Every dollar you donate becomes $2 for Amendment 4, and FHD needs your HELP NOW to win in the fall. Donate now, and help FHD take up the opportunity of an anonymous donor's matching challenge! (click, read more)
Here's the story on Amendment 4's new Matching Funds Campaign:
"Your donation will doubly protect your investment in your home (that is, your property values), as well as the quality of life you and your family enjoy here in Florida.
Don't let us miss out on this generous matching offer: if you donate now, your contribution is magically doubled! You’ll have twice the impact on this, the most important issue in this fall’s election. And we must have your financial help to put Amendment 4 over the top with the 60% “Yes” vote required to pass.
Send as much as you can today -- or just as soon as you possibly can. Here’s how:
-- Mail a check to “Florida Hometown Democracy, Inc.” PO Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL, or
-- Use your credit card online at www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com.
And remember this: our big-pockets opposition -- frantic to preserve their gravy train (paid for by you) -- is raising a $15 million war-chest to kill Amendment 4. Don't let Amendment 4 fail! Do your part. The benefits you'll enjoy will be tremendous. . . and lasting!
Your contribution (times 2) will determine how effective we can be at getting out correct information on Amendment 4 to Florida's 6-8 million voters.
Donate today, as much as you can! On November 3rd you'll be glad you did!
--
*** Vote Yes on Amendment 4 in November 2010
"The Hometown You Save Will Be Your Own !"
Get the facts and donate at www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com ***"
Friday, May 07, 2010
Miami 21 under attack by Growth Machine... city officials, don't listen to the developers ... by gimleteye
The Herald reports a behind the scenes attack of the new Miami zoning code, Miami 21 before it is implemented, by land use attorneys and builders associations including the LBA. 5 years and countless hearings and controversies proceeded its passage. The developers never want more government intervention through zoning and planning. Even in the worst bust since the Depression, they want whatever it takes to bring the boom times back. In the state legislature, the Growth Machine worked like busy beavers dismantling state planning requirements. And it is no different, here in one of Florida's most populous cities and the political epicenter of the housing boom and bust.
City commissioners would do well to consider how the absence of rational zoning created exactly the quality of life deficits and conditions for disaster that developers want to re-create, again. We can't go backwards, except at great expense, and correct the problems etched in the Miami landscape in cement, steel and glass, but we can remember just what grief has been inflicted on Miami taxpayers and voters by our local builder and development lobby. Former LBA president Willy Bermello etched that hubris turned to grief in The Miami Herald in a 2005 editorial:
" Lately, there has been more written about the "condo bubble" than the weapons of mass destruction during the Iraq war. There is a relationship in both phenomena: If you say it often enough, you actually start believing it, and soon enough you're on your way toward a self-fulfilling prophecy. Miami is a great world city, and there is no going back. Build them, and they will come." (May 21, 2005) The parallel logic to this nonsense is driving the Growth Machine today. Build whatever we want to build, for which there is "demand", and it will be good for the tax base. It is a bunch of nonsense that also lead to enormous billion dollar infrastructure deficits and a built landscape that makes little sense at all in terms of layout and transit.
Miami 21 can't go backwards and fix all the mistakes made in South Florida by developers who made the playing field uneven as possible, to get what they wanted out of local government in zoning changes when they wanted it. The damage by speculators like Greenberg Traurig's land use lobbyists and attorneys is right there. "... real estate continues to still be a safe harbor for investors," Mr. Bermello wrote in 2005, "whether it be equity or the purchase of a condo in South Florida, where doubling of your investment in less than two years is commonplace... Miami deserves its place next to Shanghai and Dubai. More important, it deserves our confidence. The bubble is not latex but stainless steel."
What did listening to this nonsense accomplish? City commissioners should understand it made Miami what it is today: a casino for vulture investors. So let the developers and their lobbyists froth. Leave Miami 21 alone.
City commissioners would do well to consider how the absence of rational zoning created exactly the quality of life deficits and conditions for disaster that developers want to re-create, again. We can't go backwards, except at great expense, and correct the problems etched in the Miami landscape in cement, steel and glass, but we can remember just what grief has been inflicted on Miami taxpayers and voters by our local builder and development lobby. Former LBA president Willy Bermello etched that hubris turned to grief in The Miami Herald in a 2005 editorial:
" Lately, there has been more written about the "condo bubble" than the weapons of mass destruction during the Iraq war. There is a relationship in both phenomena: If you say it often enough, you actually start believing it, and soon enough you're on your way toward a self-fulfilling prophecy. Miami is a great world city, and there is no going back. Build them, and they will come." (May 21, 2005) The parallel logic to this nonsense is driving the Growth Machine today. Build whatever we want to build, for which there is "demand", and it will be good for the tax base. It is a bunch of nonsense that also lead to enormous billion dollar infrastructure deficits and a built landscape that makes little sense at all in terms of layout and transit.
