Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:30:55 -0400
From: Brad Page
Subject: Re: Chatham Chatlist #6443
Taylor…etc.
While Taylor Kish lauds the lovely selflessness of Chatham Park Investors others of us in Chatham County – 65,000 and counting – have other priorities. Considering all Taylor Kish’s previous posts on the Chatlist, the aim appears to be to prevaricate facts and provoke a reaction. by personal attacks. Leela, hang in there.
The constant thrumming of the private property drum obviously focuses on half the issue – a lie by omission. The other half is common good. Obviously, Taylor Kish considers this secondary such as in the argument over ownership of 4,000,000 souls by southern nationalists and its consequent apparent enrichment of the few at the expense of the many.
This Zen Buddhist old man (78) came from Charlotte in 2005 to join the NC Zen Center. Coming from one of the most overdeveloped, greediest amoebas – Mecklenburg county is on track to swallow Columbia, SC – I had fought back since before Earth Day 1970 by forming and joining totally ineffective environmental organizations around the Charlotte Metro. This exercise in liberal activism was a harsh lesson in the depth of utter greed possible at the money-grabbing heart of the county. Understand that Charlotte is a crossroads town. At the center of the city Trade St. crosses Tryon St. Look on a map and you’ll see why those streets got their names. Trade ruled from Charlotte’s establishment and trade rules now. It’s all about private property. It took a city to fight back as the amoeba moved north. Go online and look at the saga of Davidson, NC and its struggle to maintain a decent quality of life in the face of rampaging development.
Leela Ellis personalizes the environmental consequences of Chatham Park. I feel it more personally in the figures.
Look at the growth: Mecklenburg County population – July, 2018 – 1.093 million, Charlotte – 860,000. Wake County population – July, 2018 – 1.092 million, Raleigh – 465,000. Durham – 268,000.
I came here to pursue a spiritual practice. It took a few years to realize I had come to one of the most beautiful, breathlessly beautiful, regions of North Carolina. *There’s* the spiritual practice for me. Each morning when I step from my apartment for a walk in Pittsboro I first look up and around at the trees, the grounds, the birds, the squirrels.
Saying all that, it’s at the heart of Taylor Kish’s argument. Pittsboro is being swallowed by a development juggernaut. And it’s not just Chatham Park. It’s what follows. All of that quality of life that comes with looking into a Central Carolina sky gets thrown under the bus in the service of protecting property “rights” while ignoring the common good that surrounds us. Chatham Park is the tip of Wake County’s amoeba. Pittsboro is the attractor for the rest of the billions in investment coming our way. Our future can be seen in Apex. Those folks live it everyday.
As for Taylor Kish, thank you for your challenging statements. The heart of property rights is found, especially in the South and especially in North Carolina, by the rampant greed that drove white southern nationalists to enslave 4,000,000 African-Americans. In 1860 North Carolina’s total population was 992,600+. Total slave population was 331,059. Slave holders totaled 34, 658. The moral tragedy engulfed the whole country. England had abolished slavery by 1807. Of course, the US held on for another 57 years and southern nationalists prayed to extend slavery into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and all the territories gained west of the Mississippi following the Mexican-American War. The South seceded in order to assert its property “rights”. That little exercise in States Rights cost 602,000 souls. About 1/4 of all those who left home to fight in that war never returned. At Gettysburg the 26th North Carolina suffered 718 casualties out of 800 sent into battle. Enough said.
Finally, a word on zen. It’s impossible to attain some special state or “wrap” oneself in the practice. If you’re interested look online;everyone has something to say about zen. .
Brad Page