Randal O'Toole
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009) |
Randal O'Toole (born[when?]) is an American public policy analyst. Although O'Toole studied economics at the University of Oregon, he did not receive a degree in economics.[1] The majority of O'Toole's work has focused on private land rights, particularly against public land use regulations and light rail.[2][3]
Contents |
[edit] Reforming the Forest Service
Early in his career, O'Toole worked with environmental groups to oppose the United States Forest Service's so-called subsidized sales of public forest timber to the logging industry. His book Reforming the Forest Service built on his experience during this effort, and proposed a number of free-market solutions to management of U.S. public land and timber. He has written analyses of the usage and development plans of a number of U.S. national forests, working with state environmental agencies and other groups.[citation needed]
[edit] Other work
In the 1990s, O'Toole emerged as an outspoken critic of New Urbanist design and smart growth strategies.[4] O'Toole contends that these development strategies—in which regulatory measures and tax incentives are employed to encourage denser development, more efficient land use, and greater use of public transportation—ignore the desires and preferences of most housing consumers and ultimately waste public funds. His 1996 book The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths was written as a detailed critique of these styles of planning. He continues to advocate for free market solutions to urban planning and design in his writing and teaching, and is a staunch defender of urban sprawl. [5][6][7][8] He has campaigned against smart growth policies and light rail systems in several U.S. states as well as in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Ottawa, Ontario.[9][10] Since 1995, he has been associated with the Cato Institute as an adjunct scholar and frequent anti-light rail campaigner. Critics of O'Toole have noted he receives much of his research funding from oil and gas interests.[11]
Many detractors have noted O'Toole's selective use of information, undocumented statistics, and unverifiable sources of information in order to support his claims against rail transit.[12][13] O'Toole has been criticized for declaring that roadways pay for themselves and are the best use of public funds, even though highways are some of the most expensive public works projects.[14]
O'Toole was the McCluskey Visiting Fellowship for Conservation at Yale University in 1998,[15] and has served as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley (1999[16]) and Utah State University(2000[17]).
[edit] Personal life
He is an avid cyclist who has stated that he rides a bicycle to and from work. He lives in Bandon, Oregon.[18] In a recent New York Times article, he was noted to live in Camp Sherman, Oregon and his Thoreau Institute address is listed as Camp Sherman .[19][20]
[edit] Publications
- Reforming the Forest Service (Island Press, 1988) ISBN 0-933280-49-1
- The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths (Thoreau Institute, 1996)
- The Citizens' Guide to the Forest Service Budget
- The Citizens' Guide to the Timber Industry
- The Best-Laid Plans
- Gridlock: Why We're Stuck in Traffic and What to Do About It
[edit] References
- ^ Property Rights Foundation of America, Randal O'Toole biography. Online website: http://prfamerica.org/biography/Biography-OToole-Randal.html
- ^ How Smart Growth will Harm American Cities, Randal O'Toole
- ^ The Best-Laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future , Randal O'Toole
- ^ Congress for the New Urbanism. Debunking Cato: Why Portland Works Better Than the Analysis of Its Chief Neo-Libertarian Critic. Online website: http://www.cnu.org/sites/www.cnu.org/files/DebunkingCato.pdf
- ^ Randal O'Toole, A Libertarian View of Urban Sprawl and reliance on freeway and highway construction for mobility
- ^ Streets blog NYC,Randal O’Toole: Taking Liberties With the Facts, online:http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/06/02/randal-otoole-taking-liberties-with-the-facts/
- ^ Randal O'Toole, Highway Funding and Urban Form, February 8, 2010. online: http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2010/2/8/randal-otoole-highway-funding-and-urban-form.html
- ^ Cato Institute, March 18, 2010. Online: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/03/18/a-libertarian-view-of-urban-sprawl/
- ^ Bill Steigerwald , Meet the Anti-Planner -- Interview With Randal O'Toole. Human Events, Online website: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=23256
- ^ Ray Stern, "Anti-Planner" Scholar Randal O'Toole Coming to Phoenix to Talk Up Gridlock Book. Phoenix News Times, Friday, Apr. 30 2010. Online website: http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2010/04/anti-light-rail_scholar_coming.php
- ^ Randal O'Toole's "Thoreau Institute" funding, Light Rail Now
- ^ Congress for New Urbanism, 2009. Debunking Cato: Why Planning in Portland Works Better Than the Analysis of Its Chief Neo-Libertarian Critic. 20 September 2007. Online website: http://www.cnu.org/node/1533
- ^ My Tea Party With Randall O'Toole 27 March 2010, http://uppitywis.org/my-tea-party-randal-otoole. O'Toole had no handout, and offered no link to his talk so we could not go home and study his statistics.
- ^ Randal O’Toole: Taking Liberties With the Facts, Ryan Avent, June 2, 2009. Online website: http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/06/02/randal-otoole-taking-liberties-with-the-facts/
- ^ http://www.yale.edu/yibs/YEN%20Winter%202003.pdf
- ^ http://berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1999/1020/species.html
- ^ http://prfamerica.org/biography/Biography-OToole-Randal.html
- ^ Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4759662.html.[dead link]
- ^ New York Times, Son of Portland, Oregon tries to puncture myth of 'Smart Growth', http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/07/15/15climatewire-a-son-of-portland-ore-tries-to-puncture-the-52412.html
- ^ Thoreau Institute website; http://www.ti.org/aboutti.shtml
[edit] External links
- Website including "Antiplanner"
- Brief Cato Institute profile for Randal O'Toole
- New York Times:A Son of Portland, Ore., Tries to Puncture the Myth of 'Smart Growth'
- My Tea Party With Randal O'Toole 27 March 2010. O'Toole had no handout, and offered no link to his talk so we could not go home and study his statistics.
