• Friday, May 25, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH — Three national environmental groups sued the Army Corps of Engineers this week, asking a federal judge to make sure the multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration project isn't just a ruse to fuel massive development and farming that would destroy Florida's famed and fragile River of Grass.

In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, the groups claim the corps is ignoring safeguards Congress put in place to ensure the billions being spent will provide much-needed water to revitalize the parched Everglades and not merely provide drinking water and irrigation for future farms and home sites.

The tone of the 27-page lawsuit, which became public Thursday, is stern. It quotes National Park Service biologists as saying the loss of wetlands, the disappearance of wading birds and the threatened extinction of animals, such as the Florida panther, "warn of a system under assault and in jeopardy of collapse."

The suit indicates strong action is needed.  However, Bradford Sewell, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the lawsuit isn't aimed at stopping ongoing projects that have already cost taxpayers millions.  In fact, he said, there is much to like about what is being done.

"It should be clear that we support this restoration project, and we're not asking project construction to stop," he said from his office in New York City.

The National Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club joined the Natural Resources Defense Council in the suit.

The groups are worried that if the rules aren't followed, there are no assurances that the project will accomplish the goal of restoring the Everglades to its former splendor, Sewell said.  "There are a lot of pulls on this project - the conflict between water for the environment and water for additional growth," he said.

The rules that Congress established in 2000 when it approved the historic re-plumbing project are to eliminate the conflict. Federal lawmakers asked the documents be drafted to firmly establish that the Everglades would get as much as 80 percent of the water from a complex system of reservoirs, storm-water treatment areas and canals now under construction. New development would get the rest.

Dennis Duke, chief of the Everglades Division of the corps' Jacksonville-based district, said the much-talked-about 80-20 split isn't guaranteed. But, he said, there is no question the Everglades will get the majority of the water, and assurances are in place to make that happen.  He acknowledged that the assurances aren't in the same form as envisioned by Congress. When federal lawmakers failed to provide money for the restoration project, the South Florida Water Management District agreed to bankroll the initial phase and get reimbursed later.  The corps is now in the process of writing the reports that outline how the water will be distributed. Some are already completed.  However, he said, permits the corps issued to water managers make it clear the majority of the water must be used to revitalize the Everglades.  While not surprised by the lawsuit, Duke said it is worrisome.  "I would not want to see the project get slowed down because of litigation," he said.

Sewell countered that he would hate to see the project compromised by failing to assure the Everglades gets the water it needs.

By Jane Musgrave

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

 

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  • 12 Mar 07  Your First amendment rights to be trampled by developers

Wake up and smell the coffee.  The Florida Legislature is set to try to destroy our most basic Constitutional right:  the right of petition, guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.  You can be sure that this is a direct attack on Florida Hometown Democracy.

The status quo power that is "government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer" can't beat us on the issue, so they are trying to destroy our ability to get our reform before the Florida electorate.

These proposed restrictions on your First Amendment Right to Petition are likely unconstitutional, but we don't have a year or two or three to litigate this.  We must nip it in the bud NOW.

Read the following stories and then contact your legislator.  Tell your legislator you won’t stand for this attack on your most basic right as an American.  Then call Governor Christ. Tell him you are appalled by this vicious attack on your most basic civil liberty.  Tell him he must VETO any legislation that harms the right to petition.  He claims to be a governor of the people.  Let's hold his feet to the fire and help him see the light.

Email:  Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com,   Governor's office:  800-488-7146.

Act now!!  We've come to far to give up the dream.

Lesley Blackner

 

PUSH ON TO SLOW FLORIDA CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

Miami Herald -- March 9, 2007
by Beth Reinhard and Gary Fineout

At a time when it's harder than ever for citizens to change the Florida Constitution, stricter rules for getting proposed amendments on the ballot cleared House and Senate committees Thursday.

The bills would place time limits on turning in signatures, and allow people who have signed petitions to remove their names.

Opponents of the measure told the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections that the proposal would hamper efforts by grassroots organizations on shoestring budgets. An amendment backed by big business last year requires future proposed amendments to garner 60 percent of the vote, not just a majority.

''We see this contributing to a larger trend, a door that is creaking shut on the initiative process,'' said Brad Ashwell, an advocate with Florida Public Interest Research Group.

Corporate interests spent at least $58 million and as much as $100 million to lobby the Florida Legislature in the past year.

''The effort to restrict the initiative effort is coming from the biggest special interests in the state,'' said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause Florida.

Nonsense, said the bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Bill Posey of Rockledge. He said the measure would prevent aggressive petition gatherers from taking advantage of voters.

''Every constitutional amendment that passes takes rights away from someone or takes money away from someone,'' he said.

The Senate committee passed the bill 6-3. The House Economic Expansion and Infrastructure Council approved a similar measure 11-2.

