posted 04/16/10 01:53 PM | updated 04/17/10 07:57 AM
Featured Post! | Views: 546 | Comments : 2 | Non-Profits

Special Announcement from Citizens for Smart Growth

By smartgrowth
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Dear Friends of Citizens for Smart Growth:

After over 12 years of serving the Wood River Valley, Citizens for Smart Growth will sadly close its doors at the end of this month. Our Board of Directors and Staff have agreed the organization is no longer financially sustainable. 

The "smart growth" movement started in the 1990's to prevent the environmental, social, and economic consequences of poorly planned growth, often called sprawl. In 1997, a local group of concerned citizens created Citizens for Smart Growth to promote smart growth principles throughout Blaine County and empower citizens to get more involved in land use planning. Over the years, Smart Growth's core objectives have remained the same: 

  • Encourage citizen and stakeholder participation in land use decisions
  • Strengthen and direct development toward existing communities
  • Create walkable, bicycle-friendly, and transit-oriented communities
  • Support a range of housing opportunities and choices
  • Make development decisions fair, predictable, and transparent
  • Foster attractive communities with a strong sense of place
  • Protect wildlife habitat, working farms and ranches, and outdoor recreation
  • Promote a strong and diverse local economy

One of the greatest challenges we faced as an organization - besides raising funds - was inspiring people to get involved in local land-use planning. Public participation is crucial for shaping vibrant and sustainable communities. Get involved in choosing your future!

We look to the people, nonprofit organizations, local governments, and other groups in Blaine County to continue our vision for vibrant communities, consistent with the elements of smart growth. In past economic downturns, property values in Blaine County have become stagnant only to rebound with a fury. The need for vigilance and strong community advocacy has not diminished.

Please join us for our final event on Thursday, April 22, the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. We will be showing the film "Tapped" at 6:00 pm at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey. This is a documentary about the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil. After the film, we'll facilitate a town hall style dialogue about water in the Wood River Valley.

Thank you for all your support over the years!

Nathan & Kristen

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Sorry for your demise
Please forward this to Vanessa Fry
===========================
I view with great sadness that that Smart Growth has folded. While I have not always agreed with everything that they have advocated, I strongly supported their advocacy and orientation to the community. We need to have organizations that define the boundaries and push for the ultimate values, even if some of them are not currently political possible.

I, too, fought the battle for a similar social goal – affordable housing. As a charter member of the Blaine County Housing Authority, my associates and I fought the
good fight and built over 100 housing units for the working people of the County. Unfortunately this effort collapsed and now affordable housing in Blaine County is dead.

Smart Growth and affordable housing were complentmentary and we were allies in a larger effort to make the Wood River Valley a better place to work and live. About three years ago I left the WRV (for unrelated personal reasons) but my heart is still there. I am profoundly dismayed at the direction that governance and social values are moving and see this development as only one more indication of the loss of community and personal values in the WRV.

Regards,

David Kipping
Silver Spring, Maryland
dkipping@mindspring.com
Comment by David Kipping
April 19, 2010
( 0 votes )
Smarter than Smart Growth
Good riddance, Smart Growth. Smart Growth actually increases housing costs and causes congestion and unemployment by lobbying for restrictive zoning and fighting highway improvements. Smart Growth is actually an organization of CAVE BANANA NIMBYs (Citizens Against Virtually Everything, Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody, Not In My Back Yard) attempting to be the last settlers instead of just the latest settlers, making up false environmental concerns to disguise their drive for exclusivity.
Comment by Mick Garcia
April 21, 2010
( 0 votes )
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