In yesterday’s paper, the AJC’s Ariel Hart detailed a project that many Decatur-to-Downtown Atlanta commuters and GSU students/employees already know intimately: the narrowing of Decatur Street.

The narrowing is the result of a push by Georgia State University to create a more pleasant pedestrian environment for its students and staff.  It took six years to complete, but it’s finally done and reactions are unsurprisingly mixed.  Motorists are upset, pedestrians are pleased.

But this quote takes the gasoline-soaked cake…

“This is the kind of craziness that is going on from urban planners all over the place who have nothing but utter contempt for people who drive, and as a result, while they do not realize it, have nothing but utter contempt for economics and economic growth,” [The Heritage Foundation's Wendall] Cox said.

That’s right folks.

Crazy urban planners don’t realize it, but all of their recent decisions aren’t really based on proven models or studies.  They are the result of an unconscious “utter contempt” for drivers.  If you look back into the lives of each and every smart growth advocate there is some early-life, car-based trauma, which compels them to make mindless, zombie-like decisions about growth patterns.   If they could only see past their blinding hatred of cars and growth at any cost, they would see downtown Atlanta as the teeming, diverse, 24-7 urban center that it truly is.

To provide some balance to the story, the article also quotes Smart Growth America’s David Goldberg, a Decatur resident clearly trying to hide his contempt for cars behind calm, rational discourse.

“In principle, that sort of road diet and pedestrian retrofit, particularly in a high-pedestrian area like a college campus, makes a lot of sense” and helps retail business, said David Goldberg, a spokesman for Washington-based Smart Growth America.

Crazy talk.