Another measure making it harder to run petitions passed the House Ethics and Elections committee. The bill, pushed by Publix Supermarkets and other business groups, would allow stores to kick signature gatherers off their property. It comes on the heels of a Tallahassee court decision that said the grocery chain can bar advocates of petitions to legalize marijuana.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/569/story/35812.html

 

GOP SENATOR GETS APPROVAL TO MAKE PETITIONING FOR BALLOT INITIATIVES TOUGHER
Tallahassee Democrat -- March 8, 2007
by Bill Cotterell

A Space Coast legislator won party-line approval Thursday for a package to tighten restrictions on gathering petitions for issues going on the Florida ballot.

Several civic organizations - including the League of Women Voters, People for the American Way and Common Cause of Florida - warned that the plan by Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, would put the public-initiative process out of reach of truly grassroots organizations.

But business interests, including the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, said Posey's bill would help root out fraud, forgery and misrepresentation in the petition method of amending the constitution.

Posey's bill (SB 900) would require professional canvassers to wear identifying badges so that voters would know whether a petition was pushed by civic-minded volunteers or professional political consultants. All petitions would be stamped with the names and addresses of the persons gathering them, whether they are unpaid volunteers or employees getting paid by the signature.

And voters would be able to revoke their signatures if they learn more about an issue and regret helping to place it on the ballot. Posey said that is important because people sometimes fall for a nice-sounding title on an initiative but later find out they signed for something else entirely.

Posey's interest goes back decades.

In the 1970s, he said, canvassers seeking a public referendum falsely told his mother that he was on their side. He declined to identify the issue or the organization pushing it but said ''they were just trying to get in my face'' by claiming that his mother endorsed their petition.

''My mother - who, unlike me, is a very unassuming and kind-hearted person - had no way to remove her name from that petition,'' said Posey.

Common Cause lobbyist Ben Wilcox and attorney Mark Herron, a prominent elections law practitioner in the Capitol, warned that the signature revocation provision would start a whole new ''cottage industry'' of canvassing companies that torpedo petition campaigns.

Several consultants specialize in rounding up the 611,009 petition cards needed to put a constitutional amendment on Florida's ballot. Herron and Wilcox said allowing revocation would create a new line of work for them, tracking people down and getting them to take back their signatures.

Only rich and powerful industries - not true grassroots civic organizations - could afford that, they said.

''This is a solution in search of a problem,'' said Wilcox. ''The real beneficiary of this bill would be the petition-gathering companies themselves.''

But Posey said that in one Santa Rosa County case, petition gatherers were charged with 40 violations of canvassing laws. In another case, he said, a county elections supervisor was surprised to find his own name - which he hadn't signed - on a petition for a referendum.

All three Democrats on the Ethics & Elections Committee, Sens. Gwen Margolis of North Miami Beach, Charlie Justice of St. Petersburg and Nan Rich of Sunrise, voted against Posey's plan. The proposal now goes to the Judiciary Committee for debate.

    http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/CAPITOLNEWS/703090347/1010/NEWS01

 

HELP SAVE WHAT'S LEFT OF  FLORIDA...
LET THE PEOPLE VOTE to control growth! 

 

Help put HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY on the 2008 ballot

Please download and SIGN THE PETITION 

http://www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com

PO Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170-0636. 

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  • 07 May 07 Your Legislature at work.........you win some, you lose some


Crist agenda takes a hit 

 

Smiles aside, several of the governor's opening initiatives were ignored or slashed

                                                                                                                              photo

.TALLAHASSEE - Ever the optimist, Gov. Charlie Crist never misses a chance to praise legislators for "incredible" work.

He did it when they passed an "antimurder" bill, a new teacher bonus program and paper trails in elections. Even when they stumbled over property taxes, Crist gave them an A for effort.  But in the session that ended Friday, legislators didn't always return the compliments.

Despite Crist's 77 percent approval rating and an uncommon goodwill throughout the Capitol, lawmakers rejected or watered down several Crist initiatives and reduced or rejected money for others. 

To be sure, Crist got much of what he requested, including an insurance rate freeze extension, a 6.5 percent school spending hike, restoration projects for rivers, the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee and more money to lure businesses to Florida.

But Crist's sunny optimism can't hide the fact that several of his priorities were rejected by his fellow Republicans.

They included a stockpile of antiviral flu drugs, stem cell research grants, mandatory civics education in public schools and
across-the-board pay raises for state employees.

When Crist demanded action, such as cracking down on probation violators or requiring paper trails, he often got results. When he took a low-key, deferential approach, lawmakers sometimes reacted with
indifference. But Crist doesn't mind.

"I respect their right to do it. If I got offended by everybody not doing exactly what I want to do, I wouldn't be a very fun guy," Crist said. "I'm not the king. I'm just the governor."

Crist counts as a major victory the mandate for paper-trail voting equipment to replace touch screens. But lawmakers refused to ante up the money, so federal funds will be used.

