Originally Published: 4 December 2007
The Treasure Coast Palm
STUART -- Lesley Blackner, the leader of the movement to give voters the power to veto land use changes, urged Martin County residents Monday night to join the petition campaign to put the issue on the ballot in November 2008.
Speaking at the Blake Library to more than 200 people, mostly supporters of her cause, Blackner said voters must sign the petition in droves or an historic opportunity to control growth in Florida will be lost forever.
"This reform effort will not come again," Blackner said. "If we don't get this on the ballot, they'll think of something to squash us. I want to see this get to the ballot, and let the people have their say, and then, I'm going to go bake cookies. Politics is tough."
In addition to gathering signatures from more than 611,000 voters statewide, the Florida Hometown Democracy movement needs a minimum number of petitions from 13 of the state's 25 congressional districts, Blackner said.
Thousands of signatures are still needed in Martin County and the rest of the Treasure Coast by the Jan. 31 deadline, Blackner said.
The meeting resembled a pep rally for the Florida Hometown Democracy movement with the crowd repeatedly applauding Blackner's criticism of the influence developers exert over city and county commissioners, and consequently decisions about how land is developed.
No opponents of Blackner's initiative spoke out during the meeting.
Martin County's controversial Land Protection Incentives amendment, which would change the county's growth plan to allow suburban development on parts of agricultural tracts in exchange for the preservation of the rest of the land, shows the need for referendums on land use changes, Blackner said. The final county commission vote on the growth plan change is set for Dec. 11.
"Basically, what Hometown Democracy does is give the keys to growth to the voters," Blackner said. "That's really what terrifies the growth machine. It's going to totally change the politics of growth. And I don't think that's a bad thing."
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