Kevin Beckner, Candidate for Hillsborough County Commission, Speaks Out for Protection of Wetlands

Thursday August 16th, 2007

KEVIN BECKNER’S ADDRESS TO THE EPC BOARD

TAMPA: This morning Kevin Beckner, candidate for Hillsborough County Commission District 6- countywide, addressed the board of the EPC as a citizen of Hillsborough County. Below is a transcript of his message to the board:

“Good morning commissioners. My name is Kevin Beckner and I am a resident of Carrollwood. Today I am here to urge you to maintain the wetlands division of the local EPC.
As a certified financial planner and fiscal conservative, I am fully aware and can appreciate the financial challenges that we face as a county and the need to be fiscally responsible with our citizen’s tax dollars. As a business owner, there is probably no one else in this room who is a more passionate advocate than I am, for streamlining processes and creating efficiency in business and government…

But, I’m also smart enough to know that we should not play politics with Mother Nature!

Our wetlands were created over several hundreds of thousands of years. They serve many important functions to our environment and community. Many of these functions we understand. However, we should not be so arrogant and ignorant to believe that we completely understand every function or that we could artificially recreate the natural functions of nature.

Destroying or trying to mitigate our wetlands could have adverse consequences to our economy and environment that may not be known for years or generations to come.

What I am asking you to do is to make the smart decision. Make the right decision. Let’s focus on how we can make the wetlands division more efficient without endangering our environment. Help this community preserve and protect the long term economic and environmental health of this county.

Finally, Mr. Blair mentioned that when politics are involved not everyone can be happy. Perhaps what the Board of the County Commissioners needs to seriously consider is removing the politics from the issue of the environment by creating a more transparent system of checks and balances between the Board of County Commissioners and the EPC. This is best accomplished when the Board of County Commissioners and the EPC do not wear the same hats. Thank you.”

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