I support Sen. Harrell's bill. SB80, and testified in favor of it before our St. Johns County Legislative Delegation at their annual meeting on January 10, 2025. Today I asked our County Commissioners to support SB80 and to direct our lobbyists to work to get it adopted. More here: https://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2025/01/save-our-parks-staugustgreen-ed-slavin.html
From Florida Phoenix:
To block another golf course debacle, Florida lawmakers try protecting state parks
The bill passed its first committee stop by a unanimous vote, but what happens when it lands on DeSantis’ desk?
Dunedin City Commissioner Jeff Now at protest at Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin on Aug. 27, 2024. The facility was one of the sites where the DeSantis administration proposed development. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)
The sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” celebrated its 50th anniversary this week. I don’t know why this is such a big deal. For my money, there’s an even funnier show that’s been around a lot longer.
I’m talking about the Florida Legislature, which dates to 1845. It always generates tons of comedy! Remember the time in 1979 when they accidentally deregulated psychology? Everybody bought $10 county occupational licenses declaring themselves, their kids, and their pets were psychologists. One guy bought one for his chameleon and claimed it was a sex therapist.
Or remember that time in 2010 when they accidentally outlawed sex? Pretty sure a lot of people violated that law, yet there were no arrests.
This year’s session hasn’t even started yet and we’ve already seen a bill filed concerning “chemtrails.” The sponsor admitted in a committee meeting last week that most people call those a conspiracy theory, not an actual threat to life and liberty. But let’s regulate them anyway!
Despite their long history of hilarity, occasionally the Legislature does something worthwhile. In the same Senate committee meeting in which they discussed the chemtrails bill, our lawmakers unanimously approved one much more worthy of passage, Senate Bill 80.
It’s designed to save the state from repeating something stupid the governor did. And the governor before him, too.
SB 80, sponsored by Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Lick of Sense, would ban the construction of golf courses in state parks. You’d think that such a thing would go without saying but hey, this IS Florida.
I’m hopeful this bill or its House counterpart, HB 209, will go all the way to full passage — but with a few tweaks to make it even stronger.
But I’m a little worried about what happens after that.
Hulk not smash
Florida’s park system is one of the glories of this state. It’s full of beaches, swamps, forests, rivers and springs galore, not to mention the occasional gigantic sinkhole and playful mermaid show. These places offer breathtaking views of what the state looked like before so much of it was paved over and uglified.
They’re not just an ornament to the state. They’re a major tourist attraction. Not only have our 176 parks won four prestigious national awards, but they attract more than 28 million visitors, with an estimated economic impact of more than $3.9 billion.
Yet some of our clueless politicians don’t value the parks the way many of us do.
In 2011, former Gov. Rick Scott tried to put golf courses in five state parks as a favor to Jack Nicklaus. His effort drew so many heaps of scorn that in just a week the sponsors withdrew the bill.
Then, last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis tried almost the same thing, only bigger.
His office was pushing three Nicklaus-designed golf courses in one park plus hotels, pickleball courts and other unnatural additions to some of the most popular natural spots in the state. Plus, he tried to sneak everything through without the public knowing about it.
But word got out, leaked by an alarmed state employee who was then fired for telling the public what the governor was trying to do to public property. DeSantis’ plans were roundly condemned by outraged people from both parties. Massive, sign-waving crowds protested for days on end.
DeSantis tried to distance himself from the controversy. He claimed he’d had nothing to do with this crazy idea, which was not true. He called the golf course idea “half-baked” and suggested it would be put back in the oven until it was fully baked, which is not what anybody else wants.
Our fine Legislature once treated DeSantis so deferentially it was as if they thought he could turn into Red Hulk like Harrison Ford in the new “Captain America” movie and smash their political future. This scandal marked the first time lawmakers sprouted a spine and stood up to him, knowing he couldn’t smash anything.
Now, there’s an effort to make sure neither he nor any other goofball — er, excuse me, governor — can try something so foolish again. During the first hearing on SB 80 in front of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, the vote to approve it was unanimous.
“The hearing showed the staying power of the widespread anger ignited throughout the state,” reported the Tampa Bay Times, which broke the story about DeSantis’ sneaky golf course plans.
The bill calls for three important changes. One provision says “conservation-based public outdoor recreational uses” in the parks do not include sports that require building sporting facilities, such as golf courses, tennis courts, pickleball courts, and so forth. No hotels, either.
Another provision prohibits his Department of Environmental Protection from authorizing any use or construction activities in a state park that could cause significant harm to its natural resources.
And the third major provision calls for boosting the public’s chances to see and comment on any changes in a state park.
It requires public hearings for any management plan updates, adds a deadline for publication of a management plan before such a hearing, requires any plans for state parks to be published by that deadline, and directs that plans for state parks must be developed with input from an advisory group.
I asked former Florida State Parks director Eric Draper what he thought about the bill’s changes. He called SB 80 “an indictment of those who would secretly pick apart conservation lands for private purposes.”
He was particularly pleased with the part guaranteeing public input, he said, because of “the way the governor’s office and DEP skirted park planning rules.”
Not just parks
Sen. Harrell is the perfect person to sponsor this bill. She not only represents the district containing Jonathan Dickinson State Park, where the golf courses were supposed to be built. She was also one of the first people to hear about — and reject — the proposal from the golf course people, Folds of Honor.
