Thursday, April 18

Texas: Land of Lackadaisical Zoning

Tod Robberson, writing in the Dallas Morning News:
"The devastation from the explosion in West, especially given the known destructive power from the Oklahoma City bombing, should have been foreseeable. Whoever thought it was appropriate to place a middle school, retirement complex, apartments and houses next to a fertilizer plant needs to be called to account."
"In Dallas, we are still dealing with the environmental aftermath of the decision to zone low-income residences next to lead smelters. A few years ago, we had a huge chain reaction of exploding acetylene gas tanks from a storage depot right next to downtown."
"... sometime soon, the state and federal governments will have to mandate a review of these decisions and others like them across rural America and take corrective action. We cannot have people living and going to school next to sub-nuclear time bombs.
Explosion in West, Texas, should make all towns question zoning decisions