Local Planning Greases the Gears of the Free Market

The political season has begun in American and while I don’t typically dip into politics too much in my column, I do want to touch on one point as it is applied to our city -- the economy. This year is a particularly interesting presidential election year, because we have almost complete opposite approaches to the economy. On the one hand we have Senator Bernie Sanders proposing more socialist or communal economic policies and Senator Ted Cruz as well as Mr. Donald Trump proposing more laissez-faire or free-market economic policies. While I’m not going to take sides, I do want to talk about how such an approach works on the local level and the role that planning plays in economic policy.

In a city setting many people feel that a free-market approach to development is the best approach and this may be true. But as we’ve seen in Elizabethton, a free-market approach can lead to problems down the road. West Elk Avenue is an example of this. Free-market development was allowed to happen along this corridor. As someone wanted to develop a piece of property, it was split off and developed with little thought to larger impacts and long-term implications. Today, we deal with traffic problems that will only grow worse, because the free-market drove the development in this area and resulted in no frontage roads, multiple driveway cuts and smaller lot sizes. This creates slower traffic flow, more traffic lights, and, thus, more congestion along the corridor.

Another example is the downfall of the Rayon Company. The free-market demanded less rayon, the industry began to suffer and the Elizabethton economy began to fall as well. The free-market did not bring new industries or companies to Elizabethton and, in the end, we ended up with stagnant or falling household incomes.

Don’t take me wrong, I am far from a socialist, communist, or other economic structure you can think of...a laissez-faire or free-market economy is, in my opinion, the only player on the field because it’s been proven to work! But I also believe in appropriate planning on a local level. In my opinion appropriate planning greases the gears of a free-market economy and makes it work better and more efficient. If appropriate planning had been done along West Elk Avenue, there would likely be more lots for the free-market to development, less congestion allowing higher traffic counts, and making it more attractive for new business. If appropriate economic planning had been done when the Rayon plants started layoffs, new industries might have moved to Elizabethton to help fill the unemployment gap, the skills of the former employees may have been retained in Elizabethton, and household incomes may have continued to increase.

A free-market economy works, but on a local level it is important for the government to keep their thumb on the pulse and, when necessary, step in and grease the gears of the free-market by planning for the future of our city. Let’s talk about it!