"He had a rough session, " said Rep. Jack Seiler, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat and a Crist admirer. "But I don't think that was his fault."

Seiler said parts of Crist's centrist agenda faced resistance from conservative Republicans or from House staffers who had strong ideological ties with former Gov. Jeb Bush.

One such example is Crist's request for $20-million for medical research using adult stem cells, or other stem cells that wouldn't require destroying a human embryo.

Although Crist's call for the funding was hailed across the ideological spectrum as a sensible way to move forward on stem cell research, the House stripped out any money for such projects.

No governor ever gets everything he seeks. But Crist's predecessor, Jeb Bush, practically wrote the script in his first legislative
session in 1999, easily winning $1-billion in tax cuts, a grading system for public schools and the nation's first statewide school voucher program.

The times were different. Bush had just wrested control of the Governor's Mansion after eight years of Democratic rule and he enjoyed delving into the deepest details of policy. As the years went by,  Republicans chafed at what they felt was Bush's heavy-handed style in  dealing with the Legislature.

Crist is well-liked by lawmakers, but after the Bush years they seem eager to reassert their independence from the executive branch.

"The Legislature was beaten up by Jeb Bush in a lot of ways, " said lobbyist Ron Book. "But Charlie Crist will get plenty of what he wants and he'll get what he needs."

Lawmakers blamed the trimming of Crist's budget priorities on tight fiscal times caused by a slide in tax collections, not any
philosophical disagreements.

"When you have a billion dollars less after the governor puts his budget out, that has an effect on a lot of initiatives," said Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie.

Lawmakers still found hundreds of millions of dollars for projects in their hometowns, largely one-time expenditures for parks, water systems, courthouse renovations and anticrime programs. They paid for them using one-time money, which is largely not allowed for continuing programs. They also socked away more than $1-billion in the state's rainy day fund.

An unusual set of political dynamics resulted in Democrats praising Crist's priorities, and criticizing Crist's fellow Republicans for falling short, as in the case of providing bonuses for state workers but no raises.

"If he Crist could factor it into his budget, we could have factored it into ours, instead of giving state employees what's left over," said Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, who represents tens of
thousands of state workers.

A few of Crist's forceful policy pronouncements became faint echoes as the 2007 session drew to a close Friday.

For example, in his inaugural address on Jan. 2, Crist listed as a priority "quality, affordable, accessible health care" for all
Floridians. A bill that would have expanded access to KidCare, a federally subsidized health insurance program for children, failed when the Senate refused to consider it in the session's final days.

Health care advocates said Crist could have used his bully pulpit to get the bill passed. On May 1, he sent a one-sentence letter to Pruitt that said: "I respectively request your assistance in placing the following bill on the Senate Calendar for consideration."

The Senate did nothing.

What others call lobbying, Crist calls "encouragement," which raises a question: Is Crist so polite that lawmakers aren't afraid to say no to him, and should he be more forceful?

"I don't think the word 'forceful' could be used for Charlie Crist," Pruitt said. "He's genuinely the nicest guy I've ever met."

The governor acknowledged that his manner of dealing with lawmakers was more deferential than Bush. Crist said his legislative lobbyists and Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, a former House member, worked feverishly behind the scenes to advance his agenda, largely with successful results.

"There's a different style, no question about it," Crist said. "And I think, I hope, that we have communicated effectively on the things that are important on behalf of the people."

Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or (850) 224-7263.



WHAT THE GOVERNOR GOT

The "antimurder" bill: It automatically puts probation violators in jail.  Citizens Property Insurance: Premium rate freeze is extended until 2009 and homeowners can switch to Citizens for lower rates more easily.

Paper-trail voting: Will now be statewide as 15 counties using touch screen systems get new machines (paid for by the feds because the Legislature wouldn't.

Teacher bonuses: Bonuses for top performance, but not tied to student test scores (with about half the money Crist wanted in the program).


WHAT HE DIDN'T GET


Stem cell research: Crist requested $20-million. Legislature appropriated nothing.

Antiviral flu drugs: Crist requested $37-million. Legislature appropriated nothing.

Civics education: Crist requested $8-million. Legislature appropriated nothing.

Reading coaches: Crist requested $26-million for 400 more coaches.  Legislature spent $5-million for 80 coaches.

Tax break: Crist requested a 0.25 percent cut in the tax on cable TV and cell phones. Legislature did not pass it.

State employees: Crist requested a 2.44 percent across-the-board pay increase. Legislature approved $1,000 one-time bonuses.

Property tax reform: Crist demanded "significant and immediate" tax relief. The Legislature failed to reach agreement and called a special session for next month.

