'Dirty Harry' Approach To Rebuilding

Most of California and the country would be unpopulated if we didn't rebuild on risky terrain. Instead, most communities use the 'Dirty Harry College of Urban Planning' motto, 'Do I feel lucky?'

1 minute read

September 7, 2005, 5:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"Most of the places where Californians live are designed by a short-range, take-the-money-and-run business model that â€" as somebody once said â€" only plans as far ahead as the next quarter, not the next quarter-century. We seem to design cities the way we design healthcare: on the cheap, gambling that we can skimp on the front end and won't get wiped out by big losses on the back end.

...Last January, in Ventura County, a human-cut cliff behind the coastal town of La Conchita slid away for the second time in 10 years. It killed 10 people. It will slide again, and kill again.

...Most likely, they'll be built, and rebuilt, as always, by graduates of the Dirty Harry College of Urban Planning, whose school motto is: 'You've got to ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?' "

FULL STORY: Building cities like there's no tomorrow

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 in The Los Angeles Times

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