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Michigan Public Lands Legislation Enacted into Law with REP Support!
An
omnibus public lands bill strongly supported by REP passed Congress
with bipartisan majorities and was signed into law in 2009. The
legislation includes two significant conservation measures
for
Michigan. One is designation of the Beaver Basin Wilderness, which
covers nearly
12,000 acres at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Several miles of the North Country National Scenic Trail run through
this picturesque area on the south shore of Lake Superior. The
legislation also authorized River Raisin National Battlefield Park,
commemorating an engagement that took place in what is now Monroe
County during the
War of 1812.
Kudos to Congressmen Vern Ehlers, Candice Miller, and Fred Upton for voting for this important legislation.
Why Republicans should fight urban sprawl
by Meridian Township Supervisor Sue McGillicuddy,
Sue is President of the Michigan Chapter of Republicans for Environmental Protection.
Republicans across the nation, including GOP voters here in Michigan, are increasingly concerned about urban sprawl.
The unchecked
spread of sprawl across farmland and forests causes congestion that
steals time from our families, raises our property taxes, sucks the
life out of downtowns, degrades community, and gobbles up the green
spaces that keep our hometowns livable.
Sprawl is not
the inevitable result of omnipotent market forces, as some ideologues
assert. Instead, sprawl has been the consequence of deliberate
government subsidies and policies that drove poorly planned development
into the countryside at the expense of older cities. Tax policies,
subsidized highways, flood plain insurance, and rigid zoning codes have
all played a role in feeding the sprawl machine. In short, sprawl has
been the result of bad government decisions. Reversing the tide will
take individuals and communities working with their governments to make
good decisions.
Why should
sprawl worry Republicans? Sprawl strikes at the heart of traditional
Republican ideals. Freedom and responsibility. Prudence and
stewardship. Family values.
Sprawl
diminishes freedom by hollowing out cities, swallowing up towns, and
leaving homebuyers little choice but to live in homogeneous
subdivisions that all look alike. Sprawl drives the elderly out of
their homes by forcing up property taxes.
Sprawl is
inherently irresponsible. Adherents of "anything-goes" land development
ignore the costs that sprawl forces others to bear. Time spent in
traffic jams instead of home with family, air polluted by auto exhaust,
and taxes raised to pay for flood control services that forests once
provided for free are among the hidden costs of sprawl.
Sprawl takes no
account of our responsibility to be good stewards of land, forests,
wetlands, and green spaces that clean the air, purify water, and
nourish the spirit.
Communities
nationwide are fed up and are taking action. Citizens are taxing
themselves to buy parks and open space. Major employers are speaking
out in favor of reforms to rein in sprawl and protect the vitality of
communities where they live and do business.
Containing
sprawl won’t be easy. But we must try. We have the destiny of our
communities in our hands. We can let sprawl continue to stress out our
families, raise our taxes, degrade our communities, and pollute the
environment. Or, we can plan carefully and act intelligently to keep
our communities livable. We at REP America, the national grassroots
organization of Republicans for environmental protection, refuse to see
sprawl as "inevitable." We are working to protect our quality of life
for future generations.
Sue McGillicuddy,
of Okemos, Michigan, is Supervisor of Meridian Township. She has served
as president of the Michigan Chapter of Republicans for Environmental
Protection from 2002 to 2004, and again beginning in January 2007.
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