 

   A more complet list follows below:

 

 

 STEVE BOUSQUET, St. Petersburg Times


                                                                                ____________**____________

 

More complete list:
2007 Legislative session: Passed and failed

By the St Petersburg Times staff
Published May 6, 2007

Each year, the St. Petersburg Times compiles a list of notable bills
considered during the Florida legislative session and which ones
passed or failed. Those that passed will go to the governor to be
signed into law, vetoed, or allowed to become law without his
signature. Many of those that failed will be back next year.

PASSED BILLS

Budget, taxes

State budget: A $71.9-billion budget, supported in part by an
additional $545-million in local property taxes paid by homeowners and
business owners.

Tax breaks: Exempts hurricane preparedness items such as flashlights
and weather radios from sales tax, June 1-12. Exempts back-to-school
supplies from sales tax, Aug. 4-13.
State investments: Requires state retirement funds to divest from
companies doing business in Sudan's or Iran's energy sector.

Education

Differential tuition: Allows University of Florida, Florida State
University and University of South Florida to charge incoming
undergrads up to 40 percent more than the base tuition of the 11
public universities.

Physical education: Requires 30 minutes of physical education each day
in Grades K-5.

Steroids: Creates a one-year pilot program to randomly test high
school athletes in football, baseball and wrestling for anabolic
steroids.

Teacher pay: Replaces controversial STAR plan with a $147.5-million
merit pay plan for instructors and administrators, based on student
performance and teacher evaluations.

The family

Adoption: Creates Office of Adoption and Child Protection to promote
adoption and prevent child abuse; increases subsidies for families
adopting foster children.

Children's Cabinet: Creates a 15-member cabinet to coordinate programs
and funding for children's services.

Claims

Boot camp death: Pays $4.8-million to the family of Martin Lee
Anderson, the 14-year-old who died after a rough encounter with guards
at Bay County boot camp in 2006.

Surgical negligence: Pays Minouche Noel, 19, and her family
$8.5-million for botched back surgery when she was an infant.

Crime and punishment

Antimurder: Requires immediate incarceration and hearings for
probation violators and stiffer penalties for violations for certain
felons.

Juvenile sex offenders: Protects teens involved in consensual
relationship cases from new federal requirements that juvenile sex
offenders register on databases. The offender could not be more than
four years older than the sexual partner. The partner would have to be
at least 14 years old.

Online crimes: Requires sex offenders to register home and e-mail
addresses and increases penalties for cyber-crimes against children.

Sex offenders: Driver's licenses and ID cards issued to sexual
offenders and predators will bear markings to show their criminal
history as part of the Jessica Lunsford Act. Clarifies fingerprinting
and background check requirements for school contractors.

Sex offense victims: Requires a victim advocate be present at the
request of a victim, and prohibits law enforcement from requiring the
victim to take a polygraph test. Requires that accused sex offenders
take an HIV test within 48 hours of a court order requested by the
victim or victim's family.

Gambling

Instant bingo: Allows veterans groups and charities that hold bingo
games to also sell lottery-like instant bingo tickets.

More slots: Expands hours of operation and number of slot machines at
parimutuel facilities in Broward County, the only place where they are
allowed in Florida outside American Indian reservations.

Elections and politics

Paper trail: Requires verifiable paper trail in elections.

Presidential primary: Moves Florida's next primary to Jan. 29, 2008.

Resign-to-run: Allows officeholders to run for any federal office
without leaving current job.

Signature revocation: Voters who sign ballot initiative petitions have
150 days to revoke signatures.

Petitions: Allows businesses to prohibit citizen petition drives on
their property.

Insurance

Citizens Property Insurance Corp.: Freezes the state-run insurer's
rates until 2009 and lowers the entry threshold so more homeowners can
move to Citizens for lower premiums.

Hurricane shutters: Homes insured at a value of $750, 000 located in
wind debris zones, including all of Pinellas County, must get shutters
or impact-resistant windows to have a Citizens policy or to pull a
building permit for $50,000 worth of work next year.

Insurance glitches: Weakens 90-day pay requirement in current law,
allowing insurers to pay only a "portion" of a claim and removes
consumers' ability to sue if they don't get paid. Limits consumer
advocate insurance report cards to residential property insurers,
excluding condo and commercial policies.

DUI auto insurance: Requires those who plead guilty or no contest to
driving under the influence to carry bodily injury auto insurance
coverage.

Consumers

Cable TV: Creates statewide franchising of cable TV and makes it
easier for phone firms to compete with cable. Allows cable companies
to break local contracts and apply through state.

Lifeline enrollment: Allows easier enrollments of low-income customers
in the telephone bill discount program.

Gift certificates: Eliminates expiration dates and dormancy fees for
some gift cards sold in Florida .

Rental agreements: Increases fees to renters who break their leases.

Environment, growth

Energy: Creates Energy Policy Task Force, increases sales tax
exemptions for ethanol fuel and biodiesel distribution, establishes
incentives for selling biofuel, requires state buildings to meet
certain energy-efficient standards.

