Ave Maria, Florida, spawned six similar governments in state. Controlled top down.

[madfloridian]

This gets into the area of affecting the whole state when a movement like this begins to grow. In this case the town's government has acted as a rubber stamp for the developer. There appears to be no clause stating when the people will gain control from the founder, Thomas Monaghan of Domino's fame, and the developer..Barron Collier Cos.


Aerial view of Ave Maria, Florida

Town without a vote now and forever

The law gives Monaghan and Barron Collier Cos. more power than any Florida developer in at least 24 years, power perhaps not seen since the days of the early 20th century land boom. The law makes landowners, not registered voters, the ultimate authority in Ave Maria. The law ensures Monaghan and Barron Collier Cos., as the largest landowners, can control Ave Maria’s government forever.

....No one has tested this new form of government despite its substantial impact on the town’s residents and on large-scale development statewide. Ave Maria’s government, the focus of this series, has spawned six similar governments across the state. Their combined area is more than 100,000 acres, larger than the city of Philadelphia. These governments might not protect the public’s constitutional right to choose its leaders and determine how its money is spent.

“It’s control and money,” said Jim Nicholas, a University of Florida law professor emeritus and expert in governments like Ave Maria’s. “Who has the control, controls the money. And we’re talking about staggering amounts here.”

Under Jeb Bush as governor in 2003 Monaghan got what he wanted.

But Ave Maria’s government differs from those created for just “any developer.” Florida law forced developers in the 24 years before Ave Maria to relinquish control over similar governments after a maximum of 10 years. Unlike those other developers, Ave Maria Development officials acknowledge, when they give up control over the town’s government is in their hands alone.

..."Beginning in late 2003, the Collier County Commission, the state Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush all approved the law creating Ave Maria’s government. Like many other decisions related to the project, policymakers focused more on Ave Maria’s projected benefits, such as the $36.6 million in annual revenue and 16,000 jobs the town would bring to an economically depressed area of the county, than anything else. In no public hearing was there a detailed account of resident control over Ave Maria’s government.

I have often said it would take years to find out just how much harm Jeb did to this state.

There are some very interesting comments posted at the end of the Naples News article above. People are rightly concerned.

More about the town from 2007...


Downtown Ave Maria

Ave Maria, Florida...10 story chapel, university, city.

Ave Maria, Florida is a lot of things. To its developer, it will be a “compact, walkable, self-sustaining” city of 30,000 people.

To Ave Maria University, it is home to their new campus, the first major Catholic university constructed in the U.S. in 40 years.

To its founder Tom Monaghan, it will be a conservative Catholic city on a hill, where there’ll be no porn on the cable system, no condoms in the stores, and no contraceptives in the pharmacy.

To bitter faculty of Ave Maria Law School, it is the “edge of Corkscrew swamp” where Monghan and his supporters will forcibly relocate them from Ann Arbor.

I remember when Rick Santorum was speaking to the students at the University last year.

Rick Santorum tells Ave Maria University students they are "warriors for God"

As the guest speaker at Ave Maria University's fall convocation August 29, Sen. Rick Santorum described the sources of what he called a "spiritual war" currently engulfing America. He told faculty and students at the Catholic college in Naples, Fla. that corruption is all around us, from our academics and culture, to politics and government. Even our nation's religious heritage and material prosperity have been corrupted to undermine the values on which America was founded, and "exterior attacks from radical Islam" complete the assault. Observing the current political climate he said, "This is not a political war, it is not a cultural war; it's a spiritual war."

...Explaining what he calls a "spiritual war," Sen. Santorum said, "The Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on - a good, decent, powerful, influential country: the United States of America."

Among the institutions under spiritual attack, Sen. Santorum identified academia as the "first to fall." Our university students are being taught to "pursue no truths, or to deny the existence of truth," he said. Mr. Santorum said American has abandoned the Judeo-Christian ethic it was founded on. Consequently in his view a culture in which "poor behavior is made fashionable," has been Satan's subsequent success.

