Visualizing--and Studying--Sprawl in Pennsylvania
One of the most effective educational tools on the subject of sprawl is
the book by Tom Hylton, Save Our Land, Save Our Towns. Sponsored by
Preservation Pennsylvania, a statewide historic preservation advocacy
organization, and published in 1995, the book has ignited the debate over
sprawl in Pennsylvania in a way that more academic, technical reports
have failed to do. Designed to be read by the lay person in less than
two hours, this richly photographed book relates the subject of sprawl to
the lives of ordinary people. Some sample passages:
"The sprawling nature of postwar suburban development has destroyed our
sense of community. We no longer build places that include people of all
ages and incomes. We no longer experience the informal meetings and
greetings on Main Street that earlier generations took for granted."
"In the first half of the century, most children walked to neighborhood
schools and came home for lunch. Today, children rarely walk anywhere on
their own. We don't want them to! They might get run over. So they
ride to school on buses, and must be chauffeured everywhere else by their
parents. Meanwhile, the elderly dread the loss of their driving
privileges, because when that happens, they lose their independence."
After describing the effects of sprawl on everyday lives of people, the
book goes on to offer solutions.
Distributed to every member of the state legislature, the book is having
an impact in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania State Senator David Brightbill,
a senior Republican, introduced a Senate resolution in January 1996
calling for a task force to study ways to encourage community building
and to discourage suburban sprawl. The Brightbill Resolution reads as
follows:
WHEREAS, land development patterns that began roughly 60 years ago and
that continue currently have consumed excessive amounts of this
Commonwealth's agricultural and other land;
WHEREAS, current development patterns have threatened or altered the
essential character of many communities; and
WHEREAS, current development patterns have contributed to the decline of
this Commonwealth's cities and towns; and
WHEREAS, current development patterns have contributed to an excessive
increase in automobile traffic and resulting air pollution; and
WHEREAS, current development patterns have damaged the waters of this
Commonwealth by contributing to pollution from runoff and from faulty
on-lot septic systems; and
WHEREAS, current development patterns have required wasteful public
expenditures to reproduce infrastructure that has been abandoned in this
Commonwealth's established communities; and
WHEREAS, current development patterns have harmed society as a whole by
contributing to the separation of society along lines of income and race;
and
WHEREAS, public frustration concerning unplanned sprawl has sometimes
caused inappropriate efforts to block all growth and development, thereby
endangering economic development and the rights of property owners, and
WHEREAS, efforts to combat sprawl must take into account the need for
economic development in this Commonwealth, particularly in areas of the
Commonwealth where such development has not occurred or has not occurred
recently; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate commit itself to the formation of a task force
to study the problem of unplanned sprawl and to recommend changes in
State policy to combat sprawl, including, but not limited to,
consideration of changes involving increased public education and
providing incentives to local government to perform comprehensive
planning; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the task force shall consist of five members of the
Senate, three of whom shall be appointed by the majority Leader of the
Senate and two of whom shall be appointed by the Minority Leader of the
Senate, and that the Majority Leader of the Senate shall designate the
chairman of the task force; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the task force shall conduct hearings and report to the
Senate in due course.