Citizen’s Issue Summary: Urban Sprawl

Will Washington Take Away the American Dream?

The new Clinton- Gore “smart growth” proposals seek to address many of the problems experienced in every day life, from traffic congestion to the fast pace of modern society.

Environmentalists and the Clinton-Gore administration want Americans to believe that farmland and open spaces are disappearing at an alarming pace, and that “suburban sprawl” will lead to a future of clogged roadways, increased air pollution and the destruction of parks and wilderness. They seek to convince Americans that the growth of suburbs is leading to increased inequality as lower-income Americans are left in decaying cities, while the wealthy move out to new communities.

Smart growth advocates claim that unless the federal government becomes more involved in state and local land-use decisions, America will soon become little more than a large plot of tract housing.

But such claims have no basis in fact.

Urban Sprawl:

Will Washington Take Away the American Dream?

(PDF format, 2 p. 287 Kb)