Free Republic

NASHVILLE— Kathleen Ervin moved here 12 years ago from the Northeast, drawn to the relaxed atmosphere, green parks and relatively low cost of living. But in the past five years, her commute time from her 1950s ranch house in the Glendale neighborhood to her job about 12 miles away has tripled on some days to 45 minutes because of increased traffic. Developers are buying nearby properties, tearing them down and building “tall skinnies”—multistory homes geared toward wealthier home buyers. “We hear all this talk about how Nashville doesn’t want to become Houston, Nashville doesn’t want to become Atlanta,” said the...

(Newser) – Detroit spent the last decade spiraling into bankruptcy, while Atlanta spent it growing like mad. But the two cities have something in common: "Both are places where the American dream seems to be dying," writes Paul Krugman at the New York Times. Social mobility is low in both cities—meaning the poor are staying poor. Why? Well, a new study suggests that it might be because they're just too spread out. "Sprawl may be killing Horatio Alger." The study found that social mobility was correlated with how far apart various classes lived from each other. "In Atlanta, poor...

The Obama administration envisions a “low-carbon, low-petroleum” future where Americans tele-work, tele-shop, walk, bike and use carpools or mass transit if they must leave the neighborhood at all. A study released Friday says the U.S. has the potential to reduce petroleum use and pollution in the transportation sector by more than 80 percent by 2050. In other words, gasoline-powered cars may go the way of the dinosaur, and many Americans may end up living in planned, mixed-use, “walkable” neighborhoods, built along mass transit lines. … Higher densities (more people living in the same area in smaller homes), a mix of...

The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature. Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area. The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint. Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply...

Legal migration to the U.S. can be controlled, is necessary for our future growth, and it’s welcomed by all Americans. Its effects can be managed, and we can slowly adapt to newcomers and constantly assess our growing needs and the effect they will have on our resources. But illegal immigration is by its nature uncontrolled, explosive and dangerous to our environment. Here are Five Reasons Why: 1. Explosive Population Growth Is Not Sustainable Illegal Immigration at the current rate is not sustainable. How many people can the United States support? We stand at 300 million (plus 12-20 million here illegally.)...

There is overwhelming evidence that urban sprawl has been beneficial for many people. Year after year, the vast majority of Americans respond to batteries of polls by saying that they are quite happy with where they live, whether it is a city, suburb, or elsewhere. Most objective indicators about American urban life are positive. We are more affluent than ever; home ownership is up; life spans are up; pollution is down; crime in most cities has declined. Even where sprawl has created negative consequences, it has not precipitated any crisis. So what explains the power of today's anti-sprawl crusade? How...

Census: Americans Are Fleeing Big Cities By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 20, 12:15 AM ET WASHINGTON - Americans are leaving the nation's big cities in search of cheaper homes and open spaces farther out. Nearly every large metropolitan area had more people move out than move in from 2000 to 2004, with a few exceptions in the South and Southwest, according to a report being released Thursday by the Census Bureau. Northeasterners are moving South and West. West Coast residents are moving inland. Midwesterners are chasing better job markets. And just about everywhere, people are escaping to...

LEBANON, Tenn. -- At the end of Bettis Road, across a padlocked gate and up a grassy hillside lane, generations of James Jordan's ancestors lie buried atop a wooded knoll -- for now. A rusty fence encircles the cemetery, and tilted headstones point skyward amid the leaves. Walking among the locust trees, Jordan points out graves of long-dead kin, including the Chandler family matriarch who left instructions and money for preserving the cemetery. "It's a shame," said Jordan, 51. "She died thinking that she had preserved the cemetery."

John Stossel's "Myths, Lies and Nasty Behavior" Think Gas Is More Expensive, Urban Sprawl Is Bad? Think Again Do you think farmers need more government assistance? Do you think gasoline is more expensive than ever? John Stossel may make you reconsider. (ABC) Here's my latest list of things you may have been led to believe are true ? but aren't. I'm also including some nasty behaviors that are more than just annoying, they cost us all money. I hope this will give you a different perspective about your money, your neighbors and your politicians.

Not often do Rush Limbaugh and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman agree on anything but recently both of them pointed out the same pattern in the prices of housing -- and both were correct. The pattern is this: Despite hysteria over high home prices, in most parts of the United States housing is quite affordable. But in some places housing prices are astronomical -- three times the national average in much of California, for example. Despite the old rule of thumb that housing should cost no more than one fourth of your income, there are parts of California where...

