Rural Rage Over Reason - #16
Guest contributor Arie van der Hoeven is a land owner near Ames Lake in rural King County, Washington. He is concerned about the implications of Initiative 933. [Note: This is part of a series.]
Initiative I-933 is bad property rights policy, full of unintended consequences that will hurt rural property owners most of all. Those of us in rural King County have learned that the one thing worse than dealing with regulation is dealing with uncertainty. And I-933 will mean uncertainty.
I-933 will ride the rural backlash which fomented with King County’s Critical Areas Ordinances (CAOs). Whether or not you believe this complex set of ordinances was the right balance, out here in rural areas there is a perception that they unfairly burden the rural property owner. In fact, county council votes on the CAOs fell strictly along the rural-urban divide and the rural minority lost. That loss created hard feelings that are now easily manipulated by the I-933 supporters in King County who thirst for payback. Emotion is dictating over reason.
What else is fueling the rural backlash?
