Community Character: You're Scared Of Democracy

Stuart Meck, FAICP, the principal investigator for the American Planning Association's Growing Smart planning statute reform project, shreds Wall Street Journal commentator Thomas J. Bray over inaccuracies in Bray's column on Growing Smart and the proposed federal Community Character Act: "To date, some 13 states have either adopted legislation or considered bills that incorporated language from interim versions of APA's Legislative Guidebook. All the states that have used the guidebook have taken individual model statutes and adapted them to the needs of their citizens. Whatever monstrous smart-growth conspiracy Mr. Bray sees out there is only the collective voices of democratic governments trying to grapple with the difficult, messy, complex job of managing their destinies while balancing and safeguarding the rights of all. Yes, that's democracy, another frightening concept for Mr. Bray."