Build it even if they have left?

Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

One of my favorite reading sources is Headwater News, a daily digest of articles from around the West. When sitting in my office in Vermont, it keeps me aware of the big forces at work in the Rocky Mountain region and reminds me of some of the significant differences between the East and the West—water laws and public land ownership leading the list.

I’ve watched in shock as Arizona passed its draconian immigration legislation and with surprise as Utah adopted legislation enabling the state to condemn federal lands. Given the large public presence through the public lands, I can understand the backdrop behind these legislative moves and other practices (although I still can’t swallow Arizona’s approach).

The recent article in The New York Times about the continued new construction in Las Vegas really caught my attention. Despite record foreclosures and a 60 percent drop in real estate values in parts of Las Vegas, builders are cranking out the subdivisions again. The theory is that area and local industry can build themselves out of the slump. As the article pointedly observes, “Las Vegas is trying to recover by building what it does not need.” Haven’t we learned from the 2008 recession that the old normal of sprawl and unfettered growth is not the new normal? And that it was considered normal for so long is precisely what drove us into the recession in the first place? Las Vegas slumped so badly because of its excessive and ill conceived building. And now, with high vacancies, foreclosures and unemployment, they want to build more houses?

While I’m a generally optimistic guy, I do struggle at times with how to foster a different mentality towards economic success and longevity, both in our Heart & Soul communities and in communities across the country. I’m reminded of Bill McKibben’s excellent book, Deep Economy, where he argues that more is not necessarily better, particularly where it simply means more energy demand. I view growth in a community as a good thing when it adds vibrancy to a place through a variety of offerings (recreational, cultural, educational, etc.), good jobs, more options for places to live, all with the overlay of sustainable economic viability; however, the community still needs to take responsibility for ensuring its growth is thoughtful and with much more than the present in mind.

Yes, even Las Vegas can do this. But in order for that to happen, real estate developers like Richard Lee (the one quoted in the Times article referenced above) need to drop the better-than-we’ve-ever-been rallying cries and start seeing the forest for the trees—or more specifically, start seeing the future of the real estate market in light of the astonishing surplus of empty homes...9,517, to be exact, in Las Vegas alone.

Get real, folks, and get creative. There are markets to be had out there other than the exhausted, pilfered ones. Let’s start thinking like 21st-century citizens and stop promoting the cultural malaise of bigger, better, get it, spend it, with zero regard for the cultural, economic, social and environmental fallout we're bound to endure if we don’t.