Whatever Mr. Jordan's true purposes, protecting the environment and the river was not one of them. A certifiable John Locke free market conservative, Mr. Jordan has a record, and it does not comport with ecological concern.
Mr. Jordan is one-half of the "Bobbsey Twins of Make Boone Suffer," along with Sen. Dan Soucek. Their combined assaults on Boone's municipal future seems quite coordinated, and if not in perfect synch, at least share the appearance of like-mindedness.
The fact that Mr. Soucek's big-developer puppet-masters WANT that New River water for their steep-slope plans perhaps collided eventually and definitively with Mr. Jordan's "kill bill." It was, after all, the Republican leadership of the NC House that has shelved Jordan's bill, not the "lib-ruls."
The most recent constituency to rouse itself against Jordan is the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, that notorious gang of bleeding-heart progressives, whose opposition to Jordan now has the representative defensively stuttering that "Boone needs water. Everyone knows that." It now appears that Mr. Jordan's only concern was the exact location of that water intake, not the need for the water intake.
PCS S426 delays Jordan Lake rules extended til 8/2013
ReplyDeleteHeads up everyone, the above bill just passed out of the rules committee, a last minute, sneaky bill for a developer in Durham pushed by none other than Rep. Blust of Greensboro. Look-out the bill could trump municipalities water and sewer authority in "designated areas."
ETJ Ramned through committee, hip here hurray for good policy. Soucek lied through his teeth saying that everyone in the ETJ was in favor of his bill for one thing, 10 to 9.
ReplyDeleteBring on the lawyers, wake up residents of the ETJ Watauga County and NC, the state-wide consequences of this backroom favor for developers has long consequences. And it will cost the taxpayers enormous sums in litigation that will begin the moment this bill passes the full House.
Furthermore, Soucek would not take several legislators good advise to bring the bill up in the long session next wher ther would be plenty of time to study and amend it an still have the Senator's concerns settled by the one-year effective delay.
OH, Blust from Greensboro the brother of our C Commissioner spoke favorably about the bill saying the Watauga commissioners supported the bill.
More on S 426 from WRAL, "This bill would also puts new requirements on cities that designate "urban growth areas." If the city provides water service to one developer in such an area, which is outside its city limits, that city must provide water to other developers in the same area unless there is an engineering reason not to do so."
ReplyDeleteThe new bill to fuel uncontrolled development and gut cities is actually S382.
ReplyDeletehttp://ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/Senate/PDF/S382v3.pdf
Yes 8:34, I copied the press and they initially had it wrong, but it has been corrected; and passed, btw.
ReplyDeleteLocal newspapers, the ones we advertise in are scrubbing the truth, "scrubbing the truth"...
ReplyDeleteSoucek's bill was rammed through. Dirty and cheep politics on display during the meeting. Soucek lied through his teeth saying that everyone in the ETJ supported his bill; and when pressed by a question from another Rep., he admitted that a developer was pushing for the bill, Soucek tried to worm out of the question by saying that the developer "just had the loudest voice." Soucek was asked why Rep Jordan was not at the meeting, to which he replied that he didn't know, having said earlier that Jordan supports the bill.
John Blust, Rep. of Greensboro and brother to our County Commissioner David Blust spoke in support of Soucek's bill. He said that the people support the bill. When asked, he said that his brother CC David told him that the Watauga County Commissioners support the bill, "that's how I know."
Heads up everyone who cares, the fix is in, on a previous bill that Rep Hackney called sneaky WRAl reported, "This bill also puts new requirements on cities that designate "urban growth areas." If the city provides water service to one developer in such an area, which is outside its city limits, that city must provide water to other developers in the same area unless there is an engineering reason not to do so."
The bill passed late today.
It is a shame, last minute government bills that conveniently ignored the House Government Committee are being pushed through. Soucek completely ignored pleas from his Republican and Democratic colleagues on the committee to put this bill off until the long session for more study and debate. They kept telling him that it would not matter, " What does it hurt to put this off, discuss it in the long session, you bill has a year's delay anyway and we could listen to the people and make it better."
Do watch the Durham water and waste treatment fiasco bill in which "urban growth areas" can easily be construed to be ETJs. It's not ironic that like Soucek's bill and S382 are huge favors to developers and the bills compliment each other.
Call and email John Blust and tell him you don't appreciate him lying in a House committee meeting. Tell him he shouldn't presume to speak for the residents of Watauga County:
ReplyDeleteRaleigh office: 919-733-5781
Direct phone: 336-274-4658 Ext. 121
Email: John.Blust@ncleg.net