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California Attorney General Jerry Brown is an old school crazy liberal.  When he was elected Governor in the 1970’s he earned the nickname Governor Moon Beam for a crazy plan to have a Califonia space program.  Heck, he even dated Linda Ronstadt.

He made a poltical comeback several years ago by being elected Mayor of Oakland.  This was a launching pad for California AG and he is gearing up to run for Governor in 2010 at age 72.  The Wall Street Journal had an interesting piece about how he has declared war an suburbia.

We report on this because much of the liberal/progressive/socialist agenda is previewed in the People’s Republic of California and typically makes it’s way east, so get ready to see something similar to this in the Empire State soon.

According to the WSJ:

In recent months, he has threatened to file suit against municipalities that shun high-density housing in favor of building new suburban singe-family homes, on the grounds that they will pollute the environment. He is also backing controversial legislation — Senate bill 375 — moving through the state legislature that would restrict state highway funds to communities that refuse to adopt “smart growth” development plans. “We have to get the people from the suburbs to start coming back” to the cities, Mr. Brown told planning experts in March.

The problem is, that’s not what Californians want. For two generations, residents have been moving to the suburbs. They are attracted to the prospect, although not always the reality, of good schools, low crime rates and the chance to buy a home. A 2002 Public Policy Institute of California poll found that 80% of Californians prefer single-family homes over apartment living. And, even as the state’s traffic jams are legendary, it is not always true that residents clog roads to commute to jobs in downtown Los Angeles or other cities.

(snip)

Mr. Modarres also points out that forcing developers to build near transit lines, a strategy favored by “smart-growth advocates,” does not mean residents will actually take the train or bus. A survey conducted last year by the Los Angeles Times of “transit oriented development” found that “only a small fraction of residents shunned their cars during rush hour.”

There is also little punch behind the science used to justify the drive to resettling the cities — and plenty of power behind the argument that suburbs are better for Mother Earth. Several prominent scholars — including University of Maryland atmospheric scientist Konstanin Vinnikov, University of Georgia meterologist J. Marshall Shepard and Brookings Institution research analyst Andrea Sarzynski — have found there is little evidence linking suburbanization to global warming, pointing out that density itself can produce increased auto congestion and pollution.

The antisuburbanites also ignore evidence that packing people together in cities produces “heat islands.” Temperatures in downtown Los Angeles sometimes reach as much as three degrees centigrade higher than outlying areas. Recent studies in Australia have shown that multistoried housing generates higher carbon emissions than either townhomes or single-family residences because of the energy consumed by common areas, elevators and parking structures, as well as the lack of tree cover.

In the short run, while being “tough” on climate change appears popular, an assault on the preferred lifestyle of suburban voters may not. These voters aren’t likely to appreciate being castigated as ecological evildoers, especially by people who generally house themselves in spacious splendor.

What make this story even more interesrting is that it was Jerry Brown’s father Pat, who was Governor in the 1960’s who laid the groundwork for California’s suburbia.  Stay tuned sports fans. I’ll bet some proposal like this will show up here pretty soon.

Tags: Cincinnatus //