In a state whose politics are virtually defined by over-reaching, ill-conceived initiatives, I-933 stands out as a poorly written pro-developer measure that even most developers can’t bring themselves to actively support. And in an initiative process ruled by self-serving, dishonest sociopaths, the Farm Bureau’s I-933 front-man, Dan Wood vies with John Bircher Dennis Falk (I-920) and professional liar Tim Eyman (I-nothin’) for the title of WA’s Biggest Hypocrite.
I-933 is intended to dismantle WA’s land-use regulations. Not just some of them, like King County’s controversial Critical Areas Ordinance, but all of them. Completely. The poorly written initiative will surely be a windfall for lawyers as property owners, developers and governments battle to figure out exactly what it means, but one thing is for certain, it’s “pay or waive” provision will cost taxpayers billions will undermining some of government’s most fundamental regulatory authority. You know, the basic zoning, environmental and health and safety regulations that we all take for granted.
And Dan Wood thinks this is a good thing. Here’s what he said back in January when he filed I-933:
Wood said broad government regulations have made it increasingly difficult for farmers and ranchers, and other property owners in Washington, to use and enjoy their land in reasonable ways.
[…]
“The bottom line is that government agencies need to respect individual property rights,” Wood said. “Our initiative will go a long way toward ensuring that property owners can continue to use their land in reasonable and productive ways, without excessive, burdensome and unnecessary government regulations.”
Dan Wood hates government regulation. That’s why he’s sponsoring an initiative that would make it virtually impossible to enforce new land-use and environmental regulations, while rolling back existing regulations to 1996 and beyond.
And yet, Wood seemed to express a different sentiment back in August of 2005 when he testified before the Hoquiam City Council in favor of regulations on a local fish meal plant, because the stench was reducing his property value:
Dan Wood, a former county commissioner, has been trying to find renters for his property a few blocks downwind from the plant. He says the smell is “everywhere — in the bathroom, living room, dining room and kitchen.”
“I don’t want Ocean Protein shut down. I want them to provide the jobs but I do want them to be neighborly,” he said at a recent City Council meeting. “And if that means a temporary shutdown on a voluntary basis from their end, that’s what a good neighbor would do.”
The Olympic Region Clean Air Agency has been monitoring the plant since it opened and has filed at least 14 notices against the company because of the smell.
Attorneys for the agency plan to ask a Grays Harbor Superior Court judge for an injunction Aug. 8 to halt its operations.
Uh-huh.
The beauty of this snippet is not only that it paints Wood as the self-serving hypocrite he apparently is, it also perfectly illustrates the ideological fallacy that permeates nearly all of I-933’s literature — that by doing away with or severely restricting government’s regulatory authority the initiative protects property owner’s rights… when in reality, the opposite will more likely be the result. That’s because, as Wood’s fishy-smelling rental home clearly shows, how you use your property can severely impact how I use mine.
I’m not sure what was the final result of local regulatory efforts to get Ocean Protein to clean up its act, but if I-933 passes the fish meal processing plant will be free to blanket the surrounding neighborhoods with its foul-smelling odor, or force the local government to pay for the cost of the clean-up. Woods rental property could become virtually worthless.
And I’m not just blowing smoke here. The Hoquiam ordinance regulating air quality (10.05.120) was passed in 2000, and fish processing was already a permitted use of the Ocean Protein site back in 1996, the year to which I-933 is retroactive. Thus any attempt to restrict or regulate the plant’s activities would most definitely be subject to I-933’s “pay or waive” provision, regardless of when the regulations were first passed.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what type of impact this can have on property owners statewide. We all bought our properties with the expectation that zoning and other regulations would protect our investments, but I-933’s provisions throw all that stability out the window.
And of course, the impact of one’s land use can impact property owners far beyond one’s local neighborhood. Agricultural runoff and industrial discharges pollute all our waterways, clear cutting critical areas can destroy our vital watersheds, and in addition to destroying the natural splendor at the core of the Northwest quality of life, unrestricted development can clog roads, overburden utilities and dramatically increase costs for local taxpayers.
