America the beautiful?
Deserted main streets, endless strip commercial development, car-clogged highways, meadows turned into subdivisions — is this what we want for America?
How does a small town ... a county ... a state ... or a nation reverse the twin blights of suburban sprawl and urban decay? This question became the focal point of a crusade by Pennsylvania newsman Tom Hylton in the mid 1980s, as he watched his lovely small town decline while the surrounding countryside was paved over for a jumble of roads, stores, parking lots, and tract housing.
The crusade led to a Pulitzer Prize, a year-long planning fellowship, an influential book, a public television documentary, and finally, to the charitable corporation Save Our Land, Save Our Towns, Inc.
A growing number of Americans have grown disgusted with a throw-away culture that allows once-magnificent cities and towns to wither away while treasured landscapes are ruined by feckless development. They're tired of the constant driving, the ugliness, the feeling of isolation brought about by sprawl. They yearn for safe, verdant, walkable neighborhoods.
But reversing 50 years of car-dominated sprawl
will not be easy.
Save Our Land, Save Our Towns was founded by Tom Hylton to facilitate change — change in private attitudes, change in public policy. Through education and advocacy, the non-profit champions the use of:
• regional planning
• growth boundaries
• traditional town design
to protect rural areas and encourage the redevelopment
of cities and towns that house people of all ages, races
and incomes.
Where do we go from here?
Fortunately we live in a democracy where the power of good ideas can triumph over all obstacles. In Pennsylvania, Hylton's advocacy as a journalist, author and speaker helped initiate needed land-use reforms. His book, Save Our Land, Save Our Towns, was distributed to every legislator, cabinet secretary, and 500 other state and local officials by James Seif, Secretary of Environmental Protection. Four years after Hylton first addressed governor's staff members and legislative caucuses, Pennsylvania passed the first anti-sprawl legislation in its history.
The decline of cities and the rise of suburban sprawl is a difficult issue to grasp, and the solutions require rising above conventional thinking. Save Our Land, Save Our Towns is dedicated to helping citizens, civic groups, and elected officials understand the ramifications of sprawl and find sensible alternatives.
Save Our Land, Save Our Towns Inc. is recognized by the IRS as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit corporation. A breakdown of revenues and expenditures is available upon request.
