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August 8, 2006
'Smart growth' turns dumb (Part 1)
US News & World Report
Columnist Bonnie Erbe explains the Liberal split over "smart-growth" vs. eminent domain, as the latest trend in urban planning is threatening neighborhoods in urban cores.
For decades, tree-hugging lovers of green and open space have campaigned against suburban sprawl, pushing so-called smart growth to preserve rural America. Smart growth promotes high-density development that, in one incarnation, revitalizes decaying innner-city neighborhoods by putting skyscrapers on large, empty, or low-density tracts. A new liberal movement, however, threatens to set back smart growth's popularity.
Some progressives are campaigning instead for the property rights of long-time denizens of those decaying inner-city areas. This group espouses a greater affinity for battling wealthy developers seeking to replace urban decay with expensive apartments. They stand up for the property rights of elderly and poor residents against dispossession through eminent domain.
Posted by lumi at August 8, 2006 5:54 PM