Tag: Luther Forest

From the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce blog:

In just 15 years, from 1990 to 2005, Hillsboro, Oregon's population has more than doubled. It boasts a job growth rate of over 20% for the last five years. Nearly a third of its residents are under age 18. It has a median house value and a Hispanic race population as well as a foreign born population significantly above the state average. What does this say? Well, Hillsboro is not only diverse but also has a strong representation of the new generation, and people from all over the world choose to live there.

What has fueled this growth is the creation of the Silicon Forest. More specifically, the decision more than 15 years ago by Intel (a competitor to AMD) to establish a nanoelectronics industry cluster in this region. Yet all the "experts" tell us that despite this growth, Hillsboro has been able to maintain its high quality of life and to retain and attract the next generation of workers to this exceptional community.

While any form of development is certainly a positive for the region's economy, with major aethestic changes on their way, it is now more important than ever that we have local officials at the helm who demonstrate a strong concern towards growth and zoning issues. The last thing we want is to destruct many of the elements that have made this an attractive place for the tech firms to locate here in the first place. After all, who wants to see the Interstate 87 corridor cluttered with more clones of Roy McDonald's Wilton, complete with dozens of ugly cinder block shopping malls and cookie-cutter housing developments?

In this entire matter, it is especially important that we work to preserve the somewhat endangered, bucolic elements of the Adirondack Park in any way possible. After all, you can always demolish a hideous Target structure 20 years after it's been built. However, there's no way of going back and salvaging a water supply which has been severely damaged.