Aided by two environmental organizations, the left side of the Albuquerque city council treated us yesterday to a new standard in the always creative use of words about land use policy. "Many" was one of the many unsubstantiated words in the Albuquerque Journal op-ed by councillors Issac Benton, Michael Cadigan and Rey Garduno. The group was arguing against Tax Increment Development District policy, which is a way to pay for infrastructure development on large new projects. One of the "many" uses was in the first paragraph, "Many decisions guiding Albuquerque's transportation and land use trends over the past several decades have contributed to sprawl, loss of open space, global warming and poor air quality." The number of such horrendous decisions is, of course, not provided.
The piece offered a new item of rhetorical jargon—"working landscapes"—with the assertion that such landscapes are disappearing. When I discover the meaning of the term, I'll try to get an idea about what the alleged disappearance means.
Among the new words, an old trope appeared, the charge that open space is disappearing along with those valued "working landscapes." This is a standard charge in spite of the obvious nonsense of the claim to anyone in an airplane. What is disappearing is open space at the edges of cities and therefore some level of convenience in getting to that open space. The complaint, therefore, is about some level of deterioration in having one's cake (ease of getting to open space) and eating it (living in the virtuous central city).
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