Partnership for Smarter Growth
If you had to pick one symbol to represent the Richmond region, a good choice, sad to say, might be the bulldozer.
Not only is the Richmond area growing, the rate of change is accelerating and is significantly outstripping the rate of population growth.
For example, according to “Where Are We Growing?,” a report published in 2003 by the Southern Environmental Law Center, in just one five-year period between 1992 and 1997 Metropolitan Richmond converted 58,800 acres of open space to strip malls, subdivisions, office parks, highways, parking lots, and other “development” projects. That total represented a growth rate of 30 percent for the five-year period, while the area’s population grew only 8 percent. In the ten years prior to1992, only 58,300 acres were developed. Since 1997, the area has experienced the same kind of feverish change, and all signs indicate that these trends are likely to continue.
Such rapid growth can have many ramifications for a community—both good and bad. Growth itself is not necessarily a problem. The important questions are exactly how and where will the Richmond region grow and change? And who will decide?
The answers are critical to the quality of life of area residents, since government policies and business decisions that drive growth touch every aspect of the community and affect us profoundly as individuals, too.
It is no overstatement to say that decisions about which highways are built or how subdivisions are designed, for example, may determine how much time we spend in traffic instead of with our families, what kind of houses we can afford, how much of the natural landscape survives, how much we pay in taxes, what historical features we save, what other amenities we can enjoy; and even how safe our children are.
The Partnership for Smarter Growth (PSG) is a citizens’ education and advocacy organization. It’s mission is to promote smart growth principles and practices throughout the region, so that as greater Richmond grows and develops everyone can participate and everyone can enjoy a high quality of life and a genuine sense of community.
PSG’s members and volunteers represent the eight localities within the metropolitan area (the City of Richmond and Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan Counties).
PSG offers volunteers many ways to find a niche suited to their skills and interests: gathering information about proposed development projects within their communities, attending public meetings, raising funds, giving presentations, and more.
All are welcome! For information, visit http://www.psgrichmond.org/cms
Links Referenced
- The Partnership for Smarter Growth
- http://www.psgrichmond.org/cms
- http://www.psgrichmond.org/cms
- http://www.psgrichmond.org/cms
Location
http://www.vcnva.org/anx/index.cfm/1,122,553,0,html
Copyright © Virginia Conservation Network 2012