Originally Published: 25 January 2008
The Pensacola News Journal
As I was sitting in traffic this morning, I reflected on our current system of development and growth management -- I had lots of time to do this.
As it happens, I was on Highway 98 in South Santa Rosa County, but I just as easily could have been on Highway 90 in North Santa Rosa County, Davis Highway in Pensacola, or Avalon Boulevard. In traveling all of these places, it is glaringly obvious that the current system used to plan for future growth is not working and it's time to try something new.
I've watched as our elected officials give out rezoning and comprehensive plan changes as readily as lollipops, unless there were dozens of angry, affected neighbors at the meeting (and sometimes in spite of them), with many of these changes damaging the quality of life for the current residents of the area.
We've all watched the roads become busier and more dangerous, drinking water become scarce, previously dry neighborhoods flood after relatively minor rain events, and the schools grow progressively more crowded -- until the citizens took matters into their own hands.
Well, it's time for the citizens to take matters into their hands again.
Florida Hometown Democracy is a way for the citizens of Florida to wrest a little control of their communities' futures away from the developers and their elected enablers.
You've no doubt read or heard of the prophecies of doom by the people who are richly benefiting from this uncontrolled growth. Unfortunately, Hometown Democracy opponents are neither playing fair nor telling you the truth.
When the growth lobbyists claim that Florida Hometown Democracy is driven by "special interests," the people they're referring to are YOU -- the current residents of Florida, who live with and pay for this growth
They know that if you are allowed to vote on controversial changes to your local government's growth plan, changes that would add thousands of new residents to already stressed communities, those changes wouldn't happen.
They say that the voters are just not smart enough to make these kinds of complex decisions.
They say that it will stop new development.
They know that the majority of local citizens are alarmed about explosive growth (www.uwf.edu/whitcntr/RegionReport.pdf), but they also know that any development which follows a local government's existing plan will be unaffected, and that there is enough room in those local plans for more than a million new homes in the state.
They say that it will force people to vote on any minor zoning change -- an outright falsehood; only changes to the local government's comprehensive, 10-year plan, not every zoning change, will require a vote.
For too long, the current residents of Florida have only been able to watch helplessly as their taxes have gone up and their quality of life has gone down -- all due to uncontrolled growth.
It's time to take back some power. Go to the Florida Hometown Democracy Web site -- FloridaHometownDemocracy.com -- download the petition, sign it and send it in immediately. The deadline is Thursday.
Enid Sisskin is a (frustrated) resident of Santa Rosa County and a long-time environmental activist. |
