newspapers across the state address the runaway growth problems!
this News Article was published during the Florida hometown democracy Referendum amendment that was invalidated by the
supreme court of Florida ----
for using a phrase from the state constitution !
when are the courts going to abide to the will of
the people of the state of Florida ?
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Jeb Bush leading land gluttony March 30, 2004 BY JOEL S. HIRSCHHORN
Suburban sprawl is the spam of the built environment, it keeps coming, people complain about it, and nobody seems capable of stopping it. Gluttonous land development is ubiquitous. For decades the sprawl industry has used its money and political muscle to keep government subservient to sprawl interests, especially in Florida, whose environmental uniqueness belongs to everyone.
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Battle lines formed over growth plan March 29, 2004 BY WENDY FULLERTON News-Press.Com
Hometown democracy or ballot-box planning? That’s the debate being sparked over a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution that puts certain land-use decisions in the hands of voters. Called the Florida Hometown Democracy initiative, the amendment lets voters decide whether their city or county growth plan will be changed or adopted. Currently, city and county commissions make those decisions.
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Our position: Don't make it harder for voters to change the state's constitution March 28, 2004 EDITORIAL Orlando Sentinel
Big Brother knows best. At least, that's what state lawmakers want voters to believe. In fact, Senate President Jim King hopes to leave as his legislative legacy a series of proposals that would make it more difficult for citizens to amend the Florida Constitution.
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Amendment has developers in a panic March 28, 2004 BY CARL HIAASEN The Miami Herald A grass-roots move to give Floridians a defining voice in how their communities grow has touched off a backroom panic among some developers, builders and the politicians they own. The proposed Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment would provide citizens with the final vote on substantial changes to local comprehensive land-use plans ( www.florida hometowndemocracy.com). |
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Initiative seeks to check power of developers March 27, 2004 BY CATHY ZOLLO Naples Daly News An effort by some groups in Florida to amend the state's constitution to put local comprehensive plan changes to a vote by residents of a community has so far gathered 45,000 signatures. They need 500,000 to put the Florida Hometown Democracy amendment before voters statewide in November, but if they miss the mark, they may have another shot at it in 2006. That's barring a current effort by Tallahassee lawmakers to stymie citizen amendment initiatives by requiring a two-thirds majority rather than a simple 50 percent vote plus one. |
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In Broward, concerns on growth near retirement age March 21, 2004 BY FRED GRIMM The Miami Herald This sense that development has burst out of control, like an incurable virus, like an epidemic, like a plague of strangers, has been nagging at locals since the 1960s, a decade when Broward County was hung with the dubious honor as the fastest-growing county in the nation. |
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Citizens initiative hot issue at real estate conference March 19, 2004 BY RON LITTLEPAGE The Florida Times Union
There was nothing but blue-skied comments about Jacksonville's real estate market during a half-day conference Thursday. But clouds of doom suddenly appeared with the mention of the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment. "This amendment is potentially the most damaging thing that could happen to our industry," said Roger O'Steen, chairman of real estate developer The Parc Group. "It's an area of great concern, and it's going to take a lot of effort and money to fight it."
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Voters need way to bypass unresponsive Legislature March 16, 2004 BY RON LITTLEPAGE The Florida Times Union
The debate over the process for amending the Florida Constitution is now fully engaged in Tallahassee and that's healthy. But before it goes further, the poster child of constitutional amendments that has been used as a whipping post for those arguing that the process is too easy and controlled by deep-pocket special interest groups needs to be removed from the discussion.
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Constitutional amendment debate is an important one February 27, 2004 BY RON LITTLEPAGE The Florida Times Union
Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican legislative leaders are running all over the state saying the constitutional amendment process in Florida must be changed. In their cross hairs are voter-approved amendments, such as the ones requiring that class sizes in public schools be reduced, that the state build a bullet train and that pregnant pigs be protected.
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Control Growth Now Newsletter February 25, 2004
Control Growth Now supports a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution to require voter approval of any amendment to a local government comprehensive land use plan (such as Sarasota 2050). The amendment is being promoted by Florida Hometown Democracy, a group based in Daytona Beach.
