Kansas City: Rope in the 'burbs?

There is a terrific article out now at The Atlantic (link below) telling of "The Beginning of the End of the Suburb." To which I say, good riddance. It has separated us horribly, it has added, also badly, to heavy traffic, pollution, bad air days, highways that go on for miles and eat up farmland, etc. And we--Kansas City--are famous for our sprawl, of course. We're one of the worst spots in the nation for it. Heaven forbid we tell any developer "no", right? It seems that, between the downturn in the economy and the higher price of fuel, at least, people are far less likely to keep buying ever further out of cities. Again, thank goodness. It's long overdue. As the article says: "We need a new model for American prosperity that doesn't require ever greater injections of fossil energy." All that said, though, I'm sure the Kansas City metropolitan area and all its various cities will never institute any hard and fast policy, limiting growth even if for the benefit of the city, the way they did long ago in Oregon and the likes. We're way too insecure about business and even the thought of pushing business away. Links: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/The-Beginning-End-Suburban-atlantic-1156625650.html?x=0; http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/in-kansas-city-tax-breaks-dont-cure-blight-andmdashandnbspthey-create-sprawl/Content?oid=2190006; http://www.pitch.com/plog/archives/2011/04/18/kansas-citys-sprawling-ways-make-growing-old-a-bitch; http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/16/2804933/a-long-way-home-challenges-faced.html; http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/17/2807142/getting-around-kc-is-tough-for.html

Life in Kansas City and its environs

After the revelation last evening that Kansas City is number 3 on the "most dangerous cities in the nation" list from Forbes magazine, I found the following statistic, totally by chance, today on The Huffington Post:

 In one three-city study, suburban residents were 18% more likely to be killed or injured by traffic accidents or crime. If the entire U.S. shared New York’s traffic death rate, we would save more than 25,000 lives per year.

It seems more proof to me that Kansas City's sprawl and it's decision and commitments to sprawl, have lead us to where we are today, now, with this additional rating.  We waste gas and energy, we pollute more, we waste more time and energy in our cars, we have to use a car to get or do virtually anything, we don't know our neighbors too frequently and on and on.  It's no way to live.  A denser city is a smarter, safer city and one in which we leave the countryside to the countryside.  

It seems Malvina, above, was describing us, doesn't it?

Link to original post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-speck/10-worst-things-suburban-sprawl_b_761574.html#s155915