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It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  The one created by Google is worth $2 billion, which is the amount of debt that Shelby County Government issued to fuel sprawl outside Memphis.  That number does not include the increase in annual operating and maintenance costs associated with new infrastructure.

It’s a time lapse of sprawl in Memphis and Shelby County from 1984 to the present.  Keep in mind that sprawl in this community began about six years earlier, but this is a stark reminder of misplaced government priorities that drove county government to the edge of bankruptcy.

https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/

Thanks to Eric Matthews for sending in.

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