All-Out War at Home
War has been declared and the battleground determined. Two of state's most powerful, influential and aggressive generals have mustered their huge volunteer armies of dollars and lies. They have come uninvited into our neighborhoods and homes to enslave us to their religion of greed and force us to plant our fields with the seeds of growth to feed their armies. The generals lead armies that rape our rivers and plunder our valuables, including that most precious right to government of, by and for the people. And they are ready to punish those who resist their warring occupation. Read this morning's Times-Union article by Deirdre Conner about the proposed Florida Hometown Democracy amendment to the state constitution so you won't be shocked when this war comes knocking on your own front door. It's going to be an all-out war, General Thrasher, the Alexander of the Save Our Constitution army forewarns us. The army's misleading name shouldn't surprise anyone who knows the general is one who believes truth is "just a choice of words." Backed by the large treasuries of Florida's Realtors and Transportation Builders political action committees, Thrasher sounds as if his lust to conquer has targeted everyone who wants to have a vote in how Florida will continue to grow. His ally, General Caputo, is the Caesar who leads the Chamber of Commerce's Floridians for Smarter Growth Army, who tells us that we are not intelligent enough to be worthy of having a voice in how Florida is developed. His army is trained and primed to wage its battles neighborhood to neighborhood and door to door. One by one, standing alone, we cannot fight those two massive armies, which turn our apathy into their biggest weapon against us. But together - together - we can rise up, defend our homes and neighbors, our schools and roads, and our right to proclaim that we do not want them to continue destroying Florida to satisfy their greed. There are many, many Clay County citizens who are eligible yet, for one reason or another, do not participate in local elections. Now the war comes to their own doors. They may feel alone and overpowered by the invading armies. Those of us already in the fight must continue to let them know that there are many, many of us ready to fight by their sides when the battle for Hometown Democracy hits the ballot box. And we need to remind them and as many others as possible why this war is so important and encourage them to stand their post on the line. Our future - neighborhood to neighborhood and door to door - is being attacked by those willing to fight an all-out war. Related: OneMann's blog | login or register to post comments | printer friendly version | Tags: Clay County | government | hometown democracy
Submitted by Sunflower on Sun, 11/04/2007 - 12:08pm.
Yesterday I sent the HTD link and the petition to every Floridian on my email address list with my opinion on why we should sign the petition. I also told them of the Thrasher letters and the organizations he represents. Included in my note was the diversion of the St. Johns River for developers in Central FL, and Clay County having the dishonor of being #1 in the State for commute time!! This is all due to uncontrolled growth and greed, not just in Clay Co. but the entire state. How many 'business' condos are sitting empty? Just look at those building on College Drive that sit on what used to be tree filled lots...and there are many more on Blanding and Fleming Island. The residential condos on the corner of CR 220 and Canova - Hawk's Landing. How angry was I when I saw that they dared name it after the wildlife habitat that they destroyed? You don't want to know!! And...the condos across the street from there on the golf course...I'm thinking that developer had to get some kind of permission from the county to allow them to build so close to the highway. And wouldn't you want to pay $200,000 for one of those so you could sit on your balcony and watch the traffic on CR 220? They clear cut that land, destroyed nests of the brown hawks and the other wildlife dependent on that forest. I would like to know how much of this development was in the orignal plan, and how many changes there have been. I believe I saw a chart showing in Clay County there have been over 160 amendments approved. Mike and Marsha - great blogs. Mike, you are spot on with your reference to Armies and Generals. I used to compare this county to the rural county we left in central NY, in early 1996, but this has become much, much worse. These politicians outmatch those we left behind in greed, corruption and their 'just don't give a damn about the citizens' attitudes. Yes, we must stick together and we MUST get people to register to vote! This is a great time to do that as the January election isn't far away, and the petition must be signed by Feb. 1st. Six Degrees of Separation comes to mind when thinking about petition signatures and getting out the vote. "SixDegrees.org is about using the idea that we are all connected to accomplish something good," Kevin Bacon. Submitted by alabayea on Mon, 11/05/2007 - 7:58am.
OneMann, thank you for your excellent summary of Hometown Democracy Petition and what's in store for Florida if we do nothing. When we read that article, one can only come to one conclusion - it has to be of vital importance to developers or they would not sink so much money into fighting it and there would be no war. So, General Thrasher, battle lines have been drawn and Hometown Democracy troops are ready for battle!
Submitted by finder on Mon, 11/05/2007 - 8:16am.
In other words he and his minions think we are a bunch of idiots and don't know that electors means us, the voting public. I hate it when people treat me like that. I didn'tike him before, I really don't like him now. Finder Submitted by read44 on Mon, 11/05/2007 - 8:25am.
Thanks OneMann, I found the article. It was a good one, full of good information. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/110407/met_214781551.shtml My spouse and I mailed our signatures in the affirmative just this weekend. There was no paid petitioner who prompted our decision. We read the information available and made up our own minds. As far as the costs go for these elections, I would have paid at the door for admission to the polling location to vote against some of the projects that have already been completed. I am tired of being appalled after-the-fact and wondering how could “they” have done this? Submitted by JonBoy on Mon, 11/05/2007 - 10:37am.
