Tea Party activists fight green projects

What's a planner to do? One dubious recommendation — take away the podium.

Tea Party opposition to smart growth made page 1 of The New York Times this weekend. At Better! Cities & Towns, we've reported on this issue here and here — the latter article by Nathan Norris gives  useful advice on how to address the concerns of activists that may tie compact development with a world-government plot.

The Times reports:

Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.

Here's where the protests are taking place:

The movement has been particularly effective in Tea Party strongholds like Virginia, Florida and Texas, but the police have been called in to contain protests in states including Maryland and California, where opponents are fighting laws passed in recent years to encourage development around public transportation hubs and dense areas in an effort to save money and preserve rural communities.

Planners are reacting a variety of ways:

Summer Frederick, the project manager for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission in Charlottesville, Va., which withdrew its dues to Iclei and its support from a national mayors’ agreement on climate change late last year after a campaign by protesters, now conducts seminars on how to deal with Agenda 21 critics. (Among her tips: remove the podium and microphones, which can make it “very easy for a critic to hijack a meeting.”)