Impermanence

While perusing my Covid-lockdown image files, I came across the one shown above, a cement plant that had been in my town for many years. It was still active, although it has since been torn down and the land made available for new development. The land is on a rail line, but does not have enough area to attract a large business. Residential and industrial are never a good pairing, at least not without some buffer zones, living next to a busy railroad would be a trial.

Speaking oif trials, recently I have attended some planning meeting for the new county jail which will be an annex to the courthouse. That is another kind of industry, one that is currently situated between the downtown and a residential area, Swede Town, home of Flippist World Headquarters. The old jail, like the old concrete plant, is obsolete, but plans for tripling its size, in the same location, are frightening. The dystopian future it suggests isn’t good for any downtown, much less one with adjoining residential areas.

NIMBY, much?