There is a broad social compact that has governed our nation for hundreds of years that recognizes that individual property rights do not extend unfettered all the way to the property line. This is a social compact that I-933 seeks to break to the detriment of us all… including its backers.
UPDATE:
The Sightline Institute just released a new report, “Property Wrongs: Lessons from Oregon for states considering property ballot measures in 2006.” This is a must read for anybody truly interested in learning about this issue.
Thanks for starting to take this on. I933 is a disgrace to the state and a nod to all those who think they can pull a fast one on voters every other year.
I encountered a bunch of I-933 proponents at Westlake Plaza this afternoon. Talk about a group of mouth-breathing droolers. They are not folks who let reason interfere with their opinions. Their signs actually said, “Protect Open Space.” When I suggested to some of them that the only open space the measure would protect would be parking lots, they became rabid and incoherent. All they could spew was talking points. When I asked them whether they would rebate government if governmental action increased the value of their properties, none of them seemed to have an answer. I guess their talking points don’t cover that contingency. The slogan for this initiative should be, “Protect Short-sighted Selfish Bastards.” Goldy is precisely right–this measure seeks to unravel the social compact binding us together since statehood.
I was there leftist all I can say is LIAR! How many farms are left in King County now compared to 20 years ago. They can’t make it work under King County regulations, I know I was one of them, 30,000 into permits to rebuild my barn and they wanted more. I would have loved to seen the turnout from across the state if it was not the middle of harvest.
Jimbo
If I-933 passes, there will be far fewer farms in King County in 10 years than if it doesn’t pass. Saying that I-933 protects open space is a lie of the highest order. I told one of your addled supporters that hunters and anglers, like me, should never support a measure like I-933 because of the harm it will cause to habitat. He said there would still be places to hunt and fish, “you’ll just need to go farther out.” That might have been the only honest statement any of you people made today.
“We all bought our properties with the expectation that zoning and other regulations would protect our investments, but I-933’s provisions throw all that stability out the window”
by Goldy, 10/12/2006, 4:04 PM
WE ALL??? Maybe you did where you live, but not ALL people who bought/inherited/farmed, or otherwise EXPECTED the GOVERMENT to regulate their property into worthlessness.
For Example : 50 acres of Pasture. It sits on I-5, exit 68, several hundred feet of freeway frontage, IT IS ZONED AG LAND, by the Lewis County GMA standards. That family can do nothing with it but graze cattle. Value as pasture = $800/acre ($40,000). Value as Viable Commercial property = 1.6 million.
Why should the abbuting property,(61 acres) get the priveledge of selling his for 1.9 million, now is that fair? They are both pastured? The only difference is a fence runs between them, but that is where the county CHOSE the line for AG land. But drive 4 miles off I-5 to the west, and you will find a 50+ acre Glass Plant being built by Cardinal Glass. Whats fair here folks?
This is not an unusual example, it is througout the rural counties, and all you people can think about is King County. Your GMA was in place in 1996, and the only thing you have to roll back is the CAO. If you travel the eastside, there are not too many people happy with that either. As proud leftist said, it will only protect parking lots, then maybe you should support it, cause these people don’t own much pavement.
Proud Leftist, I hope you had your rabies shots, since you ran into some rabid people today. They really are a bunch of slobbering selfish fuckers arent they, how dare they tell you their opinion (talking points), it is not how you are gonna vote, so call them degrading names, sure makes you look good.
BTW Goldy, the waters, wetlands, and shorelines etc, are goverened by other agencies and over any zoning issues. Don’t try and use scare tactics to think people are gonna start building outhouses on the shores of Mercer Island. It aint gonna happen.
Goldy is precisely right–this measure seeks to unravel the social compact binding us together since statehood.
