Berlin Shopping Center, Berlin, NJ

If I lived in the borough of Berlin, I would run for office in an effort to eliminate this kind of blight:

Curb Cuts to Nowhere is on Pinterest

Feel free to share any curb cuts to nowhere you come across; just send them to me at Twitter, and I'll share them here at the blog and here at Pinterest.

A buncha turkeys in South Jersey

We interrupt the slow news cycle of curb cuts to nowhere to briefly examine another nonsensical attempt to control the sprawling (in the worst sense of the word) landscape. So, let's talk turkey: The government of Hainesport, a community in Burlington County, New Jersey, has decided to ban the feeding of wild turkeys, because a few citizens appear to be frightened of these creatures; indeed, they can be a bit intimidating, though I prefer the term magnificent. Under the terms of the law, people can be fined a couple thousands bucks if they knowingly and willingly feed the wild turkeys in their community. Not only is it senseless, it is probably unenforceable. First, shouldn't the cops be looking out for real crooks? Meanwhile, any soul who just looks up turkeys on the Internet will learn that they eat much more than your garden-variety birdseed. They eat bugs, spiders, slugs and even small snakes, as well as vegetation. So a silly "ban" on feeding will just send the turkeys out on the hunt for other food. A quick look at a map of the Hainesport area shows the real root cause of the problem. It comes in all shapes and sizes, but mostly (as my geography professor would call it) loops and lollipops, aka, housing developments, cul-de-sacs and the like (and probably a few curb cuts to nowhere somewhere on the landscape). It's a little late, I'm sure, to unring that bell, since the greedy community leaders all salivated at the thought of all those property-tax-paying ratables coming in to town. After all, what's the loss of a few patches of woods and fields in exchange for all that tax money. (I plead ignorance about whether there are any 55+ communities there, but given the boom of those places in recent past, I'd bet a buck that there are some in and around Hainesport. They bring a whole other set of problems -- if the 55+ folks have no kids in school, what incentive do they have to support the school budget? -- but that's another story.) But ringing this new bell, sounding this alarm, over (gasp!) wild turkeys on the loose, is merely grasping at (turkeys in the) straw. Besides, maybe they can teach us a thing or two about sustainable living...at least they already know to take public transit.

Boxes Amid Blight

In an homage to one of my favorite sites, Boxes of Blight, I offer the photo of some boxes amid blight, the largely empty Berlin Shopping Center in Berlin, New Jersey. Dear Courier-Post, Auto Finder, Auto Mart, and Homes and Land, these are taking up space in a shopping center that plenty of empty space. And Auto Mart, your box is being used as a trash bin.

From nowhere to really nowhere

I've been meaning to post this for a while, Inquirer writer Inga Saffron's take on the lost allure for the outer suburbs. While she focuses primarily on one Philly-area region, she references Christopher B. Leinberger's death knell for exurbs.
Since I began this blog, I've spent a lot of tongue-in-cheek time pointing out the intersections around South Jersey where I live that have these curb cuts and crosswalks that lead to nowhere. But many of these locations would seem to be prime real estate for future development, so these curb cuts would seem to have the potential to become curb cuts to somewhere.
However, given what both Saffron and Leinberger write, that seems to be becoming less likely. We still have an oversupply of housing; surveys show baby boomers/empty nesters want do downsize and move into more walkable communities, and the younger generations need mobility to move where the jobs are.
I've said on other occasions that the concept of these curb cuts - to allow people with disabilities to move about more freely and without the impediment of curbs - is a noble one. No one wants to see anyone barred from where they need to go. But the blind following of government mandates that every new/reconfigured intersection include curb cuts remains mind-boggling. After all, I cannot imagine anyone, for instance, needing such easy access to get into the GEMS Superfund toxic waste site.
Death to the exurbs? Maybe too soon to tell, but undoubtedly, if it does come to pass, it will mean the birth of even more curb cuts to nowhere.

Gloucester County, NJ: Fries Mill and Clayton-Williamstown Roads

Gloucester County, NJ: Tuckahoe and Clayton-Williamstown Road

Had not been to my eye doctor in three years, so traveling from Winslow Township to Clayton, New Jersey, I found two more intersections with Curb Cuts to Nowhere. Here's one, on Clayton-Williamstown Road at Tuckahoe Road (cater-corner from the veterans cemetery):