How Florida's Republican legislators are exploiting our economic misery ... by gimleteye

As the economic downturn worsens in Florida, it can't escape the public's notice that not only has nothing changed with local government pushing unsustainable growth and bad development projects, but that there are lobbying forces at work to make it even easier for special interests to get their way.

Today the legislature is blaming growth management rules for the downturn and wants to eliminate the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the agency that is charged with making sure there is some quality of life worth living here in the Sunshine State. The crew of Idiocrats must be stopped.

The DCA deserves to be strengthened, not weakened. Not dismantled. Not broken up into pieces and handed-off to agency submissions. Herald editorial writer Myriam Marquez says the agency "keeps locals honest". The truth is murkier: local power brokers and their political hirelings, like the unreformable majority of the Miami Dade County Commission, continually shove-off zoning decisions that offend their campaign contributors, allowing the state 'to decide'. Once the public is gamed at the local level, then the blood sport moves to Tallahassee, where powerful lobbyists (we know who they are, and so do you, if your read our blog) strong-arm and otherwise pressure agency staff to do the wrong thing. They put enormous pressure on DCA by getting other agencies, from FDOT to the US Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Army Corps of Engineers , to do their bidding: some government agencies are just very, very cheap dates.

But the buck should stop at DCA. Political interference by developers and their supply chain got us into this housing mess. They gladly supplied what Wall Street needed; more financial derivatives spun from platted subdivisions and strip malls and big box malls into fees, commissions, and hourly rates in the billions of dollars.

Florida and Miami Dade were the epicenter because the political and business actors were right here, in full view and lauded by the Chambers of Commerce. Lawyers like Bob Traurig or his protege Miguel De Grandy who never saw a piece of farmland they couldn't help transform into as many townhouses, cul de sacs, and single-family homes as could be squeezed there.

Today 300,000 vacant houses dot Florida; the state with the highest foreclosure rate in the nation. So why would the builders' lobby take this moment of economic disarray to press the legislature for the agency's destruction? Because they can. Because they have wanted to do this nearly as long as the agency existed. Because they think they can get away with it.

I suspect some of our readers will take issue with the title of this post, blaming the fiasco on Republicans. Indeed, bad and precedent setting abuses of the DCA mission occurred under Democratic administrations in Tallahassee. But the fact is that the Florida legislature is controlled by an incumbent majority according to gerrymandered districting arising from the last census. It is one reason that the time for fair districts is now.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist is the only state-wide Republican who acknowledges the changing demographics of Florida. But Republican officials cemented into gerrymandered districts can safely demagogue from the sidelines of reality.

Today's Myriam Marquez hits the nail on the head in the Miami Herald. Her OPED is printed below the fine story by St. Pete Times reporter Craig Pittman, co-author of a new, excellent book, "Paving Paradise". Read the book, please! But before you do, join the Progress Florida network that is working to communicate to Floridians who is responsible for this awful legislation.


End sought for agency on growth

By Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

Published Monday, March 9, 2009

State legislators are pushing to dismantle the agency in charge of managing growth, arguing that it's standing in the way of reviving Florida's economy.

A proposal unveiled Monday for consideration by a House committee on Wednesday calls for taking the Department of Community Affairs apart, handing over nearly all of its duties to Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

The move is one of a host of measures proposed by lawmakers to stimulate the state's economy by loosening the rules on construction permitting. Other proposals include eliminating impact fees designed to make developers pay for roads, sewers and schools needed for growth, and cutting in half the time allowed for reviewing permits for wiping out wetlands.

Environmental activists say speculation-fueled development, not government regulation, is what caused Florida's economic downfall. State figures show there are more than 300,000 houses sitting vacant throughout Florida.

"Proposals to 'solve' the economic crisis by loosening growth management regulations and defunding or abolishing the Florida Department of Community Affairs just make matters worse, not better," Audubon of Florida's Charles Lee contended.

Legislators who doubt the importance of controlling growth "should consult those of us who are stuck in daily traffic jams, have children in overcrowded schools, or are residents of sprawling developments," the pro-planning organization 1,000 Friends of Florida said in a release critical of the proposed bill.

The push for dismantling the Department of Community Affairs comes as the agency is rewriting the state building code to require greater energy efficiency, one of Gov. Charlie Crist's initiatives for combating climate change. The department also reviews local government growth plans, provides funding for streets and parks and coordinates the state's response to hurricanes, wildfires and other emergencies.

Under Crist's pick as secretary, Tom Pelham, the agency has blocked such controversial projects as the mammoth Wiregrass development off Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Pasco County and a Taylor County development proposed by St. Petersburg surgeon J. Crayton Pruitt.

