Sunday, October 08, 2006
No on I-933
Watch out for Initiative I-933. We are being told by the building industry that funded the signature gathering that “It’s Only Fair”. It is, as long as you don’t care about your neighbors or are an unscrupulous building developer.
Let’s say you have 5 acres, and so do your two neighbors. One of them decides to turn their mobile into an office and open a gravel pit, or use it to open an adult movie store or put up 12 houses or a strip mall. Your choices with I-933 are either let your neighbor do any of the above, or pay what your neighbor will loose by not going ahead. The initiative is unfunded and cities won’t be able to afford it, so they will have to either put up our taxes or cut down on services to pay for it, or just let your neighbor do what they want.
Cities across the state are in panic and are saying NO to I-933 and so are farmers who fear neighboring land will be turned into housing tracts, making it impossible for them to farm. I-933 is far worse than Oregon’s Measure 37 and has been projected to cost Washingtonians anywhere between 4 and 8 billion dollars.
In Oregon, Measure 37 (The Fairness Fix) has been on the books for 2 years. It’s resulted in 2,940 filed claims for almost 4 billion in what has become a high stakes development bonanza. One resident is rethinking his position after his neighbor filed a claim that will allow him to convert a 40-acre berry farm into almost 300 homes if he is not compensated. Another Measure 37 supporter now wishes he could vote again - as his neighbor is taking steps to open a gravel mine on property right next door to him.
Farm Bureau leaders who support I-933 say that “if it’s worth it, taxpayers can chip in to compensate affected landowners”. I understand that farmers are concerned about off-limits streamsides, but do we have to put the whole state up for sale to fix that problem?
Let’s say you have 5 acres, and so do your two neighbors. One of them decides to turn their mobile into an office and open a gravel pit, or use it to open an adult movie store or put up 12 houses or a strip mall. Your choices with I-933 are either let your neighbor do any of the above, or pay what your neighbor will loose by not going ahead. The initiative is unfunded and cities won’t be able to afford it, so they will have to either put up our taxes or cut down on services to pay for it, or just let your neighbor do what they want.
Cities across the state are in panic and are saying NO to I-933 and so are farmers who fear neighboring land will be turned into housing tracts, making it impossible for them to farm. I-933 is far worse than Oregon’s Measure 37 and has been projected to cost Washingtonians anywhere between 4 and 8 billion dollars.
In Oregon, Measure 37 (The Fairness Fix) has been on the books for 2 years. It’s resulted in 2,940 filed claims for almost 4 billion in what has become a high stakes development bonanza. One resident is rethinking his position after his neighbor filed a claim that will allow him to convert a 40-acre berry farm into almost 300 homes if he is not compensated. Another Measure 37 supporter now wishes he could vote again - as his neighbor is taking steps to open a gravel mine on property right next door to him.
Farm Bureau leaders who support I-933 say that “if it’s worth it, taxpayers can chip in to compensate affected landowners”. I understand that farmers are concerned about off-limits streamsides, but do we have to put the whole state up for sale to fix that problem?
# posted by Florence Vincent @ 12:48 AM 
