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Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The price of progress. Is it worth it?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When we moved to Georgia in the late 80’s, we moved from a fairly well developed area of Orlando, Florida, to well… the sticks of Cherokee County, Ga.
It was a culture shock for me to say the least. I moved from an area where basically everything I needed or wanted was either within walking distance or at most a mile away to a semi-rural area where everything was at least a good 5 or more miles away.
I couldn’t wait for my new home to catch up to the rest of civilization whereas my parents wanted it to stay away as long as possible.
There are pros and cons to any sort of progress. Unfortunately it seems - mostly cons.
One consequence to the sort of progress I am referring to is.. neglect.
Norcross and the rest of Southwest Gwinnett are my case and point.
I’ve had neighbors and politicians alike reflect on the good ole days of living around these parts. Some have harkened back to the day when Jimmy Carter Blvd didn’t exist and others recalling all the shopping and culinary fare that was once available.
Then progress moved on to other parts of Gwinnett… through Duluth and Snellville.. and eventually finding its way into the farthest reaches of county today that was not so long ago very rural.
That wave of progress was followed by tidal waves of apathy and neglect - and it shows.
I’ve seen proof of that everywhere I have lived or visited - Orlando, Atlanta, Tampa, Jacksonville, Birmingham, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Phoenix to name a few.
For all my wishing for things to change or get better I always had one caveat - it had to be done responsibly.
Unfortunately, responsibility is another con to progress. We have a build now and worry about it later mentality that is coming back to bite us square on the behind.
The most aggravating part of it all is - most of the problems we are facing today were preventable.
Think about our water situation. Traffic. Crowded and poorly performing schools. Rising crime rates.
All results of poorly planning and mismanagement of progress, yet all mostly preventable, or at least manageable. But the powers that be instead play defense… not offense. And in this case.. defense doesn’t win championships. There have been many of you who have commented in the past that you want the development to stop. Well, you can’t stop progress. There have also been just as many who do not fear.. and completely welcome progress, but we wish such progress was better thought out and managed more responsibly.
While there are plenty of advantages to mention regarding progress, and we’ve questioned its price… I have to ask next… was it worth it?
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