When Fascism Almost Came To America:
In the first term of FDR in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression, a group of rich industrialists, Families and Bankers tried to overthrow the New Deal and bring Martial Law Fascism to the USA.
many similarities to that time exist today as this BBC Radio 4 documentary exposes records from the library of Congress and the National archives.
Original URL to watch the video: http://www.vloggingtheapocalypse.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=763&title=WHITE_HOUSE_COUP___SMEDLEY_BUTLER___PRESCOTT_BUSH
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
State slams Pasco County's ideas for Sunwest Harbourtowne project
| Subject: State slams Pasco County's ideas for Sunwest Harbourtowne project Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:23:46 -0400 | |
Greetings All,
Here is the article regarding the Sunwest project.
Unfortunately we don't have a link to the complan amendment up on our web site and the outlines for comment are not yet complete and posted, hopefully by Monday.
This article and recent events do however provide some insight into what the DCA reviewers are looking at: NEED, DENSITIES, DISASTER PRONE AREAS, COMMON SENSE!
All these things you can count on Pasco to NOT properly address. Hammer NEED as Pasco has already approved enough dwellings to house 6,000,000, that's 6 MILLION people! Never mind they can't provide proper services to existing residents, keep open our "luxury" libraries, balance the budget or provide water to 6 MILLION more people, all points to raise with the DCA on ALL the amendments that you comment to.
Here is the reality, our county leaders, for many years, have tied our future to continuous, endless development as the mechanism to pay for existing services to existing residents ... they rob Peter (new development: impact, permitting, review, building, inspection fees, etc. and property taxes of new homes for the the 1st 2-3 yrs. before they impact services) to pay Paul (services to existing residents) so when there is NO new development they have NO $$$$$!
This is growth for growths sake ... the ideology of a cancer cell. Most importantly it is NOT sustainable.
So make sure to comment to the DCA on these misguided, unwarranted and needless projects in their present form and VOTE in 2010 for Florida's Hometown Democracy so that we the people can decide what is in the public's best interest and overcome the undue influences of the development community on our elected leaders.
Thanks, peace and be well,
Clay
Mud of the Earth!
P.S. Remember Bell Fruit!
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” Thomas Paine
State slams Pasco County's ideas for Sunwest Harbourtowne project
By Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Tuesday, September 15, 2009
In Print: Tuesday, September 15, 2009
ARIPEKA — State regulators have slammed a controversial county proposal to allow more intense development along Pasco's northern coastline, saying the move would hurt an environmentally sensitive area and put people and property at risk during a natural disaster.
The state's objections center on the 562-acre coastal area — more than half of the proposed Sunwest Harbourtowne site, where developers pla n a mixed-use community that would have 2,500 homes, a golf course and a marina.
"The intrusion of dense residential and mixed land uses … is incompatible with the protection, conservation and enhancement of (environmental) resources," the Department of Community Affairs wrote in a newly released report.
The state's objection does not kill the project, but could force Sunwest developers to revamp their plans.
After negotiating with Sunwest, Pasco County commissioners have proposed changes to the county's land use plan that would help pave the way for the project. Those changes require the blessing of state regulators.
The new state report also raises two other objections to the county's proposed changes. One is that the county did not show specifically how the Sunwest project would protect wildlife habitats, primarily for the Chassahowitzka bear. The other is that Pasco's analysis failed to show whether there is enough school capacity to accommodate students generated by the project.
But the state's most strongly worded objection is to the proposal to change what would be allowed in the 562-acre coastal area — from a very low density designation (one unit per 40 acres) to a "planned development" designation that allows for a variety of uses to occur anywhere on the site.
That coastal area consists of mostly wetlands, lakes and about 215 acres of uplands.
Much of it lies in the "velocity zone," an area know n to be more prone to natural disasters, namely hurricanes.
The report says the proposed land use change runs counter to state law in two ways: It fails to limit development that could damage coastal resources, and it allows development in an area prone to natural disaster, thus failing to "protect human life and limit public expenditures in areas that are subject to destruction by natural disaster."
With the proposed land use changes, the state report says, "The county is shifting more intense development to the most vulnerable portion of the subject site which is inconsistent with state law."
Pasco officials have talked publicly about limiting what Sunwest can do within the velocity zone, saying they want the residential development in that coastal area to be aimed at seasonal residents or vacationers who would not be at risk of losing their primary homes.
But at issue is what potential the proposed designation would give the developer, said Chris Wiglesworth, a senior planner with the Department of Community Affairs.
Honey Rand, a Sunwest spokeswoman, said the owners did not get a copy of the report until late Monday and wanted a chance to review it before commenting. Richard Gehring, Pasco's top planner, did not return a phone call Monday.
In the recommendations, state regulators said the county should back off the plans to change the land use designation in the coastal area and revise its proposal "to disallow the i ntensification of residential and mixed uses" on the coastal portion of the property.
The next step in the process is for the county to respond to the state's objections.
Jodie Tillman can be reached at jtillman@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6247.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Only 29% Of Americans Trust Mainstream Media
| Scientific Poll: Only 29% Of Americans Trust Mainstream Media | |
| Steve Watson |  | ||||||||
63%, the vast majority of the over 1500 respondents to the survey, stated that the news media is dominated by special interests, rendering it biased and inaccurate.
When Pew first asked the question in 1985, the figure was 34%.
Now in 2009, just 29% say they trust the media to deliver straight facts.
The figures also represent a decline in trust in the media by a further 10% from 2007 numbers.
Perhaps this trend has something to do with the fact that all the major networks, essentially owned by just five companies, have become little more than government mouthpieces.
Take ABC for example, the network that completely turned over its news coverage to the government for an Obama healthcare special last June, and excluded any dissenting opinions from airing.
The latest example of corporate media lies came this weekend as up to two million Americans protesting against unchecked federal government power was uniformly reported in the mainstream as a few thousand "teabaggers".
It is not surprising that more people trust "fake" news programs such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report than they do the mainstream media dinosaurs.
Neither is it a coincidence that newspaper sales and broadcasters' audiences are rapidly declining as people turn to the alternative media and the internet.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The 'Wisdom' Of The Clunker Program
The 'Wisdom' Of The Clunker Program...
From A Friend
9-12-9- A bored statistician has been busy again...
-
- A vehicle at getting 15 mpg and doing 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline.
-
- A vehicle at getting 25 mpg and doing 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.
-
- So, getting rid of each average clunker will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per clunker per year.
-
- They claim 700,000 vehicles were taken in during the clunker program - so that's 224 million gallons per year saved.
-
- That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.
-
- 5 million barrels of oil is about 1/4 of one day's US consumption.
-
- And, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $75 a barrel.