Commentby proud leftist— 10/12/06@ 4:36 pm
What year exactly was the CAO passed, and what year did we become a State?
What year did you buy your first 20 acre spread? Sometime after statehood, but before the CAO or GMA?
I hate to tell you, if you do own any dirt it isn’t worth much for what you pay in taxes. Can’t build a nest egg with it (or on it) either, it’s value from our social compacting makes it worthless.
You got the Social Compact Down. Scrunch everybody in one place and restrict others from building barns. LOL
Hey, Girl,
You’re lying:
“BTW Goldy, the waters, wetlands, and shorelines etc, are goverened by other agencies and over any zoning issues. Don’t try and use scare tactics to think people are gonna start building outhouses on the shores of Mercer Island. It aint gonna happen.”
That’s not the way the initiative is written. “Other agencies” and “any zoning issues”? Have you read the initiative you so ardently support? Part of the problem with it is that its impact is hardly crystal clear. I could grant you that zoning laws sometimes impact some disproportionately to others. Guess what? That happens in a representative democracy. I have my problems with my tax dollars supporting a war in Iraq that I find morally reprehensible. Is it fair that I still have to pay my taxes? Tell me, girl, I’m waiting. We are all part of a community, and the proponents of I-933 do not seem to agree with that. The initiative process is no way to deal with the problem you identify. It cuts too broad a swath, by a long ways.
Hey, Girl,
Do you know what “social compact” means? Tell me the philosophical underpinnings for the concept. Hint: it ain’t a new concept. Hint 2: Ever heard of John Locke? Go hit the books, Girl.
Country Girl @ 5:
For Example : 50 acres of Pasture. It sits on I-5, exit 68, several hundred feet of freeway frontage, IT IS ZONED AG LAND, by the Lewis County GMA standards. That family can do nothing with it but graze cattle. Value as pasture = $800/acre ($40,000). Value as Viable Commercial property = 1.6 million.
And this is what it comes down to at last. There is no interest in keeping farmlands as farmland. As we urban ghetto rats say, it’s all about the Ben-ja-mins. You’ve talked about how much you like rural life. But the fact is, you’d like to sell the plot you have now and retire someplace more rural, or buy another plot of farmland outside the growth line and do it all over again. I don’t have a problem with that. But call a spade a spade already.
In spite of the rather nasty note I sent to GS the other day, I sympathise. If I thought a regulation was coming between me and a $1.596 million dollar payday, I’d argue pretty hard to make that regulation go away.
Everyone likes free money to fall from the sky. I like free money too. How far out to you want that nasty suburban sprawl to go out before everyone has been duly compensated for their farmland? Should I be treated to a view of wall-to-wall office parks and outlet malls on the trip up I-5 every week? Should we have housing developments clear up to the permiter of Mount Rainier?
Seattle reminds me too much of Los Angeles already. I see no need to pass legislation to turn it into a soggy Northern copy.
JSA @ 9
I say find some cheap farmland and MOVE….. Yes I don’t think we owe it to those who CHOSE to live in Seattle, a Pretty little drive.
I don’t own the land I used as an example, my boss owned the 1.9 million dollar transaction. I have met the family to the south at GMA meetings, nice people who are getting screwed.
I do own 10 acres, and yes I would chop it into for two nice homes, but hey, you need your scenic drives at FARMERS expense.
I am wasting my time here. I think I will go put Yes On I-933 signs next to Maria’s and Darcy’s signs with an arrow pointing at it……
Country Girl @ 10:
Yes, you are wasting your time here. This is a blog. I write here to blow off steam. As a method of changing the course of the political dialogue, I think it’s not so effective.
Building a second house for your dear old mother or whatever is a fairly simple request down at the county land use office. Yes, it’s boring. Yes, it will probably cost you a few grand. They’ll give it to you. Subdividing into 1/8 acre lots to sell to yuppies is a whole ‘nother game. That’s what you’re looking to I-933 to do for you, not a second house.
