Some tea party members are still undecided about the efficacy of Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment 4. Perhaps we should take a closer look at the effects on Florida if Amendment 4 fails. Without Amendment 4, we will have business as usual. We will continue down the path of overbuilding, which leads to higher taxes and lower quality of life. Our opponents are in the business of building. They want to build houses, even though we have a glut of houses. They want to build strip malls, amid dozens of empty strip malls.
What can we expect if Amendment 4 fails:
The value of our homes will continue to decline. Nothing proposed by Amendment 4's opponents will turn the tide of declining home values.
Local and state governments will continue to expand in size, power, and cost. After all, governments rely on growth to grow themselves. Salaries of county commissioners are based on a state
formula, the biggest component of which is population growth. The structure of local government encourages and feeds on growth.
Rural Florida land, formerly devoted to agriculture, will continue to fall victim to development. Florida is losing farmland to development at alarming rates. According to a tampabay.com article,
"Harvesting Profits Over Crops", University of Florida professor John Reynolds estimates the state is losing 150,000 acres of farmland a year. The article quotes Agriculture and Consumer Services
Secretary Charles Bronson, "If you don't like depending on foreign oil, imagine depending on foreign-grown food".
Rights of citizens will continue to be eroded. Amendment 4 provides a check and balance for citizens against the power of developers, special interests, and land speculators.
1000 Friends of Florida recently rescinded its opposition to Amendment 4. Why? Its position statement says, "Whatever the outcome in November, Florida cannot return to business as usual. The recent economic crisis has proven all too clearly that a growth- and development- driven economy is costly, shortsighted, and untenable over the long haul." Tea partiers would do well do heed these warnings and vote Yes on Amendment 4.
Tea Parties for Amendment 4
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
An important letter to Florida's teachers about Amendment 4
More important information, from school teachers to the rest of Florida's school teachers. If you know a school teacher in Florida, forward this letter/e-mail to them:
From FEA Teachers in Marion County to Fellow Teachers of Florida:
Why Florida Educators Must Support Amendment 4…
Our own union, the FEA, is in Concert with Our Anti-Union Opponents!
Teachers! Remember how Senator John Thrasher, state lawmakers and the Florida Chamber of Commerce ganged up to snatch our pensions, strip away our credentials, fire thousands of our colleagues, and privatize schools?
And remember why they did this? It was, in part, because they wanted an easy way to finance the shortfall in funding for schools and other social services caused by the recession.
What caused Florida’s Big Recession? It was Florida’s Sprawl Machine which flooded the state with massive and unneeded subdivisions and retail centers. And its financially-backed friends, posing as elected officials helped by approving these unpopular land-use changes.
Because of this reckless over-building, 350,000 vacant Florida homes are now rotting and driving down property values. This means property taxes are also sinking—money that’s not being used to support schools and libraries andother government services.
Governor Crist stopped them with a veto. But they’ll be back —soon.
Sadly, there’s more troubling news for educators.
Our own union, the FEA, is now aligned with Thrasher and Company on the issue of Amendment 4—a citizen initiative designed to clean up the mess that Big Sprawl caused. Union officials in Tallahassee, without input from teachers/members, decided to line up with our anti-union opponents to kill Amendment 4. (see list of anti-union forces funding the “NoOn4” campaign below!)
Why would they do this? Because, as FEA officials will tell you, the AFLCIO wanted them to. Sure, as a labor union, the AFLCIO is understandably concerned about construction jobs, but they obviously didn’t think A4 all the way out. If they had, they’d understand that Floridians are out of work because something like A4 wasn’t in place.
Amendment 4 appears on the upcoming November ballot, because many FEA educators and other hundreds of other Floridians worked hard to put it there. If passed, it will let voters support or veto the decisions of local officials, if these politicians decide to make land-use changes to our comprehensive growth plans.
This amendment gives citizens a say in how their local communities develop. It will also help prevent the old boom-bust cycle that has cost millions of Floridians, including many teachers, their jobs.
Despite what critics say, A4 doesn’t take away property rights and has no impact on zoning. It affects only land-use changes — major designations such industrial, agricultural, rural, residential--that communities hammer out in public meetings to plan how their communities can grow in an orderly, affordable way. And voters will decide on changes at the next scheduled election -- no special elections needed.
The Sprawl Machine—using federal bailout money--is frantic to kill our right to vote. Right now their huge war chests of money enable them to control local and state governments, allowing them to build wherever they please, and ignoring environmental, traffic, tax, and quality-of-life concerns. They don’t want to give us this power.
It’s crazy to continue to base funding for Florida’s public schools on irresponsible, runaway growth, which is what we’ll continue to do, unless Amendment 4 passes. Until then, those responsible for the Big Recession will blame everyone except themselves, and make you and me pay for their disaster. Check the facts at http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com.
