SIGN THE FLORIDA HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY PETITION
We, the Florida voters, must take back control over the destiny of our state.
We can do this by supporting the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment.
COUNTDOWN TO NOV. 2008 ! 541,000 more petitions needed to get FHD on the ballot !!!
We've got the green light, now YOU CAN HELP GET US THERE by carrying 10-20 blank petitions with you wherever you go. Let's make November 8th our INDEPENDENCE DAY from the growth mob that has ruled the day for the last twenty+ years in Florida. If each of us gets 5 others to each get 10 petitions signed, we'll have enough to get over the top. Please HELP. The FHD crew.
Please download from our website and SIGN THE PETITION ! http://www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com FHD, PO Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170-0636.
HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY PETITION Articles
Scott Maxwell
TAKING NAMES
November 25, 2007
By now, you've probably heard something about "Hometown Democracy." But you may not know quite what it is.
In the simplest sense, Hometown Democracy is a ballot proposal -- something you may get to vote on next year. It would take the power to approve many major developments away from elected officials and place it directly in the hands of the people. You and your neighbors would get to decide whether Super Wal-Mart moves in or a neighboring subdivision can be built.
But in a grander sense, Hometown Democracy is a story of how Florida politics works -- how politicians refuse to deal with problems until we make them.
Here's how this story is unfolding:
For years, growth in Florida has been a relatively simple affair. If you wanted to build something, all you had to do is convince a majority of the members of a county commission or city council.
Such a thing has never been tough in Florida , where you never have to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to get a good deal on an elected official. A few campaign donations here. A steak dinner here. Bingo! You've got yourself the permits to build whatever you want, regardless of what neighbors think.
Obviously, this system hasn't worked as well for us average Joes as it does for the development execs. The same growth that means boosted profits for special interests can mean crowded schools, clogged roads, water woes and pollution for everyone else.
Residents have tried to fight back. They've voiced complaints -- and sometimes even elected politicians who promised that they, too, wanted to slow things down.
But then, even with those "smart growth" pols in office, residents must endure a school such as Timber Creek High in east Orange County , where 4,300 students spend each day in a campus meant for 2,700. Or they find themselves stuck on roads such as University Boulevard or Alafaya Trail, that were once a straight shot, but, now lined with development, are anything but.
And they start to realize that some of these politicians make the National Enquirer seem reliable.
So residents finally take matters into their own hands by amending the constitution. They did the same thing with a class-size amendment when the politicians refused to get serious about education.
This is what scares the politicians. Because now you've threatened to interrupt their gravy train, expose them as part of the problem and infringe upon their power.
This is the part of our story where the politicians suddenly become your new best friends. Suddenly they empathize and understand. Suddenly, they want a solution too . . . just not this solution.
We saw such an argument a few weeks ago when Tom Pelham, secretary of the state's community affairs department, wrote a piece for the Sentinel that called Hometown Democracy "an extreme solution to a real problem."
Pelham said there are "more measured and practical solutions than the meat ax wielded by Hometown Democracy."
He then suggested several reasonable-sounding ones, including legislative action that would reduce the number of loopholes and exceptions that allow development to spread too fast and so wide.
Pelham's suggestions sound like they make sense. But if Pelham and other state officials are so keen on controlling growth and have such sensible-sounding solutions, why haven't they done so before now?
Because they didn't have to.
Because, until now, no one called their bluff.
After Pelham's piece ran, I asked him about his timing -- and suggested that, if he wanted to convince voters he was serious about all this, he would get his slow-growth legislation passed before residents vote on the matter.
Pelham responded that he would try to do just that and push to limit growth "regardless of the outcome of the Hometown Democracy campaign."
Good for him.
I'll believe it when I see it. But if the Legislature does finally put more reasonable checks on growth, maybe that will be a better solution than Hometown Democracy.
But even if Hometown Democracy fails at the polls, it still may be a success.
Because it is forcing us to deal with a problem we would have otherwise continued to ignore.
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.
Daytona Beach News Journal
November 05, 2007
Ripostes to pro-growth alarmists
By ANDREW BALEE
COMMUNITY VOICES
Living in Florida, a state that has more than quadrupled in population since I was born (no, I'm not the oldest man alive), has made me grow reluctantly accustomed to seeing things change: Wooded areas that I once played in have become gated communities; beaches you could drive along have severely restricted access; open ocean vistas have been blocked by walls of condominiums . . . And let's not forget the traffic congestion.
Therefore, it was with surprise and delight that I read about the Hometown Democracy petition for a constitutional change requiring voter approval of all Comprehensive Plan amendments by local governments. Having been fooled by many development schemes dressed in sheep's clothing, however, I waited for the catch. ("We will protect this, but develop the heck out of that" etc.) But, I don't see a catch. The fact that the major (and minor) development interests in the state are scrambling to discredit this idea speaks volumes in favor of it.
