A Place Called Home

Isn’t it time SoWal grew up just a little bit?  I don’t mean in a “this place needs yet another chi chi restaurant or ironically misnamed development”, I mean in a full on, “let’s prepare for the future of this place” kinda way.  What I’m referring to is a notion running through this area like a rabid virus that equates our happiness and longevity in SoWal with unfettered, continual development, a notion that equates OUR economy with continued growth in the building sector, the idea that somehow we won’t survive if the airport doesn’t come to fruition.

Certainly this is prevalent thinking all over the country if not most of the developed world and I don’t fault anyone for thinking this is the answer to our economic “stagnation” as some economists would call our reprieve from the great building megalopolis.  We need only to look around our beautiful county and see what we are privilaged to have as our stomping grounds; beautiful beaches, the bay, our wonderfully bio-diverse environment.  Before I go any further, I want to set the record straight, I refrain from considering myself an “environmentalist” since it so often conjures up ideas of a somewhat radical nature in those quick to categorize.  Also, I’m in the building industry and therefore have given much thought to the content of what it is I want to convey.  I’ll be the first to admit, I’m passionate about many aspects of my work, though not all and would not be very happy if I were forced to abandon my chosen profession.  Lastly, my intent is not to “close the door, now that I have mine”, a phrase I’ve heard since my first year living in SoWal when the New Towne on the corner of 98 and 331 was fought…and lost, I might add.

“let’s prepare for the future of this place”

This place, the place we fondly call home, or is it?  Is this your home, your neighbor’s home or just home to the woman who cleans your vacation home?  Maybe you consider it your second home, your vacation home, or your rental income property, in which case it’s really not your home, but the home of the person that rents your “property”.  What is home?  Is it somewhere else, say in Georgia or Alabama or perhaps home is where you were born?  The people who call SoWal their home are the long term, committed inhabitants of this place, the keepers of this place, if you will.  We raise our children here, work here, commune here and eat soul food at 331 on Thursdays.  We drive these roads everyday and we know, if only a little, of the flora and fauna that are native to this area.  I can’t speak for all, though I would venture to guess, we are a vast majority of people that bring services to those that call this place their “second home”.  We make food, build homes, care for pets, sell furniture, clean houses and so on and so forth and we do it with pride and hope that we will continue to be able to provide for ourselves and live here.

If we think our current model of building and living here can go on the way it always has, we have been fooled into buying this notion of economic survival = business as usual = more consumerism = more building = continued prosperity.  It’s a perpetual roller coaster that’s difficult to get off.  Think for a moment what would happen in the event of a local crisis, say we were cut off from energy supplies.  I will venture to guess that most people with a “home” elsewhere, would more than likely retreat to those places, leaving behind those of us who call SoWal “home” to fend for ourselves.  Oh, but wait, oops, our whole economy is dependant on those other people who called this place their second home and they aren’t here anymore.  Who will we build houses for or feed or sell trinkets to?  Now what?  And too bad for us, we allowed our beautiful environment to become decimated, for the sake of economic growth.  So sad, we sacrificed everything we cherished so we could continue living the life we’ve carved out for ourselves, only to find out that we’ve come full circle and now we’re eating our own tail.

It’s our, meaning those people that love SoWal, responsibility to care for the environment as well as our society and economy.  This will require huge sacrifice and leadership of a whole new way of looking at development.  We have to ask questions like, how can we continue to grow and not eat up every square inch of natural habitat?  How will we care for ourselves in the event of a local or global crisis?  How can we create a more diverse, yet tight knit community?  How can we make better use of existing communities and infrastructure?  These are questions I invite everyone to think about critically and with an open mind to possible solutions that may not yet exist.  We have been given a time of rest from the fast pace of selling and buying of real estate and building of more developments to reflect on changes we can make now, to prepare for a different future, hopefully one that’s more sustainable than our past.  Isn’t it time to explore options for developing sustainable communities in SoWal?

Just one more personal thought on possible changes, I would like to see the communities on the North side of 98 become more interconnected starting with a bike path on E. Pt. Washington Rd.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment!  Community participation is encouraged.

posted by CFH