Florida Hometown Democracy page
05 July 08 update
Florida Home Town Democracy
(FHD) is the most important issue facing the environmental community
in Florida. It is the only measure that might control sprawling development .
And it is an issue that could have national ramifications. If FHD becomes law
in Florida, it would be an anti sprawl model for other states. The Florida
Chapter of Sierra Club has made it a major campaign of the past two years
joining with other organizations throughout the state.
The background is this: Since 1987, Florida has had a state law mandating
comprehensive development plans on the state and local levels. These plans were
supposed to control growth and protect the forests and wetlands from
development, but instead, they have served as a fig leaf for unregulated sprawl.
Developers can easily cajole, intimidate or buy off local officials to get any
changes or exceptions they desire to the comprehensive plans. No anti sprawl
measure
seemed to work and when localities passed anti sprawl measures, they were
invalidated by the courts
So the anti sprawl community,
inspired by Palm Beach attorney Lesley Blackner, launched Florida Home Town
Democracy. FHD is a grassroots initiative for an amendment to the state
constitution. The amendment would require a referendum in affected localities
for changes or exceptions
in Comprehensive Plans. It is the only measure that would put teeth in
Comprehensive Plans, and thus slow down, but not stop development. (It has been
said that, even without any changes, existing Comprehensive Plans would permit
housing developments to accommodate 100 million people in Florida.) .
The development industry is very afraid of FHD. They are afraid that if the
Amendment gets on the ballot, the voters would approve it overwhelmingly, as
they did for an anti sprawl measure passed in Volusia County (The Urban Growth
Boundary measure, which won voter approval by a 72% margin, but which was later
invalidated by the courts.) Led by the Florida Business Council and the Chamber
of Commerce, they have dedicated millions of dollars to preventing FHD getting
on the ballot. They have got the Legislature, heavily influenced by the
development lobby, to pass laws putting stumbling blocks in FHD getting on the
ballot. They have tried many tricks, including hiring away FHD signature
gatherers, to prevent the measure making it to the ballot.
To get on the 2008 ballot, FHD needed 611 000 signatures by February 1. Florida
Department of State claims that Home Town Democracy came up 65 000 signatures
short, while FHD submitted over 800 000 signatures by February 1. The problem is
that the election officials stopped processing signatures that came in after
January 1, making the plea that they needed 30 days to validate the signatures.
The Florida Division of Elections website now credits us with 600,540 petitions…even with the State’s massive petition validation screw-ups. It is clear that a combination of deliberate dirty tricks and epic bureaucratic incompetence combined to try to keep Florida Hometown Democracy off the November 2008 ballot. If the State had any respect for the citizen initiative process, we would be on the ballot. But they don’t and so we are asking the Federal Court to re-establish the constitutional rights of Florida voters that have been abridged.
Supporters of the proposed state constitutional amendment filed suit in U.S. district court in June 2008 seeking certification of all valid petitions, and placement on the ballot as early as November 2008.
With the clock ticking away, the wheels of justice may not turn in time. But, if nothing else, FHD’s legal challenge strikes a blow to Florida ’s (mis)handling of the constitutional amendment process.
FHD defenders make a plausible case of a public process hijacked by private interests. Harried by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and a phalanx of 110 developer-driven groups (including pro-growth elected officials), Hometown Democracy petitioners ran a three-year legal gantlet, including five appearances before the Florida Supreme Court — only to be told they came up short of the required 611,000 signatures.
“The chamber train-wrecked the process. They paid for 650,000 petitions and dumped them all at once on the supervisors of elections around the state in January,” says Hometown president Lesley Blackner.
The chamber’s rival petition drive, branded “Floridians for Smarter Growth,” hasn’t made the ballot either. But opponents figure their effort was successful as long as FHD doesn’t get to the voters.
For added insurance, Associated Industries of Florida chipped away at FHD by launching an unprecedented signature revocation campaign. This costly effort knocked out 13,182 signatures — until a Florida appellate court ruled revocation was unconstitutional because it was enacted by the Legislature, not by the people.
If you have not yet signed the FHD petition, please do so now. You can find it at:
http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com/
###
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:00:27 -0700
From: johnhedrick13@yahoo.com
Subject: Hi there-an article, a column and a request for Nassau County regarding FHD...
To: johnhedrick13@yahoo.com
FHD is very much alive. If you can assist us in forming a Nassau campaign committee for FHD we would appreciate it. Look forward to
being in contact with you, John
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The sponsors of a proposed
state constitutional amendment on growth management sued the state in federal
court Wednesday to get the citizens initiative on the November ballot.
> Florida Hometown Democracy missed a new petition-gathering deadline but
the lawsuit, filed in West Palm Beach, argues the Feb. 1 cutoff violates the
U.S. Constitution.
> There was no rational basis to move up the deadline for citizen
initiatives from August where it remains for amendments offered by the
Legislature, said Lesley Blackner, who heads Hometown Democracy.
> "It deprives people of their right to associate politically,"
Blackner said. "The state has got to stop this war against citizens'
right to amend their constitution."
> The Hometown Democracy Amendment would require voter approval for changes
in local comprehensive plans that determine how and where cities and counties
grow.
> Development and business interests oppose the measure, arguing it would
harm Florida's economy. They have pushed for measures such as the Feb. 1
deadline, placed on the ballot by the Legislature and approved by voters in
2004, to make to make it more difficult to amend the constitution through the
petition process.
