Government and Social Engineering

The City of Seattle has finally fessed up to what many city park users already knew: they are removing garbage cans.  In an attempt to, apparently, save money, the city is removing garbage cans from parks and asking users to "pack it out."

While this "pack it out" system works fairly well for backpackers in wilderness areas, urban picnickers with tubs of chicken, potato salad, and a case of Coca-Cola, along with baby strollers, toys, and other assorted "day in the park" items will have a hard time packing it all out.  Already, neighbors of Seattle Parks are reporting their garbage cans are being filled by park users.  

It seems to me that this is a perfect example of government trying to social engineer behavior in ways that might look good in discussions at the conference rooms but in reality is forgetful of the role of government and the relation with the governed.  

In the Pacific Northwest there is a push to have urban areas like Seattle and Portland increase their densities.  In the past ten years thousands of multi-family units have been built, pushing out single family dwellings and low scale buildings in favor of multi-use multiple story structures.  Both Portland and Seattle have gone from being small urban areas to New York wanna-bes.

The idea of increasing densities is good if it stops the expansion of growth into the lowland forested areas surrounding both Seattle and Portland.  Recent studies, however, are showing that sprawl continues to edge into these vital lands despite urban growth.  

Nonetheless, cities must make themselves attractive to multiple generations if they are to continue to house and employ large numbers of people.  Making amenities like parks difficult to visit, or "work," will not accomplish that goal.  Rather, it will encourage people to get in their cars and find places to picnic where they can conveniently get rid of their trash by throwing it into a garbage and recycling bin.

Sometimes great ideas have rather bad consequences and the social engineering of city staffs usually flop.  Often it is far far better to continue to provide good service and as a result people will enjoy living in the city.  Seems simple, huh.