Originally Published 7 September 2007
Palm Beach Post Letters
Only in Florida would government have the nerve to say that we must destroy the environment to save it. This twisted, greedy mind-set is why so much of Florida is such a wreck and getting worse. Not surprisingly, it was on display in the letter by the chairman of the Panama City Airport Authority, "Panama City airport move will help preserve land" (Aug. 29), supporting its new site in a rural expanse of functioning wetlands 30 miles from Panama City. In exchange for paving over thousands of wetland acres, another tract will be "saved."
Here's what the chairman said - "If the airport is not built, this amazing environmental opportunity will be lost and the property will revert to its previous status, which would allow it to be developed." Take a deep breath, Florida. It just ain't so. You've been brainwashed for decades, and it's finally time for a little de-programming.
A straw referendum was held in Bay County, and a majority of the voters said they didn't want to move the airport. America's elected officials are shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars in "pork" to build an airport in the middle of nowhere to jump-start development.
If the Clean Water Act were not just a pretty piece of paper gathering dust, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Envionmental Protection Agency would say, "You can't build in wetlands." If the law meant something, you wouldn't have to designate the mitigation tract as a preserve because those wetlands already would be forever protected. But asking government to follow its own laws is just asking too much when developers' money is at stake.
The only reason those wetlands are going to be paved over and that boondoggle airport built at taxpayers' expense is that we have government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer. Like so many commissions around the state, the Bay County Commission could "just say no," but it won't.
Voters tired of the corrupt status quo now have an opportunity for reform. They can support Florida Hometown Democracy, a proposed constitutional amendment that would give voters a veto over changes to county comprehensive plans. It would have killed that boondoggle airport. Think what it could do for your community.
We are collecting petitions to make the 2008 ballot. Go to www.floridahometowndemocracy.com, or call (866) 779-5513 for petitions. Do your share to stop the brainwashing, the corruption and the destruction, and help to reclaim our state.
|
