This week we have the opportunity to contribute our opinions of the toll roads to those making the decisions and the rules. We strongly urge you to sign on to this meeting and record your opposition. Your voice counts and it will go into the record.
This is NOT A DONE DEAL. The worst thing we can do is to roll over belly up and say it’s going in anyway. That’s the easy way out. We don’t even want to suggest mitigation issues in case it does go through–we want to stop it cold. And we will, if everyone who opposes it will just say so.
TELL THEM “NO ACTION.”
But we must speak up and use the instructions below.
Development is the most destructive thing for Florida’s environment. It covers the earth with concrete and prevents rainfall to soak into the ground to replenish the aquifer. It brings people for whom we don’t have potable water. It brings pollution in the air, the roadways and in our water. It brings traffic congestion. It destroys rural agricultural lands. It kills wildlife and destroys habitat.
Florida doesn’t need these roads, they are a political scheme for a few people to get rich. Additional lanes can be built in the existing corridors without creating new ones. Hurricane evacuation can be assured by raising the bridges we already have.
Your representatives in Tallahassee have been deceptive from the beginning, implying that we have no alternative but to build the roads. At the task force meetings they use the word “environment” a lot. This is a ploy used by phosphate companies, the oil industry and developers: “buffers, mitigate, minimum impact, negative impact, preserve, conservation, habitat,” and on and on. Many times these carry the rider “whenever possible.” When the project is done, usually it wasn’t possible.
One of the latest emails we received from FDOT about M-CORES says, among other things, that “The program strives to: “Number 1. Protect the environment and natural resources.”
If FDOT and Sen. Bill Galvano are telling you this with a straight face thinking you might believe it, they will tell you anything, hoping you will swallow it. This is an insult to your intelligence and common sense. The number one thing is for political cronies to make money, the rest is “whenever possible.”
The Suncoast Connector is planned to go through nowhere to get to nowhere at the Georgia line, south of tiny Thomasville. What is there to require a toll road? Only a huge tract of land belonging to Mr. Thomas Petterffy, the richest man in Florida, who has already said he wants to build a small city there. Please think about this and about who stands to gain from this road. Those who stand to lose are the farmers and ranchers and their way of life. And all of Florida’s citizens who like our environment the way it is.,
The following information on how to access the meeting was provided by the Florida Springs Institute.
Attend (virtually) FDOT’s Suncoast Task Force webinar at 9:30am Thursday April 30th.
https://floridamcores.com/event/suncoast-corridor-webinar/
This is the road proposed to stretch from Citrus County (home to manatee refuge Three Sisters Springs) up to Jefferson County (home of Wacissa Spring) through vulnerable aquifer recharge areas.
Let’s pack the virtual room. Everyone wishing to provide live public comments must register no later than Wednesday, April 29, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. Live comments will be limited to three minutes per person.
All three of FDOT’s toll road task forces will be holding online meetings this week. Consider attending all three:
April 28 9:30am, SW-Central Florida Corridor Connector:
https://floridamcores.com/event/southwest-central-florida-corridor-webinar
April 29 9:30am: Northern Turnpike Corridor Connector:
https://floridamcores.com/event/northern-turnpike-corridor-webinar/
April 30 9:30am: Suncoast Corridor Connector:
https://floridamcores.com/event/suncoast-corridor-webinar/
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
I am shocked that this is even being considered! Definitely a obvious corruption scheme!
No action. We see you politicians and we are coming to get you on election day.
No action! These roads destroy precious land, water and lifestyles that once destroyed cannot be replaced. Think about our grandchildren, please!
No action. Follow the money trail to discover who will benefit from a new toll road–and who will be harmed. The environment, the small towns, the ambiance of the area, the creatures that live in the path of the road will be damaged beyond repair.
No action. No toll roads. No more destruction of Florida’s special areas. No more concrete to enrich a few. No roads that lead to nowhere. No more lies about how the roads will not damage the environment. No more deception about how endangered species will not be harmed. NO MORE TOLL ROADS.
Giving up is not the right option. Persistently, intelligently challenging monetary profits at the cost of natural resources has saved much beauty and protected much land.
No action. This toll road idea is utter nonsense. So much in Florida needs to be built up now. Not that.
no profit for the few. no action.
“NO ACTION”
Florida is being used up and worn out with no end in sight. “Everyone wants a party but nobody wants to clean”
It’s everybody’s playground, until that mindset changes, the states ecosystem is doomed.
“No Action”
good luck with it. when did it help protesting stop nestle . its always about money. to make us dependent on government to travel