NO ON 4 1 Proposed Amendment 4 Would Harm West Melbourne and Our Citizens A View of Concerned Citizens October 14, 2010

NO ON 4 2 Amendment 4 Is Wrong On All Levels Philosophically Logically Organizationally Economically Personally

NO ON 4 3 Philosophically It Is Anti-American The Unites States is a Republic based on democratic principles. The people choose representatives whom they trust to act for them. Lesley Blackner, who claims to be the originator of Amend. 4, states that the reason for the amendment is that ALL elected officials in Florida are corrupt once in office and, therefore, all Comprehensive Plans approved by them are invalid. By extension, Blackner’s position means that all professional planners support corruption and all State officials that review and approve Plans support corruption. Blackner has essentially stated that the American form of government of electing qualified persons to represent us is invalid.

NO ON 4 4 It Is Logically Ridiculous Blackner has stated all Comprehensive Plans are invalid due to their basis in corruption. Yet, Amendment 4 intends to make it extremely difficult to modify the Plans. The following question was posed to Blackner: “Since the voters are not competent enough to elect honest representatives, what makes the voters competent enough to decide on the intricacies of Comprehensive Plans?” – Blackner replied that the question was not valid! If we can not trust elected officials to deal honestly with land use issues, how can we trust them with any issue – where do we draw the line for trust/distrust?

NO ON 4 5 It Is Organizationally Bad For West Melbourne West Melbourne did not have a municipal property tax for 45 years; City services were funded by fees related to development. When development slowed, it was necessary to initiate a municipal property tax to maintain West Melbourne as a city. Do you believe that residents would have traded 45 years of no tax to stop development? Do you believe that a “No Development” philosophy will stop population growth? Do you believe that a development like Hammock Landing is beneficial to our residents or that it is just a result of “corruption”?

NO ON 4 6 It Is Economically Disastrous Currently, investors commit many thousands of dollars developing plans, drawings and permits to deal with professional staffs, boards, committees, councils, citizen groups and others in preparation for approval. At each step of the current process, the developers know the status of their project and can make economic decisions on how to proceed. Amendment 4 would make all investments subject to political campaigns, raising the costs and making it impossible to predict the ultimate acceptance or rejection of a project. No developer would choose Florida’s uncertainty caused by voters’ “whims” over every other states’ predictable process.

NO ON 4 7 It Is Personally Anti-Democratic Currently, each person has many opportunities to participate in the land planning process: Hearings by the citizen-staffed Planning & Zoning Board; Receiving notices by mail; Meetings with developers; Hearings by the elected Council. All of the above would continue under Amendment 4, but: All people within a Governmental entity (County or City) will vote on every plan change and; All of the steps above could be negated by votes cast by people with no vested interests who reside miles from the development site and may approve questionable deals that are, “Not In My Backyard”.

NO ON 4 8 Individual loss of Control Some basic principles: People will vote for their own interests. Elected officials will avoid final decisions and let everything be decided by voters so that they can remain “blameless” on every decision. Decisions will be made by people far from the sites in question who are less knowledgeable and less interested than directly affected persons. Examples: A proposal for a 10 story apartment complex on Eber Rd. may be approved by voters on Greenway Dr. because they believe it will reduce their property taxes. A proposal to fill in wetlands in South Brevard may be approved by voters in Titusville because they believe it will reduce their property taxes.