Letters to Editor

January 4, 2010

Florida’s Growth Machine: They’ll Stop at Nothing to Prevent People Power
In his attempt to rebut Frank Rollason’s column about Amendment 4 (“Revolutionary Concept: Put Urban Sprawl to a Vote,” November 2009), former St. Pete Beach Mayor Ward Friszolowski is simply repeating a version of the “Big Lie” being spread across Florida by the state’s powerful development industry, a.k.a. the Growth Machine.

Opponents of Amendment 4, a proposed amendment to the state constitution that will be on the statewide ballot this November, yell about St. Pete Beach to assert that Florida Hometown Democracy’s Amendment 4 will just cause lawsuits.

Fact check: The lawsuits are flying because the Hometown Democracy process was not followed in St. Pete Beach. Under Amendment 4, there will be a referendum only after a growth plan change is reviewed and voted on by the city commission. In St. Pete Beach, they had the referendum before the proposed plan change went through review and public hearing. That violates state law.

Amendment 4 provides specific safeguards against a confused situation like St. Pete Beach’s by requiring that a comprehensive plan change must first go through the entire state-required growth-management process: citizen hearings, review by the local professional planning staff, and approval by the local elected government. Only then, after council/commission approval, does Amendment 4 require that the proposed land-use change go to the voters at the next election for final approval -- or rejection.

What’s clear is that the lawsuits in St. Pete Beach have nothing whatsoever to do with Amendment 4. They are about completely different topics. The developers and their politicians will stop at nothing to prevent the voters from taking control over the out-of-control development that has wrecked our economy and quality of life.

Their big lie about St. Pete Beach proves it. For the straight story, visit www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com and get ready to “Give Yourself a Vote on Growth!”

A postscript: Mr. Rollason wisely urges citizens to Google the authors of letters or blogs opposing Amendment 4: “Chances are that he or she makes a living from sprawl.”

Opponent Friszolowski turns out to be the executive vice president of an architectural and planning firm. Surprised?

John Hedrick, Tallahassee

Statewide organizer for Florida Hometown Democracy