"Things are so bad and you are here," he said triumphantly. "God has chosen you to be here in a time when he needs soldiers the most; congratulations! ....The greatest thing is, signing up for His army is easy," he said, "but, the money's lousy, you'll be unpopular, you'll be ridiculed and you'll lose most if not every one of your battles."

I think those words were chilling. He declared a cultural war on our country, a spiritual war. Chilling words.

I am trying to find our more about the "six similar governments" that were spawned across Florida. No luck yet, not sure of which search terms to use. I think one might be a new town called Destiny, supposedly "green" city being built near Yeehaw Junction near Ft Pierce, Florida.

I have heard there are some people who did not fully understand when they bought their homes there in Ave Maria that they had no say in governing...it was all done top down.

Guess it pays to read homeowners' agreements.

[MADem]

1. It's not like they're doing this in secret, though.

If I'm going to live in a community, I'm going to do a little research, first. I'm going to read the documents presented to me before I put my John Hancock on the dotted line.

This is a place where Roman Catholics of "like mind" are expected to congregate and reside--to me, it sounds like Stepford--not attractive at all. If they're so fucking stupid that they don't bother to read the rules before they sign on the bottom line, they get no sympathy from me. If they actively want to give away their vote to some land boss, well, more power to them.

There's no law against brutish stupidity in the US.

[ArbustoBuster]

36. I do wonder where one would go to look for this kind of info, though.

If you're concerned that your new town is near a volcano and you need to fear Bobby Jindal's proposed budget cuts, you can check with the US Geological Survey.

If you want to know the town's crime statistics, you can check the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports.

If you're concerned about tornadoes or hurricanes you can check with the US Weather Service.

I don't think there's a US Villainous Local Government Survey. It looks like we need one, though.

[MADem]

43. I won't live in a community with a Home Owner's Association or some other

"groupfuck" agency that tells people how they can paint their house or what flowers they can put in the flowerbed by the mailbox, or what size their pets can be, or when they're "allowed" to water their lawns, and so on.

That's the place to check--the HOA documents you sign when you buy your house. These are available to you before you sign on the dotted line, too. If it says "You give up your voting rights to the developer on any community issues" I say it's probably a good idea to look in a different neighborhood.

[ArbustoBuster]

56. The article makes it seem like this is a local/state law and not anything in a contract you sign.

So that doesn't quite match the circumstances.

[MADem]

65. If I have it right, the entire "town" is owned by the developer, in essence.

The developer is like a Home Owner's Association on steroids.

[billyoc]

2. On behalf of Satan, I accept your declaration of war, Santorum.

[madfloridian]

3. 27, 400 acres of rural land for Destiny. Link.

I think this might be one of the six, but I sure would like to know the others. These are massive land buys in rural areas.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/04/Business/Yeehaw_s_Destiny_awai.shtml

"Last year Pugliese, a developer here, joined with the founder of the Subway fast-food chain to make a successful $137-million bid for 27,400 acres of pasture land in southern Osceola County's Yeehaw Junction.

With Subway's billionaire owner Fred DeLuca as his silent partner, Pugliese has renamed the property "Destiny" at his wife Laura's suggestion. He also started sketching plans for a 21st century city that befits the name.

..."But Pugliese doesn't intend to let the land lay fallow. Over the next few decades, he wants to create a self-contained city for all ages and incomes, where 100,000 residents can live, work, study and shop without leaving the city limits. Think Celebration with an industrial component or "Pleasantville" in living color.

"I want a place where kids can ride their bikes down the sidewalks and people can sit out on their front porch,'' said Pugliese, who describes Destiny as "a combination of New Urbanism and New Ruralism ... It's really pre-1940s living, that's what it is."

Wonder if they consider Celebration at Disney World one of the six. But it existed before Ave Maria, so that doesn't make sense.

[Mist]

6. Yes, that sounds like one of the six. Sounds better than Ave Maria, anyway, though these

multi-millionaires buying gazillions of acres to create their own worlds is beyond bizarre.

[madfloridian]

7. Yes, they are creating "their own worlds." Good point.

It is very odd, and not a good situation when the state makes laws to accommodate their desires.

