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Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.

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THE SUBURBS HAVE WON…...DOWNTOWN HAS LOST.

We can learn to somehow live with this fact, or we can “rage against the machine” and try to hold back the ocean with laws that violate the rights of individual citizens in order to satisfy the aesthetic vision of the planners. Despite the often fevered rhetoric, THE BIGGEST REASON

for this triumph is not the “conspiracy” of big oil and freeway builders oft-cited by enviro-activists, but the simple desires of ordinary people—not only in America but in most rich countries—to own a piece of land, however humble, where they may live in relative comfort and peace. It reflects what the 1960s Los Angeles urbanist and Italian immigrant Edgardo Contini labeled “the universal aspiration.”

The triumph of the common man over his “betters” has finally reached Oregon, the center of the “smart-growth” world. Here, where folks with wisdom to know what’s good for the rest of us, had managed to hold back the tide, and show the world how wonderful a planned society could be…..at least if you were among the elite. But, THE WORM HAS TURNED as

The nation’s strongest laws against sprawl are beginning to buckle here in Oregon under pressure from an even stronger, voter-approved law that trumps growth restrictions with property rights.

Property rights?! What kind of retrograde thinking is THAT? Well, 61% of Oregonians decided , and voted, that it’s good when

The law compels the government to pay cash to longtime property owners when land-use restrictions reduce the value of their property—or, if the government can’t pay, to allow owners to develop their land as they see fit.

Naturally, those who wish to control the use of the land while someone else pays the taxes (and all other costs, as well) are outraged. And, to be honest, I’m likely to be upset when my favorite view of open fields with orchards and the river in the background gives way to someone’s dream home. But, isn’t that one of the costs of liberty…...? That we don’t always get what we want if we can’t afford it? WHAT a concept!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/08 at 02:25 PM

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