Letters to the Editors

Growth should be managed at the state level

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000

Editor: League of Women Voters delegates from around the state gathered in Tallahassee recently for a legislative seminar. This annual League event featured presentations by key lawmakers and briefings by experts on various issues of League concern. We also had the opportunity to lobby local legislators on the League's legislative priorities. With the range of both important and controversial issues, local leaguers couldn't have been present at a better time. We had the opportunity to see our legislators at their best and, certainly, one at his worst.

The growth management process and the policies on which it is founded have a major bearing on the quality of life in our state. Decisions about the laws that govern growth management ultimately affect all Floridians. We remain unequivocally opposed to proposals of some to hurriedly rewrite portions of the growth management statutes as part of the 2000 legislative session. We support, along with several other organizations, proposals to create an independent review committee. Balanced in composition and purpose, that committee would undertake an intelligent review with any legislative recommendations being given to the 2001 Legislature for consideration.

The review of growth management must be done through a process that is open, deliberative and inclusive. Undertaking a review of the growth management process to identify opportunities for improvement is timely and appropriate. Such a review should involve all aspects of the process, with attention to implementation of challenges of the past, plus trends and conditions affecting Florida's needs of the future.

Shortcomings in Florida's growth management process are basically the result of failures in the implementation of established policies, local plans not being adhered to, poor enforcement, inadequate funding and ineffective cross-governmental coordination and oversight.

An independent review is needed. Membership should be balanced to reflect the diverse aspects of growth management, and public interest perspective should be well represented. We advocate an open and reasonable approach that allows thoughtful analysis, constructive dialogue and consensus on issues that affect each of us on a daily basis.

Any proposal to revise growth management should include the following principles:

Increase the ability of citizens to help shape the future of their communities; Create stronger, healthier communities; Reduce the amount of sprawl; Protect rural areas, green spaces and natural resources; Recognize that transportation, land use and water management decisions are interrelated and regional in nature; Maintain a state presence in managing growth in Florida. It is naive to think we should return to the days when Florida's 476 municipalities were independently responsible for the future of our state.

Action is needed by the public to call, write or e-mail their legislators to support the state level review of, and recommendations on, the State Comprehensive Plan (called for by the October 1999 Legislature), which should be completed as an initial priority in improving our growth management. Despite a strong policy framework, the pressures of growth have been intense and the impacts costly. These pressures are expected to grow over time.

The League will respond to any questions or information on this subject. Contact us at: 382-5602, or by fax at 382-0268, or by e-mailat nita@hitter.net.
-- Anita L. Taylor, president League of Women Voters, Citrus County

Columnist's thinking, objectivity questioned

Editor: Re: Council needs to keep itself out of the shadows, April 13 opinion column by Jeff Webb:

Get your facts straight. I am not 78 years old, and I have a birth certificate which attests to the fact that I was born in Jackson, Miss., on June 26, 1923. That means I am 76 now. If you're ever going to learn to be a reporter, you've got to get facts and report them accurately and honestly.

I have not lived in Crystal River all of my life, as you reported, but sometimes it seems that way. I was raised in Lakeland, graduated from high school there and from college at Florida Southern College, spent almost four years in North Africa and Europe during World War II, received a master's degree from the University of Florida in 1953 and have been here a long time, but not all my life. I've been shot at, shot down, slept in holes in the ground in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, have been at the base of Mount Vesuvius when it erupted, and I'm not afraid of you and your "barrel of ink," nor much else.

Jeff, you wouldn't recognize the truth if it walked up to you and kicked you in the kneecap. If you had taken the trouble to interview reporter Josh Zimmer, you could have easily discovered that I had already told him exactly what happened and how it happened. That is the same Josh Zimmer you referenced in your comment "But the next day, Tolle, Gudis and Wallace were seen by a Citrus Times reporter eating at a city restaurant." Your comment in your column is "No public business was discussed while the reporter was there and Tolle adamantly denied breaking the Sunshine Law then or at any other time." You bet I did. The simple fact is that none of us had had any supper, since the workshop started at 5 p.m. and we were hungry. Nobody sneaked out there. I think Josh heard us openly say we were going to get a sandwich and came out there, too. Nobody hid or discussed any city business, and the reporter confirmed that. I personally pulled a chair over so he could sit down.

Your comment was, "I want to believe Tolle, but only because he is smart enough to not get caught breaking the law and creative enough to get around the law in other ways." Thanks a lot! Did it ever occur to you that some people do tell the truth, and I am one of those people? If you want to know who causes "divisiveness on the City Council," try asking staff writers Barbara Behrendt or Josh Zimmer. I believe they will confirm it is not I or any of "my buddies," as you derisively describe them. It is primarily your buddies.

Where were you with your Sunshine charges when Richard Brady, Paula Wheeler and Alex Ilnyckyj were rumored to have met secretly and conspired to fire city manager Russ Kreager? The minutes of that meeting on Feb. 8, 1998, certainly lead rational readers to suspect they had private meetings and made plans to accomplish their purpose, which has been so disruptive and expensive to the city. And you had the bad judgment to recommend Brady be re-elected.

Jeff, it might be time for you to find a new line of work. I believe your thinking has become so prejudicial over the years that you can't be objective any more. You may be touchy due to the fact that you have such a poor record of picking winners. Perhaps you should let editor Greg Hamilton write more columns. His columns, at least, are quite humorous sometimes. I really think you owe Joe Chrietzberg, Ray Wallace and Mike Gudis an apology for your uncalled-for remarks. If the issue is "trust," I'll take my chances the people of Crystal River will come closer to trusting me than trusting Paula Wheeler and Alex Ilnyckyj.

This letter is long enough now, so I'm going to terminate it. I can write a book if the issue is honesty in government, and in this city I would start chapter one at a much higher level than the council members.
-- Ed Tolle, Crystal River

It's vital to complete long forms from the census

Editor: In the last two weeks, nearly 112-million households in the nation received their Census 2000 forms. Of the recipients, one out of six, or 17 percent, received the long form. This form contains 53 questions and asks information about the respondent's income, employment, housing and housing costs, disability status, transportation to work, length of residency and educational level.

The information collected on the long form is of vital importance to us as county representatives. First, $180-billion in federal aid is distributed to local governments using this data. Second, all counties need the census data figures to plan low- and moderate-income housing, day care, school construction, job training, additional public safety andeconomic development, as well as redistricting at the county level.

Please recognize the importance of the census information and take the extra few minutes to complete the forms.
-- Brad Thorpe, chairman Board of County Commissioners Citrus County

Civitan thankful for public, business support of fundraiser

Editor: East Citrus Civitan would like to thank all Citrus County residents and businesses for their recent support of our yard sale. With all the revenue being used in support of the Special Olympics of Citrus County, you allowed us to surpass our most optimistic projections.

Civitan is a civic organization with special emphasis on the mentally or physically challenged.

For additional information, contact Frank Lewis at 726-5601 or Bob Iverson at 726-4626.
-- Bob Iverson, president East Citrus Civitan

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