Miami 21 can't go backwards and fix all the mistakes made in South Florida by developers who made the playing field uneven as possible, to get what they wanted out of local government in zoning changes when they wanted it. The damage by speculators like Greenberg Traurig's land use lobbyists and attorneys is right there. "... real estate continues to still be a safe harbor for investors," Mr. Bermello wrote in 2005, "whether it be equity or the purchase of a condo in South Florida, where doubling of your investment in less than two years is commonplace... Miami deserves its place next to Shanghai and Dubai. More important, it deserves our confidence. The bubble is not latex but stainless steel."
What did listening to this nonsense accomplish? City commissioners should understand it made Miami what it is today: a casino for vulture investors. So let the developers and their lobbyists froth. Leave Miami 21 alone.
Marco Rubio on Offshore Drilling. by Geniusofdespair
I think he still sounds like a member of DRILL HERE DRILL NOW.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Allen C. Harper, Ghost Town at Maggie Valley: Miami owners buy theme park out of bankruptcy: and Steve Shiver, too? by gimleteye
This is a story that doesn't add up, and so belongs with the long list of banking stories revolving around saving skin in the real estate collapse that require more in-depth investigation than blogs can provide. A bankruptcy court judge in North Carolina has approved a deal to allow the current owners of the failed theme park run by former Miami Dade county manager Steve Shiver to buy the park, erasing its creditors including many small local business vendors, owed more than $2.5 million. According to news reports, BB&T Bank-- that has recently planted its flag in South Florida-- would have to absorb a loss of at least $3 million from the prior $10 million mortgage. Where the bank will take $.70 cents on the dollar, local creditors-- many small businesses-- $.10 on the dollar. According to The Smoky Mountain News, "More than 200 businesses still owed money by Ghost Town would be left holding the bag, including local contractors and laborers who did work for the park and were never paid. Myriad Ghost Town supporters in Maggie Valley coughed up cash to help the amusement park get off the ground when it reopened. They were promised a stake in the company in exchange for their investment, but they, too, would be left with nothing." (Please click, 'read more')
The key figure is MIamian Allen C. Harper. Harper's business and political connections run through powerhouse real estate companies like Flager Development and Florida East Coast Industries, whose shareholders include Armando Codina.
Harper purchased Ghost Town at Maggie Valley, installing former county manager Steve Shiver as CEO, in 2006. He has now bought the company from bankruptcy through another entity; American Heritage Family Parks LLC. Who are the limited partners who are providing $7 million in new capital to chase after $20 million already invested is not clear, nor is the role of Shiver. The theme park has suffered through major controversies, chronicled on this blog, including a winter landslide that required a $1.3 federal taxpayer funded emergency investment. Liability for the mudslide has not been established, or, whether that liability now disappears that the company has emerged from bankruptcy under substantially similar ownership.
Here is what Forbes.com writes about Harper: "Allen C. Harper, 64, Chief Executive Officer of the American Heritage Railways since 1998. Director (Class III) since 2009.Mr. Harper served as Director on the Tri-County Rail Authority, a state-owned commuter railroad, from 1989 to 2005, and was Chairman of the Board for three terms. In 2003, Tri-County Rail was incorporated into the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, and in 2004 Mr. Harper was elected its Chairman. He also served as director of Florida East Coast Industries, Inc., a railroad and real estate company based in St. Augustine, Florida, for 12 years. In May 2001, Mr. Harper was appointed for the second time by Governor Bush to serve on the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority Board. Mr. Harper was an investor in, as well as an officer and member of Ghost Town Partners LLC, owner of Ghost Town in the Sky, a theme park that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 10, 2009. Mr. Harper was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the theme park or its parent company." Really? Given the theme park's trouble, that is not credible.
Harper is also a director of a major sprawl-inducing development company in Florida, Consolidated Tomoka. The publicly traded company is active in land development west of Interstate 95 in Delray Beach; an area hit very hard by the housing market crash. According to a recent SEC filing, "Mutual-fund manager Wintergreen Advisers wrote to the board on April 12 to state concerns about Consolidated Tomoka's proxy statement, including "a lack of adequate disclosure in several areas, as well as mischaracterizations of fact" on corporate-governance issues." Directors include former secretary of the Florida Department of Community Affairs Linda Shelley.
Harper is chairman emeritus of Esslinger Wooten Maxwell Realtors and owns several theme park railroads across the country. Local reporters should be digging deeper into the ownership records to find out what other Florida investors have a piece of Ghost Town.
The key figure is MIamian Allen C. Harper. Harper's business and political connections run through powerhouse real estate companies like Flager Development and Florida East Coast Industries, whose shareholders include Armando Codina.
