Free Republic

A Wall Street Journal editorial from July 26 began like this: The Trump Administration on Thursday [July 22] rolled back an Obama regulation that federalized local zoning and land-use policies[.] ... The 1968 Fair Housing Act requires recipients of federal block grants to certify that they "affirmatively further fair housing [AFFH]." In 1996 the Clinton Administration issued 170 pages of guidance interpreting those four words, and lawsuits proliferated. This sounds like good news, and it certainly is, but if Joe Biden is elected, he will resurrect and seek to finish off the assault on our suburbs that President Obama initiated...

The proponents of currently fashionable planning doctrines favouring density promulgate a variety of baseless assertions to support their beliefs. These doctrines, which they group under the label of “Smart Growth”, claim, among other things, that from a health and sustainability perspective, the need to increase population densities is imperative. With regard to health these high-density advocates have seized upon the obesity epidemic as a reason to advocate squeezing the population into high-density. This is based on a supposition that living in higher densities promotes greater physical activity and thus lower levels of obesity. They quote studies that show associations between...

'Smart growth" projects across the country aim to jam people into high-density housing near mass transit systems. Proponents think this will make people abandon their automobiles, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But new research shows "stack-and-pack" housing is an ineffective way to reduce carbon dioxide levels. Researchers at the University of California Energy and Resources Group in Berkeley used Census, weather, economic and transportation data — 37 variables in total — to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from the energy, transportation, food, goods and services consumed by U.S. households. They calculated "household carbon footprints" for more than 31,000 U.S. ZIP codes (of...

Former Mayor Bob Lanier has joined prominent home builders and developers campaigning to limit new development regulations they believe could threaten Houston's growth. Lanier's comments are part of a nascent effort to respond to recent city laws and policies, including a high-density development ordinance now being written, that affect the politically powerful real estate industry. A new organization, Houstonians for Responsible Growth, which has begun the process of registering as a political action committee, is coordinating the campaign, said Ken Hoagland, a political consultant working with the group. Lanier's involvement came in a letter delivered Dec. 27 to all 14...

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