Bradley County leaders decision to tax and spend, not sitting well with taxpayers

The Bradley County News room just received an email that I thought would make a very appropriate “Letter to the Editor” type blog to be addressed in this news outlet and shared with our 50,000 plus readers in 106 countries.

The relevance of the letter comes on the heels of a huge regional tax and spend program startup with meetings to be kicked off in the month of March.

The Local Chamber of Commerce and other NGOs will be gambling billions upon billions of your tax dollars on “economic development” for our 3 state, 16 County megaregional “Thrive 2055” growth program.

The enormity of this project will be horrendously expensive and we the taxpayer will get very little benefit and we will see very little oversight by our elected leaders as non governmental organizations run amuck with your hard earned tax dollars.

The biggest message I received from this email was our locally elected representatives are not concerned with reducing our debt, only receiving more grants to spur new spending sprees. That is a fantastic summation of where our leaders are directing us with this regional growth plan.

They all “say or preach” the right thing when the press is around or hog the print to fuss about DC when they are doing the same thing only at the local level and on a smaller scale.

It’s time the citizens and ultimately taxpayers speak up and say enough is enough. We do not like the direction our County is going and we want to preserve our children’s future not gamble it away for the next federal grant that may come our way.

I think it’s high time we take responsibility for our city and county. Act responsible and live within our means for a change, cut our debt instead of mounding it on our children’s backs, robbing them of their own ability to be prosperous.

Letter to the Editor:

Gentlemen,
Let me please begin by recalling some of your quotes that are the basis of this e-mail to you all.
 
Gary Davis quote from TFP article by Paul Leach on Jan. 11 2013:

“These are all very good signs that we are slowly but surely growing our way out of this recession and, at least in Southeast Tennessee, doing our part to generate the revenue we need without raising taxes”
 
Jeff Morelock quote from TFP article by Paul Leach on Dec. 5, 2012:

“Are we going to invest in future industry here and have growth so we don’t have to increase taxes, or are we going to tell industry we’re not interested in you coming here?”
 
J. Adam Lowe from a CDB article 2/22/2013 by David Davis:

He “absolutely despises the conversation about reducing the deficit. I want to eliminate the deficit. I want to reduce the debt”.
He said his parents would pay more in taxes if they knew it would go toward paying foreign debt.
“There is not trust it will go to that”. “Their concern is that it will continue to fund programs…”
 
Each of these articles were about different issues but I found a common thread running through each of them in your quotes. All of you rail against Washington. All of you talk about how federal debt is an issue and all you ascribe to the same basic political and economic philosophies as the solution.
 
We have our own ever increasing debt problem in Bradley County and none of you talk about it (at least publicly as I can tell). It’s always about how bad things are in Washington. As a proportion we are at least as bad as Washington in this county. Is it not hypocrisy on your part to attack Washington when our situation is approaching a mirror image? And unlike Washington, you can’t just print more money until it is as worthless as the the currency became during the days of  the Wiemar Republic just preceding Hitler.
 
Instead of remaining within the bounds of what is expected of your job you take on the task of “economic development” based on the principles of sustainable development, public/private partnerships and now regional growth. We have been at this kind of activity for over 20 years now? How has it worked for us? Have all these PILOT programs, incentives and business “attraction” produced a ballooning budget surplus yet that you have so hoped for? No it hasn’t and it never will. Do you know what else? I cannot find one study, one piece of documentation anywhere that tells us this unholy alliance between big business and bigger government works. I have multiple studies from the right wing (The John Birch Society) all the way to the left wing (The NEA) as well as many other legal and academic studies that show what you are engaging in always fails. I defy you to find me one study that shows the success of government directed economic development. Understand: I want to believe it works. I want to believe that I can turn all of life’s problems over to my government and they will create a “livable community” for me. The evidence does not bare that out.
 
“Whirlpool is still here.” “Look at Volkswagen and Amazon”: is not a study. Sorry. There are always silver shovel ceremonies and short term bubbles of economic growth (makes for great headlines and photo ops) but that bubble always bursts. Then it leads to more economic development which means more debt! You promote these deals, we provide infrastructure and services at no cost to these corporations. They take federal, state and local monies in these programs. The result: either they are long gone by the time it is time for them to begin paying their full tax burden or if they are still here, we are hit up for another PILOT agreement. You are all aware of cities that have gone bankrupt such as Stockton, Cal. The big lie in the media is that it was all about out of control public employee benefits, retirements and the SEIU. I know there is some truth in part. However the real issue in these California cities is their net bonded debt that they could not pay. This debt was created by redevelopment schemes and business attraction programs just like what is being unleashed in our area now. What makes you think you will do better this time? Regionalism? Thrive 2055 will take care of it?  
 
As stated earlier; none of you suggest addressing the spending side of the equation to solve our deficit issues and spending “needs”. All of you agree that your activity will generate growth, that will generate jobs, that will generate revenue. Once again, we have been doing this for a long time, where is the budget surplus? Where is the debt reduction? Why do you still despair over a lack of revenue?

Your quotes are essentially threats to the people: let us spend this money on economic development or we will raise your taxes. Those are the only options you give. Jeff Morelock, this is especially true of your quote. You clearly give no thought to spending reduction. You want to grow the tax base to match the size of this government that continually increases. How are any of you different than Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama? I can’t tell the difference. These are the ones you probably all criticize and complain about “strings attached” as you continually take money in federal grants and sit back and act appalled at their behavior.
 
Let me make it simple and if you disagree, then at least I said my peace to you.
PILOT programs, TIF and other Tax abatements are wrong for four reasons: 
1. People like free stuff. Whether it is an individual or a corporation. I don’t blame them: they would be stupid for not taking what you are offering because if they don’t, their competition will. Once people or corporations start taking free stuff, they will never stop and demand more free stuff. I asked another county commissioner this  question to his face one time: Where does it end? He shook his head and muttered “I don’t know”. How sad of a response; yet he still votes for all this.

2. Corporations that have tax abatements do not pay for the services they consume. If you want to perform an experiment: let all county residents only pay the school portion of their property taxes for 6 months and see how far you get. And you don’t even have to build us a new fire station or a new road! The NEA study takes my position because they know the safeguards written into the law to protect school taxes does not work.

3. As you start using our tax money as an incentive do you not think other municipalities, regional entities, etc… are doing the same against us? I know in business when someone cuts a price, there is always retaliation against the price cutter. Soon a price war ensues. Gary Davis: I know you understand this: That is why you were caught on a YouTube video at the Walden Club asking our local municipalities to “stop competing with each other, that’s the point”. You said: “We don’t need to compete”. In business, that is a clear violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust act; In government, I guess you can create any sort of Cartel you want. You must be really excited about Thrive 2055. This is a whole new layer of unelected, unaccountable government who make decisions on what businesses will go where and what areas grow. However, this didn’t work in ancient Rome where it was pursued by Emporer Constantine in Constantinople. It did not work in the Soviet Union, and it will not work here. Central planning ALWAYS fails and leaves a trail of debt and poverty. Again, I will share multiple studies if you are interested.

4. NGOs like the Chamber of Commerce and quasi-government organizations like the Industrial Development board shop our tax money to people and corporations. I know these things are not your creation but your quotes and actions show you are more than willing participants. Again, these are unelected organizations and individuals that have no accountability to the people of Bradley County but declare themselves as our “representatives”. There were some very smart people who wrote our various state constitutions who outlawed the very activity the IDB engages in. I know full well these industrial development boards were created to get around state constitutional restraints that forbid municipalites from lending their credit to private comapnies or individuals. Again, many of these things came into being as a result of the New Deal and are not your doing, but they are still wrong. You can choose to not go along with this if you want. 
 
In closing,
We are poor. Let’s start acting like it. Stop complaing about Washington when in truth Washington is your life blood. We rely on federal grant money and you know it as well as I do. Its’ not just funding our local government directly from Washington – you can even look at our local “growth”. For example look at Spring Creek which is being built with HUD 221 backed financing. This is not real, organic economic growth and you know it. These developments are built with non-recourse loans with a lower down payment than any mortgage today. This is a formula for disaster. That’s exactly what caused the housing bubble in the first place! However there is always a recourse – The American taxpayer!!

Show Washington how it’s done. You have your own debt problem to deal with.
J. Adam Lowe: If you are serious about debt, I suggest you offer up a proposal to raise property tax rates in the county with all the proceeds to go to a “lock box” for debt reduction. Think about it – you can be the Ross Perot of Bradley County!! Remember he ran on a platform to tax a gallon of gasoline $.50 that went right to debt reduction? I don’t think you will get that far in your political career by pointing attention to our local debt load but it’s worth a try.

The truth of the matter is that all of you don’t want more revenue for debt reduction: you want more revenue for more spending. My proof is the wheel tax proposal that failed. More money for more borrowing.

Gentlemen, please consider going in a new direction. Consider these words and I am happy to reconsider where I am wrong in my conclusions. Can you say the same about yourselves? I have nothing against any of you personally as I have not met many of you. It’s not any of you as a person that drives me to write this: It is the political and economic philosophies you are following that I find objectionable.
 
P.S.
Let’s start by pulling out of that exit 20 land deal that the city and county paid about $4 millon dollars too much for. I would like a copy of the property assessment for that land by the way. can one of you please scan and send your copy to me?
 
Thank you for your attention,
 
Rob Bower 

Conservation Easements are a trap, think twice, then run!

Property grab any way you look at is still a property grab! Bradley County is being inundated by these conservation easements by many Land Trusts in our area.

Think twice, then run in the other direction when someone dangles the bait out in front of you like a carrot! This is bad mojo and is just another of the attempts by our federal government to take your property and your rights to this property!

When you theoretically sign your property over to this land trust company in perpetuity (forever) your property is essentially of no value to anyone except the true owners of your property, the land trust and the federal government if they decide that property is valuable to them and they want it!

You can’t even water your lawn without their ok or plant flowers or ride your jeep around on the property! Your adjoining neighbor could actually violate the terms of your conservation agreement and you would be held liable! You still pay all the bills such as property taxes, upkeep and repair but you are no longer the owner. You have become a serf on your own property and are now going to be there forever for generations to come. You have just passed slavery to every generation in your future. They will tell you it still belongs to you and that you still have all the rights, well that is not completely true!

Yes, you can tweak the contract and say for example, I want to put a flower garden down by the lake and this info will get passed to the powers that be and if you are lucky you may get to do that. But the property is no longer yours. You are now indebted for the rest of your life to the land trust and the federal government. Not and enviable position to be in.

So What Is Left Of Your
Property Rights?

