Get serious on Growing Smarter.

We should be alarmed that momentum behind the state's Growing Smarter plan is fading into the shadow of what is heating up to another emotional clash.

It seems we're moving backward to 1998's battle at the ballot box.

The Sierra Club and other environmentalists have returned with their Citizen's Growth Management Initiative, which would restrict construction outside urban growth boundaries.

Meanwhile, opponents of that initiative are talking about a ballot measure of their own for the fall 2000 election to ensure action on Growing Smarter.

But another round of competing campaigns only will reheat emotions and distract from the real issue …