This will be of interest to you.
This lady wants to put developers in the hands of the voters rather than the commissioners.
palmbeachpost.com
Hometown Democracy's Lesley Blackner, the woman who put up $1 million to change the way Florida grows
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Saturday, June 20, 2009
PALM BEACH — Lesley Blackner's historic home on Australian Avenue is just steps from the ocean, but it's her neighbor to the west that provides her the most comfort.
"I'm not afraid of opponents breaking my neck with a police station next door," said Blackner, half joking.
Last week, Blackner went from pesky crusader to the woman who could alter the way Florida regulates growth.
Blackner, 48, co-author of the Hometown Democracy proposal, has spent four years and nearly $1 million of her own money collecting enough signatures to get a proposal on next year's statewide ballot that would leave it up to voters, and not city and county commissioners, to approve changes to long-term growth plans.
Critics of the proposal have tried to keep it off the ballot.
In their latest setback, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to allow thousands of people to revoke their signatures from Hometown Democracy's petition.
Blackner has more than the 676,811 signatures required to get on the ballot. She expects the state to certify them this week, and then it's up to the voters.
"I'm not saying people are the smartest or the best, but I certainly trust them more than I do these commissioners," she said. "I trust the people. I have no other choice. I live in a democracy."
The fact that three Palm Beach County commissioners in the past three years have been convicted of corruption bodes well for Blackner's public plea.
"I don't think that Palm Beach County is an aberration," Blackner said. "The history of Florida is a history of developers buying off local government and state government."
Blackner's opponents - and there are plenty of them - say it would create chaos and drastically slow the economy if voters suddenly had to dissect complicated land measures.
These opponents are painting Blackner as a tool of the extreme left.
"Hometown Democracy would fundamentally destroy business in Florida," said Barney Bishop, CEO of Associated Industries of Florida. "These people are no-growthers. There's no question their premise is correct. We've had a lot of growth in Florida that's created a lot of problems, but you don't kill an ant with a sledgehammer.
"The only people this will benefit are the small, radical, left-wing environmentalists that are against all growth, everywhere, all the time."
Blackner balks at the notion that she's some sort of fringe wacko.
"I've been a member of the Florida Bar for 20 years. I'm a taxpayer, a mother, a registered voter," she said. "I'm someone who cares about the future of the state.
"Every city and county commission in Florida should be forced to go live in Broward County for a month. It's a nightmare. It's totally paved over. It's completely crowded. There's no green space left. There's really nothing advantageous about it.
"People with money are fleeing, and people who can get out are getting out," she said.
"I think parts of Palm Beach look like Broward now. If people don't think so, they are in denial."
Blackner grew up in Jacksonville and graduated with a law degree from the University of Florida. Today she works out of the Palm Beach home she shares with her husband, Richard Stone, a law professor at Florida State University. They have two sons, Clayton, 12, and Bennett, 5.
A decade ago, Blackner was working pro bono cases that took her to commission meetings. She was stunned at how easily the commissioners approved land-use changes.
She said citizens against some of the development proposals were barely heard, and many commissioners would read newspapers or play with their cellphones while they spoke.
"I got really tired of watching them ignore citizens," Blackner said. "And I got tired of watching them run on a platform of protecting the quality of life of citizenry and then turning around and rubber-stamping stupid development proposals."
Her opponents say that involving voters would slow development at a time when the state needs an economic boost.
Unnecessary development is what caused the problem in the first place, Blackner said.
"We just went through this binge growth where basically developers got everything they wanted, and what did they do? They ruined the economy and destroyed the fiscal health of local government," she said. "They've ruined the state, not only environmentally, but I'd argue economically and fiscally as well."
Ryan Houck, executive director of Floridians for Smarter Growth, points to the Gulf Coast resort town of St. Pete Beach as an example of why Hometown Democracy won't work.
While various Florida municipalities give voters the ability to veto certain developments, St. Pete Beach (population: 10,000) was the first town to adopt Hometown Democracy.
"In 2006, they put their faith in Ms. Blackner's rhetoric and adopted Hometown Democracy, only to quickly realize that idea is not designed for the people, but it's designed to freeze growth," Houck said.
Peter Roos, publisher of Paradise News in St. Pete Beach, wrote in an editorial that "Hometown Democracy has quickly proven to be unworkable, expensive and dangerous," and called it a "Trojan Horse ploy to end all growth in St. Pete Beach."
Blackner said the problem in St. Pete Beach has been the wording in ballots. Many of the land issues are complicated, yet by state law, they must be condensed to 75 words for voters.
Various groups have sued the town over ballot wording. Some ballot measures have passed, but the lawsuits have put much of the new development on hold.
Blackner said she did not know the specifics of the St. Pete Beach dilemma but believes it's an isolated incident that does not have any bearing on the proposal's statewide implications.
"All they can do is call me names," Blackner said. "It's hard to fight against democracy and against people having the right to vote."
Ross Burnaman, a Tallahassee lawyer and the co-founder of Hometown Democracy, first met Blackner about six years ago at a wildlife conference in Miami-Dade County. He was impressed with her advocacy for sea turtles.
"She grew up in Florida just like I did, and she's seen the carnage," Burnaman said.
Whether the amendment passes or fails, Blackner has no political aspirations.
"I don't think the system is capable of reform from within," she said. "Change has to come from the outside, from someone who understands the system and can take it on. But I have no interest in power. I want to give the power back to the people." |