Conservation Easements Are a Trap

Activities on or use of the property not
consistent with the purpose of the easement are
prohibited under a conservation easement
agreement. The following are some examples of
prohibited activities:

.
1. No soil, trash, liquid or solid waste,
hazardous materials, or pollutants defined by
federal or state law shall be dumped or placed
on the property;
.
2. Activities or uses that will be detrimental
to drainage, flood control, water conservation,
erosion control, soil conservation, or fish and
wildlife habitat conservation;
.
3. Activities or uses detrimental to the
structural integrity or physical appearance of
any portions of the property having historical,
archaeological or cultural significance;
.
4. Planting of invasive exotic plants listed by
the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council, and the
grantor shall control invasive exotic plants
on the property; (Forever at the owner’s or
their heir’s expense regardless of cause or
situation.)
.
5. Commercial or industrial activity, or
ingress or egress across or upon the property in
conjunction with any commercial or industrial
activity, except as may be required for the
exercise of the grantor’s reserved rights;
.
6. New construction or placing of buildings,
mobile homes, signs, billboards or other
structures on the property;
.
7. Creation of new roads or jeep trails;
.
8. No more intense agricultural use of the
property than currently exists on the property, if
any, and no conversion of non-agricultural areas
to agricultural use;
.
9. Activities that adversely impact threatened
or endangered species;
.
10. Any subdivision of the land.”3
(All of the above-as interpreted by the
easement holder or anyone, or any group who
purchases said easement in the future.)

1. The right to observe, maintain,
photograph, fish, hunt, introduce and stock
native fish or wildlife on the property, to use
the property for non-commercial hiking,
camping, and horseback riding, in compliance
with federal, state and local laws concerning
such activities;
2. The right to conduct prescribed burning on
the property, provided that the grantor obtain
and comply with the appropriate
authorization from the regulatory agency
having jurisdiction over this activity;
3. The right to harvest timber or other forest
products in accordance with an approved
forest management plan;
4. The right to mortgage the property;
(Common sense dictates that a parcel of land
with clouded property rights is worthless.)
5. The right to use, maintain, repair, and
reconstruct, but not relocate or enlarge, all
existing structures, fences, roads, ponds,
drainage ditches and other facilities on the
property.
As you can see, the terms of these
easements are intentionally written in a very
vague way, subject to interpretation by the
easement holder or the courts.
But the responsibility and expense to maintain
the property as the easement holder demands is
very specific and is “forever.”

The land owners and their heirs, become
mere surfs, slaves to their own property and
subject to the wishes of the easement holder-
they are caught in the Conservation Easement
Trap.

Don’t Let This Happen To YOU!

1. http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/wq/lpn/uniform.htm
2. Old Lyme, Connecticut http://www.oldlymect.
gov/Pages/OldLymeCT_BComm/Easement%20Monitoring-OL.pdf
3. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FR149
Presented by the Alliance for Citizens Rights
http://www.alabamapropertyrights.org -www.keepourrights.org

As you read this, hundreds of
well meaning land owners are losing
their homes, their land, and their
children’s inheritance because they
fell for the false promises made to
them by government agencies and
environmental groups. Thousands
more face a similar fate!

Most of these endangered
property owners believed that they
were preserving their land for future
generations. Some believed it was a
way to help their children survive in
the farming or ranching business by
getting badly needed operating cash
in these troubled times.

All loved their land and their
way of life and dreamed of saving
them both from destruction. But now
their land and their dreams are
being brutally taken from them.

They are caught in the
“Conservation Easement
Trap.”

Those who believe that they will be
allowed to continue living on the land or
get a tax write-off or a “tax credit” (which
they can sell to others to generate cash)
are easy targets for this massive, well
planned land grab scheme. This scheme is
designed to steal the rights to your land,
deprive you of its use, and eventually
transfer title to either a government agency
or an environmental group.

As an example: In Colorado right now
hundreds of land owners who used an
easement plan sanctioned by both the
state and Federal governments, are being
threatened with losing everything they own.

You see, once the state of Colorado
realized how much revenue they would
lose because of these land trusts, they
found a way to back out of the deal. When
Colorado backed out, this gave the IRS an
excuse to disallow all tax deductions given
to land owners and also disallow all tax
credits sold on these easements.

The taxes, penalties, and fines
accessed by the IRS amount to more than
the present value of the land. Plus,
individuals who bought “tax credits” from
the land owners are suing to recover their
losses.

With title to the land so clouded, no
individual will buy it, no bank will loan on it,
and it has no economic value to anyone
except the government or the
environmental group who hold the
easement. The IRS will either take the land
or sell it at auction to satisfy the tax debt.

By law, the title holder CANNOT have a
conservation easement on his own land.
Therefore, should the easement holder
also gain title to the land-the easement
automatically goes away!

In the end, the land owners will have lost
everything and the easement holder will
have gained clear, un-encumbered title to
this very valuable property.

The Uniform Conservation Act was created
in 1981 and recommended for use by all states
by the National Conference of Commissioners
on Uniform State Laws.

A conservation easement is an encumbrance sometimes including a transfer of usage rights (easement) — which creates a legally
enforceable land preservation agreement
between a landowner and a government agency
(municipality, county, state, federal) or a
qualified land protection organization (often
called a “land trust”), for the purposes of
conservation. It restricts real estate
development, commercial and industrial uses,
and certain other activities on a property to a
mutually agreed upon level. The property
remains the private property of the landowner.
The decision to place a conservation
easement on a property is strictly a voluntary
one where the easement is sold or donated. The
restrictions of the easement, once set in place,
“run with the land” and are binding on all future
owners of the property (in other words, the
restrictions are perpetual). The restrictions are
spelled out in a legal document that is recorded
in the local land records and the easement
becomes a part of the chain of title for the
property. Thus, a potential buyer of the
property would limit his offer to the value of the
few remaining property rights.

Violations

The following is common policy for
governments (local & state) that enacted the
model Conservation Easement Act:

“An easement violation may be
discovered through a visit or by
casual observation or reported by a
third party. The violation may have
been caused by the property owner, an
adjacent property owner or a third
party trespasser.”

(Consider carefully the last sentence – an
action by a neighbor or a trespasser could be
declared a “violation” with you as the
responsible party.)
Serious violations, the policy concludes,
prohibit construction or subdivision, (dividing
your property i.e. to give a lot to a child)
excavation, and timbering without an approved
forest management plan. All of the forgoing
“require a swift and definitive response.”
Rights Granted to the Grantee (easement
holder) MAY include but is not limited to the
following”
“1.The right to preserve and protect the
conservation values of the property;
2. The right to enter the property at reasonable
times in order to monitor compliance with the
agreement;
3. The right to prevent any activity on or use of
the property that is not consistent with the
purpose or provisions of the easement and to
require the restoration of areas or features of
the property that may be damaged by
inconsistent activity or use at the grantor’s
(owner’s) cost;
4.The right of first refusal to purchase the
property in fee if the grantor proposes to sell
the property to a third party other than a lineal
descendant, and the right to purchase the
property from the estate or trust of the grantor
(void if easement is a charitable donation for no
consideration);
5. The right to be indemnified by grantor for
any and all liability, loss, damage, expense,
judgment or claim arising out of any
negligence, willful action or activity resulting
from the grantor’s use of the property or use of
the property by the grantor’s agents, guests,
lessees, or invitees.”3 (The easement holder has
no liability, it all falls on the property owner.) 

Source of info: Bear Witness Central, visit the blog site, very interesting and informative!

“Slippery slope” of taxing the poor and shifting costs to the middle is Bradley County wheel tax dilemma

Have you ever walked on ice? Have you ever walked on ice in dress shoes? You know the kind with no grip! Just pure leather and once it gets cold and hard it is almost impossible to stand! Now add a grade to that, attempt to stand at the top of the hill and maintain ground! Next to impossible! Right?

Well the Bradley County Commission has once again chosen to walk the slippery path instead of just simply putting their house in order! The slippery slope (Wheel tax exemptions) has been identified and it is going to be pretty much everyone that doesn’t have a job or is making under the poverty line for income, which leaves the
middle hardworking class to foot the bill!

What do I mean? Let me attempt to tell you! We are talking about the “wheel tax”, yes the same ole tax that failed a few years ago by referendum because the commission has once again chosen to put the debt on you the citizen they are supposed to protect and represent.

We are talking of tax exemptions to be exact, who is exempt from paying the wheel tax, that slippery slope, so to speak! The term used by no less than 3 commissioners and others on a few occasions. The decision to tax the poor and impoverished or tax the working class! It seems it always one or the other, not both! Pretty much the way Washington is sticking it to the working class! Either way, a new wheel tax leaves many unhappy!

Yes folks, the first vote of the commission was to tax the poor as well as the middle and the upper incomes! ” It’s a fair tax for everyone, it’s a bold move by the education committee” as Martin Ringstaff, Director of Cleveland City Schools, has been recorded as saying in past meetings.

“We have got to show the people why we need it!” , Chairman of the School Board Charlie Rose was overheard saying also.

The people, everyone, fair tax for all! That is the problem! It shows a disconnect from the people who represent us and the people who are doing the representing! With obviously no accounting for the impact a new tax has on the repressed and unfortunate in this City and County!

While researching the raw data, in this case, the US Census data, it is easy to distinguish who the poor are in Bradley County and who by County Commission vote who will end of footing the bulk of the new wheel tax! The middle class!

Here is my version of the “slippery slope !”

The data displayed below is easily confirmed by US Census data and can easily be googled for easy verification and I will even conveniently provide a few links below at the bottom of this blog.

In Bradley county we have a few more than 98,000 people in our community. The following is a breakdown of the demographic of that population according to the latest US Census data that will either be exempt or taxed heavily with a new wheel tax.

There are 23 percent that are under the age of 18 years old, of those 16 to 18 year olds probably make less than poverty level income. So, the first people attacked are the kids! Those in high school, struggling to get gas much less another 32 dollars for a wheel tax, granted a parent may go ahead and pay but the burden is still there.

14.1 percent are over the age of 65, again on fixed incomes and hating another tax bill.

16 percent in Bradley County live below the poverty level, many of which will be those with very little expendable income. 7,740 Veterans in this county! Many of which are disabled and below the poverty line or homeless.

8 percent of the county workforce are self employed, entrepreneurs or just laborers just getting by with occasional day to day work.

3.6 percent are illegal immigrants with no defineable income and no tax status whatsoever except when they consume. 1,407 live in college dorms and are probably struggling to make ends meet and have probably registered dads or moms car in another state anyway.

2 percent are either in nursing homes, in a local jail, or are in a group home or have been deemed mentally impaired.

If my math is correct this accumulates to about 60 percent of the population of Bradley County that are poor, repressed, at poverty level income, homeless or mentally incapable of making their own decisions! Roughly 60,000 people are affected and poor!

