When we last saw candidate Crist, running for governor, he was all about watching over the interests of the people of Florida the rational management of the state’s increasingly threatened water supplies being one of the most important.
Crist reaped enormous political profit in running as a fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican with strong environmental leanings.
Gov. Charlie Crist’s sellout to developers is now complete. He signed into law Tuesday a bill that neuters the governing boards of the state’s five water management districts, which grant permits for large-scale water pumping and wetlands destruction.
Other note worthy moves by Mr. Charle
Gov. Crist picked two new people to serve on the regional water management district board for Central Florida a Volusia County engineer with development ties and an Alachua County law professor with environmental ties.
Crist named Maryam H. Ghyabi, 50, of Ormond Beach, and Richard G. Hamann, 58, of Gainesville, to the St. Johns River Water Management District governing board, which controls water consumption permits, approves wetland permits and decides how much water the local utilities can siphon from the St. Johns River.
The district includes parts of 18 counties, including most of metro Orlando.Ghyabi is president of Ghyabi & Associates, a transportation engineering and planning firm that has been a consultant on many local transportation issues.
She is a sister of Mori Hosseini, a big-time developer based in Daytona Beach. Hosseini is a Republican super-fundraiser, ranking as a “Ranger” who raised at least $200,000 for President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.
Hosseini and his array of companies frequently show up in many elected officials' campaign finance reports.
Hamann teaches water and ecosystem law at the University of Florida's Center for Governmental Responsibility. Read post here
Now that authority will rest solely in the hands of the districts’ executive directors.
Developers and big industry will be able to more easily drain Florida and pave over what’s left.
Which leads to this part of his program.
FDEP/ DSL was negotiating to buy land from a major Republican donor Mori Hosseini. In derrogation of a court ruling (Case 05-001852) Crist and Bush and granted development entitlements on the Land (FLAWC053106) while negotiations were in process.
Hosseini was allowed to get new appraisals and raised the asking price from 8 to 16 million. Crist then had FDEP end negotiations and asked DCA to fund the purchase through a FCT Grant reimbursement program. This allowed new appraisals to be used by the State.
Last Thursday (FCT Governing Board Meeting) DCA Secretary Pelham approved funding the purchase at the higher per acre price.FCT Director Reecy said the earlier FDEP appraisals and offers were "irrelevant" and removed them from the files prior to staff and Board review of the grant application (08-004-FF8).
Piece by piece, this governor has systematically dismantled what little protections there are for Floridians fed up with traffic and overdevelopment.
Which leads to the last part.
The proposals for a public-private partnership to lease, maintain, operate and receive toll revenues from Alligator Alley may be slowed down due to lending and economic issues.
At least one bidder dropped out citing those reasons, while another went bankrupt.“This additional time allows proposers to complete their proposals,” wrote Pamela Griffis, FDOT’s deputy communications director in Tallahassee, in a prepared release Friday.
The bid opening previously scheduled for May 11 is canceled. FDOT will schedule another public meeting to announce the results of the solicitation process for Alligator Alley, which is a section of Interstate 75 connecting Naples to the southeastern coastal area of Weston.
FDOT has been pushing to privatize the 78-mile toll road across the Everglades to raise up-front money that cannot be generated from tolls to pay for other transportation needs in the state.
Can you take a guess on who the only bidder left is?
It helped him easily win the general election, drawing the votes of many moderates and even Democrats.
But now we see another candidate Crist, increasingly worried about winning a GOP primary against a challenge from the right wing of the party as he seeks the U.S. Senate nomination.
Now Crist is tending to the interests of the monied players who will be financing the senatorial races.
Crist’s lame defense of his decision to sign a bill putting major decisions on water use into the hands of a few water management district bureaucrats — and take it out of the sunshine of district board meetings was shameful.
He pointed out that the bill reauthorizes the districts and prohibits neighborhood associations from preventing the use of landscaping that minimizes water use.
And he indicated he wants the Legislature to come back next year and fix some of the worst provisions, while asking water district staff to keep permit decisions in the sunshine.
Don’t hold your breath.
The bill is bad. Critics point out that under it district staff doesn’t have to accept public comment on water use decisions.
The bill is bad. Critics point out that under it district staff doesn’t have to accept public comment on water use decisions.
Worse, it allows direct appeals of permit decisions to the district board only if an application is rejected. If it’s approved, a member of the public opposing it has to ask for an administrative hearing a complex event governed by legalistic rules that favor the side with the most resources or appeal to the Cabinet.
As the St. Petersburg Times points out, those are high hurdles to clear for private citizens.
Sorry, Charlie, you’ve lost your way.
Sorry, Charlie, you’ve lost your way.
No not really it was planned this way all along.
With storm sesson now upon us it's strange that fixing the flooding is not higher issue unless padding pockets of others and I don't mean the public's.
What will be the cost of delay to those already affected not only to homes but small bussiness's?
Why are these private groups not interested in solving this issue?
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