Arizona, a growing state

As we've all heard now for the umpteenth time, and here's umpteen + 1, Arizona is now the fastest growing state after edging out Nevada's long hold on that claim. Winning the title of fastest growing state is being ballyhooed by business people, politicians, the media and others as a very positive thing. And it may well be a positive thing for Arizona, we've got room for a few more, but only if that growth can be well managed. The following story from the Arizona Daily Star, State's growth is fueled by jobs, tourism, housing touches on the fact that there are at least two sides to growth, raises some of the issues and gives voice to a few contrary opinions.
Not too long ago California was the fastest growing state. Now people are leaving there in droves - and guess what, many of them are coming to Arizona - to get away from the overcrowding, constant gridlock, and ridiculously high cost of living.
From LeavingCal.com Why would anyone want to leave California?
Has the price of living in California got you down? Tired of working around the clock and not even being able to pay all the bills? Tired of spending hours on the freeway when you could be home spending quality time with your family? Knowing at the cost of homes in California you will never achieve the American Dream of Home Ownership. California was once the State Everybody wanted to live in.
For more than 5 years now LeavingCal.com has been documenting the problems of living in California and offering people a forum for their frustrations and an exchange of ideas on how to get out of California and find the best places to move to. I'm sure that LeavingCal has inspired many a Californian to pack up and head over to Arizona.
I lived in L.A. in the late 70's, and for an ex-New Yorker it was a pretty nice place back then. The traffic was OK, rents were reasonable and there was a real sense of freedom in being able zip from the beach to the valley to the mountains and then dinner in your car. For the next 20 years I lived in Chicago and traveled to California constantly, mostly to L.A. on business, 10  or more times a year. Little by little the gridlock took hold and tightened, and soon any discussion of the business that we were there to conduct took a back seat to a discussion of how to best get to where we needed to go and back again, and still maintain our sanity. Now when I visit friends in L.A. they don't even want to take outings - to dinner, shopping, whatever - if it involves driving more than just a few miles. It's just too frustrating and difficult.
Governor Napolitano says that she is aware of these issues, "The governor fully appreciates that growth has at least two sides to the issue," said Jeanine L'Ecuyer, Napolitano's spokeswoman. "We certainly understand that people want to come here and that we can't put up a fence and keep them out. We need to think through how to effectively manage that growth so that we have the infrastructure we need to support what we believe in — schools, effective transportation and good use of land and water."
It's sad to say but it's true, California, a very beautiful place, has been ruined by growth. Lets do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen in Arizona.