Taking back Florida from The Apostles of Greed

"Who will provide the grand design?
What is yours and what is mine?
'Cause there is no more new frontier
We have got to make it here

We satisfy our endless needs and
justify our bloody deeds,
in the name of destiny and the name of God

And you can see them there,
On Sunday morning
They stand up and sing about
what it's like up there
They call it paradise
I don't know why
You call someplace paradise,
kiss it goodbye"

- Don Henley, The Last Resort, Hotel California, 1976



http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=128393205147
http://www.youtube.com/user/FloridaHometown

Florida Hometown Democracy ...putting people back in charge of the places where they live.

Amendment 4 is a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution sponsored by Florida Hometown Democracy, a non-partisan, grass-roots group. Over 1,000,000 Florida voters signed the Florida Hometown Democracy petition to qualify this important citizens' reform for the November 2010 ballot. Amendment 4 will give you, the Florida voter, a vote on growth in your community.

Each of us has a huge stake in growth decisions that can drastically alter our community's future for generations to come. Each community has adopted its own comprehensive plan: a long-term master plan for sensible growth. Currently, elected city and county commissioners have exclusive power to make changes to the plan. Rising taxes, gridlocked roads, dwindling, degraded water supplies and Florida's disappearing beauty are just some of the devastating consequences of Florida politicians' habit of rubberstamping speculative plan changes.

Hometown Democracy Amendment 4 changes all that by giving voters veto power over these changes to your community's master plan for growth.

With Amendment 4, your power to vote on growth will enable you to preserve and protect your neighborhood and your community.

http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com/florida_overdevelopment_economic_collapse.htm

Viewpoint - Apostles Of Greed Menace Public
By Robert M. Weintraub, Sierra Club

Originally Published on October 1, 2009
www.fbnewsleader.com

The failed Tuscany townhouses ("Stonehenge" at the foot of the Shave Bridge); row upon row of empty storefronts and incomplete strip malls; hundreds of home foreclosures; frustrating traffic clogging our roads and threatening our safety. This is the legacy of the apostles of greed whose wanton overdevelopment contributed heavily to the economic collapse that has made Florida the most financially depressed state in America. Florida now leads the nation in foreclosures and our unemployment rate is among the highest.

And yet these apostles of greed want more of the same.

The path to economic stability in Florida lies not with endless growth, but - as Rep. Janet Adkins wrote recently in this space - a combination of tourism, industrial development and agriculture. The apostles of greed do not get this message. Instead they convert our prime industrial space to shopping centers, allow agricultural land to be converted to residential and drive away tourists by taking away the prime attraction: the area's natural beauty.

And there's more to come. The apostles of greed, through legislative action, have enabled Fernandina Beach to do away with the concurrency law that had put a lid on the city's population density. City planner Marshall McCrary couldn't wait to gleefully tell the city commission that the state legislation now permits developers to fulfill their dreams. What dreams? Can we think of one city project frustrated by concurrency requirements (developers must pay for the infrastructure improvements required by their projects)? I can think of three:

For years the apostles of greed have wanted to build high-rises along our oceanfront. They want to double the density of the riverfront north of the city marina. They want to build houses, townhouses and shopping centers in the remaining greenspace between Sadler Road and the airport. It will take the vote of only three city commissioners to make that happen (I know of two who would vote that way right now).


The apostles of greed have cornered the public; they have our backs to the wall. They control the city and county governments by electing themselves and their friends through campaign contributions. They show disdain for our comprehensive land use plans. They ignore the objections and pleas of the public. They have us by the throat and they are squeezing.

The public has but one weapon left: Florida Hometown Democracy (FHD), Amendment 4 on the November 2010 ballot. This amendment to the Florida constitution will give the public a veto over the apostles of greed when they seek unneeded and harmful changes to the comprehensive land use plan.

FHD/A4 will help our economy, not hurt it. It will not stop growth; it will control it. Nassau already has permits out for some 7,000 unbuilt homes and our comprehensive plans already provide for enough construction to last generations without harmful changes. FHD/A4 will protect our industrial land for much needed industry with its high-paying jobs. It will protect our agricultural land. It will protect what's left of our natural resources so tourists will keep coming. Knowing the public has a veto, elected officials will think twice before approving unpopular development such as oceanfront high-rises, more unnecessary and definitely unneeded strip malls on A1A or increasing the population density of Amelia Island to the point where storm evacuation will be impossible.

The one effort by a Florida community to control its growth - by the citizens of St. Petersburg Beach - was hijacked and corrupted by the apostles of greed. After the city gave the public a greater say in land-use plan changes, the developers and their cronies gained control of the city council with huge campaign contributions, then approved land-use changes without the required hearings and issued plan amendments skewed with misstatements. FHD/A4 has safeguards to prevent a repeat of what happened in St. Pete Beach.

FHD/A4 is not about grandma's new roof. Zoning changes, variances and the like will not come before the public. Once a year, during the regular election, voters will have the chance to approve or deny commission-approved changes to the comprehensive land use plan. There will not be many because commissioners will pay more attention to the public's concerns knowing the public has a veto.

The lineup of opposition to FHD/A4 is formidable, led by the chamber of commerce. But these opponents are the apostles of greed who have brought the Florida economy to its knees through overdevelopment. It is they who are responsible for "Stonehenge," for empty and unfinished strip malls, for destruction of our wetlands and green spaces, for unsafe traffic conditions, for tourism's decline, for foreclosures and unemployment. And it is they who want to build more, and more and more!

FHD/A4 may be strong medicine, but it is all we have left to keep Florida and Nassau growing in a healthy, balanced way. Cornered, our backs to the wall, the public has only one weapon left to protect our economy and our quality of life: Hometown Democracy. Veto power over the apostles of greed.

Robert Weintraub is a member of the Sierra Club's Nassau Group executive committee and a member of Florida Sierra Chapter's Growth Management Committee.

like that tax measure on marinas that you are talking about.

We have to take back Tallahassee!

Especially now that Jeb Bush's candidate and (twice) state ethics violator John Thrasher somehow forced his way back into the legislature last month, and will chair the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, no less. He was the leading force 4 years ago in trying to kill this same Hometown Democracy initiative. It worked.

Don't think he won't use his power to defeat Amendment 4 next year. He should be watched.



Thanks for posting.

I've gotten a few dems elected up there but its still run by Republican corporate lackies.

If only we could get more Scott Randolphs elected!

www.electscottrandolph.com