Suburban Sprawl

* Articles and letters complaining about “suburban sprawl” really push my button. I would like to see the residences of these authors to verify their conviction that high-density urban living is such a wonderful thing. These people believe that they are among the cultural elite who know what is best for the rest of us. It is self-evident that given the means, most people prefer a single-family residence with a little space around it. The type of “planned environments” proposed will result in instant slums.

Growth management by increasing density or decreasing access (fewer freeways) further separates families economically by raising the price of space.

Anybody who has traveled the state or country knows that neither farmland nor open land is in short supply. There are farms close to cities because that is where the consumers are. Not only is there plenty of outlying farmland, there is too much agriculture now. Witness the many federal subsidies and land banking schemes.

“Evil developers” are easy targets, but they are businessmen trying to meet the people’s needs and wishes. You can’t blame population growth on the people who sustain that population.

RICHARD J. FISHER

Chatsworth