Why We Produced This Second Radio Series on "Smart Growth"/Comprehensive Planning

Back in 2003 we produced a short radio series for WSAU about how our Wisconsin communities were slowly being strong-armed by our state government into accepting greater control over our freedoms. The series was about a Wisconsin statute that was costing municipalities tens of thousands of our tax dollars while threatening our local self-government and our property rights. Following that series citizens and counties hearing the broadcasts turned against this threat, resolved not to let it in. But that was then.

Today that threat still exists and is still called Comprehensive Planning or "Smart Growth". Some of those same counties resolved to stand against it have since buckled and caved because some state officials, attorneys, and zoning administrators have continued to tell them that they have no choice, that otherwise they could lose funding and zoning in 2010. Counties, cities, and townships have since spent tens of thousands of dollars on hiring planners to do Comprehensive Planning. And lest we forget, "Smart Growth" has also put the clamps on our paper mills, our lumber companies, and our farmers with stifling regulations. Comprehensive Planning is slowly suffocating our communities and our economy.

That is why we have produced this second radio series, to help all of us realize that Smart Growth/Comprehensive Planning is still alive and well in Wisconsin and elsewhere, and that it is still suffocating our communities and our economy. We review where Comprehensive Planning came from, what it is, and why it is dangerous for our communities. We hear how other states and our own counties are dealing with it. We look at Smart Growth legislatively, constitutionally, and locally. But most importantly in this series we will hear and learn for the first time about a better way for our communities to plan while protecting our environment, our property, our local government, and our freedoms.

If after this series community leaders believe they have to meet a 2010 mandate, they can with an alternative planning process called LEARN. L-E-A-R-N stands for Local Environment and Resource Network. By using LEARN our citizens and local leaders can successfully and legally meet state and federal laws while preserving self-government, local economies, and property rights. We will hear LEARN in detail but you can also read about it at www.learn-us.org.

Today Wisconsin counties continue to spend tens of thousands of our tax dollars on Comprehensive Planning when they don't have to. We need to realize that Comprehensive Planning is not good planning. It is bad law being forced upon us. It is socialism by another name and this series shows you why. When it comes to Comprehensive Planning our local leaders need to put our citizens and our freedoms first and take a stand against this attack on our future. And for those counties and townships that have already signed on to Comprehensive Planning they need to stop and reconsider, because LEARN now gives them a better choice.

Many of you will remember hearing on WSAU an articulate and passionate woman named Bridgette Gabriel. Bridgette is a Christian Lebanese woman who at a young age personally experienced the fears and bondage of Islam while living in the Middle East. Now in America she is warning us how our own laws are being used against us to allow Islam to slowly creep into and strangle our culture. Bad law is also being used to legally strangle our inalienable rights. And that is what Comprehensive Planning is doing here in Wisconsin, slowly and legally strong-arming our local leaders into giving in to the theft of our property. Some call it "Smart Growth", others "Slow Death". For this series we call it up for discussion.