Florida to "help" environment by building a toll road up the rural center of the state.

[madfloridian]

At least that is what one of the lawyers involved says. He claims it will be a way to manage the growth that is coming. This may be one of the new "privately publicly" funded roadways. There are several going on.

Note the deals the landowners are making for the right to the development. This alarms me on so many levels. The claims that it will help the environment, control growth...this is the type of "opposites" thinking engaged in by the Republicans. You know like up is down, and in is out, that stuff.

Lawyer: Proposed Parkway Could Help Save Environment

LAKELAND - The proposed Heartland Parkway, a toll road straight up the center of Florida from Fort Myers to Interstate 4, if done right, could result in greater protection of the environment than if the land was left to develop on its own, a lawyer for 10 large landowners pushing for the 140-mile highway said Thursday. In a meeting with The Ledger editorial board, former state Sen. Rick Dantzler, lawyer for the group, and Adam Goodman, representing the owners' nonprofit organization to push for the road, Heart Inc., defended the plan against opponents' charges that the toll road was simply a plan to allow development in the center of the state, one of the last largely rural areas.

"If I could be king for a day, I'd stop much of the growth, but you can't,'' said Dantzler, who chaired the Natural Resources Committee while in the Florida Senate in the 1990s.



"Growth is coming; it is here,'' Dantzler said. "In the next 25 years another 6 million people will be living south of Intestate 4; 1.5 million will be in the heartland … The best approach is a (road) plan that can protect against rural sprawl, which would fragment environmental areas and disrupt wildlife corridors.''

Dantzler is lying. If they had not turned my state over to developers, of course they could stop it. When you vote in real estate dealers and developers at all levels of city and county and state....then uncontrolled growth is what you get.

There were hints by both that the big landowners along the route might be willing to a trade right-of-way for the toll road in exchange for concentrated development rights on portions of their properties - lowering the cost of the road even further. The land among the owners in the group totals about 1 million acres. Dantzler said the vast majority would be kept undeveloped or in light use.

If we do nothing, we are going to see sprawl anyway,'' Dantzler said. "If we take the proper planning and create this agreement, it will protect a major portion of the land (from development) and allow connected wildlife corridors, while still aiding (counties south of Polk) which are areas of critical economic concern,'' he said.

Ah, Rick Dantler, you are so right. Using the inevitability theme is dishonest, but it will get you what you want.

I feel sick over this.

[madfloridian]

1. Tampa "public-private" toll road may be built by foreign companies.

http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2007/Feb07/022607/022707-03.htm

"Foreign company may build Florida toll road

A foreign company has been named as the number one contender in a bid to build a toll road near Tampa, FL. The Plenary Group – a consortium of companies from Australia, Canada and New Zealand – has been named as the possible builder of a three-mile toll road that would connect Interstate 275 to “New Tampa,” which is an area in northern Tampa that some people believe should be incorporated into a separate city.

Marty Stone, planning director for the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, told Land Line Magazine the $150 million project is the first public-private partnership of its kind in Florida. Stone said it was a “true” public-private partnership, meaning built from scratch with private dollars. The city of Tampa has acquired the right of way.

The St. Petersburg Times reported that drivers could pay as much as $2.75 each way for a three-mile trip on the road.

Stone stressed that the deal is still a long way from being complete. He also added that the road, while open to trucks, would not be a major truck route and has very few truck origins and destinations.

According to Tampabay.com, the concession could last 40-60 years."

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. Many of our roads are being sold to foreign concerns and Americans haven't a clue!!!

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/16/Worldandnation/US_roads__with_foreig.shtml

[WinkyDink]

21. AGREED> My 2 local papers (Express-Times, Morning-Call) have run HUGE stories

on toll roads (because of Gov. Rendell's DESIRE for them. I KNOW!!!)---but with NO, ZERO, NICHT mention of FOREIGN OWNERSHIP.

It's been nothing but "private companies", as if somehow AMERICAN workers will benefit.

So I e-mailed both papers the "Mother Jones" article, "The Highwaymen".
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/highwaymen.html

P.S. On another website, someone posted that they came home from Canada, and received a bill in the mail for driving on a toll-road. Apparently, license-plates are recorded for that purpose.

IOW, jobs may well be LOST (toll-booth workers, e.g.).

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

22. This is just another example how our country is being sold out beneath us and a complicit media is

keeping Americans in the dark.

[JCMach1]

2. Bloody hell someone needs to stop the Florida growth machine

The environment is going going gone... Quality plummeted during the course of my entire life... What is already there is NOT sustainable.

It has to stop...! Maybe 100% impact fees would give people a clue.

They can take their libertarian roads that continue to destroy my state and shove it up their ...!!!

[madfloridian]

5. Crist may put his foot down. Fingers crossed he can stop Jeb's buddies.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x433664

[live love laugh]

3. Will that growth be from people fleeing southern FL floodings due to global warming? nt

[madfloridian]

4. You may be more right than you realize.

OMG I got tears viewing Gore's movie about South Florida. Scary.

[madfloridian]

6. Big toll road means big money for Katherine Harris's cousin, J. D. Alexander.

He is pushing this road very hard. There is another map here in this article showing the land owned by his company.

