The next transit battle?

One of the tricks free-market extremists employ most frequently is to subject their readers to the tyranny of "or." That phrase comes from Jim Collins' book, Good to Great, where he argues that seeking simplistic "either-or" solutions to complex problems is, well, just plain stupid. In today's shrill diatribe about the shortcomings of the city he's chosen to live in, Pope person Michael Sanera abuses the Tyranny of Or with a vengeance.

As usual, the target of Sanera's ire is the horrible practice of planning. Sanera is against using impact fees to encourage development of dense in-fill projects that would support long-term plans for transit. Having failed miserably in their attempts to stop transit services in Charlotte, the anti-planning zealots are refocusing their energies on Raleigh, pulling out the stops to prevent anyone from actually thinking ahead about the long terms needs of the community.

More to the point, Sanera seems to be of the opinion that elected officials are incapable of thinking about two things at once. According to him, they can't be focused on ruining the American dream and still attend to basic services like police protection.

The column is a wild-eyed rant about all the things Sanera hates in Raleigh, but don't let the pile-on distract you. This is an early salvo in the John Locke Foundation's assault on enlightened transportation planning.

They're going to have to do better than this.

**********************

PS This background on Sanera is instructive:

During the early 1980s, Sanera served in the Reagan Administration as the Assistant Director for Planning and Evaluation at the Office of Personnel Management. In this position, he assisted with President Reagan’s reforms of the federal civil service system.

An anti-planning zealot as the assistant in charge of planning? That helps explain why we're still suffering under the disastrous effects of Ronnie's mourning in America.