Truly Understanding Why It Is So Important To Defend Our Communities

 Below are some quotes from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.  There has been no better, relevant or important time in the history of Cape Vincent and our region to seriously consider what is written below. We should support this strategy, not just as a town, but as a region to put the State on notice of our intolerance of Article X. In my opinion I don't see that we have any other real choice.

The bold italic print are quotes from CELDF strategy.  The rest are my thoughts.
 

"...people have rights and the state has no authority to license violation of those rights."   This refers to the fact that states allow corporations by charter (license).  When states willingly preemept local laws and control on behalf of corps like BP they have in effect officially licensed the violation of our home rule and Constitutional rights, and in this case for a foreign corp...think about that for a minute if you accept the appeasement of the Article X process.

"The larger strategy behind organizing locally to assert rights has zero to do with relying on the courts. Adopting community rights ordinances and banning corporate activities that violate rights is an organizing strategy, not merely a legal strategy. The courts likely will not vindicate our rights; they may, on behalf of the corporations, strip them, as they have done for many years. But community rights ordinances force them to do so publicly, clearly, and not in a quiet blizzard of legal mumbo-jumbo hidden away from public attention or interest."

"Why take this route? If we are to have our rights stripped, let it not be because we failed to exercise them; let it not be because we surrendered them and settled for regulating the rate of destruction; let it not be because we zoned where our community rights could be denied, or because we adopted conditional use regulations that amount to little more than terms of surrender. If we are to have our rights stripped by the state on behalf of wealthy and powerful corporations, let us expose it to the world as the tyranny that it is…"

."..force the system to punish us, as a clear, explicit, and public illustration of how the system functions."

CELDF

And just for the record here, there are many additional things we can do on other levels to enhance this strategy.  The wind companies and the pro wind faction made a critical mistake that they could willingly and quietly take our community and hide the insidious results from the world, and that we would not protest...they were very badly misguided in that conclusion.   Once again the wind companies, the State, and the politicians like Cuomo, hope to do the same thing under the lame excuse that wind energy is a matter of critical State concern making it appear legitmate for the State to enable the stripping  away our local rights on behalf of BP.  They hope to hide this process from view as best they can either by intimidation or a false legitimacy.  They hope they can justify to  the gulible that this is a   legitimate use of State power to overide the rights of communities to determine their own future.   They hope we will quietly give away our rights through intimidation and premeption of our laws, and simply accept  the results.

The town board needs to take the 1st definitive step to protect our rights and our community by passing a resolution to oppose Article X and declare it an illegitimate excercise of corporate and State control.

No local law, regardless of  subject matter, can truly be relevant if overhanging it is the constant threat  that it can simply be removed, not by the will of the people through democratic process, but  at will by preemption by an unelected authority of a higher govt on behalf of corporate power. Under these conditions home rule is nothing more than patronizing communities like unniformed children by not giving us true control.

Considering all this it becomes very clear that zoning to appease Article X is a disasterous mistake.

All we get is to "settle for regulating the rate of destruction"  That is a mouth full and really says it all in a nut shell...and in my opinion so far, even with our new zoning  that is all we have really done in our community. 

As CELDF implies...is our zoning law actually the terms of our surrender!!!   It's time to change our thinking!!!!