Curtis Wright, in his Oct. 27 "As I see it" opinion, tells us that "OSU's plan for growth (is) nothing but good news" for Corvallis. To summarize Mr. Wright's argument: Growth is good because it brings more money into the community, and more people participating in the organizations that influence our quality of life.

Well, the skeptical among us could use some concrete examples of how residents' well-being improves as a city grows. Greater Los Angeles has 14 million people. Surely their average health, wealth and happiness must be that much greater than ours? Why does Mr. Wright live in Corvallis?

Growth primarily benefits monopolies like newspapers and tourism boards. Competitive services like stores and contractors each see a larger potential market, but their average share of it stays the same as more stores open and more contractors move in.

The city budget grows, but the larger budget has to service not only the running costs of the increased population but also the new infrastructure to cope with growth.

At a minimum, the purveyors of growth should tell us what their vision is for the optimum size for Corvallis.

If Corvallis gets to the size of Eugene, will our civic leaders be happy then? Or do they really believe that, whatever size we are, we require 1 to 2 percent growth a year forever to be content?

Laurence Padman

Corvallis