Yesterday I posted an article by Mimi Steele, President of Citizens Alliance for Property Rights, SF Bay Chapter, that describes the disastrous consequences to the future economy and quality of life in the San Francisco Bay area after a vote by ABAG and MTC to approve...
In the mid-1800s, Alexis de Toqueville, a French political thinker and historian, shared his thoughts about how Americans might lose their sovereignty if they became apathetic and lost their civic virtue. In his book called Democracy in America, de Toqueville...
Our country’s focus on requiring sustainability principles in all land use, energy, and transportation policies is putting a choke hold on the American people that has them suffocating and pounding the mat for relief as they wrestle with the consequences of increasing...
In recent history, there has been no greater example of eminent domain abuse–where the taking of private property was transferred from one private entity to that of another for the purpose of economic development–than the court case of Kelo vs. New London....
Out here in exurbia we coexist with nature. Surprisingly, the first sounds of the day are not from cars, school buses or children walking to school, they are from the yelping coyotes or screeching barn owls at dawn followed by the sounds of ravens, hawks, roosters,...
Today and in the past, social engineers have been defining the ideal plan for human settlements. The Thoreau Institute published an article in May 2005 called Smart Growth and the Ideal City.1 In the article, what appears to be a contemporary description of smart...
Every American has the opportunity to own private property and for those who own land or who dream of owning land, their American Dream is threatened by a massive initiative known to us now as Smart Growth/Sustainable Development. As our country copes with dwindling...
newgeography.com just published My Free Range Life! This is a great honor. Newgeography is a national blog that focuses on “economic, demographic and political commentary about places”. In the vast ocean of public commentary about land use and the...
Recently, while scanning the news in the San Diego Union Tribune, I came across this article about “Taking Inventory of County’s Trees”. The article describes Robin Rivet’s “ambitious effort to map every urban tree in San Diego...
The American Planning Association developed a smart growth planning ‘newspeak’ during the 90s. Planning departments all around the country are adopting this new language. Click here for more buzz words. These photos are evidence that smart growth planning...
Welcome to Exurbia Chronicles! Many of you may have never heard of the term exurbia before now. According to the free on-line dictionary it means: The exurbs collectively; the region beyond the suburbs. Exurbia to me is an expression that defines a free range...
