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Thinking About Growth |
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The Silver Cliff and Vermilion Scenario |
| The communities of Silver Cliff and Vermilion are found in a spectacular region of small
plateaus, rolling hills, and broad canyons. They are separated by the Golden Hills, a
30-mile stretch of glorious meadows situated on a series of plateaus separated by red
rock cliffs and rolling forested hills. While hardly of national park quality, it’s the sort of
country in which people would love to spend time. Silver Creek and Vermilion lie in two
broad valleys where the Silver and Vermilion creeks emerge from the hills.
An early Vermilion settler bequeathed his ranch on a plateau overlooking the town for construction of Vermilion College. In part because of its spectacular setting, the college flourished to eventually become one of the state’s major universities. Over time, Vermilion’s economy became less dependent on agriculture, mining, and forestry. It began to develop a series of university-related businesses, which would later be called hi-tech. The economy flourished along with the average wealth of its citizens. Without a university, Silver Creek’s development followed a very different path. It became the regional center for the ranching, farming, mining, and timber industries. The economy was further bolstered by a small military test facility located in the prairies outside of town. It also attracted a number of modest manufacturing plants which supplied a steady stream of moderate income jobs. Recently however, the community has fallen on harder times with many of its manufacturing jobs lost to international producers. The timber industry languished because of environmental concerns and the fact that the most profitable stands had already been cut. Still, Silver Cliff had been through hard times before and the community had always managed to sustain itself. People liked the traditional, low key, small-town atmosphere and there was little desire to join the hectic modern world. The land between the two communities, the Golden Hills, was a patchwork of private land holdings and Forest Service land. In the 1990's the latest technology boom started to change things. Highly profitable new technology firms prowled the country, looking for desirable places to establish their sprawling new campuses. In the highly competitive environment, the ability to offer employees real quality of life often made the difference between success and failure. Vermilion was just the sort of place that these companies sought. In the mid ‘90s two companies bought and moved onto spectacular ranches while countless imitators and spin-offs flooded the area with new and quite wealthy citizens. It was these individuals who tipped Vermilion’s local balance of political power toward growth and high technology. Many long time residents, who didn’t like these developments, sold out and left as housing prices sky-rocketed. The Hills were quickly becoming urbanized with new shopping centers and office parks, causing demands for an enlarged airport and even faster highways. Areas within reasonable commuting reach of Vermilion were rapidly filling up. There were strong demands for the new highways required to open up areas for development. To the residents of Silver Cliff, the Hills had always been a prized natural playground. Not surprisingly, they came to view Vermilion’s sprawling development with horror. Especially alarming to Silver Cliff residents was the leap-frog nature of development. Everyone seemed to want a pristine setting for their new development. Newcomers, for the most part, had left congested and, from their perspective, quite unlivable cities. They were thrilled with the opportunity to live in a rural, small town setting – the kind of lifestyle that Silver Creek and Vermilion residents had enjoyed for decades. While congestion was annoying, they saw it as a temporary problem which could be alleviated once infrastructure development caught up. They were, however, distressed with the hostile reception that they received from the oldtimers. They felt that many community institutions were badly in need of modernization. Schools needed a more challenging curriculum, especially in mathematics and science. After all, students needed to be trained to compete in the high-tech world. There were also differences in social philosophy, newcomers tended to be more liberal than the oldtimers. Tensions also arose between the new environmental community which proposed limits on relatively free access to the Hill country which oldtimers enjoyed. Hunting, fishing, and the use of four-wheel drive roads were facing increasing environmental challenges. Also in contention was the decline in affordable housing. More and more people began to make the commute from Silver Cliff and started to drive up housing prices everywhere. r |
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Copyright © 2001 Conflict Research Consortium Contact: Guy
Burgess
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