(return to media page)South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com, September 14, 2008
Hometown democracy: Just more unneeded bureaucracyBy Frank Ortis
The lawyers behind "Hometown Democracy" have failed three times to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. On August 29, a federal judge dismissed their lawsuit � a last-ditch effort to get on the ballot this year.
Florida Hometown Democracy, Inc. has vowed to try again in 2010.
As President of the Florida State Council of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and a board member with the Florida AFL-CIO, I am deeply concerned about the impact "Hometown Democracy" will have on our economy.
Our state's economy has slowed dramatically and many Floridians are worried about the cost of food, gas and other necessities. Jobs are in danger and working families stand to lose the most.
During this difficult time, Hometown Democracy lawyers are offering us a poison pill.
They are proposing that new job-projects be deferred until an election can be held. The unintended consequence of this good-sounding idea is that communities seeking to build new affordable housing areas, public schools, hospitals, parks or churches will have to wait months, possibly years, before a vote on their project.
Even if a vote takes place, important projects will be buried amidst hundreds of minor or technical plan changes.
Planning will be virtually impossible and the expense of extra elections � costing millions � will fall to cash-strapped local governments already struggling to provide needed services.
But that's only the beginning.
Since becoming Mayor of Pembroke Pines, I have been working hard to make sure that our police, firefighters, nurses, teachers and municipal workers � the folks who serve our city � can afford to live there. Recently, we built over 700 affordable homes for seniors in the heart of Pembroke Pines.
This important project will make a difference for hundreds of seniors and working families in my community. It will improve their quality-of-life and ensure that they can continue to live in Pembroke Pines.
If "Hometown Democracy" had been the law of the land, this would not have been possible.
This affordable housing area required changes to our city's comprehensive land use plan. Under "Hometown Democracy," articulating a vision for this project and ensuring implementation would have been red-tape ridden, if not impossible altogether.
As a result, our city would have lost an important quality-of-life improvement.
We should improve growth management. However, this amendment will only make things harder on working families.
It will cost jobs, ruin affordable housing, slow our economy and ensure that economic downturn becomes the new status quo.
Frank Ortis is mayor of Pembroke Pines.
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