Gov. Mike Easley, “smart growth” advocates, and other big-government lovers haven’t gotten the word yet, but their crusade lies prostrate in the shadow of September 11. Al Qaeda’s handiwork that day and realistic fears of continuing attacks exploded environmentalists’ dreams of throttling suburban growth and expanding mass transit.
Anyone who pushes smart growth in today’s chaotic world might as well send a written invitation to terrorists — whose primary strategy is to destroy high-density targets and maximize body counts. Incessant terrorist attacks on public transit in Israel; a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia; airports; and numerous other places where people congregate all serve to underscore a proven battle plan: Fanatical Islamic groups will continue to prey on crowds.
For that reason, the Department of Homeland Security, in its most recent Code Orange alert, warned people who live in apartment complexes and who stay in hotels to be extra vigilant. The media reported that a key Democratic congresswoman cautioned her daughter to avoid New York City’s subways.
President Bush warned us that there is no foreseeable end to terrorism and that our world was forever changed September 11. It is a sobering fact of life today, he said, that terrorists have infiltrated our society and that Americans, especially those who live in big cities, will have to change their lifestyles.
Randal O’Toole, a senior economist with the Thoreau Institute, wrote of the realities of our changed world. O’Toole cited historian Stephen Ambrose’s view that the real lesson behind terrorist attacks was “Don’t bunch up.” “It is no longer necessary to pack so many people and offices into such small places as lower Manhattan,” Ambrose wrote. “They can be scattered in neighboring regions and states, where they can work just as efficiently and in far more security.”
Even though New York City and other American metropolises will pursue plans for skyscrapers out of civic pride, smart-growth advocates such as James Howard Kunstler concede that theage of the skyscrapers is coming to an end, O’Toole wrote. As other smart-growth advocates point out, their vision of the future is low- to mid-rise mixed-use housing.
But even that may be too dense for comfort for many people, O’Toole wrote. O’Toole quoted San Jose Mercury columnist Dan Gillmor: “The logic of decentralization has never been more clear. Safety once resided in large numbers. In tomorrow’s world, there will be more safety in spreading out.”
Yet the density factor in North Carolina appears to be more persistent than initially feared: Easley and his allies continue to ignore the realities of the grave new world and unnecessarily expose a trusting public to potential danger.
The governor announced recently that he plans to divert $700 million from the Highway Trust Fund toward highway maintenance, bridge replacement — and public transit such as planned rail systems in Charlotte and the Triangle. There is one obstacle to Easley’s plan: Current law stipulates that most money from the trust fund must be allocated to new-highway construction. No problem there, though. Easley is relying on a bill introduced by Rep. Jim Crawford, D-Oxford, and Sen. Wib Gulley, D-Durham, to change the law and allow the Department of Transportation to transfer the money from the trust fund.
Easley’s unwise action comes at a time when North Carolinians want more, not fewer, highways. Recent changes in air-travel patterns show that, at least for short distances, more people are turning to highways as the preferred avenue of transportation. Because of fear of terrorism and increased security and delays associated with it, fewer travelers are flying on short-haul flights and instead are using other modes of transportation, including driving to nearby destinations. A recent survey by AAA showed that 22 percent fewer people are flying on routes of 200 to 400 miles. Other data from tourism agencies show that many travelers now prefer to drive — in the safety of their private vehicles — to in-state destinations rather than to fly out of state.
Subsequent attacks by terrorists will intensify Americans’ fears of mass transit and high-density housing and increase pressure on politicians to abandon smart-growth initiatives. North Carolina’s lawmakers would be wise to heed the trend now and funnel more money — not less — into expansion of the state’s highway system and other projects that accommodate suburban growth.
Already, through the marketplace, Americans are conveying a strong message to their elected representatives: Don’t herd them into boxes for an easy slaughter.
But to politicians who insist on espousing the smart-growth cause, terrorists, no doubt, have a message for you: “Go ahead, make our day.”