Sun, Surf, Sand, And Visionary Planning

Robert Kuttner,co-editor of The American Prospect, sojourned in Cape Cod and returnedto give planning the credit for an abundance of family-ownedrestaurants, a dearth of strip malls, and a "magnificent shoreline... available to ordinary people who come for a day or a week, as wellas those fortunate enough to own oceanfront property." "Zoning andplanning have a bad name among the Sunbelt crowd who are currentlyrunning the country," writes Kuttner. "But, back on Cape Cod, east ofHyannis in the magnificent last 50 miles of Cape, it's hard to find afranchise fast-food place or a mall. This is due less to the NationalSeashore than to strict local zoning and planning and a general ethicthat this place is special. What makes Cape Cod special is not justthe natural beauty, which has been mercifully preserved, but thefeeling that here is a place with some local character that hasn'tbeen homogenized into just a copy of every other place."

Thanks to Dateline APA