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F.O.A.D.

On 7/31/13 1:21 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 31 Jul 2013 12:11:46 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

Actually, Chesapeake Beach is a place people want to move to, as
evidenced by all the nice new townhouses on the waterfront, a high-rise
condo on the waterfront, and single family houses and townhouses a short
distance away. But it isn't a place a *lot* of people move to, and I'm
sure everyone is thankful for that.

We're a couple of miles east of the main N/S route around here, Maryland
Route 4, and virtually all the commercial construction around here is
out there. North and south of the commercial areas there is commercial
construction and residential streets coming off the main route.

The county works pretty hard to maintain our semi-rural,
semi-agricultural environment, which is a big draw for those of us who
live out here.

That is great as long as it lasts but if big money targets your area
it is pretty hard to stop them.
Florida, just about everywhere, is still seeing explosive growth. The
amount of money that gets thrown around can easily taint county
legislatures but if you are in a small incorporated city it can be
devastating. That is why I am fighting city status here in Estero.
I watched what happened in Ft Myers Beach and Bonita.
Big money quickly overwhelmed the citizen control they were promised
when they incorporated. That "lower taxes" thing quickly evaporated as
the reality of providing services arose.

Big money has "targeted" us but the county overlords fear us serfs, so
they turned down Wal-Mart's demand for a permit to build a "Supersized"
Wal-Mart in this part of the county. Wal-Mart spent a lot of money on
baksheesh for the politicos and to "reach" us serfs, several hundred
thousand, I was told.

It's not that we don't have commercial development. We do, but it is
pretty much restricted to areas already commercially developed.

Last year, we were all being lobbied by a PR guy who spreading the
wonderment of building a Home Depot or Lowes on a newly vacant large lot
right on Route 4. It would have created a traffic nightmare, so other
sites were suggested. Nope. The developers wanted that lot or the
highway. They took the highway.