In late April, I wrote:
“Could it get much worse than the news today? Mayor Manny Diaz gives a state of the city speech calling for a “green and sustainable future”, the city commission approves three condominiums for multimillionaires built by a billionaire supporting the Catholic Church’s money woes because of sex abuse scandals, the Latin Builders Association hosts a luncheon at the failed Parrot Jungle for HUD Cabrera that is in the process of seizing the County Housing Agency to bail out crashing production homebuilders whose domination of the county commission is based on liar loans to their market base, mortgage fraud and incestuous relations between builders and lenders, at virtually the same time that Umoja Village burns down, giving police the moment to wrestle poor people to the ground. Damn that's a bad day!”
Well if I do say so myself. It just seems to be getting worse. Scarcely two months have passed. Let's count the toll:
The Carnivorous Performing Arts Center is deeper in the pocket of taxpayers to the tune of at least four million. A new museum, equally controversial, is ginning up for Bicentennial Park with millions more. Millions of dollars and commitments of time and energy have disappeared in the pockets of a scam artist, called Poinciana Biotech Park. The City of Miami department of capital improvement is discovered to have transformed into a private contracting company, called “The Firm”.
Now Oscar Pedro Musibay reports another morsel for the scandal-weary in Miami Daily Business Review “A top Miami city official responsible for overseeing capital improvement projects had a vendor help write a bid proposal for a $15 million management contract that it later won.”
OK, read on.
Of this city department, on June 22 The Miami Herald reported, “''We are arresting virtually an entire arm of city government,'' Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said during a news conference in the lobby of the city administrative building. The Capital Improvements department has 48 employees, City Manager Pete Hernandez said. The 10 arrested worked together on city construction plans. The 11th person who will be arrested worked in the zoning department. All are charged with racketeering, theft and fraud among other charges, and each potentially faces 23 to 95 years in prison and loss of their city pension.”
Now we learn from Daily Business Review, “In August 2005, HDR Engineering won the three-year $14.95 million bid it helped craft, beating out PBS&J and CSA Southeast.”
Who knows CSA Southeast? But what we do know is that in federal court, executives of PBS&J have been under pressure to reveal the extent of illegal campaign contributions.
So, help me out here: if 2 out of 3 major contract engineering firms have busted through the bounds of ethics, aided and abetted by powerful government officials, and if the city department has decided to contract itself out as a private business: what chance is there that rampant behavior along these lines is such a routine part of the work-day life, that no one thought they would get caught? Ever.
The Herald reported continues, “The group put together construction plans and designs for clients from the Keys to Ocala, designing everything from shopping centers and day-care centers to private homes, Fernández Rundle said. They even got the city to buy specialized equipment and computer software that the city had no use for -- so they could use it to do their freelance work, she said. ''These 11 city workers decided that their government paycheck was insufficient and that the taxpayers owed them more,'' she said.”
All that remains is for the Chamber of Commerce to run off with its members’ dues. (Oh, wait—already happened.)
Now the Chamber (state-wide, and not just Miami) is supporting a pathetic counter-measure to the grass root campaign of Florida Hometown Democracy, seeking to gather enough signatures to place on the ballot an amendment to the Florida constitution giving voters a chance to directly engage through the ballot box when builders or cities want to change their comprehensive land use plans.
The way the Florida Chamber has drafted their ballot referendum is to insert the small-font requirement that individuals who want a chance to vote on comprehensive plans must first file their petitions at the responsible municipal or county office, and provide “facially valid” proof of identity.
Isn't it interesting that government embraces identity theft and public officials hide who they are working for, but when it comes to changing our government by petition, only citizens who want a new direction have to prove who they really are.
13 comments:
you have woven the state of affairs into a very fine essay of what is wrong with the systems at all levels of government and the business community!
Excellent post. I couldn't agree with you more... especially about the shifty antics by the Florida Chamber.
The sad thing is this is happening everywhere. Check out the stories here on approved developments http://www.highspringsherald.com/
There is nowhere in this state too small to be left unscathed by greedy developers and stupid elected officials.
