Friday, August 29, 2003
An End to My Silence
Okay, I 'm back. its 1:50 am, and there's an article in today's Post that is so stupid that I could no longer remain silent. A study by the University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth found that "People who live in the most spread-out areas spend fewer minutes each month walking and weigh about six pounds more on average than those who live in the most densely populated places." The researchers are essentially arguing that suburbia makes people fatter. Well whoopie-dee-do.
The question is, what should be done with this new found information (assuming it's true). One answer is that we should go back to working on farms as the classic yeoman farmer of 200 years ago. Raising your own food is hard work and it could keep people skinny working their fingers to the bone. This is of a silly answer, such as the actual implication of the study, which is that people should be forced to live in high density areas to keep them skinny. People should be allowed to living in the type of developments they desire, be it "sprawling" or dense. Government shouldn't be in the business of limiting housing choice as a way of keeping people skinny.
If you want to read the most brilliant analysis of urban sprawl issues, you can check out this little treasure: "Growth Issues in Utah: Facts, Fallacies, and Recommendations for Quality Growth" publish by the Sutherland Institute. Don't let the title fool you, the analysis is applicable to more than just Utah. Looking at the title page reminds me that one reason I went to law school was to get some fancy letters after my name.
Okay, I 'm back. its 1:50 am, and there's an article in today's Post that is so stupid that I could no longer remain silent. A study by the University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth found that "People who live in the most spread-out areas spend fewer minutes each month walking and weigh about six pounds more on average than those who live in the most densely populated places." The researchers are essentially arguing that suburbia makes people fatter. Well whoopie-dee-do.
The question is, what should be done with this new found information (assuming it's true). One answer is that we should go back to working on farms as the classic yeoman farmer of 200 years ago. Raising your own food is hard work and it could keep people skinny working their fingers to the bone. This is of a silly answer, such as the actual implication of the study, which is that people should be forced to live in high density areas to keep them skinny. People should be allowed to living in the type of developments they desire, be it "sprawling" or dense. Government shouldn't be in the business of limiting housing choice as a way of keeping people skinny.
If you want to read the most brilliant analysis of urban sprawl issues, you can check out this little treasure: "Growth Issues in Utah: Facts, Fallacies, and Recommendations for Quality Growth" publish by the Sutherland Institute. Don't let the title fool you, the analysis is applicable to more than just Utah. Looking at the title page reminds me that one reason I went to law school was to get some fancy letters after my name.