As for your suggestion to buy rural property, I might, but only if I can flip it and turn it into more nasty tract homes. If I wanted to move on to a farm, I’d go do that. 80% of the United States is farm. Even more of Canada is. I’ve spent enough time in Rural America to not want to have any part of it.
JSA @11
I wish what you said was true, but the current zoning where i live is RR-20 ( 1 homesite on 20 acres) Period, no exceptions. No special exclusions. My 10 acres located on county-city line is forever a 10 acre parcel. Prior zoning (pre 1998) was zoned at RR-5.
If the USA is 80% Farm, why do we need more? Hasnt the population grown enough to take a percent or two and allow residental zoning, instead of taking it away?
I am hoping that the people have enough sense to pass I-933. Strong property rights are essential for a free society.
Goldy
Read your link: http://www.sightline.org/resea.....wrongs-pdf
The AUTHORS (sightline.org) Objective is :
“Build Complete, Compact CommunitiesGrowing in well-planned neighborhoods improves our health and economy, saves our time and farmland, strengthens our communities, and conserves our natural areas. Poorly planned growth wastes all those things.
Building complete, compact communities—the opposite of poorly planned sprawl—yields an impressive array of benefits. It multiplies transportation options, allowing northwesterners to rely less on private vehicles and imported fuel.
It reduces the need for expensive road and parking infrastructure. It boosts the economic viability of transit and local shops, keeps more dollars circulating locally by conserving fuel, and lowers the cost of living by rendering some private cars unnecessary.
It strengthens democracy by fostering closer relationships among neighbors and mixing classes and races. It safeguards rural land and watersheds from the “final crop”—pavement—and allows cities to have crisp edges beyond which farms and forests flourish.
Perhaps most important, it saves people time in traffic and lengthens their lives—by staving off crashes (the leading cause of death up to the age of 44 in the Northwest); encouraging regular walking (reducing obesity); and clearing the air of toxic pollutants.
Northwesterners want safe, friendly neighborhoods as homes; convenient access to work, shops, and services; productive farms, forests, and fisheries nearby; and the restorative beauty of wild creatures and unspoiled places within view.
To realize this vision, thousands of northwesterners are making their region a laboratory for the reinvention of community. Revitalization, they are finding, comes in small steps, and those steps have immediate benefits. Block by block, zoning hearing by zoning hearing, they are making Cascadia a global model for urban livability.
Related Solutions
Change zoning to allow “granny flats,” keep tight growth boundaries, and concentrate growth around bustling town centers.
Invest in community livability, rather than mobility, which pinches sprawl’s lifeline—public highway spending.
End subsidies to poorly planned development
Reform the property tax to aligns market forces with building complete, compact communities. ‘
Bustling Towne Centers, Granny Flats, Tight Growth Boundaries. They want to TAKE AWAY YOUR CAR !!! You don’t need it!!!
Wow, I see how your link is a MUST READ…….LOL
Property rights without any regulation will lead to chaos. Can I raise pigs next to your house? Why not?
THere are any umber of incompatible land uses, and without regulation they can be anywhere.
DO you drink water? Do you believe we should protect watersheds?
Sorry, but property rights are not unlimited.
Suspect voter registration cards found in St. Louis
By Jo Mannies
POST-DISPATCH POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT 2006, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/11/2006
St. Louis Election Board officials say they’ve discovered at least 1,492 “potentially fraudulent” voter registration cards – including three from dead people and one from a 16-year-old – among the thousands pouring in before today’s voter registration deadline for the Nov. 7 election.
City Republican elections director Scott Leiendecker said the board’s staff expects to find even more bogus voter-registration applications among the thousands remaining to be processed. The board plans to turn all the questionable cards over to city Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce for investigation and possible prosecution, said board chairman Kimberley Mathis.
The board says all the questionable cards were turned in by one group – the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, commonly known as ACORN.