Initially, they are the ones being targeted for yet another tax. After much talk about who is exempt or not, some talk about who in the heck are we going to tax, it now appears the bullseye is hovering over the working class, the middle income earners who are trying to make their way and rely on hard work to support our families with minimal to no assistance from the government!

You may be saying not all of them drive! This tax doesnt affect them! At one point in the year all these mentioned will need a vehicle to either go to church, the grocery store, a group outing, leisure, vacation, a doctors appointment or simply a trip to the hospital and etc! They all rely on someone else for that transportation, in most cases close family or just do gooders wanting to contribute. Many of which are in the same boat as them. So fairly, it is safe to say they are all represented by a vehicle that is getting taxed!

There are 86,000 vehicle registered in Bradley County along with 3,000 motorcycles! With those numbers, you can say that roughly 70 to 80 percent of the people in Bradley County will be affected by this tax! Although many poor will be affected, in reality, most of the working class have two or more vehicles and will receive the yearly 64 to 160 dollar wheel tax bill! Most of the tax burden!

With the median home income rate of around 39,000 dollars you can see easily how another tax lifted and placed on you will further burden a “middle incomer” causing greater harm to you, while your government reaps the benefit of you punching the clock!

The Chattanoogan reported this morning and quoting Mayor Gary Davis, “the county wide wheel tax cannot happen the way it is currently written!” Mayor Davis went on to say “you want to give tax exemptions to low income elderly using the list from the trustees office, which doesn’t include them all! There are a lot of low income elderly that live in apartments, they are not property owners. I assume you want to give all low income elderly the same exemption, but it is not addressed that way in your resolution!”

Jeff Yarber referred again to that “slippery slope” again. He said, “This is that slippery slope that I was talking about. My thought processes on that was to not use the trustees list, but to use the process that the trustee has. The burden of proof falls on the individual!” Really? The burden must fall on the citizen to prove they are poor, in-firmed, repressed or homeless to be exempt from a wheel tax!

It was even suggested at one point to go ahead and tax the poor then on the backside the poor taxpayer will have to prove to the government that they are indeed poor and then they can get reimbursed! Really? This is taxation without representation! Have you ever tried to come up with 32 dollars when you don’t have it? Come on guys! Let’s get real!

Amy Moore, said “to gather names of low income elderly would require additional county staffing!” Here the door is being opened for yet another tax!

County Chairman Louie Alford added “Once you start down that slippery slope, it’s hard to get stopped!” The slippery slope started when you decided to tax the poor, the middle class in a very down economy! The slippery slope gets slicker when bureaucrats would rather tax the peasants than make the hard decisions needed to right our problem!

After last nights meeting this resolution was suggested it get referred back to the education committee then I am assuming will come back to the commission for a revised vote!

A side note! While back in the education committee I encourage you to look at why this problem of “no money” really exists in our school system! I believe if you look methodically at the problem you will find it!
Here indeed comes that slippery slope of taxing your poor in Bradley County! These folks are struggling to stay alive! To feed their 2.8 children or more is becoming a bigger and bigger chore!

My heart reaches out to these folks! They are truly in need! They need more in one day than I may need in one year! With that said, if we further exempt certain veterans, homeless, mentally challenged, poor, poverty level, illegals immigrants the burden shifts to the middle income! Me and most of you!

While compiling this data and defending the elderly and the poor I soon realized that the majority of this wheel tax will fall on the people who are broke on a different level after the numerous exemptions are made. A lose lose for all!

Many of whom after paying bills and taxes have very little in the form of spendable income! This my friends is a shift called social engineering, a tax shift to distribute income equally among the poor! Socialist call this redistribution of wealth or social justice! Many on the commission will fade away from this acknowledgement but this exactly what it is! Taking from those that have and distributing to those who have not!

Roughly 39 percent of the population in Bradley County make 100,000 down to poverty level! About 5 percent make 150,000 or more! The shift of all the taxes to this group greatly makes the burden heavier for the middle incomers and a little harder for them to provide for their own!

Don’t fool yourself to think a family income of 100,000 is alot! With college tuition rising, groceries and mortgages to include property taxes and other taxes, very little is left over once the bills have been paid!

Wealth distribution, socialism, takes from the “rich” and gives to the poor! This seems to be the expressed mantra of our elected leaders!

A tax is a tax! A slippery slope is a slippery slope no matter how you slice it! We are facing billions more in debt because of recent “growth plans” being proposed! This will not be the only tax in our near future!

This is merely a gateway tax, a tax that only opens the door for more taxes! This in my opinion is where the slope gets really slippery! Many hard working taxpayers and citizens start slipping down that “slippery slope” of poverty because of the government placing tax after tax on it’s wage earners! One tax may not tip the scale of a middle incomer into the poverty ranks, but one thing for sure is eventually the steady stream of new taxes will eventually tilt the scale and begin the fall of a hardworking citizen. Soon, that taxpayer is punch drunk and lying on their backs looking up to the government for a handout! This is true socialism Bradley Countians! Burden the free citizen till they slip and fall, while being forced to cry out to the ones who just cut both hands off, you have socialism perfected!

The schools are asking for a few new classrooms, a new school or two and past debt in the amount of around 30 million, the city will get their share of about 12 million to help build another school, my goodness will it ever stop!

We have a school board that allows students from surrounding counties and a few states to go to school here in Bradley County, why don’t we restrict the students to the schools they are zoned for and I bet we won’t have such a big problem! I would safely say hundreds of kids are in our system that don’t belong there!

My issue is this, it seems ok to absorb all these out of state and county students till you start asking the citizens to pay for another counties financial burden with more taxes!

City Councilman Bill Estes summed this whole situation up pretty well, he said ” A wheel tax is unbelieveably regressive and hurts the poor!” But he went on to advocate for a property tax.

County Commissioner Ed Elkins has said “people are saying they would rather have a property tax than a wheel tax!”

To all listening, the majority of Bradley Countians and Clevelanders are tired of paying more and more taxes! We are tax heavy! Great percentages of our income is taxed and Bradley County is not making it any easier on us to live here!

I challenge each and everyone of you to rethink any new taxes! We are in a down economy and most everyone is struggling! The debt that education is placing on it’s citizens cannot be carried much longer. A 60 plus million dollar education debt is enough! The debt burden on the horizon in the billions will only get larger as we shift costs to the massive growth plan already in the works!

Let’s simply ask the schools to look into why they are in such debt and spending unwisely! Let’s ask them why is it that no matter what amount of money we spend on our schools we get the same mediocre results? I believe the answer is easily out in the open if someone dare look!

Let’s get all our houses in order! We are out of control! It is time we get people in office to do the work that will not be done by the ones we have chosen to represent us! The time is right!

We must take steps to save our county, put our children’s future in sight and say any decisions must be well thought out and the first response should not be to raise taxes on the poor and not shift that cost to the middle class!

NO NEW TAXES, LESS GOVERNMENT, MORE FREEDOM!

Agenda 21: Sally Absher TN State Executive Committeewoman speaks up about Agenda 21

It was only a matter of time before our politicians would finally see the light. The RNC, the GOP, select Democrats and State Executive Committeewoman Sally Absher are now speaking loudly and are talking about the dreaded Regional Growth Plan and it’s close ties to Agenda 21.

Also on board recently and sounding the alarm is Tn State Executive Committee Woman Peggy Lambert and State Senator Jim Summerfield!

On the flip side, the opposite is true in Bradley County and the region! Chattanooga/ICLEI/Recalled Mayor Ron Littlefield/Beth Jones/Bradley Planner Corey Divel/Mayor Gary Davis/Mayor Tom Rowland/State Representative Kevin Brooks and many others in Bradley County are still pushing the Agenda 21 Growth Plan as the “plan of all plans” despite warnings from within their own party!

Please stay tuned and read the letter below from Sally Absher! You will clearly see the line of demarcation that is continuing to divide our state! Some continue to move forward, while others like Sally, Peggy and Jim are attempting to halt it!

I can’t figure why the “powers that be”, the decision “makers and shakers” of this huge unconstitutional tax burdened, highly regulated, land grabbing growth project are still moving forward as fast as they can while their State Executives and the RNC are saying halt!

On the other hand, I believe I do understand! As a father of three, I think I am qualified to make this judgement call. They are acting as a child in a candy store wanting that one piece of candy they can’t have. In this case that one big federal grant, and they are lying on the floor, on their back and are kicking and screaming, “Daddy told me if I was a good boy, I could get that piece of candy or in this case a few measly million dollars of grant money, and I’m gonna lay here and resist till I get my way!” “Because the Mayors are saying its good for the local economy!!!”

It is obvious to me that special interest, lobbyist, the PPPs and the NGOs have got our politicians ear, not the parties that are representative of the people! This is the sadness of all this!

We are witnessing the slide of our political machine that is supposed to be representative of the people, melt off into the abyss! Our local, State and Federal bureaucrats have let the proverbial cheese fall off the cracker! The lust for money, the promise of power, greed and a misdirected plan has hijacked our local representatives and are unfortunately are influencing their decisions!

They are no longer representatives of the people but are minions, stooges, dare I say, “useful idiots” of an International Socialist engineering scheme that has captured and took over any decision making skills they may have had!

I feel sorry for the whole lot! Can you imagine where they are now! They have gone from, in a very short time of being the hero, the bringer (if that’s a word) home of the big piece of the pie to the persons who are now being held responsible for engineering the scheme that makes us a socialist nation with bigger plans for the eventual takeover of our country by a New World Order!

Now because of their poor leadership, people in their districts will soon be living in POD communities, stacked in little HUD houses, looking begrudgingly at the next scourge that may wipe out parts of the population so that we can be sustainable!

Because of these elected people, we are now living in highly regulated, annexed and expanding Urban Growth Development areas while assisting the UN in decreasing sprawl and living around uninhabital land reserves placed within a color zone!

We gotta annex so we can get those extra tax dollars from the ones we represent, you know!

In the meantime, we are witnessing the greatest loss of our freedom and sovereignty by land grabs and horrendous land use regulations of our time?

Can you imagine why they are not backing down after numerous calls from their leadership? It’s a pride thing now, we are in way too deep! Turning around now would mean they were right and I was wrong!

I believe honestly they would rather go to their grave knowing they destroyed our country than acknowledge that they were wrong! I see the quandry, I understand, I feel the pain, I really do! But it’s high time to do the right thing and reverse course! I understand feeling you are too deep into this diabolical international plan to turn tail now! But we must be realistic here!

I feel it is time to make it right and save face! I must either forge on or I must get slapped in the face with a big ole piece of humble pie!

Dont be that “useful idiot” too proud of this Regional project to ever save face. Its time to put on our big boy panties, suck it up, be a big man and admit to wrong doing and change course!