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Land-use petition aims to give public a voice on building February 21, 2004 BY Maggie FitzRoy The Florida Times-Union
When Katrinka Walter meandered over to the Ponte Vedra Beach branch library one recent Saturday morning, she just expected to check out a few books. She didn't expect to sign a petition that could radically alter development in Florida. But she did. "They said it's about controlling growth," Walter said. "I like that idea."
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Power of the people February 15, 2004 Times Editorial St. Petersburg Times
In a burst of hyperbole, the Florida Chamber of Commerce said not long ago that voter initiatives are "the number one threat to Florida's future." Not so. Nothing could be worse for Florida than to disarm the people as the chamber and some of its allies want the Legislature to do.
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Initiatives are safety valves
Feb. 1 2004 When volumes of petitions for state constitutional amendments appear to be in the making, then the governor and lawmakers ought to be questioning what it is that they are doing to frustrate voters. Perhaps, in 2002, frustration might have been prompted by legislators ignoring calls for smaller class sizes or adequately funding preschool programs. Or perhaps now, it might be their failure year after year to make sales-tax laws fairer. |
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Secure The Right To Be Heard A guest editorial that appeared in the Daytona Beach News-Journal 2/1/2004 BY LESLEY BLACKNER Voters are sick and tired that the Florida Legislature refuses to listen to them and too often allows lobbyists for big money special interests to write our laws. In response, voters are using the constitutional citizen initiative process as a way to demand government of the people, by the people and for the people. |
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A Discussion: NIMBYism Part Two * Florida's Hometown Democracy Amendment Feb. 2004 The Florida Bar Journal The ballot summary is: Public participation in local government comprehensive land use planning benefits Florida’s natural resources, scenic beauty and citizens. Establishes that before a local government may adopt a new comprehensive land use plan, or amend a comprehensive land use plan, the proposed plan or plan amendment shall be subject to a vote of the electors of the local government by referendum, following preparation by the local planning agency, consideration by the governing body and notice. Provides definitions. |
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People Power Jan. 24, 2004 BY TERRY SHERIDAN Daily Business Review
In the first efforts of their kind in South Florida, Surfside and Miami officials...
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2 cities may ask voters to OK changes Jan. 24, 2004 BY NICOLE WHITE The Miami Herald Miami Beach, world-famous for its architecture and ambience, is taking action to try to keep that atmosphere. The Beach, in common with the smaller city of Surfside, will ask voters in March to set strict new rules on development: Under the cities' similar proposals, the public, not elected officials, would decide on any future increases in the height or density of development projects. If the charter amendments pass, developers would have to get voter approval every time they want to build a bigger building than current zoning allows. The City Commission makes those decisions under the current law. |
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Amendments avoided by listening, lawmakers told January 17, 2004 BY JANE MUSGRAVE Palm Beach
Post Staff Writer If Florida lawmakers listened to the people, instead of paid lobbyists, they wouldn't now be worried that the state constitution is being cluttered with expensive and frivolous amendments, a legislative committee was told Friday." The reason citizens turn to initiatives is they are frustrated by a legislature governed by special interests," said Lesley Blackner, a Palm Beach lawyer who is leading a citizen petition drive. "The initiative process is a check on unresponsive elected officials who are controlled by powerful wealthy special interests."
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State law to fight sprawl often flouted
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Citizen initiatives draw fire
December 22, 2003 By John Kennedy Orlando Sentinel
Fearing a political "nuclear war," the state's biggest special interests are talking tough and raising millions of dollars to promote or fight another round of citizen initiatives. But all this could lead to strict, new limits on how average Floridians can change the state's constitution. More than 50 constitutional petition drives are already in play, aimed at November's ballot. Business groups, trial lawyers, doctors and unions are spending this winter feverishly mounting campaigns to either defend themselves from hostilemeasures -- or fire back with proposals of their own.[Read Full Article Here] |
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Control Growth Now Newsletter December 19, 2003 A statewide petition drive has been launched to put voters in charge of the growth of their communities. Called “The Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment”, the measure would require voter approval for any amendment to a local government’s comprehensive land use plan. |
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Lawmakers want hard road for initiatives December 9, 2003 BY ALISA ULFERTS St Petersburg Times
Florida lawmakers on Monday began looking for ways to make it more difficult to pass citizen initiatives. Voters in Florida are twice as likely to approve initiatives as those in other states, University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith told the Senate Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment Reform. That success is related to legislative failure, Smith said. "Measures that make it on the ballot are perceived to be measures that you have failed to deal with," Smith told lawmakers.
