
Delaware's Odd, Beautiful, Contentious, Private Utopia - jamesbowman
http://reason.com/archives/2017/10/14/delawares-odd-beautiful-conten
======
wonder_er
While I might not want to live _in Arden_ , I love the experimental approach
to self-organization.

I feel like a dozen of similar experimental communities allowed to succeed or
fail, and they might bubble up some useful heuristics for how cities/towns
organize themselves.

I feel like the dominant model of town organization in the USA leaves much to
be desired.

~~~
gumby
> I feel like the dominant model of town organization in the USA leaves much
> to be desired.

What is that dominant model?

I've lived in Massachusetts and California. In both states what's common is
that the town decides (pretty much "has decided" at this point, esp in Mass)
to organize itself, writes a local charter, and has local folks run a council.
Town hall meetings are open to everyone. The council members are amateurs.
School districts and utility self govern and are rarely completely
coextensional with towns.

This can go wrong, of course, for example in Palo Alto the city managers
weren't given enough oversight and overstaffed with middle managers; also real
estate interests can take over the council for a while. But by an large it's
not that different in principle.

In California, in fact, most of the state isn't part of organized towns; most
"towns" are just vaguely defined areas under the county rules; various groups
do things like run a water utility, manage the local park, etc. In fact barely
a quarter of the _counties_ have charters; most themselves run under default
state rules. So that's much closer to the Arden idea.

~~~
wonder_er
While I'm not too familiar with "the dominant model", I guess I should have
clarified:

> The _results_ of the dominant model of town organization in the USA leaves
> much to be desired

Way over-priced homes, auto-oriented urban/rural design, an excessive love for
parking lots, houses all look the same...

Towns across the US share way too much in common for it to be something that
spontaneously arose out of millions of tiny decisions.

The developed parts of California cannot be anywhere close to the Arden idea -
there's endless rules, zoning restrictions, boards and commissions to try to
sway, etc.

~~~
majormajor
The dominant model in the US has downright cheap homes. Partly because of the
parking lots and auto-oriented organization (if you can keep building out, you
have a lot less upwards pressure on price). CA/NY is not representative of
home prices in most of the country.

It's not perfect, but neither is the NY model, the London model, the Tokyo
model, the Beijing model...

~~~
TimJYoung
Just to clarify: most of NY _state_ has inexpensive housing (at least compared
to NYC). Also, much of it is turn-of-the-century houses, not necessarily the
50s+ auto-oriented suburban tract houses, although it does have its share of
those, also.

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jawbone3
> "The idea that children could be out without a parent hovering was just
> completely unknown to them," Macklem recalls. "And the fact that the kids
> talked to someone who they obviously knew but who was not a parent."

I didn´t know the situation in the US was quite so dystopical that kids on
their own was any surprise...

~~~
crooked-v
[http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/20/living/feat-md-free-range-
pare...](http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/20/living/feat-md-free-range-parents-
under-attack/index.html)

[http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/living/florida-mom-arrested-
so...](http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/living/florida-mom-arrested-son-
park/index.html)

[http://reason.com/blog/2016/04/07/mom-arrested-for-
letting-k...](http://reason.com/blog/2016/04/07/mom-arrested-for-letting-kids-
walk-to-mc)

~~~
qznc
Wow. This is not a single police weirdo. This is three different states. Ok,
it is not normal otherwise it would not be in the news. Still, moving to the
US became scarier to me (and Silicon Valley is tempting).

For a contrast, I'm in Germany. My oldest son will go to school next year. It
is considered normal to train him now to go to and from kindergarten alone.
The biggest perceived danger is crossing roads.

The kid of an acquaintance uses the tram for a few stops on the way to school.
The first week in first grade the mother escorted her. Then she was on her
own. Not alone though. The tram is packed with kids and they look out for each
other (more or less, they are still kids).

