Local elected officials to blame for Hometown Democracy's support

A quick records check would have revealed for you that not one of those 467 amendments were requested by developers. Not one. All were done to adjustments to accomodate 300 percent growth in Orange City's population since the 1990s - growth city fathers never foresaw when they punted their land use plan decades before. Most land use plan amendments are similar technical corrections. If Hometown Democracy were law, it would be a nightmare in this lovely country town today.
Slogans tend to become bad policy. This one is no exception.

Good column. We need Hometown Democracy more than ever now that the Legislature and Governor have eviscerated our growth management laws.

Jane-70% of the land mass in Osceola county is Rural Land use . The Comp Plan took two years as a new Governor came in and the process started all over in 2006 not by foot dragging in the Osceola county commission. The Destiny project has never made its way to official staff review,never has had a formal submittal of any kind before the Planning Commission. The Urban Land use allows up to 25 Units per acre.HTD has the petitions with enough names to get on the ballot as they announced before but for legal reasons they have never made it to the ballot. With state approved plan for Osceola county there two comp plan designations Urban and Rural.

So Jane feels costly police and fire services had to be created in The Lake Nona area that the rest of us have to pay for. But Jane feels it is OK to add a penny to gasoline taxes and increase parking fees downtown by $1.00 to support Lynx and SunRail. Jane's and her buddy new Editor Mike Lafferty can't handle increasing bus fares to $2.00 one way because it would hurt the poor people who ride the bus. They would rather charge us rich, greedy people who drive cars to pay for it. Let me see. Marx wanted to transfer money to the poor from the rich. Jane and Mike want to transfer money from the rich to the poor and then to further their Marxist philosophy by controling growth. There may be a smart answer for growth but Jane will just say no for Marxist control.

It's fun watching the growth brats have a meltdown. Good job Jane!

Make your voice count! Download and sign the Florida Hometown Democracy petition to add the Amendment to the 2010 ballot. Some petitions are date-expiring soon and more will be needed as replacements. Please sign and mail today at www.floridahometowndemocracy.com
A vote for FHD is a vote to keep growth within the original comprehensive growth plan of your community and its available resources.

We have possibly the worst politicians in the free world right here in Central Florida. Buddy, Rich, Patty are ya listening!

Dori wrote:

Make your voice count! Download and sign the Florida Hometown Democracy petition to add the Amendment to the 2010 ballot. Some petitions are date-expiring soon and more will be needed as replacements. Please sign and mail today at www.floridahometowndemocracy.com
A vote for FHD is a vote to keep growth within the original comprehensive growth plan of your community and its available resources.

Dud HTD get enough
signature or not ? They announce they did and now you are not sure.Sounds like a repeat of not getting on the ballot again.

Clayton Bigsby wrote:

We have possibly the worst politicians in the free world right here in Central Florida. Buddy, Rich, Patty are ya listening!

You haven't been keeping up with the NY State Legislature.

Everyone thinks the Hometown Democracy is just about changes to the future land use map. It's not. It'a about any change to the comprehensive plan. That includes changes to what is called 'text'-- the goals and policies part that directs where sewer and water lines go, what happens with drainage, where roads should go and what type of roads, etc.

A lot of those text changes are required each year by the Legislature. Two years ago, there was a requirement to adopt a 'public school facilities element' along with school concurrency. This requirement by the legislature said that local governments had to acknowledge that school districts could change their zones for schools throughout the year, if they needed to, to avoid overcrowded schools.

If the local governments didn't adopt that text change, there were punishmenets; school districts had funding cuts,and local governments that got state funds for housing wouldn't get them. Now suppose the Home Town Democracy had been in place, and parents didn't like it that the text had to allow for school rezoning multiple times during a year.

If the local voters denied this amendment, it couldn't be a part of the local plan - and the school district and housing programs would be the poorer.

The 2008 Legislature passed requirements that local plans have to show how they will reduce greenhouse gases. The only reason there have not yet been fines or other punishments yet for locals that didn't do that is because the State Dept. of Community Affairs hasn't finished issuing its rules on how that is supposed to be done.

But when they do, what if the Hometown Democracy is in place and people vote against text changes that would spend more money on public transit to try to reduce greenhouse gases?

One Senator spent most of this session trying to get a new requirement put into plans where there are springs, limiting the use of land near springs. I can't imagine that the voters who live near springs would support that - and they would rally others to vote against it by telling them that their land was next.

All of you who support Hometown Democracy need to read the language of the proposal, and ask yourself who is going to pay for all the elections that are needed for all these legislative mandates. You are, voters. And when you vote against it, your taxes that are collected by the state will not come back to your city or county.