What you can do. Approach you local FEA membership. Ask to speak to the building reps or the executive committee and ask them to do the following:
1) Endorse Amendment 4
2) Send this letter or one of your own to the entire union membership.
Locals are free to make their own decision like this. We, the undersigned FEA teachers in Marion County, hope you will join us today.
John Dunn - Forest High School
Tom Lakin - Forest High School
Ron Woodard - Stanton-Weirsdale Elementary School
Gene Hotaling - West Port High School
Guy Marwick (retired) - former social studies teacher and Director of the Silver River Museum
ANTI-UNION FORCES WHO ARE
FUNDING THE “NO ON 4” CAMPAIGN:
ABC OF FLORIDA
BANK OF TAMPA
FL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY, LLC
FLORIDA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION, INC.
FLORIDIANS FOR SMARTER GROWTH (THATCHER’S GROUP)
LYKES BROS., INC.
MACY'S
NORTH AMERICAN MINING
PROGRESS ENERGY
PUBLIX SUPER MARKETS, INC.
UNITED STATES SUGAR CORPORATION
WACHOVIA
WALGREENS
WAL-MART STORES, INC.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
[Please note the union label on the Amendment 4 signs and bumper stickers, you won’t find that on the No on 4 materials!]
Pd. Pol. Adv. By FloridaHometownDemocracy, Inc. PAC, P.O. Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL
From FEA Teachers in Marion County to Fellow Teachers of Florida:
Why Florida Educators Must Support Amendment 4…
Our own union, the FEA, is in Concert with Our Anti-Union Opponents!
Teachers! Remember how Senator John Thrasher, state lawmakers and the Florida Chamber of Commerce ganged up to snatch our pensions, strip away our credentials, fire thousands of our colleagues, and privatize schools?
And remember why they did this? It was, in part, because they wanted an easy way to finance the shortfall in funding for schools and other social services caused by the recession.
What caused Florida’s Big Recession? It was Florida’s Sprawl Machine which flooded the state with massive and unneeded subdivisions and retail centers. And its financially-backed friends, posing as elected officials helped by approving these unpopular land-use changes.
Because of this reckless over-building, 350,000 vacant Florida homes are now rotting and driving down property values. This means property taxes are also sinking—money that’s not being used to support schools and libraries andother government services.
Governor Crist stopped them with a veto. But they’ll be back —soon.
Sadly, there’s more troubling news for educators.
Our own union, the FEA, is now aligned with Thrasher and Company on the issue of Amendment 4—a citizen initiative designed to clean up the mess that Big Sprawl caused. Union officials in Tallahassee, without input from teachers/members, decided to line up with our anti-union opponents to kill Amendment 4. (see list of anti-union forces funding the “NoOn4” campaign below!)
Why would they do this? Because, as FEA officials will tell you, the AFLCIO wanted them to. Sure, as a labor union, the AFLCIO is understandably concerned about construction jobs, but they obviously didn’t think A4 all the way out. If they had, they’d understand that Floridians are out of work because something like A4 wasn’t in place.
Amendment 4 appears on the upcoming November ballot, because many FEA educators and other hundreds of other Floridians worked hard to put it there. If passed, it will let voters support or veto the decisions of local officials, if these politicians decide to make land-use changes to our comprehensive growth plans.
This amendment gives citizens a say in how their local communities develop. It will also help prevent the old boom-bust cycle that has cost millions of Floridians, including many teachers, their jobs.
Despite what critics say, A4 doesn’t take away property rights and has no impact on zoning. It affects only land-use changes — major designations such industrial, agricultural, rural, residential--that communities hammer out in public meetings to plan how their communities can grow in an orderly, affordable way. And voters will decide on changes at the next scheduled election -- no special elections needed.
The Sprawl Machine—using federal bailout money--is frantic to kill our right to vote. Right now their huge war chests of money enable them to control local and state governments, allowing them to build wherever they please, and ignoring environmental, traffic, tax, and quality-of-life concerns. They don’t want to give us this power.
It’s crazy to continue to base funding for Florida’s public schools on irresponsible, runaway growth, which is what we’ll continue to do, unless Amendment 4 passes. Until then, those responsible for the Big Recession will blame everyone except themselves, and make you and me pay for their disaster. Check the facts at http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com.
What you can do. Approach you local FEA membership. Ask to speak to the building reps or the executive committee and ask them to do the following:
1) Endorse Amendment 4
2) Send this letter or one of your own to the entire union membership.
Locals are free to make their own decision like this. We, the undersigned FEA teachers in Marion County, hope you will join us today.
John Dunn - Forest High School
Tom Lakin - Forest High School
Ron Woodard - Stanton-Weirsdale Elementary School
Gene Hotaling - West Port High School
Guy Marwick (retired) - former social studies teacher and Director of the Silver River Museum
ANTI-UNION FORCES WHO ARE
FUNDING THE “NO ON 4” CAMPAIGN:
ABC OF FLORIDA
BANK OF TAMPA
FL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY, LLC
FLORIDA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION, INC.
