Boom Towns Go Bust

In the last week, Floridians who live anywhere near Jonathan Dickinson State Park have been quite upset. It is the largest state park in south Florida, with scrub forest, sandhills, hiking trails, water for kayaking and canoeing, and camping sites, among other things. It was also one of the parks on a list where the state wants to expand the “recreation” opportunities. In this case, it would mean removing scrub habitat and adding two eighteen-hole golf courses, one nine-hole golf course, and pickleball courts. It seems Tallahassee was hoping the locals would not notice the plans until too late, but the public has now mobilized and all kinds of things are happening to stop the development.

In many respects, this plan makes no sense. Florida has no shortage of golf courses. If you are in one of the Facebook groups put together to save the park, you will see plenty of maps of the area indicating all the existing golf courses. Fans may think we have a slight shortage of pickleball courts compared to the current demand, but nothing which would justify removing the scrub habitat. Floridians also happen to know that golf course runoff is very much connected to algae problems, which we experience annually. Jonathan Dickinson is on the Loxahatchee River.

The desire to develop Jonathan Dickinson State Park reflects a desire to use the park to generate wealth. The plan to develop this park, and others, comes from outside the zipcode—it is an initiative by the state Department of Environmental Protection, allegedly at the suggestion of the state’s “Acquistion and Restoration Council,” a group of appointees. So far, Governor Ron DeSantis is still backing the plan, despite opposition from the public and many other elected officials. This plan is also a good example of state government trying to dictate local conditions to local governments and smaller communities in their efforts to shape the state economy (not a new phenomenon in Florida). In a somewhat similar vein, the state has blocked Key West’s attempts to limit visits by cruise ships. People who live in Key West want to protect the environment and limit congestion—and have passed rules to that effect—but the state government would rather keep cruise ship revenue coming into the state. In many ways, the situation with Jonathan Dickinson State Park reinforces the need for stronger local autonomy and a weaker state government.

But even on the smaller scale, the desire to generate wealth has distorted how many local governments and leaders view resources and what is held by the public. In many cities, like West Palm Beach, people are finding it harder to enjoy public spaces. It used to be easy and free to use the public parks, but now the city is requiring paid permits for all kinds of large fields that were designed for free and unorganized play. A good example is Howard Park, where fences went up around formerly open green space. The park does not “turn a profit” when the people who have paid for it with their taxes enjoy it “for free.” So spaces that the public has financed and long enjoyed are being taken away.

Civil society relies on common spaces where people of all backgrounds can meet, but states and cities have been pursuing semi-privatization of public spaces. Across the country, public pickleball courts and golf courses are being handed over to companies to be run, more or less, privately. Parks are placed to allow access to a wide range of people, but those spaces are being treated more like profit centers than community-builders. Public spaces are not designed or intended to exist for profit.

Beyond this philosophical error, it is also practically unwise to put profit at the center of public spaces. All kinds of people have moved to Florida in the last few years. The population is growing. That has led to development and many economic opportunities. Florida has a great GDP. But for some people, it is never enough. If there is a penny to be made, something will be squeezed. Florida has been here before. The Florida housing market bubble was at the center of the story of the 2008 Recession. Everyone was seemingly getting rich quick, then everything fell apart. Florida also had a big land boom in the 1920s. Right now, Florida is one of the fastest growing states: Are we once again looking at everything as an opportunity to turn a profit?

Even if things do not dramatically collapse in the near future, Florida should have more going on than selling people overpriced condos and limiting their access to public lands. Once a place becomes all about profit extraction, people do not want to live there. Your city does not have to look like a strip-mining town to feel like one. In Florida, everyone cares at least a little bit about the environment. People in Florida like to fish and hunt and kayak and swim and surf and hike and ride bikes and they expect both political parties to understand that. The ability to enjoy the outdoors year-round (if you can handle the heat) is something that draws people to Florida. The elimination of natural environment and public space is counter to our interests in every way.

When Catherine the Great toured Russia, her advisors constructed fake villages, nicknamed “Potemkin villages,” to keep her from knowing the true state of her empire. Florida has low taxes and natural beauty which have lured people in, and we are encouraging more people to move here. But we are simultaneously making it a harder place to live, and we are stealing the joy of our existing tax-paying residents as we look to turn every potential profit. We should not eliminate natural habitat that has been set aside for protection, and we should protect public access for public spaces. Otherwise, Florida is at risk of becoming a Potemkin Village that only looks nice on the outside but is not a proper place to live.

Will Florida be a real place for flourishing or a real opportunity for developers? This is what the battle over Jonathan Dickinson State Park is about, and it is the big question facing all the counties and cities and towns that make up our state. You can have a community or you can have a cash grab. But you cannot have both at the same time. We should remember, boom towns go bust.

Image via Flickr