“Fascism” is the best way to implement Seven50: SE Florida Prosperity Plan

June 19-21, 2013 there will be dueling Seven50 Summits at the Palm Beach Conference Center, West Palm Beach, Florida.

The Seven50 plan is an effort by the Southeast Florida Regional Partnership, funded by a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with the mission to,”[C]reate and implement the Seven50: SE Florida Prosperity Plan, a blueprint  for a vibrant and resilient economy; socially inclusive, sustainable, and affordable communities; and environmental sustainability.” View the SEFRP agenda here.

Mayor Craig Fletcher, City of Vero Beach, FL.

The City of Vero Beach, FL has pulled out of the plan.

Mayor Craig Fletcher attended a briefing given by proponents of Seven50 and reported that: city and county government would be less important, only “mega regions” are important as in the EU, the seven Florida counties that are part of the partnership “would have someone to control them”, they (the EU) are not going to put up with the American education system and “Fascism is the best form of government to implement these changes”.

Video remarks of Craig Fletcher, Mayor of the City of Vero Beach, FL at a City council meeting:

Proponents represented by the SE FL Regional Partnership (SEFRP) and opponents by The Liberty Caucus will be holding their respective summit in adjoining conference rooms at the Palm Beach Conference Center.

Why Seven50 now?

According to the SEFRP website, “The shifting nature of the global economy is changing the way business is done. Regions that can’t recognize and adapt to these changes will cease to be economically competitive. It’s time for Southeast Florida to move to the next level, to develop a regional mindset that focuses more on how to maximize the commonalities than accentuate the differences.” The agenda for the Seven50 Summit may be viewed here.

Opponents see this regionalization as an attack on local control, liberty and freedom.

The Liberty Caucus is a government watchdog organization that tracks local government in Fort Pierce, Port Saint Lucie and Saint Lucie County to “promote free markets and limit government intervention”.  St. Lucie County is one of the Seven50 partners.

Why stop Seven50?

According to the Liberty Caucus website, “The core of “sustainable development” is the notion of disciplining the consumption of consumers and producers. It consists of a self-appointed elite forcing needs and abilities of people against their will. But, needs and abilities cannot be determined arbitrarily by others; rather, it is derived by each individual according to their own unique, subjective valuation system. A central authority trying to determine the subjective valuation of other individuals consists of misallocation of resources (the same one’s we’re told to conserve) and market distortions (below market interest rates, industry specific stimulus) that inflate price bubbles (housing, commodity, stocks) causing an erosion of wealth.” The agenda for the anti-Seven50 Summit may be viewed here.

The Liberty Caucus notes:

Sustainability advocates tell us that:

1. Resources are limited
2. We are too inefficient for our own good
3. Un-elected governing authority needs to decide what is the best allocation of our land, property and resources for us
4. And thus lead everyone to prosperity with their ideas of sustainable development

Still unmentioned today, 26 years later, is:

1. Who decides what is and is not sustainable
2. On what logical basis sustainability is calculated
3. Exactly whose ‘good’ is considered for benefit

Seven50 Consultant Andres Duany, from Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, speaks about the “hope for fascism in South Florida” and how Seven50 can take local communities and “tie them into nothing”:

Duany has been a consultant to counties and cities across the state of Florida on “sustainability and sustainable communities”.

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