Imagine having to get an approval from the entire county to build a new pool in your house.
That’s one of many arguments used by Gunster shareholder Brian Seymour to convince a small audience of influential Palm Beachers that the Florida Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment is bad — bad for the economy, bad for growth and bad for Palm Beach County, he said.
"If you want to put a pool in your house and it needs a three-foot variance, you’ll need everyone in Palm Beach to vote on that," he told the audience of about 20 people during the Rotary Club of Palm Beach Flagler weekly meeting last Tuesday.
Seymour, a land-use and developer attorney, said he has not been hired to lobby against the amendment, which will be on the ballot in November 2010.
He said he also is not doing this on behalf of his firm. He is doing it for his kids, he said.
"I defend lawsuits so I will make more money [if it passes], but my kids will not have a place to come back to," he said.
"Hometown Democracy is not about democracy. It’s about stopping progress, stopping change," he said. "And if that’s what you want, then vote for it."
"I will," shouted Etonella Christlieb, a past president of the organization. "Look at West Palm Beach. Half of it is empty. Developers come in, knock down buildings and leave. We don’t want more of that."
The audience — which included local real estate, banking professionals, hotel owners, doctors, attorneys, marketing professional and Palm Beach town manager Peter Elwell (who did not express his opinion during meeting, saying the city is not in a place to take sides) — had a mixed reaction about his speech.
"I’m not saying the system doesn’t need to be changed but this is a complete overreaction," Seymour said.