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Foresight December 2003 1000 Friends of Florida Newsletter Change is in the air, and next year promises to be an eventful one for growth management in the state. Florida Hometown Democracy, Inc. has proposed a constitutional amendment that would require that voters approve any amendment to their local comprehensive plans. If enough signatures are obtained and the proposed lan-guage is approved, this issue will be on the November 2004 ballot. |
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King wants to rein in citizen initiatives before 2004 November 20, 2003 BY JACKIE HALLIFAX Associated Press The right of Floridians to change the state constitution by petition drive needs to be reined in, Senate President Jim King said Wednesday. And he hopes lawmakers come up with changes before the 2004 election. King, R-Jacksonville, appointed a special committee to propose reforms. House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, had already taken that step. Gov. Jeb Bush urged lawmakers this spring to take steps to reduce the number of voter-approved changes to the state constitution, saying he would support letting voters use the ballot to make changes to statutes as an alternative. |
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Sunshine State becoming paradise spoiled Series September 24, 2003 BY BILL MAXWELL St Petersburg Times During the last 30 days, I drove throughout Florida in a rental car. I drove from St. Petersburg to Miami; from Miami to Daytona Beach; from Daytona Beach to Jacksonville; from Jacksonville to Tallahassee; from Tallahassee to Pensacola; from Pensacola to Gainesville; from Gainesville back to St. Petersburg. Although I was researching the continuing viability of the state's four Historically Black Colleges and Universities, I was struck by the proliferation of urban sprawl in nearly every county. |
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Plan Seeks OK of Voters On Growth September 21, 2003 BY TOM PALMER The Ledger Online
The Florida Hometown Democracy movement has arrived in your hometown. The grassroots petition drive that opened earlier this year is pushing for a state constitutional amendment that would require local referendums on all growth-plan changes. Supporters, using the slogan "Putting the people back in charge of the places where they live," call it the only way to wrest growth decisions from the hands of the developers and the local officials they influence. Opponents call it a meat-ax approach to growthmanagement that could have unintended consequences, ranging from tax increases to fiscal crises for local governments.
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It’s Time for Florida’s Hometown Democracy AmendmentSeptember 10, 2003 BY LESLEY BLACKNER Alachua Post
Too many local politicians just won't say no to bad development. The truth is that the current political structure has no intention of protecting Floridians' quality of life or Florida's future from bad development—the power brokers are making too much money today for the future to matter. So uncontrolled, willy nilly growth continues unabated, even though our schools can't take it, our roads can't take it, our water supply can't take it, our remaining beautiful places can't take it and most locals don't want it
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Palazzo symbolizes high cost of reckless development November 1, 2003 BY BUDDY NEVINS Sun-Sentinel
It's the biggest Florida myth -- development is an economic panacea. One only has to look at Fort Lauderdale. The city is running a $15 million deficit while in the midst of a huge building boom. Growth is not a cure-all, but our local and state governments continue to accept this fairy tale spread by the development industry. The problem has always been the high cost of providing services for all the newcomers drawn by new housing.
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Amendment Would Help Protect Parks October 25, 2003 BY LEN BONIFIELD The Ledger
Recently I wrote a column
concerning the growing crisis in Florida: the closing, eviction of
existing residents and selling the land of manufactured home communities
for redevelopment. There is an opportunity for you as an owner, as a
resident of a manufactured home to act to protect the rights of residents
living in target communities. You can participate by completing a simple
petition to amend the Florida Constitution. |
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Hometown Effort Gains October 24, 2003 BY JERRY BERRIOS Miami Herold A grass-roots, statewide effort to allow residents -- rather than politicians -- to decide on the size, height and location of new buildings, is moving ahead. Organizers of the initiative, named Florida Hometown Democracy, have collected nearly 25,000 signatures on a petition seeking to let voters decide on changes in comprehensive land-use plans. |
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Putting brakes on growth will help schools October 19, 2003 BY MARK PINO Orlando Sentinel
So it has come to this again. The school district says it doesn't have money to build schools, and voters are going to have to decide if it makes sense to add a half penny to the sales tax to attack the problem. We went through a similar pitch in 1999, and helping the district is probably the main reason why voters approved extending a penny sales tax previously divvied up among the county, Kissimmee and St. Cloud.
