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Health & Fitness

Living in the Wasteland of the Free

How come in the Mecca of the Free Market everything’s for sale? 

T.S. Eliot nailed it way back when. Hollow people with frozen smiles wandering in a wasteland of the Mall of Dreams, always searching for … for what? … something to buy to make them happy. Not happy for long though. There’s always something else to own, and it never ends, well, not until you do. Happiness through acquisition is fleeting and satisfaction is short-lived. 

A friend who served multiple terms in local politics remarked to me how refreshing it would be if once, just once, some developer seeking the City’s approval for some project said that the reason he/she wanted to do it was to make a boatload of money. Period. “That’s why I’m doing this project, Mr. City Council person, because I want to get even richer than I am.” 

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But of course that’s pure fantasy.  Developers, oh let’s call them by their true name, opportunistic speculators, never utter that simple truth. Instead they ramble on about how much they love our town, and how good their project will be for the town in terms of tax revenue, and increased tourism, and prestige and whatever they think the City wants to hear. Never, never do they say it’s because they want to increase their wealth and power. 

And cities and towns start smacking their lips at the thought of more revenue, barely lingering to take into account the hidden costs that always accompany these deals their being sold. “Oh, don’t worry about the traffic and the noise and the congestion and the parking and the fumes. Don’t worry about the thousands of gallons of more water needed, or the impacts on infrastructure, or more personnel needed for safety requirements. It can all be mitigated.” The magic word. A wave of the speculator’s wand and all is mitigated. 

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Right. And how many once beautiful and unique places like the Napa Valley, Carmel, Sausalito, you name it have been mitigated to death? How many places that were once gems have been despoiled by those who only see dollar signs when they look at the land? Who only look at places and see them as investments for themselves and their rich clients? In their eyes Sonoma is low-hanging fruit for their insatiable consumption. It’s money that they love; not this town or any town. 

I think the people of Sonoma are too smart for that line of BS that has come their way from other so-called developers. I think the people of Sonoma know they have something unique and worthwhile to maintain as it is for those who live here. I think the people of Sonoma won’t sell out for a handful of promises from sleazy operators who offer the moon in the guise of favors, but whose interests lie only with themselves.

*Living in the Wasteland of the Free a song by Iris Dement

 

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