Wish You Weren't Here

If one stays up late, and listens very carefully, one realizes that Pittsburgh is never totally quiet, even in the small hours. There is always an undertone -- a very dull roar of some sort -- and I have found out what it is. It's the aggregate moaning and groaning of local politicians tossing and turning and having a sleepless night over the fact that Pittsburgh is not blessed with what is called "growth". The population continues to trickle away to the far suburbs and small towns, fleeing the dirt, grime, high taxation, and shaky infrastructure that the city has come to epitomize, despite the residual energy and fascination, that I have pointed out, of life among the post-industrial ruins. And, of course, the tax base is shrinking down to the point where some day there will be one small business left in all of Pittsburgh -- probably a pizza parlor -- and it will be assessed at a tax rate of a few billion percent in order to support all the remaining corporate welfare, union welfare, sports welfare, and other parasitical bodies that infest the city. So yes, I understand why the local would-be movers and shakers are obsessed with "growth", since, according to their flawed model of what creates the wealth of cities, growth is the one thing indispensable.

But allow me to offer an opposing view. I lived, up until 2-plus years ago, in the (at the time) fastest-growing county in the country, namely Loudoun County, Virginia, outside Washington DC. This was an area where suburban sprawl was spreading at, quite literally, the rate of one mile per year. In other words, the "ring" of suburban townhouse development, single-family units, high rises, and McMansions was expanding out from the city at that rate. Incredible, yes, but also true. I don't know if this process has slowed down yet, even in the wake of the housing financial "crisis"; it was a product, of course, of the ever-expanding scope of the federal government and the resulting uniquely "recession-proof" nature of the Washington, DC-area economy. I offer all of this information in a non-judgmental way -- so far. But for the person who moved out to that area back in 1981, when there were cows and horses grazing right across the road, there was only one conclusion to be drawn, and that is that "growth" _sucks_! Imagine living in an area where your taxes go up steadily, year after year... where "government services" grow ever more spotty... where your commute morphs from a minor inconvenience into a daily hideous debacle... where half the vehicles on the road are dump trucks... where the roar of road-building equipment can be heard at all hours of the day and night... where the nearest "open country" is suddenly 15 miles away... no wait, 20... no wait, now it's in West Virginia. The question comes up time and time again -- "Where's the good?" Where are all these ballyhooed "benefits" of growth? It's certainly beneficial for landowners and developers, and also politicians and "service providers", who get to build ever more massive empires on the backs of the taxpayers. But what good does it do for the ordinary schmuck? The answer is, it doesn't. It's all downside and no upside.

I just wish all these whining local politicians could have a sojourn of a few months in the DC suburbs. They would see what I'm talking about. They would return to Pittsburgh and lovingly embrace its economic "stagnation" and slightly-negative "growth" rate, realizing that there are far worse things.