Is pushback on Florida state parks plan a turning point?

[@Janineb9]

Sixth generation Floridian here… agree 100% with all that Jessica is saying! Well spoken!! Save our wildlife areas from the current State government… the Governor, the Department of Environmental Protection!! This is not “left or right” issue… It’s a Florida citizen issue!!!

[@sadjaxx]

Funny how DeSantis fired the one heroic FDEP employee who understood what Public Service actually means. Thank you James Gaddis, for Saving our State Parks! Floridians will remember you!

[@user-fc8zj9kj7x]

Thank you, Jessica Namath for speaking out in support of preserving all of Florida State Parks.

[@dougsimmon7460]

Millions of gallons of water weekly to keep them green ! Parks are natural habitats , they don't require " improvements " , ronnie !!

[@laurenkemp-rk4ep]

Mr. Gaddis is a hero - whistleblowers should be protected.

[@helensolleconner9698]

Damn Skippy!!

[@CurbBlurbs]

Absolutely outrageous!!!!! It pisses me off they even thought of such a dumb FKKIN idea! There are 100 golf courses in this area.and they have the nerve to do this:,, I don’t trust the politicians

[@christinemccoy4471]

Well stated truth.

[@edwardroche2480]

Definitely a republican thing, how better than to kiss Trump's rump than taxpayers financing more golf courses.

[@Cerceify4645]

Note Death Santis said: "If they don't want improvements.".. See he thinks more concrete and destruction is an improvement. We need to check out Former State Rep. Chuck Clemons who introduced the Bill 781.

[@greensorrel6860]

It's insane that in every county in Florida that I know of, people overwhelmingly voted to fund and protect wildlife and state parks on the ballot. Then they try this pushing it through quietly when they are well aware how voters feel. This is very disturbing along with giving developers carte Blanche putting development with no yards and pathetically little greenspace.

[@elizabethreed3358]

DeSantis is trying to make this a political thing, when it's a GREED thing! He's lying again!

[@daveassanowicz186]

They fired the whistleblower

[@guitarz76]

Their mistake.

[@Fourofakind-22B]

Exactly!!! If Duhsantis “didn’t know about this” why Fire the guy who leaked it?? Why not fire the head of the DEP of Florida instead?

[@lionfish3630]

I hope he sues!

[@bonniebriggs3880]

Good girl call him out!❤❤❤

[@kwi5331]

Keep your eyes on county and local agencies as well in the future. This was a coordinated land grab and will not stop.

[@bennemer489]

In my experience, "accordion hands" usually mean the speaker is lying.

[@elizabethreed3358]

DeSantis and Trump are two peas in a pod.

[@MikiCab1]

Good going. Stay vigilant. This is an ongoing issue and they will never stop

[@dianev6180]

they fired the whistleblower! That is not right!!! We do love our natural parks for recreation, not to be ploughed over for more grass!! People have plenty of choices for golf courses, the rich just want us to pay for it!

[@info781]

There are a huge amount of golf courses in Florida, but many of them are no longer economical and are under used. Due to population increases, the land is too valuable to purchase and make money from golf fees alone. So developers are going to try to go after "free" land in the parks and have the tax payers subsidize it. Expect this to keep coming up.

[@greensorrel6860]

You summarized that well, absolutely, and it is corporate welfare and government overreach

[@huguetpameijer1281]

And golf courses operate at a loss to be a tax write-off. That is why there are so many under utilized golf courses and new ones pop up.

[@GeneRiddle]

Desantis needs to get James job back. Fire his boss !

[@Jr-qo4ls]

Been a DeSantis supporter for a long time. But this is a dealbreaker.

[@homesteadlady3acrehomestead]

Thank you Jessica Namath. I am with you, Born and raised in Florida,64 years and like you I have seen the changes. They are drastic so young women like yourself give me hope that the fight will continue to protect Florida and our wildlife. We also need to educate more people about the Florida Wildlife Corridor. The Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation has a youtube channel with many educational videos on saving Florida parks, state owned land and the Florida Wildlife Corridor. I see a meeting with Carlton Ward Jr. in your future.

[@Cerceify4645]

Thanks. I 've been out of town and will check out The Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation.

[@LJSheffRBLX]

WPTV News - FL Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast, awesome content bro

[@donnafechter5843]

We have to make sure that they don't do that on any state park. And call out the Florida governor for lying saying he didn't know anything about it.

[@dougsimmon7460]

The government has always been in developers' pockets , and that's where donations come from , and ronnie always does things sneaky and sleazy !!

[@elizabethreed3358]

@@dougsimmon7460 🎯

[@lionfish3630]

Deathsantis is a skid ake in the grass and a lying ratdog!