-
- So, we all contributed to the spending of $3 billion dollars...to save $350 million.
Put Not Your Faith in Princes
This is a good article, and seems right on the mark. It applies to my local community, and my bet it does to yours. We need to think and act differently. If not, those who are running things will keep us where they want us, which is where we are now, without power.
Put Not Your Faith in Princes
Posted by Kevin Carson on Sep 11, 2009 in Commentary, Feature Articles • 3 commentsA post on “Taking Secession Seriously” at the Front Porch Republic blog, written four months ago, is still sparking vigorous debate in the comment thread. Commenter CJ Foley remarked on the impossibility of managing political and economic affairs on the scale of 300 million people, or of exerting outside democratic control over the political and economic units. It might be necessary, he said, to scale things down to where they can be effectively controlled.
But given my experience with local government, I responded, that might require scaling things down a lot further than he imagined. By the time I got a couple of paragraphs into my rant, I realized I was composing this week’s article for C4SS.
In just about any city with a population in or above the low tens of thousands, the local government is a showcase property of the local real estate industry.
In Fayetteville, Arkansas, three years ago Mayor Dan Coody (who’d been elected by the “green” faction, on a “smart growth” platform, to rein in the real estate interests) proposed a one cent sales tax to fund expansion of the overburdened sewer system. Now, the cause of the problem was the new housing developments and strip malls springing up all over the place, built primarily by billionaire real estate developer and Trump-wannabe Jim Lindsey. But Coody said the “only alternatives” were the sales tax or a 30% increase in sewer rates. That’s the way it works, see: he tells us what the “only alternatives” are, and we good little voters choose from what’s put on our plates. Increasing sewer hookup fees to cover the costs Lindsey and the other hogs at the trough were imposing on the system was never even considered.
The voters, convinced by Coody’s hint that “out-of-town” shoppers would bear much of the burden (it’s always easier to cheat a greedy man), voted for the tax.
Then, next year, sewer impact fees came up as a local ballot issue. You’ll never convince me the timing and the wording of the proposal weren’t a deliberate strategy of the real estate interests. Since the proposal came after the voters had already approved the sales tax, and not before, they were obviously likely to reject it as double taxation. And they’d have been a lot more likely to approve it if it had been proposed as a replacement for the sales tax they were already paying.
Now, the “progressive” element in Fayetteville have a better shot than anywhere else in NW Arkansas. In most other towns, whatever the good ol’ boys want just gets quietly passed without a peep of public debate. In Fayetteville, a college town with a large contingent of “back to the land” hippies who settled there in the ’70s, there is at least grass-roots organizing and heated debate over everything–before the good ol’ boys win.
And Coody was the fair-haired boy of the “progressives,” put forth as David to the Chamber of Commerce’s Goliath. His election was the closest thing to a victory the “progressive” and “green” coalition was or will be ever likely to see. And in the end, he was just another greenwashed good ol’ boy. All the stuff he could have legitimately done to stop sprawl — eliminating barriers to mixed-use development, making new roads pay their way with tolls, making developments pay utility hookup fees — he didn’t have the political guts to do. So instead, he focused on aesthetic regulations, bike paths, anti-smoking ordiances, and other forms of nannyism — basically just greenwashed gentrification.
At the level of the Northwest Arkansas region as a whole, the Washington-Benton County area (with a population of several hundred thousand) has an organization called the Northwest Arkansas Council. It’s a nominally private shadow government, made up of representatives of local corporate powerhouses like Wal-Mart, Tyson, J.B. Hunt (and of course the above-mentioned Jim Lindsey), along with ex officio representatives of local governments and the University. Its primary purpose, civic-minded lot that they are, is to promote the building of regional “infrastructure” for “economic growth,” and all kinds of other “government-business partnership” (In other words, line up at the trough, corporate welfare piggies!). I think there’s a similar organization in just about every metropolitan area in the country of the same size or larger.
For decades, regional elites had attempted to railroad through a regional airport to serve their interests, only to have it fail when it came up for a vote.
In 1990, the NWA Council changed its strategy. Like a filthy sneak-thief skulking about under cover of darkness, it quietly lobbied five city and two country governments to create a regional airport authority. You’d expect such an authority to be the topic of extensive public debate, considering that under state law such authorities have power to condemn land and levy taxes, and are immortal corporations so long as any two member governments remain parties to them. You’d expect wrong. The seven local governments, under secret pressure from the REAL GOVERNMENT of Northwest Arkansas, voted to create the authority as an “emergency ordinance” — without any prior notice, multiple readings, or chance for public debate. The Northwest Arkansas Council, in partnership with the NWA Regional Airport Authority, immediately began a campaign to suppress opposition. ”Leadership Fayetteville,” an elite annual seminar in the city Chamber of Commerce, devoted its primary focus to strategies for combating the “anti-growth” faction that had “hijacked” Fayetteville’s progress. Shortly after, under pressure from local movers and shakers, a popular radio DJ and the editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times were fired (they’d both been active proponents of a public vote on the airport issue). In the end, the airport was railroaded through. We now have a regional airport at Highfill, serving the interests of Tyson, Wal-Mart and J.B. Hunt.
I can cheerfully contemplate the people who did this taking up eternal residence in the Ninth Circle of Hell, with an apartment in Beelzebub’s rectum and Judas Iscariot for a roommate.
And so it goes. Democracy doesn’t work, at least not above the level of face-to-face direct democracy. The problem is, regardless of how formally democratic the system of representation is, no matter how “progressive” the controls on campaign finance (or even public financing), government is by its very nature a centralized machine whose day-to-day operations must be carried out by a few people. And by the nature of things, there will be a close affinity between them and similar elites running the corporate economic system, and other centralized institutional networks like the big charitable foundations and universities. By the nature of things, the average person has only limited energy and attention to devote to public issues, and to keeping an eye on those engaged in public business. The average person, by necessity, will always devote the overwhelming share of his energy and attention to work, family, and friends. But for the insiders actually running the large institutions, the politics and policies of those institutions ARE their work and friends. So the insiders, and the small circles of wealthy outsiders whose pecuniary interests depend most heavily subsidies and protections, will always have an advantage in time, energy, attention, information, and agenda control. Democracy is and must be a sham, because the public’s attention will always be the first to wander.
At the national level, Obama is probably the closest thing to a “progressive” president ever likely to be elected — a sort of national Dan Coody, in fact. A friend of Alinsky and “community organizer,” he came across last year as a sort of Jerry Brown knockoff, the outside-the-box alternative to Hillary Clinton (who was almost a parody of establishment managerial liberalism). And what has he done?
