Organizations oppose Transportation Corridor

URGENT! Oppose Expressway Bills

The full Senate is likely to vote on the damaging SB 7068 ON TUESDAY, APRIL 23.  PLEASE CALL your State Senator now and urge them to VOTE NO ON SB 7068!

East Sarasota developments

East Sarasota has been rural forever, but it's about to be developed with intensity by large developers like Rex Jensen (Waterside - 5,000 homes) and Hi Hat Ranch.

Roads are the key to developing in rural lands. And just as East Sarasota is facing new development, so is a giant segment of Central Florida.

A bill coming up in the state legislature sponsored by State Senate president Bill Galvano of Bradenton commits billions of dollars to create new roads opening a large swath of rural Florida, and possibly further enriching the already-richest man in Florida.

A wide spectrum of organizations including the 1000 Friends of Florida, the Florida Sierra Club including the Manatee-Sarasota Group (see newsletter p.5), Defenders of Wildlife and many more organizations oppose this plan. Here's how your organization can join:

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From the Florida Sierra Club - note: all you have to do is send the name of your organization and signer to Cris Costello - see below for details.

From: Tim Martin:

Hi all, We are organizing sign on letters to oppose the Transportation Corridors bills. If you have any connections with organizations that you think might be interested in joining the fight, please take a minute to encourage them to do so. Everything you need is in the message below. 

Our efforts are starting to make a difference, but we still need your help to spread the word - Thank you!  - Tim

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Dear partner:  

We are distributing three sign-on letters (1) to Florida Senate members; (2) to Florida House members; and (3) to Governor DeSantis.  

  

We need urgent action.  Please: 

(1) Sign the letters to the Senate and House (attached).(2) Prepare for the worst by signing the veto letter to DeSantis (attached).(3) Spread the word to get calls in to representatives to "vote no" on HB 7113/SB 7068.

The content is identical in both attached letters except that the Senate and House letters ask for opposition to the bills and the Governor letter asks for a veto of the bills.

Please consider signing on to one or both of these letters.  We are looking for signatures as soon as possible but you probably have through this week.  If the bills are not stopped in the Senate and House we will need to get the veto letter to DeSantis as soon as the House passes the bill.

Refer to 1000 Friends of Florida resource page for more info and to the Defenders of Wildlife map that shows lands and waters that could be impacted, including existing conservation lands and lands in the Florida Forever list that have yet to be acquired.

To sign, please send to (cris.costello@sierraclub.org) the following: 

Name of organization

Name of signatory

Title of signatory

Contact us with any questions.  And please forward to any and all organizations with which you work.  Thanks in advance!  

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Tim Martin 

Conservation Committee Chair for the Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club

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Sarasota advocate William Zoller:

This issue is one of the constants that we all must contend with in the face of the continuing, inexorable growth of Florida.  The governments, both State and local, have never properly planned for the growth, and have never been able to deal adequately with it.  This is empirically obvious every time you get in a car, on a bike, or in a bus...traffic is a mess.  This proposal can be viewed as an effort to "get ahead" of the need, but the problem is, roads are the major generator of development, which creates even more "need".   Rural, agricultural land continues to be converted from growing food, lumber, and other necessities, into growing houses and shopping centers.  After tourism, agriculture is the biggest industry in Florida.  As we reduce available land for this important economic factor, and replace it with residential growth that costs the economy (it is a Ponzi Scheme), we dig our hole deeper.  More roads in undeveloped areas is a quick fix that simply will create more problems.  We need ways to deal with growth that do not create an even bigger problem.   

New roads in undeveloped areas are not a solution....they are the problem.