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WPTV West Palm Beach
SEEKING ANSWERS: WPTV travels to Tallahassee to talk to leaders
By Kate Hussey,
2024-08-27
We're continuing to demand answers from state leaders over Florida's Great Outdoors Initiative.
For more than a week now, our team of reporters, anchors and producers has been reaching out to leaders in Tallahassee to answer your questions about the golf courses, pickleball courts, hotels and disc golf courses proposed for eight state parks — including Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County.
We've gotten little to none of our questions answered, so we sent WPTV reporter Kate Hussey to the state capitol in Tallahassee to fight for your voice in person.
She went to every state office involved in the project to demand answers.
Hussey went to the governor's office and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to ask your questions, including the following:
Who is behind the Great Outdoors Initiative?
Will the state continue with its golf course proposal, even after the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation and Folds of Honor — the nonprofits profiting from the Jonathan Dickinson State Park Proposal — pulled out?
Why is the state proposing the development of land their own website calls protected?
WPTV was turned away and told our questions would be answered via email. As of Tuesday evening, we still have not received a reply.
Hussey went to track down the Acquisition Restoration Council (ARC) voting on FDEP's plan and asked why none of them were scheduled to be at the original public hearing on the golf course proposal in Stuart, and asked if public input plays a role in their decision.
Each time, we were turned away and told the voting member was "unavailable," "out of office" or "not conducting interviews," except for ARC member Rick Dolan. The Florida Forest Service Director released a statement to WPTV saying he has, "many of the same concerns as the people of Florida" over the proposed changes.
Yet while FDEP, the governor and much of ARC has stayed silent, two Florida Cabinet members were happy to speak up about the proposal.
WPTV Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson says this proposal by the FDEP was "ill-conceived."
"I think this was an ill-conceived plan," Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said. "I think it's doomed for failure."
"I came up with the same concerns your viewers have," Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said.
Both cabinet members slammed the Great Outdoors Initiative as "misguided" or harmful to the environment.
"I think the governor was probably not fully informed on these plans, clearly," Simpson said.
Patronis went a step further to condemn the state's refusal to answer WPTV's questions and the questions of our viewers.
WPTV Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis explains to WPTV why the proposal by FDEP was mishandled.
"Whenever you're going to make a significant change to anyone's neighborhoods or community, the first audience you should sit down and talk to is the local press," Patronis said. "When the public gets upset, they should reach out to the local media and ask, 'Why aren't we getting more answers?"
WPTV also went to the offices of the lobbyists for the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation, the mysterious nonprofit that pulled out of the Jonathan Dickinson State Park project.
Hussey was told both lobbyists were out of town. They haven't answered WPTV's calls or emails.
Read more of WPTV's coverage of the proposal and protests below:
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