FLORIDIANS FOR SMARTER GROWTH (THATCHER’S GROUP)
LYKES BROS., INC.
MACY'S
NORTH AMERICAN MINING
PROGRESS ENERGY
PUBLIX SUPER MARKETS, INC.
UNITED STATES SUGAR CORPORATION
WACHOVIA
WALGREENS
WAL-MART STORES, INC.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
[Please note the union label on the Amendment 4 signs and bumper stickers, you won’t find that on the No on 4 materials!]
Pd. Pol. Adv. By FloridaHometownDemocracy, Inc. PAC, P.O. Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL
Monday, October 25, 2010
Morning in Florida: What will it be like Nov. 3rd?
By John Hedrick
On November 3rd, Floridians will celebrate bright prospects for the Sunshine State. Or -- if Amendment 4 fails – big national homebuilders will celebrate permanent victory over the protests and rights of Florida’s citizens, and the bulldozers will be unstoppable.
At the polls, YOU will choose what kind of a morning it’ll be.
You may have heard lots of false information from the developers about the consequences of passing Amendment 4. The developers' “Say-Anything Gang” wants to confuse you and to protect their power and profits, and all of what they’re saying has been shown not to be accurate. Let’s look now at the very real consequences if Amendment 4 does not pass.
If the developer forces win and Amendment 4 fails, we’ll see more of the corruption -- via campaign contributions and bribes -- that make Florida the #1 most politically corrupt state. Our future will be one of continued sprawl-homebuilding, increasing the number of job-seekers in a labor force already suffering one of the country’s highest unemployment rates. The economy, crashed by the developers, will continue to be dismal and worse.
Florida’s main industries – agriculture and tourism – will be the first to suffer, as they find themselves with tract housing in place of products. No new businesses will want to come to this abused and ever-poorer state. Meanwhile, profits from endless homebuilding will head out of state to Pulte, KB Homes, Lennar, Toll Brothers and the others funding the “Vote No” Campaign. The national homebuilders Anti-4 campaign funds ironically come from your own "bailout" tax dollars.
Without doubt we’ll see an end to Florida’s commendable Growth Management efforts, begun in 1985 and weakened steadily since. Whoever gets into office will merely determine how rapidly this happens. Senate Bill 360 (shifting developers’ costs to taxpayers) will pass again, despite the court's ruling overturning it. The state’s growth watchdog, the Department of Community Affairs, will be dismantled or rendered ineffectual. These events aren’t guesses; they would have happened already except that Amendment 4 was on the horizon.
Politicians and developers have been sitting on their hands for at least a couple of years, holding back on doing their worst because they’d ignite still more anger among citizens and support for Amendment 4. After November 2nd, if Amendment 4 fails, their pent-up greed will be unleashed, unstoppably.
Floridians’ voices will truly be silenced by the newly reinvigorated politician-developer conspiracy. Floridians’ quality of life will sink, with further soaring taxes, reductions in services, inability to sell our homes, and the bulldozing of the State’s remaining natural beauty, fertile agricultural lands, and life-sustaining wetlands.
If you’ve been told that there are “better” solutions than Amendment 4, don’t believe it! Developer-influenced politicians have already killed off those other proposals every time they’ve come up, and they’ll continue to do so. Amendment 4 came to be because the other side concedes there's a problem, but has never wanted a solution that will really work. It's their way or the highway.
And don’t think that if Amendment 4 fails this time, there will be another chance to support it later. No, Amendment 4 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s the result of 7 years of strenuous effort by dedicated citizen-volunteers who collected more than a million signatures, and fought off 7 court challenges from developers. Lacking the opposition’s developer money and paid workforce, Amendment 4 supporters have given this citizens’ initiative their all.
Amendment 4 either makes it or doesn't on November 2nd. This is truly the moment of truth. Floridians urgently need to protect their rights and their neighborhoods by voting “YES.”
Otherwise, it’s back to wringing your hands and protesting developers’ rampages and politicians’ secret deals. Back to soaring taxes, plummeting home values, a boom-bust economy, and stagnant prospects for bringing jobs to a State in a downward spiral.
One simple thing you can still do to make sure Amendment 4 passes is this: Engage others – pass this message to neighbors, relatives, and friends. Get this message out to all voters: the hometown that you save will indeed be your own.
Your future . . . awaits your “YES on 4” vote on or before November 2nd. Before it's too late, take your rightful seat at the table. Give yourself the right to vote on your community's future. Your friends, family, children, and grandchildren will thank you.
