A Shift of Attention to Local Planning Policies by the Tea Party Becomes National News

In The New York Times, Leslie Kaufman and Kate Zernike report on efforts by activists associated with the Tea Party movement to block smart growth and green policies in states, cities, and town across the country. The activists see a grand conspiracy organized by the United Nations to 'deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.'

And it's not just fringe elements that buy into the conspiracy. In January, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution proclaiming that, "The United Nations Agenda 21 plan of radical so-called ‘sustainable development' views the American way of life of private property ownership, single family homes, private car ownership and individual travel choices, and privately owned farms; all as destructive to the environment."

"'It sounds a little on the weird side, but we've found we ignore it at our own peril,' said George Homewood, a vice president of the American Planning Association's chapter in Virginia."