The War on Suburbia
BySuburbia is okay for the elites, with their long, well lit driveways and gated communities. But they don’t like the idea of the rest of us enjoying a scaled-down version of their lifestyle. I’ve lived in cities, out in the country and in the suburbs. Each has it’s own qualities. At this point in my life living in a suburb is perfect. We chose our town because of the school district and we’ve settled in quite nicely. Nothing is very far away but we don’t have the noise and litter of the city to deal with. It seems the Obama administration wants to do away with our way of life.
The Heritage Foundation reported that Energy Secretary Steven Chu wants us to reduce carbon emissions by moving us all into tiny little apartments.
It’s not widely believed you can do this [reduce carbon emissions by 80% in 2050] in a cost-effective way, and so I think we can develop design tools to help people actually design buildings to do this.
You read stories in Europe where there are in small apartments zero-net energy consumption apartments. There is-you know, body heat keeps a lot of the apartment warm. You can’t do this in a big apartment with a few people.
Jack Givens compares the idea to Soviet style block housing. Is that our future once we let the statists take complete control of our lives?
John Wasik devoted an entire book to doing away with suburbia. He touts The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream as an analysis of how suburban homes are unaffordable. The houses themselves are expensive, then add in property taxes, maintenence and energy costs and it becomes unsustainable for most Americans. But rather than proposing lowering property taxes and building more nuclear plants to bring down the cost of energy, Wasik is advocating exactly what Mr. Chu is pushing. He would like to see us all crammed into small, energy-efficient apartments in cities.
Ultimately, though, the American home and community will have to be re-invented. Houses will need to be ultra-energy efficient to reduce long-term ownership costs and even produce their own energy. This can be done with factory-built, green homes.
Then we’ll have to build — or re-build — high density, walkable communities that are close to jobs and retail outlets. This is already happening throughout the U.S., although building and zoning codes need to change to allow this to happen on a large scale. Even more federal incentives are needed for green building.
Here’s an idea, how about Chu and Wasik move themselves and their families into teensy little energy efficient apartments. They can bring all of their liberal friends with them.
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Every time I become aware of one of these idiotic ideas from the statists in the Obama government, I immediately get mad and defiant.
Then, I stop and think about it, and realize that if the liberals/progressives actually to implement many of these ideas, there will be a revolt that will make 1776 look tame by comparison.
I’m curious if “Lonely” had actually read my book “The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome.” First of all, I’m all for lowering taxes. And his statement “devoting an entire book to doing away from suburbia” is blatantly false. In fact, I advocate restoring inner suburbs. There are thousands of them with decent town centers, commuter rail, locally owned businesses and plenty of public services. Am I advocating cramming everybody into “small, energy-efficient apartments?” Of course not, but whatever new housing we will be building after this awful housing recession should be energy-efficient and energy producing. That’s called energy self-sufficiency and it’s part of the American way. That will make long-term home ownership costs drop over time and make housing more affordable for everyone. In a Jeffersonian Democracy, we’d all be farmers and producing nearly everything we needed. But we’ve evolved into a highly urbanized society. We can do nearly everything much better and still build solid communities. Now is the try to take advantage of the opportunity. If what I said on Glenn Beck’s Fox News show a few weeks ago holds true, we’ll be mired in a housing recession a long time. Now’s the time to plan ahead. See more at http://www.culdesacsyndrom.com.
Mr. Wasik: No, I did not read your book. Perhaps I am wrong about it, I’ll admit I may have jumped to conclusions after reading the paragraphs from your article that I highlighted. After hearing about Chu’s plans it wasn’t a long leap.
I don’t want to live in a “high density” community. I’ve done that and I decided to move. And I have to wonder who will plan these communities? Bureaucrats in Washington, DC? Where I live local building codes already have efficiency mandates. I’m all for making homes energy efficient, my husband and I just spent a small fortune having insulation blown into our attic and sealing up the cracks in our home. If the free market comes up with an affordable way for us to go off the grid I’d be the one of the first ones to buy into it. But we haven’t found a way to build our own windmill and we don’t have a spare $40K laying around for solar panels. Even if we did, the snow would probably cover them up when we need them the most. At least we have a wood burning fireplace so when all hell breaks loose we can heat our living room.
In a Jeffersonian Democracy individuals have the power to decide to live in a manner and a place of their choosing. In a Jeffersonian Democracy individuals who paid too much for their homes will suffer the consequences, not the citizens of another state. I certainly doubt that Thomas Jefferson intended for Americans to live like it’s 1776 in perpetuity.
If the government got out of the business of bailing out homeowners and let foreclosures happen real estate prices would find a floor. Think of the millions of Americans who would finally find affordable housing. As it is, the government is doing all it can to stem foreclosures, thereby keeping the bubble inflated.
If all homes of the future are built in factories what will become of the local businesses known as builders? Will the owners of the factories have a government protected monopoly on home building? What will that do to the price of homes in America?
[...] Feel free to weigh in on anything. Or you could read the response from author John F. Wasik to my War on the Suburbs post and your input into the [...]
The truth is most American’s can afford to build or buy existing homes with mortgages that make sense. Give American’s a solid mortgage and let them decide how green to buy. Before we get into more government directed housing, which has been a monumental failure all over the U.S., let’s just get rid of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and let people who can afford to buy a home buy one. Those who cannot must rent. I haven’t heard a single thing about a housing shortage recently.
An “awful housing recession.” No, that’s not what we have. What we have is a Democrat Congress that encouraged outrageously irresponsible mortgages for those who could afford to purchase.
It really is that simple. Just leave us alone and don’t even think of blemishing neighborhoods with the like of which will just become blighted in a short period of time.
BTW, if “energy self-sufficiency” is the American way, then why are we not pursuing energy self-sufficiency? The answer is likely that when and if we do, the voodoo of green will be exposed.
I’m all for the things that make sense for our environment, but when we talk about “long term savings” to the homeowner, the front end costs have to be considered.
I have a fairly big house, and a plain old-a/c and furnace – the kind you buy when you buy a nice new home. Our energy bills are quite reasonable. I don’t want Steven Chu telling me what I can and cannot have in my home.
” . . . whatever new housing we will be building after this awful housing recession should be energy-efficient and energy producing. That’s called energy self-sufficiency and it’s part of the American way.” That I fully agree with – - as long as it doesn’t mean that citizens are no longer free to choose their living environment. I live in the hinterlands, where there are no real urbs, much less sub-urbs; small towns and rural communities. Most folks here live on one-to-five acre parcels and the rule is a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house with a few amenities. Many grow their own gardens; some of these are big gardens, so that food in canned and put away for the winter. A certain degree of self-sufficiency is part of the culture.
What we won’t tolerate is city folk telling us we have to move into apartments for the greater good. Especially Al Gore and John Edwards types, who live in McMansions and spew carbon footprints all over the landscape, zipping off to Global Warming conferences in private jets. Let them lead by example and see who follows! And talk about excess . . . how many city folks who advocate green living have second homes and vacation homes? The answer is, lots of them. Double-footprints! There is a funny saying in Maine – - “An environmentalist is someone who already owns a vacation home.”
Yes, McMansions and Starter Castles are going to be a drug on the market; they were bad chickens that are now coming home to roost. And perhaps urbanites will have to squeeze in a little tighter. But none of that justifies killing off a way of life for those of us in ex-urbia.