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Perspective: Voters can take control of
growth and sprawl
October 18, 2003 BY PETER GUINTA st.augustine.com Would you, as a St. Johns County voter, be FOR or AGAINST approval of a huge, sprawling housing complex on the St. Johns River? It's a complicated issue, so let's go through the pros and cons together. On the plus side, the developer -- and people who hold jobs related to housing, such as clearing land, building houses and installing air conditioners, for example -- would make a lot of money. Hmm. That's about it. |
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Voters can take back power over growth October 08, 2003 BY MIKE LAFFERTY Orlando Sentinel
The decade was the 1980s and the scene was Brevard County, where a group of idealistic young municipal planners thought they were changing the world. Tirelessly, they toiled late into the night, convinced their work on the state's first comprehensive planning document would revolutionize the way growth is managed. I was a young reporter then, but the veneer of naivete already was becoming thinner. Page by page came to bear the imprint of those who were really in charge. |
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Growth maps show path to `urban blob' September 07, 2003 BY LAUREN RITCHIE Orlando Sentinel
Have you seen the map that shows how Lake County's cities want to grow? It would be hilarious if it weren't so unnerving. The map shows bloated versions of every municipality in a stunning array of vivid color. The new, engorged cities cover all of Lake except for five spots: the Ocala National Forest; the environmentally delicate Green Swamp; a chunk between Lake Yale and Lake Griffin on the northern border; a narrow strip stretching from the south side of Lake Harris to Florida's Turnpike, and a slice along Orange County between Lake Dora and Lake Apopka. |
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Tiny town wins battle with St. Joe's plans September 4, 2003 BY JULIE HAUSERMAN, Times Staff Writer St. Petersburg Times When the giant St. Joe Co. announced plans to develop vast stretches of coastline between here and Pensacola, a tiny band of citizens sprang into action. They demanded a say in how the region grows. This week, a judge gave them a victory. Citizens started circulating petitions two years in the tiny town of Carrabelle, ground zero in St. Joe's development plans. Their goal: a public referendum whenever the city extends water and sewer services outside city limits for new development. |
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Reality and the myth of growth control August 31, 2003 BY FRED GRIMM The Miami Herald We live the lie. We've seen the Florida Growth Management Act obliterated by elected officials. We've noticed that the local comprehensive growth plans mandated by the 1985 law proved no more than inconveniences for developers, who instructed their wholly owned subsidiaries on city and county commissions to approve thousands of exceptions. |
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Land-use amendment sought August 24, 2003 BY MONICA BRYANT, Staff Writer Ocala Star Banner Gale Sylvester is fired
up about a proposed amendment he thinks will put residents back in charge
of the kind of land-use changes that can alter the character of a
community. "Everybody's got a story about how their quality of life is
going down the tubes," he said. "This is an opportunity to maybe do
something. People need to have a choice," said Sylvester, who grew up in
Marion County and now owns property here. |
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Communities' comprehensive plans become target for constitutional amendment August 18, 2003 BY JEREMY COX Naples Daily News It worked for backers of a statewide high-speed rail system. It also put a lid on bursting school class sizes. Most famously — or infamously — it forced farmers to liberate their pregnant pigs. Now, a Palm Beach County-based nonprofit group hopes to follow in the footsteps of those and other constitutional amendments that started with a petition drive and ended with a majority vote at the ballot box. |
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Plan Would Put
Growth To A Vote
Tampa Tribune
The Sierra Club will mobilize its 30,000 Florida members to support a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voter approval of changes to local growth plans. Sierra is the largest of a host of state environmental groups that have lined up behind the amendment. The ballot initiative is the brainchild of Sierra Club lawyer Lesley Blackner of West Palm Beach and Ross Burnaman, a Tallahassee attorney and former state employee.