[DCKit]

12. "... It's really pre-1940s living, that's what it is.""

Please. Does anyone think they're that patient? Why build a modern city when they have the means to take us directly back to the dark ages (or earlier) in a single step?

I so want to buy some black candles, animal parts, Halloween supplies and other horror movie props and open a shop in their town square.

[madfloridian]

13. LOL

It is very weird.

[formercia]

18. More like pre 1340's living

The Peasant Revolt changed that.

[Mist]

4. Thanks for posting this madflorian. I read about Ave Maria a few months ago, but

didn't know it was such a top-down situation. Creepy.

How would the faculty be "forcibly relocated"?

[madfloridian]

5. I guess the faculty couldn't be forced....but would lose jobs.

It is a strange situation. The residents buying there should have known what they were getting into, I guess.

[Mist]

8. People can't hear it enough--read before you sign! or better yet, get a lawyer or

paralegal to read it--they'll catch the funny stuff.

I'm not going to blame the Ave Maria residents completely for their surprise--I'm sure the PR "accentuated the positive," and questions about when the corporation would give way to an elected gov't were probably answered with maximum cunning and minimum actual info.

[movonne]

9. This is kind of like Jim Jones....In a few years they will be given

kool aid so they can join God..

[Blue_Tires]

19. if only!

[mitchum]

47. But the kool aid will magically become...the blood of Jaysus

[DBoon]

10. Maybe a developer will create the "Olde South" community

where residents agree to be slaves to their owners?

[DCKit]

11. I've seen the pics before, but never noticed so damn much asphalt.

Nothing sustainable about that place. And here I thought the Catholics hated abortions.

Plant some trees already, Dumbass. Oh, and you might want to check out a new invention, the "Parking Garage" - it stores more cars on less land and doesn't generate it's own weather (tornadoes) like 3,000 acres of blacktop can. You can even plant the top with another new invention, the "Green Roof" and you can hardly tell it's a parking structure.

You make Jesus cry and his daddy is going to mess your ass up.

[geomon666]

26. Asphalt creates tornados? I had no idea. n/t

[immoderate]

14. Thanks for the heads up on this, mad.

I'm sending it out to FLASH (Florida Atheists and Secular Humanists.)

--imm

[tanyev]

15. A town run by right wingers according to conservative and religious principles?

It's only a matter of time until it implodes due to greed and corruption.

[JDPriestly]

59. You are right. Utopias exist only in fairy tales.

If it were that easy, someone would already have invented paradise on earth.
After all, we have been trying for thousands of years.

Ave Maria will be very nice at first, and then a couple of smart alec kids will bring in drugs, and a couple of teenaged girls will get pregnant. And, even though the first incidents will be hushed up and taken care of, sooner or later people will tire of the boredom and tedium of all those neatly trimmed hedges and kids on bicycles and friendly smiles and goody-goody stuff. If not for profit, then just to break the monotony of all the niceness, someone, behind some well-washed window will sin -- and pretty soon a lot of people will be sinning a lot.

Moderation in all things. Reason balanced with passion. That's the wise course, and it is not the plan for Ave Maria. What fools.

[timtom]

16. I happened to design the sanitary sewer and storm drainage

structures (based on the plans and specifications) for a precast company. Those photos are the first real world glimpse of that development.

Any and all comments are welcome, be they denigrating or supportive.

Cheers,

The Mighty TimTom

[madfloridian]

23. My gripe is only with the growth of these "private" municipalities..

like Ave Maria in which decisions are made by the owner/builder and the developers hand in hand without input from the community.

And my gripe is with the state of Florida sanctioning 6 more of these cities/municipalities somewhere in the state, and making laws to suit them.

I think it is a potentially dangerous concept. We could lose control over development...the little we have left I should say.

The city itself is quite beautiful, I just hope it was built on solid ground so near the swamp green areas.

[timtom]

24. I am totally against closed communities.

I remember Rosemont, IL, just outside O'Hare. Big sign saying you couldn't enter unless you had a valid reason to.

