Now I have a completely local topic to talk about.

A certain Roswell city councilman proposed a bloody brilliant idea to address our water consumption.

He proposed a three month ban on new residential and commercial development in the City of Roswell.

All the other council members immediately shot him down, with some relevant feedback.

I still think the idea is sound.

There are about 20 houses in my neighborhood that are for sale. A quick look at Realtor.com snags about 2000 for Roswell, GA. Some of these houses are new, most are resale. The houses in my neighborhood have been on the market for about for or five months. The for sale signs I drive by every day have been there just as long. There is a new plaza down the road from me that sits vacant, except for a dentist's office. There is an abundance of commerical space available, and retail.

So...why do we need new development again? Let's focus on redeveloping what we already have!

Certain things get grandfathered out - school's doing new construction, hospitals, jails, etc. They can continue to build. Things that contribute to our over-density...those get kicked out.

Yeah, I realize that it is likely to be viewed as a penalty for the builders. So what? They bear some of the responsibility for putting us in this mess in the first place. A developer would argue with me, I'm sure, saying he was just meeting demand. If there are 2000 + available homes in Roswell, I don't see too much demand. I see a hell of a lot of supply. I don't feel sorry for these guys - they took advantange of the boom and the mortgage industry's lunacy to make as much money as they could. Everyone knows you should save for a rainy day when you are plush - I hoped they saved, because the "rainy" day is now.

So...Mr. M, LG, those of you that live in this area....tell me why this won't work. I think it's a great...no, a frigging great idea.

And as for penalizing heavy residential users - just like everyone else, homeowners will continue to use water at their regular rates, and just pay the fees associated with their overage. Talk of tax credits for low flow toilets, etc. is ridiculous. If a developer wants to build anything, let's talk about impact fees! Let's talk about passing regulations to require any new development to use a reduced water plan!

I'm sick and tired of reading all the, pardon my french, fucking whining about this. The reason we are in this mess is because we over built, in the name of growth and prosperity, and sprawled sprawled sprawled until we have sprawled ourselves into clear cutting mountains for subdivisions. Shame on you!