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Builders fearful of giving Fla. voters the power to limit development August 4, 2003 BY ROBIN BENEDICK, Staff Writer Sun-Sentinel
Florida isn't the only state suffering the pain of rapid development, but it is the only one in the nation facing a statewide proposal to give voters control over planning issues. If backers of a proposed constitutional amendment collect enough signatures by next summer to get on the 2004 ballot, voters in all 67 counties would have the final say on whether builders can convert land to subdivisions or change the density of a development.
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Comp plan tweaks - voters may get say-so BY
JANINE YOUNG SIKES, Staff Writer Growth management plans are like atlases - you need one to know where you are and where you are going. That's one of the reasons Florida requires every city and county to map out their futures in a much-debated document called the comprehensive plan. It's essentially the Bible for growth with chapters outlining areas to be conserved, locations for future shopping centers and subdivisions, and design guidelines for everything from roads to stormwater retention ponds. |
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Grassroots group targets land-use changes BY ANN
HENSON, Staff Writer
Florida’s
Hometown Democracy Amendment could be the constitutional change heard
around he world. The purpose of the proposed constitutional amendment is
to give voters the final say about land use changes. And it has the
makings of a real-life version of the movie “Network” famous for its
battle cry: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” The
amendment is the brainchild of Lesley Blackner, a Palm Beach County
attorney, who said she’s seen too many people shut out of the
decision-making on land use decisions. |
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People need way to stop out-of-control developers August 1, 2003 BY RON LITTLE PAGE Jacksonville
Times-Union Builders and developers must be feeling as nervous as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. All you have to do is look around in Jacksonville and the rest of Florida to see they have pretty much had their way for years. Development has run amok. Roads became parking lots. Schools are overcrowded. City services are stretched thin. Wildlife habitat is destroyed. Water is polluted. Quality of life sinks lower and lower.
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Group pushes for changes in land use laws August 1, 2003 BY JULIE
HAUSERMAN, Times Staff Writer
Complaining that too many Florida politicians say yes to developers, a new citizen's group wants to let voters decide when to change a community's land use plan. "Like a lot of people, I've been upset about what's happened to Florida," said Lesley Blackner, a Palm Beach environmental attorney who started the group, Florida Hometown Democracy, to collect signatures for an amendment to Florida's Constitution.
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Petition: Voters should
control development
July 30, 2003 Citrus County Chronicle Online
A
petition is being circulated in Sumter County and throughout the state
aimed at stopping local governmental officials from making decisions about
major new development. Instead, petitioners
want to give that decision to the voters. The petition is a statewide
effort to stop local governmental agencies from showing favoritism to
large developers and instead let the people who would be impacted by
development has the final say. |
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'04 Amendment Offers a Chance to Save FloridaJuly 29, 2003BY MIKE THOMASOrlando Sentinel
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Aiming to give voters the final say on land use July 27, 2003 BY TOM SANDER Sun-Sentinel
Background |
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Voter role in land use worth study July 27, 2003 Editorial News Press - Ft. Myers
Here’s a nightmare for the development industry: local voters empowered to decide by referendum whether to make changes in the comprehensive land-use plans that govern growth in cities and counties. In other words, voters could directly veto increases in density, in allowed uses, in building heights and in other land-use parameters. Some believe such changes are too frequently OK’d for developers by compliant elected officials under the current system. A constitutional amendment giving local voters that power will be on the 2004 general election ballot if two environmental lawyers have |
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Proposed amendment changes land-use decision-making
Miami - Herald A few Florida citizens have embarked on a campaign to protect their land. Florida Hometown Democracy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, wants residents and not officials to decide on changes in their community's comprehensive land-use plan. And to accomplish this, the group's principal organizers, Lesley Blackner and Ross Burnaman, two South Florida environmental lawyers, plan to change Florida's Constitution. |
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Petition seeks to give voters say in land use, Proponents claim plans favor growth Voters soon could determine whether developers can increase density or build a hotel higher than regulations allow if a petition circulating in Florida succeeds. Two environmental lawyers are trying to get the Florida Constitution amended to put comprehensive land-use plan changes on the ballot instead of in the hands of city councils and county commissioners. |
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Developers fearful
of plan to have voters OK zoning changes in Fla. BY ROBIN BENEDICK, Staff Writer Sun-Sentinel
Frustrated by frenetic development, a grass-roots movement is pushing for a statewide constitutional amendment to allow voters -- not elected officials -- to control local growth. Under the proposal, if a developer wanted to convert a piece of land for new houses, increase densities or the height of a building, voters would have the final say.
