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We’re Not Kidding: Olympian Drive Is Lame.

I just visited Prairie Fruits Farm, located on the Northern edge of Champaign for their first “baby goat shower.” You may know of them because of their amazing goat cheeses. Currently, Prairie Fruits is one of a few farmers and other sustainable businesses and residents fighting the development of a $27 million road extension based on a 1970s urban planning vision. On our local news blog, Smile Politely’s Stuart Tarr has a recent 2-part post about the proposed Olympian Road extension. Starting from a cinematic analogy with Polanski’s 1974 Chinatown, Tarr points to the deeper ideological significance of the project:

Olympian Drive is important: it’s how the local powers see the future.  At last week’s meeting, at which the Champaign City Council put its imprimatur on the project, City Manager Steve Carter was quoted as saying “this road is probably the most important economic development project in the county that we’ll see in the next 25 years.“

Tarr brings up the ideology of progress that posits farmland as a devalued form of land use – a belief system that leads to planners stating that it’s “just farmland.” He also points out the fact that Urbana’s Common Ground Co-Op has a surprisingly low percentage of local food – surprising given the abundance of fertile soil and water here. Something fairly limited in Southern California, where most of the nation’s organic produce originates.

While Tarr and others seem to conclude that the plan is pretty much a sure-thing, if you’re at all interested in stopping such outdated and shortsighted planning policies, see the list of resources on the Prairie Fruits Farm website.

Tags: farming, infrastructure, land use, local food, transportation