Living in suburbia now even worse

Photo by pincusvt. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Well, now we have proof that the New York Times is biased against flyover country. I mean, only a left-wing maniac would dare point out that living out in God's Country (away from those sinful cities) isn't all it's cracked up to be. And then they dare to point out that our glorious subdivisions might not be the most sustainable living arrangement. How dare they! I'm outraged.

Actually, I'm kididng. But I did want to point out this article that really puts into perspective how high gas prices are delivering a thumping to people who need to drive many miles to the store or to work. I grew up in a place like this, so I know the drill going to the grocery story is a ten minute drive, minimum. Bike or bus? Forget it. What I didn't think about was the possibility, quoted by the Times from an earlier article in in The Atlantic Monthly, that high fuel costs will make "many low-density suburbs and McMansion subdivisions, including some that are lovely and affluent today, may become what inner cities became in the 1960s and '70s - slums characterized by poverty, crime and decay" (written by Christopher Leinberger, an urban land use expert). There's more to digest in the NYT piece - but the key is there are very, very people left who couldn't use a cleaner, more efficient vehicle right 'bout now.

[Source: New York Times]