Sincerely,
John Hedrick,
Member, Amendment 4 statewide coordinating committee and
Chair, Panhandle Citizens Coalition
On November 3rd, Floridians will celebrate bright prospects for the Sunshine State. Or -- if Amendment 4 fails – big national homebuilders will celebrate permanent victory over the protests and rights of Florida’s citizens, and the bulldozers will be unstoppable.
At the polls, YOU will choose what kind of a morning it’ll be.
You may have heard lots of false information from the developers about the consequences of passing Amendment 4. The developers' “Say-Anything Gang” wants to confuse you and to protect their power and profits, and all of what they’re saying has been shown not to be accurate. Let’s look now at the very real consequences if Amendment 4 does not pass.
If the developer forces win and Amendment 4 fails, we’ll see more of the corruption -- via campaign contributions and bribes -- that make Florida the #1 most politically corrupt state. Our future will be one of continued sprawl-homebuilding, increasing the number of job-seekers in a labor force already suffering one of the country’s highest unemployment rates. The economy, crashed by the developers, will continue to be dismal and worse.
Florida’s main industries – agriculture and tourism – will be the first to suffer, as they find themselves with tract housing in place of products. No new businesses will want to come to this abused and ever-poorer state. Meanwhile, profits from endless homebuilding will head out of state to Pulte, KB Homes, Lennar, Toll Brothers and the others funding the “Vote No” Campaign. The national homebuilders Anti-4 campaign funds ironically come from your own "bailout" tax dollars.
Without doubt we’ll see an end to Florida’s commendable Growth Management efforts, begun in 1985 and weakened steadily since. Whoever gets into office will merely determine how rapidly this happens. Senate Bill 360 (shifting developers’ costs to taxpayers) will pass again, despite the court's ruling overturning it. The state’s growth watchdog, the Department of Community Affairs, will be dismantled or rendered ineffectual. These events aren’t guesses; they would have happened already except that Amendment 4 was on the horizon.
Politicians and developers have been sitting on their hands for at least a couple of years, holding back on doing their worst because they’d ignite still more anger among citizens and support for Amendment 4. After November 2nd, if Amendment 4 fails, their pent-up greed will be unleashed, unstoppably.
Floridians’ voices will truly be silenced by the newly reinvigorated politician-developer conspiracy. Floridians’ quality of life will sink, with further soaring taxes, reductions in services, inability to sell our homes, and the bulldozing of the State’s remaining natural beauty, fertile agricultural lands, and life-sustaining wetlands.
If you’ve been told that there are “better” solutions than Amendment 4, don’t believe it! Developer-influenced politicians have already killed off those other proposals every time they’ve come up, and they’ll continue to do so. Amendment 4 came to be because the other side concedes there's a problem, but has never wanted a solution that will really work. It's their way or the highway.
And don’t think that if Amendment 4 fails this time, there will be another chance to support it later. No, Amendment 4 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s the result of 7 years of strenuous effort by dedicated citizen-volunteers who collected more than a million signatures, and fought off 7 court challenges from developers. Lacking the opposition’s developer money and paid workforce, Amendment 4 supporters have given this citizens’ initiative their all.
Amendment 4 either makes it or doesn't on November 2nd. This is truly the moment of truth. Floridians urgently need to protect their rights and their neighborhoods by voting “YES.”
Otherwise, it’s back to wringing your hands and protesting developers’ rampages and politicians’ secret deals. Back to soaring taxes, plummeting home values, a boom-bust economy, and stagnant prospects for bringing jobs to a State in a downward spiral.
One simple thing you can still do to make sure Amendment 4 passes is this: Engage others – pass this message to neighbors, relatives, and friends. Get this message out to all voters: the hometown that you save will indeed be your own.
Your future . . . awaits your “YES on 4” vote on or before November 2nd. Before it's too late, take your rightful seat at the table. Give yourself the right to vote on your community's future. Your friends, family, children, and grandchildren will thank you.
Sincerely,
John Hedrick,
Member, Amendment 4 statewide coordinating committee and
Chair, Panhandle Citizens Coalition
Friday, October 15, 2010
PolitiFact, economists repudiate flawed anti-Amendment 4 'economic study'
We've been saying it for months, and now a PolitiFact examination supports our conclusion that the anti-Amendment 4 so-called "economic study" predicting dire job losses is not valid and ruled it "Barely True."
In enlisting several independent economists, the PolitiFact story should put rest to the Big Lie that opponents have been trying to peddle for months: that Amendment 4 is a jobs-killer. Already, prominent columnists such as Howard Troxler of the St. Petersburg Times, Carl Hiaasen of the Miami Herald and Lauren Ritchie of the Orlando Sentinel had already dismissed the study and dire warnings from opponents of Amendment 4.
Check out what these economists told PolitiFact:
Dr. Christopher Cotton is a professor with UM’s School of Business, who specializes in political economics and experimental economics. Prior to becoming a professor, he worked as a consultant conducting economic impact studies. He has not written or advocated on Amendment 4 in this election.