Growth management: Allows larger counties and cities to participate in
pilot program that allows expedited, limited state review of land use
changes.

Pets: Allow state wildlife officials to require people with non-native
reptiles, such as pythons, to pay up to $100 for a license.

Transportation

Designated driver: Prohibits bars from requiring people to buy drinks
if they are designated drivers.

Private toll roads: Allows private companies to lease Florida's toll
roads and increase tolls with inflation.

Specialty tags: Creates license plates including "Support Our Troops,
 "Trees Are Cool, " "Protect Florida Springs" and "NASCAR."
Eliminates Girl Scouts license plate.

Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority: Creates 16-member board
to plan and build a network of toll roads, rail lines and express
buses across seven counties.

Health and safety

Pet burials: Allows "internment or entombment" of human remains with
the urn of a cremated animal as long as the human and animal remains
are not mixed together.

Suicide prevention: Creates state suicide prevention office.

Tobacco prevention: Implements 2006 voter-approved tobacco prevention
ad campaign.

FAILED BILLS

Crime and punishment

Wrongful incarceration: Would have paid Alan Crotzer, formerly of St.
Petersburg, $50, 000 for each of the 24 years he spent in prison on a
wrongful conviction.

Civil rights pardons: Would have created "Rosa Parks Act" to pardon
people with convictions tied to civil rights protests.

Death penalty: Would have followed the Florida Supreme Court's advice
to undo the privatization of death row appeals in northern Florida.

Education

Elected educator: Would have re-established the commissioner of
education as an elected Cabinet position.

Vouchers: Would have created a separate trust fund to collect
corporate tax credits to support private school vouchers, to get
around a state Supreme Court decision against using generals funds.

Jeb Bush honors: Would have named the University of Florida's college
of education after the former governor.

School year: Would have allowed school boards to start fall classes
more than two weeks before Labor Day.

School athletics: Would have created a governing organization for high
school athletics among private schools, which are run along with
public schools by the Florida High School Athletic Association.

Consumer

Telemarketing: Would have banned political groups from making
automated calls to consumers on federal or state do-not-call lists.

Consumer Advocate: Would have strengthened powers of the consumer
advocate under the chief financial officer.

Elections and politics

Sworn testimony: Would have required lobbyists, lawmakers and
legislative staffers speaking before legislators to take an oath,
subjecting them to felony perjury charges if caught lying.

Voting: Would have given voters an "I choose not to vote" option on
ballots for individual races.

Blind trusts: Would have required governor, lieutenant governor and
Cabinet officers to place assets in a blind trust to avoid conflicts
of interest.

Immigration

Immigration: Would have penalized businesses that knowingly hired
illegal immigrants.

Sports, entertainment

Adult entertainment: Would have made it a third-degree felony if the
owner or operator of an adult business knew or should have known the
site was used for prostitution.

Lightning: Would have provided Tampa Bay Lightning and other pro
sports teams either $2-million a year in sales tax rebates or a
one-time payment of $32-million for stadium improvements.

Insurance

No-fault insurance: Would have extended or rewritten the law requiring
motorists to carry a minimum $10, 000 policy to cover injury no matter
who is at fault.

Cell phone insurance: Would have allowed cell phone companies to embed
insurance in sales contracts.

Health insurance: Would have made it easier to enroll children in
KidCare, the state's subsidized insurance program.

Transportation

Text messages: Would have prohibited use of cell phones and text
messaging while driving.

Traffic cameras: Would have allowed cities and counties to install
cameras at intersections to record traffic violations.

Health

Cervical vaccine: Would have added a vaccine that prevents cervical
cancer to the list of immunizations for girls in public and private
middle schools, with an option for students to decline.

Pregnant minors: Would have required health care workers to notify law
enforcement and collect DNA evidence when they believe a minor is
pregnant and/or seeking abortion.

Abortion notice: Would have limited the discretion of judges
considering whether to allow a young woman to get an abortion without
notifying her parents. Also would have required a 24-hour waiting
period before a woman could get an abortion after first having an
ultrasound.

Stem cell: Would have given $20-million in adult stem cell research grants.

Guns at work

Guns at work: Would have allowed employees to keep firearms in the
cars they park at workplaces.

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Sprawl can take it all,

By Jamie Page

jpage@news-press.com

Originally posted on January 16, 2007

Fifteen years ago, Bill Belleville had an old Florida Cracker farm house, accessed by dirt road and surrounded by nature. Now it's consumed by a mall and a large multifamily development.

So Belleville, who is from Sanford, has a message for Lee County: "Don't roll over, and let the politicians think it's OK. You have to be constantly vigilant" to protect Florida from sprawl.


He even wrote a book about it — "Losing it All to Sprawl: How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape," and was invited to the Responsible Growth Management Coalition's annual meeting Monday night to talk about it. He told them how unregulated growth is quickly taking over the unique history and landscape of old Florida, and he has chronicled the loss in his book.

