City needs tough, long-term solutions
By KEN MIDKIFF
Published Friday, January 25, 2008
(http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/jan/20080125comm002.asp)

Apparently, there are quite a few in this town who would prefer to take the easy step of punishing criminals rather than taking the hard steps toward preventing crime. Although the first - and quite reasonable - reaction to a violent act is to whack the evildoer upside the head and then throw the criminal in the clink, this does nothing to prevent future crimes.

I suggested following in the steps of others to make this community a more pleasant place - to plant trees rather than ripping them out and burning them or converting them to mulch. My suggestion was not to eliminate crime (that might well be impossible), but by making this community more "green," crime hopefully would be reduced to a more reasonable level.

Oaks do take a long time to mature, but there is no indication that mature trees are necessary to reduce crime. Besides, there are trees that do grow rapidly and provide a pleasant environment in only a few years. Certainly, planting trees is much less immediately satisfying than taking revenge - but who says we can’t do both?

•

There have been many messages lately on a listserv for Columbia citizens about being nicer to real estate agents and developers and to stop referring to their actions as "greedy." Those who espouse such kinder, gentler words are perhaps not cognizant of the severe damage incurred by our lands in and around Columbia - or they do not care. When encroachment of developments into previously wooded slopes means that deer, turkey and other wildlife are forced to forage on somewhat barren suburban lawns, there are many of us who view such actions as a body blow - a personal assault.

Some don’t understand that the actions of developers who strip and rip forested and steep slopes are viewed as violence. We are rapidly losing open and green spaces. We are rapidly losing forested lands. Our streams are filled with sediment and other "urban runoff." All of this is attributable to those who destroy our most valuable assets in the interest of making money.

Yes, many regulations are in place to stop such actions. But not enough. Although the chamber of commerce and the Columbia Bulldozer Academy might view such regulations and ordinances as "burdensome and onerous," the rest of us view them as necessary and protective. If those who rip and strip won’t act responsibly, such rules are in place to ensure that they do.

To view the necessity of such rules and more rigid enforcement, just take a look at the east end of Stadium Boulevard. What was once a haven for wildlife is now a haven for retailers.

That is why growing numbers of concerned residents of Columbia are annoyed and frustrated. Act nicely while our quality of life is being pummeled? I think not.

•

By the time this is printed, it could well be that the Missouri Republican Party will have come up with someone to run for governor against Attorney General Jay Nixon. Whoever it is should immediately recognize promoting short-term business interests at the expense of everyone else is not good policy. During Matt Blunt’s term, the only way any protection for water and air quality could be obtained was through the federal courts.

Blunt’s director of the Department of Natural Resources, Doyle Childers, fails to understand that permitting concentrated animal feeding operations next to state parks is a terrible idea or that allowing sewage treatment plants to continue discharging partially treated waste into our streams benefits no one downstream (and we all live downstream) or anyone who comes into contact with the water. By promoting such notions and by catering and kowtowing to the interests of big business, the Blunt administration lost the support of most Missourians.

I hope the next governor takes the interests of all into account, rather than a favored few.