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Part V But What About the Land?
1 “was the absence of anything like European society”: Marx, Machine in the Garden (London: Oxford University Press, 1964), 120.
2 “land in which to live”: Benton MacKaye, The New Exploration: A Philosophy of Regional Planning (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1962), cited in Tony Hiss, The Experience of Place (New York: Knopf, 1990), 201.
3 “The crop they raise is serenity”: Jean Gottmann, Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States (New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1961), 265.
4 1.22 percent of all the land in the United States: In 1989, there were 92.8 million households in the United States (Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract, chart 55, p. 45). Housing those households on quarter-acre lots would thus occupy 23.2 million acres, which is 1.22 percent of the 2,962,031 square miles (1.896 billion acres) of land in the lower forty-eight states.
5 In fact, right now, 70 percent of all Americans: Irving Welfeld, Where We Live: The American Home and the Social, Political, and Economic Landscape, from Slums to Suburbs (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), 46.
6 75 percent of all Americans will live within fifty miles of a coast: Coast is defined as that of the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf, and the Great Lakes, but not of other large interior bodies of water, including rivers.
7 It is easy to demonstrate that it is possible to build every single road: I am indebted to E. M. Risse of Synergy Planning for first demonstrating to me the logic of these calculations.
8 “All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise”: Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There (New York: Oxford University Press, 1949), 203.
9 “The places where we spend our time affect the people we are”: Hiss, Experience of Place, xi, xii.
10 Since the 1850s, a “total environment”: Hiss reporting on the work of nineteenth-century German educator Friedrich Froebel as well as Frederick Law Olmsted. Ibid., 182.
11 Over a nine-year period: Hiss reporting on the 1984 work of Roger S. Ulrich, then a professor of geography at the University of Delaware and at the time of Hiss’s writing a professor in the College of Architecture at Texas A&M. Ibid., 183.
12 “terrain and vegetation are molded, not dominated”: John Stilgoe, cited ibid., 116.
13 “fragile equilibrium between natural and human force”: Ibid., 117.
14 biologist René Dubos wrote about the “charm and elegance”: René Dubos, The Wooing of the Earth (New York: Scribner’s, 1980).
15 “an environmental diversity that provides nourishment for the senses”: Hiss, Experience of Place, 117.
16 There are three ways that humans feel connected to the land: Ibid., 126.
17 “The first 5 percent of development in a countryside region”: Albert F. Appleton, quoted in ibid., 167.
18 “Conservation,” after all, is merely “a state of harmony between men and land”: Leopold, Sand County Almanac, 207.
19 “One basic weakness in a conservation system”: Ibid., 210.
20 “The fate of the American landscape, its ponds and hollows”: Barry Lopez, “Unbounded Wilderness,” Aperture, no. 120 (Late Summer 1990), 2.
21 “dark Satanic mills” … “green and pleasant land”: William Blake, Milton (1804–1808), prefatory poem.
22 “Man takes a positive hand in creation”: Frank Lloyd Wright, quoted in mailing by Friends of Taliesin, Scottsdale, Arizona, received by the author March 29, 1990.
23 you grow up caring about most: I am indebted for this formulation to Robert D. Yaro, co-author of Dealing with Change in the Connecticut River Valley: A Design Manual for Conservation and Development (Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 1988), cited by Hiss in The Experience of Place.
Part VI The Final Battle
1 “Look! There stands Jackson like a stone wall!”: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 342. This version of the Bee quotation was used as a slogan by the Save the Battlefield Coalition.
2 the testimony of Princeton’s James M. McPherson: Manassas National Battlefield Park Amendments of 1988, Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks and Forests, of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 4526 to Provide for the Addition of Approximately 600 Acres to the Manassas National Battlefield Park, September 8, 1988 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1989), 166–69.
3 Their reports, day after day, had their impact: Particularly pivotal was the work of Robert A. Webb of the Washington Post. Webb, an editor of Outlook, the argument and opinion section of the Sunday paper, wrote a piece in that section on March 13, 1988, that profoundly altered the tone of the debate. Entitled “Manassas Tragedy: Paving over the Past,” it transformed the issue from a local zoning dispute with a developer who appeared to hold all the aces to one of national policy that had to be taken seriously by anyone who wished to be viewed as a heavy federal player. That it was carried on the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post news wire and reprinted worldwide hardly lessened its impact.
