January 27, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
Some modest proposals for mixing fun with philanthropy are offered to wealthy readers of the January issue of Town & Country.
With overdevelopment wreaking havoc on shorelines, the magazine says, one might wish to reverse the process by buying up a stretch of waterfront property and tearing down the buildings. One developer is doing just that in Bridgehampton, N.Y., growing potatoes where second homes once bloomed.
Benefactors interested in promoting civility could pursue the social arbiter Letitia Baldrige’s idea of placing “politeness booths” in supermarkets, where volunteers would offer constructive criticism about manners, the magazine continues. Or they could opt to buy enough duct tape to silence verbal abuse by every soccer mom and dad in America — at a cost of $155,870,000 per season.
Providing Internet access to 2,200 inner-city public libraries, as Bill and Melinda Gates have begun doing, is one way to redress the technology imbalance in this country, says the magazine. But for the hopelessly disorganized, another grand gesture awaits some generous philanthropist: putting a Palm Pilot III in the hands of every adult in the United States.
