Growth machine casts shadow over state
TCPalm Editorial
Kenric Ward
December 5, 2006

What's wrong, Sunshine State? Just about everything, apparently.

A survey of 1,200 Floridians by Leadership Florida, a statewide business consortium, found:

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• No level of government got more than 40 percent approval of its job performance.

• 74 percent said illegal immigrants are costing Florida big bucks.

• 58 percent rated the state's public schools fair or poor.

But 62 percent of respondents (64 percent on the Treasure Coast) still recommend Florida as a place to live. Misery loves company?

This seemingly schizophrenic split epitomizes the yin and yang of Florida. In theory, we long for the beauty and slower pace of Old South; in reality, we demand the very creature comforts of modernity that foul our own nest.

Dazzled by developers, Florida's rootless populace has been conditioned to equate quality of life with an ever-expanding smorgasbord of trendy chain restaurants, shopping venues, gated residential enclaves and golf courses. Rather than appreciating nature and plying off-the-beaten paths, we clamor, like lemmings, toward climate-controlled malls and congested highways.

And you know what happens to lemmings.

Concerns about education, immigration, insurance rates and the like are driven by one factor: growth. Until Floridians get a better handle on this, our problems will continue to, well, grow.

Unfortunately, the balance of political power is out of whack. Development interests call the shots at city halls, county commissions and the Legislature while John Q. Taxpayer is patronized or ignored. Hence, 52 percent of the Sunshine State Survey respondents believe their local governments aren't effectively managing growth.

Citizen angst cropped up in the fall elections when 71 percent of Indian River County voters supported having a referendum anytime a proposal is made to expand the urban service boundary. Candidates perceived as "pro-growth" were routed Treasure Coast-wide.

And there's a bigger backlash to come. Florida Hometown Democracy is promoting a state constitutional amendment to require local voter approval of any changes in comprehensive plans.

"The current process has become so corrupted because there's so much money at stake," FHD President Lesley Blackner told a receptive group of homeowners at the Villages outside Ocala recently. And, the environmental attorney adds, the political calculus is simple: "All you have to persuade is three commissioners."

Her grass-roots organization is in the process of collecting the 611,000 signatures it needs to get on the statewide ballot in 2008.

This scares the pants off developers, who tried to derail the amendment in court. Failing that, many of the same business interests bankrolled the successful campaign to raise the approval threshold for amendments from a simple majority to 60 percent.

Indeed, the powers are arrayed against Blackner & Co. (online: floridahometowndemocracy.com). No statewide candidates endorsed the initiative; they preferred to collect campaign contributions from a deep-pocketed development industry that ranges from Realtors and title companies to contractors and bankers.

And therein lies the conflict. With so many Floridians reliant on "growth" for their livelihoods, is there the will to ratchet down this state's building binge? Can we safely exit the density-sprawl rat race?

The current housing slump may seem an unlikely time to shuffle the deck. Yet ask any homeowner who has tried to sell a house in the past year how the ongoing influx of national builders is helping him or his community.

Conversely, in "good" times, Floridians get hammered by escalating prices — along with traffic, crime, pollution and, now, diminishing water supplies. No wonder so many Floridians lack of optimism about their future. They're stuck in a lose-lose game.

Burned by bait-and-switch tactics of elected officials who pay lip service to constituents while sucking up developers' cash, the public is increasingly restive and resentful. As representative government falters, voters are signing up for a new, direct deal.

The growth industry can dismiss Florida Hometown Democracy as mob rule. Critics, including the publicly paid technocrats at planning departments, can contend that the development process is too complex for the "average voter." Such arrogance and elitism are precisely the problem.

Calling today's ineffectual (or non-existent) growth-management schemes "fatally flawed," Blackner is tapping into a rich spring of voter discontent. Low approval ratings in the Sunshine State Survey are potential political dynamite. Just ask George W. Bush and the Republicans what high negatives did for them this year.