A copy of Asheville’s Downtown Master Plan has been posted on the city’s web site. It wasn’t supposed to be published until its great unveiling on January 15. Planner Tom Gallaher explained that a couple hooligans got ahold of a bootleg copy, so the design team felt compelled to make it available to everybody.

The plan proposes dividing the city into five sectors, each with its unique sense of place. Each could be home to a business improvement district to look after branding, general cleanliness, and security. Those appointed to serve on the board would not be subject to election cycles. Government, therefore, is too busy purchasing plans for vibrating new synergies to tend to its commission.

The public good would be ensured with legally-sanctioned extortions of a percentage of the value of development. Three different schemes were proposed. All proceeds would go toward ever-changing community priorities like helping artists who can’t produce anything anybody wants to buy. In a sense, the master plan would create a visible hand to counteract Adam Smith’s invisible one.

The report is fogged in a mist of undefined words, the kind that can be interpreted to award government all kinds of powers. Is your bay window sufficiently engaging? Did your gift of 2% empower enough children? What if the answer’s no?

Smart Growth dogma, of course, is assumed. Without a single shot fired, property owners have become a thing of the past. Their inalienable rights are now owned by stakeholders seeking consensus on a community vision.