Panhandle Citizens Coalition (PCC) Endorsements for Upcoming Wakulla Elections

Dear Editor:

Panhandle Citizens Coalition, on the recommendation of its Wakulla members, has endorsed the following candidates and issue: Lynn Artz, Jimmie Doyle and a co-endorsement of Leon Nettles and Jenny Brock for the County Commission seats; and to vote yes on establishing a County Charter, with a strong follow-up recommendation. These will be explained below.

{sidebar id=1}We discuss the co-endorsement race initially with Leon Nettles discussed first because his Democratic primary is the only contest being voted on August 26th.

Leon has been a strong, consistent voice for controlling growth and protecting the environment in Wakulla County during his previous time on the Commission, knowing that growth has not been paying for itself. He has worked to have developers set aside green spaces and conservation areas so that Wakulla's quality of life will be preserved and its neighborhoods will remain livable for years to come. He has opposed the commercial removal of public resources for private gain and believes that resources like fresh water must be conserved so that we do not experience the shortages that have become all too commonplace elsewhere and he of course does not want to see water bottled and shipped out of the county. He has worked to direct commercial development into well-defined areas set aside for this purpose.

Leon deserves the votes of all Democrats on August 26th. He only would face our co-endorsee Jenny Brock in the election in November should he win his primary, which we hope he will, for it is then rare in a race that you would have two outstanding candidates to choose between.

Jenny Brock, who is running No Party Affiliation in the General Election, also is well versed in planning and environmental issues, having been a regular observer and active participant in Commission meetings for the last eight years. She wants sustainable development by encouraging ecotourism and having new businesses locate in industrial zoned areas, not overdevelopment and poorly planned development. She has served on the board of the Florida Wildlife Federation with two terms as chair; thus she is very concerned about protecting the county's water resources such as Wakulla Springs and the county's drinking water. She also is very knowledgable about global warming and the things which will be necessary to do to slow it down and stop the adverse affects on Wakulla County.

Lynn Artz has been completely engaged in numerous local issues and activities.

Examples: she founded four Arbor Day events, organized several environmental educational camp for high school students in Wakulla and is a member of Concerned Citizens of Wakulla, Wakulla Watershed Coalition, Sierra Club, Friends of Wakula Springs State Park and the Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Artz sat as a county commission appointee on the citizen tree/ landscape ordinance committee. She supports ecotourism, which is responsible travel to and within lands that is sustainable. Dr. Artz was also highly involved in helping to stop the numerous attempts to bottle and sell Wakulla Springs water. Dr. Artz has a very good grasp of the various growth and environmental issues at the forefront in Wakulla County including septic/sewer issues, growth management, stormwater, roads and other infrastructure issues and we wholeheartedly recommend her to you.

{sidebar id=1}Jimmie Doyle, a long time resident, favors a pause for planning, a concept PCC pioneered some number of years ago, because she knows growth in Wakulla is not paying for itself and the county needs to take stock of where it is at currently in many ways. She has been a regular attendee and vocal participant at commission meetings. She is concerned about too many variances which have been and are being granted. She is against bottling and shipping the county's water elsewhere. She feels the public lands are a large boon to the economy and is its most important industry. Likewise, we strongly recommend her to you.

Finally, the Charter. We favor this "starter Charter" because it gives the citizenry more local control in many ways, particularly in growth and development matters. This is particularly important to us because at this time it is unknown what will occur to the statewide Florida Hometown Democracy amendment, which we strongly favor, and which we also believe would give citizens more local control. Yet it is that very aspect of local control which causes us to have to advance the fact that were the Charter not to be changed almost as soon as it is enacted, it would be nearly impossible for the voters themselves to change.

The initiative section of the charter is particularly onerous, requiring 30% of each district's voters to sign petitions to amend. This would make this Charter the most restrictive in the state in this aspect, eclipsing even Leon County's which currently has that honor by requiring 10% of the registered voters from each district.

Once the Charter is adopted, we propose dramatically lowering the % of signatures and removing the requirement to have equal numbers of signatures from each district so as to allow the citizenry a realistic opportunity to amend their Charter directly if they so desire.

Thank you for considering our views and be sure to get out and vote in both elections.

Sincerely,

John Hedrick, Chair, Panhandle Citizens Coalition

This letter originally published on August 20, 2008.

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