Private Property Threat

Single Family Zoning under Attack, By Tom DeWeese, 9/11/19, American Policy Center.

The attack on private property is growing across the country at a frightening rate. And the target is single-family homes – most likely -- your home.

I have warned in recent weeks that Sustainable Development/Agenda 21 advocates are now calling zoning for single-family neighborhoods RACIST.

Minneapolis, Minnesota became the first city to end single-family zoning as the Mayor called such protections “self-segregation” devised as a legal way to keep black Americans and other minorities from moving into certain neighborhoods. Unbelievable!

Seattle, Washington followed Minneapolis. Other cities are looking into such plans. The federal agency HUD is pushing such plans under the Obama program called Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH). And city after city are taking HUD grants that force them to impose such plans.

So, attacks on single-family homes are racing across the nation.

Now Oregon is about to become the first state to eliminate single family zoning across the state...The speaker of the Oregon House, Rep. Tina Kotek, says this action is urgent because Oregon has a “housing crisis.” That is bunk!  Oregon has a government-made crisis.

For over 20 years Oregon has been enforcing “Urban Growth Boundaries” (UGB) around its cities. This is part of the Sustainable “Smart Growth” policy.

As I have told my audiences around the nation, under Smart Growth, planners put an artificial line around the city and declare NO GROWTH will take place outside that line. That’s “Urban Sprawl!” And the planners insist that urban sprawl is a danger to the environment because it encourages the use of automobiles, strip malls, and the need for infrastructure like roads and power.

We used to call that building an economy until the Sustainablists declared war on human society!

Here’s what they didn’t count on. The UGBs assure the area of the city doesn’t expand. But what happens when the population does? The only way to grow is UP!

That means there is no room for single family homes with backyards for the kids. According to the rhetoric of the Sustainablists the only solution is to flood single-family neighborhoods with duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and “cottage clusters.” They call this “up zoning.” Says Oregon House Speaker Kotek, “The state’s housing crisis requires a combination of bolder strategies.”

I love how these control freaks always use the words “bolder”, “innovative”, and “master plan” to make their destructive policies sound urgent and brave!

The truth is they are pushing their own political agenda, and when they get caught by their unworkable plans, they pretend to offer a solution to their own idiotic regulations -- which they created.

For example, Portland Oregon has long been the poster child – the shining example -- of the genius of Smart Growth praised in government and environmental meetings across the country.

Smart Growth is an utter failure as property rights have been destroyed, housing costs have skyrocketed and now there is a housing crisis!

Why? Because over the years, under Smart Growth, Portland’s population has grown by over 80%. But legislators have only allowed the Urban Growth Boundary to expand by no more than 6%!

NOW PORTLAND HAS A HOUSING CRISIS AND SO WE MUST ABOLISH SELFISH, RACIST, SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES!!!

Imagine what these policies will do to your property values – your equity – all that you have worked for?

Most people could quickly figure out the problem and dump such destructive policies. But WHY can’t your city councils and county commissions see the lies?

Because they are surrounded – inundated – with special interest Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) - private groups with their own private agendas.

The worst offender of this is the American Planning Association (APA). They, or affiliated planning groups, are in nearly every single community in the nation. They have the plans and the ability to get your local officials to apply for specific grants from HUD, EPA and other federal agencies to put it all in place.

I have fought the APA in city after city. I have exposed their lies and their tactics, exposing their direct ties to Agenda 21. As local citizens heard my warnings and took action to stop such plans in their communities, the APA panicked.

The APA rushed to create an “Agenda 21 Myths and Facts” page on their website. They did all they could to hide any connections between their planning and Agenda 21. Their planning was all local, local, local, the APA insisted.

They assured communities that planning “protects private property…preserves and protects its value.” They said “planning preserves neighborhoods, providing certainty to homeowners…”

Well, do you think calling single family home owners “racist” and destroying single family zoning protections “preserves” neighborhoods  --- or destroys them? When they build an apartment building in your neighborhood will you feel “protected?”

The truth is the American Planning Association is part of the Planners Network. The network is officially part of a group called the Organization of Progressive Planners, which is, “an association of professionals, activists, academics, and students involved in physical, social, economic and environmental planning…” That is Agenda 21!

On the website. www.plannersnetwork.org, you will find in its Statement of Principles this quote, “We believe planning should be a tool for allocating resources…and eliminating the great inequalities of wealth and power in our society…because the free market has proven incapable of doing this…”

That is social justice. Anti-free enterprise. Anti-private property. That is what every planner, working in every American city, believes!!

And the APA is digging in to promote more of Agenda 21/Sustainable Development policy which they deny exists.

Right now, the APA is sponsoring a webinar series for planners and elected officials. Here are some of the subjects they are addressing.

“New examples of cites approaching the challenge of climate change in creative and innovative ways,” including “rethinking transportation, to greening city buildings, to protecting against sea-level rise…” They go on to say the speakers at the webinars will offer guidance which “contextualizes international, national, and state mandates and goals.”

This is NOT local. This is NOT protection of private property. This is why you are seeing such reorganization of our local communities and counties across the nation.

The American Planning Association and its NGO co-conspirators are using their LOCAL planning lies to bring every city in the United States into compliance with UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development policy.

Let me be very clear about where this is all headed.

Single-family homes are the greatest example of private property ownership. Private property is the greatest means for individuals to build personal wealth through the equity earned. That’s why America grew so fast!

As private property ownership is destroyed, the wealth of the nation is diminishing. Now we are hearing some economists worry about a lack of housing starts in the building industry that could lead to an economic crisis. Yet, these “experts” rarely mention the true culprit – Sustainable Development, Smart Growth government tyranny!

Now, as we see more and more housing moving toward the high-rise stack and pack rental properties, a new attack is growing – this time against private owner landlords.

New government regulations are raising taxes on landlords, along with higher building costs. But now, many communities are starting to impose rent controls, because it’s not “fair” to make people pay so much for their homes!

Here is the bottom-line goal of this attack on private property and single-family homes. If we lose this battle against Sustainable Development/Smart Growth policies, then, eventually all housing will become government controlled. There will be no private homes or condos. Only government housing!

A free society cannot survive that!

This is the tyranny that I have dedicated my life to stopping! The American Policy Center (APC) is the leading organization in the nation fighting to save private property.

I travel the nation alerting local residents to these dangers and teaching them how to fight back. I produce articles and books and I appear on an endless number of radio and television news programs to spread the word. And APC provides tools to help local activists fight back. The battle is getting intense. But more people are beginning to see the danger. I need to step up APC’s efforts. I need to reach more people with the truth and the tools to stop it.

I cannot fight this alone. I need you! I especially need your financial support. The American Planning Association and their NGO co-conspirators have massive wealth and political power.

Yours in Freedom, Tom DeWeese, President APC

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader