Land use planners have a well-funded and well-organized machine, titled the Mountain Landscapes Initiative, in the seven western counties of North Carolina. In this article from the Smoky Mountain News, they are amazed that some citizens still believe in private property rights.
The notion of private property rights is deeply embedded in the culture
of the area and doesn?t always jive well with planning efforts,
particularly when local government gets involved.
?The bigger government gets, the fewer freedoms individuals have. Where
does it stop? Where is the line in the sand here?? asks Charlene
Blankenship, a property rights advocate from Swain County.
Some are downright scared of how projects like the Mountain Landscapes Initiatives could jeopardize individual freedoms.
?I think it?s very dangerous. They?re coming in and trying to appear
that they?re working with the communities. I just think it?s kind of a
socialistic view of things when people think they have the right to
have other people?s private property,? Blankenship says. ?These groups
want to preserve everything, lock up property rights and throw away the
key.?
Eric Romaniszyn with Haywood Waterways, a non-profit conservation
group, ran up against the private property rights sentiment when his
organization helped lead another planning effort called the Haywood
Growth Readiness Roundtable.
?There?s a lot of people with some ideas that they have somehow
instilled in their heads. I don?t know where they come from,? he says.
