Going Underground

It's been a couple of months since I've blogged. I've been taking a deliberate hiatus from all activism and politics, for several reasons. (1) Wanting to have quality time with my significant other, Eryn; (2) Tired of everyone feeling they had the right to demand my time and attention--probably my own fault since I've been overgenerous with those things in the past; (3) Putting some distance between myself and some of the many egos in my "field" (as well as dusting off my own).

My hiatus feels like it's coming to a close now. I'm still as much in love as I was when I began my vacation, but life intrudes. More specifically, certain issues intrude. When you have been a part of civic life, eventually someone will come along and push the right button to activate your immediate concern again.

This time it was RCS's Angus Murdoch who relit the fire by bringing up a Glen Oaks-style groundwater issue that's of concern to some FluCo members.

I don't spend a lot of time on sprawl and rural development issues. After all, Charlottesville's 10 sq. miles are already developed, and now we're just trying to maximize our use of the space. But I've always been interested in advancing ways and means of using a lack or limited amount of natural resources to set the rules and regs for development. So, hearing that FluCo is having similar growing pains to Albemarle's re-engaged my attention. I think it's time to go underground, sift for clues, figure out how to create the right kind of levers so that localities are no longer at the mercy of by-right development.

Really, if we can accept that our economy is globally interdependent, it shouldn't be so far a conceptual leap to accept that the natural resources on which that economy is based are also interdependent, and that economic health naturally depends upon ... well ... you get the idea without the redundancy.