One of the greatest losses that has occurred in America in the last century is the sense of community, and roots.

The small town of my great-grandparents, grandparents and parents had small local family-run stores, marketers who sold produce/fruit from the backs of wagons or trucks, locally grown meats, milk, and eggs.

People had gardens, root cellars in their basements. They canned, pickled, salted. They recycled. Clothing was either passed down or used for fabric for rugs. Energy was considered precious, and fuel was conserved wherever possible.

But the biggest loss was the loss of feeling oneself a member of a much larger group.....in the community of that town everyone knew everyone else, knew their nicknames, knew the children, knew the more intimate details of personal sufferings and triumphs, and were very supportive when people were in trouble.
They were a family.
City neighborhoods once had this too.

Urban immigrant Italians, Poles, Croats, Jewish(from Russian) Irish boys who won WWII and grew up in grid pattern cities mining coal, or forging steel, imagined bucolic paradise anywhere the roads curved - like your typical subdivisions.

It seems to me that negative social issues such as racism and class prejudice, even the civil rights conflicts of the 60s and 70s, were strongly fueled by white flight and urban sprawl breeding attitudes of superiority and prejudice that flourished and are as alive and hurtful today as they ever were. We can restructure economic systems and community development systems all we want, but how do we come against these destructive attitudes and mindsets that leave humans thinking of other humans as "undesirables" instead of real people with real stories and real issues who can live together in healthy communities?

I grew up in one of those small towns with a grocery store, bank, 5&dime, drug store, butcher shop. etc. There were lower income people living on the same street with the middle class. However crime was much lower then and people had different values. I still live in a small town with many amenities; however, because of the economy folks are not able to buy and own their homes. Slum lords are starting to buy up the properties in my neighborhood and renting them to undesireables. They devalue homes in the neighborhood by accumulating junk on the property, littering our yards, and causing the police to make calls on almost a weekly basis. This is happening in many towns. So don't blame families for wanting to live in the suburbs or the country. Until towns start limiting the number of rentals allowed the downward spiral is going to continue.

I'm 2 miles from my job in downtown Harrisburg, would love to ride my bike - but no bike lanes,
Riding down State Street at 7-8am is uninviting.
Anyone opens a parked car door and you are toast.
So I typically drive and scramble for street parking.
Owning a car and it's associated costs is necessary in central PA, to also pay for CAT passes is a redundancy in my monthly "Transportaion budget" I cannot sensibly justify.

Keep the comments coming! This is an important conversation to have. Just to let everyone know -- Thomas Hylton has agreed to appear on Radio Smart Talk again on Tuesday, November 15. I'll use some of the coments we didn't get to today on that program as well.

The true sense of a community built around a factory and a village is gone. Did Mr. Hylton even visit what is called the town “square?” There is nothing there. The Community Building is now office space, the Cocoa Inn is gone, the Drug Store is gone. It’s a shame.

I agree with most points and after living abroad for several years, I feel that the US really has a poorly designed urban planning model, which has numerous negative implications on society and well-being. BUT, I grew up in Hershey, PA and I don't think it has such a great sense of community. It is just like anywhere else. Everyone drives and, even though there are bike paths everywhere (it was an initiative created by a family whose son died in a bike accident), hardly anyone uses them for 'practical biking,' meaning going to work or to the store, doctor, errands etc. I think it is a myth that today's Hershey is a close community…perha ps it used to be but now the town of Hershey is focused on bringing in tourists. Moreover, the rent is so high that small business have moved out to nearby towns or just closed their doors completely. Take a drive through Hershey and start counting all the businesses that closed and the banks that opened in the past 10 years.....

What can an individual resident do to support Smart Growth in their community?

I caught Thomas Hilton’s program on PBS one night by chance. It was completely eye opening. I had never realized the problem of urban sprawl before watching his program. I spent a week telling all my friends about the documentary. He should keep up the good work.

I am a young professional and I have considered moving into Lancaster City. The less than optimal schooling is not a huge concern for myself because I don’t have any kids. I ultimately decided against it because of the expensive property taxes. I think school tax reform, schools getting more money from the state, would go a far way towards reversing the trend of urban sprawl.

I must comment on the show with Thomas Hylton. I have never heard such crap in all my life. How in the hell did this guy get a Pulitzer for such bull crap? It was quite oblivious that guy lives in an ivory tower on another planet from the rest of us. We are a car nation, get over it. We are never going to be like the Dutch and use bikes as our main means of transportation for many reasons. 1) we are a large country not a small flat country the size of Vermont. 2) we like space and large yards. People want to be able to sit on their decks and Bar B Que or have a pool -- not be nose to nose with the people next door. 3) We are a highly mobile country and we are not going to settle into a small space and ride bikes. 4) we don’t like mass transportation. That’s why we developed major highways systems so we could have the “freedom of the road”. Mr. Hylton doesn’t get that idea. He’d love us all to bike around and be like the “good” Europeans. The hell with that!

Ask Tom Hylton about all of the great work he's done for his adopted hometown of Pottstown.

Learn all of the facts at: savepottstown.com