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Letters to the editor As published July 15, 2009 Pathways: Flawed premises, bad outcomes There are only two jobs in America where you can “get it wrong” on a regular basis and still keep your job… weathermen and government. Lyndon Johnson instituted Great Society welfare programs to eradicate poverty. Thirty years and thirty Trillion dollars later, we have more people on welfare than ever. Why? Because government ignores what every parent knows. If you subsidize undesirable behavior, you get more of it. In the ‘70’s, the EPA instituted Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (CAFÉ) for cars. To circumvent this, manufacturers produced truck-based SUV’s exempt from these standards, leading to a net increase in fuel consumption. In 1996, HUD established programs to put 60% of all mortgage loans into the hands of “disadvantaged” Americans. Twelve years later, collapse of these subprime mortgages nearly bankrupted the U.S. economy. Good intentions of government rarely produce desired results, and frequently yield destructive outcomes. This is because education and intelligence do not guarantee good decisions. Good decisions are the result of wisdom. Wisdom is the product of intelligence tempered by experience, common sense, and intellectual honesty. This brings us to Pathways. Critical premises of Smartgrowth are not the product of science or wisdom. They are unproven products of pop-culture politics and wishful thinking. Consider three examples: Pathways assumes residents will choose to live adjacent to huge office parks and reduce traffic. There is no evidence to support this, and in an economy where people change jobs every three years, it is not practical. People choose their neighborhoods for a variety of personal lifestyle reasons. Germantown provides empirical evidence that large office parks simply draw vehicles into a county and create chronic day-long traffic problems. Second, the county asserts Smartgrowth will improve our tax base. Yet, “Smartgrowth” Montgomery County has higher tax rates than Carroll, and faced a scheduled 2008-2009 deficit of 12% of scheduled expenditures vs. 10% for Carroll. (1) & (2). Third, subsidized housing initiatives are cleverly disguised with euphemisms including, “Inclusive housing; Workforce Housing Initiatives; MPDU’s; and HUD Block Grants”. Empirical evidence suggests these programs have problematic outcomes when buyers that have failed to establish a track record of personal financial responsibility cannot afford upkeep and maintenance. Smartgrowth is intellectually dishonest and unwise. It tramples private property rights with empty promises to improve our quality of life, unsupported by evidence. Hundreds of citizen testimonies during hearings confirm we are too wise to drink this kool-aid and oppose adoption of the Pathways Draft Plan. Richard Rothschild, Mt. Airy Reporting inaccurate, irresponsible I am concerned about the two front page articles published in the recent issue of the Messenger regarding the town council meeting and the citizens concern of Carroll County land use. In both articles, a 600-acre parcel plot of land in southern Mt. Airy was described as having been purchased by the county. This is entirely false and the repercussions of this inaccuracy are far-reaching. The county is attempting to rezone the 600+ acre region in southern Mt. Airy as well as a 1700-acre region in Taylorsville and other areas in the county. The county has not purchased the 600+ acres in southern Mt. Airy; this property is still owned by the residents in this community. The issue is the re-zoning and what the property can and will be used for in the future if residents sell to developers or the county. To imply that the county already owns this parcel is irresponsible because the plan is still in its proposal phase and this can impact whether Mt. Airy residents object to the county plan if the county already owns it. This is an issue that is crucial to the homeowners in the southern Mt. Airy community, and this will also have a significant impact on Mt. Airy as a whole because the town may be forced to annex a new business park, a business park would greatly impact our traffic situation, and businesses rather than sprawling homesites and farms will have severe environmental effects on this neighborhood which includes the headwaters of the Patapsco. The presence of a business park in southern Mt. Airy as well as a massive commercialized region in Taylorsville will mean expansion and higher travel speeds along Rt. 27 to accommodate increased trucking alongside our town’s young drivers and school buses. Furthermore, the second article describes residents’ comments and questions posed to the Mt. Airy town council regarding a best course of action for residents as well as a request for the town to create a formal statement, and yet the Messenger failed to describe the town council's response. Many Mt. Airy residents are anxious to hear the town council's response to the plan since neither the council nor the residents were adequately notified of the county plan. Residents need resources which can provide background information and a description of the impact of the county plan. The Carroll County Plan proposal is available at carrollpathways.org and the southern Mt. Airy community has posted a site relevant to their concerns at carrollcountypathways.org. Jennifer Hart, Mt. Airy
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