Gov. Crist wisely vetoes SB 1706; Go Shayla!

Just before 10 pm Wednesday night, Aaron Deslatte of the Orlando Sentinel posted to their Central Florida Political Pulse blog the good news that Gov. Charlie Crist had wisely vetoed SB 1706, an ill-conceived bill that had previously passed both houses in Tallahassee unanimously.

It was the Gwen Margolis bill -gift on a silver platter to developers- that would have resulted in an unfair burden on taxpayers while the "build out" dates for large-scale development projects were
extended to three years.

My previous comment on this topic was on June 15th, Crist urged to veto developer-friendly Margolis bill/SB 1706 that'd weaken growth mgmt. reforms
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/crist-urged-to-veto-developer-friendly.html

Deslatte's post also includes the governor's rationale for his veto.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/files/1706.pdf

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Orlando Sentinel
Central Florida Political Pulse blog
Crist vetoes development-friendly bio-tech bill
posted by Aaron Deslatte on Jun 25, 2008 9:56:18 PM

Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a bill Wednesday that critics claimed would have set the clock back on Florida's recent growth management reforms.
The bill, SB 1706, would have broadened a 2007 law that delayed the "build out" deadlines for large-scale development projects like airports, shopping centers and planned communities for three years. The aim of the bill, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Gwen Margolis, was to give developers who've already got state and local approval for their projects more time before they have to complete them -- and help pay for the extra traffic they put on surrounding roads.
But the governor said he was blocking the bill because...

To read the rest of the article, see:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2008/06/crist-vetoes-de.html#comments

After checking the URL to see if there were any more reader comments before I went to sleep, I went to their front page and saw something the likes of which the Herald wouldn't do in a million years, since it involves well-displayed color photos on their website, one of their most glaring weak spots compared to Tribune newspapers like the Sentinel, the Sun-Sentinel or the Baltimore Sun, the latter of which I still read online every day to keep up on all things Mid-Atlantic and Orioles-related.

Since there were so many awful stories overnight there:
a.) the very suspicious death of prominent Orlando-area developer Steve Walsh,
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-bk-steve-walsh-dead-062508,0,1308559.story and
b.) the news that the 17-year old son of Orange County mayor Rich Crotty was involved in a serious car accident yesterday afternoon that's left a nine-year old girl seriously injured,
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-bk-tyler-crotty-accident-062508,0,7980670.story

I was happy to see something of a positive nature, and that was a great photo gallery the Sentinel
assembled of U.S. gymnast Shayla Worley, late of Orlando Boone High School, who was on last year's world championship team.
She seems to have a good shot at making the Olympic team if she continues her weekend Trials performances at Camp Karolyi -my new favorite phrase. (Except her fall from the uneven bars, of course.)
See her website at: http://www.shaylaworley.com/index2.html

If Shayla and Jana Bieger of Coconut Creek both made the Olympic squad, it'd be great to have Florida so well-represented in Beijing in such a high-profile TV sport, though that'll likely come at the expense of seeing more about some other American athletes in less popular spectator sports, like archery, since Gena Davis won't be on the team.

But why do I have a feeling that Shayla might wind up in Athens as a GymDog?
http://www.georgiadogs.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8800&SPID=4004
Because genuine talent always seeks out the best competition, which is one of the reasons why the GymDogs have won four NCAA titles in a row, including last month's in Athens.

Wish the Dolphins had their attitude and hustle and weren't so soft.

Meanwhile, Tuesday over at The White House:
http://www.georgiadogs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=44931&SPID=4004&DB_OEM_ID=8800&ATCLID=1482549

Shayla Worley photo gallery from the Orlando Sentinel, all 55 photos worth, is at:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/olympics/orl-shaylaworley-pg,0,3578503.photogallery

Crist urged to veto developer-friendly Margolis bill/SB 1706 that'd weaken growth mgmt. reforms

This interesting item was up on the Orlando Sentinel's Central Florida Political Pulse website on Saturday, yet surprisingly, considering how much traffic there usually is to the site once the Sunday morning TV chat shows start up, there were still no comments on it by 11:45 a.m. today, Sunday.

Upon reading the bill, I also better undertood the transit component as well.

In case the link below for Comm. Teresa Jacobs' letter on behalf of the Florida
Association of Counties within the post doesn't work, try
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/files/veto_letter_to_gov_crist_re_1706.pdf

Bill history and votes of SB 1706: Relating to Developments of Regional
Impact [RPCC] at:
http://www.flsenate.gov/session/index.cfm?Mode=Bills&SubMenu=1&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&BillNum=1706

The bill passed House 115-0 on April 30th, passed Senate 37-0 on April 25th.
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Orlando Sentinel
Central Florida Political Pulse blog
Commissioner Jacobs asks Crist to veto developer-friendly bill
posted by Aaron Deslatte on Jun 13, 2008 4:33:47 PM

Orange County Commissioner Teresa Jacobs, in her capacity as president of the Florida Association of Counties, asked Gov. Charlie Crist Friday to veto a developer-friendly bill she argues would weaken past growth management reforms.

The bill, SB 1706, extends the "build out" dates for large-scale development projects like airports, shopping centers and planned communities for three years. The aim of the bill, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Gwen Margolis, was to give developers who've already got state and local approval for their projects more time before they have to complete them -- and help pay for the extra traffic they put on surrounding roads.

But granting a blanket, three-year pass to developers means locals could have to find other ways to pay for the traffic growth that occurs around those projects.

To see the rest of the post, please see:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2008/06/commissioner-ja.html