I can’t imagine a representative of the people continuing to fight till the last breath against cries from within their own party or from their constituency, but I imagine there is a few that will!

This house of deception is crumbling fast as more and more people are seeing it’s real intent! I would not personally want to be still holding the bag when it collapses!

Many lives are being directed into your imperfect storm! It’s time to guide them to safety! Let’s disassociate with ICLEI and shove off this International inspired growth plan, watch the free market take care of this growth thing all by it’s self with the best interest of the people in mind!

Don’t be that adult child that screams and pitches a fit long after they have been told “no!” Be the man or woman you were elected to be and represent the people!

The letter from one of our Tennessee State Executive Women Sally Absher to Adam Nickas , Executive Director, Tennessee Republican Party!

Adam Nickas
Executive Director
Tennessee Republican Party
(615) 269-4260
adam@tngop.org
http://www.tngop.org

Dear SEC Members, County Chairs, Young Republicans, College Republicans, and others,

First I would like to thank Peggy Lambert, our RNC Executive Committeewoman, for her report last Saturday in which she identified “the social engineering program known as Agenda 21” as one of the top issues for the RNC this year. This is a very complex topic, and there are many components to the UN’s Agenda 21, from education policy to restricting rural development to “smart growth” in our urban areas. But the two areas that impact citizens across the state are the policies that affect the rural areas, and urban areas of our counties. We have seen an explosion in “Comprehensive Plans” – some at the county level, some encompassing multiple counties or even extending across state lines, as with the Chattanooga area’s 16 County 40 Year Plan. It is up to us to dig beneath the surface, and expose the over-reach of government and the waste and abuse of tax dollars to support these programs. Please understand – I am all for conservation and being a good steward of the resources the Lord gave me. What I am against is restriction of personal property rights and government making decisions on where people can live, work, and how they can get around in their community.

I have attached two fact sheets that will quickly bring you up to speed on the basics, as well as a figure showing the state of Tennessee from the stimulated reserve and corridor map that Dr. Michael Coffman drew up based on the Global Biodiversity Assessment Report and the US and UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program (google these). What you need to know is that this is the end plan, unless we stop this now. As with most incremental plans, this won’t happen all at once, but ultimately, red areas will be completely off-limits to all human activity, yellow and green areas are limited use areas (agriculture, etc. – for now). All people will live inside the black dots on the map, in “stack ’em and pack ’em” high rise apartments. No lake houses. No mountain cabins. No suburbs. You can also search YouTube for the video “Agenda 21 for Dummies” – about 9 minutes long. It’s a little dated and the ending is a bit hokey, but it is a good introduction to some of the national figures who have been in this battle for the past 20 years.

This is a lot of information to toss to you at once. There are several good speakers on this topic across the state, so if you would like for someone to make a presentation to your GOP club or organization, please let me know and I will help you get that set up. Another thing to remember is that this is a non-partisan issue (or maybe it is a bi-partisan issue). George H.W. Bush signed the agreement at the Rio Conference in 1992; Bill Clinton created the President’s Council on Sustainability; Mayors and Governors of both parties embraced these programs in order to receive federal grant money, and Barack Obama (along with the EPA) is pushing the pedal to the metal as far as implementing this. EO 13575, which established the White House Rural Council. This should be of concern to everyone who lives in a county with rural areas. It will be to the GOP’s advantage to get out in front of this quickly, but don’t hesitate to try to educate democrats as well. You might want to check out Rosa Koire’s book “Behind the Green Mask: UN Agenda 21” available at Amazon for $14.37.

My apologies to the folks in the Chattanooga area who already received some of this information! Thanks for taking the time to learn a bit about this, and again, I urge you to do a search on the computer for “sustainable development” and your county or city. Or “comprehensive plan” and your county or city. You might be surprised by what you find!

Sally Absher
Tennessee Republican Party
State Executive Committee SD 6
865-621-3765

Tennessee Reserve and Corridor.pdf
TN Reserve initiatives and Corridor info
(1.16 MiB) Downloaded 11 times

The Sustainability Dilemma2.pdf
The Sustainability Dilema
(193.77 KiB) Downloaded 13 times

The Sustainability Paradox2.pdf
The Paradox
(133.7 KiB) Downloaded 11 times

Environmentalist: No more fishing along California’s 1,100 mile coastline

Hot off the press! The environmentalist are taking off strong on the first day of the year as they have secured the coastline from these awful recreational and commercial fishermen that are “destroying the coastline.”

Three of five regions in California are closed to any fishing for perpetuity (forever)! 1,100 miles of coastline, mostly in southern California!

No other stated reason than they want to protect the “underwater parks” and to restock the fish supply! That was it! Based on what? Wasted false and inaccurate scientific data?

What if they just decide to do this anywhere? Let’s say Bradley County! No fishing in the lakes! Starting tomorrow! Think anybody would care? I can tell you by past examples of federal intrusion into our lives our elected officials will not say a word, because they fear they will fall out of favor with the givers of grant money! During the last love fest over the Chattanooga Regional Growth Plan, they cut off anything that may dangle from their mid section!

Why do we allow this? I gaurantee you we are not to far off from the day when we will not be able to fish our waterways! The EPA is all over us now! It is just a matter of time and when they do!

When that day comes and it will, and it makes you really mad, make four phone calls immediately when you have to hang up the pole and tackle! First call me and say “you said it was coming, just because my childish ego wants you to know I knew! Second call should be to your mayors x 2 and the elected councils and commissions and say “why did you remain silent and complicit?” , third call to our State Representatives Kevin Brooks, Eric Watson and Mike Bell and say “why didn’t you stop this while it was still in it’s infancy and was that little bit of grant money worth our freedom!”, fourth call to your momma, cause you are going to need a shoulder to cry on!

Limits on coastal fishing take effect

COUNTY: Waters off Peninsula are among newly protected areas.
By Melissa Pamer, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/01/2012 01:00:00 AM PST
Updated: 01/01/2012 09:56:59 AM PST

Part of Point Dume off Malibu, where a canyon and kelp reef provide a fish nursery, will be protected under a new law. (Michael Owen Baker / Staff Photographer)

Starting today, fishing will be halted or limited in some 15 percent of Southern California’s most bountiful ocean waters under a new landmark environmental protection initiative.

From Point Conception in Santa Barbara County south to the Mexico border, more than 350 square miles of open sea will become state marine protected areas. These underwater parks, the result of a long-running planning process that often pitted fishermen against environmentalists in a passionate tug-of-war, are meant to protect crucial marine habitat and boost fish stocks.

Los Angeles County will see two marine protected areas on the edges of Santa Monica Bay: off Point Vicente and Abalone Cove on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and off Point Dume in Malibu.

“It’s hugely important,” said Sarah Sikich, coastal resources director with the environmental advocacy group Heal the Bay. “We’re very excited that the MPAs that have been worked on so deeply over the past several years in Southern California are finally taking effect.”

But most fishermen aren’t so excited.

Joel Greenberg, chairman of the Southern California chapter of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, said there’s broad reaction among recreational and commercial fishermen to the new MPAs.
“There’s everything from `Oh, my bacon didn’t get fried’ to real misery because their best fishing grounds appear to be closed for perpetuity,” Greenberg said.

A longtime fisherman, Greenberg maintains that despite dozens of public meetings, the process in the end was “top down” – meaning the closures were imposed by state officials despite the outcry of many fishermen.

Sikich and Greenberg were among 60-plus stakeholders who began meeting in 2008 to debate, draw and redraw boundaries of proposed closure areas as part of the implementation of a 1999 law called the Marine Life Protection Act. Meetings of a committee overseeing the process sometimes drew more than 1,000 attendees.

In December 2010, the state Fish and Game Commission approved boundaries for MPAs in the South Coast region, the third of five regions along the state’s 1,100-mile coastline to undergo the process. Densely populated and heavily used, the Southern California coast proved especially contentious.

The final decision, approved on a split vote and billed as a compromise between fishing and environmental groups, left some unsatisfied. Overall, 37 new protected areas were established, extending to the edge of state waters, 3 miles from the coastline.

Battles were intense over Rocky Point on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, a prime fishing spot that has some of the most pristine habitat in Southern California, and over Point Dume, where a submarine canyon and kelp reef provide a fish nursery and rich waters for anglers.

Ultimately, Rocky Point was left open while a less productive area off the Peninsula will be protected.

About 15 square miles off Point Vicente will be closed to fishing; an adjacent 5 square-mile conservation area at Abalone Cove will allow some spearfishing and take of squid, as well as some commercial fishing.

Greenberg questioned whether the state would create a “poacher’s haven” by creating additional responsibilities for fish and wildlife wardens without providing new funding and resources.

Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for the Department of Fish and Game, said there are 75 wildlife officers in Southern California, along with three large patrol boats and fleet of skiffs. Patrols are deployed to best protect state resources, she said.

Beginning today, enforcement is at the discretion of wardens and can range from a warning to arrest, depending on the situation, she said. Fishermen, she said, are generally “self-regulating.”

Witnesses to poaching or polluting are encouraged to call the department’s confidential tip line at 888-DFG-CALTIP.

“We’ve done our best with outreach,” Traverso said. “I’m sure that there will be different challenges. I don’t think we have any expectations of things that can’t be overcome through education.”

Funding for wildlife enforcement in Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012 budget will be unveiled in coming weeks.

IS THE SOROS-SPONSORED ‘AGENDA 21’ A HIDDEN PLAN FOR WORLD GOVERNMENT? (YES, ONLY IT IS NOT HIDDEN

Bradley County Tennessee is in the throws of a takeover by the United Nations, ICLEI, the EPA, DOT and HUD. This takeover of our county is being orchestrated by our local Mayors with a hidden agenda! They have ample assistance from our state elected leaders and are being directed by the Chattanooga Regional Growth plan for a 16 county, 3 state implementation of Agenda 21 into our community! No longer is this a conspiracy theory, this is real life and real time! You think your taxes are bad now? Just wait!

We have stepped into the middle of the most expensive and expansive growth project that will directly change and alter our lives for many generations to come!

If you just sit back and think, why is there such a push to make all these plans a reality in every county in the USA? The obvious answer is it is something big and has a very big payoff for certain individuals! One very sinister man that is directing the onslaught and stands to gain financially from the implementation of Agenda 21 is George Soros! Become familiar with this person. He has single handedly destroyed economies in several countries! Become familiar with him! Google him and see what I mean! Enjoy and have a blessed day!

Call your elected leaders from local to federal and tell them NO to ICLEI and the George Soros sponsored Agenda 21 programs that will forever change our country!

