Earl Blumenauer: “today the issue for the 2000 election is being previewed from coast to coast, that experts term a sleeper issue, hidden…”

“today the issue for the 2000 election is being previewed from coast to coast, that experts term a sleeper issue, hidden just below the surface. That issue, Mr. Speaker, is a welcome change from the nasty and sometimes incomprehensible partisan politics that have characterized contemporary campaigns. The issue instead is one that is positive, inclusive, that brings people together rather than driving them apart for partisan advantage. That issue, of course, is related to livable communities. How do we make our families safe, healthy and economically secure? Here in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, we in Congress have been witness just across the river in Northern Virginia to a variety of spirited campaigns. The hot button issues of these campaigns have been transportation, congestion, air pollution, unplanned growth and gun violence. At the other end of the country, there are a variety of initiatives that are local responses to the State of California's refusal to have planned State-wide growth management in place. Citizens want more control and predictability. In the State of Colorado, voters are increasingly concerned about the quality of life issues facing metropolitan Denver. This is understandable when we realize that just a couple of years ago, Colorado citizens discovered that the plans for their urbanized metropolitan Denver would sprawl more than a thousand square miles.”