Amendment4, called the Florida Comprehensive Land Use Plan, proposes to require a taxpayer-funded referendum for all changes to local government comprehensive land-use plans. This means that voters will decide every time a WalMart or new development is to be built.
People favoring this amendment claim that the people will be able to control development and claim that Amendment 4 is needed because "our homes and communities are too important to leave in the hands of crooked politicians."
I would point out that instead of voting on every development because we don't want "crooked politicians" making the decision, perhaps we could vote those politicians out of a job. Remember that a land use plan that would build a Walmart on one end of the county would be voted upon by people in the other end of the county.
Looking at the financial backing of the Amendment, we see that the following contributions have been made to the cause since 2003:
| Lesley Blackner (Lawyer) | $828,749 | ||||
| Steven Rosen / Tend Skin Int'l (Skin Care) | $635,000 | ||||
| Sierra Club of Florida | $186,470 | ||||
| Joe Redner | $37,035 | ||||
| Floridians for a Sustainable Population | $33,538 |
It seems like Lesley Blackner has nearly a million invested in this. Why? I don't know, and I could not find out, even after an extensive search.
Vote yes if you think that voters should decide in a direct vote, vote no if you think that the voters should decide through their elected representatives.
Edited to add: I have decided to vote no on Amendment 4. Lisa (in comments) has made me see that there is a real problem here: Other people are presumed by the supporters of this amendment to know better what I should do with my property than I do. It doesn't matter to me if a commissioner decides what I should do with my property, of if my neighbors decide. Either way, I do not get a choice. At least when the commissioner decides, I can talk to him and try to make him see my side of things. If the public is to decide, then I must cough up millions of dollars to run political advertisements to get my message out.
How about an amendment that lets me do what I want with my lawfully purchased property without having to beg for the permission of others?
