Impossible Riddles; B. Siegan

IMPOSSIBLERIDDLES BERNARD H. SIEGAN CITIES AND TOWNS do not come packaged in boxes like erector sets. I hope this revelation does not unduly shock the journalistic pro fession. Reading the newspapers and watching TV have led me to the conclusion that the reporters think that's about the way cities are created. Cities are arising in the West near new mining operations, and reporters seem disturbed that housing, schools and shopping fa cHities are not standing in these desolate areas waiting for people to arrive. They keep interviewing the new inhabitants who say what most should be expected to say, that conditions 'are not very pleas ant. The reporters are quite surprised by it all. But how can it be otherwise? Anyone who would have demanded the creation of housing in these areas several years ago, before the energy and r.esources crisis made such areas economically imporCopyright 1974 Bernard H. Siegan Mr. Siegan is the author of Land Use Without Zoning and many articles on the subject. He practiced law for 20 years in Chicago before moving in 1973 to La Jolla, California where he is professor of taw at the University of San Diego Law School.

668 tant, might have been committed as a looney. On the other hand, if mining and production are delayed until all workers are comfortably ensconced in their respecti ve dream homes, the resources will not be mined for years to come if ever. The workers would suffer along with the rest of us. It is inevitable that boom towns bring living problems for those attracted by the prospect of new riches and lush jobs. This was the story of the American West, now probably the best housed section of the country. The settlers usu ally anticipated the kinds of hard ship they found, but chose them in preference to the life they left behind in the East. They devel oped great portions of the country and succeeding generations were well served. The best to be hoped for in these situations is that the developers and builders will be allowed to re spond to the demand for housing and shopping, and not be ham strung by zoning and building re gulations. Schools and other fa cilities will follow.

This course of action, however, can bring added fury from the 1974 IMPOSSIBLE RIDDLES 669 press. They may charge that the builders and speculators are de secrating the landscape, selecting sites that are scenic attractions or perhaps the habitat of unique four-legged creatures. And it may well be true of some of these po tential sites. However, the buildings will have to go somewhere on earth; no one has yet invented any which float in the sky or are subterranean. If new construction is required to by pass the challenged areas, houses will be located longer distances from other housing, shopping and employment. These are the char acteristics of that notorious vil lain: Urban Sprawl. And the argu ments about how the land should be used will delay considerably new construction. Well, what do we do now? The usual way out of this dilemma is to demand planning and regula tion, and then more and more of the same when the prior doses don't work. That's today's auto matic cure-all for those who keep insisting on perfect solutions to these problems, with the same probability of success as the bot tled stuff the hucksters used to sell.

Greater and greater powers will then be given to politicians, bu reaucrats, and planners, hardly a winning combination. But regard less of their knowledge or wisdom, they will be unable to accomplish the politically or physically impos sible. Yet, that is what will be de manded of them. Thus, to conserve land by ob taining a greater yield per acre re quires taller structures. The mere mention of this, however, tends to evoke deletable expletives from en vironmentalists and planners. They prefer bigger lots to provide more open space, but want them to cost less and take up less land. They would like more housing but less construction. Even Albert Ein stein couldn't have solved those rid dles. The regulatory process invaria bly curtails development. Fewer housing units will be created and there will be additional horrors to report. A more realistic and responsi bIe approach to these difficulties is required. While new growth may create problems for people, the history of new development in this country shows that most of them will be solved within a few years. I doubt that conditions in Hfe were idyllic where these peo ple previously lived - else why did they migrate? When individuals move they usually do so to better themselves.

The more we allow normal mar ket processses to operate unham pered, the quicker the solutions will arrive. • TheRight toFeel Alienated LIFE, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness are not the only basic rights man should enj oy. The right to feel alienated .must be added to the list of man's inherent rights. Out of alienation can come great fruition. As the saying goes: Better Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. Those who fashionably portray alienation in our age as an indi vidual defect or sickness which must be uprooted or overcome at aU costs miss a fundamental point. A sense· of alienation in today's society is··not necessarily a buga boo, an undesirable affliction like hali tosis or dandruff to make one feel ashamed or inferior. It fre quently is not a clinical disease of weak persons or neurotics. Rather, alienation in today's society can be an early warning sign that something is wrong with the world.