By Martha Musgrove — Florida’s Hometown Democracy Amendment has triggered angst among local-government officials and generated discussion about the merits of representative government, property rights and now – in the midst of a recession – Florida’s narrow economic base.

By Carol Saviak — Hometown Democracy is designed to strip Florida citizens of their private property rights. Deceptively promoted as a method of stopping unwanted growth, Amendment 4 on the November election ballot proposes a new layer of regulation across all land in Florida. This would have an extraordinarily negative impact not only on private property rights but Florida’s economy

Lesley Blackner — Reckless changes to growth plans can ruin a community for decades to come. Praying for our commissioners to “do the right thing” has not worked.  Let’s put Amendment 4 in the Florida Constitution for ourselves and future generations.

By Jack E. Davis — University of Florida historian Jack E. Davis sees in the writings of the late John D. MacDonald a link to Florida’s current Hometown Democracy movement.

By Rebecca Eagan — Overdevelopment is ruining Florida’s quality of life and damaging her unique natural areas. It has occurred too quickly. Speculation fueled the housing bubble, raised our taxes, cost us precious public funds propping up ghost metropolises in the sticks, and then crashed to earth. This November we can put Florida on a brighter path with Hometown Democracy.

By Richard Reep — Amendment 4 capitalizes on short-term voter outrage over everything, but in the long term, if the language is approved by voters, Florida would likely languish in the twilight of missed opportunities as businesses relocate elsewhere to avoid risky, lengthy public campaigns to build their presence in this state.

The Sunshine State Survey confirms what we might all have suspected – that the economy is, indeed, the chief worry of Floridians these days.

By Joe McClash
When an amendment to our state constitution could protect our quality of life, it deserves the support of all Floridians. Amendment 4, also popularly known as Hometown Democracy, is such an amendment. It would allow Floridians a say in how their communities develop and, for that reason, should be approved by the [...]

By John Koenig
Editor & Publisher
Hometown Democracy is Florida’s hot-button ballot issue of 2010. That has been evident in the traffic to this website. Our analytical article and opposing pro and con commentaries on Hometown Democracy  draw far more readers than anything else we’ve posted. And the level of passion among those readers [...]