Perhaps it's telling that out of the 30 stops throughout Florida where Belleville is giving his talk, Monday's session at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre in Fort Myers was the most requested. The Fort Myers/Cape Coral area and the Naples/Marco Island area are among the top 10 fastest growing metro areas in the country.

"I have talked to people who have been here three generations and those here for three years and both are bothered by the loss."

Belleville, an author and documentary filmmaker, painted a verbal picture of old Florida's natural landscape that existed not so long ago, contrasted with the statistic that Florida loses 20 acres of natural land an hour to development.

"It's always a worry that these things are happening faster than we think," said Dave Urich, president of the Responsible Growth Management Coalition (RGMC). "It's disappointing in a way because it's so true about how much has changed in Florida. Too many of the old-timers just took pictures of the old buildings but didn't do anything to save them."

Urich, 73, first saw Florida at age 6, and moved here in 1974. The RGMC that Urich heads helped establish the Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource area, which includes lands that have been set aside to limit urban sprawl and provide greenspace, habitat and groundwater recharge. Water supply is one of the top concerns for Floridians.

Belleville said an agriculture extension agent once told him that the bad news to all the rampant growth is eventually, "you'll be drinking reclaimed sewage, the good news is you'll have plenty of it."

By 2000, there had been more than 100,000 exemptions made to local government growth plans in Florida, and only four of those were challenged by the state. "The growth plans are diluted. They have no teeth to them," Belleville said.

Commissioner Ray Judah said he was "inspirational."

"Despite all the growth in the state of Florida, we still have a lot of natural places that we need to provide responsible stewardship over and preserve more of these places before they vanish forever," Judah said. "There's no question as a collective body the policy makers need to be more in tune with the wild, natural parts of Florida in order to provide better stewardship of our resources."

 

Want to control growth?   Let the people vote! 

Help put HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY on the 2008 ballot

Please download and SIGN THE PETITION 

http://www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com

PO Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170-0636. 

 

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Dec. 6, 2006- "Who Killed The Electric Car? A Lack of Consumer Confidence or Conspiracy?"

"Who Killed the Electric Car?" Looks at the hopeful birth and untimely death of the electric car, an environmentally-friendly, cost-saving salvation to some, but a profit barrier to others.

It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So just why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert?

In a film that has all the elements of a murder mystery, Director Chris Paine points the finger at car companies, the oil industry, bad ad campaigns, consumer wariness, and a lack of commitment from the U.S. government.

In 1996, General Motors launched the first modern-day commercially available electric car, the EV1. The car required no fuel and could be plugged in for recharging at home and at a number of so-called battery parks.

Many of the people who leased the car, including a number of celebrities, said the car drove like a dream.

"...the EV1 was a high performer. It could do a U-turn on a dime; it was incredibly quiet and smooth. And it was fast. I could beat any Porsche off the line at a stoplight. I loved it," said Actress, Alexandra Paul.

After California regulators saw G.M.s electric car in the late 1980s, they launched a zero-emissions vehicle program in 1990 to clean up the state's smoggy skies.

Under the program, two percent of all new cars sold had to be electric by 1998 and 10 percent by 2003.

Photo of Alexandra Paul in her EV1, G.M.'s electric car.
Actress Alexandra Paul in her EV1, G.M.'s electric car.
 

But it was not to be. A little over 1,000 EV1s were produced by G.M. before the company pulled the plug on the project in 2002 due to what they say was insufficient demand. Other major car makers also ceased production of their electric vehicles.

In the wake of a legal challenge from G.M. and DaimlerChrysler, California amended its regulations and abandoned its goals. Shortly thereafter, automakers began reclaiming and dismantling their electric vehicles as they came off lease.

Some suggest that G.M. -- which says it invested some $1 billion in the EV1 -- never really wanted the cars to take off. They say G.M. intentionally sabotaged their own marketing efforts because they feared the car would cannibalize its existing business. G.M. disputes these claims.

The film chronicles GM's efforts to demonstrate to California that there was no demand for their product, and then to take back every EV1 and dispose of them. A few EV1's were disabled and given to museums and universities, but almost all were found to have been crushed; GM never responded to the EV drivers' offer to pay the residual lease value ($1.9 million was offered for the remaining 79 cars in Burbank before they were crushed).

EV1s crushed by General Motors shortly after production
EV1s crushed by General Motors shortly after production
 
Who Killed The Electric Car is a fascinating documentary and one that everyone should make sure they get to see. If you missed the Sierra Club showing, make sure you rent it with friends and family and find out why the only kind of cars that we can drive run on oil even though for a while there was a terrific alternative, a pure electric car.......... an eye- opening experience!
 



