Health & Fitness
Closed Minds of Open Space Cadets
When people try to co-opt terms like "Smart Growth," beware. What they really want is "No Growth."
When it comes to so-called open space, there are two kinds of people in this world: 1) Those who love open space generically and communally want to share it with, or even cede it to, others who have to wherewithal to develop it into something productive and beneficial to the community. 2) Those who love Open Space proprietarily (and with capitalization), and want to monopolize the conversation about what can be done with it, which is to say, do nothing with it, hands off, get off my land!
To them, or so it seems, every parcel, no matter how big or small, is the Ponderosa, and anybody who dares tread on it with ponderous steps that would break an eggshell is deemed a trespasser who deserves to be shot down, figuratively speaking of course.
This particular showdown is being joined in the wild west Town of Yorktown, where an outspoken, self-regarding, cloistered, and at times impolite vanguard of Open Space advocates steps up to the podium -- literally of course -- any time a blade of grass is about to be touched by human hands other than their own, or their landscapers'.
