"Smart Growth" News - Oct. 2002 (Find your State/City)

SmartGrowth.org ^ | Nov. 1, 2002 | Smarth Growth Network

[madfly]

Find your city here at the SmartGrowth.org latest news page

Land-Value Loss Compensation a Hot Issue in Oregon Gubernatorial Campaign

Although the Oregon Supreme Court barred a move to compensate owners for land-value losses incurred under Oregon land-use laws -- invalidating Measure 7, passed by voters in 2000, as using one amendment for multiple constitutional changes -- the compensation remains a potent issue in the state gubernatorial campaign, with Republican Kevin Mannix willing to send the measure's ''technically correct'' version back to voters, Democrat Ted Kulongoski arguing for a legislative solution and Libertarian Tom Cox proposing to study the effectiveness of land-use laws in preserving farmland and curbing sprawl. Endorsed by the Oregon Farm Bureau, Republican Mannix, a Democrat until 1999, worries that too narrow an interpretation of land-use laws by state agencies may prevent some advisable and community-supported projects in such fast-growing areas as Washington County, saying the legislature should consider them on a case-by-case basis.

Backed by environmental groups, Democrat Kulongoski pledges an educational campaign on the value of the state's 30-year-old land-use laws, pointing out that many Oregonians, including newcomers, have ''no memory of why we did it.'' Libertarian Cox sees the need to take a ''sober look at all the side effects of our land-use planning laws,'' suspecting Portland's growth boundary for causing home cost increases and affordable housing shortages. Otherwise, reports Oregonian writer R. Gregory Nokes, the candidates gloss over the environment, which respondents in a recent poll ranked eighth among their concerns. Oregon League of Conservation Voters Jonathan Poisner considers it understandable in the context of everything ''going on in the world,'' but also unfortunate.

''The governor has a tremendous impact on Oregon's environment,'' he says. ''It's very important to have a governor committed to the basic safeguards to make Oregon a great place to live.'' --
The Oregonian 10/21/2002

Resource(s): www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/

[madfly]

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[madfly]

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[brianl703]

My comments in brackets:

"Spurring the smart growth movement are demographic shifts[white flight], a strong environmental ethic[watermelons], increased fiscal concerns[inner cities losing money], and more nuanced views of growth[???]. The result is both a new demand and a new opportunity for smart growth. [And perahaps all of those republicans who live in the suburbs will change their political views when we force them into high-rise apartments, enabling us to push our socialist agenda with less resistance from dissenters]"

[madfly]

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[madfly]

fyi

[KC_Conspirator]

You are exactly right my friend. This is just another term for what used to be called "urban sprawl", but focused grouped so badly with soccer moms that liberals stopped openly using the term. Basically what is happening is that many liberals have ruined cities/towns/neighborhoods with their liberal policies and market forces are pushing people to move farther out to the suburbs. And the only solution the liberals have is to load your family onto boxcars and ship them back into the drug and crime infested cities.

[madfly]

I should have posted a Smart Growth Update much earlier. I see that there are initiatives on more than a dozen ballots. They sneak it in from the Counties, on up, Getting legislative tips and tricks from the federally funded (by "we the people") Smart Growth Guidebook with Agenda 21 origins.

CHECK YOUR BALLOTS!!

[RAT Patrol]

I know you're in Missouri, but in Johnson County we are choosing between Charlotte O'Hara and Annabeth Surbaugh for Chair of County Commissioners. Now, I know O'Hara is a Republican but she's big on this "Smart Growth" too. Any suggestions?

[Kay Ludlow]

I like your comments. I've heard the head of 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania give a presentation on why we need to stop sprawl. Her reasoning was exactly that we have vacant housing units in the inner cities and the cities don't have money for services because the income earners moved out. The answer is to not allow any more housing units to be built until existing buildings were fully utilized, and that could be done by creating Urban Communities (subsidized, with lots of services) and statewide planning, zoning and enforcement that would "protect our rural communities" by not allowing new building. The fact that people don't want to live in the inner cities was irrelevant, since it was a more efficient utilization of resources. Sounded a lot like the USSR system to me!

[bigfootbob]

For a comprehensive truthful explanation of "Smart Growth" please read Randall O'Toole's "The Vanishing Automobile" or check out his web page:

http://i2i.org/Other/iv/otoole2002/Index.htm

He wrote another book about reforming the US Forest Service.

[RAT Patrol]

I've found the answer to my question. OHara is the conservative/ anti-tax candidate. They both have a version of "smart growth." So, never mind.

[caisson71]

"Smart Growth", another dumb liberal idea doing exactly what it was intended to do.

[BfloGuy]

Smart growth is a code word.

I live in a city and I like living in a city.

Most of my friends prefer living in the suburbs (I can't imagine why, but it's their choice).

The city is dying as productive taxpayers leave. Smart growth is the means by which nazi city-dwellers can "force" the suburbanites back in (they think).

If city living can be made more attractive, then people will wish to relocate here. Up until this point, no one's figured out how to do that in large numbers.

So, let's just legislate it and call it environmental protection. Done.

