Government facilitates growth...

...by getting out of the way. Steven Greenhut, in an article at the Wall Street Journal Online, with a great example of how a free market is better than government.

"The area is developing quickly, without controversy and without a single piece of property taken by eminent domain. Early signs point to an enormous success."

I wish we could send this story to every planner, and teach it in schools...

"Anaheim's old downtown was obliterated in the 1970s through past uses of eminent domain and urban renewal. Now, the city (population: 328,000) wants to build a new downtown, and the target location is called the Platinum Triangle, an area of one-story warehouses near Angel Stadium. In the typical world of redevelopment, officials would choose a plan and a developer, offer subsidies and exclusive development rights, and exert pressure on existing property owners to leave the area. Instead, Anaheim created a land-value premium by creating an overlay zone that allowed almost any imaginable use of property. Because current owners could now sell to a wider range of buyers, the Platinum Triangle is booming, with billions in private investment, millions of square feet of office, restaurant and retail space, and more than a dozen new high-rises in the works."