Greetings from Walton’s Mountain When Grandma said “goodnight JonBoy”and we said goodnight to each other little did we know, that while we slept and ,went about our daily lives our individual rights were being sold to the highest bidder by the very individuals we entrusted to govern our affairs. I feel like I’ve been had again !!! Hopefully the MCS bloggers will be able to wake up Clay County voters and turn away the neophyte ambitious politicians and the machine made available to them by local “statesmen” in favor of citizen legislators, and hopefully the papers and media in Duval and St Johns will recognize and expose these consultants and lobbyist for the self serving snakes they are. If we fail, the future is too bleak to contemplate JonBoy
Submitted by ex-oficio on Mon, 11/05/2007 - 1:06pm.
And some of us will miss the aftermath. Our kids and grandkids will live in a world we could never have imagined. Being old has it's blessings.
Submitted by RonRaymond on Mon, 11/05/2007 - 5:06pm.
Yes some us will miss most of the aftermath but we have an absolute responsibility to go down swinging, It was the neglect of my generation that encouraged the corruption of the system and allowed our government to be hijacked by special interest their cronies and toadies Many have said, in one form or the other they were life long Republicans, I have been accused of a similar status, but these folks “ain’t our fathers republicans” Chuck Percy Everitt Dirkson and Barry Goldwater and other like them have to be spinning in their graves as we watch power corrupt………….. At a local level we will approve any plan and spend any amount of public money to allow unbridled growth to continue with no regards for the future of ordinary citizens.
Submitted by OneMann on Mon, 11/05/2007 - 5:55pm.
My hope is that next year's elections will offer Clay County voters an array of candidates who are independent of the local pro-growth political party powers that have selected and financed the candidates and hired the lobbyists that have been responsible for making a few people very wealthy at the expense of nearly everyone else. And then my hope will be that enough new people will realize how important '08 will be, and join the battle to save their wallets, homes and neighborhoods from the deterioration resulting from the rampant greed of party politics. The people of Clay County have the opportunity next year to take back the government that has been promised, but stolen from them. Michael S. Mann
Submitted by Key2life on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 12:22am.
OneMann, I'm thinking through this Hometown Democracy issue and following it through to its logical conclusion when I envision this scenario: Blackner is successful. Yeah, the roar of the crowd is deafening. The People have won. Go us. The first-land use change is placed on the ballot. It's defeated. Yeah, go us! We beat the big-bad mean, developer. See, that's what HDA is all about. No growth. Go us! We rock. Landowner sues. He sues Clay County and EVERY registered voter who elected to vote against his proposed land-use change infringing on his constitutional property rights. Clay County voters will pay more in damages from lawsuits than it will in ad valorem property taxes. MARK MY WORDS. That's the legal system. Anyone can sue everyone. And they will. Key2life=If its a knee-jerk reaction, avoid it. That's Hometown Democracy. Submitted by Angela on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 6:50am.
I would like someone to give us the Court Cases of all the Comp Plan land use changes that have been denied, then challenged, and every won in the courts in the History of State of Florida. Don't spend too much time looking because as far as I know none have every been won against the Commissioners who have had that same responsiblity if they deny a comp plan land use change. The Commissioners have already with the pro-growth attitude in our county approved more than can be built in the next 20 years. Sign that petition and VOTE HTD. We are taking back OUR government. Submitted by ex-oficio on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 9:24am.
I sure agree on that. I hope you guys come up with some non special interest candidates to run this year. We only need about 6 or 7 t get the job done. A little seasoning in the real world would be a great asset too. Ron I couldn't agree more. Our generation sure dropped the ball in the name of giving our kids a better life.
Submitted by critterman on Fri, 03/28/2008 - 7:54pm.
Keeping Wildlife wild while protecting people and property!
Submitted by TruthHurts on Fri, 03/28/2008 - 8:58pm.
Generals, wars, battlegrounds. armies. Enslavement, rapists, plunder's. punishers. Caesar, Alexander, warring occupations. Greed and planting seeds to feed armies. Did Rev. Wright come out of retirement? Seems a bit melodramatic to me. How about, I do not like xyz canditate because of their position concerning abc. I am for candates 123 because of their positions on 567. MCS blogs should be an open forum for an exchange of ideas in a civil manner without name calling, and inuendo. If we disagree that is fine, but we should do so in a mature factual manner. Oh the heck with it all, Who wants pie? TRUTHHURT. People are talking about ...Here are the recent blog postings with the most comments. |
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Here is a revolting reality, NAR (National Association of Realtors) is an organization that everyone in my vocation must belong to in order to access the MLS sytem for Appraisals. You also have to pay additional skyrocketing fees to the local system, double billing if you will. We don't enter information, we don't advertise for work, we just use the information. The fees this year have gone through the roof. They're spending all this money to fight Hometown Democracy so this is where some of my money is going. There are movements afoot to fight this already.
Growth and a good housing market keeps our business running, but I would rather end up having do find a different line of work then support what will keep me supported regardless of consequences.
Anyone considering buying or selling a home may want to think about what those commissions support when they engage a Realtor. I'm not trying to say anything bad about individuals trying to earn a living, they're not responsible for it's creation and I'm in this boat too. All I am pointing out is where the money flows to ultimately.
Hopefully the footwork I do to get petitions signed will balance out what I have contributed to the opposite side in the way of membership dues.
Great blog as usual Mike, we have to keep this in the spotlight here because there are new readers everyday and I run into people EVERYDAY that have never even heard of it.