What a great idea.

Grayhair wrote:

Everyone thinks the Hometown Democracy is just about changes to the future land use map. It's not. It'a about any change to the comprehensive plan. That includes changes to what is called 'text'-- the goals and policies part that directs where sewer and water lines go, what happens with drainage, where roads should go and what type of roads, etc.
A lot of those text changes are required each year by the Legislature. Two years ago, there was a requirement to adopt a 'public school facilities element' along with school concurrency. This requirement by the legislature said that local governments had to acknowledge that school districts could change their zones for schools throughout the year, if they needed to, to avoid overcrowded schools.
If the local governments didn't adopt that text change, there were punishmenets; school districts had funding cuts,and local governments that got state funds for housing wouldn't get them. Now suppose the Home Town Democracy had been in place, and parents didn't like it that the text had to allow for school rezoning multiple times during a year.
If the local voters denied this amendment, it couldn't be a part of the local plan - and the school district and housing programs would be the poorer.
The 2008 Legislature passed requirements that local plans have to show how they will reduce greenhouse gases. The only reason there have not yet been fines or other punishments yet for locals that didn't do that is because the State Dept. of Community Affairs hasn't finished issuing its rules on how that is supposed to be done.
But when they do, what if the Hometown Democracy is in place and people vote against text changes that would spend more money on public transit to try to reduce greenhouse gases?
One Senator spent most of this session trying to get a new requirement put into plans where there are springs, limiting the use of land near springs. I can't imagine that the voters who live near springs would support that - and they would rally others to vote against it by telling them that their land was next.
All of you who support Hometown Democracy need to read the language of the proposal, and ask yourself who is going to pay for all the elections that are needed for all these legislative mandates. You are, voters. And when you vote against it, your taxes that are collected by the state will not come back to your city or county.
What a great idea.

Osceola will not have any special elections.Will go on the primary elections every 2 years. As soon as an application is made the applicant will get the date
it goes on the ballot. Application made June 15th 2009 would go on the ballot in Sept 2010 if HTD was the law today.

It's unbelievable that Jane Healey is allowed to write.. and get paid for it. Her intellectual curiosity is at the level of the typical Obama supporter-an 11th grade emo trying to save the panda, or baby seal or whaling in Antartica. Very shallow,(see 1st comment) incorrect (see #3) or incomplete reasoning (see #10)

If I had $5,000,000 like HD does, an emotional issue like growth and development and the cojones to lie to Florida residents, I'll bet I could get an amendment to hurricanes from Florida. Especially if I paid for the signatures.

Check out St. Pete Beach and the mess they have on their hands with a local HD-type measure. This is the attorney relief actof 2009. Healey should be embarrassed.

"ban hurricanes"

Michael Caputo wrote:

A quick records check would have revealed for you that not one of those 467 amendments were requested by developers. Not one. All were done to adjustments to accomodate 300 percent growth in Orange City's population since the 1990s - growth city fathers never foresaw when they punted their land use plan decades before. Most land use plan amendments are similar technical corrections. If Hometown Democracy were law, it would be a nightmare in this lovely country town today.
Slogans tend to become bad policy. This one is no exception.

Technical adjustments or amendments (as some are called) can be rolled into one vote, as typically done at commission level. Perhaps if Orange City's Comprehensive Growth Plan is so old that it is outdated, it could be time for revision (?) which would incorporate techincal changes all at one swoop. And, if FHD was in place, it could all be added to the ballot on an normal scheduled election date at no added cost to the taxpayer.

Procurator wrote:

<quoted text>Dud HTD get enough
signature or not ? They announce they did and now you are not sure.Sounds like a repeat of not getting on the ballot again.

There are more than enough petition votes for the FHD amendment to appear on the 2010 ballot, barring the Supreme Court's decision to allow or disallow some 13,000 signatures that were revoked under a law which has yet to be deemed constitutional or not (initiated by opponents of FHD requesting petition signors revoke their signature). This issue has been before the Florida Supreme Court for over a year. Also, some of the first petition signatures date back almost 4 years, and those will be expiring later this month.
Due to the marketing strategy of opponents to 'say' or 'do' anything to 'block' this amendment, every signature counts for every day that passes.