GOVERNMENT:
IS THE SOROS-SPONSORED ‘AGENDA 21’ A HIDDEN PLAN FOR WORLD GOVERNMENT? (YES, ONLY IT IS NOT HIDDEN)
Posted on June 14, 2011 at 5:44am by Mike Opelka

What is Agenda 21?  If you do not know about it, you should.

Agenda 21 is a two-decade old, grand plan for global ’Sustainable Development,’ brought to you from the United Nations. George H.W. Bush (and 177 other world leaders) agreed to it back in 1992, and in 1995, Bill Clinton signed Executive Order #12858, creating a Presidential Council on ‘Sustainable Development.’ This effectively pushed the UN plan into America’s large, churning government machine without the need for any review or discussion by Congress or the American people.

‘Sustainable Development’ sounds like a nice idea, right?  It sounds nice, until you scratch the surface and find that Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development are really cloaked plans to impose the tenets of Social Justice/Socialism on the world.

At risk from Agenda 21;

Private Property ownership
Single-Family homes
Private car ownership and individual travel choices
Privately owned farms
The Agenda 21 plan openly targets private property.  For over thirty-five years the UN has made their stance very clear on the issue of individuals owning land;

Land… cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes. The provision of decent dwellings and healthy conditions for the people can only be achieved if land is used in the interest of society as a whole.

Source: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat I),Vancouver, BC, May 31 – June 11, 1976. Preamble to Agenda Item 10 of the Conference Report.

There are two more, very good reasons to be wary of Agenda 21 and the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) that supports it: George Soros and the United Nations. Soros money has been tracked to funding parts of ICLEI ;

In 1997, George Soros’s Open Society gave ICLEI a $2,147,415 grant to support its Local Agenda 21 Project

As regards the UN, that organization‘s problems with America’s appreciation of freedom and self-determination is one that needs no explanation.

Currently in California, Agenda 21 is working to implement plans to create plans for sustainable management of ‘open spaces.‘ The definition of what is to be considered an ’open space’ has sparked some heated exchanges between those directing the planning meetings and citizens who want private property rights to be respected and protected. (The East Bay Tea Party video featuring a Liberal Democrat arguing against ICLEI can be seen at the end of this article.)

This type of global plan could not be implemented without a large and well-funded group pushing through its priorities. For that, Agenda 21 has the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). And ICLEI is deeply entrenched in America;

ICLEI USA was launched in 1995 and has grown from a handful of local governments participating in a pilot project to a solid network of more than 600 cities, towns and counties actively striving to achieve tangible reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and create more sustainable communities. ICLEI USA is the domestic leader on climate protection and adaptation, and sustainable development at the local government level.
Over six hundred cities,towns and counties in America are members of ICLEI? Do you support your local government agreeing to rules and regulations set up by a UN-based organization that wants private property transferred to government control? If you would like to see if your community is a member of ICLEI, you can visit their website.

Austin, Texas is one city that seems to have fallen for the ICLEI/Agenda 21 and was heavily consuming the ‘Communitariasm’ Kool-aid. A local group called Texans For Accountable Government saw what was happening and attempted to stop the Austin City Council from adopting some Agenda 21-friendly initiatives. One of TAG’s members, John Bush, delivered a succinct presentation on ICLEI and Agenda 21 that was virtually ignored. Watch his short argument against the proposed local law immediately followed by the lopsided vote adopting the plan.

In the world of business Agenda 21 is not a free market friend, preferring PPPs or Private Public Partnerships where the government decides which companies will receive tax breaks and are allowed to stay in business. In light of this realization, the cozy relationship between the current administration and GE (a company that paid no tax in 2010) should raise eyebrows. And the WH efforts to tell Boeing in which state they can operate seems to further bolster the belief that Agenda 21 ideals are already making headway in America.

The seeds for Agenda 21 were planted back in 1987 when the writings of Gro Harlem Brundtland (a woman who was first Vice-President of the Socialist International) caught the eye of the UN.  Dr. Brundtland wrote a report for the UN called, ‘Our Common Future’ eventually got into the business of environmentalism as a tool to control all the people of the world and establish a global government. The growth of ICLEI and the framework being put in place by supporters of Agenda 21 appear to be bringing Dr. Brundtland’s ideas closer to reality.

In recent months, many groups have stepped up and have begun fighting this attack on our freedoms and are attempting to notify the masses of this takeover of out sovereignty and eventually our freedom!

Seek out a Tea Party and help offer a solution! Join a group and get busy notifying others across the nation!

Let’s begin to look for an alternative to the socialist ideas of a fix and let’s get back to the constitution and return to our forefathers idea of a strong America and let’s magnify what it stands for!

God bless us!

Urban Growth Boundary rapidly expanding, City plans to annex Mouse Creek, Wacker and Amazon

This article from the Banner was actually well written and full of facts so I am sharing with you!

It appears the City Mayor and the City Council are on the move again with multiple Annexes and rezoning requests!

I love it that the Banner reports that through an “impromptu” meeting by the City Council that several items were voted on! This to me seems that it was not on the agenda for public digestion, thus if the public doesn’t get notified, then there will be no opposition to this annexation! Is this legal? Maybe someone with more learning than me can set the record straight!

Also, who in the world allows these elected officials to gobble up the County and why are we allowing it? Again, maybe someone can help me out here!

Mouse Creek Corridor to consume Wacker, Amazon, two truck stops all the way up to exit 33! Am I just imagining this or are we witnessing that land grab that my elected leaders said would not happen? We are witnessing Agenda 21 perfected in Bradley County Tennessee! Not a single word from our County Commissioners! I can’t figure this one out! Please read the article below, notify your neighbors who may live around this area and tell them their environment is getting ready to change forever and taxes are fixing to go through the roof!

City to launch Mouse Creek corridor annexation
by DAVID DAVIS, Managing Editor

The Cleveland City Council passed two impromptu resolutions Monday that directed staff to begin the process of annexation and invite Bradley County to participate in a countywide floodplain study.

The Council voted unanimously to direct staff to begin the process of annexing the Mouse Creek corridor all the way to Cleveland Utilities Waste Water Treatment Plant on the Hiwassee River.

The corridor includes Wacker Polysilicon North America, Amazon.com, East Coast Lighting Distribution Center and two truck stops at Exit 33 of Interstate 75.

The Mouse Creek corridor would have to be brought into the urban growth boundary in two pieces. The first annexation could not take place before 2013.

The process of annexation begins by expanding the city’s urban growth boundary which is about a six-month process. The area is attractive to the city because municipalities are required to provide services to incorporated areas and sewer service is the most expensive cost up front. However, that service is available to residents along the existing sewer main between the city and the treatment plant.

“Any area already served by sewer is obviously not going to impact like it would if we took a subdivision they couldn’t get sewer to,” said Development and Engineering Services Director Jonathan Jobe. “When we did our study on Mouse Creek Road, there was talk about another interstate exit where you could alleviate a lot of traffic off Mouse Creek Road and that would be something you’d want to initiate.”

The city includes an area of 28.77 square miles. By law, the Council can annex 25 percent of the city’s area every two years, which amounts to about seven square miles.

The last major expansion of the urban growth boundary and annexation occurred in October 2010 when the city extended its boundary southward to bring in the proposed 343-acre Spring Branch Industrial Park. Also included in the expanded growth boundary was the 357-acre Cleveland Municipal Airport alongside Michigan Avenue Road and Dry Valley Road. The Council only recently completed annexation of the 357-acre municipal airport.

Hardwick Farm, which includes about 678 acres between Stuart Road and Tasso Lane, and from North Lee Highway up to Urbane Road is scheduled to be incorporated into the city in February 2012. The plan does not include existing subdivisions between the farm and Urbane Road.

The other impromptu resolution simply directs City Manager Janice Casteel to invite Bradley County to participate in a countywide floodplain study. The city has allocated $300,000 to fund the local share of a floodplain study in the city.

On other regular agenda items, the Council passed the following by a 7-0 vote:

– Resolution 2011-107 approved an additional and amended contract with Warren Moberg and David Watts, for providing services to meet the requirements of the Targeted Crime Reduction Grant.

n Ordinance 2011-26 to rezone 357 acres of the new airport property at 4505 Michigan Avenue Road N.E. and 261 Dry Valley Road N.E. from Rural Agriculture (RA) to Light Industrial (IL).

– Ordinance 2011-27 for rezoning a property yet to be addressed on Michigan Avenue Road Industrial Highway (IH) to High Density Single and Multi-family Dwelling District (R3).

– Ordinance 2011-28 for rezoning a property yet to be addressed on Peach Orchard Hill Drive from Single Residential (RI) to Low Density Residential (R2).

– Ordinance 2011-29 to amend the Zoning Code’s downtown parking requirements.

– Ordinance 2011-30 to amend PUD8 on 25thStreet/APD40 to change the number of units in Phase II from 144 to 112. (p. 24-38).

ICLEI: Understanding the connection to Chattanooga, Bradley County and the UN

ICLEI-International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives
Link-(copy and paste in google or other)

http://www.uneca.org/itca/governance/Decentralization.htm

ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability was founded in 1990 by local governments at the United Nations Headquarters in New York as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). ICLEI is a democratically governed membership association of cities, towns, counties, metropolitan governments, and local government associations. Its headquarter is located in Toronto, Canada.

The above information is directly from the http://www.UN.org website!

This information was not generated by me nor did I in anyway manipulate the material provided! This compiled information came straight from the source, the United Nations and ICLEI!

Bradley County, Mayors Tom Rowland and Gary Davis and 15 other counties in a 3 state region have joined with Chattanooga, Mayor Ron Littlefield(who are very supportive members of ICLEI and other NGOs Non Governmental Organizations), mainly the Chamber of Commerce who enjoys “chief consultative status” at the United Nations and are joining forces with the EPA, HUD and the DOT to enter into a full scale assault into our community with the Regional Growth Plan beginning January 2012!

This initiative is not understood by our Locally elected officials nor do they know what it is about but they are so willing to remain silent while the Federal grant money flows in! What a sad statement that we are selling our souls for grant money!

Our State Representatives Kevin Brooks, Eric Watson, Senator Mike Bell have the ability to stop this but to date have done nothing but make sure of it’s success!

Our Federal representatives Corker, Fleischmann, Haslam and Alexander have also remained mute! Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce has them tucked neatly into their pockets!

Our press is too lazy to investigate or put the pieces of the puzzle together for a hungry constituency and are probably willing participants in the scheme! Our failure to report this as a society is abominable and every person that ignores this repeated call should be outed and exposed!

The Mayors leaving our locally elected officials out of the loop was purposeful while they were being appointed to the boards of the very NGOs (Mayor Davis to the Southeast Regional Development council by Beth Jones and of course Mayor Rowland on TACIR which is our equivalent of ICLEI!) are implementing this disastrous and diabolical plan!

