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Property Rights Movement Taking Its Toll On Cities

Posted by: Michael Dudley

31 July 2006 - 9:57am

Oregon's Measure 37 was just the first of a series of campaigns from the ideological right -- all dressed up in populist rhetoric -- that favor developers and limit the abilities of cities to plan.

"Since Measure 37's passing, Oregon has come to know the true cost of the radical right's legal theories. Local governments are completely overwhelmed with requests for compensation for various regulations. And in some cases, the requests border on the absurd. Landowners literally are demanding millions of dollars in compensation if local governments refuse to let them build huge, environmentally-disastrous mines on their land.

In short, communities are being held hostage. A single landowner can now demand of his neighbors that they either accept his new strip mine or buy him off to not build it."

Full Story: Eminent Absurdity
Source: Tom Paine Common Sense, July 31, 2006
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But what can planners do to support the kind of connections between people I just described? One idea is promoting mixed-use places where there are simply more opportunities for people to run into each other and connect.
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