<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]--><o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Helvetica;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:Arial;
color:navy;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=2
color="#990000" face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:#990000;font-weight:bold'>This message is one of a series about the
Property Fairness Initiative to address concerns raised<br>
by the initiative's opponents. We hope that you find this information useful.<br>
<br>
If you find this helps you understand I-933 better, please feel free to share
it with your friends and neighbors. <br>
<br>
</span></font></b><b><font size=2 color="#000066" face=Helvetica><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#000066;font-weight:bold'>Please
visit <a href="http://www.supporting933.org/">www.supporting933.org</a> for
previous essays, property owner stories, and more!</span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica'><br>
With just a few days to go before election day, recent polling indicates that
more than 10% of the voters in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>
have not yet decided how they are going to cast their votes for the Property
Fairness Initiative.<br>
<br>
We need your help in getting in touch with all of those folks and talking about
why I-933 is good for <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>,
good for their families, and good for our future.<br>
<br>
I-933's opponents tell us that the initiative will gut environmental
protections. We think that assertion is way over the top.<br>
<br>
Most environmental protections were already in place before 1996, and will not
be affected by enacting I-933. It's during the last ten years that the
galloping goalposts of ever-increasing restrictions on how private property may
be used that have brought us well past the point of reasonable environmental
protection and into preservation for preservation's sake. Many of
the more recent regulations fail to improve environmental quality, but
they do impose severe restrictions on property owners' ability to appropriately
use and enjoy their property. Most of the regulations place disproportionate
burdens on rural property owners, but there are also restrictions on the use of
urban properties that go well beyond being reasonable.<br>
<br>
Do we really want to see every shoreline setback managed as fish and wildlife
habitat conservation areas? Is it really necessary to provide buffers
hundreds of feet wide around wetlands when buffers of less than fifty feet will
provide all the protective functions needed by the wetland ecosystem? Is
there really a scientific rationale for 1200 foot wide wildlife corridors in a
county where less than ten percent of the land is available for human
habitation?<br>
<br>
Many of the land use regulations we have today reflect government's distrust of
the individual property owner. Government officials seem to feel that we
can't be trusted to take care of what we own, and that they must therefore
regulate the use of our private property to keep us from making a mess of
things. I-933 is our message back to them that we are quite capable of
providing the best stewardship of the property we have purchased and worked so
hard to maintain. <br>
<br>
The only way we can keep our property value is to take good care of it.
When government tells us what we are and are not allowed to do with our own
property, we lose a large share of our motivation to do a good job. Tell
us we are not allowed to do anything with 65% of a rural parcel, and that we
need a permit to remove Himalayan blackberry bushes, and what do you think is
going to happen?<br>
<br>
Work with us, help us develop the tools and management plans, and we property
owners will provide much better stewardship of our property than government can
ever require us to. Nobody has better reason to take the best possible
care of property than the person who owns that property. As property
owners, we care a lot more about our place on the landscape than anyone who
works in an agency office somewhere miles away. <br>
<br>
We've learned that a parcel in a county where 65% of a rural parcel of more
than five acres must be left in native vegetation sold for $44,000.
Before the critical areas ordinance with that provision went into effect, the
parcel would have sold for more than $200,000. That ordinance took at
least $156,000 in property value away from the previous owner. We don't
think that's fair.<br>
<br>
The Property Fairness Initiative has a list of provisions that require our
government officials to not only demonstrate that there is a problem to be
solved, but also to consider providing alternative solutions to the problem
that do not require regulation of our private property. We think that's
fair. We think most Washingtonians would agree, if they knew more about
I-933.<br>
<br>
So, please, in these final days before the election is over, talk to your
friends, neighbors, and coworkers about I-933 and why it is so important that
we get together and vote YES on I-933!<br>
<br>
Remember, at least one in every ten voters has still not decided which way to
vote on I-933. They need the information we can provide to them. We
can also still change the minds of at least some of those who had decided to
vote the other way, too.<br>
<br>
The only way we can convince the undecided, and persuade some of our opponents
to vote YES is to get out and talk with them, or pick up the phone and give
them a call.<br>
<br>
Please feel free to forward this message to your friends and neighbors.
We all need to do all we can to get the Property Fairness Initiative over the
line and through the goalposts. Let's not stop working until the polls
close next Tuesday!<br>
<br>
</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=4
color="#990000" face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:#990000'>Please join us in voting <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>YES</span></b>
for I-933</span></font><br>
<br>
<font size=2 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Helvetica'>If
you wish to be added to or removed from this email list, please send your
request to <a href="mailto:messenger@supporting933.org">messenger@supporting933.org</a>.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>