The fate of the region's open space is not just an issue in the outer suburbs, where fields and forests are disappearing at a rapid rate. It also matters in urban centers such as the District, Hyattsville, Arlington and Alexandria, where poverty and prosperity are directly related to what happens on the periphery.
Experts say two processes are at work inside the Capital Beltway.
In the first, suburban sprawl drains distressed urban neighborhoods of population and jobs, which jump to distant locales beyond the reach of public transportation, according to urban growth experts. When we oppose a project out here, we're not just trying to protect our own back yard. We're trying to prevent creating a wasteland inside the Beltway. Take Hyattsville, a city of about 15,000 near the District line in Prince George's County. But Hyattsville lately is a city on edge.