Brian Mellor, the group’s election counsel, said that it welcomed any prosecutions of workers who turn in fraudulent cards. “We try very hard to monitor the employees, but there are chances of things slipping through,” he said.Advertisement
Mellor said his group pays the workers $8 an hour to register voters and not by the number of registrations they collect.
But Mellor added that he was angry that Leiendecker had said nothing about the questionable cards during a meeting Tuesday afternoon. Leiendecker replied the cards weren’t the purpose of the meeting, which he said focused on missing information on some of the voter registrations.
Statewide, ACORN has turned about 40,000 new voter registrations in recent weeks, Mellor said. About 15,000 were collected in the city of St. Louis and 5,000 in St. Louis County. The rest were primarily in the Kansas City area.
ACORN’s voter-registration collections have come under fire in recent weeks in several states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania. Mellor and national ACORN communications director Kevin Whelan said that most of the allegations have turned out to be unfounded. Mellor detailed the findings of various investigations into ACORN’s 2004 voter-registration activities that he said also turned up no wrongdoing.
In St. Louis three years ago, the city Election Board reported finding more than 1,000 suspicious voter registration cards turned in by ACORN. No one appears to have been prosecuted in that case, although Joyce’s office has obtained convictions regarding fraudulent voter-registration cards turned in by people working for other, now-defunct groups.
The latest batch of questionable cards tied to ACORN included one that attempted to register Miya Hinton, who is listed as a 20-year-old residing at an address in the 4800 block of Sacramento Avenue. It turns out that Hinton is 16 and lives at a different address in that block.
Her mother, Monique Hinton, alerted the Election Board after the family received the board’s standard letter confirming the new registration. Hinton says she became concerned about how someone had obtained some of her daughter’s personal information, such as the correct month and day she was born.
“Her rights are being violated,” Hinton said.
Miya Hinton’s signature appears to have been forged on the voter registration card, Leiendecker said.
Hundreds of the questionable voter-registration cards have suspicious signatures, with some showing similar handwriting, said Bettie Williams, board voter registration supervisor.
The circuit attorney’s office said it couldn’t comment until it received the cards.
Whelan and Mellor also disputed a separate controversy, ignited by a local political blog, pubdef.net, where a former ACORN employee alleged that she and other voter-registration workers had been told to promote the candidacy of state Auditor Claire McCaskill, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Jim Talent.
If the democrats have this election in the bag why are they trolling for illegal votes? I know it is in their blood but maybe the dems actually think there is a possibility they might lose.
K @ 16
In 1996 did the state decide to JUST THEN (1996) to start protecting our water rights?
Do you think your neighbors would turn their property into a PIG FARM?
There was watershed protection prior to 1996.
Property rights without any regulation will lead to chaos. Can I raise pigs next to your house? Why not?
THere are any umber of incompatible land uses, and without regulation they can be anywhere.
DO you drink water? Do you believe we should protect watersheds?
Sorry, but property rights are not unlimited.
Commentby K— 10/12/06@ 8:22 pm
If the guy before you raised pigs then yes. Yes there should be limits. The main problem today is enviromentalists passing land ordinance that reduce the value of people’s private land. This is a taking and is the reason why I-933 is crucial. We have trampled on individual property rights way to long and it is time to get government back in balance.
Hey, tell me again how much 933 will “cost”. I’d like to know how much money gummint is stealing from property owners.
If a water shed is being poluted legally then it is up to the government to buy up the land causing the problem. That is the only fair way to handle it. Either that or find a solution to use the water. I am no tax and spender but this is the price of living in a free society.
20
Well said.
Most states don’t allow people to build on the edge of a lake.
@ 23
WOW You are smart, even without a head!!!!
I wish we could send thewe righties to fight in some war they support.
Fat chance,huh?
@25
Well I hate to tell you that many many righties are fighting!