You can't be serious. Hometown Democracy is the single-biggest fraud the voters of Florida have been confronted with yet! Out-of-state money and out-of-state paid petition gatherers who could CARE LESS about the health of our communities are trying to “buy” this “Vote on Everything” amendment a spot on the ballot. Voters need to know that Hometown Democracy would cause a disruption to our daily lives that would be extraordinary. Imagine voting not only on a few major land-use changes but also on hundreds of technical (and even linguistic) changes every time you enter the voting booth. Hundreds! Unlike the Hometown crowd, I believe in the voters enough to think that most will genuinely attempt the virtual impossibility of reading thousands of pages of complex planning documents, only to find that this is a full-time job! The ensuing disorder will only further disenfranchise Florida's already-fatigued electorate (and who could blame them?). Finally, the cost will be astronomical. Each city and county would have additional elections to vote on changes to comprehensive land use plans. You may not like the Chamber but they are on the right track on this issue. Voters need a voice. But as it's been said before, "the Hometown 'cure' is a lot worse than the disease."
Well then, we won't be any worse off then than we are we putting our faith in councilmen or commissioners who can't read the comprehensive plans they voted for themselves.
Future land use is supposed to be FUTURE land use.. not fill in the blanks.
I don't know. As someone who's worked with planners in local government before, I can certainly see that achieving any sort of balance between economic development and environmental protection requires years of careful planning. I'd seriuosly hesitate to outsource that kind of planning to the ballot box where it would take place largely in 30 second television ads and bi-fold mail pieces.
Here's the point: people are sick and tired of the development community pillaging Florida.
Instead of contributing to sound zoning and planning, based on common sense, builders and contractors exploit the system at every turn. Until 2005 they were feeding like pigs at the trough.
In the florida legislature every time there is an opportunity to further limit or restrict what citizens want, in terms of growth management, the building lobby throws up roadblocks and celebrates its victories against people!
Why doesn't the building industry reign itself in? Because it can't!
Take a look at Miami: you have good developers and bad developers, but the good developers--or at least the ones with a brain in their head-- will not EVER speak out publicly against the idiocy of the land development pattern that prevails here.
In a bleeding housing market, let builders spend $65 million trying to defeat Hometown Democracy. Can't wait to hear builders explain the patriotism behind turning Florida into a sprawl-ridden mess.
Here's a good example of why people don't trust the process even when they are involved citizens who try and "play by the rules."
Pine Ridge Pushes Land Plans Over Edge
Published: Tampa Tribune Jul 1, 2007
Pasco County government spent more than three years and in excess of $2 million updating its comprehensive land-use plan, the road map for growth, with extensive public input.
The result, approved last summer by commissioners, hailed a new day in growth management in the county, especially provisions to protect rural, scenic northeast Pasco. The Northeast Pasco Special Area Plan was a spinoff of the comprehensive review of the land-use plan, a protection requested by many area residents who want to preserve rural ways of life.
But a housing development proposed in the St. Joe and Darby roads area, east of Bellamy Brothers Boulevard and at the western edge of Interstate 75, threatens both plans.
In fact, the 475-acre Pine Ridge Estates would gut both planning instruments unless substantial changes are mandated.
County zoning officials are strongly recommending that Pine Ridge's rezoning application be denied for several valid reasons with which commissioners should concur.
First, the proposal to build 300 single-family homes on half-acre lots is, as Zoning and Code Compliance Administrator Debra Zampetti correctly stresses in a report, "out of character" for this rural area and not compatible with adjacent properties. Indeed, approving it would set a bad precedent.
Under the tract's current land-use designation of agricultural/rural, only 89 lots would be permitted, zoning records show. If submitted without a land-use change as a true conservation subdivision, the type of residential building endorsed by the special area plan, 179 lots would be allowed, a number county zoning officials say is more compatible with the area.
