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| This News Just In... |
We're headed for the Supreme Court of Florida (we hope)...
Yes, there comes a time when you must take a stand. THIS is one of THOSE times.
In this case, we are taking a stand on Standing. That right - we're
going to stand up and be heard so that when we deserve Standing we can
remain standing and stand on the issue at hand to speak our piece to
those sitting down! Confused yet? Well then, sit down and we'll
discuss standing in more detail! Yes, I know what you're thinking
right now, and no, you can't reach me with an overripe Tomato, just yet.
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On a more serious note, the issue really is Standing - Legal Standing in situations were we (you or I) deserve to be heard and should have a right to complain, or even file suit, if necessary.
Hopefully, I have your attention by now. If you are an ECARD member,
chances are you already know what's going on because you received our
email. But, if by chance you didn't, please read on because this is important and we feel that everyone needs to know about this.
CLICK HERE FOR THE RED ALERT Notice from Barbara Herrin, our Fearless Leader.
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Just released: "Farmton the Movie!" By Sierra Club Florida
Click the above Title to watch on YouTube
Yes, a city for 50,000 humans will spring up at the intersection of No and Where
otherwise known as "W L I L O T U L I C F"
a.k.a. What Little Is Left Of The Undeveloped Land In Central Florida, and
it seems that it is all for the Benefit of Mr. No Mrs. Body (meaning Nobody will really benefit),
except, of course, for the continued banking pleasure of (pssst.. who? Oh.. yeah..)
THE BANKERS!
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please don't forget to get out your Tissues before beginning to
watch because it will probably MAKE BLOOD SHOOT OUT OF YOUR EYES as
your blood pressure exceeds most advanced methods of measurement
reaching levels that could possibly become a new power source for Earth...
WHO WE ARE
ECARD
is a group of diverse citizens of the town of Edgewater, Florida that
have
taken notice that the Edgewater we know (and love) is disappearing
right
before our very eyes. We are not a bunch of crazed
tree
huggers,
or wildlife
fanatics,
(OK,OK, so I hug as tree now and then...SO WHAT!?) although we certainly
do appreciate Florida
wildlife.
We are plain old everyday, ordinary Edgewater Citizens. Some of
us are retired,
some
of us work and live here, and some of us are business owners. We are of
all political persuasions. We are a little bit of
everything. One day we noticed that the small, quiet, water's edge
community we knew and loved had suddenly become a
VERY popular
growth
and development area. Many of us
remember when Edgewater had two
traffic lights, and
one of them flashed yellow during the evening hours! Some of us even
remember riding horses from Old Mission Road down Park Avenue across US
Highway 1 to the
water's edge and it was not that long ago (early 70s
through the early 80s!). We also used
to swim in the river over by City Hall which is NOT recommended
anymore due to posted warnings of skin rashes and other
irritations... kind of sad, don't you think?
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Our mission statement from the Articles of
Incorporation are as follows:
MISSION STATEMENT
The
purposes for which the corporation is created and maintained shall be
for the protection of the current character and quality of life, social
and general welfare and common good of the residents of the City of
Edgewater, Florida. The activities of the
corporation shall include but not be limited to, advancing civil
betterment, social improvement and humane activities by encouraging
public participation in the local governing process, according to
general law.
The
corporation shall collect, analyze and disseminate data and information
related to, and encourage public participation in, local land use
planning decisions, assessing and insuring their compliance with the
County’s Minimum Environmental Standards provision, including the use
of citizen initiatives or referenda in the process, in the interests of
stopping sprawl, maintaining low density zoning and other land use
designations, and protecting wildlife habitat and water resources,
including the Indian River.
The
corporation shall exercise all rights & powers granted to not-for-
profit corporations under Florida laws, & to conduct all
activities, & exercise all powers that are otherwise consistent
with the corporation’s purposes.