This blog is a little lengthy, especially the list of member cities and NGOs! Can you see an international plan being implemented? It is happening all around us for years, is now coming to a head and we are still unable to see the clear connection! So please read intently and ask your self these two questions 1) Am I a willing participant in this plan and is my silence allowing implementation? 2) if this is not an International United Nations all out assault on our nation and world, then what is it?

The information directly from the UNITED NATIONS website!
Link provided:  The game plan!

http://webapps01.un.org/dsd/scp/public/presentProgrammeDetails.do?progID=13

Title of programme: ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
 
Organization: International Council for Local Environment Initiatives [ contact information ]
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) [ contact information ]
UN Human Settlements Programme (UNHABITAT) [ contact information ]
 
Geographic scope: Global
 
Expected timeframe: –
 
Description of initiative: The ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is an international association of local governments implementing sustainable development. Its mission is to build and serve a worldwide movement of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in global sustainability with special focus on environmental conditions through cumulative local actions. More than 450 cities, towns, and their associations worldwide comprise ICLEI’s membership. Through its campaigns, ICLEI helps local government generate political awareness of key issues, and evaluate local and cumulative progress toward sustainable development. ICLEI serves as an information clearinghouse on sustainable development by providing policy guidance, training and technical assistance, and consultancy services to increase local governments’ capacity to address global challenges.
 
Programme website(s): http://www.iclei.org/about.htm
 
Target group: local government
 
Activity type: advisory service
information sharing
technology transfer
 
Areas of work: Analytical tools
Changing production patterns
Indicators
Urban planning & transport
Energy efficiency & renewable energy

Who we are
More than 1126 local governments and their associations, representing over 500 million people in 70 countries, constitute ICLEI’s membership. As a democratic, membership-driven association, every Member has a vote at council meetings where the priorities and direction of the organization are determined.

Governed by the ICLEI Charter put in place by its founding Members, our mandate is to build an active and committed membership of local governments and local government associations.
 
Council
The Council is the general assembly of ICLEI Members which is composed of Full Members. ICLEI also offers Associate Membership to non-governmental organizations, research institutions, state governments and other entities. The Council meets every three years on the occasion of an ICLEI World Congress. After the founding congress in New York, USA (1990), Council meetings were held in Toronto, Canada (1993), Saitama, Japan (1995), Dessau, Germany (2000), Athens, Greece (2003) and Cape Town, South Africa (2006). The Council elects the Executive Committee, approves the six-year Strategic Plan, which is updated every three years, and receives the Triennial Report. The Council also adopts a Declaration of Commitment, in support of the Strategic Plan.

That UNITED NATIONS CONNECTION TO ICLEI!
This is a length read (64 pages directly from the UN website) for the sake if time look at page 62 item 52, “The local Agenda 21 survey” (google it)

“The plan will on regardless if we have local, state or federal approval says ICLEI Executive and Policy Assistant Susanne Salz, who also spoke at the Conference, said the reaction from communities in the US to the Kyoto Protocol provides a good example of how local players have the power to make changes. Despite the refusal of the US government to ratify the protocol, more than 1,000 mayors from across the country signed the pact to meet the protocol’s targets for greenhouse gas emissions; a 7 percent reduction by 2012 from 1990 levels.”

“We can get started without them [the federal governments],” she said.

“The government is beholden to this old paradigm – they withdraw their support from the industries and the businesses that can create green economies. But the cities are going to act anyway and create their own agenda.”

Miller said she is hopeful that governments will respond to the call; but, she notes, local communities will continue to make progress even if officials don’t.

“Even if that doesn’t happen, it [the push for sustainable development] will still be going forward with these local organizations and governments… so it doesn’t matter if it fails in a way, the movement will still be taking shape,” she affirmed.

This woman is a representative of ICLEI sending a very strong message with an extremely bleak outcome! YOU CAN’T STOP US, WE WILL GO AROUND YOU TO MAKE IT HAPPEN, just as they have in Bradley County

Link provided for above quotes from ICLEI!

http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/ngoconference/shared/0/Local%20Action%20Key%20to%20Sustainability-Victoria%20Jack.docx

