Los Angeles Without The Freeways

So....3.5% growth last quarter...we are ready to resume our suburban slum blowout here in Elk Grove from the Sacramento City border to our north to Galt to our south. Elk Grove is Los Angeles...without the freeways.

I sat at the dentist's office off Elk Grove Blvd. and Bruceville last Wednesday, on the edge of a massive corner strip mall called Elk Grove Commons (the dentist, Kohls, GameStop, Pete's Coffee, etc), overlooking the weed filled "developments" of Laguna Ridge and Poppy Ridge Estates.

First of all, these so-called Commons are privately held, owned and operated. You are only allowed onto the commons as a consumer, and upon commencement of your consumptive activities you are invited to hurry on out, to make room for another vehicular enabled consumer. Hardly a public realm. Hardly a common good. But, that's all we got, and such an apt name for a strip mall -- the only place an Elk Grovian can go to meet other commoners. Even the stores themselves within the Commons are too far separated to walk to. You exit the Trader Joes and you'll have to drive to the other side of the commons to get your hair cut at the Vietnamese QT Nails.

Nonetheless, this is the essence of 3.5% growth. Commons that aren't common, weed-filled empty tracts of leveled dirt just waiting for a housal rebound, waiting to build out another subdivision full of auto-dependent people -- each one fighting each other for the use of the only truly common thing we have in Elk Grove...the roadway. You can remain on the roadway for 24 hours if you'd like. But try hanging out in the Commons or in Elk Grove Park after sundown. You'll be shackled and booked.

3.5% growth means just more suburban slums in Elk Grove. When a new subdivision pops up near you, is your first thought "Look, Honey, new neighbors are moving in!" or "Awww, fuck, more congestion!"

Bring on the growth.