Tenets of a Florida Planning Education

As (soon-to-be) products of a Florida education we all have some words of wisdom to impart upon upon those thinking about choosing FAU, FSU, or UF to attain their planning degree. Here's your chalkboard...let'r rip...

I am broke, and not sure why I went into planning

So I've been trying to figure out what to do with my life. I graduate in December and well, I'm broke. Employers from around the country are constantly calling trying to recruit me to move to some place where I don't know anyone and, after a bit of research, realize that i can't afford. So then I started thinking about getting a PhD. It's an option that will allow me to postpone adulthood for a few more years.

Then I start thinking about my current situation. I am working part-time on campus and by the time I pay my car payment and rent there is little, if anything, left over. So maybe i do need to get a job. But although I am pretty good at this Planning thing, I used this calculator on the website http://pricedoutreport.org/ . Basically it says that I better love my job as a planner but I should really consider getting a second job or third job because according to my anticipated salary I won't be able to afford a house.

So when I go out and tell "regular" people that we are planning for them, for their future, am I lying to them as well as to myself? At this rate I don't think I will be able to afford a clue, let alone a home.

Background Info about Hometown Democracy

What is Hometown Democracy?
This amendment lets voters decide whether their city or county comprehensive land use plan will be changed or adopted. Currently, city and county commissions make those decisions.

One goal of Florida’s 1985 Growth Management Act is to encourage citizen participation. Some citizens are active in local planning; many more do not participate in the current process. The current process has failed Florida repeatedly. Florida’s Hometown Democracy Amendment will guarantee local “ownership” of community plans at the ballot box. Because Floridians are stuck with the consequences of comprehensive plan changes, it makes sense that they should have the final say over proposed changes that can determine the destiny of their communities for generations to come.

News articles
"Builders Back Rule Changing Amendment" (Tampa Tribune, September 27, 2006) http://www.tbo.com/news/nationworld/MGBVNUA7LSE.html

"Lake responds to grass-roots growth appeal" (Orlando Sentinel, July 7, 2006) Opinion Column (you can go to http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com/ and click on Media...the link for this article on the Orlando Sentinel website has expired and you must now pay for the entire article)

Legal Cases

• City of Eastlake v. Forest City Enterprises, Inc., [426 US 668 or 96 S.Ct. 2358 or 49 L.Ed.2d 132], a 1976 decision, the United States Supreme Court upheld the use of referenda to make local land use decisions, stating:
  Under our constitutional assumptions, all power derives from the people, who can delegate it to representative instruments which they create. See, E.g., The Federalist No. 39 (v. Madison). In establishing legislative bodies, the people can reserve to themselves power to deal directly with matters which might otherwise be assigned to the legislature.

• In 1983, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the use of referenda on proposed local land use changes in Florida Land Company v. City of Winter Springs [427 So.2d 170], stating:
  The concept of referendum is thought by many to be a keystone of self-government, and its increasing use is indicative of a desire on the part of the electorate to exercise greater control over the laws which directly affect them.

(NOTE: I tried to find nonbiased information but that is pretty difficult. This info page is meant to provide nonbiased background.)

Hometown Democracy

What is Hometown Democracy? The Florida Hometown Democracy amendment will change the Florida Constitution to require that changes to local government comprehensive plans (and adoption of new plans) be subject to a referendum vote of local voters as the final step in the local approval process. Currently, such votes are only made by county and city commissioners.

Recently I have been working on a regional visioning project which placed a significant amount of power in the hands of the community to make decisions about future development in their communities. Although the agency I was working for provided a quick 1 hour crash course in planning and also provided each table of participants with about 25 GIS layers of information (including infrastructure, future roads, environmental information, floodplains, etc.) I found that more often than not emotion ended up playing a larger role in the decisions of where future development should occur moreso than what seemed like a logical place for increased density.

I believe that the community does have a right to participate in the planning process but I am afraid that if the Hometown Democracy amendment passes then a large constituency of uninformed individuals will be making planning decisions. I would be more apt to using a system where planners are placed in positions where they are held more accountable than they are now for decisions that aren't always in the best interest of the public, which is who we are here to serve.