SO VERY NICE:  Our heartfelt thanks to volunteers that helped at the Confluence Festival.  Kathy Randazzo, Kathy and Phil Weber, Carol and Chris Love, and Terry Davis warmly greeted the steady flow of folks to our booth.  Also, a huge thanks goes to Krista Norieka for all her work on the Chapter’s Awards Party at Claire Tappaan Lodge—what a success that was!  Kudos are in order to Caroline Hickson and Millee Livingston who also work steadily behind the scenes.

NOT SO NICE:  In our effort to protect the environment and save precious ecological landscapes from destruction, we’ve heard more than one elected representative state that “private property rights” must be upheld.  They proclaim that landowners should be “made whole” and suffer no economic losses. 

              The fallacy of “private property rights” has been carved into our psyches as if it’s a commandment.  Ownership rights have turned into property rights and are morphing toward profit rights.  From opposing laws and ordinances that govern the use of property, proponents of private property rights now seem to want profit guarantees as well. 

Example:  You have a right to buy shares of stock, to have private ownership rights in publicly traded companies.  You know a good buy when you see one, so you make a major investment.  However, if the stock market slips, if values decline, or if the company goes bankrupt, are your speculative losses insured?  If you buy land in a speculative venture, does the government provide a FLSIC  (Federal Land Speculation Insurance Corporation) as it does for bank deposits? 

The right to own property has taken a turn toward a sanctimonious right to an increase in economic “value.”  With incredible stealth and duplicity, the concept of private property rights has promoted a subtle “government guarantee” façade with elected officials seemingly afraid to buck land speculators and/or make decisions that are in the public good.  Land speculators and developers have done a great job in duping the public with beliefs that their profit margins somehow trump sustainable-life issues, environmental values, and future costs to communities.  As elected officials eagerly embrace the profit motive and spin the “private property rights” mantra, they become de facto brokers for speculators even though there is no public mandate to do so.  

We, the public, have been sold a bill of goods as well—that we can do nothing.  Wrong.  We can do a great deal, but we need to roll up our sleeves and work to right this travesty.  We need to take back the right to make land use decisions based on what’s good for communities and future generations and not be blinded or hamstrung by profit propaganda.

Last, even if we buy into the pseudo private property rights concept, look at whose property rights are really being damaged.  When new developments diminish air quality, create nightmarish traffic jams, pollute our water sources, and/or bring wildlife to the brink of extinction, haven’t we also lost our right to enjoy our property, to live healthy lives?  Speculators complain loudly at any hint of jeopardizing their bottom line; we should be protesting even louder because our basic lifestyle rights have been compromised.  To tweak words attributed to the producer of “Sicko,” There is no room for the concept of profits when all life depends upon a healthy environment.