Sunday, May 20, 2007

Support Big Box Legislation in Fairfax!

Jambon has a great post up at Raising Kaine today on proposed Big Box legislation that will be before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors tomorrow, Monday, May 21, at 4 PM. The hearing will be held in the Fairfax Government Center at 12000 Government Center Parkway, in the Board Auditorium.

This legislation could be another example of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors commitment to greening the county and to smart growth. Big box stores like Target, Home Depot, and Wal Mart contribute to suburban sprawl and traffic congestion.

Lately, city and county planners have been encouraging mixed use developments built near existing Metro stations and bus stops. Besides making environmental and economic sense, there are health care experts who have said that our suburban way of life, where we get into our cars for every shopping errand, is contributing to the epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in this country.

Mixed use development has the added health advantage of getting people to live, shop and possibly even work in a single community where they can walk rather than ride to jobs and stores. What a concept. It used to be called a small town!

Anyay, if you're able to get to the Government Center (and in all honestly, I'll be at work in DC), please get out to support Big Box legislation.

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