Friday, August 9, 2019

Local Lawmakers Push for New State Capital Site

        In 1824 the site of Tallahassee was selected by city delegates from St. Augustine and Pensacola as a compromise location halfway between their two cities for the new capital of the U.S. territory of Florida.
        If one local lawmaker has his way, history may repeat itself 195 years later with a proposal to move Florida's state capital and offices to the geographic center of Florida (i.e. Orlando area). A bill will be brought before the 2020 session of the Florida Legislature.
        State Sen. Kevin Rader (D-Delray Beach) introduced the bill (SB 112) on Aug. 6 requiring the Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis of Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to conduct a study regarding the relocation of the state capital to "Central Florida". The agency would submit its economic findings to Florida Legislature by Dec. 15, 2021 for further consideration.
        The proposed legislation was referred to the Florida Senate's Government Oversight and Accountability Committee on Aug. 16. If passed by the Legislature, the "Capital Relocation Study" will include evaluations of the following four elements:
  • The study would review the "ease of travel" to the current and proposed state capital sites for members of the public.
  • Total cost of travel to and from the state capital for members of the Legislature during interim meetings and legislative sessions.
  • The costs of relocating the state capital building, Florida Supreme Court, offices of the Governor and Cabinet, and the legislative branch to Central Florida.
  • The negative economic impact of moving the state capital on the City of Tallahassee and Leon County.
        State Rep. Bill Hager (R-Delray Beach) proposed capital relocation legislation in 2018, but the bill died before committee review. A bill before the Florida Senate in the 2019 legislative session met a similar fate.
        The journey from Palm Beach County to Tallahassee averages a seven-hour drive via the Florida turnpike, I-75 and U.S. 27. Commercial airline flights between the PBI and Tallahassee airports are routed through Atlanta.
        Local lawmakers, lobbyists and citizens have long complained about the length of the trip to attend sessions of the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee. If Orlando becomes the new state capital in the future, it would be linked to South Florida by both AMTRAK and Brightline's high-speed rail service.

How Tallahassee Became Our Capital
        Tallahassee was built over the ancient Appalachee native American village of "Anhaica". The town and adjacent mound site was briefly occupied by Spanish conquistador Hernando Desoto in 1538-39. Anhaica became the capital of  "Appalachee Province" during most of the Spanish colonial period.
        The Spanish Appalachee missions near Anhaica were the western terminus of Florida's "El Camino Real" (the royal road), a trail cleared in the 1680's which became the main transportation network connecting Spain's Franciscan mission system with St. Augustine.
        During the late 18th century, the current site of Tallahassee was occupied by the Seminole tribe. The place name Tallahassee translates to "old town" in their Muskogean dialect. The town was sacked by Gen. Andrew Jackson during the First Seminole War in March 1818.
        In November 1823, Pensacola delegate John Lee Williams wrote, "Doctor Simmons (the St. Augustine capital commission delegate) has agreed that the site should be fixed near the 'old fields' abandoned by the Indians after Jackson's invasion..."
        Territorial Gov. William DuVal, backed by a U.S. Army regiment, arrived at the chosen site of the capital. He notified the local Seminole chieftain, Neamathla, that he would have to move his nearby village of "Cohowotochee" to a reservation east of Tampa Bay.
        A simple log cabin in Tallahassee became the capital of the Florida territory in 1824. Tallahassee remained the capital when Florida was admitted to the union as a slave state in 1845.
        Both the Orlando area and the Palm Beaches were included within thinly populated "Mosquito County" when Florida became a state. Today, the population center of Florida has shifted south of Tallahassee, initiating requests by state lawmakers to move the capital to Central Florida.
(c.) R. I. Davidsson, 2019.
*Note: See additional articles below and archived in Older Posts.