Long-term planning, zoning and comprehensive land use decisions weren't made arbitrarily. Local governments spent thousands of dollars on consultants and no small amount of time deciding their own vision of the future of their communities. No wonder that so many residents have watched in frustration as these plans were changed, on a daily basis, as developers trotted in teams of lawyers and advocates, often either dazzling or simply fooling our local leaders. ("This 12-story tower on the beach will really do a lot to enhance the area," said one straight-faced lawyer to a public hearing in Flagler Beach, as the locals hissed and booed.)
I don't point fingers at the local leadership: They are ill equipped to deal with the big bucks that big developers can spend to forward their projects. The threat of a multimillion dollar lawsuit, which would bankrupt their community, often serves to wither all resistance. That's why an amendment to the Florida Constitution is so badly needed: It gives the local commissioners a way out. Don't be fooled by the arguments against it. Here are a few, with the obvious ripostes: ·
Environmentalists are against it: But not many, I'll bet. The chief argument here is that agricultural landowners could (under existing rules) build one house on every five acres. So how would Hometown Democracy's amendment make that worse? ·
"We would have to have an election every time we needed a hospital, or police station or school built: We're growing fast, but not that fast. When's the last time you heard somebody say "we need a bigger hospital and we need it tomorrow"? Most of these public facilities are planned over pretty large periods of time, plenty of time to wait until the next regular election. That 600-unit development in what used to be woods, however, needs immediate attention? Give me a break. ·
But the amendment would wrest control from our elected officials and give it to special electors: Yes, but those mysterious electors are actually only registered voters. It's not the Inquisition, it's plain old democracy. And believe me, it would take a lot of pressure off the local governments, freeing them up for designating scenic highways, installing pretty paving bricks all over and other necessary stuff. ·
It would harm development in the state: More likely it would harm over-development. I mean, how stupid do they think we are, anyway? (Wait, don't answer that one.)
Balee lives in Flagler Beach
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
The Tampa Tribune
By MIKE SALINERO Published: October 17, 2007 TAMPA -
Terrified that voters may get the power to kill development projects, Florida business interests are unleashing an array of political weaponry to defeat the Hometown Democracy initiative. A mass mailing from one opposition group alleged that the Hometown movement is a shadowy conspiracy fomented by out-of-state special interests called 'electors,' another name for voters. Another group sent an e-mail last week that inserted a phony message onto a doctored photo of the Mons Venus strip club marquee, making it appear the club was offering free admission to Hometown backers. The chicanery is drawing comparisons to the Watergate era. 'It's the dirty trick business just like President Nixon used,' said Hometown supporter Robert Page of Islamorada. Behind the tactics are two of Florida's most powerful pro-business groups, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida. The two groups have formed political committees that together have collected almost $840,000 in contributions from developers, real estate agents and road builders. Hometown Democracy would allow voters to approve or reject changes to county comprehensive growth plans. Supporters say the amendment is the only way to stop unrestrained growth..... http://www.tbo.com/news/nationworld/MGBZA5AJW7F.html
Miami Herald Hometown Democracy facing slimy scare tactics The former Florida House speaker and big-shot lawyer-lobbyist has sent out a mass-mailing to scare voters into removing their signatures from a statewide petition in favor of the "Florida Hometown Democracy" amendment. The Hometown Democracy initiative would let citizens vote to approve or reject major changes to the comprehensive land-use plans in their counties or cities. For the first time, Floridians would have some direct control over how their communities grow. Thrasher's deceptive and slimy letter is proof of the panic that has set in among those who've made a fortune raping the state and are afraid of losing their sweet ride. The lobbyist ominously warns that, if the Hometown Democracy amendment passes, "special interests" will triumph and "Big Developers" will wreck Florida 's "scenic beauty." Like it's not happening now? Special interests already manipulate many county and city commissions - not to mention the Legislature - while Florida 's green space continues to disappear under bulldozers at the rate of hundreds of acres per day. What Thrasher neglects to reveal in his fright mailing is that big developers and landholders are the ones most frantically opposed to the Hometown Democracy movement, and that he himself represents some of the biggest, including the St. Joe Co. that is selling off the Panhandle. He says allowing the voters to decide whether they want a new megamall or condo tower down the street could stifle growth and cause taxes to go up - another cynical fiction designed to frighten middle-class workers and the elderly. What really causes taxes to soar is the need for increased services due to overdevelopment and overcrowding. Bad planning means that the public ends up paying dearly and repeatedly for more roads, fire stations, police patrols, water-treatment plants and schools. Lots of folks in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties