"No Urban Sprawl!" - urban sprawlers

GAINESVILLE FL- Alachua County officals met with a throng of polarized citizens, one half against a proposed development, the other for it. As the developers of the Springhills project promise, the new development will bring many businesses to the area, along with jobs, tax revenues and much needed funding for roads.

Opponents scream NIMBY. They don't want development, as they live in cushy homesites on the edge of town. Of course, they were not at the council meetings where people protested against the development of the subdivision where they now reside.

The people that are against sprawl are those on the edge, the ones that sprawled last. They like to be the last ones before the nothingness and who can blame them? I too am against malls, McMansions and cookie cutter development. I'm against it, so I don't go there. I don't like them, and I hate the traffic they cause.

However, I steadfastly believe that property owners have every right to do with their land what they want to do. Whether it is an adult bookstore, a church, a strip club, or any other kind of debauchery I'm all for the owners doing what they want to do with their property.

The challenge goes to those opposed. If they don't like it, don't shop there. If 50% of the town does not use it there will be no impact on traffic and the development will go broke. Retailers will close and the local do-gooders can buy it up and do what they want to with it.

Let's take government out of the equation. Let the marketplace decide.

Plus, if they defeat the proposal to build an upscale retail and residential development, the land will be sold off to strip clubs, bars, adult bookstores, convenience stores, pawn shops, churches, super centers and the rest of the piecemeal development crap that signifies that town.