, and built greenspaces and gardens around the core of his University, because he believed that being surrounded by nature and gardens was important to learning. As I told Chas, he was a man of paradox. All those things people are saying here about him encouraging sprawl, manifest destiny and the rest is true, but also nestled in his writings are the very tools towards combating those things as well. Understanding TJs pardoxical legacy I think can often shed some light on our own struggles and conflicts as a nation.Tree hugginghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18269999808226336464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6321070.post-16334828969159183832008-06-25T07:34:00.000-06:002008-06-25T07:34:00.000-06:00Well stated (both Chas and Mark.) Ranchette subdiv...Well stated (both Chas and Mark.) Ranchette subdivision is the bane of the west these days. If I can't have a whole ranch (which I can't) I'd rather live in a hunman- scaled old village (which I do.)<BR/><BR/>One thing I'd like to see is more allowance for livestock and gardens in communities. I won't live where I can't have a garden, pigeons, animals etc. , and such choices are going to become more important as fuel becomes more expensive.<BR/><BR/>I always enjoyed city life too-- but can't have it with the things i find necessary today. Too bad.Steve Bodiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434597061701369867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6321070.post-85291413720677499342008-06-23T10:57:00.000-06:002008-06-23T10:57:00.000-06:00Conservation organizations and their members decry...Conservation organizations and their members decry habitat destruction (by which they often mean deforestation in the Amazon), but all too often those members are themselves driving the process closer to home. The suburbs and ranchettes (built, of course, on former agricultural and wild lands) are full of Audubon and Sierra Club types, many of whom moved out of the cities specifically to be "closer to nature". Aarrgh...<BR/><BR/>As Chas notes, better urban design is one component of a strategy to slow suburban sprawl. Another should be promoting community-based policing (e.g., cops walking a beat, subsidies for law-enforcement personnel to buy homes in sensitive neighborhoods, etc.) to reduce urban crime, often cited as a primary reason for "white flight" (though of course it's not just white people leaving urban centers).<BR/><BR/>During the hunting season, when I drive almost daily from my 1920's core neighborhood out to the field with my hawk and my dogs, I sometimes think it would be easier to live further out. But living in the city, like having only one child, is a "sacrifice" I'm willing to make. (And from which I reap other benefits.)<BR/><BR/>I am generally a fan of Jefferson as well, but there's no escaping the fact that his agrarian ideals (and enthusiasm for westward expansion) have had unfortunate repercussions, from Manifest Destiny and its effects on Native peoples to population sprawl and its effects on wildlife species both common and rare...Mark Churchillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12953322913824828711noreply@blogger.com