Opinion: Southwest Missouri loses 'best-kept secret' moniker

Have you ever said, while crawling in 7:30 a.m. traffic on Campbell Avenue, “The problem with this community is that there are just too many people”?

Well, move over and scrunch together, because whether or not you like it, company is coming.

And counting

Did you think it was good news when, on Oct. 20, our nation celebrated the 300 millionth resident? Actually, we do not know how many citizens there are, but some of my friends think all 300 million live somewhere between Ozark and Nixa.

The mantra, “Southwest Missouri is a well-kept secret … and I want to keep it that way,” is no longer being muttered by drivers looking for a parking place at Battlefield Mall.

So really, what do you think about the growth of our nation?

If you are making more money because people moving to our community need the houses you build, the cars you sell, the medical equipment you supply, the dresses you make … then you must be tickled green.

Then there is Charles Westoff from the Office of Population Research at Princeton University who opined, “The world does not need more people, and the U.S. in my judgment does not need more people either. It certainly does not need 100 million more. What is the benefit in terms of quality of life? More cars? More congestion?”

Westoff obviously was not having a good day. But Westoff’s day is often like ours when we silently question whether “more is better.”

And sitting around in a nostalgic stupor leafing through our mental scrapbooks that include parking on the Public Square, leaving our keys in the ignition of our 1953 Chevy and running into Heer’s for a quick cup of coffee on the mezzanine does not help our dilemma.

This community should be having this conversation now. Before we approve a 12-lane superhighway between Battlefield and Willard, we need to answer this question, “How do we want to grow?”

You see, growth is not debatable. The world population, by 2050, is expected to increase from 6.5 billion to 9.1 billion. By the year 2043, in the United States, we will boast 400 million inhabitants. A good chunk of these folks is coming to the Queen City of the Ozarks.

We will grow. Statistically, the United States has a net gain of one new person every 11 seconds. By the time you are finished reading this column, this nation will hang out the “Welcome Home” banner to another 20 people (if you are a slow reader).

Smart growth

So, how will we grow? Will we embrace “smart growth”?

Smart growth says a forest of new housing should not result in scum-covered rivers and road intersections frozen in gridlock.

Smart growth says an aging population should not end up sleeping on bus-stop benches or pushing grocery carts filled with the residue of a life lived too long.

Smart growth says there should be land, trees and playgrounds that never become an option for another “convenience store.”

There is a fundamental choice we have to make in the next 50 years: Will we trade the quality of life that brought us to Southwest Missouri for another successful concrete wasteland?

If we make the smart growth choice, what will that mean?

First, we need to shelve our need to label each other in this debate.

“Tree-huggers,” “progressives,” “opportunists” should be eliminated from our vocabularies. We will never hear each other if our best debating practices include name-calling.

Second, we have to become comfortable dealing with facts along with feelings. A feeling is the quote from Carl Haub, from the Population Reference Bureau, when he said, “Where do you go to be alone when there are 300 million people?” That may be used in a good question, but not a fact to be making long-term.

Try this fact: people 65 and older now make up 12 percent of our population and in just 24 years that percentage will be up to 21 percent. Those hard numbers should impact smart growth.

Third, after listening to each other, we have to make decisions. Our worst option is procrastination. Growth will not tolerate foot-dragging. The maternity wards, the legal immigrants and the retirees (who want to wake up every day staring at the shimmering waters of Lake Taneycomo from a condo balcony) all will continue to add numbers to our population.

We can talk about smart growth until the cows – no the cars – come home. And, that’s not smart.

Cal LeMon of Executive Enrichment Inc. solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting. He can be reached at execenrichment@aol.com.[[In-content Ad]]