“[I]f the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.” Candidus, Pen name of Samuel Adams during the era of the Sons of Liberty. Source: in the Boston Gazette, 1772
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Do you cherish your God-given constitutional right to own property? So do I! UN Agenda 21′s Smart Growth is in full bloom across our nation. In East Tennessee the five county local “Regional ” program is called Plan East Tennessee, (Regional Plan for Livable Communities), a plan which will eliminate private property rights in these five counties. Link It is a plan for Smart Growth. Rosa Koire, author of, “Behind the Green Mask,” defines Smart Growth on her website, as “Human habitation as it is referred to now is restricted to lands within the Urban Growth Boundaries of the city. Only certain building designs are permitted. Rural property is more and more restricted on what uses can be on it.” In my recent article, Taxed Enough Already, I explained how our former Knoxville City Mayor, Bill Haslam (now Tennessee’s Governor) hired his Democratic opponent, Madeline Rogero to work in his Republican Mayoral administration since the election was very close. He wanted a second term without her running against him. Rogero is now the new Knoxville City Mayor. While she was in Haslam’s administration, she apparently received permission and applied for a federal grant from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities. In fact, Governor Haslam has refused to even sign a resolution against Agenda 21 even though a Resolution has absolutely no power of law.
These grants, part of the Obama administration’s Partnership for Sustainable Communities, bring together HUD, the Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Two types of grants were awarded — those to update existing plans, and those to develop sustainability plans from scratch. Knoxville’s Plan ET is from scratch and Knoxville received $4.32 million from the HUD grant. Another $2.5 million came from a Consortium of partners which includes non-profits.
Knoxville is also a dues paying member of ICLEI since 2007. From Tom DeWeese’s article, Agenda 21 in One Easy Lesson, ” ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (formally, International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives). Communities pay ICLEI dues to provide “local” community plans, software, training, etc. Additional groups include American Planning Association, The Renaissance Planning Group, International City/ County Management Group, aided by US Mayors Conference, National Governors Association, National League of Cities, National Association of County Administrators and many more private organizations and official government agencies. The Foundation and government grants drive the process.”
Community Forums and The Delphi Technique
From the Plan ET website, “Over the three-year PlanET process, three phases will lead to a targeted, meaningful outcome. Phase One (August 2011 – July 2012) will bring East Tennesseans together to establish a shared identity and vision (alleged data gathering). Phase Two (April 2012 – March 2013) will take that vision, and while educating and engaging the public, will develop a shared direction.(framework) Phase Three (January 2013 – December 2013) will produce and report the final product and focus on implementation activities.” (Action plan for Smart Growth)
Series II of Plan ET held a week of six forums in every one of the five “regional” counties (Blount, Knox, (2) Anderson, Loudon and Union) asking for “community input.” Yet, Plan ET’s definition of “community input” seems to be neutralization of any expressed opposition to their plans of eliminating private property ownership under the guise of Smart Growth. Their “community consensus” is scripted for their pre-determined outcome via their use of the evil Rand Corporation’s mind-control Delphi Technique. RAND developed the Delphi method in the 1950s for the U.S. Department of Defense. It was originally intended for use as a psychological weapon during the cold war.
These forums are headed by trained Delphi Technique facilitators at small table groups of 6 to 8 people. The facilitators or change agents are always likeable people who will smile and agree with your comments. The discussion consists of issues previously decided upon by the leadership of these forums. The facilitator manipulates the discussion in the desired direction, isolating and demeaning opposing viewpoints. Rarely does anyone ever challenge the process, thinking they were probably in the minority with their answers. Actually, the conclusions were established in the back room long before the meeting ever took place. The general public believes this program was theirs, but in fact, the outcomes had all been decided long before the meetings ever took place. The Delphi Technique is being used again and again to change our representative republic, given to us by our Founding Fathers, into a “participatory democracy.”
Who Are The Facilitators?