> Secretary of State Kurt Browning, Florida's top election official, is
the defendant in the lawsuit. A spokesman for Browning did not immediately
return a phone message seeking comment.
> The suit also alleges differing standards used by the 67 county
supervisors of elections to verify signatures violates the petitioners'
equal protection rights.
> Hometown Democracy advocates say they have collected more than the
611,009 signatures needed but were denied ballot access because of the early
deadline and differing standards.
> The Division of Elections, part of Browning's department, counted
only 564,558 verified signatures by Feb. 1. Since then the number has increased
to 595,368 but that doesn't include 13,182 signatures revoked under a new
law.
> An appellate court has invalidated the revocation law, passed at the
urging of Hometown Democracy opponents, but an appeal to the Florida Supreme
Court is likely
Hometown Democracy will win--and soon!
The recent filing of a federal lawsuit holds the promise of Florida Hometown Democracy (FHD) qualifying for this year's election. Should the court, in essence, order FHD onto the ballot, it will validate what the over 820,000 people who have already signed our petitions know—that the people must have the power to make major growth decisions directly, because the state and local governments have shown no ability to stand up to the development industry. Witness what occurred this last legislative session just ended. Not only did the legislators not strengthen growth management along the lines pursued by Tom Pelham, head of the Department of Community Affairs, but they actually tried to further weaken the rules that guide our state's growth. Luckily, many citizens stood up in a loud voice and said, "no more," and these anti-growth management bills died.
The FHD initiative has the support of major organizations such as Florida Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, the Humane Society of the United States, Environment Florida, Florida Public Interest Research Group, Florida Consumer Action Network, Floridians for a Sustainable Population, Clean Water Action, Friends of the Everglades, Save the Manatee Club, numerous local Audubon Society chapters around the state, as well as a tremendous number of local, civic, community and coalition organizations.
Individual citizens also have shown their support for FHD not only through continuously signing petitions, but also contributing individually to the campaign--the Florida Division of Elections website lists 2,426 separate contributions from one-time or multiple-donation individuals. And I will predict many more organizations and individuals will join in this effort now that FHD is clearly the only viable method available to citizens to rein in runaway growth and start meaningful reform of growth management.
Why should we be concerned? Well, if things were left to take their own course, the "professional planners" would have you think the state can "sustainably" handle another 18 million people by 2060. However, strains on infrastructure, water supplies and the environment show we can't handle what we've got now! And you don't have viable comprehensive plans--the land use constitutions that are developed by means of a citizen participation process-- if they can be amended at the drop of a hat, and amendments given out like candy by local politicians. With FHD in place, amendments will be a lot fewer, and better serve the public interest, as they are supposed to do.
Currently, these comprehensive plan amendments end up being a "growth tax" on citizens at large, who have to foot the bill, in the form of increased property taxes, for the new roads, schools and other needs required by the increased population and commercial growth. Impact fees are either nonexistent or inadequate in nearly every local government. Citizens also have a right to control if, how and when their community develops, not just the development industry, and also the right to protect their quality of life.
Who doesn't want the citizens to control their destiny? Try these on for size: the National Association of Homebuilders, by far the largest contributor to the opposition at $1.11 million. Other large contributors to FHD opposition efforts are: Florida Homebuilders Association, Florida Association of Realtors, National Restaurant Association, local Homebuilders Associations, U.S. Sugar, Lykes Brothers, A. Duda and Sons, Ben Hill Griffin, Inc., Associated Industries of Florida, Associated Builders and Contractors, AT & T, Florida Transportation Builders Association, Holding Company of the Villages and Wal-Mart .
They'd like business as usual to go on unimpeded notwithstanding how the public might feel about their plans. And they sure wouldn't want their plans to get voted down by those pesky citizens, such as what happened to that proposed St. Joe Company airport (er, I mean, the Bay County/Panama City international airport). Unfortunately, the Bay County citizens weren't permitted a binding referendum, so the straw ballot vote was ignored, and the airport project proceeds, to the tune of $331 million, with $90 million from state transportation funds.
We're got the development industry pretty worried. FHD could mean the end of their party, so they are pulling out all the stops to keep it off the ballot. In fact, those who have helped crater our economy because of their overbuilding, have also caused the initiative process for everyone to become almost non-existent. Just look at this list of changes brought on just to slow down or stop FHD: a 60% vote now to pass a constitutional amendment; deadline for petition submittals moved to February 1; now you can't go onto a business property like a mall, without permission, to gather signatures; you must be 100 feet away from the door of a polling place to gather them. It's taken FHD filing suit to stop some of the worst anti-petitoning measures, such as signature recission.
FHD will not stop growth. Believe it or not, the public can say yes on occasion, as shown by votes taken in local governments that already either have some local form of FHD or have voted on growth issues. It's just that the public is going to have to be convinced that something indeed is in their best interest, not just to be beguiled by developer consultants' songs and dances, or, heaven forbid, campaign contributions given to them.
A salutory side benefit of FHD could be that the electoral process will be somewhat less corrupted than before, given that the citizens, and not the elected officials, will be making the final major growth decisions for the community. Developers will have less reason to lard campaign coffers to keep decision-makers friendly.
Florida Hometown Democracy is an idea whose time has come, and was never needed more than now.
John Hedrick has been the point person for the Florida Sierra Club on FHD and one of the leaders of the campaign to pass the Florida Hometown Democracy amendment. You can reach him at johnhedrick13@ yahoo.com