Little boxes made of ticky-tacky

It’s time for a re-think. Placer County is the fastest growing county in California, growing in the rate that the natural environment is converted into homogenized suburban homes surrounded by non-native, water-guzzling landscape. Photographers Phel Steinmetz and Gene Kennedy have created Self Storage, a pictorial exhibit that documents the development of suburbia in Southern California. Their photographs of once-lush hillsides scraped to bare earth and rows of uniform box homes settled onto dirt lots raise questions about the elimination of native flora, the increase in water usage, air pollution and traffic created by these instant communities and the psychological effect of living in a cookie-cutter neighborhood indistinguishable from the next. Their work is a powerful warning to the residents of the Greater Sacramento area, to consider the kind of growth we want to promote—a sustainable progress that protects our environment and quality of life or an unchecked sprawl that eradicates the unique qualities of our region. The exhibit is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. through August 30. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, $3.50 for children. Golden State Museum, 1020 O St. For more information, call 653-7524 or visit www.goldenstatemuseum.org.