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Original Content at https://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_the_web_070725_fhd_takes_on_florida.htm (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). |
July 25, 2007
FHD takes on Florida Chamber of Commerce and Real Estate developers
By the web
These stories illustrate what you get when you have government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer: a catastrophe on all levels…….``Florida is the epicenter for all the problems that exist in the housing industry,''``Have you been to Miami lately?'' Florida Governor Charlie Crist said at a homebuilders' conference last week in Orlando. ``It's like we have a new state bird: the building crane.''
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Business Lobby Aims at Amendment | |
I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but one of Florida's largest business lobbies has hatched a plan to derail the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment. The Florida Chamber of Commerce is openly opposing the amendment and is speaking against it because it thinks it's a bad idea. …………………………….. I'm not surprised that the business interests are nervous about the amendment's prospects. I base that on the results of the recent Polk County Citizens Opinion Survey. If there's anything that upsets people more than higher taxes, it's what they perceive as out-of-control growth. Here are some highlights: Eighteen percent said growth management has not improved in the past year. Only 8 percent said taxes were worse. Growth was considered the most important issue facing Polk County, outpacing taxes by at least 2-to-1 and often more over the past four years in the same poll. I think you could argue that if the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment passes, it would be somewhat similar to the passage of the tax cuts by the Florida Legislature in one way. It will be something local government brought upon itself. For years, in many parts of Florida it appeared as though development interests had an inordinate amount of influence on government decision-making. That was certainly true here in Polk County. ……………………………………………………………. It's not just us. Next door in Hillsborough County, the development community has been pressuring the County Commission there to get rid of local wetlands regulations, claiming - well-documented evidence to the contrary - that state and federal regulators will do an adequate job of protecting wetlands. In Highlands County, planning officials actually solicited landowners to apply for growth plan amendments prematurely to avoid any of the effects of the Hometown Democracy Amendment. Now the county's growth map has too much urban growth planned in rural areas where it has no business occurring. [Read the full story ] |