ARIZONA
Courting the green
vote
At first glance, it looked like a travel
folder touting Arizona, so thick was the carpet of yellow flowers
at the base of the San Francisco Peaks, and so perfectly red were
the rock spires of Monument Valley. But the eight-page, glossy
brochure was a campaign ad for a state proposal to save $220
million worth of state-owned open space in Arizona, while at the
same time enacting statewide restrictions on anti-growth
measures.
Never mind that those peaks and spires
aren’t on state lands – San Francisco Peaks lie within the national
forest and the Navajo Tribe owns Monument Valley – the ads worked.
Critics say it’s greenwashing, but a new open-space-saving scheme
called “Growing Smarter” is now law in Arizona.
By 53-47 percent, voters approved an 11-year program to buy and
save the state-owned Sonoran Desert from the bulldozer, despite the
Sierra Club’s contention that the open-space money only disguised
the anti-environmental provisions in the referendum. The club says
it will encourage, not stop, urban sprawl. And it doesn’t guarantee
that the Legislature will actually fund the
program.
“It’s not a good
environmental measure,” says Sierra Club staffer Sandy
Bahr.
With the help of a $700,000 campaign war
chest and support from developers, open-space groups and The Nature
Conservancy, “Growing Smarter’” found strong support in the booming
Phoenix metro area, though it was defeated in 11 of the state’s
counties, including more liberal Pima County, which contains the
Tucson metro area.
*Tony
Davis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Courting the green vote.
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