Our Sarasota chapter and at least 11 other Audubon chapters around the state have endorsed Florida Constitutional Amendment No. 4 (commonly known as "Florida Hometown Democracy"). This would require voter approval as the final step to change the long-term Comprehensive Plan for development that each county and municipality is required to have and with which zoning must comply. The statewide Sierra chapter and dozens of other environmental and civic groups around the state, including the major ones in Sarasota, have also endorsed it.
Thus far, I have not found any significant Florida or local environmental or neighborhood groups that are opposing it. But developers wanting to continue bankrolling campaigns of elected officials willing to change
Comprehensive Plans to allow them to build where they wish have formed and funded groups with names like "Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy” to blanket media and the mails against Amendment 4. The website http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com/ has details on what this amendment would do and why it would neither overload ballots nor tank the economy.
Your ballot obviously contains other opportunities for pro-environment votes. Amendments 5 and 6 attack gerrymandering by requiring fairer redistricting, presumably empowering more environmentally-friendly voters at the expense of deep-pocketed developers. And some candidates are pro-environment and others anti or giving it little importance. While Audubon's tax status does not permit us to endorse or oppose candidates or political parties (we can endorse issues), you can look at candidates' environmental records and endorsements by Googling the national League of Conservation Voters and its Florida affiliate with the same name, or for local candidates, http://www.florida.sierraclub.org/sarasota (Sierra has a different tax status).
-Conservation Chair Wade Matthews
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