Hidden in Plain View by Jane Aitken

We respond to those who claim the origins of new urbanism are merely a ‘theory’

     Next time someone tries to sell you on the philanthropic aspect of “workforce housing”, you might attempt to educate them on the deeper motivation for it and how it fits into the “big picture”.

This Town of Bedford document clearly shows that 2009 was the year town officials created a workforce housing sub-committee in order to capitulate to the state’s new “workforce housing law”. Worse yet, it revealed the unholy alliance between government and corporations, the proliferation of “public-private partnerships”, and the subjugation of local and county governments to unelected regionalists.

Some will continue to repeat propaganda that we are spreading a “conspiracy theory”, but take a look at page 11, and you will see the proof.

     Other than the Bedford Planning Dept, the rest of what you see here are entities from outside Bedford and private developers. This sub-committee consisted of two Planning Board staff and the remaining seven, who can’t be said to represent our own taxpayers’ interests, were representatives from the Southern NH Planning Commission (SNRPC), Manchester Chamber of Commerce and NeighborWorks of Greater Manchester (seriously – Manchester?) all of whom are in on the agenda to “urbanize” Bedford. The final two representatives are shown to be Robert Cruess, engineering consultant and then-president of TF Moran, and Dick Anagnost, developer, and himself the chairman of the private “Workforce Opportunity Council”. Did both stand to reap financial benefits from the local zoning changes they were promoting? You be the judge.

As for SNHRPC, it is one of 9 unaccountable, unelected regional boards, all of which claim to have no authority, but seem to be ever-present when it comes to overriding the wishes of the people at the local and county levels. No vote was taken by the public on the decisions made by this sub-committee, that we are aware of.

To further elaborate, these so-called “public-private partnerships” (the latest euphemism for the alliance between corporations and government) are alliances that were formerly known as “crony capitalism”. But traditionally, there is yet another name for when government and corporations merge…

     When developers partner with government, and are allowed to profit by it, so long as they do what the government tells them to do, it’s called “fascism”.

“New Urbanism’s” founder Andrés Duany summed it up nicely when he said:

“…fascism, say what you like, but it’s efficient”

In addition, another quote of Duany’s reveals his commitment to mega-cities as part of a global government. He said the following regarding the political structure of the country and that it should be based on the importance of cities:

    “…Miami, Florida and then the US, then the United Nations” 

     We have stated before that we believe NH’s Workforce Housing Law to be an unconstitutional effort to dictate where and how people should live and to wrest power from local governments. Where in the US or State Constitutions does it allow federal and state governments to tell local governments what kind of housing they must provide? What’s next, assigning housing based on what they think are our needs? Check the next census for questions such as “How many bedrooms do you have”. Think we’re kidding? See this screen shot which was taken from the year 2000 long form version.

So, what you have just read might indeed be a conspiracy, but it’s definitely not a theory.

Are you starting to see the big picture, Bedford?

Photo credit: Congress for the New Urbanism

(This article originated in the Bedford, NH Patch and written by Jane Aitken

Jane Aitken is a Bedford NH resident who started teaching in 1970 when she had just barely turned 21. As a self taught oil-on-canvas artist, it was only natural that she would become an art supervisor for grades K-12, a job which she did for 10 years. She also worked in grades 1 and 2 classrooms for the next 23 years or so. During one of the school reform initiatives of the 1990s Aitken and her colleagues lost “lifetime job tenure”. In order to continue with their contracts, teachers had to attend many teacher training sessions in order to become “recertified”. The courses were nothing but lessons in social engineering. She chose computer courses whenever she could because it seemed a way to accumulate some actual useful information. Aitken then became IT certified with a specialization in graphic design. She also fixes hardware, assists others with the purchase and set up of various devices, and tutors them on usage. Today she uses her talents as an activist to support many causes, not the least of which is taking back the educational system from the corporations and NGOs and those who misuse our schools for political agendas. She was for 6 years Ed Naile’s sidekick on CNHT’s “Taxpayer Radio” which was heard right here on WLMW 90.7 FM, home of Girard at Large.