Enough People

It is easy to forget that the key to many of the good things we want in life is “Enough People.”

• If we want a good choice of restaurants, we need Enough People.

• If we want a choice of places to shop, we need Enough People.

• If we want decent public transportation, we need Enough People.

• If we want a good public library, we need Enough People.

• If we want good doctors and hospitals, we need Enough People.

• If we want good fire and police protection, we need Enough People.

People, as customers, are the lifeblood of any retail service or business. Without Enough People, the business will wither and die. Yet how often do we hear the same people who want good shopping and other services strongly oppose allowing more people in the area. They argue against “Density” (the dreaded “D” word) and claim that allowing more people will destroy the good life.

We need to remember that having Enough People is a requirement, not a problem. And that what people really fear is not too many people, but too many cars. Not people congestion, but auto congestion.

Are there ways to have Enough People without having excessive auto congestion? Yes, let’s look at some.

1.  Let Enough People live and work close to our cluster of shops and other services so they can get there without needing a car.

2.  Make the walking environment so good that Enough People will want to walk instead of drive to meet their daily needs.

3.  Put public facilities like parks, schools and libraries within walking distance of Enough People, so they attract people without cars.

4.  Make our walkable downtowns and other mixed-use clusters of people so attractive that Enough People will want to live there instead of in auto-dependent sprawl.

Remember, people live in cities and towns because doing so brings Enough People together to support a comfortable life. If we want the good life, we need Enough People.