Update on Toll Roads 2.3.21: Dems want to get rid of them
Citing environmental and fiscal challenges, two Democratic Florida lawmakers are introducing legislation to kill an ambitious yet controversial toll-road building plan dubbed by opponents as “roads to nowhere.”
Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Fort Lauderdale, and Rep. Ben Diamond, D-St. Petersburg, held a news conference Wednesday to discuss their proposals to strike the M-CORES project from state law and redirect the millions tapped for planning to other more critical infrastructure.
Despite budget crisis, Florida is doubling down on costly and destructive plans
Nicole Johnson: "two initiatives will change Florida forever. One will result in 330 miles of new or expanded tolled roadways opening up large swaths of our rural Florida to sprawling growth.
Nicole Johnson is the Director of Environmental Policy for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
More on the intentional dismantling of state oversight:
Save Florida’s shreds of growth control
The state’s most respected smart-growth groups are aiming most of their firepower at the blandly titled HB 7103, “Community Development and Housing.”
There was one safeguard left. Citizens had the right go to court and challenge a bad decision by their local government: a condo tower that exceeds a height limit, an apartment complex in a neighborhood of single-family homes.
But if HB 7103 becomes law, that final right to protest will be crushed. Citizen challenges will face a tilted burden of proof — and the requirement to pay the opposing side’s legal fees if they lose.
More on Galvano's toll roads:
Veto New Toll Roads - Sean Sellers
SB7068 authorizes the construction of three massive toll roads, stretching from Naples to the Florida-Georgia line. However, as nearly 100 business and civic organizations noted this week, the plan is remarkably flawed and must be vetoed.