Big Toll Road Means Big Money For Senator

"Blue Head Ranch is flat, parched grassland split in two by a stretch of blacktop called U.S. 70. But this dusty outpost could become one of Central Florida's hottest real estate commodities if a mammoth toll road wins approval by the state. Nearly all of Blue Head Ranch lies within a large swath where a $7 billion expressway could go. The 62,000-acre ranch belongs to a company headed by J.D. Alexander, a powerful state senator from Lake Wales with Florida royalty in his blood.

Alexander has been instrumental in pushing for the road by helping to form a lobbying group stocked with some of the most storied real estate dynasties in Florida. They, too, own thousands of acres along the toll road route.

The road campaign comes at a time when Alexander's businesses, and those of some of his relatives, are shifting from farming and ranching to land development. Their plans could be aided by a fast expressway through half a dozen rural Florida counties. Dubbed the Heartland Parkway, the proposed 152-mile road would run from southwest Florida and could connect to Interstate 4 or the Polk Parkway.

It would redraw the map of an undeveloped region now dominated by ranches and swamps and it would beckon development. History suggests the price of the land along it would skyrocket.

At least Charlie Crist is sounding like he is against this.

More about what Crist's appointee says.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1204

[gravity]

8. If the road cuts down on total miles driven

It could be a good thing. The alternative routes through the area could be a lot longer and waste more gas to go through. I'm not an expert on this, so I don't know if the benefits outweigh the cost.

[madfloridian]

10. You have to know that developers control Florida.

You have to know the greed. You have to know that this will sound a death knell for many old family farms and rural land. Trees will have to go, shrubs. Profit for a few, loss for many.

You have to weigh the environment against the profits for the Ben Hill Griffin clan and other developers.

When you know all that you can see if if a faster drive time is worth the cost.

[gravity]

11. If there is going to be development

Trees and shrubs have to go no matter what, the only difference is that if you have a plan or not. Sporadic development might cause more harm to the environment compared to concentrating the development to one area.

Thats why they are costs and benefits to this plan, like anything else. Instead of viewing them by themselves, you have to compare them to the costs of benefits of doing nothing realistically. Development is going to happen whether you like it or not.

As I said before, I am not an expert on this so I don't know for sure, but it is potentially a good thing for both developers and the public.

[madfloridian]

13. If J. D. and Dantzler say there will be development....there will be.

God hath spoken....there will be light.

Using those talking points of inevitability forces it on the state.

The big boys have spoken, let there be roads.

[FogerRox]

9. How do you spell "Massive boondoogle of an enviromental disaster"

[w4rma]

12. I oppose toll roads. Especially privately owned toll roads.

They make transportation within the United States more expensive for the average American and help segregate people from one another. Toll roads are a flat tax that affect commuting workers the hardest.

[madfloridian]

14. The woman developers fear and hate....good for her.

She's the woman making a liar of every developer who ever repeated the mantra, "Growth is coming -- there's nothing you can do about it."

There is a petition to sign here. And other activities.

The woman -- and trend -- developers fear

Blackner runs the organization collecting signatures for a ballot question on a constitutional amendment that would require a change in every local government's blueprint for growth: It would force elected officials to ask you, the voter, each time a developer wants to change land use to build a big subdivision.

Imagine being able to take control of the destiny of your community. What a delightful switch -- no longer would residents be condemned to life at the mercy of sprawl junkies. Imagine what would happen to developers. Instead of treating residents with contempt or throwing condescending "town meetings," developers would be forced into building decent communities that voters would like to live next door to.

Oh, no! The party is up! Au revoir to the easy money!

Rather than spending a limited amount of cash on getting three elected officials -- or a majority -- to vote for the change, they would have to convince the whole county that their development is worthy.

No wonder they're coming apart.

Here's her website:

http://floridahometowndemocracy.com/

There's the petition for registered Florida voters at the link. Share it around to Floridians who are tired of developers controlling everything.

[Morgana LaFey]

16. Now THAT is fabulous

Good for her indeed! That really cheers me up.

[Morgana LaFey]

15. Don't worry, dear

More 'n' likely Global Warming will put an end to all that growth, and the need for this road.

:sarcasm:

Okay, sorry. I couldn't resist.

I don't know what to say. I'm so sick of these people. I'm sick of ALL privatization, and horrified as I contemplate how firmly entrenched it is. It's wrong to let private parties build and own roads. It's wrong to build a road up the middle of FL (altho maybe that will help when the hurricanes come?).

I'm with ya, just can't offer any words of encouragement.

[madfloridian]

17. If we build it they will come....say the developers.

One would think they control Florida...oops, they do control Florida.

They have worked to get county commissioners elected who turn a blind eye to any shenanigans by developers. They spout nonsense, and yes that is right about faux hearings...pretend hearings.

[CGowen]

20. sounds like a bad Kevin Costner movie......nt

[Cha]

18. You can bet if republicons

want to build a toll road in your area it's not going to be good for the environment or other living things.

[madfloridian]

19. Exactly.

The Harris cousins and Rick Dantzler are making big money.