No Money on Free Parking

Apparently there isn't much greenery in Fairfax anymore. According to David Plotz, a reporter for the New York Times, the little grass that exists in front of immigrants houses are being paved over to make room for transportation. Unfortunately, the other locals don't take kindly upon that.

In "A Suburb All Grown Up and Paved Over", Plotz talks about the necessity of the immigrants situation, and how the suburb surrounding them (mostly made up of richer, larger home owning whites) doesn't like the new development. According to the neighbors, the pavement takes away the little amount of greenery that the area has left (which is ironic, since the rest of the foliage has already been paved over to put in shopping malls and housing subdivisions already). After talking a bit about this problem, however, the article goes off on a related tangent. The author analyzes the rapid growth and immigration that is happening to the county, and he likens the whole ordeal to a mid-life crisis the county itself is having. The article is finally ended with Plotz reflecting that things are promising if the worst reaction to this aging process is a little squabble over a bit of grass.

The author projects a confident, well informed vibe all over this story. In the beginning, the text seems a bit condescending and ironic, as Plotz points out that Fairfax's culture and history owes a lot to the automobile (and most of the neighborhoods are named after the beauty they desecrated). In the second half of the article, however, the author starts to reflect over the diversity of the community. The tone here changes to more of a storytelling mode, where Plotz outlines the modern history of the county. Facts are used there (with a couple percentages and fractions), and these facts paint a more positive tone. Diversity, as he argues, is changing the community for the better.














The argument seems ethical, and the facts seem solid. The world view advertised is a rosier, "Lets all get along" kind of view, and the writing at the end seems positive and upbeat. Plotz is on the side of the immigrants here, and I agree with him. the newcomers are getting the most out of the property and land that they own, and they have a necessity in their actions that the old guard doesn't quite understand. I love nature, however, and it's pretty sad that you have to destroy some of that to get by; But I think this is a necessity sometimes, and after the immigrants find some wealth, hopefully that greenery will return someday.