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Your local government is under siege... by our own state legislature! <br />In the last two years, the state legislature has made 141 attempts to take away local government's <br />"Home Rule" - the ability to govern itself, including setting budgets, maintaining reserves, <br />redeveloping aging neighborhoods, and more. State lawmakers have preempted local government's <br />ability to solve problems locally, especially in protecting neighborhoods from vacation rentals <br />and properly locating communications towers, among other things. <br />As the legislature gears up for 2019, the attempted power grab has already begun. <br />State lawmakers think they know better than local government about the services we provide. <br />Rules designed for Miami or Orlando do not apply to all 412 Florida cities and 67 counties. State legislation <br />that takes decision-making out of the hands of locally elected leaders, takes away Home Rule. <br />Without the tools provided by Community <br />Redevelopment Agencies (CRAs), the renaissance in <br />downtown Fort Pierce would have never happened. <br />Throughout our region, the improvements CRAs <br />created have been repaid many times over. Yet over <br />the last two years the legislature has only been <br />a few votes short of crippling existing CRAs and <br />banning new ones. Don't let the legislature destroy <br />this important community improvement catalyst. <br />Fort Pierce's Sunrise Theatre is just one example of the <br />effectiveness of CRA investment. <br />Ulf by should a legislator from Leon or Orange County have any say about when you hold local elections, how you cut your trees, <br />what businesses can locate in your neighborhood, or what your downtown streetscape should look like? State legislators voted to <br />take decisions like these out of local hands in order to cater to corporate lobbyists or special interests. <br />Protect the character of our communities! <br />STE <br />