Wallace, Roberts, and Todd (WRT) architectural firm, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the Plan ET partner chosen to head the forums. They are paid $1.7 million to accomplish the pre-determined outcome of these forums through facilitation of the Delphi Technique. WRT was established in 1963 by David Wallace and they are expert “regional planners” with the firm’s origins rooted in “sustainability.” The American Planning Association (APA) has continually recognized this firm and their principal leaders for their contributions to sustainability and Smart Growth. The APA even has a “Policy Guide on Smart Growth.” In Tom DeWeese’s article, Lies and Doublespeak of the APA, these APA Sustainablists are teaching their planners to lie through their teeth to the opposition of their UN Agenda 21 Smart Growth policies.
The American Planning Association and their allies are countering the anti-Agenda 21 movement with these lies, double speak and stealth. Why? Aren’t they proud of their policies? I guess Seattle planner J. Gary Lawrence said it best when he admitted several years ago that “participating in a U.N. advocated planning process would very likely bring out many…who would actively work to defeat any elected official… undertaking Local Agenda 21. So we will call our process something else, such as comprehensive planning, growth management or smart growth.” Now, even those words have caught up with their secret agenda. So now they’re having to invent more new words.
All of the following leaders from WRT are members of the American Planning Association.
The leading facilitator and principal from WRT is John Fernsler. John’s bio states, “John is particularly adept at creating consensus among competing interests and in communicating Smart Growth planning concepts to diverse audiences.” It also states he is adept at helping communities “striving to contain sprawl.” Yes, they don’t want you living in the rural areas, and they hate the suburbs. Plan ET’s website contains pictures of downtown Knoxville, nothing of the rural community, suburbs, or Smoky Mountains. Fernsler has been the driving force from WRT since the very first Plan ET meeting in Knoxville last summer. I met him there and spent an hour talking with him. He said WRT had just “finished” Austin, Texas. He also said to me, “Maybe you’d understand a bit better if we called what we’re doing, “stewardship.” Now I see on their website they are using God’s Word for “care of the earth” as a euphemistic term for their total control of our lives and property through Smart Growth.
Another facilitator and Senior Associate from WRT is Rob Kern. Rob’s area of expertise is Transit design (they want us out of our cars and using public transportation, bicycles, or our feet). He is also adept, as they all are with Smart Growth planners, in urban design. (Once again, forget suburbia and rural communities).
Another WRT principal is David Rouse. His bio states, “David has a special interest in planning and design for sustainability, community engagement in the planning process, and capacity-building for implementation.” (Capacity building is the stack-em and pack-em mega multi-family high rises built in the urban landscape after you’ve been moved off your suburban or rural property.)
From WRT’s website, “Principal David Rouse is one of 11 members of the American Planning Association’s Sustaining Places Task Force, established earlier this year to address the use of the comprehensive plan as the leading policy document and tool to help communities of all sizes achieve sustainability. The Task Force is part of the Sustaining Places Initiative, announced in March 2010 by APA President Bruce Knight and Chief Executive Officer Paul Farmer at the United Nation’s Fifth World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sustaining Places is a multi-year, multi-faceted program to define the role of planning in addressing all human settlement issues relating to sustainability.”
David Rouse, UN Smart Growth architect of Wallace, Roberts and Todd stated in the Times Free Press newspaper last fall that he is “committed to an open process, and that property rights won’t be impacted without the public’s consent.” (Note: He said “without the public’s consent, not the property owner’s.)
Knoxville’s Metropolitan Planning Commission
Mark Donaldson, the MPC Executive Director has been at every single forum meeting and is trained as a Delphi facilitator. At one of the first meetings in Series I, he did not present himself as Executive Director of MPC, but said he was Mark from Minnesota. Other members of MPC were also at many of the Plan ET meetings as well as countless members of Knoxville’s Energy and Sustainability Task Force. Also present at all the Series II forums was Knoxville’s “Regional” Transportation Planning Coordinator, Jeff Welch who, like Mark Donaldson is trained as a Delphi facilitator.