Still, we also see that congestion at schools is increasingly a problem. More
and more parents seem to drop of their kids at school.

~~~
sethhochberg
As with most things in the US, urban/rural/suburban and class divides matter
much more than regional or state ones.

In the urban metro areas I've lived as an adult, seeing kids take transit to
school alone or in groups is totally normal - admittedly from a slightly older
age than your example in Germany, but definitely still grade-school kids.

In the suburbs where I grew up, it was typical for kids to ride bikes to
school. There wasn't any transit other than the school district's buses, and
many kids were dropped off by their parents in cars, but some degree of
independence was still there. This was a middle-class suburban area outside of
a major city in FL where most parents worked in two-income families.

The horror stories you hear about "helicopter parenting" in the US mostly come
from wealthier exurbs where, for lack of better way to put it, there aren't
any real problems... so bored homemakers micro-manage every aspect of their
community and worry themselves senseless about silly things. These are often
master-planned communities, often built in isolated semi-rural areas, where it
is difficult to go _anywhere_ without a car, and transit aside from buses
to/from school is nonexistent, so the very idea of a child even having
somewhere to go or something to do without a parent escorting them there in a
car is seemingly insane. It contributes a lot to the perception that kids
shouldn't be alone without an adult until they turn 16, can operate a car, and
then can travel safely from the confines of a vehicle. Its horrible for a
whole bunch of reasons.

If you want to move to the US, there are definitely still plenty of areas
where kids can a normal, independent young life - but especially in the SF Bay
area, I'd be very careful about picking a town/neighborhood where such a thing
is accepted. It won't be universal.

~~~
gozur88
>The horror stories you hear about "helicopter parenting" in the US mostly
come from wealthier exurbs where, for lack of better way to put it, there
aren't any real problems... so bored homemakers micro-manage every aspect of
their community and worry themselves senseless about silly things.

I think this is true, and I'll add the media keeps turning the crank on
neurotic parents by making them think there's a child molester or serial
killer waiting around every corner.

------
jawns
Delawarean here. Growing up, I had the impression that Arden was just a place
for aged hippies, history buffs, and the overeducated idle class to have space
to live out their utopian fantasies without bothering the rest of us.

I mean, if you think about the town meetings in "Gilmore Girls," where you
have these people who are _really into town meetings_ , you probably know that
they're meant to be an exaggerated parody of the handful of people who show up
at town meetings and are really, uh, passionate about their viewpoints. Only
in "Gilmore Girls," the whole town is like that.

Well, I would much rather have them all in Arden, duking it out, than spread
out more generally in North Wilmington and northern New Castle County, causing
eye rolls everywhere.

That said, Arden is not nearly as much of an insulated place anymore. I think,
for the majority of residents, it's just an address and not a philosophy.

~~~
loteck
Why is civic participation so eyeroll-inducing to you?

My sense is that the groups you're rolling your eyes at have taken over the
top levels of national government and are now working backwards to states and
cities, largely thanks to reviving the lost act of participating.

------
LVTfan
As a part time resident, and a passionate Georgist, I love the Ardens. The
three villages function separately for governance, but socially they're one,
and there is a lot going on. The history is fascinating. (If you have access
to newspapers.com, read it chronologically. I'm still working through it.) If
you're in the area in early September, don't miss the Arden Fair.

~~~
mlinksva
Did you move for your passion, or did you learn your passion from living
there?

If you have the inclination, please add references to the relevant Wikipedia
articles as you read old news! Thank you. :)

~~~
LVTfan
I moved there because it was lovely, and was consistent with something I have
long felt strongly about. My late grandparents were lifelong Georgists, and
never mentioned the Ardens to me. (I'm a late-bloomer -- I shared their
perception of the problems, but kept thinking there had to be another way to
solve them; when I failed to find it, I looked more closely at what Henry
George had to say, and found it very persuasive.) For a recent article, look
at Michael Kinsley's, in the September Vanity Fair. But people from across
many spectra embrace George's analysis and George's remedy; it is a third way,
coming out of the traditions of classical economics, not the neo-classical
economics that is widely taught today.

George's most famous book was entitled "Progress and Poverty" ... it was
dedicated, "to those who, seeing the vice and misery that spring from the
unequal distribution of wealth and privilege, feel the possibility of a higher
social state and would strive for its attainment." Its subtitle is a
mouthful:"an inquiry into the cause of industrial depressions and of increase
of want with increase of wealth ... The Remedy."

The book is quite analytical, a logical analysis. If you want to see where it
is going, jump to the final "book" before you read the rest.

Or you might start with a collection of essays entitled "Social Problems."
They still read well today, and, among other things, show why a Constitution
written in the 18th century simply can't be frozen in time, and needs to be
reconsidered in light of 21st century realities. Some of my favorite quotes
are from "Social Problems."

Both books are online and at Amazon or schalkenbach.org; there is also a fine
modern abridgment of P&P, and audio is available at hgchicago.org.

