'Smart growth' is the way go

High quality of life is not inverse to high-density building, a fact Santa Cruz must learn. High-density, mixed-use building, known as "smart growth" to planners, is actually the best option for Santa Cruz, both preserving the environment and creating enough housing stock to keep prices remotely affordable.

"Smart growth" is the environmental and humanist choice. The suburbs we are used to are not good for the environment. As lovely as Seabright and the Westside are, they are suburban sprawl. Additionally, that sprawl is surrounded by forests and parks that Santa Cruz does not want to develop. To create more housing which is something cities are obligated to do, by law and principle without building on greenbelt, we must "redevelop" ares that are currently sprawl. The choice is to grow up or to grow out. Santa Cruz places a high premium on pubic open space, which means grow up rather than out. As a community, we are trading small parcels of private land for large tracts of public open space by not allowing the development of the greenbelt. This has a side benefit of making efficient public transit feasible, which again helps the environment. High density on transit corridors is a necessary condition for efficient public transit. There is little motivation for public transit unless density, rather than necessity driving like suburban sprawl does, discourages it due to the hassle of having a car. Density makes cars a liability, where suburban sprawl makes cars indispensable.

It is deleterious, short-sighted thinking to cling to the way things are and brand any change as "threatening the integrity of neighborhoods" or our "quality of life," which are vague and subjective. Those things are actually diminished in calculable ways by pollution, traffic, isolation and car dependence, which are the real qualities of suburban life. Low or fixed-income residents that is young, old or not rich people and future generations never benefit from sprawl, and no one benefits from the 'car culture" sprawl necessarily entails. In fact, we are desperately trying to escape the headlock the petroleum industry has on our economy, which is attached to car dependence, which is the result of sprawl.

Sometimes, wealthy neighborhoods kill good smart-growth projects in the name of aesthetics or other feelings that mask a range of true motives: fear of change, fear of who might move in next to them, fear of diversity or fear of dissatisfaction with the upgrade. We must act despite our fears for what we know is right; that is called courage. Our community is one of courage.

It is a fact that population is increasing and that your neighborhood will inevitably change. But that is not bad, and with creatively designed smart growth will enhance your quality of life. Your community is about people more than buildings. Higher density puts you in more contact with your neighbors, the basis of community: living among people you know, help and talk to. Mixed-use building encourages you to walk to businesses, restaurants and venues, which benefits the environment and your waistline.

High density, mixed-use projects will go in next to older homes because property owners change and some want to redevelop. It's OK. The integrity of the community will be preserved. That is because community integrity is not structural, like a house. Community integrity is not concentrated in our things, our walls, our leashes, our fences. Communities have integrity because of the people in them, because of who we are and how we live together. Community integrity resides in us, not around us.

Amelia Timbers lives in Santa Cruz, CA