“Plan Cheyenne”: A Recipe For Dictatorial Control
By Frank Smith
Originally Published in “Liberty’s Torch,” Issue 12, August, 2012
Cheyenne City government, unable to fill
the “Hole” in eight years and two administrations, remains convinced it can
plan Cheyenne’s future for the next 30 years.
Governments across the country, obsessed
with the idea they (and only they) can plan a glorious future, have busied
themselves and a legion of planners writing pie-in-the-sky “Master Plans” such
as “Plan Cheyenne.”
Funded by federal dollars administered by
the City, these moles have been steadily undermining our community for a decade.
“Plan Cheyenne,” on the verge of city and
county acceptance, was hatched from “Vision 2020,” which was hatched from
“Shape Cheyenne - Community.”
The assumption of the obsession is that
only government is divinely endowed with the wisdom, foresight and mental
acumen to decide what you can do with your property. Not you, brother.
The right of private property and the
right to do what you wish with it, is the foundation of all human rights;
protection of property rights is the reason citizens form governments. Without
the right to obtain, control and improve property, all rights fade into
oblivion.
“What our generation has forgotten is that
the system of private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, not
only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not.” (F.A. Hayek, The Road To Serfdom.)
Hayek wrote his treatise against central
planning in 1944; his foresight was amazing. He notes the “movement for
planning… Unites almost all the single-minded idealists” and “would make the
very men who are most anxious to plan society the most dangerous if they were
allowed to do so - and the most intolerant of the planning of others. From the
saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a step.”
All wealth comes from the land; therefore,
control of land use is control of wealth. Government control means an
end to capitalism, freedom and liberty, thus leading to the re-birth of
fascism.
“Plan Cheyenne,” to be found at www.plancheyenne.com,
is a five-part document, over 750 pages long, covering the Master Plan for the
area (not just the city), and is composed mainly of three sections: The
“Community Plan” (what your house or building will look like); the “Parks and
Recreation Plan” (so you can worship Mother Earth conveniently); and the
“Transportation Plan” (get your bicycle out).
There are over 150 miles of bicycle paths
in the transportation section, as well as the “Complete Streets Project” for
South Greeley Highway, which means: Complete destruction of businesses and
neighborhoods south of Fox Farm Road. Oh, but we could have a beautiful gateway
to Cheyenne for the Colorado contractors who steal our jobs, with trees and flowers…
“Plan Cheyenne” is “an integrated
community (city and county) master plan that defines the Cheyenne area’s
future,” in the words of the Executive Summary.
“Plan Cheyenne” ties directly into the
Unified Development Code passed by the City this year that effectively
eliminated private property rights in Cheyenne.
Partners in the process include Clarion,
LSA, AVI and EDAW. The latter has a proven track record across the country as
partners with the United Nations in terms of climate control, greenhouse gas
emissions and “sustainable development.” That is, as a stalking horse for the
UN’s Agenda 21 program.
Here is a short excerpt from Section 5,
“Design Principles for New Development”:
“The following series of sketches
illustrates the principles for new development to meet the goals of
authenticity, quality, and character. These principles raise
the bar for design in new development and inject the community’s
voice into the design process. New development designed according to these
principles will elevate the overall image and functionality of
our community.”
(Emphases added.)
Translation: Your building or house is
going to fit this cookie-cutter stencil, and it will cost you more, but we know
best and you’re going to do what we say.
The public can go to the City’s website
and jump to “Plan Cheyenne” to download this glorious vision, the Master Plan
by the Master Race, if you have the stomach for it. Be prepared to gag.
It is no use fighting the tentacles of the
octopus; the octopi must die. Government that cannot figure out how to fill in
a downtown “Hole” in eight years can hardly tell you what to do with your
property over the next 30 years. If they grab that right, to paraphrase Hunter
S. Thompson, Cheyenne is going to look as if the Nazis won the war.
There is no negotiation with thugs who
want to steal your property rights. “Plan Cheyenne” is a blueprint for fascism,
where government tells you what you may or may not do with your property, but
where you still hold a title and pay exorbitant taxes.
“Plan Cheyenne” has to be dead on arrival
at the City Council and the Laramie County Commission. Get on the horn today
and call them before they can quick-pitch this, as they did the UDC, and it
ends up being carved in stone.
According to the City of Cheyenne
Employee Listing, published by law in the Jan. 10, 2011 newspaper of record,
there are currently 28 employees distributed over four departments planning
your future. They are the Metropolitan Planning Organization, Building and
Development Office, Urban Planning, and Planning and Development.
These employees each consume an average of
$4,543 per month, for a yearly total of over $1.5 million of your tax dollars,
exclusive of any benefits, health insurance, life insurance or pension plans.
There is nothing more un-American,
anti-liberty or more important to do away with than both “Plan Cheyenne” AND
the commie rats that have been plotting it. These rats need to be publicly
denounced as the UN collaborators that they are, fired immediately, and
blacklisted from ANY government job in the state of Wyoming. They are traitors
to the people and enemies of liberty.
All incumbents - in the City Council and
the Mayor himself - need to be thrown out. The status quo has gotta go!
“There are but two natural sources of
wealth - the Earth and the Ocean - and to lose the right to either is, in our
situation, to put up the other for sale.” (Thomas Paine, 1779.)
Frank Smith is the owner
and operator of Liberty Blacksmith Works in South Cheyenne, and has been
writing political and economic commentary for over 30 years. He can be reached
care of Liberty’s Torch at editor@libertystorch.us.
