#3: Concentrate on growth outside the major cities
Imagine a parallel universe where every student lives within a 25-minute drive of a 4A school; it should be possible for virtually any one of them to open-enroll into a large school
Communities don't have to be huge to attract the kinds of things people want most -- good stores and restaurants. 40,000 to 50,000 seems to be about enough to sustain a vibrant and diverse local retail culture. That means having stores like Target, Hy-Vee, and Best Buy, but also a mix of local retailers and restaurants.
We're already committed to a huge and enduring investment in just keeping up the basic infrastructure of the state: Roads, highways, and civil works. Instead of viewing them as a burden to be borne by urban taxpayers, we should be able to use them as tools of sustained development.
It's possible to maintain a community ethos up to a certain limit -- but only a couple of Iowa cities even pretend to test that upper limit. What we fail at much more often is in failing to have the critical mass to attract attention
No one in Des Moines or Omaha says on a Friday night, "Let's go to that little place we love in Atlantic" -- and they should be able to. A one-hour drive in Iowa can get you a quarter of the way across the state, while it's a completely normal travel time to get from place to place in Chicago or the Twin Cities. We should use our freedom of travel to experience a bigger span of our own state, but the basic attractions -- restaurants and stores -- aren't going to emerge because of some government program.
How can you keep them down on the farm when they've seen gay Paree?
But with every conceivable tax rate (personal income tax, business income tax, sales tax, property tax, and so on) higher than a folk singer at Woodstock, it's no wonder there's been so little to build upon. Economically, the state is a ship whose hull is popping rivets all around while the captain is passed out in the tiki lounge.
In 1920, Sioux City was larger than Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Las Vegas -- each much larger than Sioux City today -- and it was about the same size as Tulsa. Des Moines at the same time was bigger than Nashville, Fort Worth, or El Paso, and about the same size as Houston.
That other cities have since grown much faster than Des Moines and Sioux City doesn't mean that they're better than Iowa towns. What it does reveal is that a lot can change in less than a hundred years. The 100-year time horizon shouldn't be beyond our imagination. A child born today is expected to live for almost 80 years, so thinking ahead for a full 100 years should be no difficult task.
Communities don't have to be huge to attract the kinds of things people want most -- good stores and restaurants. 40,000 to 50,000 seems to be about enough to sustain a vibrant and diverse local retail culture. That means having stores like Target, Hy-Vee, and Best Buy, but also a mix of local retailers and restaurants.
We're already committed to a huge and enduring investment in just keeping up the basic infrastructure of the state: Roads, highways, and civil works. Instead of viewing them as a burden to be borne by urban taxpayers, we should be able to use them as tools of sustained development.
It's possible to maintain a community ethos up to a certain limit -- but only a couple of Iowa cities even pretend to test that upper limit. What we fail at much more often is in failing to have the critical mass to attract attention
No one in Des Moines or Omaha says on a Friday night, "Let's go to that little place we love in Atlantic" -- and they should be able to. A one-hour drive in Iowa can get you a quarter of the way across the state, while it's a completely normal travel time to get from place to place in Chicago or the Twin Cities. We should use our freedom of travel to experience a bigger span of our own state, but the basic attractions -- restaurants and stores -- aren't going to emerge because of some government program.
How can you keep them down on the farm when they've seen gay Paree?
But with every conceivable tax rate (personal income tax, business income tax, sales tax, property tax, and so on) higher than a folk singer at Woodstock, it's no wonder there's been so little to build upon. Economically, the state is a ship whose hull is popping rivets all around while the captain is passed out in the tiki lounge.
In 1920, Sioux City was larger than Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Las Vegas -- each much larger than Sioux City today -- and it was about the same size as Tulsa. Des Moines at the same time was bigger than Nashville, Fort Worth, or El Paso, and about the same size as Houston.
That other cities have since grown much faster than Des Moines and Sioux City doesn't mean that they're better than Iowa towns. What it does reveal is that a lot can change in less than a hundred years. The 100-year time horizon shouldn't be beyond our imagination. A child born today is expected to live for almost 80 years, so thinking ahead for a full 100 years should be no difficult task.
- *** IDENTIFY THE MAIN TOWNS BETWEEN 5,000 AND 20,000 ***
- What government should do:
- What individuals should do:
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