Dear HCN,
While Thomas Powers’
analysis of the economic value of the Western environment is
powerful and persuasive, I wish he could make his point without
denigrating other places (HCN, 8/2/99). Those of us who live in
large urban areas – New York City, for example – are well aware of
the negatives Power lists: “high cost of living, congestion, crime,
urban grime and pollution, etc.”
But we also see
another side: the energy, richness of human contacts, and sheer
range of opportunities that continue to lure a steady stream of new
residents and keep many older ones happily here. For the fact is
that while New Yorkers, as Powers suggests, are constantly flowing
out to smaller communities, they are balanced (and in recent years
overbalanced) by an inward flow that includes not only immigrants
from all over the world but also ambitious and talented young
people from those same smaller communities around the country. The
attraction is not grime and crime but a range of opportunities that
many find life-fulfilling.
I would not argue that
life in New York is better than in Montana. But neither is it
necessarily worse. It is different. It should be possible to uphold
the values of one – as Powers has ably done – without denigrating
the other.
Ned
Kaufman
New York, New
York
The writer is an urban
planner and preservationist in New York
City.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Three cheers for cities.
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