"Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches, or its romance."   Theodore Roosevelt

All politics are local, we are told. Raleigh apparently thinks differently.

In the current version of SB 205, with many of the poisonous elements of HB 765 and SB 688, there is a movement afoot in the North Carolina state legislature effectively to strip citizens of their vote at the municipal level. SB 205 would terminate the power of voters to control how their own counties and towns operate and to make decisions about land use, the most basic building block of a community. 

To worsen the deal, this power is given not to elected officials, but to construction companies and utility companies - unelected businesses and political donors, without the input of local residents. Because this effectively nullifies the vote and creates powerless figureheads of local elected officials, we believe this effort is illegitimate on its face, and we call on the state legislature to abandon the effort totally. 

If the business model of construction companies necessitates the removal of our vote, then it is the business model that must change - not our voting rights. This disenfranchisement cannot, will not, go forward.

We believe this bill is wrong for North Carolina.

In principle - nullifies the vote at the local level,
Culturally - erases rural life and open land,
Food security - destroys North Carolina agricultural resources,
Urban sprawl - mandates high density housing in small towns which want to remain small. 

We, the undersigned, call on the state legislature to abandon totally these efforts to remove voting power from North Carolina municipalities. We oppose SB 205 in all its iterations, now and in the future. 

Save our state.