Stung by negative public opinion, over-development, a housing industry in shambles, environmental degradation and lost quality of life, the growth machine (developers, chambers, big farmers and insurance) is trying to keep their favorite son position by any means possible. High on their list is defeat of Florida Hometown Democracy's Amendment 4; the coming ballot issue that would require a public vote on land-use changes to master plans.Unable to stop the citizen’s petition from getting on the 2010 ballot, they have resorted to a tried and true mechanism to make growth management impotent; lobby the legislators. Weakening growth laws now would take the sting out of Florida Hometown Democracy. A recent article in the Orlando Sentinel sounds the alarm that the vultures are swarming.
It’s not too early to contact your state legislators and tell them you want more growth management, not less, and that you oppose the changes pushed by the industry.
Read the article above and pass it to everyone in Florida. This is going to be a battle for the soul of the State.
10 comments:
An excellent call to attention! I hope you don't mind if I repost! Well done. Very good season to appeal for this...also.
It is obvious that letting developers and lobbyists control growth management is a recipe for disaster.
I support letting the citizens review and vote on land use changes. The existing "pay to play" system obviously does not work. i.e. "Donate to my campaign (or to me), get the zoning decision you want."
We should support Hometown Democracy.
Citizens of the state of Florida should actively embrace FL Hometown Democracy or you'll end up with a state that looks like southern California - from coast to coast.
Each generation must fight to hold the line. You fight, and fight, most times you lose, sometimes you win. When you win, they wait you out. When you tire, grow old, can't fight any more, or die, a new group (politicians, lobbyists, builders, bankers, lawyers) moves in to start the battle all over again. This is why California looks like it does. It is our watch now, and I hope we can fight the fight and have something to give to generations to come.
Amendment 4 will fail, ironically, because of greed. Its drafters want to stop growth but this amendment reaches far beyond their target. It draws in any amendment adopted by the local governing body, which means aan absurd number of items are swept up and placed on the ballot. Look at St. Pete Beach and take heed of its lesson: greedy environmentalists can cause as much damage as greedy developers.
Person above you are wrong besides being an asshole. Only landuse changes. In miami beach there have been one or two in the past few years. If the plans are written well you don't need changes all the time.
It's funny... there are more anonymous 's in the blog-o-sphere than Smith's in the phone book... yet; 'greedy environmentalists' are preferable to greedy despoilers...
There were NO Map changes in the last 3 years in Miami Beach. There was one school concurrency change to the comp plan which would NOT have kicked in amendment 4.
Ooh, going the "blog owner approval route" with comments on this post, eh EOM? Still can't stand diversity of opinion? You should be ashamed. Maybe it's because you know you're on the wrong side of this issue, and for all the wrong reasons.
Last putz
after a couple of days ALL posts are
moderated as people put on ads or copyright material or crap, which your post was...
We are under no obligation to print your views, you can put them on your own blog. BtW....This is a private blog and we can do what we please including deleting jerks.
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