“They did a video presentation of what they had done in Michigan. And they wanted to bring that model to Florida,” Harrell told WPTV-TV. “It’s a very nice, appropriate way to honor veterans, just not in our state parks. And I told them that right up front.”
If only DeSantis had exhibited the same good sense when he heard about this. But he just loves golf so much, he apparently couldn’t say no to a request involving the Golden Bear just as he couldn’t say no to the expensive golf simulator a major developer gave him.
When the state parks scandal emerged, it dragged into the light another dirty DeSantis deal involving golf. A Canadian company called Cabot wanted to grab a piece of Withlacoochee State Forest in Hernando County to build a new golf course, and in exchange offered to give the state a parcel worth a lot less up in Levy County.
“The Cabinet’s June 12 discussion, which lasted less than 30 seconds, did not mention golf courses nor the state forest where more could be built,” the Tampa Bay Times reported when it revealed the deal. “There was no debate, no public comment. No mention of endangered wildlife.”
This is why, Clay Henderson said, Harrell’s protect-the-parks bill should be expanded to include state forests too.
Henderson, a longtime Florida environmental activist, literally wrote the book on the history of land preservation in Florida (“Forces of Nature”).
“That Withlacoochee swap seems to have died, but this bill firms up the procedural guardrails to prevent these things ever happening again,” he pointed out. Without specifically including state forests, another Withlacoochee land swap could happen.
While it was heartening to see so many Floridians protesting to save the parks, he said, “no one wants to go through this again.”
Other tweaks to the bill
Henderson and some other people I talked to about the bill said they’d like to see a longer list of incompatible uses specifically prohibited — hunting, for instance, and zip lines and rope courses, which don’t do anything for the ecosystem.
Gil Smart, executive director of Vote Water, told me he wanted to see the wording tightened to say that only “conservation-based outdoor uses” would be allowed in the parks, period.
“We can’t come up with a list of everything that should be prohibited, so we have to make it clear in general what’s inappropriate,” he said.
Seventy environmental groups wrote a letter to Harrell and the House sponsor, Rep. John Snyder, with other suggestions to improve the bill. For instance, they recommended including wildlife management areas with the parks and forests, as well as removing “references that encourage developing disturbed areas.”
“We just don’t want to be back here next year fighting the same battle,” explained Eugene Kelly, president of the Florida Native Plant Society, during the committee meeting.
Harrell said she was fine with tweaking the language. The bill passed unanimously and now goes to two other committees.
Even if Harrell leaves the bill the way it is, I think it’s worth passing just because of one other provision that Draper praised.
The bill calls for preparing a report to the Legislature on the state park systems’ many needs for maintenance and repairs. Draper predicted it will “shine a spotlight on nearly $1 billion in unfunded maintenance needs.”
He expressed hope that the report will lead the Legislature to approve better pay for park rangers, who tend to be the most dedicated state employees you’ve ever encountered.
Now let me tell you what has me a little worried.
Toss in a sweetener
The fact that the bill drew votes from people in both parties is a good sign. But I’m still concerned about the end game.
Let’s say Harrell and the other supporters are able to keep the bill streamlined while also adding in all the new language. Let’s say nobody spots a fatal flaw in all the verbiage.
Let’s say it proves to be the most popular bill that was ever passed by the Legislature and wins unanimously in both chambers.
Think about where it would then end up: On the governor’s desk.
You know, the guy whose effort to alter nine parks created the need for this bill in the first place. The guy who still acts like he can turn into Red Hulk even though everyone knows he can’t.
DeSantis has one bit of leverage, and he knows it. He can veto the bill.
But the Legislature has recently shown a willingness to override his vetoes.
“If DeSantis were to veto this bill, there would be a huge hue and cry from one end of the state to the other,” Henderson predicted. “The places that raised the most protest about the park proposal were all counties with Republican legislators who helped turn the tide. If he were to veto this bill, he would suffer another indignity of an override.”
I think the smarter thing to do would be to throw in a little sweetener. They need to make the bill so appealing to DeSantis he can’t possibly veto it.
The bill should be amended to say he gets a free round of golf at every course in the state. He can even wear his famous white boots if he wants! And use his special balls!
That should smash any possibility of a veto.
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4 comments:
"Donald Trump has already spent $10.7 million of taxpayer money to play golf since retaking the White House last month, an expense that appears to have escaped the attention of his “Department of Government Efficiency” waste, fraud and abuse hunters." - Huffington Post
Government in the USA is a dysfunctional, three way tug of war by thousands upon thousands of actors in Washington DC and in all 50 states. People are distracted by this while people sitting on a mountain of everyone's money simply accumulate more money. The transition from an industrial economy to whatever in the hell you call this isn't going so well anymore. You'd think for their own sake they'd all start doing something about that instead of putting on a bad theater performance year after year.
If you understood what "government" actually is and means you'd get that governments are the "people sitting on a mountain of everyone's money simply accumulate more money" ... it's a font for this plutocratic ruling class of psychopaths --- see https://www.rolf-hefti.com/covid-19-coronavirus.html
That essay also explains why they purposely engage in "a bad theater performance year after year" ... to misguide and distract the "awake" masses.
“Repeating what others say and think is not being awake. Humans have been sold many lies...God, Jesus, Democracy, Money, Education, etc. If you haven't explored your beliefs about life, then you are not awake.” --- E.J. Doyle, songwriter
Political science definition of government is an entity that decides who gets what. If everyone decided that without some kind of structure then perhaps people would naturally band together and take what they pleased.
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