Farms Not ‘Burbs

Healthy communities still more useful than sprawl

By Rick Bettis

The dedicated group of young volunteers at "Food Not Bombs" prepares and serves weekly meals to those in need. Their name makes a clear and cogent statement about the need to change our national priorities. Thinking of this organization makes me long for a "Farms Not ‘Burbs" because the history of land use in the Sacramento area has been characterized by poorly planned urban sprawl.

This development pattern is largely a result of our car culture that rapidly developed following World War II. The private automobile had made earlier inroads following Henry Ford’s invention of the assembly line, making cars affordable for many. However during the post-