He’s pursued a Wall Street bailout policy that’s a direct continuation of Paulson’s version of TARP, based on the uber-Hamiltonian project of using taxpayer money to (at least partially) reinflate the value of the plutocracy’s investment assets.
He’s pushed through a “stimulus” whose primary goal is to restore the suicidal and pathological economic model of running overbuilt industry at full capacity. That, in turn, can only be done (given its present capacity) through consumer debt and planned obsolescence–the latter extending to actually paying people, via the latest “Cash for [insert name of subsidized industry here]” program, to throw stuff away and replace it. Well, THAT’s certainly a sustainable economic model. Should work out great, as long as the government can afford to run a $2 trillion deficit indefinitely. In any case, nobody who promotes an intensified version of the 20th century economic model of throwing shit away fast enough to keep the assembly lines running, should be passing himself off as “green,” in any way, shape or form.
He’s designed a “progressive” healthcare reform whose overall paramaters were fixed at the beginning by the insurance and pharma industries.
Political activism within the system, at best, may make the system a little more bearable to those who suffer under it while it lasts. If you want to put energy into that, good luck. But fundamental change can only come from outside the system. That’s why the primary focus of my C4SS research papers has been on the outside forces beyond the control of the people running the system, that render it unsustainable, and on alternatives being built outside the system that don’t require anybody’s permission.
C4SS Research Associate Kevin Carson is a contemporary mutualist author and individualist anarchist whose written work includes Studies in Mutualist Political Economy and Organization Theory: An Individualist Anarchist Perspective, both of which are freely available online. Carson has also written for a variety of internet-based journals and blogs, including Just Things, The Art of the Possible, the P2P Foundation and his own Mutualist Blog.
--
"Government is essentially the negation of liberty." — Ludwig von Mises
protesters blast Obama, Congress, More Tea-Parties Planned
Thousands of downtown DC protesters blast Obama, Congress, More Tea-Parties Planned.
AP - Saturday, September 12, 2009 12:13:57 PM By NAFEESA SYEED 
Photo By APTens of thousands of protesters fed up with government spending marched to the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, showing their disdain for the president's health care plan with slogans such as "Obamacare makes me sick" and "I'm not your ATM."
The line of protesters clogged several blocks near capitol, according to the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. Demonstrators chanted "enough, enough" and "We the People." Others yelled "You lie, you lie!" and "Pelosi has to go," referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Throngs of people waved U.S. flags and held signs reading "Go Green Recycle Congress" and "I'm Not Your ATM." Men wore colonial costumes as they listened to speakers who warned of "judgment day" -- Election Day 2010.
Richard Brigle, 57, a Vietnam War veteran and former Teamster, came from Paw Paw, Mich. He said health care needs to be reformed -- but not according to President Barack Obama's plan.
"My grandkids are going to be paying for this. It's going to cost too much money that we don't have," he said while marching, bracing himself with a wooden cane as he walked.
FreedomWorks Foundation, a conservative organization led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, organized several groups from across the country for what they billed as a "March on Washington."
Organizers say they built on momentum from the April "tea party" demonstrations held nationwide to protest tax policies, along with growing resentment over the economic stimulus packages and bank bailouts.
Armey and other speakers directed their ire at Pelosi -- Armey took a photo, telling the crowd he wanted to be able to prove to her they were there.
"If it's necessary, we'll come back here next year," he said.
Many protesters said they paid their own way to the event -- an ethic they believe should be applied to the government. They say unchecked spending on things like a government-run health insurance option could increase inflation and lead to economic ruin.
Terri Hall, 45, of Starke, Fla., said she felt compelled to become political for the first time this year because she was upset by government spending.
"Our government has lost sight of the powers they were granted," she said. She added that the deficit spending was out of control, and said she thought it was putting the country at risk.
Race also became an issue when a black Republican leader denounced African-American politicians that she said had an "affinity" for socialism.
"The president has warned us if we disagree with him he's going to call us out," DeMint said. "Well, Mr. President, we are out."
Norman Kennedy, 64, of Charleston, S.C., said he wants to send a message to federal lawmakers that America is "deeply in debt." He said though he'd like everyone to have free health care, he said there's no money to pay for it.
"We want change and we're going to get change," Kennedy said. "I want to see fiscal responsibility and if that means changing Congress that will be a means to that end."
Other sponsors of the rally include the Heartland Institute, Americans for Tax Reform and the Ayn Rand Center for Individuals Rights. Other scheduled speakers included actor Stephen Baldwin and C. Boyden Gray, who worked under the administration of George H.W. Bush.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
This is a response to an earlier article printed in the June 6 St.Petersburg Times about Citizens for Sanity . That article follows after this response. tlh
Greetings SPTimes,
Just wanted to bring to your attention our feelings and actions in regards to your failure to even respond or allow for Citizens to respond to this editorial and your continued slanted coverage of our group, it's positions and actions over the last 10 years.
Truly back when the newspapers were the main source of people's news of the day you were able to influence the public's perception of the events of the day. Fortunately we live in a changing world where the tools of influence have changed and your biased, slanted reporting is NOT the only game in town.
More importantly is the fact that we, the public have fostered other more widely and reliable sources of accurate reporting of the news: the internet, blogs, alternative publications and radio. Even more the use of word of mouth, through networking and the "tree effect", those who receive this email forward it on to others throughout the state, so that it grows exponentially.
Like here, this is being shared with a HUGE elist (Bcc) where those participating know to post this information to web sites, blogs and alternative publication in an effort to get the truth out. That is not to mention how many people belonging to groups and organizations throughout the bay area will forward this out to their membership lists.
This becomes an important means of getting the truth out, setting the record straight and exposing how our supposedly "liberal" newspaper isn't at all. Not only are they NOT liberal or progressive but unfair with biased and slanted reporting that ignores the truth while seeking to disparage and demonize those seeing to create positive change in their communities by fighting for what is right and in the public's best interest.
Not to worry, when you failed to even have the common courtesy of a response, we began circulating this response. Then found it posted on blogs and web sites thruoghout the Bay area in places where people who want real and accurate news go to find it.
Lastly, we do find it most amazing that this paper has in the past allowed for those whose group/organization or individual were disparaged by your "news"paper were given equal time to respond but not ours or me. We have been fodder for your "creative writing", misrepresentations, slants and outright lies for all too long. So in the future when you want comment from our organization here it is: "NO COMMENT!"
Thanks for your time and consideration.
With highest regards,
Clay G. Colson
Greetings SPTimes,
Just wanted to bring to your attention our feelings and actions in regards to your failure to even respond or allow for Citizens to respond to this editorial and your continued slanted coverage of our group, it's positions and actions over the last 10 years.
