[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 25 (Thursday, February 11, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       MORE CHOICE FOR AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express concern about an 
article that our friend, George Will, has in Newsweek this week, 
attacking the administration and Vice President Gore in particular for 
dealing with livable communities. With all due respect to the 
journalist, he has it exactly wrong.
  There is a national grassroots movement from coast-to-coast where 
people are now struggling to contend with the forces of growth, sprawl, 
pollution and congestion to try and have more livable communities. 
Contrary to the columnist's assertion, it is not about forcing people 
to do things, it is about giving Americans more choices. Today, too 
many people have no choice but to be trapped in congestion, soccer moms 
and dads forced to be out shuttling kids around, forced to burn a 
gallon of gasoline to buy a gallon of milk.
  What the Vice President, what the administration, what Americans 
across the country who are concerned about livable communities are 
promoting is the concept of learning from our past mistakes, organizing 
ourselves to make sure that our plans for the future will make our 
communities more livable. It is not, as some would suggest, an attack 
on the automobile. To the contrary, it is simply not surrendering our 
communities to the cars.
  At a time when the Berlin Wall has fallen, when there are capitalist 
markets in the former Soviet Union, in China, it is time to perhaps end 
socialism for the car by subsidizing the automobile more than other 
transportation choices. Planning makes it possible for people to do 
more with their lives and their time.
  In his article Mr. Will attacks Portland, Oregon, my hometown, as a 
place where we are trying to crowd people, where we are trying to have 
zoned-out things like big box development, to somehow force people to 
do things they do not want to do, calling it some sort of planner's 
paradise. Well, it is ironic that the city Mr. Will is attacking is 
held up as one of the best models in the country for working with our 
citizens to promote liveability, to give people more choices.

                              {time}  1600

  It is a community where we have, in fact, not sprawled as much as 
other places around the country, but we have actually dramatically 
increased the housing stock without spreading out to farm and forest 
land. We have added 42 percent in population since 1979, but we have 
only increased the developed area 20 percent.
  Some of the most attractive housing, the most valuable housing, is to 
be found in newly redeveloped areas with loft housing, with townhouses. 
In fact, they are worth more in terms of actual value than the typical 
single lot subdivision. It is not about crowding people together.
  In Portland, like in most other communities, our neighborhoods are 
less densely populated today than they were 40 years ago when I was 
growing up. What has happened is because we have unplanned growth, 
exclusive reliance on the automobile, we have far more people driving 
and driving more miles, and as a result, it is the cars that people are 
upset about, not the citizens.
  This has resulted from not turning over industrially-zoned land to 
big box retail, like a COSCO or a Wal-Mart. We have protected it for 
industrial jobs. Portland has added 180,000 new jobs since 1990. I 
would suggest that it is hardly a failure, that there is a reason why 
people come and look at what we have done.
  Government has made many mistakes in the last 40 years that have 
contributed to the deterioration of the quality of life. It is time for 
us to take a step back, to learn from our mistakes in both government 
and the private sector, and plan for a better tomorrow. That is what 
the Vice President, the President, and not just his administration but 
people around the country are doing with the new livable communities 
movement.
  I strongly urge that people support these initiatives and what they 
can represent for a more livable future.

                          ____________________