In
furtherance
of its purposes, the corporation may purchase, acquire,
receive, hold, own, lease, mortgage, sell or convey any and all
property, real or personal, in its own name, and can engage in fund
raising to support its activities.
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What the heck is Farmton, anyway?
Farmton is the name of a very large tract of land that borders on the Southwest tip of Edgewater... Here's a small map:
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People who
don't know where the water comes from in the St. Johns River would not
have a problem with building into and over the wetland areas that clean
and
feed a portion of the river. But as we have learned over the
years, once you destroy these areas, getting them back is next
to impossible. A prime example of this type of problem (albeit a much
larger one) is when they handed
the northern sections of the Everglades to large farming concerns, and
the eastern
sections to developers (with very few limits on either of them for quite
some time). Now,
they (the politicians) are "looking" for more than $2 Billion to "start" the Restoration of
the Everglades since the native flora, fauna and wildlife is
dying off
at an alarming rate. What we'll have left is a big, nasty, dead swamp
breeding
things that are not near as nice as what the Glades used to produce when
I was a Boy Scout back in the 60s and did some serious "exploring" in the
wild (supervised, of course - and does anyone know any good soup recipe for Anaconda, Boa Constrictor or Asian Iguana?).
When will we learn, if ever? And where is ANYONE going to get $2 billion for
anything with the federal budget so badly bloated? The answer is, we more than likely won't.
And if we screw up the St. Johns, we won't go back and fix it, either.
This means that we have to do the correct thing the first time around -
or get someone else to. And don't get all negative - this doesn't mean
NOTHING can be built. We're not stupid. But we DO know from past
experience that planning for the future where things like "unattractive
swamps" and rivers with what must surely be an unlimited supply of water (NOT) are concerned and sit real high on agenda.
Below is a link to a
large PDF file (~23 MB) which is the
Farmton
Wetlands Mitigation Bank Permit:
Farmton_ACOE_Mitigation_Bank_Permit_6-2000.pdf
Yes, it's large and
will take a bit of time to download, but it is well worth the time and your reading pleasure! There
are also plans for the "future" of the Farmton Tract on the Internet,
also for your "Reading Pleasure" (written by those that control and own
it). Go out there and read about the future of this huge sections of
land. They sound wonderful to me. All the right words: Sustainable,
Reduced resource consumption - Clustered Density, Reduced Power
Requirements, etc. And the promise to save large sections of land
NEVER to be touched in the future (no matter what - or when Florida's population reaches 24.5 Million and someone else says we can - whichever comes first).
Here is another article worth reading: http://www.beacononlinenews.com/news/daily/2338
Yes, it's "dated" and I noted that some of the
people that commented on the article said they drove down Maytown Road
and it was logging trucks and kids speeding at 100mph.
That may be so (I've never done over 90 on that road! - that I remember...),
but if you look to the left and right (yes, slow down a wee bit when
you do it), you'll see sections of unattractive, swampy looking
undeveloped marshy areas that are really the "Maytag Dishwasher" of River Feeders.
Whole sections of wetlands that aren't very attractive, perform some
pretty important cleaning tasks for the St. Johns River. And now they are talking about pulling millions of gallons out the River to drink because (as I read it)
they can't get that much from the Floridan Aquifer. (huh?) -
Maybe I read that wrong. Where do you supposed all that River
water comes from? You guessed it: "sections of unattractive, swampy looking undeveloped marshy areas...."
- yes they not only keep frags happy, but they surround the
little tributaries and feeder streams that add up to the mighty St.
Johns. It still is quite the river. Let's hope it stays that
way. They still have that neat boat ride you can go on - it's been
years for me. If you have never seen the St. Johns by boat, you need to
do it. You WILL be impressed.
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Edgewater Citizen’s Alliance for Responsible Development, Inc. (ECARD)
704 W. Park
Ave., Suite C,
Edgewater, FL 32132
EdgewaterCitizensAlliance@Yahoo.com
Here
is what we are trying to save:
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