Truly back when the newspapers were the main source of people's news of the day you were able to influence the public's perception of the events of the day. Fortunately we live in a changing world where the tools of influence have changed and your biased, slanted reporting is NOT the only game in town.
More importantly is the fact that we, the public have fostered other more widely and reliable sources of accurate reporting of the news: the internet, blogs, alternative publications and radio. Even more the use of word of mouth, through networking and the "tree effect", those who receive this email forward it on to others throughout the state, so that it grows exponentially.
Like here, this is being shared with a HUGE elist (Bcc) where those participating know to post this information to web sites, blogs and alternative publication in an effort to get the truth out. That is not to mention how many people belonging to groups and organizations throughout the bay area will forward this out to their membership lists.
This becomes an important means of getting the truth out, setting the record straight and exposing how our supposedly "liberal" newspaper isn't at all. Not only are they NOT liberal or progressive but unfair with biased and slanted reporting that ignores the truth while seeking to disparage and demonize those seeing to create positive change in their communities by fighting for what is right and in the public's best interest.
Not to worry, when you failed to even have the common courtesy of a response, we began circulating this response. Then found it posted on blogs and web sites thruoghout the Bay area in places where people who want real and accurate news go to find it.
Lastly, we do find it most amazing that this paper has in the past allowed for those whose group/organization or individual were disparaged by your "news"paper were given equal time to respond but not ours or me. We have been fodder for your "creative writing", misrepresentations, slants and outright lies for all too long. So in the future when you want comment from our organization here it is: "NO COMMENT!"
Thanks for your time and consideration.
With highest regards,
Clay G. Colson
Monday, June 15, 2009
Time to refocus on environment promise
Published Saturday, June 6, 2009
The end of an environmental challenge to the potential site for a large-scale, high-wage employer in central Pasco shouldn't end county government's attention to the environmental advocacy from Citizens for Sanity. While commissioners, state lawmakers and county administrators breathed a collective sigh of relief after clearing a roadblock to luring T. Rowe Price to a site along State Road 54, they also should take stock in the level of frustration that motivated the challenge.
Citizens' Clay Colson focused much of the fight on the size of a wetland on the targeted site, but a list of unfulfilled settlement demands from the group presented to the county previously is more relevant because it included items that have been in limbo for a decade. Most notably, the group made the reasonable request of Pasco County to abide its wildlife corridor designations and to establish wildlife-protection ordinances.
It's the same issue that's been bouncing around the government center for a decade, ever since Citizens for Sanity sued the county over the rezoning of land that is now home to the Oakstead subdivision in Land O'Lakes. At the time of that 1999 rezoning, commissioners discovered they had never enacted an ordinance spelling out criteria for wildlife studies of undeveloped land as its comprehensive land plan mandated. In settling the suit, the county agreed to the concept of wildlife corridors — paths linking preserved land to allow animals to travel to new habitats — and included the provision in the rewrite of the land plan. However, the commission has yet to adopt an enacting ordinance to enforce the rules.
In the meantime, following the protections has been arbitrary. A consultant and the county's biologist have advocated wildlife corridors at a minimum width of 2,200 feet, but commissioners rejected that argument last fall without hearing the scientific rationalization for the standard. Instead, they allowed the developer of a proposed project in Shady Hills to reduce the corridor to as little as 100 feet, a decision later overturned by the Department of Community Affairs. No wonder environmentalists are trying to jump-start county activity.
We do not agree with all of the Citizens for Sanity agenda and its attempt to scuttle an unrelated economic development proposal as a way to leverage its positions elsewhere damaged its credibility. The group, the public faces of which are just two men, Colson and Dan Rametta, bills itself as slow-growth advocates. But the T. Rowe Price project is intended to help the county combat its bedroom community identity that promotes sprawl, traffic congestion, lost productivity and an overreliance on construction and service industry jobs to support the economy. The expensive deal that includes $30 million worth of incentives is supposed to bring more than 400 jobs to Pasco at the outset and 1,200 more over the next decade. Citizens should embrace the idea of getting people a better opportunity to work closer to home.
The county's economic recruiting dodged a bullet on this one because the underfunded Citizens for Sanity does not have the ability to finance protracted litigation or to absorb assessed legal costs if unsuccessful.
But that doesn't invalidate portions of the group's environmental agenda and the commission shouldn't give it short shrift. It is foolish to wait for yet more litigation before completing promised protections for wildlife.
Citizens for Sanity is a varied group of concerned citizens with grave concerns for our precious limited resources, such as water, and our quality of life which is constantly being negatively impacted by inept planning with little attention to what is truly in the public's best interests.
We are a well founded, not-for-profit state corporation which attained federal 501c3 status. Our recent challenge to Southwest Florida Water Management District's (SWFWMD) first Environmental Resources Permit (ERP) for the Long Lake Ranch Development of Regional Impact (LLR DRI) has garnered us many new members. Our common purpose is “to improve quality of life and preserve our natural environment.”
We are consistently referred to as environmentalists instead of community activists. As defined by Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary each and everyone of you is an environmentalist. Environment is “the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded,” in other words your home, neighborhood, community and Pasco County. So we all are environmentalist because we care about the circumstances, objects and conditions surrounding us. Welcome aboard!
Back in 1999 Clay Colson and Citizens for Sanity sued Pasco over the rezoning of the Milo Thomas Ranch, which is presently Oakstead. However, it was Citizens, along with Judy Williams, Nancy Rosenberg and Jennifer Seney, who sued Pasco over the 1999 Amendments to our Comprehensive Plan (Complan), a citizens' blueprint for growth in our county. It was during this litigation that we discovered Pasco was in direct violation of the state's Growth Management Act of 1985. Pasco failed to implement the Conservation Elements (CE) of the Complan through ordinances as required by law –
and it remains that way to this day, 23 years later!
Pasco County had over 100 developers and large landowners intervene in that case to protect their rights to ravage your county. Citizens and the four plaintiffs entered into a settlement agreement with Pasco and the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to implement the CE of the complan by ordinance to protect wetlands, wildlife habitat and range as well as to establish wildlife corridors. Pasco is currently in direct violation of the law and our settlement agreement, ALL of which was to be enforced by the DCA.
Our challenge was NEVER about T. Rowe Price (TRP) but was instead about the needless, unwarranted and unjustifiable destruction of fully functioning wetlands in the LLR DRI, which is positioned directly adjacent to and surrounding the South Pasco Wellfield, a major source of your drinking water supply. TRP received the first permit of the DRI as it was expedited through a severely flawed and improper Basis Of Review (BOR) by SWFWMD.
