Far away from the Chamber of Commerce’s ribbon cuttings there is a forgotten area in my city.

It is where orphaned buildings are allowed to stand and over time evolve into echoes of days long gone.

Eventually though, new residents move in and they have names such as Neglect, Blight and Denial.

These occupants settle into their new homes and despite their urban location, they live a life of deliberate civic isolation.

Routes are created to move around town and yet avoid these areas, and finally, the least favorite tenant of all, Contempt, moves in.

For ignoring does not make these areas magically disappear, rather, these undesirable neighbors are allowed to multiply.

The idealist in me wishes our culture showed more respect and responsibility for our land, how we develop it and then learn to recognize we must have a plan for how we will maintain what we have created.

For when I see some parts of my community I think of the Joni Mitchell song, Big Yellow Taxi. We have indeed paved over parts of paradise to put up a parking lot and then, when that parking lot no longer serves our interests, we walk away.

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