Too bad you don’t support them, regardless of their political affiliation. Funny how it used to be the color of ones skin, now it depends on the polital affiliation. WOW
Are the property right initiatives being proposed in 9 western states or so, aimed at improving the turnout for conservative voters just like Gay marriage issue in 2004? Is there an under-the-radar natiowide blanket operation that is driving these things?
Sinister stuff.
Dan @ 27
Explain yourself…..? I could also say that the dem’s want this defeated so they can take over the farming ground to implement their newest PLAN against the Nuclear Threat of N. Korea. ( it is top secret plan to hid missles in farmland )
Does that make it so?
I wish we could send thewe righties to fight in some war they support.
Commentby headless lucy [ Been there, done that [77-84]………………And you? Yeah, I thought so…………]
Global warming is soooooo real that land values in Hawaii are falling because the ocean will rise and flood all the coast real estate and the it will be too hot to live here!! ……………………………………………..NOT!………………………………………………….!!! You fucking dumb ass libs are idiots!!!!!
“Eyes don’t need no mofo ID. I vote Democrat at every poll in Detroit, Broward County, and Gary! I gets da smokes from da Democrat bitch who drives da bus on ‘lection day! I gets KFC with ma food stamps. I gets King Cobra. I gets Black Velvet, and I gots a mother fucking 42 SONY after Katrina from Best Buy after eyes fucked up da security window!! You white modda fuckas trying to steal the ‘lection by only lettin me vote once! Then you mofos will stop ma Democrat guvment check!!! White devil mofos!!!” [Headless Lucy]
Funny JCH, that I have never offered to bet on anything and have never predicted Hastert stepping down.
Commentby Daddy Love [You lib POS……..You bet 20 bucks…..I covered. Typical POS Democrat. You love spending other people’s money, so cover your bet.]
Bush friends in Congress really did do one thing right this year. What say YOU?
· Enactment of the “Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act.” Within a year of Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast, Congress passed the NRA-backed H.R. 5013, sponsored by Representative Bobby Jindal (R-La.), by an overwhelming 322-99 vote. This bill amended federal emergency laws to prohibit federal, state, and local authorities from confiscating lawfully-owned firearms during emergencies or disasters. Senator David Vitter’s (R-La.) amendment to prohibit the use of funds appropriated under the Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 5441) for the confiscation of lawfully possessed firearms during an emergency or disaster passed the U.S. Senate by an historic 84-16 vote. The Jindal bill was substituted for the Vitter amendment in the conference committee and President Bush signed it into law on October 4.
1. If I-933 passes, there will be far fewer farms in King County in 10 years than if it doesn’t pass. Saying that I-933 protects open space is a lie of the highest order. I told one of your addled supporters that hunters and anglers, like me, should never support a measure like I-933 because of the harm it will cause to habitat. He said there would still be places to hunt and fish, “you’ll just need to go farther out.” That might have been the only honest statement any of you people made today.
Commentby proud leftist— 10/12/06@ 5:38 pm
Hey proud leftist who gave you that funny name your mother or your real mother? They wouldn’t have to worry about hunting and fishing if Seattle would make their city friendly to their citizens, and not the illegal’s and the environmentalist. Clean up Green Lake and introduce bears into pioneer square and start loving your neighbor. Now nobody will move to the suburbs they would be enjoying the life in the city instead of the state penitentiary. That is what happens when Socialist Democrats run the state and let all the criminals out of jail to prey on its citizens. The cities lack visions and leadership, all they want to do is get a bridge, street, and building, and or a light rail name after them in this state. The farms will be a thing of the past, because the folks will be eating soylent green for food and no animal will have to die. Now you will not have to fish or hunt anymore because the government will be taking care of you till your death. Now you will be able to enjoy your fantasies living in an eight by twelve room and enjoy it with your gay partner. VOTE YES on I-933 and Seattle will be living in bliss.
