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More
to Jeb than big bucks - The wheeler-dealers and their big bucks
epitomize Jeb Bush's agenda for Florida. It's about tax cuts and
more tax cuts. It's about less help for those who need it most and
more money for those who need it least. - Or so his critics charge.
-
I see a lot more depth to this Republican son of an old-money, New
England family, who grew up in Texas and lived for a time in Mexico,
Venezuela and Puerto Rico, though. He cares about children, about
getting rid of bureaucratic rules that tie the hands of teachers who
want to do right by kids. And he seems to understand, too, that
Florida's growing cultural diversity can be an asset, not a drain.
9/1/01
Balancing access and privacy in a high-tech world
While a few modern-day Luddites suggest that phenomenal
advances in technology have done more harm than good for humanity -
a preposterous notion - it is true that our progress has far
outpaced the legal and ethical responses to the challenges that
high-technology poses. The responsible path, as Gov. Jeb Bush
acknowledged last week, is to proceed with caution.
8/19
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PR
worries common for politicians - ...Gov. Jeb Bush, no Utopian,
spends a lot of time thinking how things could be made better. But
he's probably not losing any sleep over defending himself
"against those threats" from the left. His brother just
called off oil drilling near the Florida coast, he's had a
scandal-free first term, and anyone still blaming him for last
November probably wouldn't have voted for him next year anyway.
Not
exactly positive, but close... 7/2/01
Bush
talks tough on crime - Addressing a roomful of state prosecutors
Monday, Gov. Jeb Bush said he plans to head off the next crime wave
before it reaches Florida and make the state's residents, especially
the elderly, safe from Web-based criminals.By
CATHY ZOLLO, crzollo@naplesnews.com |
The Palm Beach Post
Monday, July 2, 2001
Gov. Bush, angered by rising land costs, wants to save money buying land
needed for Everglades restoration. Backed by two members of his Cabinet,
Secretary of State Katherine Harris and Insurance Commissioner Tom
Gallagher, the governor decided at a meeting in Stuart last week that he
wants to consider declaring lands needed for the restoration as
"areas of critical state concern."
Such land designations allow state officials to alter city and county
land-use plans or repeal changes local governments have approved. The
governor is angry that city and county governments approve developments or
zoning changes on land earmarked for the restoration, artificially
inflating the price before the state can buy it. Vacant pasture zoned for
agriculture is much cheaper than land where dozens of new homes have been
approved.
The land is needed as part of the $8 billion federal-state
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, which depends on the state
buying more than 200,000 acres to store water in reservoirs, well fields
and filter marshes throughout Central and South Florida. The restoration
plan can't succeed without the land, where water will be stored, cleaned
and used to restore the Everglades and supply water for new Florida
residents.
In Florida's Keys, the critical-concern program stemmed growth that
could have overwhelmed the fragile chain of islands, where coral reefs are
endangered by pollution from septic tanks and runoff from farms and
cities, along with too many fishermen and boaters.
Part of the problem with land needed to restore the Everglades,
however, is that Gov. Bush still has not come up with a dedicated source
of money for the state's $4 billion half of restoration costs. He could
have dedicated $100 million each year from the state's land-buying program
and raised water management district taxes by 30 cents per $1,000 of
assessed valuation.
He did neither, and Florida lawmakers raided the Preservation 2000
land-buying program for money for schools and health.
South Florida Water Management District doesn't have enough money to
buy land for the restoration, even with severe budget cuts. Declaring
areas of critical state concern might help a little to hold down costs,
particularly if officials quickly identify the lands needed.
But unless the governor finds or creates a way to pay for the property,
that simply will not be enough.
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