SWFWMD failed in many areas of the BOR, not the least of which was the blatantly flawed delineation of wetland E-9 as only 0.236 acres. The true nature of wetland E-9 is 1.8 to 2.2 acres of Class I wetlands as defined under Chapter 62.340 Florida Statutes when properly delineated by appropriately accepted scientific methodology – all of which was to be needlessly destroyed for 18-20 parking spaces while TRP proposed to build 3 multi-story parking garages.
Ask yourselves this simple question: If the applicant and SWFWMD were confident of their delineation of wetland E-9 then why not defend that position in a court of law instead of working to exclude any testimony to the contrary? Is it that they are afraid of the truth? Anytime the applicant and SWFWMD want to match scientific facts in an open forum we will be glad to prove the truth!
This of course is the actual reason we dismissed our petition against SWFWMD, as the crux of our action was wetland E-9. Being excluded from presenting any evidence or testimony to the contrary undercut the basis of our challenge. To go forward would have exposed our organization to the potential assessment of overwhelming legal fees. This does not mean that our action was unwarranted or frivolous. It just means that the other side, through various ploys and deep pockets, undermined our case. This was the only way for them to prevail.
As for Citizens using this as leverage against Pasco, it is simply not true. Commission Chairman Jack Mariano called no less than six times to ask what they could do to make our challenge disappear. Begrudgingly we agreed to a confidential meeting with him and John Gallagher in which, per their request, we submitted a list of Citizens' demands. After the meeting was over, Mr. Gallagher, in direct violation of the terms of the meeting, faxed our list to reporters and accused us of filing our action for false reasons. These are the people who are running your county!
The first item on the list was Leave the wetlands alone! Not just on that site but for all future development in the county. Doing so would have settled this and all future actions we might undertake against any development permits. Simply leave the wetlands alone! Had that been done, there would be nothing more to do. This has always been about wetlands protection and nothing else.
This demand is based on the facts that your precious water supply is in eminent danger, not just from drought, but also from poor policies and untoward politics. By failing to protect the intricate systems which recharge our severely depleted Floridan Aquifer, we are experiencing salt water intrusion at rates never before measured. Groundwater levels are at lows never previously seen.
Wetlands are the second major mechanism of recharge to our severely depleted aquifer (the first being undisturbed uplands). Our precious remaining wetlands serve as a major means of flood control, they collect, capture and contain our precious rain water while slowly filtering and allowing it to percolate down to replenish our aquifer. They provide habitat and range for many forms of wildlife. And they are certainly more beautiful than any parking lot.
Yet our elected officials and the agencies directed to protect our wetlands continue to do the same things over and over and over again, expecting a different result. Isn't that the definition of insanity?
Sincerely,
Clay G. Colson
Board Director and Water Issues Chair
Citizens for Sanity.Com, Inc.
citizensforsanity.com
We are a well founded, not-for-profit state corporation which attained federal 501c3 status. Our recent challenge to Southwest Florida Water Management District's (SWFWMD) first Environmental Resources Permit (ERP) for the Long Lake Ranch Development of Regional Impact (LLR DRI) has garnered us many new members. Our common purpose is “to improve quality of life and preserve our natural environment.”
We are consistently referred to as environmentalists instead of community activists. As defined by Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary each and everyone of you is an environmentalist. Environment is “the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded,” in other words your home, neighborhood, community and Pasco County. So we all are environmentalist because we care about the circumstances, objects and conditions surrounding us. Welcome aboard!
Back in 1999 Clay Colson and Citizens for Sanity sued Pasco over the rezoning of the Milo Thomas Ranch, which is presently Oakstead. However, it was Citizens, along with Judy Williams, Nancy Rosenberg and Jennifer Seney, who sued Pasco over the 1999 Amendments to our Comprehensive Plan (Complan), a citizens' blueprint for growth in our county. It was during this litigation that we discovered Pasco was in direct violation of the state's Growth Management Act of 1985. Pasco failed to implement the Conservation Elements (CE) of the Complan through ordinances as required by law –
and it remains that way to this day, 23 years later!
Pasco County had over 100 developers and large landowners intervene in that case to protect their rights to ravage your county. Citizens and the four plaintiffs entered into a settlement agreement with Pasco and the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to implement the CE of the complan by ordinance to protect wetlands, wildlife habitat and range as well as to establish wildlife corridors. Pasco is currently in direct violation of the law and our settlement agreement, ALL of which was to be enforced by the DCA.
Our challenge was NEVER about T. Rowe Price (TRP) but was instead about the needless, unwarranted and unjustifiable destruction of fully functioning wetlands in the LLR DRI, which is positioned directly adjacent to and surrounding the South Pasco Wellfield, a major source of your drinking water supply. TRP received the first permit of the DRI as it was expedited through a severely flawed and improper Basis Of Review (BOR) by SWFWMD.
SWFWMD failed in many areas of the BOR, not the least of which was the blatantly flawed delineation of wetland E-9 as only 0.236 acres. The true nature of wetland E-9 is 1.8 to 2.2 acres of Class I wetlands as defined under Chapter 62.340 Florida Statutes when properly delineated by appropriately accepted scientific methodology – all of which was to be needlessly destroyed for 18-20 parking spaces while TRP proposed to build 3 multi-story parking garages.
Ask yourselves this simple question: If the applicant and SWFWMD were confident of their delineation of wetland E-9 then why not defend that position in a court of law instead of working to exclude any testimony to the contrary? Is it that they are afraid of the truth? Anytime the applicant and SWFWMD want to match scientific facts in an open forum we will be glad to prove the truth!
This of course is the actual reason we dismissed our petition against SWFWMD, as the crux of our action was wetland E-9. Being excluded from presenting any evidence or testimony to the contrary undercut the basis of our challenge. To go forward would have exposed our organization to the potential assessment of overwhelming legal fees. This does not mean that our action was unwarranted or frivolous. It just means that the other side, through various ploys and deep pockets, undermined our case. This was the only way for them to prevail.
As for Citizens using this as leverage against Pasco, it is simply not true. Commission Chairman Jack Mariano called no less than six times to ask what they could do to make our challenge disappear. Begrudgingly we agreed to a confidential meeting with him and John Gallagher in which, per their request, we submitted a list of Citizens' demands. After the meeting was over, Mr. Gallagher, in direct violation of the terms of the meeting, faxed our list to reporters and accused us of filing our action for false reasons. These are the people who are running your county!
The first item on the list was Leave the wetlands alone! Not just on that site but for all future development in the county. Doing so would have settled this and all future actions we might undertake against any development permits. Simply leave the wetlands alone! Had that been done, there would be nothing more to do. This has always been about wetlands protection and nothing else.