Speaking of cowards, crooks, liars, traitors, assholes and inbred dick-sucking morons…
Read about the phoney Medved and his pal who are so far up Jackoff Abramhoff’s ass that they’ll soon be sharing a cell with him. Why is it that the righties want to turn over every stone when there’s a ten dollar bill provided as funding to feed the poor or heal the sick, but don’t mind a bit when there’s massive fraud against taxpayers by right wing organizations? I know the answer….they’re fucking hypocrite asswipe turds.
http://blatherwatch.blogs.com/......html#more
St. Louis Election Board officials say they’ve discovered at least 1,492 “potentially fraudulent” voter registration cards – including three from dead people and one from a 16-year-old – among the thousands pouring in before today’s voter registration deadline for the Nov. 7 election.
Folks that will not be a problem in King County for the nine different server farms are not backup and run on different security processes. You couldn’t find if the person resides in King County or Snohomish County, dead, or illegal so nobody vote counts. King County is trying to make sure nobody shows up to vote except those who are buses to the voting booths. So folks nobody’s vote counts in King County except the criminal or the illegals. Maybe John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, or Osama Laudin will get their ballot counted. That Ron Sims for supporting the enemies of the state the Al-Qaeda thanks you.
http://www.geocities.com/amliberal/us.html
DO you drink water? Do you believe we should protect watersheds?
Sorry, but property rights are not unlimited.
Commentby K— 10/12/06@ 8:22 pm
You have something against PIGS?
1. Most states don’t allow people to build on the edge of a lake.
Commentby headless lucy— 10/12/06@ 9:17 pm
Yep! And most people don’t hire folks that goes by the name of Headless Lucy. Not even the GOVERNMENT.
1. Sorry, but property rights are not unlimited.
Commentby K— 10/12/06@ 8:22 pm
You bet and owning pigs is and that is a real problem in Seattle. They have a city full of pigs and they only eat my money.
I wish we could send thewe righties to fight in some war they support.
Fat chance,huh?
Commentby headless lucy— 10/12/06@ 9:21 pm
thewe what is that word Lucy? It’s not in my dictionary not even the Red Neck version.
I’ll be voting against I-933 because it is poorly written. I’ll be voting against I-920 because there is a war on, and I find it repulsive that the wealthy lack the patriotism to help pay for it.
No chance these wingers will sign up. K lake sucks dick won’t go. Just another chickenshit chickenhawk. JustCan’tHelpsucking dick won’t go. Pretends to be a vet but that’s it. Janet S/Pam Roach won’t send her sons because it’s best to let other mothers send their children to fight for our freedom, just ask Barbara Bush!
Found an article y’all might like (esp Jimbo @ 3 who was bemoaning how farms were disappearing around King County). I’ll put a few paragraphs in, then you can click the link if you want to read it to the end.
The other days I was reading G. Gordon Liddy’s book of conservative nostalgia, When I Was a Kid, This Was a Free Country. He paints a sunset picture of former times when America was free, farmers could fill in swamps without violating wetland laws, and guns were just guns. People were independent and had character, and made their own economic decisions. The market ruled as it ought, and governmental intrusion was minimal.
The picture is accurate. I lived it. I wish it would come back, which it won’t. It was a world certain to kill itself.
What happens is that, in an independent-minded rural county full of hardy yeomen, the density of population grows, either nearby or at distant points on each side. A highway comes through because the truckers lobby in Washington wants it. Building a highway is A Good Thing, because it represents Progress, and provides jobs for a year.
It also makes the country accessible to the big city fifty miles away. A real-estate developer buys 500 acres along the river from the self-reliant character-filled owner. He does this by offering sums of money that water the farmer’s eyes.
First, 500 houses go up in a bedroom suburb called Brook Dale Manor. A year later, 500 more go up at Dale View Estates. This is A Good Thing, because the character-filled independent now-former farmer is exercising his property rights, and because building the suburb creates jobs. The river now looks ugly as the devil, but this is a wacko issue.
