|
HOME COLUMBIA IN THE NEWS OPINION TAKE ACTION RESOURCES ATLANTA AUSTIN EXAMPLES |
Developer and Business Interests Attempt End Run: On October 4, The State published an article outlining how developer and business interests are using the conservative members of City Council to pack land use planning boards with pro-business, pro-developer members. I guess the residents and neighborhoods of Columbia won one battle with the Interim Measures For Community Character Protection, but this story in The State reinforces the fact that we are still in the war. The idea of packing the Planning Commission and the Design Development Review Commission with pro-business, pro-developer really, as the saying goes, puts the fox in charge of the hen house. Columbia is enjoying an era of growth which has been a long time coming, but the opportunity now is to direct that growth so that in 50 years residents can look back and thank us for our foresight. We have the opportunity to make a city which will be admired and envied; and draw residents, businesses, and corporations from around the nation and the world. Or we can squander the opportunity by letting a few greedy and sometimes inexperienced and/or unqualified self-styled developers determine the character of our city for decades to come. Columbia needs a vision, and we have spent time, money and effort trying to formulate that vision. Unfortunately, the city has often been incapable of following through. Now, with Innovista taking shape and the University building a nearly new campus to complement a great tradition, the city needs to refine and tighten the review and guidelines for new construction. The Design Development Review Commission is the enforcement arm of the Interim Measures For Community Character Protection. If we allow it to be overrun with pro-business, pro-developer appointments, Columbia's neighborhoods will have won a battle but lost the war. Read more from The State... |