Harper purchased Ghost Town at Maggie Valley, installing former county manager Steve Shiver as CEO, in 2006. He has now bought the company from bankruptcy through another entity; American Heritage Family Parks LLC. Who are the limited partners who are providing $7 million in new capital to chase after $20 million already invested is not clear, nor is the role of Shiver. The theme park has suffered through major controversies, chronicled on this blog, including a winter landslide that required a $1.3 federal taxpayer funded emergency investment. Liability for the mudslide has not been established, or, whether that liability now disappears that the company has emerged from bankruptcy under substantially similar ownership.
Here is what Forbes.com writes about Harper: "Allen C. Harper, 64, Chief Executive Officer of the American Heritage Railways since 1998. Director (Class III) since 2009.Mr. Harper served as Director on the Tri-County Rail Authority, a state-owned commuter railroad, from 1989 to 2005, and was Chairman of the Board for three terms. In 2003, Tri-County Rail was incorporated into the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, and in 2004 Mr. Harper was elected its Chairman. He also served as director of Florida East Coast Industries, Inc., a railroad and real estate company based in St. Augustine, Florida, for 12 years. In May 2001, Mr. Harper was appointed for the second time by Governor Bush to serve on the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority Board. Mr. Harper was an investor in, as well as an officer and member of Ghost Town Partners LLC, owner of Ghost Town in the Sky, a theme park that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 10, 2009. Mr. Harper was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the theme park or its parent company." Really? Given the theme park's trouble, that is not credible.
Harper is also a director of a major sprawl-inducing development company in Florida, Consolidated Tomoka. The publicly traded company is active in land development west of Interstate 95 in Delray Beach; an area hit very hard by the housing market crash. According to a recent SEC filing, "Mutual-fund manager Wintergreen Advisers wrote to the board on April 12 to state concerns about Consolidated Tomoka's proxy statement, including "a lack of adequate disclosure in several areas, as well as mischaracterizations of fact" on corporate-governance issues." Directors include former secretary of the Florida Department of Community Affairs Linda Shelley.
Harper is chairman emeritus of Esslinger Wooten Maxwell Realtors and owns several theme park railroads across the country. Local reporters should be digging deeper into the ownership records to find out what other Florida investors have a piece of Ghost Town.
Oil Spill: The rest of the country is chock full of morons. By Geniusofdespair
As 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day flow into the Gulf of Mexico, incredibly, 62% of voting Americans STILL support an expansion of oil drilling according to a Zogby Poll conducted Tuesday (Miami Herald).
Floridians, we can do better...we aren't morons like those polled are we? We don't STILL support oil drilling off our coast do we?
Who am i kidding.
Van Morrison Concert at Hard Rock in Hollywood Florida. By Geniusofdespair
One thing about Van-the-Man, he starts his concerts on time. The lights went out and they started playing before half the venue patrons were seated. Speaking of the venue, it is more suited for boxing matches than for concerts. You had to look sideways to see the band and there were railing blocking the views from some seats. It was strange -- seats facing a center pit but the stage was at the end. There were very few good seats unless you wanted to sit on the floor level which actually was level, not graded up as it should be. My seats for $100 sucked. I didn't like the Hard Rock venue but the sound system was excellent. Van Morrison was great. At the end of the concert it was the end of the concert. He closed with not one of his best songs and never came back for an encore, it started at 8:05 and ended at about 9:45.
The low point of the concert, Terry Murphy, Vile Natacha Seijas's Chief of Staff, was there with his new bride.
The low point of the concert, Terry Murphy, Vile Natacha Seijas's Chief of Staff, was there with his new bride.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Is Rentboy.com what State Sen. Mike Bennett was looking for? by gimleteye
I got it all wrong! State Sen. Mike Bennett wasn't looking for Girlz Gone Wild Bradenton from his computer at the Senate Chamber in Tallahassee; he was channeling fellow GOP activist Dr. George Rekers, a leading "scientific" voice in the anti-gay movement and founding board member of Dr. James Dobson's Family Research Council. Dobson and Rekers' views neatly twin around extremist views mostly commonly associated with the GOP. Props to Miami New Times breaking the biggest GOP sex scandal since ... let's see, foot tapping by a married US Senator in the men's room at the airport, or, a South Carolina governor who pretended to be soul-searching on the Appalachian Trail while fucking his g/f in Buenos Aires.
"On April 13, the "rent boy" (whom we'll call Lucien) arrived at Miami International Airport on Iberian Airlines Flight 6123, after a ten-day, fully subsidized trip to Europe. He was soon followed out of customs by an old man with an atavistic mustache and a desperate blond comb-over, pushing an overburdened baggage cart. That man was George Alan Rekers, of North Miami — the callboy's client and, as it happens, one of America's most prominent anti-gay activists. Rekers, a Baptist minister who is a leading scholar for the Christian right, left the terminal with his gay escort, looking a bit discomfited when a picture of the two was snapped with a hot-pink digital camera." Miami New Times, welcome back! Doggg, you rock.
