Tea Party

According to James A. Bacon, "Smart growth is too important to leave to liberals." In a new essay, he argues that "Conservatives must articulate their own vision for creating prosperous, livable and fiscally sustainable communities."

June 4, 2012 - Bacon's Rebellion

At a packed, May 17 meeting in Oakland, filled with transit advocates, tea-partiers, and builders, leaders of the two regional planning agencies selected "Plan Bay Area" as the blueprint to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions 17% by 2035.

May 24, 2012 - San Francisco Chronicle

On the anniversary of Jane Jacobs birth 96 years ago, Anthony Flint explores the striking similarities between the planning doyenne and anti-planning agitators.

May 5, 2012 - Better! Cities & Towns

How communication based on emotion and intuition, rather than reason, may be the key to peaceful coexistence with Tea Partiers and Agenda 21ers.

May 1, 2012 - PlaceShakers

I recently had the pleasure of sitting on a panel convened by the Lincoln Instititute of Land Policy to discuss the Tea Party and its effects on local planning (a topic I've discussed earlier on this blog). At one point, the moderator asked if there were any successful techniques that planners could use to effectively deal with Tea Party activists. This was an intriguing question, but also one that I thought was a bit odd. Controversy and conflict are not new to planning; they are built into the very process of American planning because of its inherent openness and inclusiveness.

April 27, 2012 - Samuel Staley

Where there are no facts, sentiment rules. - Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West   In my previous two posts I have set the stage for our consideration of information sources in planning by arguing for the relevance of such an effort when it comes to (increasingly controversial) urban planning issues, and to situate such in terms of recognizing the influence of our world views on the production and use of informational and built environments. 

February 22, 2012 - Michael Dudley

Delving into the psychology behind the House transportation bill, Will Doig investigates the reasons why the Tea Party have turned their attention to mass transit as the next culture war battleground.

February 15, 2012 - Salon.com

Attacked from the left and right sides of the ideological spectrum since its release two weeks ago, Speaker John Boehner is struggling to find the 218 votes needed to pass the House transportation bill, write Russell Berman and Keith Laing.

February 14, 2012 - The Hill

Andrew H. Whittemore contends that planners dismiss the far-fetched theories of a grand United Nations sustainability conspiracy at their own peril.

February 8, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

The 'lamestream media' picks up the story of Tea Party activists railing against efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy.

February 6, 2012 - The New York Times

A police sergeant displayed his mediation skills at a regional planning meeting by temporarily replacing the facilitator after 20 tea party activists disrupted the meeting.

January 12, 2012 - The Press Democrat

The year 2011 may be remembered by some as the year planners began fielding objections about smart growth from Tea Party supporters. Nathan Norris offers his four-step process for responding.

January 9, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Anthony Flint reports on a number of planning initiatives stopped in their tracks by protesting Tea Party members, who are strongly opposed to "smart growth communism."

December 19, 2011 - The Atlantic Cities

Tea Partiers, anti-smart growthers and Wendell Cox all agree: Agenda 21, a United Nations program adopted in 1992, contains dangerous ideas that if implemented could damage economic growth and cement world government control over the U.S.

December 13, 2011 - New Urban Network

They mayor of Troy, Mich. chooses ideology over investment, The Atlantic's says Eric Jaffe.

December 12, 2011 - The Atlantic

Denver was the angriest city in the nation with 12,018 protesters per million, 5000 attending the April 15,2009 Tea Party Protest, and 2000 for the the October 15 Occupy Wall Street protest.

October 20, 2011 - The Daily Beast

Arguing against a regional transportation tax, the Georgia Tea Party says that we shouldn't build any more light rail because terrorists might see it as an attractive target.

September 15, 2011 - Treehugger

Tea Party activists have spoken out at regional planning meetings in California to protest what some consider conspiratorial plans to crush civil liberties under the guise of smart growth.

August 29, 2011 - California Planning & Development Report

The S.C. Dept. of Transportation is so broke that it won't be able to pay its contractors after meeting its payroll. It is depending on a payment from the FHWA and requesting additional reimbursements while rejecting federal funds for education.

August 17, 2011 - The (Charleston) Post and Courier

Public outreach on SB 375, California's climate change bill, began last month in the San Francisco Bay Area. But the East Bay Tea Party had other plans.

June 8, 2011 - Contra Costa Times