Earl Blumenauer: “I appreciate his reference to growing smarter in terms of wiser use of our resources and avoiding unplanned growth and…”

“I appreciate his reference to growing smarter in terms of wiser use of our resources and avoiding unplanned growth and sprawl. The State of Maryland has recently been cited as another national model for experimenting with this. And I think it is important that, unlike what some of the people who are attempting to be critical of this, there is no effort with smart growth to deny choices to the American public. The notion here is to give them more opportunities in terms of where they live, how they move. If the only way somebody can get their children to a soccer game or to school is to drive them, if they cannot walk, if they cannot cycle, if they cannot get there on their own, if they have no access to transit, it narrows their choices. If there are neighborhoods that are disposable, hollowed out, it narrows the choices. One of the things that I am, I guess, most appreciative of for the Vice President is taking the risk that some people will try and turn these concepts on their head and suggest that somehow this is a war on the suburbs or it is trying to deny choices, when nothing could be further from the truth than trying to promote more opportunity.”