4 “Society is always patriarchal”: Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1988), 100–102. Lewis Mumford, also looking at the dawn of time, picked up on the same male-female distinction. In The City in History he saw the differences between men and women as those of at least two different cultures, if not two different species: “The interplay between the two cultures took place over a longer period. Women’s interest in child nurture and plant care had changed the anxious, timorous, apprehensive existence of early man into one of competent foresight, with reasonable assurance of continuity—no longer entirely at the mercy of forces outside human control. But in the end the masculine processes over-rode by sheer dynamism the more passive life-nurturing activities that bore woman’s imprint.” The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1961), 25–26.
5 The intense struggles over the use of the land began almost before the Rebel yells: Ken Burns et al. The Civil War: A Film Series, Florentine Films and WETA-TV, 1990.
6 One reporter checking the clips back to 1890: John F. Harris, “How Often Must We Fight Third Battle of Manassas? It’s Time to Let This Bull Run Its Course,” Washington Post, May 13, 1988, B1.
7 HUGE MALL PLANNED AT MANASSAS: Cornelius F. Foote, Jr., and John F. Harris, Washington Post, January 29, 1988, A1.
8 Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation—the largest shopping center developer: “20th Annual Survey: Top 50 Leaders in Management, Development, Acquisition and New Ownership,” Monitor: The Shopping Center Industry Magazine, January 1991, 28.
9 “does not even resemble the good faith agreements”: Letter from William Penn Mott, Jr., director of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, to Kathleen K. Seefeldt, chair, Prince William County Board of Supervisors, February 5, 1988.
10 The Charlie Grahams of the 1980s: William R. Taylor, Cavalier and Yankee: The Old South and American National Character (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979), 317–18.
11 Some anthropologists view the shopping bag as the most human of archeological artifacts: I am indebted to Ron Abler of Pennsylvania State University for this formulation.
12 The first mass meeting in opposition to the William Center mall: Clint Schemmer, “It’s War: Park Service Chief, Hundreds Join Fray over Mall Proposal,” Potomac News, February 8, 1988, A1.
13 Quartz lights turned the night into death-pallor day: John F. Harris, “William Center Foes Pin Hopes on Environmental Concerns,” Washington Post, June 18, 1988, B1.
14 “challenging” and “the town iconoclast”: Michael Barone and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 1990 (Washington, D.C.: National Journal, 1990), 55.
15 “[Longstreet] sent out a couple of brigades”: Congressional Record, 100th Cong., 2d sess., October 7, 1988, 134, no. 142, pt. 2:S15149.
16 “Sixteen thousand men in about for
ty-eight hours”: Ibid., S15150.
17 “I told you about these hospitals”: Ibid., S15151.
18 “There is not a single battlefield free from development pressures”: Ibid., S15153–54.
19 On Friday, October 14, George Bush, in a speech in La Jolla: David Hoffman, “Optimism Reigns in Bush Camp: Staff Warned to Guard Against Post-Debate Overconfidence,” Washington Post, October 15, 1988.
20 Nonetheless, at 1 A.M. on the twenty-second … the bill did pass: John F. Harris, “Manassas Preservations Win a Last-Minute Hill Victory,” Washington Post, October 23, 1988, A1.
21 “ ‘We’re done,’ said Robert Kelly, a spokesman for Hazel/Peterson Cos.”: John F. Harris, “Battlefield Fate Settled by President,” Washington Post, November 12, 1988, B1.
22 the next morning Annie Snyder led fifty of her resistance fighters into the promised land: Richard Leigh, Journal Messenger, November 21, 1988.
23 It featured a March of the Ghosts: Ed Raus, historian at the battlefield.
24 Behind that little buzzing plane was this reminder: The precise telegraphese wording of the message was, “FEDERAL TAKING OF PRIVATE LAND—UNAMERICAN.” Leigh, Journal Messenger.
