Much is discussed about the growth of Clark County and how to make more room for housing developments and apartments for the “inevitable growth.”
On Feb. 23, 1997, The Columbian ran an op-ed by Vancouver business consultant John Gear. I’ve saved it for 21 years. This is why: “We who profit from sprawl don’t even want alternatives discussed. Therefore we will debate anything but whether or not to grow. We’ll put up with all sorts of annoying public scrutiny — so long as nobody notices that we’re not concealing anything. Because we don’t need to; so long as we can make everyone think that ‘growth is inevitable,’ then we will, field by field, farm by farm, stream by stream, clear-cut by clear-cut, turn this county into a single, homogenous mass of gridlocked ‘development.’ “
This is an excerpt from his op-ed, but the facts are clear that he was sadly correct in his assumptions that the development industry would come, stay, and denude the county of its beauty and livability.
“Growth is a policy, not inevitability.” Gear has been proved correct. Our county councilors, all Republicans, include those that have worked to allow this supposed inevitability. They’ve paved the way in their pronouncements for developers to rule the roost. We all suffer for their shortsightedness and greed.
