Florida conservationist
Nathaniel Reed endorses Amendment 4
Florida (Posted Oct 20, 2010 06:59 pm)
By Wayne Garcia
Nathaniel P. Reed -- long one of Florida's most
respected conservationists and a former Assistant
Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks
in the Nixon and Ford administrations -- has endorsed
Amendment 4, the Hometown Democracy land-use voting
rights ballot initiative.
Reed is well known for his work in 1000 Friends of
Florida and as vice chairman of the Everglades
Foundation and deeply respected for his thoughtful and
reasoned approach to conservation in Florida. He has
served seven governors, most recently as chairman of the
Commission on Florida's Environmental Future.
Here is Reed's statement:
I have pondered the pros and
cons of Amendment #4 for months.
I have listened to expert
land use planners and attorneys who warn that the amendment
is not perfect and might have “unanticipated consequences”.
I have listened to the proponents who are dissatisfied with
the obvious consequences of the existing system. They
have been repeatedly ignored by their elected officials who
promised careful consideration of development plans and then
allowed projects that are unsound and will cost the existing
taxpayers a fortune.
As I have traveled the state I
have seen the cost of bad development decisions by local
government who have made Florida the foreclosure capital of
the nation. I am struck by the continued efforts by
the development community to convince county and city
officials that they can restore Florida’s economy by doing
more of what made it crash.
The suggestion that Amendment 4
will cost the taxpayer’s money is laughable when you look at
the untold millions the current system has cost us.
Overbuilding has left Florida’s economy in shambles.
It is the major reason that property taxes have skyrocketed.
It is the single biggest factor in uncounted environmental
damage to Florida’s natural systems. Every study ever
done shows that bad growth management costs citizens in
money and quality of life.
I have been involved in the
state’s once meaningful comprehensive planning program for
30 years, beginning with then Governor Bob Graham’s efforts
to produce a new vision on how Florida could grow and
prosper with due regard to livability and protection of
unique areas that make our state uniquely beautiful.
During the intervening years
the mad, insatiable desire of the development community has
overwhelmed local concerns and produced a Florida that is
uglier than it ever should have become. We have lost
the promise of thoughtful development that create livable
communities and substituted “pay for play” as the standard
for development approval.
There are faults with Amendment
#4, but with the evisceration of the Department of Community
Affairs that once was the hallmark of sound decision making,
I am at the stage where I believe that we need to take a
chance. We need to send a message to our elected
officials that communities have a right to control their
destiny.
My vote for Amendment 4
represents my discontent if not disgust with the return to
an era of uncaring, anything goes development without caring
for local input or the impact on our remaining undeveloped
land.
Nathaniel Reed
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