Best New Political Trend

Planning rules!

For the first time in a million years, the citizens, their elected officials, and those officials' minions are all on the same page. That's the page that says top-down planning (or lack thereof), subsidized sprawl, and big-money ownership of the political process do not work and will not continue. In Austin, citizens and their neighborhoods have never been more powerful, and relieved Planning and Development staff (at least some of them) can finally do the job they were trained to do. In the \'burbs, comprehensive planning is the order of the day. Cynical and skeptical we might be, but it's hard to see how Metro Austin will not be much improved by these efforts.