Gore's plan faces a number of obstacles. The new money he seeks for his package is likely to be lost in the fall budget shuffle. Hazel blames government. State and federal officials, he says, failed to deliver the highways and bridges needed for sensible growth. Then there are environmental rules.
Smart growth spreads.
More than half of state governors, from both parties, mentioned smart growth in state of the state messages this year. Even early champions of the new urban outgrowths are having second thoughts. When I'm talking to people in Plano, Texas, or in Irvine, Calif., or any of these edge cities awash in money and jobs, and I ask people what's missing, I'm struck by how often the word 'community' comes up. It will soon be displaced by still more tract mansions and townhouses. That's why the issue has so much political juice.