HD Is A Sham wrote:

It's unbelievable that Jane Healey is allowed to write.. and get paid for it. Her intellectual curiosity is at the level of the typical Obama supporter-an 11th grade emo trying to save the panda, or baby seal or whaling in Antartica. Very shallow,(see 1st comment) incorrect (see #3) or incomplete reasoning (see #10)
If I had $5,000,000 like HD does, an emotional issue like growth and development and the cojones to lie to Florida residents, I'll bet I could get an amendment to hurricanes from Florida. Especially if I paid for the signatures.
Check out St. Pete Beach and the mess they have on their hands with a local HD-type measure. This is the attorney relief actof 2009. Healey should be embarrassed.

I would like to know where you get your incorrect information about FHD funds because if FHD had that kind of $$, this amendment would have been on the ballot long ago! No one has been 'paid' for their signature on a petition...if you are mistaking 'hiring' of a petition-drive organization to gather signatures...it is the same type of organization that Floridians for Smarther Growth hires to gather their signatures. However, since FHD does not have the big business backers that FSG has, we, the volunteers usually handle most of the petition drives. But, speaking of 'payment'...Not only does Ryan Houck, Floridians for Smarter Growth, get paid a salary for speaking against FHD...they also paid some $100,000 to a marketing company to gear up their strategy against FHD's amendment. Sorry, but your information is backwards (again)you should be looking at our opponents for sleazy tactics.

Dori wrote:

<quoted text>
I would like to know where you get your incorrect information about FHD funds because if FHD had that kind of $$, this amendment would have been on the ballot long ago! No one has been 'paid' for their signature on a petition...if you are mistaking 'hiring' of a petition-drive organization to gather signatures...it is the same type of organization that Floridians for Smarther Growth hires to gather their signatures. However, since FHD does not have the big business backers that FSG has, we, the volunteers usually handle most of the petition drives. But, speaking of 'payment'...Not only does Ryan Houck, Floridians for Smarter Growth, get paid a salary for speaking against FHD...they also paid some $100,000 to a marketing company to gear up their strategy against FHD's amendment. Sorry, but your information is backwards (again)you should be looking at our opponents for sleazy tactics.

You are correct. I was wrong. I looked at the campaign finance report for the HD PAC (I was looking for the donation from the forced sterilization group-found it-and the donation from the strip club owners of Florida-found it) and was blinded by the sleazy, anti-people, condescending uber liberals with superiority complexes. The correct amount is #1.3 million. Sorry.

and the best part about HD is they want citizens to vote on every change in comp land use plan, but I will bet Dori in Kissimmee $10 that when HD loses at the ballot box, good ole boy Ross and Palm Beach Leslie in her ocean view manse will sue, sue, sue until the volunteers stop paying. Look at St. Pete Beach. The city has run out of mney fighting the HD mentality in the town. That's all these folks know.

Hunky Dory wrote:

and the best part about HD is they want citizens to vote on every change in comp land use plan, but I will bet Dori in Kissimmee $10 that when HD loses at the ballot box, good ole boy Ross and Palm Beach Leslie in her ocean view manse will sue, sue, sue until the volunteers stop paying. Look at St. Pete Beach. The city has run out of mney fighting the HD mentality in the town. That's all these folks know.

It's very simple...Comprehensive Growth Plan is designed to guide growth, NOT for growth to guide the plan. No changes to the Plan...No voting referendums. And lets talk about the 'mansions' that some of the backers of Floridians for Smarter Growth live in....Big Business, Big Developers, BIG Sugar, Big Politicians...Big Pockets...etc.

Dori wrote:

<quoted text>
It's very simple...Comprehensive Growth Plan is designed to guide growth, NOT for growth to guide the plan. No changes to the Plan...No voting referendums. And lets talk about the 'mansions' that some of the backers of Floridians for Smarter Growth live in....Big Business, Big Developers, BIG Sugar, Big Politicians...Big Pockets...etc.

You are absolutely correct. I want everyone in Florida to live where they want and in a small large or huge home. It's scary that HD followers are so stimulated to stop growth they are willing to join forces with the sterilization group who think we're overpopulated and the strip club owners who want to bypass elected officials and hope to expand their operations through the ballot.

HD opponents are developers, builders, Big Sugar, Big Bank, Big Big and Bigger Construction. It's for all to see. It's a transparent donor list.

Why would the strip club bars support HD? Mmmmm.

HD is for losers who can't win elections, but is run by 2 attorneys who are looking to get fat off the taxpayer lawsuits that will develop. Check out St. Pete Beach, folks. Citizens fought a local HD type group and won. Next day, HD type group started with thelawsuits.

I hope BIG EVERYTHING kicks HD into the ashcan of history.

(And Ross the attorney and Leslie the attorney will sue, sue, sue, sue, because that's all they do)