Free Provo

Zoning violates God-given rights, defies Constitutional law, de-optimizes economies, and fosters socialism, as detailed in this editorial that local newspapers rejected.

A Case for Freedom from Zoning Zoning violates God-given rights, defies Constitutional law, de-optimizes economies, and fosters socialism.

As Utah hosts its regular primary elections today, I'd like to point out that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has persistently taught its members to vote for candidates who are both "good" (including "honest") and "wise," and who uphold the U. S. Constitution in the tradition of America's founders, regardless of their partisan affiliation. Here's a sampling of such doctrine for whomever it may interest.

Voting Standards for Latter-day Saints Latter-day Saints are urged to vote for candidates who are both virtuous (including honest) and wise and who uphold the U. S. Constitution in the tradition of America’s founders.

Socialists operate at all levels of American society, including locally. Their local efforts include central economic planning through zoning codes, "smart growth," and New Urbanism, which needlessly concentrates residents into high-density mixed-use urbanesque developments served by public mass-transit. Global socialists (including KGB subverters) have long understood that alienating people from land ownership increases their susceptibility to accept socialist beliefs-and-practices. Let's please oppose this!

Municipal Socialism via Zoning, “Smart Growth,” and Urbanism Socialism is fostered through urbanism, including local zoning codes influenced by “Smart Growth” to forcibly redirect development from Provo’s outskirts to its center.

Since at least 2001, Provoans have sadly allowed a tiny fraction of their neighbors to elect statist city officers who borrow-and-tax-and-spend, multiply city code, reign over the city with monarchial powers, and oversee a growing "alphabet soup" of city-run business ventures. Provoans will enjoy another opportunity to reverse this sad status quo during Provo's biennial municipal primary elections on August 10th. Provoans, please read more and, in any case, take action...

Provo’s Primary Election 2021 Provo will host its municipal primary elections on August 10th, and this blog entry considers both why and how to involve oneself in it.

Provo's municipal budget has ballooned 20% in 2 years, rivaling Los Angeles in its per-resident spending, and it remains among Utah's most indebted cities, as its city council asserts increasing command-and-control over both its economy and its residents. Why do we allow this? I urge liberty-lovin' Provoans to please seek new city officers.

Provo’s Ballooning Budget for FY 2022 Provo’s municipal budget has ballooned 20% in 2 years, even as its population has shrunk slightly, to fund its growing statism.

Provo's city council is considering transitioning from plurality voting to ranked-choice voting. Here's why this change would be an improvement, although we could do even better with a system like score voting, which includes approval voting.

Provo Municipal Elections and Voting System Reform Please support Provo’s city council in improving its voting system from plurality voting to ranked-choice voting or beyond.

Happy 172nd birthday, Provo! Provoans rank unusually high among Americans for their degree of religiosity, charity, income equality, flirtatiousness, marriage, children, family-mindedness, healthiness, educatedness, entrepreneurship, high-technology, conservatism, patriotism, lack-of-crime, happiness, and optimism, among many other qualities.

What Made Provo Great and What Will Keep Provo Great Provo thrived as a city of both freedom and virtue, and we must perpetuate these qualities to prevent its decline.

Provo's city councilors are attempting to force a grocery store into existence, but such central economic planning not only violates rights but is also counterproductive. Zoning curtails development, reduces competition, promotes false "order" and/or aesthetics over genuine needs, reduces housing supply while raising housing costs, excludes "undesirables," wastes people's valuable time with needless paperwork, retards economic progress, and lowers standards-of-living. Every one of its alleged benefits is provided better within genuinely-free markets, which allow the most economical allocation of resources.

Property Rights, Provo Grocers, and Zoning Laws Provo’s city council is wielding zoning laws to compel a grocery store into existence in west Provo, but zoning is counterproductive.

Envision Utah has completed a 2-year Valley Visioning process, using local input to devise a comprehensive vision for Utah County's future, including where new move-ins will live, what sort of homes they'll inhabit, and how they'll landscape their yards. They intend this statist vision statement to coordinate/guide local politicians in centrally-planning our local economy. Central economic planning is terrible, so let's please replace any statist politicians implementing it with free-marketeers.

Envision Utah’s Statist Vision Debuts Envision Utah’s Valley Visioning process has finalized a document to coordinate/guide local politicians in centrally-planning Utah County’s economy, but we should keep markets free.

Please vote against Utah's ballot proposition 9!

It purports to separate executive power, but such power is already separated and (moreover) distributed among seven different elected county officers. What this proposition actually does is to concentrate executive power into the hands of a lone county mayor, who can more-easily usurp legislative power from an expanded county council. While needlessly multiplying county officers to oversee shrinking expanses of unincorporated county land, it also empowers our county commission to shoulder an expanded role of hiking county taxes while increasingly centrally planning our county economy. Which is what its sponsor has sought to do as county commissioner. This is exactly what happened in Salt Lake County after it enacted similar reforms.

I apologize for failing to post this sooner.

Please Vote Against Utah Ballot Proposition 9 Utah Proposition 9 would NOT separate powers but would needlessly expand the Utah County commission, both to impose higher taxes and to increase central economic planning.

Marxists are fomenting BLM violence (even a little in Provo) while trying to nationalize and dumb-down and militarize our local police. Each side will provide false excuses for the other, leading to a vicious cycle. As in "WarGames" (1983), the only way to win is not to play. Let's keep our police both local and independent, eschew and deescalate the mob violence, and promote respect for the value of each human life.

Rightful Liberty Versus Both Police Abuses and BLM Violence Marxists are fomenting anti-police violence in order to give politicians excuses to nationalize our local police officers, which is dangerous to our rightful liberty.