Developers win big in Tallahassee, and which Hillsborough lawmaker voted to support them?
May 5, 2009 at 6:03 am by Kelly CorneliusBy Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist
Well, for one the now State Sen. Victor Crist, who has an eye on Ken Hagan’s county commission seat in a game of musical sprawlers and just voted to throw Hillsborough under the bus by gutting what meager growth management laws we do have. Yep, he voted YES on the deplorable bill SB 360 denounced by environmentalists, smart growth advocates and anyone with two brain cells that touch (who aren’t in the pockets of developers).
[EDITOR'S UPDATE: Legislative records show that Crist changed to a "No" vote on the bill. In an interview with PoHo, Crist said he was off the floor in a budget conference meeting during the vote in question and another Senator "voted his button," a fairly common practice in the Legislature. Crist said he noticed the yes vote and changed it by the end of the day. More from Crist in the comments section. The Senate floor vote record is here.]
Remember that in 2010 when we have the “special election“ experts think is going to occur for Hagan’s seat. I didn’t know anything about Crist one way or the other before this, but voting yes on SB 360 tells me all I need to know. Looks like some of his constituents aren’t all that happy with him either regarding past issues. You can contact Crist here and tell him what you think.
In sort of related news, Hillsborough County Commissioners recently voted to approve a land purchase using an outdated 2006 appraisal (done back before the market tanked.) Looks like they paid possibly $1.2 million too much for a property by not getting a current appraisal according to some reports. They are not going to build the library they wanted the property for until the economy improves so in the meantime according to this article they will be paying an agency that Crist runs to manage the apartments. This one looks kinda bad, kids. Where was the “New Blair” Al Higginbotham with all of his budget concerns on this one? I haven’t looked it up but I wonder if this one sneaked through on the Consent Agenda?
Who else from the Tampa Bay area voted Yes to out of control growth giving developers a free ride? In the House of Representatives we had Rich Glorioso, Kevin Ambler (both are running again in 2010 so remember that unless you are a fan of poor growth), Faye Culp (in the second to last vote and did not vote on the last one), Rachel “I still live with my parents” Burgin and Bill Galvano. In the Senate, we had Sens. Mike Fasano and Crist voting YES. To put this bill in perspective, even Ronda Storms voted no.
Unless the Suntanned One scraps this legislation, we are screwed. You can contact him here. You can also ask the County Commissioners to tell the People’s Guv this bill will harm Hillsborough (if they don’t want more poor growth patterns tagged to them it should be in their best interest to stop this bill.) I have been assured by Commissioner Mark Sharpe that he will be contacting the governer himself regarding this bill. Thank You Commissioner Sharpe!
Also disturbing is this last minute email that was sent around by 1000 Friends of Florida supporting 360. With Friends like these…
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PLEASE CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS —
In my opinion anybody supporting SB 360 is NO friend of Florida! Maybe 1000 Friends of Developers?
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