Sunday, February 25, 2007

Trip down Pines Blvd. by geniusofdespair

I was just on Pines Blvd. in Broward (Hollywood Blvd. turns into Pines Blvd. West of the Florida Turnpike). It is a 6 lane road that goes West through some of the worst sprawl I have ever seen...there is strip mall, after strip mall, after strip mall. Who is buying all that stuff? I guess my impression was on target because on the Planning & Development Network Website, Planetizen, they called Pines Blvd. one of the worst streets in North America in 2001, just after International Drive in Orlando.

It is hard for me to admit this, and I won't say it often, but Miami Dade County is actually better than Broward.

Can anyone say: Weston? That city is just in the worst possible place.

My trip to badly developed Broward county today (actually I was after some very good pizza at John's or else I wouldn't have been there) made me think of Thoreau's take on developers:

"If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen." - Henry David Thoreau

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow. Great Quote!

I lived in Broward back in the late 70's, the place was miserable then.

I go from my house to Saw Grass Mall, that is it for my current Broward adventures. Turnpike all the way >>>>> Praying for no traffic stoppages.

lunkhead said...

Broward County has always been vastly overrated. I sometimes fly out of the Ft. Lauderdale Airport and see the sprawl. Ultimately, the citizens of the county deserve some blame; you get the government you deserve. This is what happens when citizens don't engage in the political process.