Argentina
Municipality of Buenos Aires
Municipality of La Plata
Armenia
Municipality of Hrazdan
Australia
Adelaide City Council
Adelaide Hills Council
Albury City
Alexandrina Council
Alice Springs Town Council
Ararat Rural City Council
Ashfield Municipal Council
Auburn Council
Australian Capital Territory Government
Australian Local Government Association
Ballarat City Council
Bankstown City Council
Bass Coast Shire Council
Baw Baw Shire Council
Bega Valley Shire Council
Benalla Rural City Council
Berri Barmera Council
Blue Mountains City Council
Borough of Queenscliffe
Brisbane City Council
Burwood Council
Byron Shire Council
Cairns Regional Council
Campbelltown City Council
Campbelltown City Council
Canada Bay Council
Cardinia Shire Council
City of Boroondara
City of Brimbank
City of Bunbury
City of Burnside
City of Charles Sturt
City of Geraldton-Greenough
City of Gosnells
City of Greater Bendigo
City of Greater Geelong
City of Joondalup
City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
City of Kingston
City of Lake Macquarie
City of Mandurah
City of Marion
City of Melbourne
City of Melville
City of Mitcham
City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters
City of Onkaparinga
City of Perth
City of Port Phillip
City of Rockingham
City of South Perth
City of Stirling
City of Subiaco
City of Sydney
City of Victor Harbor
City of West Torrens
City of Whitehorse
City of Whittlesea
City of Wodonga
City of Yarra
Clarence City Council
Clarence Valley Council
Colac Otway Shire Council
Darwin City Council
Devonport City Council
District Council of Mount Barker
District Council of the Copper Coast
East Gippsland Shire Council
Frankston City Council
Fraser Coast Regional Council
Gold Coast City Council
Gosford City Council
Greater Shepparton City Council
Hobart City Council
Hobsons Bay City Shire Council
Holroyd City Council
Hunter’s Hill Council
Indigo Shire Council
Knox City Council
Kogarah Council
Larry Quick (Associate Member)
Leichhardt Municipal Council
Lismore City Council
Liverpool City Council
Macedon Ranges Shire Council
Manly Council
Manningham City Council
Marrickville Council
Mike Galea (EnvironArc Pty Ltd)
Mildura Rural City Council
Moira Shire Council
Monash City Council
Moonee Valley City Council
Moorabool Shire Council
Moreland City Council
Mornington Peninsula Shire
Mosman Municipal Council
Mount Alexander Shire Council
Murrindindi Shire Council
Nillumbik Shire Council
North Sydney Council
Palerang Council
Parramatta City Council
Penrith City Council
Rural City of Wangaratta
Shellharbour City Council
Shire of Augusta-Margaret River
Shire of Busselton
Snowy River Shire Council
Strathbogie Shire Council
Sunshine Coast Regional Council
Sutherland Shire Council
Swan Hill Rural City Council
Tablelands Regional Council
The Barossa Council
The City of Unley
The Shire of Peppermint Grove
Toowoomba Regional Council
Town of Cambridge
Town of Kwinana
Town of Vincent
Townsville City Council
Warringah Council
Warrnambool City Council
West Wimmera Shire Council
Willoughby City Council
Wyndham City Council
Austria
Magistrat der Stadt Linz
Stadt Innsbruck
Umweltverband Vorarlberg
Bangladesh
Rajshahi City Corporation
City of Dhaka
Belgium
Région de Bruxelles-Capitale
VODO-Vlaams Overleg Duurzame Ontwikkeling vzw (Associate Member)
Van Hoof, Veronique (Associate Member)
Bhutan
Phuentsholing City Corporation
Thimphu City Corporation
Bolivia
Municipality of Santisima Trinidad
Botswana
Botswana Association of Local Authorities
Brazil
Alta Floresta
Apuí
Belo Horizonte
Betim
City Council of Lucas do Rio Verde
Contagem
Curitiba
Goiânia
Institute for Research, Administration and Planning of São José dos Campos (IPPLAN) (Associate Member)
Manaus
Mariana
Palmas
Petrópolis
Porto Alegre
Rio de Janeiro
Santa Maria
Santo André
São Carlos
São João de Meriti
São Paulo (Municipality)
Sorocaba
State of Minas Gerais (Associate Member)
State of São Paulo (Associate Member)
Tailândia
Vitória
Volta Redonda
Bulgaria
Municipality of Burgas
Cameroon
City of Yokadouma
Fongo-Tongo Municipality, Cameroon
Menji Municipality
Canada
Annapolis Royal
Campbell River
City of Calgary
City of Edmonton
City of Greater Sudbury
City of Guelph
City of Hamilton
City of Kitchener
City of Mississauga
City of Ottawa
City of Regina
City of Toronto
City of Vancouver
Dawson Creek
Durham Region
Essex
Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Fort St. John
Halton Hills
Iqaluit
Leduc
Metro Vancouver
Montréal
Nanaimo
Red Deer
Region of York
The Blue Mountains
The Corporation of Delta
Town of Oakville
Ville de Montréal
Chile
Municipality of Chillan
Municipality of Ñuñoa
Municipality of Tome
China
Shenyang, China
Chinese Taipei
Chia-Yi County
Kaohsiung
Pingtung County
Taichung City
Tainan
Taipei City
New Taipei City Government
Taiwan Environmental Action Network (Associate Member)
Taoyuan County
Yilan County Government
Yunlin County Government
Colombia
Municipality of Bogotá
Municipality of Manizales
Croatia
City of Koprivnica
City of Zagreb
Primorsko-goranska County
Cyprus
Nicosia Turkish Cypriote Community
Czech Republic
City of Krnov
Denmark
Albertslund Kommune
Ballerup Kommune
City of Aalborg
City of Copenhagen
Kolding Kommune
National Procurement Ltd.- Denmark (Associate Member)
Equador
Municipality of Quito
Estonia
City of Tartu
Finland
Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities
City of Espoo
City of Hämeenlinna
City of Helsinki
City of Jyväskylä
City of Kouvola
City of Kuopio
City of Lahti
City of Oulu
City of Pori
City of Riihimäki
City of Tampere
City of Turku
City of Vantaa
Mariehamns Stad
Town of Jakobstad
France
Communauté Urbaine de Dunkerque
Communauté Urbaine du Grand Nancy
Communauté Urbaine de Strasbourg
Lille Métropole Communauté Urbaine
Montpellier
Nantes Métropole
Ville d’Angers
Ville de Bordeaux
Ville de Cluses
Ville de Coudekerque-Branche
Ville de Grande-Synthe
Ville d’Hondschoote
Ville de Saint-Denis
Ville de Sanary-sur-Mer
Georgia
City of Tbilisi
Germany
Berlin
Freie Hansestadt Bremen
Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg
Landeshauptstadt Dresden
Landeshauptstadt Hannover
Landkreis Nordhausen
Stadt Augsburg
Stadt Beckum
Stadt Bietigheim-Bissingen
Stadt Bonn
Stadt Bottrop
Stadt Freiburg
Stadt Heidelberg
Stadt Kaufbeuren
Stadt Ludwigsburg
Stadt Münster
Stadt Oranienburg
Stadt Viernheim
Stadt Wedel
Ghana
National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG)
Greece
Coalition of 21 Municipalities of N.E. Athens
Municipality of Amaroussion
Municipality of Trikala
Hungary
Center for Environmental Studies Foundation (Associate Member)
City of Budapest
City of Miskolc
Municipality of Tatabánya
Iceland
City of Reykjavik
India
Abhijit Sarkar (Associate Member)
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation
All India Institute of Local Self Governance
Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation
Bhopal Municipal Corporation
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation
Chandrapur Municipal Council
CMAG (Associate Member)
Coimbatore Municipal Corporation
Emaar MGF (Associate Member)
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation
Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation
Guntur Municipal Corporation
Gurgaon Municipal Corporation
Guwahati Municipal Corporation
Gwalior Municipal Corporation
Howrah Municipal Corporation
Jabalpur Municipal Corporation
Jamnagar Municipal Corporation
Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation
Kolhapur Municipal Corporation
Kurunegala Municipal Corporation
Madurai Municipal Corporation
Manish Vaidya (Associate Member)
Municipal Corporation of Delhi
Mysore Municipal Corporation
Nagpur Municipal Corporation
National Institute of Urban Affairs (Associate Member)
Parsvnath Developers Ltd (Associate Member)
Pune Municipal Corporation
Rajahmundry Municipal Corporation
Rajkot Municipal Corporation
Shimla Municipal Corporation
Surat Municipal Corporation
Tenali Municipality
Thane Municipal Corporation
Tiruchirappalli Municipal Corporation
Titupati Municipal Corporation
Vadodara Municipal Corporation
Vijayawada Municipal Corporation
Vishakhapatnam Municipal Corporation
Indonesia
Balikpapan, Indonesia
Bogor, Indonesia
Cilegon, Indonesia
Medan, Indonesia
Semarang, Indonesia
Surabaya, Indonesia
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Ireland
Dublin City Council
Israel
Jerusalem
Municipality of Raanana
Italy
Agenzia InnovA21 per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile (Associate Member)
Cernusco sul Naviglio local government
Comune di Ancona
Comune di Bologna
Comune di Cesena
Comune di Livorno
Comune di Roma
Comune di Rosignano Marittimo
Comune di Vignola
Coordinamento Agende 21 Locali Italiane
Provincia di Rimini
Provincia di Siena
Japan
Aichi Prefecture
Fujisawa City
Hiroshima City
Iida City
Itabashi City
Kanagawa Prefecture
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Kitakyushu City
Kobe City
Kumamoto City
Kyoto City
Musashino City
Nagoya City
Okayama City
Sapporo City
Sendai City
Sumida City
Tokubetsukukyogikai (Council of Wards in Tokyo)
Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Ube City
Yamanashi Prefecture
Kenya
Municipal Council of Nakuru
Municipal Council of Vihiga, Kenya
Latvia
City of Jurmala
Riga City Council
Mauritius
Moka Flacq District Council
Municipal Council of Port Louis
Pamplemousses and Riviere du Rempart District Council
Mexico
Aguascalientes
Association of Municipalities of Mexico (AMMAC) (Associate Member)
Centro (Villahermosa)
Chihuahua
Ciudad Valles
Corregidora
Cuautitlán Izcalli
Distrito Federal (Mexico City)
Ecatepec de Morelos
Miguel Hidalgo
Puebla
Querétaro
San Miguel de Allende
San Nicolás de los Garza
Solidaridad (Playa del Carmen)
Veracruz (Associate Member)
Veracruz
Zacatecas (Associate Member)
Mozambique
Lichinga City Municipality
Namibia
Municipality of Swakopmund
Municipality of Walvis Bay
City of Windhoek
Nepal
Hetauda Municipality
Kathmandu Metropolitan City
Lalitpur Sub Metropolitan City Office
Municipal Association of Nepal
Pokhara Sub Metropolitan city
RADP (Associate Member)
Netherlands
City of Amsterdam
City of Rotterdam
Gemeente Haarlem
Gemeente Tilburg
VNG-Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten
New Zealand
Christchurch City Council
Dunedin City Council
Hamilton City Council
Kaikoura District Council
Kapiti Coast District Council
New Plymouth District Council
Palmerston North City Council
Porirua City Council
Rodney District Council
South Wairarapa District Council
Waikato Regional Council
Waitakere City Council
Nigeria
Ido Local Government
Niger Delta Environmental Surveillance Agency
Norway
Arendal Kommune
Bodø Kommune
City of Bergen
City of Oslo
Drammen Kommune
Kristiansand Kommune
KS-Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities
Lillehammer Kommune
Lørenskog kommune
Porsgrunn kommune
Stavanger kommune
Stiftelsen Idébanken (Associate Member)
Tingvoll Kommune
Peru
Municipality of Ate
Municipality of Cajamarca
Philippines
Baguio City, Philippines
Batangas City, Philippines
Bohol Province, Philippines
Municipality of Calbiga, Philippines
Dagupan City, Philippines
General Santos City, Philippines
Iloilo City, Philippines
League of Cities of the Philippines
Linamon, Lanao del Norte, Philippines
Lubang Municipality
Makati City, Philippines
Muntinlupa City, Philippines
Naga City, Philippines
Puerto Princesa City, Philippines
Quezon City, Philippines
San Fernando City, La Union, Philippines
Science City of Munoz, Phillipines
Tubigon, Philippines
Tuguegarao City, Philippines
Poland
City of Katowice
PSWE-Pomorskie Stowarzyszenie Wspólna Europa (Associate Member)
Portugal
Câmara Municipal de Agueda
Câmara Municipal de Cascais
Câmara Municipal de Oeiras
Câmara Municipal de Torres Vedras
Câmara Municipal de Almada
Junta de Freguesia de Agualva
Republic of Korea
Ansan City
Buchen City
Busan Metropolitan City
Changwon City
ChejuMBC (Associate Member)
Cho, Jung Woong (Associate Member)
Chungcheongnam Province
Daegu Metropolitan City
DaeKyung Engineering Co.
Damyang County
Dongseo Turism Inc. (Associate Member)
Gangwon Province
Gapyeong County
Geumsan County
Gumi City
Gwacheon City
Gwangju Metropolitan City
Gyeonggi Province
Gyeongsangnam Province
Hadong County
Hallailbo (Associate Member)
HanmiParsons Co (Associate Member)
Hoengseong Gun
Hwaseong City
Hyun, Hak Soon (Associate Member)
Incheon Metropolitan City
Issac Holdings (Associate Member)
Jeju Academic Society of Tourisom (Associate Member)
Jeju City
Jeju Development Institution (Associate Member)
Jeju Gymnyeong Mazepark (Associate Member)
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province
Jeongseon Gun
Jeonju City
Kim, Wang Sik (Associate Member)
Namyangju City
National Environment Technology Coperation (Associate Member)
Oreum Partners Co. (Associate Member)
Prof. OH Youn-keun (Associate Member)
Pyeongchang Gun
Sahara
Seongnam City
Seo Min Hye (Associate Member)
Seoul Metropolitan City
Songpa-gu
Suncheon City
Suwon City
Ulsan Metropolitan City
Wonju City
Yangpyeong Gun
Yeosu City
Yong-in City
Romania
City of Baia Mare
City of Giurgiu
Municipality of Odorheiu Secuiesc
Municipality of Orastie
Municipality of Pitesti
Russia
Selenyi Kirov (Associate Member)
Rwanda
RALGA
Senegal
Municipality of Nioro du Rip
Serbia
CEDEF-Central European Development Forum (Associate Member)
Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities of Serbia
South Africa
Beaufort West City
Buffalo City Municipality
Cape Winelands District Municipality
Capricorn District Municipality
City of Cape Town
City of Johannesburg
City of Tshwane
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality
eThekwini Municipality
Mangaung Municipality
Motheo District Municipality
North- West University, Centre for Environmental Management (Potchefstroon campus)
Pauline Froschauer (Associate Member)
Sedibeng Municipality
Sol Plaatje Municipality
Steve Tshwete Local Municipality
uMhlathuze Municipality
Tlokwe City Council
Water Research Commission (Associate Member)
Spain
Ajuntament de Barcelona
Ajuntament de Calvià
Ajuntament de Lloret de Mar
Ajuntament de Reus
Ajuntament del Prat de Llobregat
Ayuntamiento del Real Sitio de San Ildefonso
Ayuntamiento de Alcoi
Ayuntamiento de Rivas-Vaciamadrid
Ayuntamiento de San Sebastián de La Gomera
Ayuntamiento de Santa Úrsula
Ayuntamiento de Tarragona
Ayuntamiento de Teulada
Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza
Concello de Culleredo
Diputació de Barcelona
Las Rozas de Madrid
Mancomunidad Intermunicipal del Sureste de Gran Canaria
Red de Municipios Valencianos hacia la Sostenibilidad
Red Navarra de Entidades Locales hacia la Sostenibilidad
UDALSAREA 21 – Red Vasca de Municipios hacia la Sostenibilidad
Vitoria Gasteiz
Sri Lanka
Kandy Municipal Council
Matale Municipal Council
Sweden
City of Göteborg
City of Malmö
City of Stockholm
City of Sundsvall
Haninge
Helsingborgs Stad
Laholms kommun
Linköpings kommun
Miljöstyrningsrådet (Associate Member)
Municipality of Växjö
Örebro kommun
TCO Development (Associate Member)
Ystad
Switzerland
IGÖB-Interessengemeinschaft ökologische Beschaffung (Associate Member)
Kanton Basel-Stadt
Stadt Zürich
Ville de Genève
Tanzania
Arusha Municipal Council
Dar es Salaam
Geita District Council
Moshi Municipal Council
Thailand
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Thailand
Muangklang, Thailand
Phuket, Thailand
Turkey
SatekSolar (Associate Member)
Sisli Belediyesi
Uganda
Jinja Municipal Council
Kasese District Local Government,Uganda
Ukraine
City of Odessa
Municipality of Nikolaev
United Kingdom
Birmingham City Council
Bristol City Council
City of Glasgow
Craigavon Borough Council
Greater London Authority
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Leicester City Council
Newcastle City Council
Woking Borough Council
Uruguay
Municipality of Montevideo
United States of America
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Acton, MA
Akron, OH
Alachua County, FL
Albany, NY
Alexandria, VA
Algonquin, IL
Allegheny County, PA
Alliance, OH
American Canyon, CA
Amherst, MA
Ann Arbor, MI
Antioch, CA
Arlington County, VA
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Arvada, CO
Ashland, OR
Aspen, CO
Atascadero, CA
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Athens, OH
Atlanta, GA
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Gunnison County, CO
Hailey, ID
Hamilton County, TN
Hamilton, NJ
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Hawaii County, HI
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Helena, MT
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Hennepin County, MN
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Homer, AK
Houston, TX
Howard County, MD
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Inglewood, CA
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Irving, TX
Issaquah, WA
Ithaca (City), NY
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James City County, VA
Johnson County, IA
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Juneau, AK
Kansas City, MO
Keene, NH
Key West, FL
King County, WA
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Kirkwood, MO
KNOXVILLE, TN
La Grange Park, IL
La Mirada, CA
La Plata County, CO
Lacey, WA
Lafayette, CA
Lake Elsinore, CA
Lake Forest, IL
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Lakewood, CA
Larchmont, NY
Las Cruces, NM
Las Vegas, NV
Lawrence, KS
Lee County, FL
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Leon County, FL
Lewes, DE
Lexington-Fayette County, KY
Lexington, VA
Lincoln City, OR
Livermore, CA
Lomita, CA
Los Alamos County, NM
Los Altos, CA
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Los Angeles County, CA
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Loudoun County, VA
Loveland, CO
Lowell, MA
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Lynchburg, VA
Lynnwood, WA
Madison, WI
Mahtomedi, MN
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Manitou Springs, CO
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Maplewood, NJ
Marathon, FL
Maricopa County, AZ
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Middletown, PA
Mill Valley, CA
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Milpitas, CA
Milton, MA
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Minneapolis, MN
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Missoula, MT
Monmouth County, NJ
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Monterey, CA
Montgomery Township, PA
Moorpark, CA
Moraga, CA
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Regional growth plan, death maps, loss of property rights, thanks Mayors Rowland and Davis!

