What is a Town?

By: Jerry Trautman

The concept of a town goes back to medieval times. Towns grew up as centers of commerce within agricultural areas. They also served as spiritual centers and for protection. Every town had a church and many had perimeter walls for protection. As modern forms of governance evolved, the town became an important form for local government. England still has the town as a distinct form of municipality. Some states still follow the English system such as Wisconsin where Town Hall Meetings actually adopt laws and ordinances.

As cities evolved, towns and cities have become blurred. We have all sorts of references to towns, such as downtown, old town, college town, and even ghost towns and one horse towns, but it is very difficult to distinguish the town from a city. In fact, Money Magazine listed the ten best towns to live in and it turned out that they were all within forty miles of a major city.

We are calling Rio Linda Elverta "Our Town". What do we mean? Prior to World War II, Rio Linda Elverta was what you would call a classic small town. If you needed clothes, appliances, banks, automotive services and even a train station, it was all there to be found in Our Town. No more. The car and the suburban shopping centers have changed all of that. But we are still a town. We still have our local schools, our little league parade, our tractor days, our quarter midget track, and our other community events. We still have our downtown although it is struggling. And more importantly, although many of our amenities are gone, we still have our soul. We still have the sense that this is Our Town and it is special.

Incorporation will preserve this. Time moves very quickly in this age and we must be proactive or one day we will wake up and wonder what happened. Most people of Rio Linda Elverta will tell you that they are here because they like the casual, unassuming and rural lifestyle. The problem is that our future is not in the hands of people who live here nor who share our same values. The Elverta Specific Plan (ESP) which was approved by the County Board of Supervisors in August, 2007 should be our wake up call. We have 6,700 family units in Rio Linda Elverta and ESP will add 5,000 more. We have 20,000 residents and the ESP will add 15,000 more. We cannot stop the ESP nor change the past. As much as we would like to, we cannot build a perimeter wall around Rio Linda Elverta like they once did in medieval times. However, we can preserve our values by bringing local control to the decisions that affect our future. Incorporation of Rio Linda Elverta is the only means we have to accomplish this and preserve Our Town and our values. They are both worth saving. Please support our incorporation effort.