This demand is based on the facts that your precious water supply is in eminent danger, not just from drought, but also from poor policies and untoward politics. By failing to protect the intricate systems which recharge our severely depleted Floridan Aquifer, we are experiencing salt water intrusion at rates never before measured. Groundwater levels are at lows never previously seen.
Wetlands are the second major mechanism of recharge to our severely depleted aquifer (the first being undisturbed uplands). Our precious remaining wetlands serve as a major means of flood control, they collect, capture and contain our precious rain water while slowly filtering and allowing it to percolate down to replenish our aquifer. They provide habitat and range for many forms of wildlife. And they are certainly more beautiful than any parking lot.
Yet our elected officials and the agencies directed to protect our wetlands continue to do the same things over and over and over again, expecting a different result. Isn't that the definition of insanity?
Sincerely,
Clay G. Colson
Board Director and Water Issues Chair
Citizens for Sanity.Com, Inc.
citizensforsanity.com
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
A Times Editorial http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1006369.ece
Governor Gridlock
In Print: Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Gov. Charlie Crist just made it easier to pave over what's left of Florida. By signing SB 360 into law Monday, the governor clearly values the voices of developers and big business — and their campaign checks for his U.S. Senate campaign — over the concerns of environmentalists and local governments. Crist set growth management back more than 20 years and left a permanent stain on his legacy.
With a stroke of the pen, the governor removed the most powerful tools to manage growth, require road improvements and prevent overdevelopment. No longer will governments be able to require most developers to pay for the road improvements needed to handle the traffic their projects generate. No longer will enormous developments such as those proposed for the site of the old Bay Area Outlet Mall in mid Pinellas or the controversial SunWest Harbourtowne in northwest Pasco be subjected to a broad study of their effect on neighboring communities. And in another gift, key state and local development permits are now automatically good for another two years.
For developers, Christmas came on the first day of June. Floridians will be paying for it for years.
Once again, this was another botched opportunity for the governor and the Legislature to look further ahead than the next election and the next campaign contribution. There was broad agreement that transportation concurrency is unnecessary in urban settings such as downtown St. Petersburg or Tampa. But this new law goes well beyond any reasonable definition of urban and will end transportation concurrency in small towns and suburbia as well. There also was broad consensus that the Development of Regional Impact process was too cumbersome and needed an overhaul. The simplistic answer in this new law is to essentially abolish the entire DRI review, leaving communities adjacent to giant projects outside their own boundaries with little recourse for coping with the fallout.
In a short news release, the governor's office does not attempt to justify those failures. It says "incentivizes entrepreneurs'' when it should say "free pass to developers.'' It notes that the law requires the study of a new mobility fee that developers could pay for transportation. But there is no requirement for a new fee. If the Legislature would not keep transportation concurrency this year, it is naive to suggest, as Crist did, that it would adopt a new mobility fee next year with elections looming.
Signing this bill into law is one of the most serious mistakes Crist has made since taking office in 2007, and it is at odds with the rest of his record. The governor who appointed growth management expert Tom Pelham to head the Department of Community Affairs has just eviscerated growth management. The champion of restoring the Everglades has just endorsed urban sprawl. And the booster of better mass transit and visionary rail systems has just become Governor Gridlock.
Monday, June 1, 2009
What a most telling and interesting article
It is amazing that almost 10 long years later, after 10,000 new homes and the virtual destruction of almost all of our transportation nodes, newly created in the last decade, that ya'll exercised your intellect to have some high paid consultant, Urban Land Institute (ULI), explain to you the EXACT same thing that Dr. Octavio Blanco and myself told ya'll back then!
I even gave ya'll and the CAC books on the subjects of planning and land use to edify yourselves (see 2000 article, tampa trib, J. Fox). They are probably being used as door stops somewhere in the county, just as Harry Wright and I witnessed with a volume of our Complan, it is certain they were never read. This is witnessed by our present state of affairs in this county where the ONLY property rights that matter are those of large land owners and developers, no one else has any! Of course this is true for our whole state as is evidenced by the New Yorker magazine's 40 page article of February 14-19, 2009 titled "The Ponzi State", a very good read if you want to know how we got to where we are!
Most interesting though is that you choose to ignore their most expen$ive advice!!! It is understandable though, oh not because you are stupid Pat, but more because ya'll are stuck in a mind set unable to visualize the BIG picture. Mr. Gehring is right as rain, the tip of the iceberg is the only warning you are going to get, just ask the souls of the Titanic! The idea that this is only 5 small, insignificant acres and therefore makes no difference, well the Chinese have a name for that ... the Death of a Thousand Cuts! It is about the small, insignificant, incremental actions we take, like this 5 acres, which when put with the 1,000 others that ya'll viewed in the same way, results in something hugely detrimental ... like death, this failure is irreversible!
This mentality is also best illustrated by our current water crisis that no one wants to call a crisis or take any of the truly difficult steps to properly deal with it, just stick your head in the sand and hope it gets better!! Of course to do that you must 1st recognize the true nature of our crisis, it is MANMADE! Not drought, not weather but poor policies and politics as we drain the swamps for more development to create more demand for more water!!!
Development traditionally goes on the undisturbed uplands which provides the highest quality recharge to our severely depleted aquifer, while the 2nd highest quality recharge, our wetlands, are also allowed to be plowed under for even more development and water demands. Wetlands provide amazing functions which cannot and are not duplicated through "creation" or mitigation.
See for yourselves, just LOOK at the monstrosities that represent this failed policy; they can NEVER pass the delineation procedures of any agency to be found "functional". Yet these agencies ACOE, FDEP and SWFWMD continually permit the needless, unwarranted, unjustified and clearly avoidable destruction of our 2nd best method of recharge to our severely depleted aquifer, our wetlands! There are NO isolated wetlands ALL are connected to our aquifer and even a severely degraded wetland provides more function than anything the agencies approve to mitigate their destruction.
Most importantly are the functions provided by wetlands as a natural means of flood control to collect, capture and contain our precious rain water and then to filter it while allowing it to slowly percolate down to our severely depleted Floridan Aquifer. These functions alone are reason enough to protect every wetland left, yet there are additional functions provided such as wildlife habitat for foraging, nesting, aesthetics and conservation.
We have already destroyed more than 100,000 acres of wetlands in our state and you wonder why we have a water crisis, this IS the Death of a Thousand Cuts to our severely depleted groundwater resources! And yet the permitted destruction continues unabated. Our local governments are the 1st to blame for their shortsightedness and false belief that the agencies authorized to protect will do so even when they personally know that will NOT happen.
However it allows them to pass the buck, ditching their responsibilities to their constituents!
