(return to newsroom)FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ryan Houck/407-496-4035
6/11/08
Dear Ms. Blackner: End the Charade in St. Pete BeachRyan Houck, Executive Director for Floridians for Smarter Growth sent the following letter to Lesley Blackner, Chairman for Florida Hometown Democracy:
June 11, 2008
Ms. Lesley Blackner
Chair
Florida Hometown Democracy, Inc.
123 Australian Avenue
Palm Beach, FL 33480
Ms. Blackner:
Since adopting a Hometown Democracy-style measure requiring referenda on any comprehensive plan amendments, St. Pete Beach residents have suffered through endless legal battles and countless delays at taxpayer expense.
While the bills mounted, nothing got done.
Playing by the rules you advocate, a citizens group succeeded in placing four comprehensive plan changes before the voters. Their plan to reinvigorate the economy was called "an easy choice" by the St. Petersburg Times. Last Tuesday, residents of the small Pinellas county town agreed, and decisively passed each of those four amendments.
Now, Hometown Democracy disciples in St. Pete Beach have filed a lawsuit to invalidate the results of last Tuesday's election. Ironically, this brazen attempt to overturn the expressed will of the people comes from the same activists who turned St. Pete Beach into a Hometown Democracy testing ground by campaigning on empowering voters. Today, they are showing their true colors. Hometown Democracy isn't about empowering voters, it's about stopping all growth at any cost. Speaking of costs, have you stopped to think about who is going to pay to defend against these nuisance lawsuits? No surprises here: the taxpayers. The charade in St. Pete Beach is proof positive that Hometown Democracy would cost taxpayers millions in higher property taxes, take power away from local residents, and would - quite simply - make the system worse.
You have claimed that Hometown Democracy is about the voice of the people. However, the message from your followers is perhaps more accurate: "you can have any opinion you want, as long as it's ours." If your motivation is truly to promote the will of the people, then join me in publicly condemning the lawsuit filed by your supporters in St. Pete Beach and by demanding that they immediately withdraw it, before even more tax dollars are wasted. In free and fair elections and playing by your rules, the resident's of that town decided they wanted change. Their decision should be respected.
Sincerely,
Ryan Houck
Executive Director
Floridians for Smarter Growth