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Activists wants residents, not officials, to make decisions on land use July 24, 2003 BY CYNTHIA DANIELS Miami-Herald A few Florida citizens have embarked on a campaign to protect their land.Florida Hometown Democracy, a non-partisan, non-profit organization, wants residents and not officials to decide on changes in their community's comprehensive land-use plan. And to accomplish this, the group's principal organizers, Lesley Blackner and Ross Burnaman, two South Florida environmental lawyers, plan to change Florida's Constitution. |
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Measure would shift land-use decisions from elected officials to votersJuly 25, 2003 BY ERIC ERNST Herald Tribune
If the class-size amendment to Florida's constitution was a wake-up call to state education officials, another constitutional amendment in the works would amount to a Marine Corps Band bedside reveille for developers. |
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Initiative
Petition Seeks to Give Voters Say Over Developments
Ross Burnaman and Lesley Blackner are fed up. Fed up with crowded highways. Fed up with crowded schools. Fed up with the lack of green space. Fed up with water shortages. Fed up with uncontrolled development and the state's growth management plans. |
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Amendment Would Let Voters Alter Growth Plans July 23, 2003 BY ROBERT P.
KING Pregnant pigs, move over. If a Palm Beach activist has her way, Florida developers will be the ones squealing for more room. Environmental lawyer Lesley Blackner is proposing a state constitutional amendment that would let voters decide all changes to city and county growth plans. It would remove the final say from local governments -- bodies that critics consider largely a tool of developers. |
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State falls short on land-use management
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Shift power to people to limit sprawl
Too many local politicians just won't say no to bad development. The truth is that the current political structure has no intention of protecting Floridians' quality of life or Florida's future from bad development -- the power brokers are making too much money today for the future to matter. So uncontrolled, willy-nilly growth continues unabated, even though our schools can't take it, our roads can't take it, our water supply can't take it, our remaining beautiful places can't take it and most locals don't want it. |
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Finally, An Amendment That Makes Sense July 13, 2003 BY WILLIAM YELVERTON The Tampa Tribune You can bet come Election Day 2004 we'll once again get the chance to tinker with the Florida Constitution. How much hasn't been determined. Special interest groups still have plenty of time to strategize about how to snooker voters into approving projects and regulations that have no business being in our local Bill of Rights, like amendments mandating a bullet train and banning cigarette smoking in restaurants owned by private citizens. [Read Full Article Here] |
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Cocoa Beach leads state in curtailing growth Dec. 24, 2002BY MIKE SCHNEIDERThe Associated Press Residents of this beachside town near the Kennedy Space Centerhave done something uncommon for a municipality in Florida, a state known for itsopen arms for developers, high-rise condos and golf courses. They've voted to controlgrowth. Not once, but four times.[Read Full Article Here] |
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Naples voters to have a say on zoning changes May 7, 2003 BY DIANNA SMITH Naples Daily News
It's official. Registered voters in the city of Naples will decide if the city should implement major zoning changes that city officials say would revitalize parts of the city. |
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Ponce’s problem - Town failed to evenly apply height April 4, 2003
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An insulting power grab March 23, 2003 Editorial © St. Petersburg Times Rep. Randy Johnson doesn't think the voters of Florida know what they are doing. The Republican from Celebration has proposed a constitutional amendment to give legislators the ability to ignore citizen initiatives and set their own funding priorities. Johnson's insulting proposal (HJR 437) should die a quick, ignominious death. He seems to have forgotten that the citizenry is only driven to change the state Constitution when its elected representatives refuse to adopt the proper priorities. |
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