[@Kevin-s7s]

Call out a bronze star recipient. I think id be more inclined to believe anyone else is lying. Like you. Or her. Desantis has run this state better than any other in the union. Perhaps leaving and going and bitching about somewhere else should be your plan. Bye!

[@Kevin-s7s]

@@dougsimmon7460harris is worth 9 million as a public servant. Desantis is worth 3 including his house. Whos corrupt?

[@tallyrc]

Please give some credit to the gentleman at the department of environmental protection that got fired for blowing the whistle on these projects. James gaddis.

[@My_Name_is_Cricket]

Improvements? He calls them improvements? Does he call the assesments in Lauderdale and Miami improvements? Boy what a surprise legislation that was . Tired that they just push us around like that ... that they simply take without providing ample time for discussion.

[@bonniebriggs3880]

Thank you Jessica!❤❤❤❤

[@patriciagurwitz509]

Protect our Parks👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@sangm1561]

Big money cashing in under DeSantis. They were stopped this time, can't say the same for all the condo takeover in South Florida by the governor's big developer donors.

[@sadjaxx]

It better be!!! Y'all are doing great coverage of this issue! Thank you! We aren't seeing this so much in North Florida.

[@mayapastrana4444]

Jessica Namath is amazing! I would vote for her if she ran for governor.

[@Cerceify4645]

Cabot Citrus Compant( I think that's the name) is a big international golf course company. Speaking of "ARC" Cabot has three golfcourses just east o the Sunshine Parway and in Hernando county just belwo the Citrus county line. I read that Cabot wants to add houses so they want to trade there approx. 800 acres up in Levy County of HWY 24 east of Cedar Key for about 340 acres of protected sandhill that was purchased by the state as mitigation for the Parkway cutting through a wildlife corridor. Please check this out also.

[@TheVuduYuDu]

OMG! Wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Yes this needs to be boosted!!!

[@DeathRainsz]

They are building everywhere here in the state of Florida, gofer turtles being buried alive, Cypress trees cut, mangrove trees cleared, swamp filled in with dirt, Mountains of trash. Florida is looking good.

[@DeathRainsz]

The only roads here that don’t have potholes where the tourist travel.

[@inHammock1]

"Improvements?!!!" Hah

[@bonniebriggs3880]

So now to get back at us they won't allocate money to fix the things at the parks that have been broken by storms such as boardwalks, suspension bridges, etc.

[@vaughn1804]

Add fishing piers to that list

[@lionfish3630]

He's a big baby just like tRump if he doesn't get his way he won't fix anything! Turd

[@yelenayakovleva7901]

Right on! We are not happy with that kind of governance.

[@Sherry-v2r]

Now there is outrage that the public was informed of DeSantis plans to cause great harm to our parks and the man who gave the information to the public was fired! Way to go MAGATS!!

[@greensorrel6860]

I agree with all that except last comment don't feed into their rhetoric. They want to divide us, instead of having us realize that there is much both sides agree and then start looking at them.

[@tallyrc]

Someone do a public records request to find out what desantis actually knew

[@roliepoliecolie2200]

We've been had!

[@bonniebriggs3880]

DeSantis pants are on fire

[@TheVuduYuDu]

Please stay on this story! Who are these groups that submitted proposals for this scheme? What interests are they tied to? Seeing how sneaky this plan was no surprise if there are other things happening that we don’t know about but should. Please stay on this story!

[@barbarahering484]

If we had a better governor everything would be better. Can't wait for his term to be over.

[@randallreed9048]

Vote blue!

[@migueldelaguardia]

Ron DeSantis claims he did not know.🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@walleyechannel]

Should take the tax money appropriated for this and help out condo owners who actually help gain the tax money to waste?

[@adelecarson720]

This was heroic work to get these plans stopped (for now)! Thank you so much for your quick, amazing action! And thanks for platforming the story!

[@therolandx]

Taxpayers pay to replenish beaches after storms and now the law lets beachfront owners to close that taxpayer rebuilt beach to the public. Change that law now. Beachfront owners can legally stop you from walking the beach in front of their beachfront home.

[@kingofthecatnap5780]

Agree 100%

[@AFAskygoddess]

Beachfront homewners *CANNOT LEGALLY STOP YOU FROM WALKING THE BEACH IN FRONT OF THEIR HOMES* in Florida. They can only claim the property up to the high tide line in certain areas. The beaches are free for everyone to use in Florida. I know. I live exactly one mile from the beach on the intracoastal. If someone tries to stop you from walking the beach, video the confrontation and call the police.

[@randallreed9048]

@@AFAskygoddess In a practical sense, the high tide line is not a distinctive, fixed, border. Irrational homeowners can play games with their little plastic fences.

