The nation’s military bases face an ever-encroaching threat — suburban development. The need to protect base land for military training has the brass forming an unlikely alliance with conservation groups, observers say.

Albeit for different reasons, the military and conservation groups share the same goal: to preserve open space. Conservationists say that the 25 million acres owned by the Defense Department is home to almost 330 endangered species, while the DOD needs the land for valuable training exercises.
As a result, states are trying to balance the needs of the military, conservation groups, and homeowners:

• In Fayetteville, the Army and state and local conservation groups formed a partnership to protect 9,100 acres near Fort Bragg for training and woodpecker habitat.

• In Florida, the Defense Department and conservation groups are working to create buffer zones, protected from suburban development, for the flight paths of five Air Force and Navy bases.

• The army and environmental groups in Fort Carson, Colo. are working with ranchers to limit the development of nearby ranchland, which would impede the Army’s artillery and tank warfare training.

Fifteen states allow local governments to restrict development around military facilities. Not all suburbanites like the idea of restrictions, claiming that such zoning reduces property values and prevents land from being used for more profitable economic uses.

However, military observers argue that bases that are restricted from training exercises because of the disruption to nearby neighbors will be subject to another round of base closings, which also drains local economies, observers say.

Reported in USA Today.

Lingering effects of 1960s riots

Cities struck by race riots during the 1960s have suffered a number of long-term economic consequences: lower male employment, reduced black family income and a fall in property values, the New York Times says.

Between 1964 and 1971 there were more than 750 riots, killing 228 people and injuring 12,741. After more than 15,000 incidents of arson, many black urban neighborhoods were in ruins.

Compared to similar cities that had little or no rioting, economists from Vanderbilt University found that cities with major riots had depressed economic indicators. The median black income dropped by about 9 percent from 1960 to 1970. From 1960 to 1980, male employment dropped 4 to 7 percentage points.

The impact on property values is even more striking. In cities with severe riots, researchers found, the median value of black-owned homes dropped from 14 percent to 20 percent, compared with cities that experienced little or no rioting, from 1960 to 1970. The median value of all central-city homes, regardless of owner, dropped 6 percent, to 10 percent.

The racial difference is not surprising, because both riot damage and the perceived risk of future riots were concentrated in predominately black neighborhoods.

Again, these numbers reflect not just immediate property damage but long-term declines. If it is more expensive or less desirable to live or work in a particular neighborhood, property prices will drop, the economists say.

Being a pedestrian is dangerous

Walking is the most dangerous form of transportation, accounting for 11.3 percent of transportation fatalities nationwide, according to the Surface Transportation Policy Project.

In 2003 a total of 4,827 pedestrians were killed while crossing the street and an additional 70,000 were injured.

The most dangerous cities, STPP says, are characterized by wide, high-speed arterial roads that are hazardous for pedestrians.

The majority (about 52 percent) of pedestrian fatalities occurred on arterial roads, while less than 15 percent occurred on interstates and freeways, however, more than 40 percent of pedestrians were killed in areas where no crosswalk was available.

Between 2002-2003, three Florida metropolitan areas topped the list of the three most dangerous cities to walk: Orlando, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and West-Palm Beach-Boca Raton. Ironically, the Orlando and St. Petersburg areas spend more federal funds per capita on pedestrian and bicycle facilities than any of the 50 largest metropolitan areas.

STPP notes that between 1994 and 2003, pedestrian fatalities have declined by almost 13 percent, however, the percentage of people walking to work declined at an even greater rates.

North Carolina had 178 pedestrian fatalities in 2002 and 150 in 2003 for an average of 1.96 annual pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 residents.
Within the state, pedestrian fatality rates varied widely. In the state’s three large urban areas, pedestrian fatalities accounted for 10.2 percent to 12.6 percent of all traffic deaths.

By contrast, in the Wilmington area, 24 percent of those killed in 2002 and 2003 in traffic accidents were pedestrians, an average of 3.65 annual pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 residents. The STPP also rated Goldsboro and Rocky Mount as particularly dangerous places to walk along streets.

At the other extreme were the Greenville, Asheville, and Jacksonville metropolitan or micropolotan areas. In the Asheville MSA, only 7.3 of traffic fatalities were pedestrians. The rate was even lower, 3.9 percent, in Jacksonville. Jacksonville also had the lowest rate pedestrian fatality rate per 100,000 residents in North Carolina at 0.68. Asheville was second at 0.87.