Why The Math Equals A Yes Vote On Nov. 8
By Tom Palmer
When the 1994 environmental lands referendum funding was set to expire, the discussion among Polk County commissioners went something like this.
There was already a lot of protected land in the county and what’s the point to going further?
But if you listen to critics of many developments, a recurring theme involves the disappearance of trees and wildlife from the property.
Looking more broadly, a recent column that ran in the Tallahassee Democrat raised the issue of how much conservation land Florida needs.
The column described Florida’s national ranking and calculated that there is only 0.4 of an acre per capita, arguing land acquisition has not kept pace with population growth.
Here in Polk County the situation is worse.
The calculation comes out to about 0.2 of an acre per person.
Without support for additional land acquisition as proposed on the Nov. 8 ballot, the deficit will just get worse as Polk’s population approaches 1 million residents.
To learn more about the effort, go to polkforever.com.by