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“EGANS CREEK GREENWAY WORKSHOP” 

Public Meeting , March 15th

Doors open 4:30 for exhibit viewing and discussion

FDOT presentation at 6:00

MLK Center Auditorium

1200 Elm Street

Florida Dept of Transportation (FDOT) will be sharing their findings and recommendations with the public.   The topic will be the intrusion of salt water to the south and its effect on the Greenway and whether or not the area should be protected as a fresh water or salt water system. 

  FDOT has published a “Preliminary Engineering Report-Evaluation of Jasmine St. Tide Barrier Alternatives, Egans Creek Nassau County Florida.”  This report was created by Taylor Engineering, the company that was responsible for the original project. The report evaluates the alternatives for correcting the problems and it finds some approaches feasible. 

 To read the report  Click here

 To be depressed by the photos  Click here


 

01 May 07  Editorial Response to a "one man" salt marsh greyway plan

          Amelia Island’s Egans Creek Greenway – a 238-acre passive park in the island’s heart – is embroiled in controversy with environmentalists and homeowners on one side, and special interests on the other.

          The short story: the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) persuaded the City of Fernandina Beach to permit it to turn some 100 acres of the freshwater Greenway into salt marsh as mitigation for wetlands it destroyed in Duval County.  Faulty engineering caused the entire fresh water ecosystem to become inundated with salt water.  FDOT admits its mistake and, responding to a virtually unanimous outcry from the public, and an unequivocal demand from the city commission, has begun to correct the error.  But one individual, Clinch Kavanaugh, has thrown a wrench into the works with a complaint to the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJWMD) that was about to issue a permit for the FDOT fix-it plan thus delaying the work while salt water continues to destroy trees in the Greenway and threaten homes along its borders.

          Egans Creek’s headwaters lie in the center of the island.  It originally was a meandering stream that wound northward, widening into a delta that opened onto the Amelia River not far from the St. Mary’s River.  Salt water flowed on tides south into the Egans Creek basin, mixing with fresh water coursing from the island’s interior. Beaver dams stabilized the basin into a three-part ecosystem:  salt, brackish and fresh.  While Amelia’s historic stands of maritime forest were reduced by development, they flourished in the Egans Creek basin.

Seventy years ago decisions were made that permanently altered the nature of the basin to accommodate it for development.  Fernandina installed floodgates under the Atlantic Avenue bridge near the north end of the basin to stop the intrusion of saltwater under the roadway.  The creek was also channelized – turned from a meandering stream to a straight north-south canal.  In a failed effort to deal with mosquitoes, the city dug east-west trenches throughout the basin, and dug a secondary channel.  Gradually fresh water vegetation took over the entire basin south of Atlantic and the Greenway was established as a protected park.  Homes were built along both sides of the Greenway.  Otters, raccoons, deer, bobcats, alligators, many ducks and other bird species thrived in the fresh water ecosystem. 

In 2003, FDOT restored the flow of salt water from the north side of Atlantic Avenue to the south with a new system of flood gates to mitigate the destruction of four and one half acres of wetlands in two Duval County projects.

The original mitigation involved only 30 acres, but FDOT enlarged the acreage in the permitting process to include the 106 acres between Atlantic Avenue and Jasmine Street.  At a heated meeting in June of ‘03, citizens requested local officials keep the mitigation to the original 30 acres, but to no avail.   There was also concern that salt water would extend below Jasmine into the southern portion of the basin. FDOT engineers promised that wouldn’t happen and the area below Jasmine would remain a fresh water ecosystem.

The north end of the Greenway now shows significant tidal changes and a succession to a salt marsh system.  However, salt water has flowed under Jasmine and entered the southern Greenway. A 50-acre grove of red maple trees has died, and the destruction to the fresh water ecosystem is spreading.  Further, the water level both above and below Jasmine has increased by about 18 inches and backyards of adjacent homes are being eaten away. 

In response to the ensuing outcry, FDOT held a “town hall” meeting on the issue in March.  Some 80 people who attended were unanimous in their comments that the salt-water intrusion below Jasmine should be stopped immediately.  There was general agreement that there should be studies made – at FDOT expense – to determine what to do next, but preventing further salt water damage was an urgent priority. 

FDOT engineers accepted responsibility and told city commissioners they will fix the damaged Greenway south of Jasmine.

"We have damaged property we didn't have any legal right to, and we will have to remedy that somehow," FDOT Environmental Management Engineer Don Dankert said.

An emergency gravity gate at Jasmine to stop the flow of salt water southward, but permit fresh water to flow north to prevent flooding, is the proposed solution to maintain the status quo until studies can determine the next steps.

The Fernandina City Commission passed an unequivocal resolution to require FDOT to stop salt-water intrusion now and issued a permit to the agency to begin work immediately.

          Despite all this the project has been put on hold because of a formal complaint filed by one man, Kavanaugh.   As a result, further destruction will be allowed to continue until June when the SJWMD board will review the proposed permit.  (SJWMD staff would have issued the permit by now if it wasn’t for the lone objection.)

