
{"id":9286,"date":"2010-03-11T10:51:14","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T18:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=9286"},"modified":"2010-03-11T10:51:14","modified_gmt":"2010-03-11T18:51:14","slug":"creek-debate-reveals-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/03\/11\/creek-debate-reveals-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"Creek debate reveals divide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>James Carnahan<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nA comment by Chris Bond on <em>The Carrboro Citizen<\/em> website about Dave Otto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recent column regarding Bolin Creek Greenway (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The fa\u00c3\u00a7ade of saving Bolin Creek,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 2\/25\/10) sums up a larger issue that divides our community: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Instead of using \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcincreasingly urban environment\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as justification for paving the forests, use it as justification to stop urbanization.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Urbanization is not what is wrecking our local environment. It is important not to confuse \u00e2\u20ac\u0153urban\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with the suburban pattern that has dominated for the past six decades. <!--more-->Sprawling land use (even in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153green\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Orange County) is what batters our local resources, requiring widespread removal of topsoil and trees, mass grading and soil compaction, riparian buffer disturbance, squandering of water, excessive parking and dependence on cars. <\/p>\n<p>Careful and strategic urbanization is actually good land use, enabling conservation of forests and waterways by accommodating growth efficiently and impacting the smallest possible amount of land. Compact, well-planned development reduces per-capita carbon emissions by allowing people to bike, walk and take transit to meet their basic daily needs. <\/p>\n<p>With this in mind, I thank Dave Otto for his decades of work to protect Bolin Creek and for his recent efforts to make the greenway a safe and continuous corridor for pedestrians, joggers, strollers and birdwatchers. As Otto notes, greenways are useful for: <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 connecting homes to schools, parks and restaurants;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 providing pathways for wildlife to access more habitats;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 enabling people to get places without having to drive and find parking;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 providing contact with nature, which is essential for our mental well-being; and<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 linking Carrboro and Chapel Hill residents with each other and with our local economy and culture.<\/p>\n<p>Otto wrote that the role of this greenway in environmental preservation is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153secondary,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but I differ on this point. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Environment\u00e2\u20ac\u009d isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just about wild, uninhabited areas. The global environmental crisis challenges us to find ways to meet our basic needs locally and without pollution and reckless resource consumption. Urbanization is the optimal path, and reaching a consensus about how we urbanize is a prerequisite for making our towns and cities wonderful and worthwhile places to live, work and play.<\/p>\n<p>Providing universal access to woodlands conserved within our boundaries is one key to making livable the kind of vibrant urban centers that can support human activity without compromising the health of the global ecosystem. In that sense, paving the Bolin Creek Greenway helps leave the planet inhabitable and enjoyable for our children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p>I urge the Carrboro Board of Aldermen to pursue a paved pedestrian, bike and wheelchair-accessible artery that links us to one another, to community activities and to a lovely, soul-replenishing natural corridor. And thank you, Dave Otto, for your vision and leadership.<\/p>\n<p><em>Carnahan is a founder of The Village Project and former chair of the Carrboro Planning Board.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James Carnahan A comment by Chris Bond on The Carrboro Citizen website about Dave Otto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recent column regarding Bolin Creek Greenway (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The fa\u00c3\u00a7ade of saving Bolin Creek,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 2\/25\/10) sums up a larger issue that divides our community: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Instead of using \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcincreasingly urban environment\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as justification for paving the forests, use it as justification to stop&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9286"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9288,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9286\/revisions\/9288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}