Living in the small city of San Luis Obispo, with that small town feeling we are aware of the issue of urban sprawl. We watch as many open fields are leveled down and covered with housing projects. Sean Clancy in his essay "The Problem in Our Own Backyards" thinks that this is a problem and that it can be stopped. He thinks that if people speak up that we are capable of preventing this problem. I disagree with Clancy's idea of urban sprawl really being as much of a problem as he thinks, but that urban sprawl is a problem that cannot be stopped and doesn't need to be.
One of the points Clancy makes about a road where his dad used to ride horses is now a place "where you can get a taco, a lube job, a massage and a new pair of shoes all at one intersection." Clancy looks at this as an annoyance; he enjoyed the location more as an open road. To me something like a shopping center is wonderful. Some days when I have many things to do, like get a haircut, eat lunch, buy some clothes, and some music I can do it all in one place. This saves time when you have homework to finish, then a class to get to at the end of the day and the next day you have work. Though the idea of having a nice road to ride a horse on might be nice, a place to get your errands done is more of a convenience.
Another point that Clancy tries to make about a reply to a housing development is "isn't it the peace and quiet of areas like mine that draw home buyers in the first place?" That may be true, but nice places, like where Clancy lives, are not available to everyone who wants it nowadays. Housing developments are much more affordable to the normal, middle-class, people than buying houses on their own. Housing developments may take over fields and a house on the historic register, but sometimes it is better to sacrifice something non-productive with something productive. I agree with the builder in Clancy's essay that development would improve land value and generate commerce.