Thursday, August 24, 2006

Same News-Different City

I have a whole morning to myself before my Wilderness Alliance meetings start in Salt Lake City. I spent a leisurely breakfast reading the local newspapers. It is surreal how much the local news in Salt Lake City, or any other western city, really center on the same things. Water, sprawl, transportation, open space and growth stories are always one of the front page stories. I have done a lot of traveling to western cities over the last few years and this is always true.

These growth issues gain media attention, I believe, because people are really worried about there quality of life. Sadly, many don't realize that these issues are usually connected to the health of their watersheds and the biodiverstiy inside those watersheds. The developers, drillers and special interests usually trump smart growth policies. But, not always, as we can see in places like Ruidoso and Las Cruces where local people are trying to protect important places.

I often point back to the big battle in the 1970s when the City Commission on a close vote decided to keep the developers off the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque. Those were visionary elected officials. Today, we have a protected landscape on the eastern edge of Albuquerque that presents no mansions and slashed roads zig zagging halfway up the mountain.

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