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Joe Kane and Gil and Katie Pierola helped organize the rally in Bradenton, Florida yesterday for Amendment 4.
One of the few, brave public officials who supports Amendment 4 and stands up to Big Business interests spoke as well, Commissioner Joe McClash. The A4 team, including Campaign Manager Mitch Kates and regional directors Jill Yelverton and George Niemann, also attended.
Most importantly, we got great coverage, thanks to an ironic jackhammer crew that started tearing up a sidewalk just as we began to talk. Once again, growth drowns out citizens' voices!
Below are three videos from the TV coverage:
Channel 13 - FOX NEWS
Channel 8 - NBC News
Channel 7 - ABC News
But long after opponents left the chambers, Commissioner Gwen Brown rescinded her vote. The commission then re-voted, and the plan change passed 4-3.
“What happened today was politics as usual,” said resident Katie Pierola, who watched the end of the meeting on television. “I never knew they could do things like that.”
The commissioner who changed her vote admitted she did so after being approached by a representative of the developer during a break in the meeting:
Twenty-one of the 49 acres included in the Robinson Farms property is considered a high hazard area under the current county comp plan map. The entire area is high hazard in the new map.
Brown said Betsy Benac, of Neal Communities consultant WilsonMiller, approached her during a recess after the vote and showed her a hurricane evacuation map that featured the phrase “not to be used for land-use decisions” at the bottom.
Brown then asked county Planning Director John Osborne if the statement at the bottom of the map was accurate. Osborne said it was but that planners use the same type of map for land-use deliberations.
"This kind of re-vote shows the power of developers to get their way, even after the public has spoken and votes have been taken," said Yes on 4 campaign manager Mitch Kates. "It is disgusting, but it happens all over Florida every week. And Amendment 4 is the only solution, to give voters veto power over such bad developments that are approved only because of undue special interest influence."
Ironically, Tuesday was among Brown's last meetings as a county commissioner; she was defeated in the Democratic primary by an opponent who supports Amendment 4.
1 comment:
Commissioner Gwen Brown could be one of the next politicians in Florida to be investigated by the FBI for her part the way that land deals get done on Florida. How do you look in orange, Gwen ?
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