will tell you that runaway growth has done nothing but push up their tax bills and diminish the quality of their family's lives. All over the state, Floridians are disgusted by the failure of their elected officials to do restrained, responsible planning. That's why the Hometown Democracy petition has momentum. While it might not be the perfect answer to derailing the engine of manic greed that's ruining so many lovely places, many residents are so heartsick and frustrated that they would welcome a dramatic change. According to the Web site www.floridahometowndemocracy.com, petition supporters have collected about 331,000 verified signatures of the 611,009 needed to place the amendment on the November 2008 ballot. Thousands more signatures are awaiting validation. The deadline for signing is Feb. 1, only four months away, which has lent urgency to the opposition's propaganda blitz. Nothing is so horrifying to some developers and corporate interests as the prospect of having to deal directly with citizens when trying to get a building project passed. It's much easier to woo politicians, whose loyalties often can be purchased with a hefty campaign contribution or outright bribes. That's the way things have always worked in Florida , which explains the plague of ugly sprawl. Predictably, opponents grandiosely calling themselves Floridians for Smarter Growth have cooked up a rival constitutional amendment that would require 10 percent of voters in a city or county to sign a petition, before any land-use referendum takes place. The petitions could be signed only at the office of a municipal clerk or elections supervisor, an inconvenience that virtually guarantees a fatally low turnout. Obviously, the forces behind Floridians for Smarter Growth aren't interested in participatory democracy. They want the public to shut up and let the politicians do their thing. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the group raised $841,000 between April and August. Major donors included the National Association of Home Builders, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Sugar. It's a motley roster of special interests whose motives are anything but pure. The Hometown Democracy movement undoubtedly was the prime target when pro-development legislators passed a law allowing voters to revoke their signatures from amendment petitions. That opened the door for John Thrasher's specious letter pretending to denounce the very developers for whom he's shilling. In urging citizens to abandon the Hometown Democracy campaign, he blames "slick lawyers" for tricking them into putting their names on the petition. Thrasher himself is one of the slickest lawyers in Tallahassee , and it is he who has stooped to shameless trickery. His scare letter comes with a postage-paid envelope. Mail it back with the two-word reply of your choice. Carl Hiaasen writes for The Miami Herald. |
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.
May 31, 2006
Take land use back to voters to decelerate growth machine [Originally appeared on News-Journal Online at http://www.news-jurnalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/opnOPN48053106.htm ]
By LESLEY BLACKNER, FLORIDA VOICEI was in law school 20 years ago when the Growth Management Act was delivered to the people of Florida as a salvation to the problems of endless growth. I remember well the hype. The new state law would bring "rationality" and "planning" and "expertise" to the business of growth. It would divest ignorant, greedy local politicos of their ability to dump subdivisions onto fragile ecosystems without a second thought. It would ensure that growth didn't destroy Florida.
It's been a bad 20 years. Today there's a consensus that whatever "growth management" may or may not be, it is a failure. The act remains on the books, yet it has not protected Floridians from the constant erosion of our quality of life at the hands of the growth machine.
Why doesn't it work? Well, for starters, the Growth Management Act was never intended to stop growth; its goal is only to manage growth and ensure that the proper infrastructure is in place before the bulldozers scrape the land. The proof: If you add up all the comprehensive plans in our state, you will find that they project housing for more than 100 million people.
Second, what constitutes adequate infrastructure has been a matter of endless debate, and no action. The buzz word is "concurrency." For most developers, getting the road to the land will do the trick. Lack of schools, gridlock, over-stretched police and fire service, the end of open space -- all part and parcel of what most middle class Americans would deem infrastructure deficiencies -- have in no way stymied the growth machine.
Third, Floridians, seduced by the vision of "managed growth," turned their counties and towns over to the "experts": the lawyers, planners, biologists, engineers, bureaucrats and the whole panoply of "consultants." These "experts" are just the growth machine in a fancy suit. They have developed a mind-numbing, pseudoscientific techno-babble that the humble opposition can not hope to understand. Too often, the city and county commissioners don't understand it either. Over and over again, mere mortals are bulldozed by the "experts."
"Are you a traffic expert?" sneered a city attorney at homeowners who dared to oppose a
five-fold increase in density for the last remaining bit of green space in their neighborhood on the ground that it would bring a deluge of traffic onto their quiet street.
Citizens become demoralized when they speak with common sense and object to the deterioration of their community, yet local government treats them like problem children. It's just too hard to fight city hall under the current rules of the game.
