Columnist Howard Troxler: Crist "sells Florida down the river" in "gutless fashion"

I was hoping after hearing that Charlie had caved in and signed SB 360 in secret that it was really not as bad as we thought. Then I read Howard Troxler's column, and yes, it is just as bad as we thought it was.

From the St. Pete Times and a favorite columnist:

Crist signs growth bill, sells Florida down the river



"Tough noogies" for most of us.



This is a terrible law which will make it easier for developers to do whatever they want.



Yes, Charlie probably had nothing at all to say about that signing. What does a governor say when he just sold his state to developers for a very long time.

The city, frankly, suffers from sprawl and gridlock. To build more housing developments and then not pay money to expand roads is just going to make things even worse. On top of it, the mass transit network is appallingly decrepit. A city the size of Orlando in France, Germany, or the UK would have a very extensive light-rail network and/or a giant fleet of buses to service the city. The Lynx buses in Orlando get you some places, for sure, but they simply don't cover enough ground. You have to use a taxi for everything else, and the taxis are expensive.

Orlando isn't even a city, not the "greater Orlando Metro area". It's not even one county, spread over the better part of 3 counties, and beginning to encroach on its forth (Lake out by Clermont). It's sprawl with a capital S. There isn't a city of this physical size, with such a low population density in France, Germany, or the UK with which to compare. Which of course is the problem. Public transport doesn't work well in such highly distributed areas. There isn't even really a "central area" because it is a merged area of or 4 different major population "centers" as nearby cities have grown into each other. We took a 13 mile walk one day, never left an urban area, and walked through 5 different city governments. I worked a suicide hotline for a while. We had to work with no less than 13 different police departments in the area (including county and state cops). It's absurd with the predictable results of uncoordinated infrastructure, redundant governmental departments, and conflicting regulations and activities. It's a textbook example of how not to run a city.

The voters of Florida did vote for him and the Repuke majority in the State Legislature?

I guess the next time state elections roll around the people of Florida will be smarter and send the Repukes packing?


I'm sorry if any Floridians here take offense, but you have the politicians that the majority of the people of Florida voted for in charge, so perhaps part of the blame belongs to those people as well? Either that or we're starting to see the real life version of "Idiotcracy"?

I really hope that something approaching reform begins to take shape in Florida. It's way past due from my reading of Carl Hiassen's writing. But it's up to the people to decide that they're tired of letting the most corrupt elements run their state and its affairs. Or they can keep kicking the can down the road, and let another generation of Floridians deal with it. That's what their parents and grandparents did.

The more extreme right here intends to run hard against him for senate.

Florida needs more outspoken Democrats....not a bunch of party leaders who take wishy washy stands.

That's a lot of the problem. Our state chair gets what..$3000 a month from lobbying with Republicans. Our South Florida major Democrats in congress stand often with the GOP buddies.

Hat Tip to FLA Politics blog for pulling these together.

Florida political news June 4

From the Miami Herald



From the Tampa Tribune



From the Orlando Sentinel

the real Charley.

He's so moderate, he's so centrist, he's so charming, blah balh blah. Republicans have pushed themselves of the extremist cliff, Democrats are filling the vacuum left behind. Like Florida, there are few left in congress who believe there is a public role in regulation and protection of natural resources. Democrats are the new conservatives. US tax payers are the new chumps.

From the link... notice the word "balanced". Fox news would agree.

'I'm trying to be balanced on it and I know that it's probably one of those bills where nobody's going to be overly happy on either side of the argument,'' Crist told reporters a few hours before he acted. ``So hopefully it's right down the middle, and we'll be able to stimulate our economy and not do harm to our beautiful state. That's my desire.''

The new law is designed to make it easier to build new residential housing, even as Florida wallows in a glut of housing caused by the foreclosure crisis.

Crist signed the bill in private with no public ceremony. His press office issued a terse news release that attributed no quotations to Crist endorsing the legislation.