Power to the People
by Kathy McKinney
Ask Joyce Tarnow what she wants for Christmas this year, and her answer will be “being on the November 2008 ballot.” Ms. Tarnow is a Dixie County resident who is a passionate proponent of the Florida Hometown Democracy movement. She’s so passionate that she was once arrested in a South Florida Publix parking lot for getting signatures on petitions. Luckily, she’s had no problems with local stores like Foodland and Hitchcocks, who have been more congenial.
The Hometown Democracy Movement is a grass-roots attempt to get an amendment to the Florida Constitution that would require that any change to a county’s comprehensive plan be approved by the voters before it is enacted. The idea is to limit the ability of local governments to subvert the intent of comprehensive plans–which were introduced in order to limit willy-nilly land development–by changing the comprehensive plan at will, often with the idea of increasing the tax base. The Hometown Democracy Movement says it’s fighting back against the fact that developers seem to get a much louder voice in public meetings than the actual voting public does.
Out of the 820,000 signatures statewide that have been collected, over 500 were from Dixie County. Unfortunately, according to Ms. Tarnow, “The legislature has assisted the building industry in thwarting our efforts by passing legislation to deny our right to petition and to have our petitions fairly certified.”
The Hometown Democracy Movement filed a federal court action in the Southern District of Florida seeking the proper certification of ballot status for the FHD constitutional amendment. The suit seeks placement on the ballot as early as the November 2008 election through a
companion Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed with the action. Ms. Tarnow is a plaintiff in that suit.
Supporters of the FHD Petition, including national ballot-access
expert Gary Sinawski, are optimistic that the federal court will object to what the State and its allies in the development industry have been doing to the citizens’ right to petition their government through the initiative process, and will redress the balance in favor of the citizens being able to access the ballot with FHD sooner rather than later.
According to Florida Hometown
Petition co-author, Palm Beach attorney Lesley Blackner, elected
officials have been too easily swayed by developers, and polls have consistently shown that when the FHD measure gets on the ballot, it will be approved by the required 60% of voters.
The measure is not without critics, however: Leonard Gilroy of the James Madison Institute dismisses the ability of the voter to understand complex zoning issues, “Most voters can’t possibly do the research necessary to cast an informed ballot on every single development proposal in their community.”
Ms. Tarnow places her faith in the wisdom of the common citizen, rather than “paid experts,” and says that the movement is simply “seeking justice for the democratic process.”