Florida Whistleblower Leaks Proposal To Pave Over Natural Parks

Whistleblowers should always be protected and their testimonies be taken seriously and investigated.

I find this ironic because golf courses are suffering in this country, unless Florida is still good for that business? 

But again, the GOP shows us they're anti-environment and anti-children. What a surprise.

We need to be a nation that celebrates and honors those who do right for our country and start condemning those who want to hurt our country. This is a clear example of doing the opposite. (Again!)

 The good news is that Gaddis's leaked story united democrats and republicans that forced DeSantis into backing away from his initial plan.

Two state representatives are investigating the no-bid contracts to pre-chosen developers that don't meet requirements of Florida State law who want answers to why this was done with no transparency, any legislation that exists to support the actions, and why Gaddis was fired without cause to prevent it from ever reoccurring.

" James Gaddis, who worked for the agency for two years as a cartographer, was terminated for “conduct unbecoming a public employee,” according to a letter he received on Saturday."

"His leaking of the proposals sparked a furious backlash that united Republicans with Democrats and environmental advocates, and forced DeSantis into a humiliating climbdown last week in which he admitted the plans were “half-baked” and were “going back to the drawing board.”"

" two Democratic state representatives pressed the agency about who was involved in drawing up plans that appeared to include no-bid contracts destined for mysteriously pre-chosen developers outside the requirements of Florida law."

"Firing a cartographer who had clear concerns about the process of this plan and the lack of transparency around it is 100 percent retaliatory,” said Anna Eskamani, who wrote a joint letter to Shawn Hamilton, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with fellow state congresswoman Angie Nixon."

“We want to not only hold the department accountable,” she said, “but our motivation is to learn more about how this happened in such a secretive way. Were they using a specific legislative process? Were there conversations that were meant to be public that weren’t?”

“Our intention is to prevent this from ever happening again, and that requires a better understanding of how it happened in the first place.”

" The DEP did not immediately return a request for comment from the Guardian. In a statement to the Tampa Bay Times, a DEP spokesperson, Alex Kuchta, said the agency “would not comment on personnel matters.”

"Kuchta was previously one of several DeSantis administration officials publicly defending or promoting the plans before the governor attempted on Wednesday to distance himself from them."

"DEP planned to hold short-notice, hour-long meetings at the nine parks simultaneously to announce the plans and minimize public comment."

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2024/09/florida-parks-ron-desantis-great-outdoors-initiative-whistleblower-fired/

I get paid over $40 per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. I never thought I'd be able to do it but my best friend earns over 10k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The potential with this is endless. Heres what I've been doing..
check  https://paybuzz108.pages.dev

Transparency in our government is of the utmost importance and the concern of targeting someone for said transparency and firing them is deplorable and about as unamerican as it can get. This country was founded on the principles of fighting against a tyrannical government and this feels very much that to the average American citizen. 

Please protect parks

Is there no way to avoid the comedy of errors the new radical trumplicken stupid party is turning our federal government into. Our US constitution was written by intelligent people, for immigrants that were starting a new country to avoid the authoritarian type of government the neo trump lockers are trying to form here right now. The "republicans" are refusing to work with others to create an economy,create policy, and create the day to day functioning of our country. They should be eliminated. The whole Republican Party is chaos when compared to the Conservative Party they once were. They used to represent law and order and a slow reasonable approach to governing. The party has turned into a bunch of comedy reality show wanna be stars. Usually I provide a possible solution. The Mexican peso dollar exchange is as good as it's ever been in in case a person wants to think about a productive change of address. I don't see anyone listening to progressive ideas for positive change in this country anymore.  

Protect all city, state and national parks from money making profiteering 

Apparently, the joke that I tell that the government hates green grass and trees because they provide life for us little people, plus it doesn't generate enough tax money, is true.

Gadis did the right thing pointing this out. Now he is being punished!

What does it say about our system, our society, that the person exposing a crime is the one who faces retaliation? 

thats like telling the police which way a bank robber ran, and they arrest you.

Give DeSantis a little break. He thought State Parks referred to "A place to park" and was just hurrying the process along.

And remember, pickleball courts don't kill wetlands, it's politicians lining their pickleball shorts with corporate cash that kills wetlands.

Florida has lost too much land to development already. DeSantis seems to have a desire for controversy. Secret plans for questionable development of protected lands smell of someone trying to recover the money they wasted at some point. Mr Desantis should in my opinion pay more attention to the sinking condo"s and storm-ravaged citizens than trying to destroy more of the state.

Godless Ron is a monster and natural spaces are so much more important than playgrounds for the wealthy.

Everything is crooked in Florida!! 

Causes tells me, then asks; "Florida whistleblower James Gaddis was fired from the state's [Florida's] Department of Environmental Protection for exposing Gov. Ron DeSantis' secretive plan to replace preserved land with hotels, golf courses, and pickleball courts.  ..."   Do you agree with Gaddis' actions?"  

ME:  ABSOLUTELY!  Give James Gaddis a huge gold star.  He is spot-on.  The last thing Florida (or any state for that matter) needs is more environmental destruction (a key reason climate change has already and will continue to significantly impact Florida especially along its coastal areas) and "350-room hotels and thousands of [heat-trapping] acres paved for recreational activities over nine state parks" is exactly that.

whistleblowers shouldnt be fired , nor punished.  Obviously we cannot trust our politicians to act in our best interests, nor to protect us!  We have Alito and Thomas STILL serving on the Supreme Court! What has Congress done?  NOTHING!

More school shootings, what has Congress done?  NOTHING!

Whistleblowers ARE our only means of protection anymore

what happened to WhistleBlower protections? Did the overbearing DeSantis remove them? There needs to be a Federal investigation into the violation of his civil rights.

We have little enough green space as it is, and way too much concrete. If we ever expect to save the environment, we need to reverse the balance and stop paving over every square inch of land that we have.

That Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would consider paving over preserved natural lands and put in pickle ball courts, golf course, etc. should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone. That a whistleblower, Mr. Gaddis, would lose his job over the disclosure...also no surprise. But in this frought political landscape...pretty damn stupid. Good for the media for bringing this story to light. And yes, may the Dems in Florida score a touchdown with this political football.