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The Citizens’ Growth Management Initiative, now known as Proposition
202, has made it to Arizona’s November ballot. This proposition has
development interests and their cronies scared. Why? Because Proposition
202 puts growth decisions where they belong: with the citizens of
Arizona and not with the few who stand to make a killing at our expense.
Let’s look at what Proposition 202 will do for us, our children, and our
beautiful landscapes.
First, Proposition 202 will require that every city and town of 2,500 or
more people establish growth areas with clearly defined boundaries.
Development outside of these areas will be limited as public services
are prohibited from being extended past the boundaries at public
expense. Best of all, we as a community establish where our growth areas
will be. Is the area surrounding Walnut Canyon a community treasure? We
can designate that area as open space while calling for development in
more appropriate areas of town. It’s our decision. After we’ve had input
into the establishment of growth areas, we then get to make an
unprecedented move. We get to VOTE on these plans. And these plans will
have teeth. Developers can’t hire expensive consultants and engineers to
sway City Council votes. Flagstaff citizens have the final say.
Opponents of Proposition 202 don’t want you to know this and so they
claim that this proposition takes away local control. Don’t believe
them!
Next, the same people who have pledged to spend $3-4 million to see
Proposition 202 defeated will finally be responsible for the full costs
of their developments. No more public subsidies for schools, roads,
sewer and water, and police and fire protection for new development. Our
tax dollars can then be used for more meaningful programs instead of
paying for costs associated with new development. There’s a financial
incentive to developers to build closer to the core of our cities, as
infrastructure is less costly closer in.
Why hasn’t our legislature given us real growth management? Because our
current legislature has a vested interest in the status quo. Once they
saw that the Citizens’ Growth Management Initiative was a reality, they
came up with Growing Smarter Plus. This piece of legislation, which is
already law, is window dressing designed to distract you from the truth:
Arizona desperately needs to do something about its growth or risk
losing the quality of life that we all hold so dear. To further distract
you, you’ll be asked to vote on Proposition 100 which is actually
detrimental to growth management. Proposition 100 would protect NO MORE
than three percent of State Trust Lands while leaving 97 percent open to
development. Let’s say “no thanks” to this lame referendum and wait
while Arizona’s conservation community comes up with meaningful State
Trust Land protections.
But distracting legislation wasn’t all that our legislature had up its
sleeve to try to ensure that Proposition 202 fails in November. The
legislative council created a biased “analysis” of our Initiative. This
distorted analysis was going to be the official description of the
Citizen’s Growth Management Initiative published in voter’s guides.
Instead of describing the Initiative, this analysis described Growing
Smarter Plus and indicated that Arizona already had the growth
management tools available under Proposition 202. On July 14, 2000,
Citizens for Growth Management, the coalition of nearly 50 grassroots
organizations, neighborhood groups, and businesses that are supporting
Proposition 202, filed a legal challenge to this analysis. On Aug. 7,
the Arizona Supreme Court issued a decision finding that this analysis
was indeed biased. You’ll now see a new description of Proposition 202
in your voter guides.
Despite battles with Arizona’s growth-at-all-costs legislature, and
being outspent by about six to one, our grassroots coalition is holding
firm and we’re determined to see Proposition 202 passed this November.
We wouldn’t be facing off with Arizona’s most powerful and influential
developers, lobbyists, and industry groups if we didn’t feel that the
Citizens’ Growth Management Initiative, Proposition 202, was absolutely
critical to preserving our quality of life, natural heritage, and
wildlife habitat. On November 7, you’ll be asked to make your own
decision.
Who do you believe? A consortium of high-powered developers and industry
representatives? Or a group of nearly 50 grassroots organizations and
businesses including Friends of Flagstaff's Future, the League of Women
Voters of Arizona, the Arizona Public Health Association, Grand Canyon
Trust, and the Sierra Club, to name but a few? I hope you’ll join with
us in supporting Proposition 202. This may be our last chance to save
the unique qualities we all treasure in our beautiful state.
For more information on Proposition 202, call Friends of Flagstaff's
Future at 556-8663 or check out the web site: www.prop202yes.com.
Becky Schipper is a life-long resident of Flagstaff and the director of
Friends of Flagstaff's Future.
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