Chapter 11 The List: Edge Cities, Coast to Coast
Here are some key sources I drew on to help identify Edge Cities in the following metro areas:
1 Atlanta: Gregg Logan, Robert Charles Lesser & Co., Atlanta.
2 Austin: Jerry Lumsden, Coldwell Banker Commercial, Austin.
3 Baltimore: Pamela Manfre, MPC & Associates, Washington.
4 Boston: Spalding & Slye, Boston.
5 Charlotte: Clayton Pritchett, C. P. Pritchett, Inc., Charlotte.
6 Chicago: Harvey B. Camins, Frain Camins & Swartchild Corporate Real Estate Services, Chicago.
7 Cleveland: Robert Nosal, Grubb & Ellis, Cleveland.
8 Dallas–Fort Worth: Patricia L. Dajda, The Swearingen Company, Dallas.
9 Denver: Hilary Horlock, Frederick Ross Co., Denver.
10 Detroit: Leo Tosto, Trerice Tosto, Southfield, Michigan.
11 Fort Lauderdale: Deborah Page, Sunbank South Florida, Fort Lauderdale.
12 Houston: Katherine Gehbauer, The Office Network, Houston.
13 Kansas City: Richard Ward, Development Strategies, Inc., St. Louis.
14 Los Angeles: Robert J. Gardner, Robert Charles Lesser & Co., Los Angeles.
15 Memphis: John Dudas, Belz Enterprises, Memphis.
16 Miami: Greg Kessel, CB Commercial, Miami.
17 Milwaukee: Michael A. Rooney, The Rooney Group, Milwaukee.
18 Minneapolis: Dennis Panzer, The Shelard Group, Inc., Minneapolis.
19 New York: Salomon Brothers, New York.
20 Orlando: Frank Pallini, KPMG Peat Marwick, Tampa.
21 Philadelphia: Salomon Brothers, New York.
22 Phoenix: Robert J. Burnand, Jr., CBS Property Services, Inc., Phoenix.
23 Pittsburgh: Oliver Realty/Grubb & Ellis, Pittsburgh.
24 Portland, Oregon: David Fansler, Property Counselors, Seattle.
25 St. Louis: Richard Ward, Development Strategies, Inc., St. Louis.
26 St. Petersburg: Frank Pallini, KPMG Peat Marwick, Tampa.
27 San Antonio: Wayne Harwell, Harwell, Hicks Real Estate Research, Inc., San Antonio.
28 San Diego: Ron Barbieri, KPMG Peat Marwick, San Diego.
29 San Francisco: Cynthia A. Kroll, Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, Berkeley.
30 Seattle: David Fansler, Property Counselors, Seattle.
31 Tampa: Frank Pallini, KPMG Peat Marwick, Tampa.
32 Toronto: Hilary Horlock, J. J. Barnicke Ltd., Realtor, Toronto.
33 Washington: Coldwell Banker Commercial, Washington.
Chapter 12 The Words: Glossary of a New Frontier
1 half a football field: A football field is 160 feet wide and 300 feet long—48,000 square feet. (An acre is 43,560 square feet.)
Chapter 13 The Laws: How We Live
1 Whyte’s Law of the Number of Blocks an American Will Walk in Most Downtowns: William H. Whyte, City: Rediscovering the Center (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1988), 65.
2 The Number of Blocks an American Will Walk in New York City: Ibid.
3 The Speed an American Man Will Walk in a Big-City Downtown: Ibid.
4 Strolling Speed Past a Shop Window or Merchandise Display: Ibid., 66.
5 The Number of Pedestrians Per Hour at Midday Required to Make an Urban Center Work and Be Lively: Ibid., 6.
6 For every $1.00 of tax revenue that comes in: Loudoun County, Virginia, planning staff, 1984.
7 The Amount of Growth in an Established Edge City: Pamela Manfre, Robert Charles Lesser & Co., Los Angeles, Cal.
8 The Rule of Thumb for Calculating How Much Traffic Edge City Will Produce: C. Kenneth Orski, president, Urban Mobility Corporation.
9 The Average Distance from the Main Office of a Company in Edge City: Whyte, City, 288.
10 The Probable Maximum Number of Riders You Can Hope to Switch Out of Their Cars: C. Kenneth Orski.
11 The Number of Riders a Heavy-Rail System Needs Per Day: C. Kenneth Orski, citing Boris Pushkarev, Urban Rail in America, which Orski considers the bible on the economics of rail transit.
12 Number of Riders a Light-Rail System Needs per Day: Ibid.
13 “You name a place for what is no longer there”: Notre Dame Magazine, February 1989.
14 The Three Laws of Building: Steven Hay ward, director of the Claremont Institute’s Golden State Project, Reason, August-September 1988, 28.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joel Garreau, a Washington Post staff writer, is the author of the bestselling The Nine Nations of North America. He is also a principal in The Edge City Group, an organization dedicated to making better communities out of Edge Cities nationwide.