Mike Moore put up a roadblock outside the Rosemont gate and challenged people to demonstrate they had a valid reason to enter Chicago.

He was forced to dismantle it.

And, by the way, Ava Maria is one of the creepiest concepts I've ever encountered.

[madfloridian]

28. I wish I could find the other cities that are like it in concept.

I don't know the proper search term to use.

It is more than a closed community in a way, it is really a private city. I have tried several search terms, but only came up with Destiny. Not even sure about that.

I wonder about the others.

[JDPriestly]

60. Doesn't the State of Florida have a state constitution and a Municipal Law Code that

applies to all municipalities in the state? What do they say on this? I don't have time to look this up tonight. I'm surprised that municipalities would be allowed to organize top down. That's not the American way. I have difficulty believing the OP's analysis of the political organization of these communities. Homeowner associations are not really governments although they have a lot of say in the lives of the people who live in the communities that they manage. I wonder if the issue here is really the homeowner association. Surely there is a separate municipal government that is organized like all the other municipal governments in Florida.

[lib2DaBone]

17. A town where female athletes are not allowed to wear 2-piece bathing suits..

No Playboys, cigarettes or alcohol sold in any convenience stores. I wonder.. are they still allowed to sell "Slurpees"? Praise be Jeebus.. for he created the Southern Slurpee.. and it was good.

[jakefrep]

64. No alcohol? That doesn't seem very Catholic

For all of our hangups about sex, the Church, in my experience, isn't exactly a temperance society.

[KG]

20. Monaghan also built that monsterous cathedaral, that very few attend, and is now trying to dump it

on the catholic church so they can pay the air condition bills.

[Doremus]

21. Ave Maria dish soap, Ave Maria hemorrhoid medicine, Ave Maria ipods

The possibilities are endless.

[knitter4democracy]

22. One of my college friends is at their seminary there.

He went to the university there for his pre-sem classes, and now he's there in the seminary. He's a good man, and he's going to make a great priest (he's good at not being more dogmatic than merciful), but there's a lot he and I just have to agree to disagree on.

[Maru Kitteh]

25. I hope those freaks don't ruin him then. n/t

[knitter4democracy]

41. I think he was heading that way as it was.

Still, there's a lot he and I never touch on. Once, during an argument, I told him that I'm a peace-and-justice kind of Christian (Catholic code for liberal), and he knew what that meant and backed off. At least he didn't keep arguing. He's actually been very, very loving and helpful during this whole mess of a divorce.

[Scurrilous]

27. Where's a hurricane when you need one. n/t

[KamaAina]

39. Unfortunately, Ave Maria is at least ten miles inland.

basically in the middle of nowhere; as the law professors put it, "the edge of Corkscrew Swamp".

[FloriTexan]

44. 10 miles ain't nothing to a pissed off God...

or a Cat 5 hurricane.:evilgrin:

[madfloridian]

55. LOL

You are right.

[barbtries]

29. couldn't pay me to live there n/t

[Arugula Latte]

30. That is a seriously freaky place. It's like something out of Margaret Atwood's mind.

That cathedral gives me the heebie jeebies. :scared:

[robertpaulsen]

31. Boss Tweed ain't got nuthin on Thomas Monaghan.

Very scary.

[alfredo]

32. this is the Theocratic state that Pat Robertson and others want for the US.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[imdjh]

34. This place will be a gnat compared to Deseret

The Mormons want to build a new city on or near Deseret Ranch.

from wiki;

Located 7 miles (11 km) east of the Orlando International Airport and 19 miles (31 km) west of Cape Canaveral, Florida, Deseret Ranch was the one of the largest cow-calf ranches in the United States in 2001.<1> This ranch, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Florida, spreads over the three central Florida counties of Osceola, Orange, and Brevard. Covering almost 300,000 acres (1200 km²) of land, Deseret Ranch is home to 80 ranchers, their families, and 44,000 head of cattle. It is a for profit operation and only nominally associated with the humanitarian efforts of the LDS Church.
The earliest plans for this ranch were made in 1949, and in 1950 the original 45,000 acres (180 km²) were purchased. Deseret Ranch now covers an area 50 miles (80 km) long and 30 wide, with a separate section surrounding Kenansville in Osceola County. Although the Church does not disclose the revenue of the ranch, it is known that in year 2000 they moved 16 million pounds (7300 t) of calves, which at the time translated to about US$16 million in revenue.
The Deseret Ranch also brings in revenue from the mining of native shell beds (which is used throughout Florida to pave roads), orange groves, hunting permits, and sales of ornamental palm trees.