Allowing 179 lots on a 475-acre tract is certainly better than 300 as long as they are part of a true conservation subdivision. This number could be perceived as the balance commissioners want to achieve in protecting the rural qualities of northeast Pasco while also respecting the personal property rights of landowners. Going from 89 homes to 300 in a rural area is much too big a leap.
In addition to the out-of-line density being sought, the developers want to rely on septic tanks - 300 of them. This plan should deeply trouble commissioners because of the proposed size of the development, its location in a river drainage basin and its proximity to a drinking water wellfield. Environmentally, this plan makes no sense.
Nor does it make economic sense for taxpayers. Developers also want the county to supply water, which would mean extending lines, among other system improvements, to an area where residents rely on private water wells and the county has no facilities.
Considering the size of the project, such a request conflicts with county policies and would amount to more urban sprawl.
The troubling issues that Pine Ridge raises marks another opportunity for residents to demand that commissioners adopt an ordinance requiring a supermajority to approve land-use plan changes to protect the integrity of the document.
When a commission majority unwisely gave preliminary approval to the proposed Pine Ridge land-use amendment in May, the vote was 3-2 - with Commissioners Pat Mulieri, Michael Cox and Ann Hildebrand voting yes - and the proposal was forwarded to the state for review.
Had a supermajority rule been in place, the story would have been different. Fortunately, more scrutiny and a final vote are required.
Defeating Pine Ridge as proposed should be a cause not only for northeast Pasco residents but also for all residents who will benefit from the updated comprehensive plan. There was no sense adopting new planning tools and regulations if they're not going to be followed. To think that could be the case when the ink is barely dry on them adds insult to the injury.
You chamber people are so transparent. As soon as you say "vote on everything" we know who you are. It is the chamber's slogan. You can say it all you want...no one is going to believe it except you chamber people.
My answer back to you: HTD stops "developers gone wild." It is about time we tame those developers that don't care a lick about the people or our wonderful state of florida. They just see dollar signs where we see beauty. They still get to use the land they purchased they just can't be gluttons like they have been. Burp.
From their website:
Q: How does Florida's Hometown Democracy Amendment work?
A: Florida's Hometown Democracy Amendment simply replaces county or city commission votes to adopt or change a comprehensive plan with votes by the citizens. In other words, it lets the people vote. Here's how it works.
Each comprehensive plan amendment will be listed as a referendum election item and scheduled for the next regular election. By having the issue addressed at the same time as the general election releaves the need for a special election and doesn't increase the cost of doing so. No special elections will be necessary - so no special purpose funds would need to be expended. If a community so desires, a referendum could even be held by mail.
Florida's Hometown Democracy Amendment gives the keys of stability back to the voters, allowing the will of the people to lock or unlock changes to existing land use categories.
In summary, with the Florida Hometown Democracy amendment, the voters will decide if a proposed change will make their community a better place to live. If the majority vote yes, then the change happens. If the majority vote no, then the change doesn't happen. Its as simple as that.
Miami Beach voters saw too much corruption among its Commissioners and subsequently Miami Beach voters took power away from the those same commissioners. Referrundum passed. Everything has been fine. The sky did not fall.
M-D Commissioners and several City of Miami Commissioners are easily bought. Let the voters decide land use issues. See how many requests for zoning variances simply disappear. Sign the petition.
thank you sign the petition...
good reminder.
Taxpayers are getting screwed as usual. Performing Arts Center is sucking up $600,000 per month...
Proposed Miami Art Museum will lose $10 Mil per year...
Miami Science Museum will lose $8 Mil to $12 Mil per year.
Cancel your vacation. Politicans want your money so they can pay the overpaid bureaucrats who make stupid decisions.
In San Francisco Prop M an anti-development program was actually supported by the builders and large propety owners, after many attempts by well organized neighborhood groups when the market tanked. See John De Leon's classic study of SF politics. Wonder if the Fl. elite will ever figure out that limiting development is actually in their interest if they work it right and may allow them to created monopoly market positions like the elite in SF have done.
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