Time & Perspective Quote by Jane D. Hull

A politician’s dream sentence: it makes coercion sound like empowerment. Hull’s phrasing hinges on a neat moral trade. “Compel every community” is the hard edge of state power, but it’s wrapped in the soft packaging of “plan their future growth,” as if growth is inevitable and planning is merely responsible adulthood. The name “Growing Smarter” does extra work: it pre-answers criticism by implying that dissent equals stupidity, or at least stubborn backwardness.

The second half is the legitimizing flourish. “Allow every citizen the right to be heard” is democratic varnish, careful not to promise influence, only access. Being “heard” can mean a microphone at a meeting, a comment card, a public record nobody reads. In policy language, participation often functions as a pressure valve: it diffuses anger while keeping outcomes largely intact. The subtext is: we’re tightening the rules, but you’ll feel included while we do it.

Contextually, this sits squarely in the late-1990s/early-2000s wave of “smart growth” politics, when sprawl, traffic, water constraints, and runaway infrastructure costs pushed states like Arizona to centralize planning mandates. Hull is selling a shift in governance: from local, patchwork discretion toward statewide standards. The rhetoric balances two American reflexes that usually clash: suspicion of top-down control and reverence for democratic process. It works by turning regulation into a civic virtue and turning compliance into participation.