Boomtown

Looks like I'm not the only one who feels like Waco and surrounding areas are booming.  This was an article in today's Waco Tribune Herald.  On the second photo showing the second part of the article, it shows a picture of a housing development on Ritchie Road.  My son and I used to live in Polo Park, which is a neighborhood across Ritchie Road from this one.  Just a few years ago, I would road bike on this road from my Polo Park neighborhood, and this side of the road was nothing but pasture and countryside.  I am in daily amazement at how fast our area is becoming  more and more congested and populated. I can drive from this area of Ritchie Road to our duplex neighborhood, and it is almost all housing developments now where it used to just be fields of green.   I grew up in this area, so I do have a long term point of reference.  The best part, I think of all of this has been the revitalization of the downtown area, and more of a cultural arts area.  Much progress has been make in these areas of the city, where it used to just be a lot of dead space.  It has really just been in the past few years though, that things have boomed.  I am happy for the people who are propersing financially because of these changes, but I mourn the loss of green countryside, and places for wildlife to live and prosper.  But it looks like that our green space is going to significantly decrease over the next five years, because housing shortages are a serious concern and can't keep up with demand.  My hope would be that city planners would not only focus on upgrading the city's infrastructure, but also consider creating some boundaries for more parks and green space as this boom continues.  People and animals need green spaces to "breathe" and to thrive, and I hope to see this coming to the forefront as a planning objective as well.