Is it …“SMART GROWTH” …or…” The End to your Property Rights”
Many candidates running for office in the recent local elections held
in Greene County N.Y. mention their support of Smart Growth as a Buzz
word in their campaigns.
What is wrong with the Smart Growth Principals……….?
America is a Democracy in which individual property rights are one of
the basic protections citizens can count on.
Recently in the
Supreme Court decision ( Kelo v New London ) it was decided
that a Federal, State or Local Government could condemn and seize by
Eminent Domain
your private property because it is needed for the ” Economic
Development ” of your community.
In plain language this means that government can condemn your property
because they have decided that it is needed for the Economic Development
of your community and then turn your property over to a privately owned
corporation because they have the big bucks necessary to develop it for
the ” good of the community “.
If this does not sound like the workings of a Democratic Society to you
…read further !
Follow this link to “Smart Growth” and “Local Agenda 21” – Center
for Intelligent Growth
http://www.freedomadvocates.org/articles/512/ and read what
some folks have to say about these issues. You will have to read this
entire article to have an overview of the problem posed by Smart Growth.
There are numerous other links which will be helpful in understanding
more of all sides of this issue in our
LINKS section.
Smart Growth has a Smart Growth Leadership Institute
http://www.sgli.org/
on this site you can view the 10 principals of Smart Growth and
more about the organization.
On its face it appears to be working for changes which will benefit
the environment and help citizens to live in healthy happy communities.
Look deeper to find that the implementation of these policies is being
imposed by Big Government and benefits Big Business.
The Comprehensive Plans being developed by communities across America
are in most cases created by planners ( private companies who follow
Smart Growth guidelines ).
The questionnaires which citizens fill out as part of the comprehensive
planning process are so broadly worded as to leave room for the forming
of conclusions which favor the principals of Smart Growth.
The results of these questionnaires are extrapolated by the Planners and
given to your local officials who then will say that the citizens are in
favor of “Smart Growth Principals”.
Because the nature of these questionnaires leaves miles of room for
interpretation the “results” can be vastly different
depending on who is doing the interpretation . When these “results” are
cited as the consensus of opinion of the local citizens and acted upon
to implement development major disconnects occur.
Many well meaning politicians may think that they are doing the right
thing by bringing development and government funding to their
municipality but the price for this can be Loss of Local Land Control
and Loss of Individual Property Rights through……..
Zoning Reform, State Regulated Zones and the new expanded law of Eminent
Domain.
After hundreds of hours of research on this subject the only thing that
is clear is that it would take 1000’s more hours of reading and research
to fully comprehend the short and long range implications of the
“Reengineering of Government “ throughout the USA and the World which UN
Agenda 21 calls for and which Smart Growth seems to be following and
implementing in Cities, Towns and Villages all over the Country and
Abroad.
The Agenda 21- Smart Growth opinion is that because of environmental
issues all of this must be implemented immediately to save the planet
and spread Democracy around the globe. They also feel they know the
right way to go about this monumental task and that of course we the
citizens should buy into these methods.
The Concerned Americans for Responsible Development opinion is that
there is an equal if not greater threat to the American people from Big
Government and Big Business taking away our individual freedoms. It is
the very existence of Free American Citizens and our Allies which
has spread Democracy around the globe and will continue to do so.
It is the opinion of Concerned Americans for Responsible Development
that caution should be used when assessing the implementation of Smart
Growth policies in our communities and when major development is to be
enacted there is no better way to determine what the people want than to
put each issue up to a vote.
Future Articles on this website will have more on issues which affect
the “Quality of Life” in Your Community.”