Today at County Hall: The Urban Development Boundary, or, from toilet to tap... by gimleteye

County Commissioner Katy Sorenson aptly remarked today, in The Miami Herald, “We’ve already said no, but they’re returning like zombies out of Night of the Living Dead.”

So it shall be under the main tent, today, at County Hall—come one, come all—four applications to move the Urban Development Boundary, another step on the way toward pushing more sprawl into areas that lack municipal services: the worst of the bunch, Lowes, a repeat application from a previous cycle to spur demand for future movements of the line.

For a better glimpse into the thinking of our elected officials, read what Miami mayor Manny Diaz had to say in the front page story from McClatchy feed, “Housing ills, foreclosures to deal blow to economy.”

“It was the lending industry, the mortgage industry and financial institutions that created this situation…” says Mayor Diaz, washing his and his colleagues hands of any culpability in the overdevelopment and slavish devotion to campaign contributions from the Growth Machine that centered on Miami and Miami overdevelopment.

Whatever happened to pushing back the legions of lobbyists, from closing the door on Greenberg Traurig and every other development interest bent on deforming the purpose of government? Whatever happened to “Just say no”?

Oh, but wait: this is the government (read: county commission) that allowed zoning changes and new local laws to stop people from protesting the incursion of housing and the rock miners into our drinking water aquifers, poisoned with cancer-causing benzene.

County commissioners, just like Mayor Diaz, deny any complicity in crashing housing markets, stimulated by overdevelopment in Miami that required zoning changes and building permits. "We are just supplying what people want," they would say of their zoning decisions that contributed to the destruction of the South Florida landscape and the addition of hundreds of billions of losses in financial derivatives tied to mortgages.

Too bad that the same penalties that put crack dealers in jail don't also apply to the zoning decisions of local elected officials.

In the case of the county, elected officials either ignored or pressured professional staff to permit Shoma Homes in Biscayne wetlands, or Century Homebuilders in far West Kendall. It was under the commissioners' watch that the County Housing Agency was looted, while Florida City was lined up to take yet another Lennar development—requiring millions of dollars in engineering and consultant fees, and, moving the Urban Development Boundary.

It did not happen, because we were not ready to take water from toilet to tap. And we are not ready.

In today’s editorial section, former county manager Merritt Steirheim decries the lack of civility and the erosion of public trust and confidence in county government. To see why, go to the county commission today, or, watch the county government channel on public access TV.

In 2005, the last time applications to move the UDB were heard in a public hearing, county commissioners belittled citizens who had the temerity to stand up against them at the speakers' podium. Then Chairman Joe Martinez hurled insults from the dais. Elected officials not only accused anti-UDB movement forces of lying, they used the occasion to spend new money on their own public information organs, to spread their version of "the truth."

To frame the discussion on moving the Urban Development Boundary, understand that Miami is the epicenter of not just crashing housing markets but of a crisis in credit markets around the world, due to the influence of Miami developers in Tallahassee and Washington, DC.

The county commission will huff and puff. But "local control" and state's rights HAS been the mantra of government, and so when responsibility needs to be attributed, you should look no further for the origins of the crisis than your own local elected officials.

In the New York Times business section today, “European Banker sees more bad news ahead from lending crisis,” the president of the German banking association said “the full extent of the damage was still unclear.”

The reason it is unclear not just in the nature of financial derivatives: accountability vanished along the line in matters relating to zoning, construction and development. It vanished in places like Miami, under pressure of the Growth Machine. “I do not believe you should lend money to people whose income you have not properly checked.”

The lack of “proper checking” applies equally to financial capacity of municipalities and counties as it does to individuals.

Watch and listen to how the evasion works, again, at the county commission and their votes on the Urban Development Boundary.

And for further amusement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ_qK4g6ntM