Time for Action! Take back our Counties!
Citizens join us in a peaceful Revolution!
The time is now!
EVERY CONCERNED CITIZEN, Patriot group, 912 groups and Tea Parties of these areas  we had a very important Agenda 21 meeting on Chattanooga, NOVEMBER 17th, 2011, at the Chattanoogan at 530 pm.  We must collectively act and not let these characters have their way with our future! We will not tolerate this endeavor that has left us, the citizen, out of the equation!
The passion levels are high and the citizenry is mad!
In January, 2012, we are  embarking or should I say the collective Mayors of 16 counties in 3 states are devising a plan, a Regional Comprehensive Sustainability plan to restrict and or take away your property rights, to tax us into oblivion with no end in sight, to accept trillions in federal grants and raise your taxes to pay them back!
We have been circumvented by our Mayors!

Mayor Gary Davis in Bradley County has not only played end around to the citizens he represents, his constituency, that he is sworn to represent, he has more importantly left his Commissioners out of the know with apparently no sharing of information with his own representatives of the people!
Mayor Davis recently said the “time was right” referring to the creation and implementation of this Regional, 16 County, 3 State Comprehensive Planning Coalition of Mayors!

Let me awaken you Mr. Mayor back to reality, “Now is not the right time for a multi billion, perhaps multi trillion dollar coalition effort!

Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce we are not ready nor are we wanting this coalition to dictate to us our property rights, civil rights, tax base or infringement and eventual ignoring of our State Constitution!
We are in a deep recession Mr Mayor and our community is sinking deeper into debt with every “growth plan” you piece together or Regional plan you decide to force on your constituency!

Let me add that the initial vote on the implementation of the 2035 BCC Growth Plan was turned down by the Commissioners that you are working very steadily to covertly circumvent! I am not surprised that not a single Commissioner yet can tell me what your plans are for this Regional Comprehensive Planning Commission!

This would peeve me to no end to be a Commissioner or Council member that is apparently oblivious to the Mayors of both the City and Counties plan for a Regional Growth Plan! This is Tyranny and we vowed never to have a Monarchy ever again with the institution of the Constitution that you have so conveniently forgotten. Our Sovereignty is at risk here!
Mayor Tom Rowland, I cant leave you out of this mix, because I am convinced by your direct involvement and cooperation with Mayor Davis proves to me you are also being influenced by TACIR and the Council of Mayors and once again, along with ICLEI! Your judgement has been clouded and the Constitution ignored by your failure to listen to the screams of your constituency, when it comes to the will of the people speaking loudly! Joining with Chattanooga in this plan is joining with ICLEI!
Job creation! The Chamber has spent 400 and some odd million recently and has created a little over 200 jobs! Jobs? Please! Outsourcing is their game and distribution of wealth is their game! Their employment of and any significant job gains are being shipped overseas instead of keeping at home! This should raise a few eyebrows when it comes to relying on the Chamber to create jobs!
Mr Mayors in the time you have been in office at your inception, our unemployment in Bradley County was around 1 percent , today it is hovering around 10 percent! Something wrong with this equation and proves we are going in the wrong direction.
Allow me to share some very wealthy information with you Mr Mayors! What you are doing is not working!

Eventually the message should be instead of spend and tax it should be cut and save, that realization should soon resonate with you both!
The Mayor and a Coalition in conjunction with the United Nations inspired Chamber of Commerce has joined efforts with Chattanooga and ICLEI to pursue aggressive plans to implement what will eventually be recognized as Agenda 21, a Regional Comprehensive Planning Coalition. This group met in Chattanooga on November 17th, 2011 and  it will be fully implemented in January 2012!

The Mayors in conjunction with ICLEI and members of TACIR, Mayors Coalitions, Council of Mayors and council of Commissioners, selected minion State Representatives , selected NGOS such as the Chamber of Commerce, introduced this plan to the “public”, yes two or three years into the process “we the people” are being invited to watch!

They will also be selecting one of three teams that will get the very lucrative contract to essentially “reshape the Southeast.” Our very own developers of the 2035 BCC Strategic Growth Plan MCBRIDE, DALE and CLARION and CLARION ASSOCIATES who coincidentally received multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars for a horrendously expensive and expansive growth plan and just happen to be in the final three for this massive private property land grab. Let me remind you all involved are members of ICLEI! Can you say “you scratch mine, Ill scratch yours! I say simply, FOLLOW THE MONEY! That’s all ill say about that!

Let me share some forethought with you!
Believe it or not you are participating in a very distant UNITED NATIONS PLAN called AGENDA 21! You may not believe this, but your belief in something that is happening very rapidly, it doesn’t matter if you believe it or not………YOU ARE WILLING PARTICIPANTS! That is all that is expected of you!
You are destroying our country just as you are being told! You all are being what they used to call “Soviet Sympathizers in Western Countries, useful idiots!” These people saw themselves naievely as an ally of communists, as you may know they were eventually held in contempt and were noticeably being cynically used.

You, Mayors are the Propagandists of a higher power that you do not understand or know! As of this notice, you now know, and will be held responsible for your actions from this day forward! You can no longer be an unknowing “useful idiot” playing as they did as a messenger of goodness in your pursuit to be a force for good!
Just as the writer H.G. Wells, Doris Lessing, George Bernard Shaw and American Journalist Walter Duranty who were “useful idiots” of Hitler, showed much support for him as he was making his move toward attempts to “conquer” the World. You, my respectful Mayors are falling into history as being the willing participant and sympathizer of the United Nations and their plan to implement AGENDA 21 in the USA! Shame on you and you should be peacefully removed from office and make way for true liberty minded civil servants loyal to their constituency!
Mayors Rowland and Davis and the other 15 Mayors in this coalition, do you want to know what your involvement and willing participation in this Regional three state plan has done to the citizens you represent? Do you ?
You have willingly put your citizens at extreme risk! THEY WILL LOSE THEIR PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS! You have placed your citizens one step closer to placing those you represent one step closer to eventually being herded into zones called “Color Zones” within a “Biodiversity Simulation Map” as referred to by the Federal Government and the United Nations, a “Death Map” as many liberty minded folks call it!

With the assistance of clumps of HUD housing and grants in the multiple millions this will much more easily be a reality. Your recent MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) to spend millions of Tax payers dollars to herd them into Urban Growth areas has paved the way for this to happen! Your willing participation with HUD and other NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) while forging Public Private Partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce, you are willingly putting everyone you represent at great risk!

Look below, and see where your decisions today will leave the many people you represent!

Agenda 21 and the United Nations and many “green movements” and many “useful idiots” of our elected conglomerate have a plan that moves people into zones and the 2035 BCC Strategic Growth Plan clearly recognizes this and gives it several names, but the death map demonstrates this designation as “Color Zones which reflect property owners being forced from their property and into a “human Settlement” within a “Rural, urban or designated growth area represented as a color designation on the map.
The Counties you represent will fall into these ominous colors and represent a redistribution of our populace to make it in their minds the most “sustainable.” After all, “Urban Sprawl” is a formidable enemy to sustainability and its goals that come with it!

The color zones are recognized by color schemes and their designations are in parentheses as how it will fall on the Biodiversity Map after our counties are manipulated according to this Agenda 21 plan and the will of our negligent self saving Mayors!

RED- No human presence!
YELLOW- Buffer zone around Red area with very controlled limited access!
BLACK DOT- Where people in red and yellow areas will be relocated (human settlements)
TENNESSEE:
Polk County (red)
Bradley County (Red and Yellow)
Cleveland (Black dot)
Hamilton-Chattanooga (Black Dot)
Bledsoe (Red and Yellow)
Rhea (Red and Yellow)
McMinn (Mostly Yellow)
Marion (Mostly Red)
Sequatchie (Red)
Meigs (Red)

ALABAMA:

Jackson County (Red)
Dekalb (Yellow)

GEORGIA:

Catoosa (Red and Yellow)
Murray (Red and Yellow)
Walker (Yellow)
Dade (Yellow)
Whitfield (Yellow)

Notice where the Black Dots fall! Who are the noticeable recipients that will receive the bulk of the population growth? Yes, Chattanooga/Hamilton and Cleveland/Bradley County and the appointed leaders, Mayors Rowland, Davis and Littlefield and their local Chambers of Commerces!

The plan is in place!

It is the will of the people who should stop this madness!
We are the tenants of a Republic protected and guided by the Constitution!
We are not willing participants in our demise and we must not allow this to be a reality, God help us!
We are in this battle for the long haul.
Mayors and all willing participants in this scheme, you are being placed on notice! A very concerted effort to remove you from office either by recall or at the election ballot box will be inevitable.
The decision is yours!
Your political fate is in your hands!

Go forward useful idiots, make wise choices because in the end, we will prevail!