Posted on 10/21/2010 9:11:27 AM PDT by goldendays
Obama Administration Uses Taxpayer Funding to Encourage ‘Sustainable Communities’
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan speaks in Denver on May 14, 2010. (AP File Photo/Ed Andrieski)
(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. government is stepping in with millions of taxpayer dollars to create affordable places for Americans to work and live.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last week announced nearly $100 million in new grants "to support more livable and sustainable communities across the country."
Forty-five regions will receive various amounts of the funding through the new initiative, which aims to connect housing with jobs, schools and transportation. “Regions that embrace sustainable communities will have a built-in competitive edge in attracting jobs and private investment,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in an Oct. 14 news release announcing the 45 grant recipients.
“Planning our communities smarter means parents will spend less time driving and more time with their children; more families will live in safe, stable communities near good schools and jobs; and more businesses will have access to the capital and talent they need to grow and prosper.”
Rather than dictate how communities can spend the grant money, HUD encouraged “creative, locally focused thinking,” Donovan added.
The Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program -- funded for the first time this year -- is part of the Obama administration’s Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an interagency collaboration that brings HUD, the Transportation Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency together to help communities across the country “create more housing choices, make transportation more efficient and reliable, reinforce existing investments, and support the kinds of neighborhoods that attract businesses.”
One category of grants will assist regional planning for sustainable development where such plans do not currently exist. A second category of funding will support the implementation of existing sustainability plans.
The 45 organizations that received grants (see list) were competitively selected from more than 1,000 applicants from across the country. The grants were judged by a team drawn from eight federal agencies and from partners in philanthropy.
Land-use choices One of the largest grants, $5 million, is going to the Metropolitan Council of St. Paul, Minn., to support planning along the region's five “transit corridors.”" The goal, said Metropolitan Council Chair Peter Bell, is to make transit more successful, promote housing and transportation affordability and availability, and make communities more vital.
“Increasingly we recognize that transit isn’t just about moving people from one place to another,” said Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough. “Transit and transit corridors pose unlimited opportunities to mold and shape our communities, our environment and our economic circumstances. Ultimately, the land use choices we make as we develop our network of transit corridors will shape our destiny as a region.”
When people can live in housing they can afford, near transportation they can afford and have community amenities available in the same area, "it’s a platform for success,” said Minnesota Housing Commissioner Dan Bartholomay.
Another $4.9 million is going to Washington State's Puget Sound Regional Council "to support regional planning for more livable, prosperous and sustainable communities in the Puget Sound area," a press release said.
"This funding is about creating economic opportunities for communities throughout the Puget Sound and Thurston County," said Sen. Pat Murray, chairman of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Committee. Murray, a Democrat, is in a tight race for re-election.
"This funding will bring transit closer to commuters and commuters closer to their jobs and families. I funded this program because we need to think comprehensively about how we plan our communities. This funding will help Washington families have an affordable place to work and live."
“We’re very grateful to the Obama Administration for its leadership and its role in securing these grant funds,” said Ray Stephanson, President of the Puget Sound Regional Council and Mayor of Everett.
“Here in the Puget Sound region, we’re leading the way when it comes to growing our economy. This grant award will help shape the future of our region in ways that create a more livable and prosperous future for all of us.
We’re taking a big picture approach to creating job opportunities closer to where people live, while promoting a healthy environment and a healthy economy.”
In the Fiscal 2010 budget, Congress provided a total of $150 million to HUD for a Sustainable Communities Initiative to improve regional planning efforts involving housing and transportation decisions, and increase the capacity to improve land use and zoning, HUD says on its Web site.
Read ALL of IT; and, any explanatory commentary you can find!! This is what is being done in State Legislatures, County Boards, City/Town Councils, Zoning Boards, etc., all across the nation; and, has been in process for almost 20 years!!
You may also see references to publications in the 1970's published through the Rockefeller Foundation! Read them, too! They are actually the early beginnings of what was finally described for all to see in Agenda 21!! This also explains the REAL reason behind the Climate Change movement; and, many other things.
YOU OWE it to yourself to learn about this; and, whenever you hear terminology like "Sustainable Community" - Fight Back!!! (The Russians called them "soviets"!)
This will eventually lead to the massive loss of property rights, your automobiles (for all practical purposes!) beginning with the rationing of "miles" and ending with the banning of automobiles in these communities.
(That are designed so you can walk or ride a bike everywhere you need to go, with "Need" being defined by the government!!!) rd
Sustainable Development has become the rage in land use planning, zoning, and in virtually every other facet of daily life. This section provides an in-depth understanding of how this concept entered the public policy arena. the links in the left column provide detailed information about the events and the people who gave rise to the concept, and advanced the concept into public policy.
There is much more to Sustainable Development than simply protecting the environment. This concept, and its implementation, is dramatically transforming the very foundation of America’s system of governance.
http://www.sovereignty.net/p/sd/sdmenu.htm
Another commie catchphrase is “Transit Oriented Development”.
In other words, build a train to nowhere and hope people will move back into the city from the suburbs to live in Stalinist-style condos on the railroad tracks. This has cost the taxpayers here in Norfolk, VA about $500 million plus whatever annual operational subsidies are needed. Now Virginia Beach is pedaling the same scam for an extension. Lucky for me, I live in Newport News, not Norfolk or Virginia Beach.
Great stuff: I particularly liked: “Sustainable communities of the future will bear little resemblance to the towns and cities of the 20th century. Single-family homes will be rare. Housing will be provided by public/private partnerships, funded by government, and managed by non-government “Home Owners Associations.” Housing units will be designed to provide most of the infrastructure and amenities required by the residents. Shops and office space will be an integral part of each unit, and housing will be allocated on a priority basis to people who work in the unit - with quotas to achieve ethnic and economic balance. Schools, daycare, and recreation facilities will be provided. Each unit will be designed for bicycle and foot traffic, to reduce, if not eliminate, the need for people to use automobiles.”
No more private ownership of land or property; “collective” living spaces. Sounds like what the old U.S.S.R., i.e., Russia, is trying to move AWAY from.......what a nightmare; thankfuly, I’ll be dead by the time they get this going.
In my opinion, THIS is what “they” (i.e., commies, fascists, leftists, pagans, globalists, etc.) are really all about.
THE RELIGION OF MOTHER EARTH...Gaea (sp?)
From infanticide to climate change to electric cars, it is all about their so called “sustainable development” agenda and always has been. This seems to tie it ALL together for them where “they” end up with total control in their own little cushy world, and we end up alive - if we’re “lucky” - serfing for them.
As you said, it now permeates our society - from city councils, to corporations, to state and federal governments, to advertising to schools.
Another good site to check out is called www.green-agenda.com
Pelosi made some comments this week about addressing fairness in ownership and equity.
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.