[lib2DaBone]

49. Wow.. I didn't know that. Thanx for the post.

Just wonderful.. just what we need to add into the Disney Confusion and traffic.

That's right near Katherin Harris Country. She can ride in on her horse wearing a tight sweater so we call all admire her new boob job.....

[Spangle]

57. I live in Osceola

And I didn't know that. Thanks.

[starroute]

35. I found this about the law school

http://chronicle.com/news/article/6014/ave-maria-school-of-law-wins-aba-approval-for-controversial-move

February 20, 2009
Ave Maria School of Law Wins ABA Approval for Controversial Move

The American Bar Association has given the green light to the Ave Maria School of Law to proceed with a controversial relocation to Florida, The National Law Journal reported today.

The Roman Catholic law school came under fire from faculty members over its plan to move from Ann Arbor, Mich., to Naples, Fla. Faculty members who opposed the move filed a formal complaint with the bar association and voted no confidence in the school’s dean at the time, Bernard Dobranski, who has since left.

A big question was whether the bar association would “acquiesce” to the move, a necessary step for the school to retain full accreditation. With the bar association’s green light, the school can now apply for a license from the Florida Department of Education that will allow it to grant degrees.

Several professors left the law school, and in 2007 the bar association warned the school that it did not appear to have taken the steps needed to attract and retain qualified faculty members. The bar group’s change of heart was welcome news to the school’s founder.

[starroute]

37. Those other six may not be religiously-based

The fact that it was Jeb Bush who put this through sets off alarm bells for me. When I tried googling on "planned community" in Florida, I found references to St. Joe -- which is Florida's largest real estate developer and has ties to Jeb and the Bush family in general.

I've never known how much faith to put in it, but some of the more conspiracy-theory sites allege that Jeb saw to it that hundreds of millions of dollars in state money were put into developing infrastructure around land owned by St. Joe -- including a major airport to promote casino gambling on the Gulf Coast. Karl Rove's Florida house is on land originally owned by St. Joe.

If there is a connection here, I don't know how to pin it down -- but it seems more plausible to me that Jeb used Ave Maria as an excuse to benefit his real estate and development supporters than that Monaghan is running the whole show.

[madfloridian]

40. That's what I was thinking. The others have other goals.

Yes, it is the benefit to the developers hand in hand in hand with the land owners and the state government. They get special favors from the lawmakers.

Like the Destiny, if it is like that....a green community.

St Joe...I have some stuff on that in my archives by an author I quoted recently. My mind is blank on it now, but that gives me a thought to search on.

[csziggy]

50. Back in the 80s Florida made counties come up with comprehensive plans

For controlled and responsible growth. The Department of Community Affairs was in charge of overseeing the adherence to their comprehensive plans as approved. Under Jeb, DCA was gutted and his political appointees allowed things like Ave Maria and the various St. Joe developments to go through. (http://www.joe.com/FloridaCommunities)

Now in addition to crap like Ave Maria and the St. Joe communities, they are trying to pass a change in the law that will prevent local communities from vetoing developments that do not fit into the comprehensive plans or that locals do not think fit the nature of their communities. This will allow big developers to simply come in and totally reshape a small town.

Most of the new towns are being built in smaller counties that are happy with the idea of getting new citizens and additional tax revenues. I'd bet that the long time residents will be unhappy in the future when their county is taken over by the newcomers.