Invitees and Paid Attendees
Here’s the real rub with this whole “community input” nonsense this UN Agenda 21 Smart Growth bunch is pulling. At the majority of meetings, there were18 to 23 Plan ET members present who are Delphi facilitators, along with WRT and MPC staff. Then there were 20 to 25 invitees from local governments including local government Planning Committees, Community Development, Oak Ridge National Labs, University of Tennessee, etc. All of these invitees are employed by government and have a vested interest in this Plan ET coming to full fruition. I have attended nearly all of the Plan ET forums, and at every table, the “shills” who were invited answered all the questions with the pre-determined and ordained outcomes the Smart Growth facilitators desired. Then there are another 18 to 25 people who know what Agenda 21 really is all about. The majority of meetings have approximately 40 to 45 people, not counting the facilitators, but if those of us against UN Agenda 21 did not attend, the only people giving “community input” would be the invited government shills who have a vested interest in Smart Growth and should not be voting at these Delphi meetings as it is a conflict of interest! At one meeting, one of the invitees admitted she was a paid participant. By the way, these attendance numbers were also given by the Plan ET staff present at all the forums.
At the Plan ET South Doyle Middle School forum on Wednesday, April 25th, I sat across the table from a woman named Linda. She works for Knoxville County Mayor Burchett’s administration. Her boss, Grant Rosenberg, Community Development Director, was the invitee, but couldn’t attend, so he sent Linda. I made a comment about UN Agenda 21 at this table and Linda adamantly stated that she loved everything about UN Agenda 21. What a shocker to hear one of these planted shills actually speak the truth. Most of them tell you they never heard of Smart Growth or UN Agenda 21. I asked her if she agreed with the 85% population reduction of Agenda 21 and she answered that was a total lie. How about limiting our usage of water to 28 gallons a day? She said that was a lie too. She should have gone to see one of my friends across the room who had the UN Agenda 21 book with him and he could have shown her the truth.
At the 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Plan ET forum at the Loudon County Technical Center on Thursday, April 26th, the leaders of the forum were in a hurry to usher us out of the building. One of our participants called the Tech Center the next day and asked if there was a time limit on how long we could be there chatting after the meeting. The person she spoke with told her there was no rush to close the building, but the Plan ET people had been there since 8 a.m. They had actually been taking the leading children in this Technical Center School and putting them through the Delphi Technique all day long! These are minor children. Then she called Public Affairs of Knox County Schools and found out children in other high schools in these counties were being Delphied as well. When she asked if the parents had given permission, she was told the school board had okayed the forums.
Finally, at the last meeting on Saturday morning, April 28th, at Union County High School in Maynardville, Tennessee, there were only six invited local government employees and about 10 or 12 of us. At one table, one of our people was tossed out of the forum for asking too many questions. Then his daughter was tossed out. When I began to scream that this was a community forum and we were allowed to ask questions, I was threatened with being thrown out. Another woman was asking questions as well, and Jack Rhyne, the City Manager of Maynardville, kept pointing at her and telling her to get out. She kept saying, “No, I want to hear what the gentleman is asking.” Rhyne actually took her elbow in an effort to grab her and escort her out of the building when facilitator Rob Kern of WRT stepped in to move her to another table. As an aside, this woman is a survivor of 9/11 at the Pentagon.
Conclusion
At the Board of Mayors meeting, which was the kickoff of Plan ET’s Series II, several of us in the audience stood to ask questions of WRT’s Rob Kern and the Mayor of Anderson County after the initial presentation. There must have been 10 or 15 people asking questions and raising hands and stating they wanted to hear answers. Both the Mayor and Rob Kern said, “We’ll answer questions outside.” We didn’t want the questions outside in the foyer, we wanted them in the main room. Needless to say, these two men ended up running out of the room. At other meetings they would allow questions after the meeting in a corner with no microphone, but then we forced open mic questions and there were plenty.
Our property rights and God-given constitutionally guaranteed freedoms are being lost at exponential rates today. The 20 year anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio occurs next month, June 2012. The planners intend to make UN Agenda 21 into hard law. This plan has existed for decades and was written about by six Russians in a book entitled, The Ideal Communist City. It was translated into English in the 60s. It is all about Smart Growth. I would urge you to buy Rosa Koire’s book, Behind the Green Mask. It is available on Amazon.com, and from the Post Sustainability Institute and clearly and succinctly tells the whole story of the damnable UN Agenda 21.
Note: the following video is commentary/satire by TheBlaze, courtesy of Glenn Beck:
BECK EXPLAINS ALL THOSE ‘AGENDA 21′ ADS YOU’RE SEEING ON THEBLAZE TV — SORT OF
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