[@tallyrc]

Desantis absolutely knew about this. He's lying

[@Cerceify4645]

It was reported that this scheme came out of the Governor's office. I also read that my state legislator, Chuck Clemons, wrote the bill for Public Private initiatives back in 2011. Luckily, he is termed out. Very volatile character spouting things about voter fraud

[@rossr6616]

so developers LIKE socialism when they can get cheap piblicly owned lands for their projects...

[@chinookvalley]

Help!!! Colorado's beauty is disappearing and being replaced by houses, roads, shopping complexes, and leaving wildlife nowhere to go. I live on the plains foothills of the Rockies and it's so sad to see the habitat being built out of existence. No habitat, no wildlife. How many more humans do we need to bring onto this planet? Haven't we destroyed enough as a species? "Wild Colorado" no longer can be found. Humans have taken away the future of all lifeforms.

[@DistrustHumanz]

Colorado running off all the blue collar middle class, leaving only rich people and criminals... locals taking control of public lands such as BLM and National Forest... native Coloradans selling their inherited land to the highest bidder regardless of development intentions... all of this was ignored for decades. It's way too late for anyone to care now. Good luck.

[@msj7872]

My guess is DeSantis is that he thinks of these parks as state assets that aren't earning money, or at least paying for themselves. Can you imagine if he had become president what he would do to our National Parks?

[@JonNova]

Don't be a damn moron - Use your brain and quit shitting from your cell phone keyboard!

[@roliepoliecolie2200]

Yes

[@JameyLane]

My guess is that your'e a commie POS and grasp at straws for hatrid of Desantis.

[@yelleryoung5870]

He would sell them to the oil companies.

[@Tracy-m3n]

​@JameyLane what about the 324 acres of land desantis secretly sold back in june

[@buffaloman5042]

I wish people would uprise against Desantis developer friends like Neal Communities which are destroying every last bit of greenspace in Sarasota county

[@cdc3415]

Won't ever vote for THAT governor again either.

[@yelenayakovleva7901]

What kind of background governor has on screen during his speech? Guns without showing full bodies of police officers. What purpose was to make that scene on camera for the public viewing? Topic is about State Parks, but viewers have to look at guns and there are no attendees from DEP during his explanations. Poor job on image making of the official. And poor job by official himself.

[@Kwk16534]

That's how dictators love to portray themselves strong men with guns

[@hihatjas9477]

It's like we're living in Nazi Germany. Little Hitler and his gestapo. For someone who didn't know anything he sure rambled on about what where when and why.

[@PaulSkuta]

Mr. Gaddis is what a patriot looks like. Floridians, ditch your underhanded governor and elect a true public servant. Your Mr. Gaddis is a good example of what youshould be looking for.

[@Kudal196]

Ron DeSantis Stated That He would "Go Back To The Drawing Board". It Is Not Over Yet!

[@VictorLarronde-eu1vq]

Desantis only cares about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[@Sherry-v2r]

Keep our parks natural, not concrete parking lots! Floridians, now is the time to rid our government of ALL MAGATS! Vote Blue down the line in November!! HARRIS/WALZ NOVEMBER 2024!! Please watch out for DeSantis antics as well!!

[@SheilainFlorida]

Will be keeping a close eye on this, please don’t destroy our state parks. 😢

[@stevenhenry5267]

You guys voted for this. Little sympathy.

[@ocean1233]

FL. NEEDS A GOVERNOR ‼️💯

[@ocean1233]

The Protection of this World environment is imperative ‼️💯💚 GREED KILLS

[@rossr6616]

Any Russians involved in this?

[@jusletursoulglobaby]

eventually things will cool down, people will forget the plan will pass and our parks will never be the same

[@VeritasEIREAequitas]

Thank you Jessica

[@rcridefast7395]

Sad to hear this news Florida has some of the nastiest dirtiest parks go to Georgia and and see their state parks way cleaner especially the bathrooms

[@crinklecut3790]

Shelved for now….until they try and sneak it through again. If there’s enough money involved, they’ll try. It’s disgusting.