The agencies themselves, especially at the top, are corrupt to the core. When you confront them as to their failures to protect and enforce the rules they pass the buck right back to our elected officials. They argue that because the local municipality authorized it they are now required to make it work, a vicious cycle of blame.
That giant sucking sound you hear is why we are in Land of used to be Lakes as Tampa Bay Water exceeds their groundwater permit by more than double and SWFWMD fails to regulate not just TBW but hundreds of other users industry, mining, agriculture, golf courses, the list is endless! But YOU must conserve while they permit more and more users while destroying the last remaining mechanisms to replenish our severely depleted water resources.
The end result will be irreversible ... salt water intrusion into our aquifer is occurring at an amazing rate. Just as Pinellas destroyed their portion of the Floridan Aquifer by salt water intrusion while ignoring the warnings and the science, the tip of the iceberg! TBW, FDEP, SWFWMD, ACOE, EPA and your elected local officials are destroying what is left of ours one wetland at a time!!! The Death of a Thousand Cuts.
My point is that despite, nay in the face of overwhelming warnings from scientific research, professional advice, educated minds and the very nose upon their faces our elected officials continue to do the same things over and over again expecting a different result ... isn't that the definition of insanity?
With highest regards, peace and be well,
Clay G. Colson
Board Director and Water Issues Chair
Citizens for Sanity.Com, Inc.
I even gave ya'll and the CAC books on the subjects of planning and land use to edify yourselves (see 2000 article, tampa trib, J. Fox). They are probably being used as door stops somewhere in the county, just as Harry Wright and I witnessed with a volume of our Complan, it is certain they were never read. This is witnessed by our present state of affairs in this county where the ONLY property rights that matter are those of large land owners and developers, no one else has any! Of course this is true for our whole state as is evidenced by the New Yorker magazine's 40 page article of February 14-19, 2009 titled "The Ponzi State", a very good read if you want to know how we got to where we are!
Most interesting though is that you choose to ignore their most expen$ive advice!!! It is understandable though, oh not because you are stupid Pat, but more because ya'll are stuck in a mind set unable to visualize the BIG picture. Mr. Gehring is right as rain, the tip of the iceberg is the only warning you are going to get, just ask the souls of the Titanic! The idea that this is only 5 small, insignificant acres and therefore makes no difference, well the Chinese have a name for that ... the Death of a Thousand Cuts! It is about the small, insignificant, incremental actions we take, like this 5 acres, which when put with the 1,000 others that ya'll viewed in the same way, results in something hugely detrimental ... like death, this failure is irreversible!
This mentality is also best illustrated by our current water crisis that no one wants to call a crisis or take any of the truly difficult steps to properly deal with it, just stick your head in the sand and hope it gets better!! Of course to do that you must 1st recognize the true nature of our crisis, it is MANMADE! Not drought, not weather but poor policies and politics as we drain the swamps for more development to create more demand for more water!!!
Development traditionally goes on the undisturbed uplands which provides the highest quality recharge to our severely depleted aquifer, while the 2nd highest quality recharge, our wetlands, are also allowed to be plowed under for even more development and water demands. Wetlands provide amazing functions which cannot and are not duplicated through "creation" or mitigation.
See for yourselves, just LOOK at the monstrosities that represent this failed policy; they can NEVER pass the delineation procedures of any agency to be found "functional". Yet these agencies ACOE, FDEP and SWFWMD continually permit the needless, unwarranted, unjustified and clearly avoidable destruction of our 2nd best method of recharge to our severely depleted aquifer, our wetlands! There are NO isolated wetlands ALL are connected to our aquifer and even a severely degraded wetland provides more function than anything the agencies approve to mitigate their destruction.
Most importantly are the functions provided by wetlands as a natural means of flood control to collect, capture and contain our precious rain water and then to filter it while allowing it to slowly percolate down to our severely depleted Floridan Aquifer. These functions alone are reason enough to protect every wetland left, yet there are additional functions provided such as wildlife habitat for foraging, nesting, aesthetics and conservation.
We have already destroyed more than 100,000 acres of wetlands in our state and you wonder why we have a water crisis, this IS the Death of a Thousand Cuts to our severely depleted groundwater resources! And yet the permitted destruction continues unabated. Our local governments are the 1st to blame for their shortsightedness and false belief that the agencies authorized to protect will do so even when they personally know that will NOT happen.
However it allows them to pass the buck, ditching their responsibilities to their constituents!
The agencies themselves, especially at the top, are corrupt to the core. When you confront them as to their failures to protect and enforce the rules they pass the buck right back to our elected officials. They argue that because the local municipality authorized it they are now required to make it work, a vicious cycle of blame.
That giant sucking sound you hear is why we are in Land of used to be Lakes as Tampa Bay Water exceeds their groundwater permit by more than double and SWFWMD fails to regulate not just TBW but hundreds of other users industry, mining, agriculture, golf courses, the list is endless! But YOU must conserve while they permit more and more users while destroying the last remaining mechanisms to replenish our severely depleted water resources.
The end result will be irreversible ... salt water intrusion into our aquifer is occurring at an amazing rate. Just as Pinellas destroyed their portion of the Floridan Aquifer by salt water intrusion while ignoring the warnings and the science, the tip of the iceberg! TBW, FDEP, SWFWMD, ACOE, EPA and your elected local officials are destroying what is left of ours one wetland at a time!!! The Death of a Thousand Cuts.
My point is that despite, nay in the face of overwhelming warnings from scientific research, professional advice, educated minds and the very nose upon their faces our elected officials continue to do the same things over and over again expecting a different result ... isn't that the definition of insanity?
With highest regards, peace and be well,
Clay G. Colson
Board Director and Water Issues Chair
Citizens for Sanity.Com, Inc.
Land-use fuss is look into future
Where it meets State Road 54, Trinity Boulevard is lined with brush and trees - a condition that might make the casual observer wonder what all the fuss was about this week when developers sought to make changes to their plans for the intersection.
Adam Smith Enterprises, which is developing the eastern parts of Trinity - a 20-year-old project between S.R. 54 and the Pinellas County line - asked the county for permission to shift five acres of future retail land from the east side of Trinity Boulevard to the west side.
That kind of request isn't uncommon for a project as large and as old as Trinity. But it came at a time when county officials are trying to reform the way they do business with developers, particularly those whose land is earmarked for job creation.
Those changes are growing out of last year's visit by the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advises communities on issues of growth and management. ULI had sharp words for Pasco County, among them: Protect your future employment sites.
About 80,000 people - half of Pasco County's work force - commute to Hillsborough and Pinellas counties for jobs. Pasco officials would like to stem that tide and maybe even reverse it by turning the S.R. 54 corridor into a magnet for high-wage employers - a strategy that got strong support from ULI.
