04-07-2022, 12:35 AM
(04-06-2022, 12:48 PM)beechnut79 Wrote:(03-29-2022, 06:03 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Surprisingly, Modesto could be flooded into oblivion in the event of a significant rise in the sea level. Maybe there would be more moisture in the a hot semi-desert. ir when winter rainstorms pass over Sacramento Bay Sacramento, Stockton, and Modesto are surprisingly low. Heck, there might be some places with wonderful climate around the equivalent of Chesapeake Bay in the middle of California instead of a hot semi-desert. There wouldn't be so much water needed for irrigation.
Exurbs are the next new tier of suburbs, the parts of rural America next to become urbanized. I think of Chelsea, Manchester, and Saline, Michigan. Exurbs are close enough to have access to the culture of a great city (even if it is a hell-hole like Detroit, Detroit has culture). Being within walking distance of the opera or symphony hall if one does not attend it regularly.
In the Chicago area prime examples are Huntley and Woodstock. Possibly even such 60+ milers as Kankakee and DeKalb. I was raised around Aurora and Batavia in the Fox Valley, and at that time they were considered too far out to be suburbs. Even all of DuPage County. The suburb line was drawn right around where the Tri-State Tollway now sits, hugging the DuPage/Cook County border.
Former (and disgraced) Speaker of the House Dennis Hsstert was seeking to get a freeway built close to Illinois 47 on behalf of well-connected speculators. The highway made some sense except for the stench of corruption.
With people able to telecommute but also the need to be within 100 miles (or 80... or 60) we may soon find many small towns becoming exurbs. One might need to spend one day a week at the office, but one pair of round-trip excursions to that office may be enough to do what is needed. Such may be a big change in life.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.