Neighborhood support

guest commentary by Jack Moseley, former award-winning editor of the Times Record

If you don’t belong to a neighborhood association, join one. If your neighborhood doesn’t have any such animal, start one. In a city like Fort Smith, you never know when or how someone will attempt to negatively impact the quality of your home, your family and your life with zoning changes, unacceptable business enterprises, etc.

Fort Smith got in the mess in which many areas of town now find themselves because of the greed, political favoritism and general lack of caring about neighbors, homes and families.

Today, more than two dozen neighborhoods in the city have organized to halt the thoughtless and often costly reductions in property values, public safety and personal pride people take in their homes. They are being remarkably successful. But the forces of neighborhood exploitation, decay and destruction remain alive and well in our midst.

Those negative forces can be found in public offices and on public boards and commissions as well as in the business community, and the best defense against them is John Q. Public banding together with his neighbors, standing up and making the decision makers listen to the voice of the people.

One ploy of those who would abuse planning and zoning rules and regulations to correct their own mistakes or to add a few thousand bucks to their wallets at the expense of others is somehow like eminent domain, which is something else entirely different from orderly planning and zoning.

The enemies of wholesome, attractive neighborhoods often claim planning and zoning deny them some kind of “right” to do whatever they choose with their property, and that that amounts to “taking away” their “property rights.”

This claim is ridiculous.

When people join together to establish communities, towns and cities, zoning and planning are lawful tools provided by government to protect the property rights of those who LIVE there.

I’m sick of hearing a minority of developers say, “If you don’t let Mr. Jones do what he wants to do with his own property, who is going to compensate this poor fellow for the government taking away his property rights.”

I never hear anyone retort: “Well, just who in the hell is going to compensate the people who live in this particular neighborhood, pay their taxes on time and abide by the rules of common courtesy and consideration for the reduction in property values they will suffer if this change is allowed.”

It’s time that everyone understand that eminent domain is the taking of private property by government for a public use for the common good of a community,  country state or nation. Eminent domain has multiple safeguards to guarantee that the private property owner receives full, fair market value for his land and any improvements that may be on it.

Planning and zoning are totally different. They exist to provide and protect orderly development, stable neighborhoods, economic growth and healthy, safe, working and living environments for the inhabitants of communities. They take into consideration  the locations of schools, hospitals, fire stations, parks and playgrounds and all manner of both public and private accommodations.

Both eminent domain and well planned and zoned neighborhoods protect people. One, eminent domain, is exclusively dedicated to preserving property rights and assuring that land owners are fully and completely compensated for the best possible use of their land. The “taking” of  property from private land owners must be overwhelmingly in the public interest.

Planning and zoning, however, apply to the private use of private property in an stable environment for the benefit of those who have agreed to live by certain rules and regulations. Property owners have accepted as fact that their properties are supposed to be protected from negative encroachments by the people they elect and those appointed to boards and commissions that administer rules and regulations.

Like everything in government, those we have been given power to rule over our lives, liberty and property must be watched closely. When it comes to planning and zoning, I know of no better watchdog than an alert, vigilant neighborhood association. If you don’t have one, form one.

Even better, join the local alliance of neighborhood associations in Fort Smith, They are making great things happen by standing up not just for their respective neighborhoods but by standing collectively to help one another whenever anyone attempts to do anything to negatively impact the quality of life in any part of the city.

Squeaky wheels get attention, and a room full of them before the city planning commission or city board of directors can make all the difference in the most positive of ways.

Life, luck and -30-.