FLORIDA'S CAMPAIGN FOR SCENIC BEAUTY
The proliferation of billboards and the state-sanctioned destruction of trees vandalizes Florida's scenic beauty. The state Legislature has hamstrung local governments in their struggle to remove unsightly billboards, and the principle of home rule has been trampled down. Beautification projects on public property are often banned in consideration of nearby billboards. "Just compensation" for billboard removal has been converted to an unjust enrichment scheme that breeds billboard blight along our local and state roads.
More than twenty thousand billboards now line the state highway system. Seventy-five percent (75%) of these billboards are under the control of three media conglomerates. [See Billboard Industry Facts]
Hawaii, Vermont, Maine and Alaska have no billboards. These states take pride in their scenic beauty. In contrast, Florida's countryside and urban centers have become billboard jungles and Florida's roadways an endless yellow page advertisement.
In 1968, just a few years after the passage of the federal Highway Beautification Act, the Florida Constitution was revised to provide that "It shall be the policy of the state to conserve and protect its natural resources and scenic beauty." Article II, Section 7, 1968 Florida Constitution.
Our eyes behold Florida's failure to implement this constitutional provision. It is apparent to all who see that Florida is becoming scenically degraded by and for special interests.
Like the state's disappearing scenic beauty, our marine resources and our Everglades once lacked adequate protection from special interests whose pollution and excesses damaged our state's natural resources. In 1994, an initiative drive led to the protection of the state's marine resources. In 1996, another initiative drive led to greater protection of the Everglades from polluters. Today, no one suggests that we should strip protection of our Everglades or our marine resources from the Florida Constitution.
Floridians of all walks of life support the conservation and protection of both "natural resources" and "scenic beauty" -- indeed, the two concerns are intrinsically related. The time has come for the citizens of this state to take vigorous action to ensure the conservation and protection of Florida's scenic beauty.
Article XI, s. 3 of the Florida Constitution provides that "the power to propose the revision or amendment of any portion or portion of this constitution by initiative is reserved to the people." This power of initiative "reserved to the people" is most often exercised where the legislative process has proven to be ineffective or under the control of special interest.
The Campaign for Scenic Beauty will be a volunteer effort by Florida citizens from all walks of life. We plan to gather the required 488,722 verified signatures of registered voters by a grassroots effort. It may begin slowly, but as Floridians take stock of the ongoing destruction of this state's scenic beauty, there is no doubt that we will have a proposal ready for the electorate in November 2006 (or before). Following the delivery of 48,869 petitions to the Division of Elections, the petition form will be reviewed, first by the Florida Attorney General and then, by the Florida Supreme Court. If the initiative receives approval from the Florida Supreme Court, the initiative drive will continue until 488,722 petitions are gathered and certified.
The issue will then appear on the ballot, and it will be up to Florida's electorate to decide whether to provide Florida's scenic beauty with the appropriate and effective additional constitutional protection.
Some may ask if this is necessary or wonder if a legislative solution is around the corner. The Florida Legislature's inability to act decisively on billboard blight has been painfully and visually obvious for years. Our Legislature repeatedly sides with the billboard industry against the interests of local communities who are attempting to clean up billboard blight. Using their power and money, the billboard industry has actually obtained legislation that blocks the ability of local government to clean up billboard blight. Further delay will guarantee the loss of our remaining scenic beauty and clearly does not serve the public interest.
The late Charles Kuralt put it best in 1997 during his last public appearance when he said:
We have to believe that place by place, mile by mile, we can preserve Scenic America and even reclaim ugly America. I haven't a doubt from all these years of wandering that Americans want to do that. And from all our history there is ample evidence that we can. ... I know we can't afford to be cynical. If we believe nothing is ever going to change, nothing ever will. ... America does not belong to the franchisers and the developers and spoilers who do not give a damn about their country. The land is ours. Ordinary Americans, I am persuaded of this with all my heart, ordinary Americans want a beautiful country. We are proud of the amber waves of grain and the purple mountains' majesties. And we are not powerless.
Indeed, we are not powerless in Florida as we have the reserved right "of the people" to amend our constitution to conserve and protect its natural resources and scenic beauty. Twice before, the right "of the people" has been used successfully to protect our natural resources. This time it will be for our scenic beauty.
In considering the Campaign for Scenic Beauty, just consider the following two quotes from Thomas Jefferson:
I know of no safer depository of the ultimate power of society but the people themselves.
Communities should be planned with an eye to the effect on the human spirit of being continually surrounded by a maximum of beauty.
Many years later, President Theodore Roosevelt observed:
I believe in the Initiative and Referendum, which should be used not to destroy representative government, but to correct it when it becomes misrepresentative.
Theodore Roosevelt also noted that the country was vulgarizing its landscapes with hideous advertisements:
Here in the United States we turn our rivers and streams into sewers and dumping grounds, we pollute the air, we destroy forests, exterminate fishes, birds, and mammals -- not to speak of vulgarizing charming landscapes with hideous advertisements.
The Scenic Beauty petition form can be downloaded from the website at www.scenicbeauty.org. Signed petitions and contributions can be sent to Scenic Beauty, Inc., P.O. Box 8929, Jacksonville, Florida 32239-0929.
Marion B. Hilliard
Chairperson, Conserve and Protect Florida's Scenic Beauty www.scenicbeauty.org, Inc. (Scenic Beauty, Inc.)
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