At Safeway corporate headquarters, way off God knows where, the new population shows up as a denser shade of green on a computer screen. A new Safeway goes in along the highway. This is A Good Thing, exemplifying free enterprise in action and creating jobs in construction. Further, Safeway sells cheaper, more varied and, truth be known, better food than the half-dozen mom-and-pop stores in the county, which go out of business.
Keep reading here:
http://www.fredoneverything.net/Liddy.shtml
3 Jimbo
“How many farms are left in King County now compared to 20 years ago? They can’t make it work under King County regulations…”
Intersting premise, but a faulty conclusion. You offer no support at all for your contention that land use regulations caused the effect you describe, outside of your personal anecdote. How do we know you’re not just a really lousy farmer and lousy businessman?
The effect is more pronounced if you go back something like 40 years. I moved to this area in 1972, and I remember seeing the Kent Valley changing fairly rapidly (and sadly, from my POV) from some of the best farmland in the state to what now looks like the world’s largest strip mall, but I suspect factors such as population growth, Boeing employment, geographic constraints (the city can grow more easily north and south than east and west), and what I have observed to be developer-friendly government have as large or larger effect than, say, land-use regulations with environmental intent.
20 RUFUS
“If a water shed is being polluted legally then it is up to the government to buy up the land causing the problem. ”
Sure that’s the ONLY way? How about we pass laws regulating that pollution and require the asshole who owns it to comply? Your right to pollute fucking ENDS at my watershed.
14 CG
So changing development patterns so that people are less dependent on their automobiles = “They want to TAKE AWAY YOUR CAR !!!”
The winning logic of Republicans. Your time is at an end and you don’t even know it.
JCH
You should really stop lying about me. It’s bad enough when you’re being merely homophobic, racist, and genocidal.
All of you just don’t understand.
Right now, the government is choosing profit over people.
Check Out this blog that has info on I-933…
http://yeson933.blogspot.com/
Put this abuse to an end by voting yes on I-933.
No Mary, we understand completely.
Profit over people? Are you fucking serious? How can regulations that PREVENT land from being used for higher value-add purposes be contributing to profits for the gubiment? It keeps tax revenues LOWER than they would be otherwise. Please, please explain this to me.
Country Girl broke from her story and explained it at the top of the thread. It is not about her being able to build a house for her dear mother. It is about converting rural pasture to office parks and strip malls.
I-933 should be titled the “Rural Millionaires Preservation Act of 2006”
I would like to apologize for the gratuitous use of the word “fucking” in the above comment. It was a result of poor editing on my part, and is not intended to impinge on, insult, nor denigrate poor Mary in any way, other than I think her core argument is one of the more ridiculous things I’ve seen on this board, and that is saying a lot.
At least eight of the 19 hijackers who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were actually able to register to vote in either Virginia or Florida while they made their deadly preparations for 9/11. All registered Democrat. [……..Gee, what a fucking surprise!!!!!]
“eight of the…”
JCH – Prove it. Link please. I won’t hold my breath.
Get your own blog – it’s free http://www.blogger.com.
re 50: Three were able to register after the attack. Any explanations?
Shame on you for uttering profanity on this blog!
We are supposed to have civil discussions.
It’s kind of scary to think the government can legally take the roof out from over your head.
Don’t let them do it!!!
Thats why I’m voting YES on I-933
53 Mary
It’s about how we all collectively decided that we don’t want every idiot who owns a piece of land to do our land-use planning for us. 933 would allow a strip mall to be built in every belt of farmland in the state.
No on 933.
933 only gos back to 1996, most zoning was in place before that, IE you could not put a strip mall on farm land if it does pass. Any other lies you need to hear the truth on? Better yet why don’t you and the others try reading the text.
Hey Daddy Love & Jimbo….
Do you guys really believe the govrenment has this mentality of doing things for the greater good?
Stop it now by voting yes on I-933!!!