Cotton was critical of the WEG study, saying: "I see absolutely no reason to believe the findings of the Washington Economics Group report."
And this from well-known University of Florida economist David Denslow:
"We don't know for sure how voters will react, how the legislature will react, how developers will react. Nor do we know for sure what Florida's growth path would be without Amendment 4, as a base. Adding to the uncertainty is the current truly unusual state of the housing market. Would Amendment 4 increase the demand for vacant houses because it'll be harder to build new ones? Or would it reduce the demand because people will think Florida will stop growing and not want to start new businesses?"
PolitiFact's conclusion?:
We steer clear of ruling on predictions, and that's the issue we have with the blanket statement made by "No on 4." The opponents use a scary number of $34 billion in lost economic output based on assumptions that other economists -- even two economists who also are opposed to Amendment 4 -- say aren't knowable.
You can read the entire PolitiFact finding at http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2010/oct/15/citizens-lower-taxes-and-stronger-economy/study-claims-amendment-4-will-cause-34-billion-imp
In enlisting several independent economists, the PolitiFact story should put rest to the Big Lie that opponents have been trying to peddle for months: that Amendment 4 is a jobs-killer. Already, prominent columnists such as Howard Troxler of the St. Petersburg Times, Carl Hiaasen of the Miami Herald and Lauren Ritchie of the Orlando Sentinel had already dismissed the study and dire warnings from opponents of Amendment 4.
Check out what these economists told PolitiFact:
Dr. Christopher Cotton is a professor with UM’s School of Business, who specializes in political economics and experimental economics. Prior to becoming a professor, he worked as a consultant conducting economic impact studies. He has not written or advocated on Amendment 4 in this election.
Cotton was critical of the WEG study, saying: "I see absolutely no reason to believe the findings of the Washington Economics Group report."
And this from well-known University of Florida economist David Denslow:
"We don't know for sure how voters will react, how the legislature will react, how developers will react. Nor do we know for sure what Florida's growth path would be without Amendment 4, as a base. Adding to the uncertainty is the current truly unusual state of the housing market. Would Amendment 4 increase the demand for vacant houses because it'll be harder to build new ones? Or would it reduce the demand because people will think Florida will stop growing and not want to start new businesses?"
PolitiFact's conclusion?:
We steer clear of ruling on predictions, and that's the issue we have with the blanket statement made by "No on 4." The opponents use a scary number of $34 billion in lost economic output based on assumptions that other economists -- even two economists who also are opposed to Amendment 4 -- say aren't knowable.
You can read the entire PolitiFact finding at http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2010/oct/15/citizens-lower-taxes-and-stronger-economy/study-claims-amendment-4-will-cause-34-billion-imp
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Libertarian Voters Guide 2 Nov 10 Ballot Amendments Yes on 4
http://news.libertarianpoc.org/2010/10/libertarian-voters-guide-2-nov-10.html
The Libertarian Voters Guide 2 Nov 10 Ballot Amendments
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Libertarian Voters Guide
2 November 2010 General Election Ballot Florida Constitutional Amendments and Other Initiatives
30 September 2010
This guide contains a brief synopsis of the constitutional amendments and other initiatives to be on the General Ballot in the 2 November General election. Following each synopsis is the opinion of the Libertarian Party of Okaloosa County regarding each ballot initiative.
There are six total proposed constitutional amendments and one Federal Budget Advisory Question to be on the 2 November ballot. The proposed amendments are not numbered sequentially, so the ballot will show amendments numbered up to number eight when there are only six of them.
In summary, the LPOC recommends that an individual vote as follows:
Amendment One: Vote yes
Amendment Two: Vote no
Amendment Four: Vote yes
Amendment Five: Vote no
Amendment Six: Vote no
Amendment Eight: Vote yes
Federal Budget Advisory Question: Vote no
The Executive Committee of the LPOC, in pursuit of individual rights, free markets, and limited government,
Pete Blome, Chairman
Steve Copus, Vice Chairman
Mike Maier, Treasurer
Lee Jackson, Former Chair
Help us in our fight for a better Okaloosa. Send donations to:
Pd. Pol. Adv. By The Libertarian Party of Okaloosa County, P.O. Box 483, Shalimar, Florida 32579-0483, www.libertarianpoc.org,
The Libertarian Voters Guide 2 Nov 10 Ballot Amendments
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Libertarian Voters Guide
2 November 2010 General Election Ballot Florida Constitutional Amendments and Other Initiatives
30 September 2010
This guide contains a brief synopsis of the constitutional amendments and other initiatives to be on the General Ballot in the 2 November General election. Following each synopsis is the opinion of the Libertarian Party of Okaloosa County regarding each ballot initiative.
