[WestMALocals] Fwd: URGENT! SURPRISE VOTE TODAY. ASK YOUR REP TO STOP THE BETRAYAL OF PUBLIC LANDS & COMMUNITY RIGHTS.

[Owen Broadhurst]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jill Stein - MCHC <info at masschc.org>
Date: Sep 15, 2005 3:50 AM
Subject: URGENT! SURPRISE VOTE TODAY. ASK YOUR REP TO STOP THE BETRAYAL OF 
PUBLIC LANDS & COMMUNITY RIGHTS.
To: owen.broadhurst at gmail.com

[image: people] 
*Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities* 

Please forward broadly and urgently. The surprise vote is today.
---------------- 
*URGENT ALERT!
CONTACT YOUR STATE REP TODAY. 
STOP H4278, AND THE BETRAYAL OF PUBLIC LANDS AND COMMUNITY RIGHTS. *

Dear friend of sustainable, just communities,

A few short weeks ago a groundswell of protest stopped this harmful bill 
from being quietly voted into law in the final days of the presummer 
legislative session. Now, *with barely one day's notice, another attempt is 
being made to rush this measure into law, before it has even had a public 
hearing*. 

If passed, the bill will privatize public lands and weaken zoning laws 
throughout the Commonwealth (for private as well surplus property). It will 
create a "one-stop" permitting process that undercuts local influence over 
private development. It also gives MassDevelopment (a quasi state economic 
development agency) the right of first refusal to develop "surplus" property 
for private interests, bypassing community needs for affordable housing, 
community economic development, open space or farmland protection. 

Your emails and phone calls have stopped the betrayal of the public trust 
and community rights before. Your help at this critical moment can tip the 
balance again. 

*Please contact your legislators today and urge them to: *

*-VOTE NO ON H4278. The bill will squander public resources for private 
profits rather than public needs, undermine local planning, weaken state and 
local safeguards over development and accelerate the tragic and 
unsustainable loss of open space and farmland throughout the Commonwealth. 

-CALL FOR STATEWIDE HEARINGS to allow affected communities to offer 
alternatives to protect community interests in zoning, and to safeguard the 
public's interest in the just and sustainable disposition of surplus lands.* 

A sample email to your legislator is provided below. 

Many thanks, Jill 
Jill Stein, Mass. Coalition for Healthy Communities 
jill at masschc.org, http://www.masschc.org, 617-852-4727 
----------------------------- 

For contact information for your legislators, go to 
http://masschc.org/write.html 

Please forward to others that support community rights, the protection of 
open space and farmland, and the use of public resources for the public 
good. 

The text of H4278 can be found at http://www.masschc.org/text.html. A 
powerpoint presentation on the bill can be found at 
http://masschc.org/slides.html. 

---------------------------------------------------- 
SAMPLE EMAIL Feel free to edit and add your own thoughts. 

Dear Representative ________, 

I am writing to urge you to vote no on H4278, the bill that privatizes 
"surplus" lands and weakens local zoning. The bill will squander public 
resources for private profits rather than public needs, undermine local 
planning, weaken state and local safeguards over development and accelerate 
the tragic and unsustainable loss of open space and farmland throughout the 
Commonwealth. This bill will make it more difficult for our community to 
protect itself from unwise development. Incredibly, this bill has been 
subject to no public hearings. It should not be rushed into law. Please do 
not pass this bill before public hearings have been held across the state 
and the serious flaws in this bill have been corrected. 

I look forward to hearing your opinion on this bill. I trust you will stand 
up for the public interest and vote no. Please get back to me and let me 
know how you voted. 

Thank you. 

(signed) 

--------------------- 
LETTER THAT IS BEING SENT BY MCHC AND OTHER
ORGANIZATIONS.<http://www.masschc.org/mchcsample.html>

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