Leon County has a very active citizens' group that watches over local development, but they have been unable to stop many of the big money people brought in by Jeb Bush and his buddies. But if any other Floridians want more information on what is going on, the Citizens United for Responsible Growth (CURG - http://www.curg.org/) might be able to help. Since they are in Tallahassee, they have a lot of direct contacts with the people in DCA. I'm on the CURG mailing list, but I am not active and have not kept up with everything going on, especially statewide.

[imdjh]

52. "if there is a connection here, I don't know how to pin it down"

I promise you that it's there. It's one of those things you see down here, you know it's there, most of the pieces are out in the open, they aren't even hiding it. What is missing is the smoking gun of a connection and conspiracy. In other words- it's the Republican Party.

Every GOP POS lives in Florida. Well, maybe not every one, but a lot of them. And one way or another, they are all connected through Ronald Reagan, even if they are too young to have known him. It's like a monastic order of criminals that crosses religious lines.

[starroute]

54. What about all the other stuff that's gone on in Florida?

I mean:

- the mob, Meyer Lansky, crooked real estate, crooked gambling, Cuba (in the 50's), Cuban exiles (ever since), the CIA and the Enterprise

- Greenberg Traurig, Jack Abramoff, Adam Kidan

- Caribbean money laundering banks, the mob (again), Russian oligarchs, Alan Stanford

- Iraqgate's Boca Raton connections

- Daniel Hopsicker's stuff - Venice and the 9/11 hijackers

Anything else I missed?

Is *all* of that connected?

[crimsonblue]

38. In related news....

I'm thinking about moving to Ave Maria and passing out condoms and porn to passersby for a living.

[anigbrowl]

42. "Yeehaw Junction" Wow.

According to the (unsourced) Wikipedia article on the town, it used to be called 'Jackass Junction' until the Florida legislature blessed it with a more modern name in 1957.

WTF is it about Florida? The whole state sounds like crazytown.

[MADem]

45. They should rename it again, to the more sophisticated "Hooterville," perhaps?

Or maybe "Petticoat Junction?"

[anigbrowl]

48. Keep your dang gentrification :-)

[madfloridian]

51. That Yeehaw Junction sticks in my mind...

When you head to South Florida down 60 Yeehaw was for years the last place to grab a bite before the turnpike. We avoid that now, but it was just like the picture there of that desert inn...desolate looking.

I never heard about the Jackass Junction. That's hilarious.

:rofl:

[davepdx]

58. Imagine being a long-haired hippie-type in 1970 and stopping

there. My friends and I stopped there while returning to Tampa from Miami. It was a Friday evening and we stopped for dinner at the restaurant in Yeehaw. My friends were conventional looking compared to me. It felt like I was in the restaurant scene in "Easy Rider" with how the locals reacted to me. I never stopped there again except at the stop sign where I was required to by law.

[madfloridian]

66. Ha ha...it is a strange experience.

There were two places there we would stop before hitting the turnpike, been years though. Looks like a place from a western movie. Felt like it also.

[FloriTexan]

46. I didn't realize...

there was that much available land left in the State. Swamp or otherwise. I bet they paid a pretty penny for it back then.

[madfloridian]

53. Some are building on land now that was recently swamp.

They build when it is dry season, like in the Green Swamp, then when it gets rainy....the water rises into the homes. Surprise surprise.

Once a developer built in the middle of a dry lake bed...not a good ending.

[FloriTexan]

63. I can't wait for Carl Hiasson to incorporate

one of these places into a novel. Its beggin for it.

They probably have no flood insurance either.

[agentS]

61. Ground 0 for the Christian Taliban uprising.

With rules and regulations in their favor and statements like the ones above, I suspect that Ave Maria will become a hotbed for pseudo-Christian moral panics or the next Eric Rudolph funding efforts for a return of the Moral Majority/Christian political movement.

Think about it- it won't be long after the town is settled that they'll require 'tithes' to be given to ultra-conservative groups or anti-abortion groups, which in turn funnel them to various terrorist sleeper cells hard-right fundamentalists to be used to kill people at abortion clinics, government buildings, rival churches further their agenda.

I'll be checking Talk2action.org and sourcewatch.org a lot in the coming few years...

[JVS]

62. I can't wait to visit this place.