Muscatine

I think I haven't seen you at any of the council meetings making your voice heard or I don't think I have seen your name on a ballot, have I?  You want change but you know not of what you speak.  You want change but your idea is to blog on a community board about how bad everything is without doing anything to try and help.  Go down to city hall where they have a volunteer list you can sign up and as positions become available you can work on some of these boards.  You can be a part of the solution instead of just complaining.  Come to council meetings and see the process, and budget meetings are open to the public, you are welcome to come and see the process and speak your mind.  If you have some fresh ideas on how to recruit new employers and businesses then we need you.  Not on that side of the computer screen but here in real time.  I agree we need some answers and it is going to take hard work to find them.  But I can assure you sitting behind your computer and squawking isn't going to get it done.  Give us ideas.  Bring your ideas to the council and various agencies so we can see if they are feasible and adaptable.  I agree it is ashame that council members are getting back on because they run opposed.  We need people who are willing to act and get things done.  And the things that are getting done now, that you are complaining about is getting done by people who are showing and doing the work.  So if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.  Come up with ideas, build a platform and start a grass roots movement that can get things done.  You may have that one idea that can change things, and I am pretty sure no one is going to listen to it from behind your computer screen.  All of us need to get out and accept a bit of responsibility and work to make a difference and  change in our community.  Change isn't stationary, there's a reason its called a "movement."

I already explained why there are more homes built outside the city than in the city, and always will be.  It's called "probability" and the laws of geometry and statistics.  This cannot be changed.

Probability would be true if the selection of building sites was based on throwing darts at a map.   They would more likely hit outside the city than in.

But many other factors enter into selecting a building site.   Distance to schools, place of employment, and recreation, economical and reliable utilities, good roads or streets, condition of the existing houses, property tax rate, insurance rates, police and fire protection to name a few.

I stand by my statement.  According to the latest EPA report (2010), across the U.S., the share of new housing starts in almost all central cities and near suburban areas is less than 50% by a long shot of all new housing starts for the U.S.

It's just a fact.  People have much more to choose from when vast rural areas are considered.  They are choosing those areas, and it shows up in the data.

See, especially, Table 1., in the following epa report:

http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/metro_res_const_trends_10.pdf