Stop Making Development Ugly

 

November 29, 2024

 

I was traveling through a town that I hadn’t been to in a couple of years. They were developing a new business section along the highway, and, as is common with such developments, it was a lot of concrete, varied only by the occasional gravel parking lot. Despite the new signs outside the new buildings, it already looked worn and depressing.

I wondered irritably why towns put up with that. If they’re going to allow new development, they should at least make it have some sort of aesthetic standard. They have to know that ugly sections of town are—well, ugly. They’ve seen enough of them around.

Then I wondered what could you do to spruce up a corridor with a garage, a tire store, a lumber store, and a car dealership. And it came to me:

Put in some landscaping, folks! You don’t have to alternate between concrete parking lots and gravel parking lots, side by side, with no break. Put in some flowers! Add some shrubbery! You may sell tough wares like tires and lumber, but you don’t have to turn the place into a concrete jungle. Make the place enticing for the customers, and make visitors think that your town is charming. Put some effort into it!

This public service announcement is brought to you by somebody who’s tired of looking at ugly stretches of highway in residential areas, and who thinks we can all do better.

 

 

What's the Penalty for Being Wrong?

 

December 4, 2024

 

A Missouri lawmaker wants to give people $1,000 if they turn in undocumented immigrants.

The idea started as a portal where people could submit names for the government to check out. But, according to the Post-Dispatch, the lawmaker wants to create a program that “would certify applicants to be bounty hunters for the purpose of finding and detaining undocumented immigrants in the state.”

Rabid people keeping an eye out for people with darker skin and foreign accents, with a cash incentive to turn them in, and blanket approval to detain them. What could go wrong? If you’re not picturing harassment and potential physical harm, you haven’t been paying attention to what’s going on around the country.

I have a friend who was born and raised in South America, and became an American citizen 40 years ago. She still has an accent. Will someone try to determine if she is a legal citizen? How?

Will there be a provision in the bill that says if a “bounty hunter” harasses an American citizen who has an accent, they will have to pay compensation to the citizen? Do jail time? If the person isn’t a citizen, and gets roughed up, will they get compensation? Will the assailant go to jail? What kind of brakes would be on this program?

Please let this idea go to that great Shredder in the Sky.