At first glance, Robert Bruegmann -- a childless academic whose modernist apartment building sits in a dense, upscale Chicago neighborhood -- seems like the kind of guy who'd hate the suburbs. His peers and predecessors have, for decades, decried the unplanned, low-density, auto-dependent growth of shopping malls and subdivisions. But his counterintuitive new book, "Sprawl: A Compact History," charts the spreading of cities as far back as first-century Rome -- and finds the process not just deeply natural but often beneficial for people, societies and even cities. "Sprawl has been as evident in Europe as in America," Bruegmann writes, "and...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Investigators said Thursday they have made an arrest in one of three recent alleged eco-terror arsons east of Sacramento. Ryan Daniel Lewis, 21, of Newcastle, was arrested at his home Wednesday and charged with the Jan. 12 attempted firebombing of a commercial building in the nearby Sierra foothills city of Auburn, northeast of Sacramento. The FBI and U.S. attorney's office said the arson attempt was believed to have been committed on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front, a shadowy environmental extremist movement. No arrests have been made in a similar attempted firebombing at a subdivision in nearby...

Fact or Fiction? Is gasoline more expensive than ever? Do you think urban sprawl is ruining America? You might not think so after watching John Stossel's "Myths, Lies and Nasty Behavior." [...] Coming Up on 2020 Coming Up on 20/20 * Tonight on "20/20" at 10 p.m.

Fate of annual display uncertain if land is developed When is spring officially here? Is it when the first robin hops across the lawn hunting for worms, or is it the day when there's just something different in the air -- a sweet, fresh scent that calls like a siren to young and old alike, singing, "Let's play hookey"? Along a stretch of Warrendale Bayne Road in Marshall, it comes when the daffodils bloom in big letters that say, "Welcome spring." Next to that, 6,000 more daffodils form a cross 35 feet wide and 55 feet long. The flowers paint...

Levi Fisher's ancestors farmed the fertile land of eastern Pennsylvania for more than 275 years while living a quiet, traditional Amish lifestyle. But squeezed in recent years by encroaching suburbia, rising land prices and increasing tourism, Fisher sought a place that reminded him how things used to be. He found it in the rolling pastures of southwest Wisconsin. Fisher moved here in 1999 with a dozen children. Soon after, his brother Henry and family followed. Now the Fisher clan is building a cinder-block house on its 118 acres for a third brother, Gideon, who moved this month with his wife...

LOS ANGELES -- A mountain lion is reportedly on the loose after attacking and killing a biker in a popular hiking and camping area in South Orange County. Two other bikers were also injured by the "aggressive animal." The attack took place in the Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in the Cleveland National Forest which is located near Lake Forest, Calif. A male mountain biker between 20 to 30 years of age was attacked and killed by the mountain lion. When two female bikers came across the man they stopped to try and help him. At that point, the mountain lion,...

IF BALTIMORE County Executive James T. Smith Jr. has his way, the region's largest jurisdiction will soon join a small but growing revolt against the straitjacket strictures of traditional zoning. Up to seven communities will be allowed to write their own codes. The goal: cutting red tape and speeding up revitalization of decaying commercial strips. The County Council should support this radical experiment when enabling legislation is introduced in the next few weeks. From Randallstown to the U.S. 40 corridor, the current zoning approach has failed to spur viable redevelopment; it's time to try alternatives.

<p>Residents of counties characterized by urban sprawl are more likely to weigh more, be obese and have high blood pressure, according to a new study.</p> <p>While it seems logical that people living in compact cities would walk and bike more, reaping the health benefits of exercise, this is the first large-scale nationwide study to both link sprawl with negative health outcomes and to quantify them. The study, involving researchers from several major universities and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was released Thursday in the American Journal of Health Promotion.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - You drive to work, you drive your kids to school, you drive to the grocery store -- no wonder you have put on a few pounds. U.S. researchers said on Thursday they had quantified the price of living in sprawled-out American communities and weight gain leads the list -- six pounds on average, to be precise. Their findings, published in special issues of the American Journal of Public Health and the American Journal of Health Promotion, are aimed at urban planners, county and city councils and other groups involved in laying out communities. "We found that U.S....

Terrorism Central?By Lowell PonteFrontPageMagazine.com | August 18, 2003 PONTEFICATIONS WAS LAST THURSDAY’S ELECTRICAL BLACKOUT that cut off power to millions from Michigan to Massachusetts an act of terrorism?  “No,” announced the White House less than an hour after it began. This reassurance came even before the point of origin of the cascading shutdown in the Northeastern power grid had been narrowed to Canada or the U.S. or, as experts now suspect, to Ohio. It did not help that Canada said that the first circuit-breakers clicked off at Niagara Falls, or that Canada initially said a lightning strike was the cause,...