CROWDED ROOM WITH A LONG LINE OUTSIDE

The crowded room came into shocking focus yesterday.

It was a view from the road of new construction in the early phase:

The flat land skinned bare, concrete curbs poured for street layout, and one showcase house framed and sided.

With room for so many more planned.

The view came from Roy Rogers Road driving north by Big Al’s.

Why shocking?

Because there was an equally huge area getting the same treatment on both sides of Big Al’s.

These land parcels could have been farmland? Could have been?

Believe it when I say, “The Urban Growth Boundary is expanding.”

Believe it or not:

 

Since 2000, Metro has expanded its UGB by 11,884 acres or 18.6 square miles. By comparison, the entire city of Beaverton is 12,650 acres or 19.8 square miles.

Most recent UGB expansions resulted in annexations into cities. County and regional policies intend for future additions to be annexed before they develop.

 

If it’s not expanding, then I’ve been misinformed, or I’ve misunderstood, and that’s not good for anyone.

What else isn’t good for anyone, since we’re on the topic?

A population growth solution that paves farmland, a solution that sacrifices the soil food could grow on.

In Oregon, that’s pretty much everywhere.

The state started out with mid-western farmers pushing and pulling wagons for two thousand miles on the Oregon Trail.

They staked their claims and started planting, and now that fertile farmland is commemorated by the suburban developments entrances.

Treeless Forest. Old Growth Acres. Hidden Meadow.

Those names come from google AI.

 

Other Names For A Crowded Room

Some housing developments look cramped, tight, packed.

Others look like a swarm of humanity with the cars and no parking, kids and no yards, parents and no parks.

And they’ve got it good.

You will never hear a critical word out of me on BoomerPdx or anywhere else about the flood of people and housing rising in Washington County.

I was one of them, just three decades ago.

The choices were based on transportation.

Did we want to be stuck in traffic on the Banfield going toward Gresham?

Noooo.

Did we want to be part of the Hwy26 traffic jam going to Beaverton?

Noooo.

I-5 North?

No.

I-5 South? Weeeelllll, yes.

I-5 South was my Oregon Trail to the promised land, to the dream of every true American: An adequate house with a usable yard on a quiet street.

Was it in Multnomah Village?

Nooo.

Was it in Metzger?

No.

It was a nice ranch house a few streets off downtown Tigard that’s better now than it was when we moved.

I had neighbors, old guys who remembered when all of the surrounding lands were berry farms.

Now I’m the old guy remembering the farmlands on the west side of Bull Mountain now full of apartments and condos and cute little houses instead of strawberry fields forever.

Drive west on SW Scholls Ferry Road to Tile Flat Road before Kinton and you’ll see the housing process in full swing.

Land cleared, plots staked out, straw spread around, piles of piping.

Then it’s go-time on foundations, roads, water, and electricity, not necessarily in that order.

Trucks, cranes, and cement mixers jockey for space.

Loads and loads of wood get dropped where a forest once stood, or a field.

Two year later you forget what used to be where the new high school sits.

As long as people need to live within their comfort zone, more houses will be built on an expanding urban growth boundary.

 

Crowded Room On An Overcrowded Planet

Wherever you live, whether China, Singapore, or Norway among my readers, look around you.

Are there signs, evidence of over-population, that fit the definition.

 

Many population experts worry discussions around overpopulation will be abused by small-minded people to suggest some are the “right people” to be on the planet (like themselves), and some people are “the wrong people”

When we use the term “overpopulation,” we specifically mean a situation in which the Earth cannot regenerate the resources used by the world’s population each year. Experts say this has been the case every year since 1970.

Unfortunately, the “average person” on Earth consumes at a rate over 50% above a sustainable level. Incredibly, the average person in the United States uses almost five times more than the sustainable yield of the planet.

 

Personally, I feel it an honor and a privilege to live the way I live, as a steward, a trustee, and a guard.

I won’t go astray and ruin local property values by letting my part run down, which is why HOA’s were invented.

I will handle every piece of trash several times to get it in the correct recycling bins.

Paper, glass, and plastic all separate for their own destinations.

I trust that it won’t be carried away and all dumped into the same landfill.

I want you to understand you don’t need to be a shrill alarmist about over-population, but you need to know what’s on the horizon.

 

PS: Challenge yourself to be a little better. Instead of trashing old paint and stains in the garbage, take them to the local hazardous waste disposal.

PSS: If you find yourself surrounded by unused metal, whether tools, file cabinets, or furniture, take them to the metal recycling near you. Then leave a comment about how virtuous you feel.