The State Legislature is at it again. Please Pay attention if you care about Growth Management.

[The Backlash Cometh]

Picked this up from the Orlando Sentinel:

In one of the meetings, in the library room of the resort’s main building, Miami Rep. David Rivera stood at an easel and scribbled as legislators called out ideas for streamlining government.

Rep. Greg Evers, R-Baker, suggested trying to merge the states’ water management districts with the Department of Environmental Protection and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“There’s too much duplication,” he said.

Rep. Steve Precourt, R-Orlando, wants to scale back the Department of Community Affairs’ regulatory oversight of local government growth plans.

“They’ve got a big regulatory hammer right now that should be taken away from them,” Precourt said.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/

Okay, first point. Evers wants to streamline government because he says there's too much duplication which leaves the person thinking that it's just wording that's involved. But wording is everything. When they weaken definitions, they give license to the less ethical land abuse lawyers to rip the spirit of the law apart. For example, the last time they streamlined government and "eliminated duplication," it resulted in combinations of recreation areas and wetlands. Suddenly, cities were passing off wetlands as parks and recreation and using that as an excuse not to put suitable land aside for ball parks and traditional parks.

And Steve Precourt, is that Steve Precourt from the old Dyer, Riddle and Precourts? Surveyors or map makers, I believe they are.

Well, folks. This is something that I've been thinking about for a long time. If there is funny business going on in Florida, wouldn't surveyors and title companies be in really hot trouble over some of the replatting and rezonings that have been going on that have been infringing on people's rights? I'm the first person to knock property rights when it involves a developer making decisions that will impact on the well-being of a community, but when it's one person getting steamrolled by a core group of real-estate good ole boys, well, I think the red flag goes up.