Up Sucker Creek

Up Sucker Creek
Photo Courtesy of the Lake Oswego Library

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Part 4: A federal vision

Nothing is so basic to our understanding of Americans' basic freedoms and liberties as the choices about where and how we live.  Piece by piece our God-given rights are disappearing, and for the most part, we are allowing it.  To do otherwise would mean we aren't being sustainable, socially or economically just, or fair.  Ideologues are free to manipulate our freedoms and thoughts and feelings to fundamentally change the way we live.

Below is a segment of a radio show, "Girard at Large," from New Hampshire.  The host is talking about his community's struggle with federal grant money that is being used by their local planners to place "workforce housing" in their suburban communities, even suggesting a rooming house for low income people.  The meat of the discussion starts at about 5:30 minutes into the recording.


Feds Forcing Fundamental Change, Workforce Housing

August 4, 2014
Click here for radio show: Girard at Large

Workforce Housing(Hour 2a) We’re hearing more and more about federal rezoning initiatives like Plan Pinardville and Sustainable Second Street.
Who are the organizations behind these initiatives and why [are] they so uninterested in hearing the public’s feedback on such projects?
We discussed what they are saying and why it doesn’t seem to match what they are doing.  Fundamental change of communities and neighborhoods?


"You start seeing government forces at play that are changing the demographics of your neighborhoods and communities to meet some pre-designed, federally- concocted vision of the way life in our neighborhoods and communities should be, you have to start to wonder and worry.  Because this stuff isn't coming from the localities.  There's no locality saying, 'Give me more of that!'"

"Give up on all this damned federal money because it comes with strings that are designed to make you look like everybody else, because you'll be working off of a federal vision."

"Tell your local officials who think it's a great idea to grab all those grants and local matches so you can look like everybody else."

1 comment:

  1. In Lake Oswego we ought to give up on Metro money too. Watch what happens on the Southwes (Lake Oswego) Employment project. The project was probably not even necessary. With Metro money, I'll bet it morphs into a transit and anti auto plan.

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