Land loss would be 'tip of iceberg'
As the county works toward formally adopting ULI's guidelines, this week's debate over Adam Smith's five acres offers a peek into the future when the county's new philosophy toward development is likely to run headlong again into landowners' plans for their property.
The crux of Adam Smith's request was this: shifting the retail space to the other side of Trinity Boulevard took five acres away from Trinity Corporate Center, a site the developer has set aside for a high-end industrial park.
Five years after the developers demolished the North Tampa Executive Airport to make way for it, the corporate center has yet to sprout a major employer. Its only tenant at the moment is a gas station, but the potential for jobs is there.
That was the reason Richard Gehring, the county's new growth management administrator, gave for opposing the request. It was a decision that put him at odds with Adam Smith officials and with the majority of the county commission.
"The loss of these five acres are, to us, the tip of the iceberg," Gehring said. "Those jobs we're trying to get to come up and stay here - this is where they should go."
The corporate center's position within a few miles of both northern Hillsborough and northern Pinellas counties makes it vital to the county's plans for luring work north, Gehring said.
"This land use doesn't move real fast when we're in a recession cycle," Gehring said of the industrial land. "But you have to have a site when the economy recovers."
Adam Smith officials insisted shifting the retail site across Trinity Boulevard wouldn't spell the end for future job growth in the area.
"We're going to build every square foot of entitlements that we have," said Lew Friedland, president of the development company.
Friedland said the ongoing debate over the five acres is putting the rest of the property at risk.
"We have been held up to the point where we have people who want to build on our property who believe we have no support from this county," Friedland said.
Commission votes to support swap
Wednesday's debate descended briefly into accusations of lying and misrepresentation, culminating with Commissioner Pat Mulieri chastising Gehring directly for his handling of the situation.
"I almost feel you're saying we're stupid sitting up here," Mulieri told Gehring. "I feel we're sitting here, and you're saying we don't know what we're doing."
Gehring, on his 47th day working for Pasco County, defended his position regarding the five-acre tract by citing the ULI study's recommendations.
"All I'm trying to do is protect employment," Gehring said.
In the end, commissioners voted 4-1 to support Adam Smith's land swap.
Commission Chairman Jack Mariano, one of the county's staunchest supporters of the ULI study, dissented. Mariano cited a recent survey of county residents where only 10 percent said the county offered enough job opportunities.
"We've got a chance to really capitalize on the S.R 54 corridor," Mariano said. "We already gave up prime land for a gas station."
On Thursday, Mulieri defended her vote in favor of the land swap as important to protect the developers' property rights.
"I just felt that it was the right thing to do," Mulieri said. "I don't think this five acres will cause the whole ULI process to implode."
Commissioner Michael Cox said Thursday he understood Gehring's "tip of the iceberg" argument regarding the land swap and the county's loyalty to the ULI study.
"That's a valid point," Cox said. "But we haven't implemented the ULI study yet. The point will be well-taken six months or a year from now."
Adam Smith Enterprises, which is developing the eastern parts of Trinity - a 20-year-old project between S.R. 54 and the Pinellas County line - asked the county for permission to shift five acres of future retail land from the east side of Trinity Boulevard to the west side.
That kind of request isn't uncommon for a project as large and as old as Trinity. But it came at a time when county officials are trying to reform the way they do business with developers, particularly those whose land is earmarked for job creation.
Those changes are growing out of last year's visit by the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advises communities on issues of growth and management. ULI had sharp words for Pasco County, among them: Protect your future employment sites.
About 80,000 people - half of Pasco County's work force - commute to Hillsborough and Pinellas counties for jobs. Pasco officials would like to stem that tide and maybe even reverse it by turning the S.R. 54 corridor into a magnet for high-wage employers - a strategy that got strong support from ULI.
Land loss would be 'tip of iceberg'
As the county works toward formally adopting ULI's guidelines, this week's debate over Adam Smith's five acres offers a peek into the future when the county's new philosophy toward development is likely to run headlong again into landowners' plans for their property.
The crux of Adam Smith's request was this: shifting the retail space to the other side of Trinity Boulevard took five acres away from Trinity Corporate Center, a site the developer has set aside for a high-end industrial park.
Five years after the developers demolished the North Tampa Executive Airport to make way for it, the corporate center has yet to sprout a major employer. Its only tenant at the moment is a gas station, but the potential for jobs is there.
That was the reason Richard Gehring, the county's new growth management administrator, gave for opposing the request. It was a decision that put him at odds with Adam Smith officials and with the majority of the county commission.
"The loss of these five acres are, to us, the tip of the iceberg," Gehring said. "Those jobs we're trying to get to come up and stay here - this is where they should go."
The corporate center's position within a few miles of both northern Hillsborough and northern Pinellas counties makes it vital to the county's plans for luring work north, Gehring said.
"This land use doesn't move real fast when we're in a recession cycle," Gehring said of the industrial land. "But you have to have a site when the economy recovers."
Adam Smith officials insisted shifting the retail site across Trinity Boulevard wouldn't spell the end for future job growth in the area.
"We're going to build every square foot of entitlements that we have," said Lew Friedland, president of the development company.
Friedland said the ongoing debate over the five acres is putting the rest of the property at risk.
"We have been held up to the point where we have people who want to build on our property who believe we have no support from this county," Friedland said.
Commission votes to support swap
Wednesday's debate descended briefly into accusations of lying and misrepresentation, culminating with Commissioner Pat Mulieri chastising Gehring directly for his handling of the situation.
"I almost feel you're saying we're stupid sitting up here," Mulieri told Gehring. "I feel we're sitting here, and you're saying we don't know what we're doing."
Gehring, on his 47th day working for Pasco County, defended his position regarding the five-acre tract by citing the ULI study's recommendations.
"All I'm trying to do is protect employment," Gehring said.
In the end, commissioners voted 4-1 to support Adam Smith's land swap.
Commission Chairman Jack Mariano, one of the county's staunchest supporters of the ULI study, dissented. Mariano cited a recent survey of county residents where only 10 percent said the county offered enough job opportunities.
"We've got a chance to really capitalize on the S.R 54 corridor," Mariano said. "We already gave up prime land for a gas station."
On Thursday, Mulieri defended her vote in favor of the land swap as important to protect the developers' property rights.
"I just felt that it was the right thing to do," Mulieri said. "I don't think this five acres will cause the whole ULI process to implode."
Commissioner Michael Cox said Thursday he understood Gehring's "tip of the iceberg" argument regarding the land swap and the county's loyalty to the ULI study.
"That's a valid point," Cox said. "But we haven't implemented the ULI study yet. The point will be well-taken six months or a year from now."
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
