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I-154 is a scam aimed at Montana communities
BY BRUCE FARLING, AUGUST 2006
When driving through the Bitterroot, Flathead, Gallatin and Missoula valleys do you think?: Why, how unfair. The heavy hand of government is stopping landowners cold from developing their property here. Why, these valleys are nothing but sleepy, pastoral hideaways where it is impossible to get government approval for ticky-tack subdivisions, used car lots, box stores, strip development, weedy lots where muffler shops reside next to churches which sit next to slap-dash mini-malls that ring gravel pits that reside along halogen highways lined with loud billboards and sundry commercial detritus.
Not really?
Well, that’s what the creators of ballot initiative I-154 apparently see in the paranoid, parallel universe they occupy. Most Montanans see something else. Such as, reality. Most Montanans see development that is startling in its scope and largely chaotic. They see development that outstrips the ability of most property owners to preserve the quality of their neighborhood, community and their property’s value – as well as the open space, wildlife and clean water that keeps them in Montana. To most Montanans, government is not impeding development of private property.
I-154, which Montanans will vote on in November, is billed as a measure that will prevent government from abusing eminent domain statutes, and in the parlance of the advocates, from then stealing your home. Actually, I-154 is a sham.
The measure was deliberately designed to be a Trojan horse. If it passes, it will turn Montana upside down. Preventing eminent domain abuse is the purported purpose of the measure — after all, who wants government to steal your home? However, the real target of this initiative is to stop the officials you elect — your city council members, county commissioners, legislator — from helping you protect your home and your community from development anarchy and sky-high taxes.
Buried behind I-154’s eminent domain cover is language that requires state and local government to pay developers and polluters whenever they claim regulations or laws developed democratically, and aimed at protecting community and neighborhood values, prevents them from doing pretty much anything on their property, short of harming human health and safety.
I-154’s supporters claim they just want to prevent government from forcing you to sell your property to, say, Wal-Mart. But thanks to two state Supreme Court decisions that won’t happen here. Instead, I-154 actually creates incentives for Wal-Mart – or a gravel pit operator, or a casino developer, or a stock car race promoter -- to build next to your home, ranch or neighborhood. And if you and all your neighbors think this is inappropriate, too bad. The developer gets to develop -- unless state or local government decides to use your tax money for compensating the developer for the money he claims he won’t make if he can’t develop exactly as he wants, to hell with your property values and community desires.
You can see the problems. Montanans will have to pay developers and polluters to be good neighbors. And unless we want our taxes to skyrocket even more, or we want to shift funding from critical government services such as police and fire protection, there will never be enough money for the payoffs. If we can’t pay, then, according to I-154, the legal measures you support that protect your property values, neighborhood character and clean water needed for fish and wildlife, or which might prevent undue pressure on highway congestion, neon blight or ensure we have resources for important services such as police or fire protection services – must be waived. There goes the neighborhood.
The Montana frontmen of I-154 include several legislators with anti-government ideologies so radical that they’ve even found little support in recent conservative legislatures. They hate government so much, and are so jihadist in their view, they’re willing to throw away the state. The financial backers of I-154 are shadowy. The hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on signature gathering to get I-154 on the ballot didn’t come from Montana. In fact, the I-154 campaign people refuse – refuse! – to identify their out-of-state backers. However, a main source has emerged: Howard Rich, a New York City developer who is funding similar Trojan Horse initiatives in at least five other states. So the story is: A New York City developer who hates government is working with a tiny brotherhood of extremists in Montana to prevent you from protecting your home, your neighborhood and our state’s quality of life.
Pay attention folks. This is real. And real bad. Vote no on I-154 in November.
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