LETTER- Nine stories will be great

After reading the article regarding proposed nine-story buildings coming to Charlottesville [June 1 cover story: "Are you ready for nine stories"], and often hearing discussion about it elsewhere, I'd like to ask Charlottesvillians to wake up and be realistic. Due to the power of corporate America and the lack of politicians who understand the problem of overpopulation, the United States population will continue to swell for the foreseeable future.

And since C'ville, Albemarle, and the rest of the Piedmont is currently such a great place to live, our local population growth will continue to soar as well. The worst thing that could happen to our water, air, wildlife, scenic vistas, traffic, and taxes is for development, both residential and commercial , to destroy our beautiful countryside and rural areas.

 Charlottesville has no choice but to become more dense, and yes, become a real city. People are coming. It's up to us to figure out where they'll live and how pleasant of a city this is going to be. We must build up instead of out.

A dense city will allow those fancy public transit schemes we've always dreamed of to become viable. It will allow our city to thrive with a better business tax base, instead of the county siphoning our economy off with promises of more space.

Of course, I want a strong local government to make sure future development is aesthetically pleasing, sited well, and of quality construction. I'd rather have no development than some of the cheap, ugly development we've had at times in the past.

The Terraces building downtown is a good example of beautiful design that we need more of.

If liberal local citizens really want to be more like the Portland, Oregon city we idolize, then we must squeeze more of us in and turn this town into a vibrant and attractive city.

Darren Pace
Belmont, Charlottesville
[email protected]

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