Well, this is like throwing gasoline on a fire. But then, we specialize in that:
Lancaster ain’t alone. More cities across the country are talking about adding streetcars:
At least 40 other cities are exploring streetcar plans to spur economic development, ease traffic congestion and draw young professionals and empty-nest baby boomers back from the suburbs, according […]

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I read stories like this and I cringe, because having covered the puppy mill beat on and off for several years, I can tell you exactly what the activists’ reaction is going to be; I can tell you that the general public will have a very similar reaction.
But I can’t tell you what the dog […]

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Veddy interesting forum over at the NYT’s Freakonomics blog on the future of the American suburb - whether, in the era of high energy prices, it’s destined to collapse, to evolve, or just keep on keeping on.
Perhaps the most interesting response to the question of what our suburbs look like in 40 years comes from […]

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Interesting mini-debate going on over at NewsLanc regarding our local libraries, in relation to this Era piece yesterday about how the number of people using the Duke Street library in particular has soared - up 15 percent in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period in 2007.
I can vouch for […]

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So the Yokel, apparently back from a vacation in the Boston area (or perhaps just using The Google), has a piece from the Reading, Mass., newspaper on how that community is trying to implement it’s own version of “smart growth”:
“The idea of a Smart Growth District in downtown is born out of the community’s interest […]

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Interesting to see what appears to be a grass-roots reaction to a governmental decision based on religious conservatism in the Eastern Lancaster County School District.
That residents and school board members might spend their valuable time debating the morality of gambling is telling. Of course there’s a debate to be had there; and the amount of […]

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Discussion last night about how Lancaster County’s economy seems to weather the economic storms better than most. There are reasons for that, but also limits.
So I was curious to see this piece linked on Atrios, about rising retail vacancies:
Strip malls, which are usually anchored by grocery or drug stores, saw average vacancies spike 0.5 percentage […]

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Ah, the Yokel rides again. As if there were any doubt.

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Ah, well.
I see LancoYokel spent his Sunday penning a critique of last week’s print output. Which is fine. Though I’ll stay away from the criticism of the convention center piece because I unfortunately will probably be writing more stories about this issue as we go down the line, and as a general rule I mostly […]

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If you spend any time on Good Drive, you’ve probably noticed it: The new stoplight at Noll Drive.

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Via Atrios, more news of the death of suburbia:
As the realization takes hold that rising energy prices are less a momentary blip than a restructuring with lasting consequences, the high cost of fuel is threatening to slow the decades-old migration away from cities, while exacerbating the housing downturn by diminishing the appeal of larger homes […]

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Interesting. Kunstler gives an interview to NPR in which he talks about the “end of surburbia as we know it” - a consistent theme with him - and says this:
Kunstler says that big cities will become more population dense at their centers and along waterfronts, but they’ll essentially contract as people will move to smaller […]

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Call this Words fail me, part II.
Look, I understand why people might oppose F&M’s plan to relocate the Norfolk Southern rail yard. We can characterize these things as “NIMBY” but the fact is that we’re talking about where people live, where they raise their families. Of course they’re going to be concerned when things change […]

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Had to stop at the bank by Park City on the way back from the dentist today, decided to go out the Manheim Pike way (anything is better than Harrisburg Pike), and was stunned to see the old Jack Treier Moving and Storage site completely cleared, nothing but bare dirt and a view of Route […]

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On the way out to the dentist this a.m. and I passed a bunch of signs for TRRAAC, the folks who live in the Farmingdale Road/Barrcrest area and oppose plans to move the Norfolk Southern rail yard into their backyards. There’s a meeting on the proposal tomorrow night, but as I read the story in […]

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On the way out to the park in Silver Spring, I kept seeing sign after sign. On the way back I figured I’d try to count them - 29 between Silver Spring Park and Good Drive.
It’s those “Seeing Red? Vote Blue” signs - the Lancaster Democrats voter registration drive. “Vote Democrat for a Change.” It’s […]

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New twist on the old favorite:

For years, the idea of eating only food grown locally and in season was reserved for upscale chefs like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., or serious hippies living off the grid, while the rest of us didn’t think twice about gulping down blueberries from Chile or avocadoes […]

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She muttered derisively as she perused the Sunday paper. Amazingly, she wasn’t even reading my column.
Rather, she was looking through the 2008 Parade of Homes guidebook, in which the lowest-priced single-family home this year cost $281,076. The lowest-priced townhome, this year, was $169,900.
“Who’s buying these things?” she asked as she looked at the “middle of […]

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Hm. I await, now, the same sort of outrage over this as was generated by “The Crossings.”
Won’t happen of course. Specifically because Dale High’s not involved.
But, curious to see this. About 6-8 months ago, I’d heard a few whispers that another “lifestyle center” was in the works. More than that, it was suggested that someone or some […]

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F&M gendarmes deliver a beatdown to Ron Harper:
The incident was captured on videotape until the camera was ripped from Harper’s hands. It took place on a public road in Lancaster Township nearly 3/4 of a mile from the campus at approximately 2:00 p.m. June 3, 2008.  Mr. Harper and co-Publisher, Chris Hart Nibbrig, met on Marietta and […]

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