3/9/2012 11:03 AM
David,
Good comments, I wonder though and this is just a thought, question and/or opinion, "Are we relying too much on new home construction to carry this economy?"
My thought is this, where do we build these new homes? Out in old farm fields on the outskirts of town, which turns our city centers into ghost towns sometimes at night. This asks us to rely more on cars for transportation into the city, using more fuel, which is also a part of our economy that might be hurting us. And I'm not talking big cities with good public transportation, I think more like our city, 180,000, with so so bus service, etc. I drive thru the old residential areas from probably the 20's thru the 50's, and wonder if not some of those blocks or neighborhoods could be revitalized to boost the construction economy? I know refurbishing is to expensive due to odd shaped spaces, environmental hazards possibly, etc. Of course the big question is how do we revitalize it? Don't want to do eminent domain, municipalities don't have to funds to buy out that much property, the private side, doesn't want to risk it, (although we have seen some areas revitalized, so there is some hope), but maybe our generation has been brought up in suburbia and it will take another generation or two to move back into the center of cities.
I know more questions then answers but I do know this, it has to be everyone working together.
Hey I like the new feature that shows there as been a post before I finished my rant, didn't need the help this time, but I know it could come in handy down the road.
Mel
Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO