That progressive thinking reflects Westminster's embrace of the old ready-city concept, according to Susan Grafton, who heads the city's economic development office. The idea is that you need to put in the infrastructure so that your city is ready to grow. Our desire is to attract clean industry, so we decided to put in what clean industry wants. The portion of Westminster I saw was the sprawl-plagued area along the highway. Seventy percent of Westminster's local budget, in fact, is funded through the sales tax.
Sprawl pays up to a point.
And then it can become a liability. The state ranks 46th in that regard. Consequently, localities levy taxes. One attractive part of Westminster is the well-landscaped area around City Hall. I did not venture beyond the immediate Highway 36 corridor to see any of Westminster's parks and open spaces, but the government-center grounds are impressive.