~~~
mlinksva
I've read Progress and Poverty and much more by still living Georgists (eg
Polly Cleveland and Mason Gaffney). I'm pro-LVT.

Your response however typifies one reason I'd never call myself a Georgist --
people who call themselves such come off as believing they've discovered the
single truth that obtains social salvation, ie religious nuts -- who need to
dump that single truth on people they encounter at the first opportunity.
Seriously, if you want to be effective, and I want you to be, please tone it
down.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience in the fist 3 sentences of
your comment. That's what I was hoping to learn!

~~~
adbge
> _Your response however typifies one reason I 'd never call myself a Georgist
> -- people who call themselves such come off as believing they've discovered
> the single truth that obtains social salvation, ie religious nuts -- who
> need to dump that single truth on people they encounter at the first
> opportunity. Seriously, if you want to be effective, and I want you to be,
> please tone it down._

What? Of places to share one's enthusiasm for Georgism, there are few more
appropriate than in an internet thread about a Georgist town they're a
resident of, after explcitly being asked for references.

~~~
mlinksva
Citing Progress and Poverty when asked about adding references to Wikipedia
about the history of a Georgist town strikes me as like citing the Bible when
asked about adding referenes to Wikipedia about the history of a Christian
town -- and it's available on audiotape! Of no use other than identifying
oneself as a true believer.

~~~
afpx
It’s likely that they weren’t responding to your question about Wikipedia.

Your other question, “Did you move for your passion, or did you learn your
passion from living there?”, suggests unfamiliarity yet genuine interest in
the topic. So, their response makes total sense.

------
neogodless
Well that was odd. Tried to read page two on my Android Oreo device, had
"virus" like alerts springing up. Sorry, this is off topic, but I think
there's reason to suspect that web page.

~~~
trav4225
Lots of reasonably decent sites seem to participate in ad networks that
apparently allow malicious ads that hijack browsers... It's not clear to me
why this is still an unsolved problem after so many years... :-/

~~~
SomeStupidPoint
Because the profits from serving the malware are concentrated while the harm
is diffuse.

------
rdl
I’m not sure how I feel about LVT. It seems like the most fair form of
taxation, but physical land is decreasingly tied to productivity and wealth,
so it seems to make less sense than in the past.

~~~
spoonie
Why are most “high-productivity” software and knowledge jobs in cities where
land costs are high? I would argue that it’s because that land _is_
productive! At least LVT would incentivize people to move to areas with
cheaper land, or to increase density.

~~~
majormajor
It's interesting to look at how that distribution of jobs has changed over the
last 40 to 50 years, though, and whether or not seeking to reverse the
centralization could be useful.

------
sutble
>After the prisoners' sentences were completed, the town celebrated with a
circus. The performance included an arrest of its own: A clown dressed as a
cop entered the audience, grabbed a surprised Sinclair, and marched him away
from the show.

Surely the author meant to write a cop dressed as a clown?

~~~
ISKthrow
Wat? No, a cown dressed like a cop. Pretty explicit. A cop dressed as a clown
would not be recognized for anything else than a clown. A clown dressed as a
cop will be seen as a clown dressed as a cop. Or maybe I'm crazy...

------
chmaynard
This version is formatted for printing:

[http://reason.com/archives/2017/10/14/delawares-odd-
beautifu...](http://reason.com/archives/2017/10/14/delawares-odd-beautiful-
conten/print)

------
agumonkey
Henry George is said to be the inspiration behind the game Monopoly

------
Animats
I knew about Freehope, which is another single-tax community. But not this
one.

~~~
mtg
Fairhope! (grew up there)