There are six total proposed constitutional amendments and one Federal Budget Advisory Question to be on the 2 November ballot. The proposed amendments are not numbered sequentially, so the ballot will show amendments numbered up to number eight when there are only six of them.
In summary, the LPOC recommends that an individual vote as follows:
Amendment One: Vote yes
Amendment Two: Vote no
Amendment Four: Vote yes
Amendment Five: Vote no
Amendment Six: Vote no
Amendment Eight: Vote yes
Federal Budget Advisory Question: Vote no
The Executive Committee of the LPOC, in pursuit of individual rights, free markets, and limited government,
Pete Blome, Chairman
Steve Copus, Vice Chairman
Mike Maier, Treasurer
Lee Jackson, Former Chair
Help us in our fight for a better Okaloosa. Send donations to:
Pd. Pol. Adv. By The Libertarian Party of Okaloosa County, P.O. Box 483, Shalimar, Florida 32579-0483, www.libertarianpoc.org,
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
US homebuiders and their multi-billion-dollar federal bailout contribute to campain to prevent Florida citizens from having the right to vote.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/us/politics/28florida.html?hp
Florida Voters Enter Battle on Growth
By DAMIEN CAVE
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — Lesley Blackner drove through a maze of condominium towers, rarely seeing any curtains in the windows, or residents, and tried to contain her anger.
“They’ve crammed as much as they can in here,” she said this month, noting that just a few years ago cows grazed on the land west of I-95. “The people around here didn’t want it — they objected. But the City Commission did it anyway.”
Even now, with about 300,000 residential units sitting empty around the state, the push to build continues. Since 2007, local governments have approved zoning and other land use changes that would add 550,000 residential units and 1.4 billion square feet of commercial space, state figures show.
So for Ms. Blackner, a Palm Beach lawyer with a Mercedes full of paperwork, the real estate crisis is not just the fault of Wall Street, Washington or misguided borrowers; it is also the back-scratching bond between elected officials and builders — a common source of frustration in weak real estate markets around the country wherever developers are still fighting to add more housing.
In Florida, at least, Ms. Blackner hopes to put an end to the chronic oversupply with a ballot initiative she has labeled “Hometown Democracy.”
Amendment 4, as it is officially called, would give Floridians a vote on changes to state-mandated plans for growth in every county and municipality. Much of the potential impact of the measure is up for debate, with important details most likely to be decided by the courts.
But if it is added to the state’s Constitution — which would require 60 percent approval on Election Day — critics and supporters envision revolutionary change.
Leaders of the Yes on 4 campaign, including Ms. Blackner, say it would end a culture of freewheeling development that began when Hamilton Disston started dredging Florida swamps in the 1880s. Critics, led by chambers of commerce, say the measure would lead to lost jobs, chaos and expensive court battles.
Either way, the referendum is bringing into sharp relief the conflict surrounding real estate nationwide: while new homes, growth and the American dream are forever intertwined, many people are questioning why development often overwhelms other public priorities, even after it led to an economic crisis.
“Most planning advocates would love to have the structure we have in Florida, but most Floridians know that the structure doesn’t work,” said Michael Allan Wolf, a University of Florida law professor. “Amendment 4 suggests that, on the ground, this system is really broken.”
This is not an even fight. Ms. Blackner’s group has raised $2.4 million (with $800,000 from her own pocket), but most of it was spent on getting on the ballot.
The No on 4 campaign has raised nearly $12 million through a series of political action committees — enough for a glossy Web site, consultants and plenty of airtime. The Florida Association of Realtors is its largest single contributor, giving more than $2.3 million.
The nation’s biggest homebuilders, after receiving a multibillion-dollar bailout from Congress this year, have also been quite generous. Altogether, Lennar Homes, KB Home and Pulte Homes gave more than $1 million to No on 4’s main political action committee, Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy.
Ryan Houck, a spokesman for the group, said that developers were not the only opponents of the amendment, which he described as “overreaching and extreme.” The contributors’ list also includes community farm bureaus, which worry that it would make it harder to sell and rezone agricultural land for other uses.
Some county planners are also concerned about potential costs to government. “The litigation that ensues, no matter what happens, is really the potential fly in the ointment,” said Mark Satterlee, planning and development director for St. Lucie County.
Amendment 4 leaves open to interpretation whether every proposed change to a community’s development plan would need to appear on future ballots. In a sign of possible litigation to come, lawyers favoring the measure say that it would cover only major land use changes and that related proposals could be combined for votes by commissions.
Opponents say that under Amendment 4, each tweak of a development plan — which every county and municipality must have in place under a state law passed in the mid-1980s, and which requires updating every seven years — would have to appear on the ballot. Voters, they say, would have hundreds of items to digest each year.
That is not the typical situation. Annual figures from a half-dozen Florida counties and several fast-growing cities suggest that most voters in most years would decide on no more than 20 changes, usually fewer. (The No on 4 Web site says that the small town of Carrabelle would have had 617 proposed changes on its 2006 ballot under such a law, but records and interviews show only a handful of changes proposed that year.)
