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Editorial: Bonita Springs land plan spurs distrust
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Government and even some citizens wonder why government can sometimes have such a bad name.
They wonder why so many people are always on the lookout for and suspicious of abuses of power.
They wonder why citizens might cringe when they hear an official say he or she is just trying to help.
Now comes a textbook example that drives home all the above.
Property owners in eastern Bonita Springs are learning, partly through the news media, that the South Florida Water Management District, which has planned or carried out eminent domain proceedings on 3,700 of 4,700 targeted acres in the past decade, now says it doesn’t really need all that land.
The district — funded by these same property owners’ property taxes — wants to sell an estimated 240 acres to Lee County for environmental preservation. The district wants to cancel purchase plans after all these years on other property.
A project at first estimated to cost $14 million has already spent twice that and is said to need $16 million more.
The decision now that the district can use different and better engineering strategies rather than earmark all the area north of Bonita Beach Road for drainage improvements turns the traditional notion of private property rights upside down.
Government has told people what they can do with their land, which is bothersome anyway, and then changed its mind.
The people lose, and there is not a single elected official in sight to be held accountable.
And to think that it all started with good intentions — preventing catastrophic flooding a la 1995.
Outrageous.
When skeptics of government authority scout for a poster child for abuse and distrust, they need look no further.
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Sign a petition to stop the water management district
from wasting a million tax dollars every year to evaluate lawn sprinklers.
http://JackTanner.net
Private property owners and irrigation contractors
do thousands of sprinkler tuneups
that are more effective saving water
and without spending tax money.
The water management staff recommended to stop the funding last year,
but the Board of Governors voted to continue.
Government over-regulating and over-spending create unintended consequences.
When government assumes many duties, it's tougher to do the important ones right.
#1 Posted by jacktanner on July 20, 2008 at 12:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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