Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Libertarian Lobbyist Can't Reason Well

Where, exactly, does the QR77 newsroom find these people:

The city's Plan It Calgary document, which promotes high density residential development in the downtown core as well as some other areas such as the Brentwood and Anderson LRT stations, has come under scathing attack. Randall O'Toole, senior fellow with the libertarian CATO Institute, says there isn't anything in the 50 year plan he likes. The $6 million strategy calls for more residential development in the downtown core partly because it will cut down on automobile use. But O'Toole says driving to work isn't such a bad thing. He says in a couple decades vehicles may be far more energy efficient and produce fewer emissions per mile than transit. O'Toole says people should be able to choose where they want to live - not be told by politicians. O'Toole was the keynote speaker at a Canadian Homebuilders Association meeting in Calgary on Wednesday.


Scathing? Oh, I'm so afraid of the Libertarian Lobbyist.

I live in the Brentwood neighborhood and there is a growing opposition movement to the city's plans to add 10,000 new units in an already congested area. I havent't decided how I feel about this yet. But I definitely don't think of it as a libertarian issue. And it is rather silly to think we can continue to add cars to the road commuting into downtown. Downtown Calgary has no space for more parking and is developing out existing parking locations in favor of office space. Its a weak point anyway, because fewer and fewer people can afford to pay the exorbitant fees to park.

Is it a libertarian priority that we double the lanes of the freeways into downtown every 10 years?

No politician is telling you where to live Randall, that's a fairly obvious lie designed to create right wing hysteria. It will probably work. Godless communists building condo's etc etc.

Its fairly easy to see this is not about political philosophy or freedom, its about lobbying for land developers. Please recommend this post

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