A more serious issue may be whether the ballot items, which are limited to 75 words or less, would lead to advertising campaigns, followed by misunderstandings and lawsuits. Larger development changes cover complicated issues including water supply and transportation, often with hundreds of pages of material. “Sometimes we take a hand truck to carry boxes down to the commissioners,” said Rick Burris, principal planner for Lee County.
However, Mr. Burris added, plan change approvals were not required for building. While developers claim that Amendment 4 would make construction impossible, current community plans around the state actually include robust expansion.
A rural area like Jackson County has room for 996 years of residential growth at current rates, according to a 2009 state analysis. Charlotte County has 162 years of growth in its plan, while St. Lucie County has the capacity to house its growing population for the next 212 years.
And that is what gets Ms. Blackner really fuming. “They could build until hell freezes over,” she said during a daylong tour of failed developments. “This isn’t about building. It’s about control.”
She drove past a row of empty condos on Route 1 called the Preserve, then past commercial and residential space, all vacant concrete floors and for-rent signs; then more examples of what she called the political class’s addiction to the next deal — apartment towers with few occupants, several stories higher than the plans’ original limits.
Finally she arrived at Tesoro, a golf community in the City of Port St. Lucie with a $48 million San Simeon-like clubhouse. The city’s mayor resigned and was arrested last Wednesday, on charges of pocketing campaign contributions, including money from developers. Tesoro — former scrub brush — is now an eerie ghost town of minicastles with fewer than 100 residents.
“This is bubble grandeur,” Ms. Blackner said, noting that Port St. Lucie’s taxpayers were left to pay for a new firehouse in the development.
“The commissioners were supposed to be protecting the community,” she said. “That’s their job, and they were asleep at the switch.”
Catharine Skipp contributed reporting.
Florida Voters Enter Battle on Growth
By DAMIEN CAVE
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — Lesley Blackner drove through a maze of condominium towers, rarely seeing any curtains in the windows, or residents, and tried to contain her anger.
“They’ve crammed as much as they can in here,” she said this month, noting that just a few years ago cows grazed on the land west of I-95. “The people around here didn’t want it — they objected. But the City Commission did it anyway.”
Even now, with about 300,000 residential units sitting empty around the state, the push to build continues. Since 2007, local governments have approved zoning and other land use changes that would add 550,000 residential units and 1.4 billion square feet of commercial space, state figures show.
So for Ms. Blackner, a Palm Beach lawyer with a Mercedes full of paperwork, the real estate crisis is not just the fault of Wall Street, Washington or misguided borrowers; it is also the back-scratching bond between elected officials and builders — a common source of frustration in weak real estate markets around the country wherever developers are still fighting to add more housing.
In Florida, at least, Ms. Blackner hopes to put an end to the chronic oversupply with a ballot initiative she has labeled “Hometown Democracy.”
Amendment 4, as it is officially called, would give Floridians a vote on changes to state-mandated plans for growth in every county and municipality. Much of the potential impact of the measure is up for debate, with important details most likely to be decided by the courts.
But if it is added to the state’s Constitution — which would require 60 percent approval on Election Day — critics and supporters envision revolutionary change.
Leaders of the Yes on 4 campaign, including Ms. Blackner, say it would end a culture of freewheeling development that began when Hamilton Disston started dredging Florida swamps in the 1880s. Critics, led by chambers of commerce, say the measure would lead to lost jobs, chaos and expensive court battles.
Either way, the referendum is bringing into sharp relief the conflict surrounding real estate nationwide: while new homes, growth and the American dream are forever intertwined, many people are questioning why development often overwhelms other public priorities, even after it led to an economic crisis.
“Most planning advocates would love to have the structure we have in Florida, but most Floridians know that the structure doesn’t work,” said Michael Allan Wolf, a University of Florida law professor. “Amendment 4 suggests that, on the ground, this system is really broken.”
This is not an even fight. Ms. Blackner’s group has raised $2.4 million (with $800,000 from her own pocket), but most of it was spent on getting on the ballot.
The No on 4 campaign has raised nearly $12 million through a series of political action committees — enough for a glossy Web site, consultants and plenty of airtime. The Florida Association of Realtors is its largest single contributor, giving more than $2.3 million.
The nation’s biggest homebuilders, after receiving a multibillion-dollar bailout from Congress this year, have also been quite generous. Altogether, Lennar Homes, KB Home and Pulte Homes gave more than $1 million to No on 4’s main political action committee, Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy.
Ryan Houck, a spokesman for the group, said that developers were not the only opponents of the amendment, which he described as “overreaching and extreme.” The contributors’ list also includes community farm bureaus, which worry that it would make it harder to sell and rezone agricultural land for other uses.
