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Florida Doesn't Need Ballot Box Planning

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 23, 2007

Hometown Democracy is simply 'ballot box planning.' Its focus is neither your hometown nor improved democracy.

If passed, this amendment would require every comprehensive plan change in every county and municipality to go before the entire electorate of that entity.

That was over 8,000 changes in Florida for 2005 and likely to be well over 10,000 this year and next as it is time for all these comprehensive plans to be updated.

I suspect the number of changes for all the comprehensive plans updated in Hillsborough County could easily reach 1,000, predominantly initiated by the Planning Commission or local government, not by private developers.

This would represent considerable expense and disruption of elections for all such changes!

What is 'hometown' about having voters in Keystone decide whether a change in the Ruskin Community Plan should be allowed? If you believe wealthy developers control local politics, why would you want a system where only the wealthy can afford to wage a countywide or citywide election campaign for their desired private amendments?

Such questions are causing some environmental groups to distance themselves from staunch Hometown Democracy supporters such as the Sierra Club.

You have read of Gov. Charlie Crist's and Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham's opposition to Hometown Democracy. Pelham called it 'Draconian' in nature and Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp sees it as 'bad government' and a subversion of the intent of our founding fathers with respect to representative government.

The recent Reality Check exercise challenged us all to plan for a Tampa Bay with double its current population. You now read of new regional transit initiatives and smarter growth policies promoting infill and affordable housing.

All of these efforts require professional planning within a flexible framework for the next 50 years. Yet Hometown Democracy could ruin those dreams and thrust us in the nightmare of voting on everything in a year-round election circus. Predictable planning and implementation would give way to election uncertainty on critical needs for the ever-increasing population.

Hometown Democracy won't stop change from coming as 'no growth' zealots wish. It will simply cripple our effective response capabilities. Public relations firms and media outlets will be the only winners as planning through 30-second sound bites becomes the norm.

Our quality of life and economic well-being will be tied to polling predictions as if we were handicapping races at Tampa Bay Downs.

Carlos A. Fuentes is president of the Greater Tampa Association of REALTORS, Inc.

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