Progress isn’t always in Fayetteville’s best interests

It’s easy to say that we’ve got it pretty good. Fayetteville is a jewel and compared to much of the world, mostly, we’ve got nothing to complain about. But what makes Fayetteville so good is being sacrificed, on many fronts, in the name of progress.

Progress is a funny thing and it can be seen from different perspectives. We sure can’t complain about the library, the city square, the farmer’s market, the entertainment or the people. But like sustainability, progress is defined differently by different people. Some of those definitions are opposing forces and it becomes a balance where all the people are not going to be happy with all the “progress.”

An example concerning infill involves the building of multi-family housing. On the surface that could be seen as only a good thing. But neighborhoods are changing to where they are no longer recognizable as part of what made Fayetteville special. Zoning variances are handed out like candy on Halloween especially to those speculators who want to build expensive condos. Houses that had neighborhood charm are bought for the land and bulldozed and scrapped. In their place we find quickly built condos that block the light from the neighbors and don’t have room or respect for the trees. To compound that, building condos inflates the value of the land which, in turn, prices people out of the market and gentrifies neighborhoods. Yes, it puts more people in walking distance and increases the city’s coffers but it also homogenizes and gentrifies the neighborhoods and puts more people out on the streets. There’s got to be a balance but our planners and deciders seem to have blinders that preclude them for searching for it.

Keeping what’s good about a place while embracing progress requires balance. This requires working together. The planners and deciders need our input. It should be solicited but, when it’s not, we need to speak out. To find a balance, we need to not just be heard but we need to listen as well.

ED LEVI

Fayetteville