[@robertstevens9004]

She's great, yup Scott desantis, "monkeying it up "

[@leohorishny9561]

Floridians need to stop re-electing DeSatan. You’re just punching yourselves in the face by keeping him in office. 🤨

[@SeeTooStein]

So many in the comments quick to politicize this and start hating on the Governor and other lawmakers. I wonder how many of them have enjoyed the use of our state parks in the past few years, though? Because this woman said it herself: she grew up in our State Parks! So have my kids. And, yeah, 100% absolutely; the main purpose of these parks is to PRESERVE and PROTECT our natural spaces and the important habitats and functions they provide! But, the Parks have also ALWAYS functioned as Recreation spaces for our citizens. If you've ever camped or boated at Lake Louisa, hit the beach at Honeymoon Island, enjoyed our only protected Coral Reef at John Pennekamp, or floated down ANY of our beautiful Springs here in Florida, then you've benefitted from DEVELOPMENT of those natural spaces into Recreation spaces. If there was a bathroom there, it was developed. If there was a camping site that provided water, or paved parking, or maintained trails, or a boat ramp... it was developed. This leaked improvement plan CLEARLY overreached and pushed the Development too far for Floridians, and it's AMAZING that the majority of us agree we DO NOT need more golf courses! However, if Florida does not make plans to fund improvements to our Parks they will languish and die. They'll become mere Conservation spaces not meant for humans to enter or interact with. But hey, if that's what the people want, then Let's Go! The recent floods in Sarasota have shown what damage uncontrolled development can do. Save our watershed. Save our wetlands. Save our homes. It all goes hand in hand. Alas, if we also want to enjoy these natural spaces and raise our children in our State Parks, we have to maintain and fund them. We don't have state income tax, yet entrance fees to these spaces is as little as $3. So how ask yourself how that happens. Plans are going to be thrown out there that go to far sometimes. But there do need to be plans to invest in Florida State Parks if we want them to be accessible for all. I agree, no golf courses in protected lands! But camping, cabins, and even a lodge can be a great resource for citizens to safely experience the outdoors and help funds conservation. They give access, and access has been proven to increase conservation. (See Unicoi State Park and Lodge in Georgia or Blackwater Falls State Park and Lodge in West Virginia, among many other examples.) Don't let the environmentally unfriendly overdevelopment of the rest of Florida poison your mind on this issue. Likewise, don't let the media and political activists who have an axe to grind poison your mind.

[@donaldbutcher1260]

I hope that the state employee who leaked the information about this boondoggle either gets his job back or finds a better one. Come on DeSantis, do the right thing!

[@keithhildebrand629]

This wasn't the start of the process, they were almost at the end of doing this. They tried to do it secretly.

[@DavidLaFerney]

This proposal would have turned a public property that is available to everyone to a resort for the rich. Poor people don’t play golf, but they go to parks.

[@MARKSTRINGFELLOW1]

Basically its trying to sell off the family silver

[@Tom-p1z2k]

More development, less libs. Maga❤

[@Patrick-yh5yd]

The Governor should have said something day 1. Disney said they wanted to get rid of Frontierland. But now they changed mind. Morman church selling a huge piece of land east of Orlando to be developed. All of a sudden nature is bad?????

[@JonNova]

I am glad you prove that DeSantis is a HIGHLY competent Governor by saying that he should have put aside all State issues IMMEDIATELY to make a decision and comment on this issue. That's just NOT how the real world works ANYWHERE with the exception of the fantasy land in your brain.

[@JameyLane]

Desantis had nothing to do with it.

[@bonniebriggs3880]

😅😂😅​@JameyLane he is up to his elbows in this!

[@kingofthecatnap5780]

​@@JameyLane Of course he did. It's called corruption!!

[@JameyLane]

@@bonniebriggs3880 Please elaborate as to how. This should be good.

[@nealskrenes2612]

Vote NO on amendment 2, YES, on 3 and 4.

[@dougmcquaid3927]

Ole Pudding Finger Ron strikes again

[@wannabefarmerr]

He didn’t brush it off He legit didn’t know the whistleblower said that they were going to secretly release it 1 day before having a meeting. That department has gone corrupt

[@JuanFlores-em2rp]

😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😊

[@BruceLee-lm7lh]

If we stopped the people moving to Florida from Venezuela and Argentina we can keep our land

[@rossr6616]

always someone from "elsewhere" with you guys

[@mayapastrana4444]

If the democrats stopped just focusing on abortion and focus on other issues like this, then they would get voted in to more offices.

[@Fourofakind-22B]

Democrats have to focus on Abortion clown. It’s a fundamental human right make your own decisions with your body. If MAGAts would stop trying to take away these rights, Dems could focus on other things. And they are focusing on other things. It’s just the RepubliClowns keep voting these issues down.

[@TheVuduYuDu]

I see you haven’t looked at the crazy azz district maps lately.

[@Kevin-s7s]

Desantis already addressed theres no plan. I dont know why this propaganda keeps being brought up

[@12vLife]

I love this. Get Florida to rezone rural vacant residential lots in the middle of the state platted 40 years ago removing minimum dwelling sizes to help address the housing and insurance crisis in coastal Florida cities. Trust me.