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Voters can bring
politicians to heel
By Kenric Ward
Friday, July 25,
2008
By the time you read
this, Florida
Hometown Democracy
may have gathered
enough petitions to
make the ballot. As
of Thursday, 607,961
signatures were
validated by the
state, with
thousands more in
the pipeline. A
total of 611,009 is
needed.
In the face of a
hostile Legislature,
well-heeled
corporate
opposition, erratic
counting procedures
by supervisors of
elections,
questionable
emergency rules from
the secretary of
state and
inexplicably blasι
(or non-existent)
news coverage, FHD
marches on.
Martin County
activist Joe Florio
epitomizes the
undaunted spirit of
the grass-roots
campaign that would
empower Floridians
by requiring voter
referendums on all
comprehensive plan
changes in their
communities. Florio
has spent more than
two years collecting
signatures for FHD,
volunteering untold
hours of time for
the cause. Last
week, he and Lloyd
Brumfield, another
Martin County
resident, were in
Vero Beach to push
the petition drive
along.
Setting up shop
outside the Indian
River County main
library, the pair
gently approached
patrons, asking if
they were registered
voters. Of those who
were, most signed
the petition. Florio
and Brumfield
wrapped up their
three-hour stint
with 53 signatures,
a decent rate of
about one every
three minutes.
Surprisingly few
people had heard of
Hometown Democracy
until that moment.
For all the supposed
political
"polarization" over
growth in Indian
River County, these
local library-goers
presumably well read
were unaware of the
statewide citizens'
campaign addressing
that very issue.
Once explained, FHD
(floridahometowndemocracy.com)
struck a responsive
chord with the
passers-by. If the
Florio-Brumfield
team's experience is
any indication,
there remains a vast
reservoir of
untapped angst about
out-of-control
growth in this
state.
The development
industry and the
business writers,
meantime, have
abandoned their
unrealistically rosy
outlooks for a sober
gloom. Where a
turnaround was once
just around the
corner, Floridians
now are told that
things will get
worse before they
get better. Bottom
line: Growth isn't a
problem anymore.
It's under control.
The market is
straightening things
out.
Don't drink that
Kool-Aid.
Indian River and St.
Lucie counties are
still cranking out
new single-family
homes every day.
Based on residential
permits issued
through June, the
two counties are on
track for more than
1,400 new dwellings
this year.
That's down, of
course, but these
stucco boxes will be
stacked on top of
seven to eight
months of standing
inventory of new,
vacant homes.
Martin County isn't
much better off.
Analysts at Boca
Raton-based
MetroStudy report
that the
"slow-growth" county
has more than an
eight-year supply of
subdivided lots
waiting to be built.
Whatever their
rationale, builders
keep building
and corporate
marketers do
whatever it takes to
goose the market.
Over in Cape Coral,
near Fort Myers, an
equity investment
firm is selling new
homes starting at
$86,000.
"They got the
creditors to agree
to sell at a 40
percent discount
across the board.
Since then,
virtually all the
homes have been
sold, indicating
there are buyers out
there for Florida
real-estate, but at
the right price,"
market analyst Jack
McCabe told Florida
Trend magazine.
Do you feel your
property value
plummeting?
Michael Grunwald,
writing recently in
Time magazine,
quoted a Miami
real-estate sharpie
who runs an outfit
appropriately named
Condo Vultures.
"Eventually, Florida
is going to grow
again," predicted
Peter Zalewski.
To which Grunwald
muses: "The question
is whether Florida
will grow up."
The Sunshine State's
relentless
boom-and-bust
economy has been
fueled by
real-estate
speculation,
starting when land
was sold by the
gallon (a subject
with which Grunwald,
author of "The
Swamp," is
intimately
familiar).
Now that there are
18 million-plus
Floridians
most of them living
south of Orlando
it's increasingly
obvious that a
construction
industry on steroids
is as unhealthy and
unsustainable as a
mountaintop coal
mine. Relying on
residential
development for
continued prosperity
is like building a
house of cards in a
hurricane.
Few politicians will
admit this. Their
go-along-to-get-along
attitude enables the
scrape-and-sell game
to continue. They
depend on it for
their financial
support.
Florida Hometown
Democracy is the
"growing up"
Grunwald speaks of.
It's the realization
that pliable
politicians
incumbent or
newcomer
cannot be the
ultimate answer. It
should be painfully
apparent by now that
our elected
officials are
neither endowed with
special insights nor
unique intelligence.
The voice of the
people, ratifying or
rejecting via
referendum, is the
purest form of local
governance. Hometown
Democracy is the
check and balance
that's been missing.
That's why fed-up
Floridians keep
signing. They're
tired of being
treated like
children.
ken.ward@scripps.com |