Yes, the rules of the game. That's the key. The growth machine controls the game, it makes up the rules. But there is a different way to make land use decisions, a revolution waiting to happen. It's called voter accountability on land use. That's why I'm supporting the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment, a statewide petition to amend the Florida Constitution. Under the amendment, comprehensive plan amendments will be submitted to the voter. It's that simple. If you haven't signed the petition, download it at www.floridahometowndemocracy.com
Like the Florida Constitution, county and city charters can be amended to bring a higher level of voter accountability on land use. The charter amendment of choice these days seems to be the height cap. Cities up and down the coast don't want to be Manhattanized. This is so important that citizens enshrine this restriction, to take it away from the easy reach of "experts" and the growth machine.
In response to the approval of twin 16-story condos in Edgewater, a group of fed-up voters formed Edgewater Citizen's Alliance for Responsible Development Inc., (ECARD) and are seeking signatures on a petition to amend the Edgewater Charter to cap new construction at a height of 35 feet. But, bravely, ECARD is going further.
ECARD is invoking a forgotten provision in the Edgewater charter to overturn the ordinance approved by the Edgewater City Commission authorizing the 16-story condos. Read the petition at www.floridasos.com. The Edgewater charter allows dissatisfied voters the right to use the referendum process to overturn an ordinance they don't like. This is a powerful tool for accountability.
To take voter accountability a step further, ECARD is circulating a petition to require approval of 4 of 5 commissioners before a land use change is adopted. Why? Right now, only a simple majority is required. Land use changes should not be granted unless there is a strong consensus that the change will benefit the community. This accountability provision raises the threshold for obtaining a land use change. It should be enshrined in charters everywhere.
Going back to our First Amendment right to petition our government for redress of our grievances is the only way to end the tyranny of "government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer." Voter accountability on land use puts the voters back in charge of their communities. It is the future of conservation in Florida.
Blackner, an attorney in Palm Beach, is a member of Florida Hometown Democracy Inc. and the attorney for ECARD.
Daytona Beach News Journal - Guest Editorial Thursday March 30, 2006 Lesley Blackner, an attorney in Palm Beach, is an organizer for the Florida Hometown Democracy campaign. You think the traffic is bad now, and the schools are overwhelmed? What happens while the next 5, 20, 50 million people move to Florida? Right now Florida’s population is about 18 million and growing by 1,000 people each and every day, with no end in sight. If you add up all the comprehensive plans in our state, you will find that they project housing for over 100 million people. The truth, which politicians avoid like the plague, is that Florida’s population growth is never supposed to end. State and local governments are in the growth business. These growth junkies equate relentless, unending construction with civic progress. They like to call it “economic development” or “growing the tax base”. When a voter says “But I like my community the way it is!” he is shouted down by the growth junkies: “Growth is going to happen whether we like it or not! This town needs this growth…if we don’t grow we’ll die!” When I hear this, I think of Miami-Dade County. For a hundred years Miami has grown and grown without restraint, paving over the mangroves and the swamps. If simply adding more people and more construction is good government and good business, then why is Miami the poorest big city in the United States, a fiscal nightmare, the poster child for everything the rest of the state doesn’t want to be? What can you do, when you don’t want to see every road in your town six-laned and portables mushrooming around the schools? What can you do to defend yourself, your home and your community from the growth junkies’ bill: endless construction, spoiled or destroyed natural resource systems and places, a degraded quality of life, overwhelmed municipal services and a higher cost of living? Tragically, under Florida’s land use law, local government’s main job is supposed to be the protection of citizens’ quality of life. The law is clear that when a city or county commission votes on a proposed land use change, the politicians are standing in the shoes of the electorate and should not approve the proposed change unless they determine that it will improve the community. The problem is again that too many Florida elected officials are growth junkies. They equate relentless, unending construction with civic progress. They are more concerned with catering to the next 10,000 new residents than protecting and preserving their communities. We, the Florida voters, must take back control over the destiny of our state. We must take these important decisions out of the hands of the growth junkies. We can do this by supporting the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment that will put the people back in charge of the places where they live by letting voters decide whether to change their community’s growth plan. This makes sense because voters care deeply about the place where they live. We should have the final say over proposed changes in our hometowns because, for better or worse, we get stuck with the consequences. Last year, the Florida Supreme Court, in a required review, ruled 7-0 that our FHD amendment is fine, but then split 4-3 over one sentence in the ballot summary. As Yogi Berra says, “It ain’t over till it’s over. So we have started over, pulled out the offending sentence, and are very confident that this time that we will prevail. We’ve collected 70,000 petitions so far, and need another 500,000 to qualify for the 2008 ballot. I urge you to learn more about our effort at http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com . We need your help. If you are a registered Florida voter, download the petition, sign it and mail it in. Support this unique effort by collecting and submitting petitions to us, and sending your check to help fund the effort. Florida’s future thanks you.
Please download and SIGN THE PETITION from our website ! http://www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com FHD, PO Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170-0636.