Let’s talk about governing. As an example, take housing — nowadays everyone does. Affordable housing is a good thing. We used to have it. However, the marketplace has spoken, and South Berkshire has very little affordable housing left for rent or sale.
Can we govern our way out of this fix? Many in office and running for office suggest we build our way to more affordable housing. Sounds good — two good things coming together — recognition of a need and a government built and funded solution. Do they go together or is it like putting a screen door on a submarine?
A screen door is a nice thing to have; so is a porch swing. However, if we live on a submarine, we can install screen doors, but odds are soon we will regret it. Those two nice things don’t go together. Worse, one destroys the other. The screen door destroys the defining characteristic of the sub — its buoyancy.
What’s our defining characteristic? Low population — you know — more trees than people and low density — room to breathe. Characteristics that support our economic base — tourism. They come here for what they lost where they came from.
One more definition of the place where we live? Decreasing population. The projection is that our population will continue to decrease. When the population cannot support the shopping center or the big box store, they close. We have empty buildings of prodigious size and lots of cracked black top.
The state Affordable Home Act encourages lots and lots of building at the same time that local population falls and local control of who builds what and where are removed. Now there’s a prescription for short-term smile and long-term dissatisfaction.
Nevertheless, the state thought it through, and they are all set. The marketplace killed the New England villages and turned them into what the state calls seasonal or resort communities; now the government will destroy the characteristics that made the resorts successful. Boston has a firm grasp on the submarine and are ready to install the screen doors, and if there’s room, a porch swing.
Note: Built 1930-1939, Quabbin Reservoir is the largest inland body of water in the state. It supports urban living. It destroyed 4 villages and displaced 2500 people.
