Canton has accepted $25,000 from the NC Rural Center and hopes to receive another $100,000 soon. It is only the latest victim in the sci-fi thriller
Urban Planning.
Watch would-be investors get marginalized by counterintuitive, broad-brush remote control as big government gives little government a lot of money to come up with a plan. Not knowing why or wherefore, but needing the money, little government creates a pseudo-democracy by hiring a consultant to coordinate community input sessions. These are not well-attended by working class, family types. Comments that don’t support Smart Growth get watered out in the consensus-building. Once the plan, calling for more bureaucratic infringements on property rights, looks like all the others, big government gives little government more money to implement parts of it. Words with no meaning are used liberally throughout the drama to mark dead ends. In one scene the people are told they need bike lanes and greenways because they will empower diverse communities. In the next, property owning taxpayers are told buildings must be two stories high to enhance neighborhood identity, and a downtown management entity will increase momentum.
