Golf and pickleball planned in Florida’s state parks
A new initiative could bring new developments to Florida’s state parks.
Fox – 13 News
Embattled Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday backed away from a widely reviled plan to build lavish construction projects at nine state parks, curiously attributing the storm to documents “intentionally leaked to a left-wing group” relating to a proposal his own spokespeople promoted on social media last week.
DeSantis called the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s proposal “half-baked” and said he had “never seen” the plans before news of them spread like wildfire last week, sparking a bipartisan backlash. But he also acknowledged — as has been reported — that he had been suggested by an outside nonprofit, Folds of Honor, the possibility of adding a golf course to a state park, an idea strikingly similar to the DEP’s now-abandoned plan, cobbled together at the request of a mysterious foundation affiliated with Folds of Honor, to add three golf courses to Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
It was a clumsy and strained defense of his administration. For example, the conspiracy-theory bent of his explanation—that documents were leaked to a “left-wing group” he did not identify—is at odds with the simple fact that the DEP had originally scheduled hearings for this week to ostensibly get public feedback on the toxic plans, not to mention the fact that government documents public records by nature, notwithstanding DeSantis’ Nixon-like fixation on executive secrecy, and therefore cannot really leaked in every meaningful sense.
This claim also seems to imply that the plans should remain secret. Otherwise, what difference would it make if people were informed of DEP’s elaborate plans, on which their views should be sought before any action is taken?
DeSantis’ announcement ended the immediate controversy but did little to shed light on the origins of this toxic proposal. How did it get to this point? At times, DeSantis was oddly passive, claiming that “people have been demanding” changes in some state parks. Really? Do you just have to “demand” a 350-room hotel in Anastasia Park to get the DEP going? There’s clearly more to learn here.
The park controversy and DeSantis’s retreat from it capped one of the toughest weeks of his tenure as Florida governor that had nothing to do with a presidential campaign. Last week, voters across Florida, including in some deeply conservative counties, rejected several candidates for public office he supported and nominated, an undeniable sign that his image is not what it once was. The DEP’s park development plan was criticized by nearly every senior Republican leader in the state, none of whom seemed afraid of taking on a governor with whom they once marched in lockstep.
On Wednesday, DeSantis – possibly the strongest governor in modern Florida history – sounded almost embarrassed.
“For me, it’s perfectly fine to just do nothing,” he said.
Nate Monroe is a columnist for the USA Today Network in Florida. Follow him on Twitter @NateMonroeTU. Email him at [email protected].
