Patrick Branson
12/7/2012
Professor Baumtobin
EN 13
Replacing the Co-op
The government always seems to be depicted as a huge monster. It appears as though it is going after the weak and poor parts of the population, making it harder for people to make it in the world. However, not everything the government does is evil, but it is presented that way. In New Haven Ct, the citizens leased and cleaned up an old piece of land and turned it into a co-op farm. Now the government wants to turn the land into stores for the community and is coming under fire for it. The fact is that the government’s true intentions are not always immediately apparent thus causing many misunderstandings to occur. The land should be turned over to the government because they are actually trying to do some good.
In New Haven CT, a medium sized city in the southern part of the state, a neighborhood found themselves with a huge piece of land. After a failed attempt to build a highway, a large piece of land was left unused and became a vacant lot in which garbage accumulated. The town’s people got together and cleaned it up and ended up turning it into a large co-op farm. The people were able to grow fresh food and teach the local children about where their food comes from. The neighborhood was very happy with their new, unique garden and it became a symbol of their hard work. The town’s people were able to take a lease out on the property, but never fully owned it. After a year or two passed the government noticed the lease was up and decided to reclaim the huge piece of land to build stores. The town’s people were livid and fought back. Stories like this make people believe that governments are monsters, but the reality is that the New Haven government really had the town’s best interest at heart.
The town of New Haven was never a rich place and the town was always scraping the bottom of the barrel for basic funds such as road repairs. When the government realized there was all this land they could build on they acted in order to build businesses that could be taxed. The resulting businesses would not only stimulate the town’s economy, but also give the government the ability to start giving funds to the basic needs of the town, such as road repairs. Many people look at the government and see a bunch of greedy fat cats because they don’t see immediate results, but just because they cannot see it, does not mean good is not being done. Perhaps a pot hole was filled-in in front an old woman’s house, perhaps an extra bus line was able to be added, or perhaps an after-school program was started for a child whose mother needs to pick up an extra shift. Just because one is not directly affected does not mean that the money is not being put to work. The new business would also be new source of job opening that could greatly help the people who find themselves unemployed. The bottom line is that the city recognized that by building these new stores, it will create economic growth on many levels of the community. Many people are very angry that the local government wants to remove this co-op because it spells out the end of many benefits. The people who live in this urban environment enjoyed having the room to plant and grow their own organic foods to create a healthier lifestyle. Along with eating the organic food, the elderly people who worked in the co-op were able to get exercise that did not put too much strain on their bodies. They found that with exercise taking those trips to the store to get supplies were a lot easier. While all this may be true, the building of new stores would mean that the elderly would not have to take those long trips across town to get to supplies. Also the addition of local businesses could open door for organic food companies to bring in products to sell at these small stores. Basic economics shows that optimizing space for business will always be better in the long run. It will make the community more efficient and the
