The "Real" take on Hometown Democracy...

Daisy Lynum is an Orlando city commissioner and president of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials.

'Hometown Democracy' would disenfranchise voters

By Daisy Lynum
March 6, 2009

Only 46,000 petitions short of reaching the 2010 ballot, Hometown Democracy is again in the spotlight.

There is little doubt that the folks behind this proposed constitutional amendment chose a clever (albeit terribly misleading) name for their idea. However, as voters, we have an obligation to analyze the facts.

Every community in Florida has a "comprehensive-land-use plan." The folks behind Hometown Democracy would force voters to decide the hundreds of changes these plans undergo yearly.

At first, Hometown Democracy sounds tempting. However, in reality this amendment will dampen voter participation in government and cause underprivileged citizens to suffer most.

The argument that Hometown Democracy will empower voters is a sham. If passed, Hometown Democracy will disrupt our daily lives. Even small communities will be required to fund elections for each proposed comprehensive-plan change -- not just major projects, but even minor details.

As a result, voters -- not elected representatives -- will be expected to decide 200 or 300 comprehensive-plan changes yearly. Complex planning material will be condensed into 75-word ballot summaries. As citizens are deluged with technical background materials, our state's hospitals, schools, churches, work-force-housing areas and other key redevelopment projects may be lost in the mix. To the dismay of our neediest citizens, many will not be built in a timely and efficient manner. Planning for these vital community improvements will become virtually impossible.

Furthermore, the size of a Hometown Democracy ballot will disenfranchise voters. Between managing two jobs, paying the mortgage and raising kids, many working Floridians will lack time to read hundreds of pages of planning data. Most will be discouraged by seemingly endless ballot questions. Thousands will drop out of the democratic process entirely.

Who could blame them? At the end of the day, Hometown Democracy won't actually give decision-making power to citizens -- it will take it away.

In the long run, Hometown Democracy will trample on issues of community justice. This amendment will not only disenfranchise many voters, it will also remove power from those most affected by land-use changes. Residents of wealthier neighborhoods will pay for expensive campaigns to force unwanted development -- jails, landfills, sewage sites, etc. -- onto less-privileged communities. Poorer communities will suffer in a system that rewards those with money.

In the end, Hometown Democracy bypasses the representation these communities have through city and county commissions by outsourcing major planning decisions to the ballot box. This amendment will make it easy for the majority to trample on rights and freedoms of the minority. Having lost recourse and representation in government, less-fortunate citizens will simply have to live with the results.

Floridians deserve better growth management, and that must happen. Voters want to be more involved in the local-planning process, and that must happen, too. But we must always guard against a "wolf in sheep's clothing" like Florida Hometown Democracy.

If you want better growth management, a stronger economy and a real voice in public planning, then steer clear of this amendment. Hometown Democracy will make the system far worse, not better.