River of Grass

"River of Grass, Field of Lost Dreams" by v. johns

While I would like to jump for complete joy in the deal that has been struck between U.S. Sugar and the State of Florida for the company's land to be purchased by the South Florida Water Management District, I question the secrecy of it all. And I dread the possibilities that await those who will no longer wake up early in the morning, in six years, heading off to their job at their company that they have devoted their lives to. And perhaps more than that, I dread the complacency and lack of vision in some of our leaders in the monumental task of, within such a short period of time, securing new companies, if not entire new industries, to replace the one that is destined to be no more.

While the restoration of the entire Everglades ecosystem, a national treasure, is important, how do we weigh its importance against the livelihoods of people who have built their lives and their way of life on one company, one industry? While I don't like the fact that this question must be dealt with, it is what it is and the local leadership out that way must be prepared to step up to the plate, right now, and lobby hard for industries and jobs to replace what is there now and won't be there later. They must if they are to avoid a Detroit-like scenario where the rapid decline of its core industry there, the automotive industry, has left that city a mere shell of its former self.

Yes, I question the timing and the secrecy and the string of "deals" coming out of Tallahassee all of a sudden, but I also see a silver lining in this dark cloud that our leaders and residents may fail to capitalize upon if they do not act fast to secure their futures. Can you imagine a GM plant or a major university branch or a biotech company or a large hotel or a major state government department there? I can. And even without the eminent departure of U.S. Sugar, I've always been an advocate of economic diversification (I studied economics at F.A.M.U., afterall) and have often wondered why leaders in some places in Florida seem to be supremely comfortable with the lack of a diverse tax base to draw from. No one municipal or county or state entity should be severely dependent on any one company or industry for its stability.

Since I haven't done much research or even casual reading, for that matter, on the Glades area, I will refrain from judging their leaders. Especially since there is a general trend in South Florida to neglect its poorer, less-glitzy, lower-profile areas. But I will caution its local city leaders against waiting for the county to propose anything of any reasonable value anytime soon. With every jurisdiction in the state being hammered by unfair and irresponsible state-mandated budget cuts, their pleas may fall on deaf ears...

I doubt that anything short of more land deals or schemes to develop will come out of the minds of state and county leaders. In the years to come, with more people looking for work and possibly toward the coastal areas for that work, I doubt that even the issue of rural access to those jobs via public mass transit will even be on the radar as so much as a blip. The people in the Glades may be in for one long ride when it's all said and done. But one thing is for sure: The State of Florida OWES them! And I don't care how many budget cuts are ripping through the state, if the police in the City of Port Saint Lucie, at such a critical time, can lobby and beat drums for a raise on their salaries, then Belle Glade, Pahokee, South Bay, Clewiston (in Hendry County) and others can beat the door down and demand the replacement of jobs that the state, itself, had a hand in eliminating...