Posted on 05/31/2005 9:33:10 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
One of the most radical anti-growth, anti-housing, anti-road, anti-everything proposals possible is now winding its way through the California Assembly, being pushed ahead by environmental activists looking for the silver bullet to stop any project they don't like.
AB 528 would "authorize any person with a beneficial interest in the outcome to commence a civil action to enforce specified laws, including regulations ... that provide for the protection or enhancement of public health or the environment." It is sponsored by Assemblyman Dario Frommer, D-Los Angeles, and co-sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Gordon, D-El Segundo.
In simple terms, if you or any member of the community or an environmental group did not like any aspect of any proposed building project, you could file suit against that project, alleging some infraction ...
--snip--
Last year, voters passed Prop. 64, an initiative curtailing what became known as shakedown lawsuits.
--snip--
"It would be a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) person's dream come true," said John Sullivan, president of the Civil Justice Association of California in Sacramento, which championed Prop. 64. "What would that do for affordable housing? It would break new ground in stopping groundbreaking."
If AB 528 is enacted, even a nuisance would be grounds to try to stop any development project. The bill itself would allow such action for "anything that is injurious to health, or is indecent or offensive to the senses." That's a wide-open field.
Attorneys could shake down builders for a settlement, or if a civil action is reached, the money would go into a state fund. Those dollars could be used, in part, to fund private environmental groups. No-growthers would have the incentive to find potential problems with every proposed construction project, as would attorneys who filed the suit, supposedly on behalf of the public's interest.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Sounds like Oregon land use law.
Can it be used to halt building of Mosques?
"Can it be used to halt building of Mosques?"
Everything but Mosques. Mosques are protected. Soon you may have to be Muslim in order to build anything in California.
I think it's interesting that a large, successful economy the size of California's always seems able to generate people who believe that it's their mission in life to f____ it up. In an odd, ass-backward way, the number and variety of such destructive individuals in the United States speaks to the success of our way of life.
If this passes hopefully, Arnold would veto it. The inmates are truly running the insane asylum.
I'm not sure if this is up your alley, but here's a ping.
Only in a decadent (in the classic traditional neutral meaning of the word) society which valued freedom, then moved on to "exess and abuse" can nimbys, bananas and "environmentalists" exist.
This might cause housing in California to become expensive.
/sarcasm
Oh it will definitely do that...these bozos are the same jerkoffs who will later complain about the lack of affordable housing...less supply and more demand (immigration, population growth) does what to prices? Hmmm....
They'll be the ones demanding Section 8 housing right in the middle of an upper middle class neighborhood.
No, let it go.
These environmental Luddites are pressing forward with a plan that will kill the economy, stop growth, force business out and allow every other 'goal' they wish to succeed.
Give it to them.
I'm sorry for the California Freepers and others that wish to stay, but we need an example. The Anti-Gunners succeeded in Great Britain and now the crime rate is soaring, police are becoming more powerless and the whacks are now trying to ban kitchen knives! It helps the cause of self defense here immensely.
The same will happen there. As the place withers on the vine from stagnated economic results of nut job laws, the rest of the country will see the results and it will be impossible to call extremism 'reason' even in a sympathetic press.
Sorry California. You've made this bed, sleep in it.
calling Trevor law group, courtesy phone please...
If by chance Schwarzenegger were to sign something like this, I'd propose getting our own group together to sue anyone that attempted to settle one of these suits out of court. If the targets knew they'd have a court battle regardless of whether they caved in, they'd be more likely to resist the bloodsuckers in the first place. We could effectively bring construction in CA to a halt until this law was repealed or the lawyers stopped sueing.
Actually, Oregon's land use laws are somewhat paper tigers, unfortunately.
Here in Southern Oregon, tightly-crammed subdivisions are springing up everywhere, in the forests, on wetlands, replacing farmlands, etc.
The hillsides are all being bulldozed and massive, multi-million dollar houses are being built with no yards, practically touching each other.
It's amazing how the landscape has changed...the hills are beginning to resemble the Hollywood Hills, with hundreds of mansions covering previously pristine forested mountains, and all througout the county, farmlands and woods are being replaced by gated communities and huge mansions.
It's really sad...they're destroying what Oregon once was.
I view us now as a third-world country, a colony of California. The rich retirees come in, bringing no jobs, no payrolls, just buying up and bulldozing our forests and hillsides, to build huge, 10,000 sq ft mansions fit for a British Raj in Colonial India.
Meanwhile the locals become unable to buy homes, the mills all shut down, and industry closes shop...while the crime gets worse, the traffic becomes a stop-and-go nightmare, and voila, we're suddenly in Los Angeles, or Mexico City, where a scant fraction of wealthy outsiders owns all the land and houses and the locals watch taxes and housing prices skyrocket out of any hope of ever getting a hold on it.
Ed
I have some land I am trying to divide into 4 lots for family members. Have a NIMBY/BANANA for a neighbor. Its already gotten ugly. With the influx of people coming into that area due to BRAC, its going to get even uglier. The bozo is fighting a losing battle. If he keeps it up, some of the other neighbors are going to start using code enforcement and other nuisance items to get him to calm down, clean up his junkyard, and hopefully go away. This law may actually help us with him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.