Kavanaugh’s position is that Egans Creek should be restored to its so-called "natural state” shown on a map he has dated 1769.  That is a very strange position for Kavanaugh, who has represented developers against environmental interests, to take because most of the changes to his map are the result of residential, commercial and industrial development. Amelia Island is far from its "natural state" anywhere.  Egans Creek has been so changed and reengineered by development, that the question of "restoration" is moot. 

Nature does not allow us to go back and replicate a select portion of the past without taking into consideration that the entire past would have to be replicated.  The mitigation destroyed a present day ecosystem, not a 200-year-old environment.  All the homes that line the Greenway are not going to be removed to conform to a 1769 map.  The mosquito control drainage trenches and the canal are not going to be filled to restore the original meandering creek.

          Nassau Sierra Group met with environmental engineers who say "restoration" is not relevant.  What needs to be done, the experts say, is to determine what the community wants the Greenway to be and then determine how best to make it so.  FDOT has agreed to conduct such a study with aid from a state engineering program.  The city is creating a committee to compile a Greenway management plan. Nassau Sierra has helped form a separate citizens committee and has been awarded a grant to conduct its own research.  This is the way it should be done; the public has been heard and action is being taken.

          Once the salt water intrusion south of Jasmine is stopped we must focus on an ecological perspective of the Greenway, including the desires and needs of its recreational human users -- and the animals that they cherish.

Amelia Island and Nassau County have many salt marshes and many creatures that thrive there such as wood storks, roseate spoonbills, herons and egrets.  But we need ecologic diversity and without a fresh water ecosystem in the southern Greenway, we will not have it.

          With a freshwater habitat in the Greenway, birdwatchers will continue to travel here to expand their life list of freshwater bird species; photographers will continue to come for rare shots of otters and bobcats.  Hikers, joggers, bikers and dog-walkers will retain the variety of sightings that this freshwater habitat has long afforded them. Freshwater fishermen on our island value the fish they catch here. If we lose it to salt-marsh the loss is insurmountable for many residents and visitors.

The "let nature take its course" path of continuing to allow conversion of this habitat to salt marsh is the wrong course.

 

Robert M. Weintraub

Fernandina Beach

 

Robert Weintraub is a member of the Nassau Sierra Group's executive committee. 

 

 

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Damaging Transportation Legislation Now on Gov. Crist's Desk
Please Ask Gov. Crist to Veto HB 985!


 

The damaging transportation bill, HB 985, has now been transmitted to the Governor and is awaiting his signature. Please contact him as soon as possible and ask him to veto this outrageous legislation. He can be reached at Phone: 850-488-7146, Fax: 850-487-0801, or email. 1000 Friends is joining the The Nature Conservancy, Audubon of Florida, Defenders of Wildlife, the Florida Wildlife Federation, and the Sierra Club in calling for this veto.

Among other things, this legislation:

  • Perpetuates the status quo of large-scale road-building as the solution to Florida's transportation needs.

     
  • Allows FDOT to lease existing toll facilities to private entities for up to 75 years, lessening state oversight for the planning, construction and operation of our public transportation system.

     
  • Changes existing law to allow projects to be advanced outside of FDOT's 5-year work program if the project increases capacity and is greater than $500 million dollars in the 10-year strategic plan.

     
  • Amends Florida statutes so that expressway, bridge, transportation and toll road authorities can enter public-private agreements for any project that increases capacity without being limited to a planning horizon. With this new unbridled authority, such an entity could potentially build a project identified on a future corridor plan that does not satisfy any current capacity need.

     
  • Weakens the linkage between growth management and transportation planning by letting landowners provide right-of-way for construction of facilities as a means of securing future concurrency credits before future road projects are identified within the capital improvement element of local government comprehensive plans. This language encourages what we perceive to be a chronic problem within Florida whereby roads--rather than planning--drive growth.

     
  • (Please note: a highly controversial provision in the bill that would double the bonding authority for Turnpike projects was included in the State Budget and has been signed into law).

 

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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

 

We need help collecting signatures on the Hometown Democracy petition.  We are planning to canvass a different location in Nassau County every Saturday until the end of the year.  If you could donate just one Saturday this year we could get it done.  I will be doing it each Saturday and would really appreciate the company.  If you are interested please call  Joan Altman 277-2274

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CITY CHARTER RE-WRITE

 

The City Commission has appointed a citizens committee to make some changes to the charter for a referendum in 2008.  Unfortunately no citizens attended the first meeting.   It is very important that we each stay on top of the proposed changes so we understand what will be on the ballot.  Now is the time to participate and be a part of the process.  Don’t miss the next meeting.  We are planning a get together at a local restaurant after each meeting, so try and be there.  For time and place, please call  Julie 583-4388 or Joan 277-2274