The King County Council approved the draconian "Critical Areas Ordinance" that sharply limits what rural property owners can do with their land. It's an unfunded land grab conceived by urban environmentalists and put into law by the (Bolshevist) Democrats who hold the Executive and a 7-6 majority on the Council.
The Hamilton's Pamphlets blog notes a possible silver lining in this dark cloud of Stalinism: he believes it could energize enough rural residents into turning out for Republicans next Tuesday that it may well put us over the top in key races.
One can only hope.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 26, 2004 10:07 PM | Email This"We live in cities, so let's screw those (sniff) 'rural people' with their pickup trucks and Wal-mart wardrobes."
I think this will seriously backfire on the elitist snobs on the council, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of jerks.
Posted by: Mumblix grumph on October 26, 2004 10:27 PMIn short, their protection racket is structured to vest control of low-density acreage in high-density urban voters, giving them nearly total veto power over the hopes and dreams of the owners of rural property. By misusing the concept of 'regulation', they hope to create idyllic sylvan scenery for their own public benefit, at the personal expense of those who worked and saved for years and generations to acquire those acres.
It is the same sort of corrosive tyranny as is exercised in universities by the creators of speech codes - only instead of gutting the First Amendment, they now attack the Fourth.
The King County Council does not propose any compensation to those divested of their former control over their property. The Council could not have failed to see how this would radically reduce the value of that property. It has yet to face the radical reassesment and reduction in taxes which the rural owners are justified in demanding, but the high-density urbanites will soon be facing some sort of increased taxes to replace those lost from the rural acres.
Perhaps the motivation of those 1000 "Friends" of Washington is bipolar. On one hand, their greed for control of their fellow citizens is gratified, and on the other - well, won't there now be hundreds of cozy country estates available at dirt-cheap rates for these noble uber-citizens to acquire for their weekend retreats? Think of all the planning they can achieve there for their next assault on the hopes and liberties of the rest of us.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on October 27, 2004 06:39 PMAnd yes, it's time to restart the Cedar County movement.
Posted by: (the other) John Hawkins on October 27, 2004 09:24 PM