Yankeetown, Florida has the right priorities

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Spoonbills in Yankeetown
Photo by Marsha Drew
(I have never seen a Spoonbill in the wild)

Marsha Drew of Yankeetown says, "Yankeetown is a rare jewel in Florida. It's the last undeveloped...sorry...not over developed community with deep water access to the Gulf. The town government is very proactive and environmentally responsible. We purchased a 400 acre wilderness area which we've developed into a low impact park and we have thousands of acres that we've set aside for conservation. Our Comp Plan and land development code is strong and we have Hometown Democracy in place.

70% of the community is on board with us but the other 30% has been very vocal against everything. Such is the case everywhere I suppose. Everything we've done, which has included being sued over 20 times by a developer wanting to build something they couldn't (they lost every one), could be changed one day by a more pro-development group of town reps, but we hope not.

Come and visit...I'll show you around. We need strong voices and people who care to live here and help us keep the status quo. Have a great day...I'm going kayaking...the Roseate Spoonbills are here right now and I love to go and sit in the middle of the flock."

Editors' note: Yankeetown does not have FHD but what they have is similar to what they have in St. Pete Beach--the comparison that Ryan Houck, David Levy and all the rest of his lying buddies love to use as the SAME as Florida Hometown Democracy.

I have reported on this before but essentially the litigation that resulted in St. Pete Beach dealt with the developers attempt to submit their own comprehensive land-use plan to the voters without complying with the Florida Growth Management Act. It had nothing to do with Hometown Democracy.

This is just another reason why we need Amendment 4--to stop the land grabs and the dirty politics. As Marsha says, their quality of life in Yankeetown could be changed by the flick of a Bic from the Dais.