Last night PBS showed another episode in the series e squared, “the economics of being environmentally conscious.” (Of course, the series has nothing to do with economics) This episode, “Portland, a Sense of Place” was pure smart growth propaganda. The message: all cities should emulate Portland’s urban growth boundary that forces people to live in dense crowed high priced conditions inside the artificial boundary and steals farmers’ land value by prohibiting development outside the boundary.
To the shows credit, it did give one farmer the opportunity to note that he was a victim of theft. His farmland outside the urban growth boundary was worth $6,000 per acre. If his land was just yards away inside the boundary it would be worth more than $100,000 per acre.
This part of the show should be shown to every farmer in NC because that is their fate if smart growth advocates get their way as they are in Orange, Chatham, Johnston and many mountain counties. Increasingly, smart growth policies are being adopted that dictate lifestyles and steal farmland values for the benefit of a rich elite that support these policies.
As Roy Cordato notes: Smart growth advocates love farmland, but hate farmers.
See JLF reports:
Chatham County?s Land Grab: A selfish elite is trying to take over 23,000 acres for their personal benefit here
Johnston County’s ‘Dumb Growth’ Plan: The Growth Management Committee Fails to Understand Basic Economics here