Some county planners are also concerned about potential costs to government. “The litigation that ensues, no matter what happens, is really the potential fly in the ointment,” said Mark Satterlee, planning and development director for St. Lucie County.
Amendment 4 leaves open to interpretation whether every proposed change to a community’s development plan would need to appear on future ballots. In a sign of possible litigation to come, lawyers favoring the measure say that it would cover only major land use changes and that related proposals could be combined for votes by commissions.
Opponents say that under Amendment 4, each tweak of a development plan — which every county and municipality must have in place under a state law passed in the mid-1980s, and which requires updating every seven years — would have to appear on the ballot. Voters, they say, would have hundreds of items to digest each year.
That is not the typical situation. Annual figures from a half-dozen Florida counties and several fast-growing cities suggest that most voters in most years would decide on no more than 20 changes, usually fewer. (The No on 4 Web site says that the small town of Carrabelle would have had 617 proposed changes on its 2006 ballot under such a law, but records and interviews show only a handful of changes proposed that year.)
A more serious issue may be whether the ballot items, which are limited to 75 words or less, would lead to advertising campaigns, followed by misunderstandings and lawsuits. Larger development changes cover complicated issues including water supply and transportation, often with hundreds of pages of material. “Sometimes we take a hand truck to carry boxes down to the commissioners,” said Rick Burris, principal planner for Lee County.
However, Mr. Burris added, plan change approvals were not required for building. While developers claim that Amendment 4 would make construction impossible, current community plans around the state actually include robust expansion.
A rural area like Jackson County has room for 996 years of residential growth at current rates, according to a 2009 state analysis. Charlotte County has 162 years of growth in its plan, while St. Lucie County has the capacity to house its growing population for the next 212 years.
And that is what gets Ms. Blackner really fuming. “They could build until hell freezes over,” she said during a daylong tour of failed developments. “This isn’t about building. It’s about control.”
She drove past a row of empty condos on Route 1 called the Preserve, then past commercial and residential space, all vacant concrete floors and for-rent signs; then more examples of what she called the political class’s addiction to the next deal — apartment towers with few occupants, several stories higher than the plans’ original limits.
Finally she arrived at Tesoro, a golf community in the City of Port St. Lucie with a $48 million San Simeon-like clubhouse. The city’s mayor resigned and was arrested last Wednesday, on charges of pocketing campaign contributions, including money from developers. Tesoro — former scrub brush — is now an eerie ghost town of minicastles with fewer than 100 residents.
“This is bubble grandeur,” Ms. Blackner said, noting that Port St. Lucie’s taxpayers were left to pay for a new firehouse in the development.
“The commissioners were supposed to be protecting the community,” she said. “That’s their job, and they were asleep at the switch.”
Catharine Skipp contributed reporting.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Florida:The Vacant-home State?
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/print/2010/09/24/floridathe-vacant-home-state
Florida:The Vacant-home State?
By Douglas Kennedy
Created 2010-09-24 05:50
Earlier this month, Wayne Garcia walked across a stalled housing development in Land O' Lakes, Florida just north of Tampa. "It's an outrage," he said as he strolled past dozens of empty home sites. "This should never have been approved. This should never have happened."
Five years ago, architects promised "Connerton" would become the largest city in Pasco County. Today it looks like a graveyard of unfinished and unoccupied homes.
"There were supposed to be 15,000 homes here," Garcia explained as he stepped over the unhooked plumbing of one side street. "Today's there's 233." And Connerton isn't alone. Florida now has hundreds of stalled building sites. It also has a record 300,000 vacant homes.
"This is all because of unchecked development," said Garcia who represents Florida Hometown Democracy, Inc., an environmental group that's trying to control growth in Florida.
In fact, Hometown Democracy now has an initiative on the November ballot that some call the farthest reaching anti-growth measure in the country. "Amendment 4 will finally address the problem," he said.
"The problem," according to Garcia, has been the state's local community boards, which approve or deny large developments. He says these boards in the last ten years simply approved everything put before them, basically caving to the powerful construction interests. "It's because the public didn't have a vote and didn't have a say in the matter." Amendment 4, he says will give the public that say, mandating a local public vote for every proposed large development in the state.
Garcia calls it "Democracy." Developers call it a "nightmare."
"If you like the recession, then you will absolutely love amendment 4," says Ryan Houck, a spokesperson of Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy, the main opponent of the amendment.
Houck says Amendment 4 will create a bureaucratic blockade that will make it impossible of any future development in the state. And he doesn't stop there. "Amendment 4 is going to cost tens of thousands of jobs," he said, "raise taxes on working Floridians, and make it more expensive to live in our state."
Garcia obviously disagrees, "I say that the opposition and the system that they want to keep going, is what got us in this recession in the first place."
Florida law requires the amendment to receive 60 percent of the vote to pass.
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