[hedgetrimmer]

smart growth is a code word for communistic rule by planners and political elites. It is a ploy to deprive you of your right to use your property as you see fit-- to paint your house, add a room, park your car on the street, to OWN a car if you want to, to cram people into smaller and smaller spaces so that all they can do is look out their window at the green belts and open spaces where no human is allowed to step. Unless you are one of the planners or political elites. Then you can use the open space for parties, picnics, hikes, whatever. It keeps the riff raff at bay. It happens all the time in the communist county of Santa Cruz, California.

[hedgetrimmer]

The Back Room Deal to Destroy America
By Tom DeWeese
Published 06. 1. 02 at 20:00 Sierra Time

On June 29, 1993, former President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order #12852 to create the President's Council on Sustainable Development. Sustainable development calls for changing the concept of private property, protected by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, to nothing short of a national zoning system. Under such a system, the federal government, backed by an army of private, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, and the National Education Association will influence, if not dictate, property and other policies to the States and to local communities.

Locally elected officials will no longer be the single driving force in making decisions for their communities. Most decisions will be arrived at behind the scenes by non-elected "sustainability councils" armed with truckloads of federal regulations, guidelines and money. The power of citizen's votes would be nullified. This system is already in place with regard to the nation's education system, controlled entirely from Washington, DC. It is comparable to the Communist system of the former Soviet Russia. The Community Character Act (S.975), and its counterpart in the House of Representatives (H.R.1433), is legislation that will legalize enforcement of "sustainable development" in every community in the nation. The bill requires local governments to implement land-management plans using guidelines outlined in a federal document called the "Smart Growth Legislative Guidebook." This publication was developed with $2 million provided by the Clinton Administration to "guide" counties, cities and towns on how to "update their local zoning."

[hedgetrimmer]

Smart Growth Isn't So Smart
By Robert "Jake" Bebber

The Soviet-style planning mechanisms that Liberals, smart growth advocates and environmentalists rely on are doomed to failure unless they plan on making their coercive rules at the point of a gun. At present, they are satisfied with urban growth boundaries and eminent domain condemnations as the means to control people, but ultimately, they will have to impose their views through more forceful means. Human nature is not so malleable as the Left would hope. Douglas Porter of the Urban Land Institute and smart growth advocate lamented:

“[There is] a gap between the daily mode of living desired by most Americans and the mode most city planners believe is most appropriate. [emphasis added] Americans generally want a house on a large lot and three cars in every garage … Yet that dream translates into low-density sprawl and dependence on roads and highways.”
Pause for a moment and consider Mr. Porter’s implications: a home, a yard, automobiles, the very things once thought to be a part of the “American Dream” are now considered inappropriate lifestyle choices. Soon, the planners and managers will have no choice but to force Americans into more “acceptable” lifestyles if they are to realize their vision.

[hedgetrimmer]

http://www.newswithviews.com/brownfield.htm


SMART GROWTH - PEOPLE PER ACRE


By Derry Brownfiel
April 5, 2002
NewsWithViews.com

Over the past few years, we have discussed "SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES," a term used by the politically correct elite for our future cities. Cities: without automobiles, no suburbs and no large homes on 2-acre lots. Sustainable communities tie in well with Agenda 21 and the Wildlands Project, whereby 50 percent of the United States will be reverted back to the wild and our entire population will live in these areas of "smart growth." The plan is to force rural folks into these already crowded areas and the move is well underway as farmers and ranchers are being forced off their land. Missouri's Governor has issued a Smart Growth Executive Order and our colleges are holding seminars and teaching courses on the subject.

The following figures have been taken from the Sierra Club website www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/community/enviroimpacts.asp. For example, Minnesota's Twin Cities density is 1,800 people per square mile but with smart growth it should grow to 3,000 people per square mile. Portland now has a density of 3,000 people per square mile but should be as dense as Los Angeles 5,600 per square mile. LA should improve its density to that of Chicago's 16,000 per square mile. The Sierra Club website indicates that the efficient urban density is 500 households per acre. An acre is only slightly over 200 feet square so Manhattan, with only 52,000 people per square mile, has a ways to go before it reaches smart-growth perfection.

The Sierra Club web page compares four different densities: Dense urban is 400 households per acre. Efficient urban is only 100 households per acre. Efficient suburban is 10 households per acre and then there is "SPRAWL" defined as one household per acre. At 100 households per acre our entire US population would fit into Los Angeles. The entire world population could live in the state of Virginia.

This sounds so ridiculous that most people won't believe it can happen. The folks behind these screwball ideas have huge amounts of money along with government grants to carry out their plans and they are very serious in their beliefs. If anybody can put a stop to their lunatic ideas it's not going to be the farmer or rancher who are trying to pay off the mortgage on the home place. It will be the multi-millionaire who has built a $3 million home on five acres. These people won't like living in a sustainable community any better than us farmers and ranchers and they have the money to fight for their freedom. It's our job to convince them that this is taking place before their very eyes.

As for me and my house - I still want land, lots of land underneath the skies above, so - please, don't fence me in.

© Derry Brownfield, All Rights Reserved

[Mike Darancette]

Greetings from San Bernardino-Riverside #1 worst speawl in the nation.

[Coto]

Great to see that the number of those that " Get It " is growing...and growing...and growing......