After voters proved their receptiveness to smart growth by passing 78 percent of 553 land-protection and growth-management initiatives in Nov. 2000, an editor of the Hartford Courant notes, "a counterattack" began to form, "aimed at discrediting the entire notion of using government to promote beneficial development patterns." He quoted several conference speakers at a recent three-day Washington, D.C. conference held by the Oregon-based Thoreau Institute, entitled "Preserving the American Dream (of Mobility and Homeownership)," such as the Taxpayers League of Minnesota leader David Strom who said his group campaigned against a mass transit proposal in the Twin Cities area charging proponents with "social engineering," which "sounded bad, ... like they were a bunch of commies." South Carolina Landowners' Association executive director Michelle Thaxton cautioned conferees against touching smart growth complexity because people can't absorb "more than three to five points" while journalists like "sound bites, phrases" and write about it "on an eighth-grade level." Others were equally helpful, considering even using "the race card" against smart growth, but failing to acknowledge the advantages of compact metro areas to minorities, with 24 percent of black households dependent on public transportation. The conferees expect money for "an anti-smart-growth campaign" from the Scaife Foundations and others conservative groups, from Wal-Mart, Home Depot, other big-box retailers, road contractors, home builders and developers, the editor reports, concluding that what they need most is "intellectual honesty and decency."

Ran 3/24/03