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Posted on 06/30/2007 8:41:03 AM PDT by freedomdefender
As Tahoe burned, John Singlaub felt the heat.
Since the catastrophic fire ignited Sunday, Singlaub has fielded angry questions and endured verbal abuse from Lake Tahoe residents furious with his employer, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
The agency -- known as TRPA -- wields unusual power in the Tahoe basin. Created in 1969 to protect the Tahoe ecosystem, it has jurisdiction over the Nevada and California sides of the lake. It controls all planning decisions big and small -- from whether to allow a new high-rise resort in South Lake Tahoe to whether an individual homeowner can add a new deck or cut down a tree.
Judging from public outbursts, the agency is a source of simmering resentment for many whose homes and businesses fall within its purview.
At a community meeting Monday at South Tahoe Middle School, the crowd of about 2,000 booed when TRPA was mentioned. One man shouted from the stands, "Get rid of TRPA!"
Another man asked why TRPA won't let homeowners clear flammable trees and brush from their land. Singlaub told the crowd: "We encourage the removal of trees for fire protection. There's been a lot of misinformation about this issue."
That was all he got out before being shouted down. Singlaub retreated to the sidelines, where three South Lake Tahoe police officers slipped in around him to provide protection. Shortly afterward, they escorted him out the back door.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Psst - TRPA is a *local* problem, not a national one. Don’t like it? Organize your local conservatives and get rid of it. Other FReepers have used the same techniques, often using FR to gather support, to get rid of problems in their area. Case in point - the Nifong Affair in Durham.
I think it’s less about FR-style conservatism ignoring other issues and more about YOU. You obviously missed most of the local activism posts.
TRPA is property rights tyranny.
Are you actually reading this board on a regular basis? There are plenty of threads concerning our internal freedoms.
I would say that Free Republic is a perfect example of a multi task site, with articles and discussions on all subjects, including those you mention.
Wrong. It's a congressionally created agency. And it's symptomatic of a lot of federal and regional bureaucracies nationwide. Our home-grown bureaucrats are a more direct danger to our freedoms than ahmadinnenut in Iran, but all I hear about from conservatives these days is Iran and Iraq.
Can't argue with you there.
TRPA and similar agencies, mostly termed watershed districts (I guess they have another name for them in states like Arizona) are the main mechanism that the left is using to exert its power over the states. The agencies are virtually shadow governments that are made up of unelected environmental activists. Their main agenda is social engineering and redistribution of wealth. They usually make some kind of fascist arrangement with business and industry that allows business to proceed as usual, as long as the industry contributes to their cause and pays mouth service to their agenda.
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I think this story has huge implications. I know that Bush led a Healthy Forests initiative that would have cleaned up forests and reduced the load that makes fires bad, but I think environmentalists have stymied the law in court. Californians think of themselves as the leaders in environmentalism but they have had several fires this year that seem to have been caused by dumb land use policies. This one has the potential to turn into a huge class action lawsuit that would force reexamination of them. We have to fight back knee jerk environmentalism that throws monkey wrenches in everything anyone tries to do. We can start by realizing that these are anticapitalists who don’t give a hoot about nature.
I agree.
I have never understood why freedom loving Americans buy property is communities such as these. They are for sheep. Let the sheep live there.
If you want freedom do not buy property where covenants and crap like this are allowed.
Even without TRPA here in the Poconos, the potential for a similar event is very, very real. Homes are built right into the pine trees. Pine trees touch the roofs of homes. Mountain laurel will go up like tinder because of all the flammable resins in it. Some big developments have home owners’ associations that forbid removing trees close to homes.
The past couple of years we have had lots of rain, but the decade before that, it was so dry that mature trees died. Plus we have a tremendous amount of standing dead trees killed by the gypsy moth.
Also tryrannical judges.
Another huge pain in the butt is the California Coastal Commission.
I believe it was created by the voters circa 1972, but I wonder how many voters actually own any property on or near the coast? These non-owners should not be telling the property owners, the ones who are paying the real estate taxes, what to do with THEIR land.
Then you better start reading the other 1000's of stories on FR NOT about Iran.
This year? Hasn't this been going on for years? Maybe the fires aren't as bad every year or the location spares houses, but I know I read a story in the WSJ maybe 5-7 years ago -- it mentioned a man who cleared brush,etc. around his own house -- in violation of the law! -- when he first heard of a nearby fire. His house was spared. Like that guy interviewed on Fox this time -- he did the same thing, saved his house -- and fully expects to be fined.
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