Pelham's agency blocked the Wiregrass development — which promised 12,000 homes or apartments, three elementary schools and enough stores to fill two major shopping malls — because Pasco officials failed to nail down road improvements to accommodate all that growth.

And in Taylor County, Pruitt had proposed destroying 58 acres of wetlands adjacent to a state aquatic preserve in order to build 624 condominium units, an 874-unit hotel, 280,000 square feet of commercial space and a golf course. Pelham contended those plans went far beyond the state's plans for how the coast should be developed and failed to protect the fragile environment.

Now the House Military Affairs and Local Government Committee wants to take Pelham's agency, which has an annual budget of $200 million, completely apart.

The bill would take emergency management and put it directly under Crist. All other duties of Pelham's agency would go to the Secretary of State's Office, and it would be up to Browning to recommend to lawmakers what to keep and what to throw out.

The bill also allows local governments to skip state review on changes to their growth plans, as well as exempts some local governments from requirements that new roads be in place by the time new development is built.

Over on the Senate side, Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, has filed a simpler bill, SB 730: "The Legislature intends to abolish the Department of Community Affairs and provide for the reorganization of its services among other agencies."

Pelham warned the bill would "eviscerate the growth management process to the detriment of our state," and said he found the proposal to dismantle his department very disappointing. Neither the House nor the Senate has conducted any sort of thorough review of what the department does, he pointed out.

Browning — whose agency already oversees elections, maintains corporate records and catalogs what's in the state historical archive — didn't ask for the change, according to spokeswoman Jennifer Krell Davis. Browning's staff found out about the proposal on Monday and is reviewing how it would affect the agency's mission and budget, she said.

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Posted on Wed, Mar. 11, 2009
Florida lawmakers marching to developers' beat

BY MYRIAM MARQUEZ
More than 300,000 empty houses and condos in Florida are waiting for a buyer.
Big box stores like Circuit City -- the nation's second-largest consumer electronics retailer -- closed for good on Sunday, giving pink slips to thousands.

Linens 'n Things, Home Depot's Expo Design Centers? All goners.

Empty homes, empty stores, growing unemployment. Whom do we blame?

Why not blame the state's rules governing growth, the ones meant to protect Floridians' quality of life?

That's what some lawmakers in Tallahassee are doing. Egged on by developers desperate to make the math work for their new projects at a time when credit is super tight, lawmakers have come up with a wild plan to ''fix'' what ails us: Dismantle the Department of Community Affairs, loosen rules on building in swampland and let local governments do their thing without the state's check and balance.

THE DEVELOPERS' MANTRA

Because, hey, we're in a recession, buddy, and we need to build everywhere!

Except growth-management rules haven't tanked Florida's economy. We all know there was hyper-growth the past five years based on speculators swooping in and building on a whim and a loan. Nobody griped about growth management then. Now the banks have bailed and the credit has dried up, and legislators want to pretend the problem is the Department of Community Affairs?

It's crazy. The DCA keeps locals honest when they want to skip ''little'' things. You know, like ensuring our water supply remains adequate and that new subdivisions don't overwhelm schools and cram ever more cars on already jammed roads -- or that our waterways don't die from seeping sewage from too many homes and businesses built in the wrong place.

Protecting Florida's pristine areas and its residents from hop-scotch growth isn't a liberal idea. Under Gov. Jeb Bush, a proud, card-carrying conservative, the Legislature passed Florida's first growth-management overhaul in years. Under that law, counties are required to plan growth with their local school districts. And local governments have to make sure there's enough drinking water before a new development is given a green light.

And under that law, some rules also were streamlined to help move construction along and not add to the costs.

So what's really behind this push to disband the DCA?

Florida has thousands of acres available for building within designated areas that don't require state review. Ah, but that's not enough for greedy speculators who want cheap land far away from water and sewer services, and would love for the taxpayers to pick up the tab by ditching developers' responsibility to pay for those services through impact fees.

A GOOD STEWARD

DCA Secretary Tom Pelham has been a good steward of Florida's land -- which may be what's behind this Greedy Developers Act. His agency has blocked megadevelopments in the middle of nowhere that want to scrimp on schools or roads and ignore wetland rules meant to protect the quality of our waterways.

Gov. Charlie ''The Green Man'' Crist wants to combat climate change, too, and the DCA is working energy efficiency into Florida's building code and transportation networks so new buildings don't waste as much energy and so vehicles run on cleaner fuel.

In poll after poll, the vast majority of Floridians say they back The Green Man. We want our Florida lifestyle protected while there's still one to protect.



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