[firemed]

Grassroots Coalition Creates
“Florida Is Our Home”
Ballot Initiative Committee to Fight Property Tax Initiative

A broad coalition representing well over 1 million voters filed the paperwork today to create “Florida Is Our Home,” a ballot initiative committee to coordinate a statewide grassroots effort to defeat Amendment 1 on January 29th. The coalition includes a diverse group of social service advocates, retirees, community organizations and groups representing teachers, firefighters and other workers. Some of those groups include; the Florida PTA, the Florida League of Women Voters, Florida ACORN, the Human Services Coalition and Florida Alliance of Retired Americans, as well as the Florida AFL-CIO, SEIU, Florida Education Association and the Florida Association of Professional Firefighters.

The committee will be chaired by Karen Woodall, a long-time social service advocate who is respected on all sides of the political spectrum for her tireless dedication to improving the lives and communities of all Floridians. She said, “We have created Florida Is Our Home to educate all Floridians about the negative impacts of Amendment 1 on our communities and our state. When all is said and done, the bottom line is that this is a bad deal for Florida’s families.” While proponents of the amendment are highlighting the fact that most homeowners may save some money, Florida Is Our Home wants the voters to know that the average $20 a month homeowners may save will cost our schools, public safety and critical programs that enhance our overall quality of life dearly. Woodall said, “This misguided amendment will hurt all aspects of life in Florida. Schools and public safety, parks and recreation programs, libraries and after school programs, even public sanitation will suffer greatly if this amendment passes.” Florida Is Our Home will be a true grassroots effort and will enable the diverse groups represented to build on their own member mobilization efforts already underway to include a broader public. Woodall, continued, “This is not going to be a Donald Trump, people who winter at their mansions on the beach committee, this is going to be a true, people powered effort by Floridians who live, work, raise their families and play here year round. Supporters of Amendment 1 may have a million dollars, but we have a million voices and will use those voices to tell the people of Florida the truth about this tax scam.”

[floridasandy]

i was going to vote against the property tax amendment because i did not think it was enough of a cut in property taxes, but now i am leaning towards it. for me, something is better than nothing. everybody knows if government gets more money it just trickles down and stays mostly at the top, with the administrators. since when did paying more ever help anybody in this state and where was the improvement in quality of life? we have had more revenue in the last 4 years but i have certainly seen no increase in services. the money just seems to vanish into thin air.

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by floridasandy

i was going to vote against the property tax amendment because i did not think it was enough of a cut in property taxes, but now i am leaning towards it. for me, something is better than nothing. everybody knows if government gets more money it just trickles down and stays mostly at the top, with the administrators. since when did paying more ever help anybody in this state and where was the improvement in quality of life? we have had more revenue in the last 4 years but i have certainly seen no increase in services. the money just seems to vanish into thin air.

Very good observation! No matter how much money they get, we the citizens see no additional benefit. Let's roll back spending to the levels they were 5 years ago.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by tallrick

Very good observation! No matter how much money they get, we the citizens see no additional benefit. Let's roll back spending to the levels they were 5 years ago.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about grassroots movements, but for the purpose of citizens' insisting that town and county government cut back spending.

I was also against the amendment proposal because it merely tinkers with the system, plus it gives one relatively narrow group a break, sort of, and I believe that constitutions should not be touched for superfluous reasons or merely to address symptoms, not real problems.

But now that these whiners are in it to promote more spending - one of the real problems (one of the others is the free money policy at the national level) -, then I change my mind and support the amendment.

Unfortunately politics too often comes down to choosing between the lesser of two evils, and here we have it again.