Doing Away with the Miami Dade Strong Mayor: The Discussion. By Geniusofdespair
We all signed petitions to get power away from the County Commission to give it to the Mayor. We still have the same rat's nest of a County Commission and now they want to put on the ballot that we do away with the Strong Mayor form of government. I am not for this. The Commissioners have not gone to the public to see what WE WANT. First and foremost, we need term limits without caveats. After that the Commissioners can float any other wacky ideas to give them more power. And, County Commissioner Katy Sorenson, I am surprised at you saying in the Miami Herald today that term limits are not necessary because we can vote Commissioners out of office. You know we wouldn't be asking for term limits if we could get the losers out of office, so how can you say that we should vote them out? We can't vote them out because of district voting and because of money funneled to the corrupt. We NEED term limits. We have term limits on the Mayor and WE CAN ALL vote him/her out of office. That is why he/she should have the power advantage.
Below are Commissioners talking about doing away with the Strong Mayor at a Commission Meeting May 4th, I have posted 4 Commissioners, all videos are about 2 minutes or less (Hit read more to see others):
Carlos Gimenez hit this link if you don't see video.
County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle Link
Barbara Jordan link
County Commissioner Dennis Moss Link.
Below are Commissioners talking about doing away with the Strong Mayor at a Commission Meeting May 4th, I have posted 4 Commissioners, all videos are about 2 minutes or less (Hit read more to see others):
Carlos Gimenez hit this link if you don't see video.
County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle Link
Barbara Jordan link
County Commissioner Dennis Moss Link.
Porn surfing Florida state senator Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton ... by gimleteye
Florida state senator Michael Bennett was caught surfing what looked to be soft porn from his state-issued computer in the Senate Chamber last week. Although the images went viral on the internet in short order, the media attention missed what the Republican from Bradenton is best known for.
Press read more...
For years, Sen. Bennett lead the charge of Florida developers to weaken state regulations governing growth management, a state whose current economic crises are largely the result of too much development in the wrong places.. Taxpayers incensed by the costs of growth might consider what Sen. Bennett promotes is a more appropriately pornography than the Girlz Gone Wild stuff in Senate Chambers.
In the 2009 session of the Florida legislature, Senator Bennett pushed the worst legislation of the year; Senate Bill 360, or, "The Growth Anywhere Act". The Miami Herald wrote, "Floridians, living amid the rubble of a real estate collapse, hardly noticed SB 360 as it was slipped through the Legislature. Who was paying any attention to growth issues? Housing prices were down 31 percent from a year ago." County Commissioner Katy Sorenson said... : ''No doubt about it, the recession gave them cover to pass this bill. Calling SB 360 a "growth-management bill, was a downright Orwellian touch." Or, porn:
After Bennett's masterstroke for sprawl was signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist, he engaged in acrimonious verbal sparring with the state cabinet official charged with growth concerns, Florida DCA Secretary Tom Pelham. In unusual language belying the highly charged debate, Pelham suggested Bennett was misrepresenting the intent of the law to the public.
In the recently concluded session of the Florida legislature, the internet surfing state senator again lead the charge to eviscerate growth management in Florida, attempting for a while to pass legislation that would have killed off the state agency as an independent authority. On April 22, the Palm Beach Post wrote, "Also making a late appearance is the annual attempt by Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, to do a favor for Palm Beach County citrus grower Callery-Judge Groves. This year's attempt, in HB 7099, is designed to exempt the 4,000-acre grove's development proposal from meeting state rules for building roads to meet traffic demand. Sen. Bennett hoped to make the same bill palatable by adding language to reauthorize the Department of Community Affairs. House leaders have been content to leave the state growth-management agency in limbo until next year, when the DCA could be dismantled without worrying about retribution from voters."
Having done his work for the session, Sen. Bennett apparently started surfing the web without being aware of the press corps behind him. So incensed was the Bradenton Republican for being caught at his little mouse clicks that he sent a blistering message to the Sunshine State reporter: "I will do everything in my power, everything -- I don't know what that is exactly -- but I will do everything I can to make sure your days at the Capitol and reporting are over." The reporter wrote on the Sunshine State blog, "I'd like to remind readers that Sen. Mike Bennett was viewing the image on the Senate floor during session -- while I was in the standard place for reporters during session, which is one floor above in the reporters' gallery."
Several hundred miles removed, I tried a google search to duplicate the images Sen. Bennett was looking at: topless girls and a wet dog. At Youtube, I searched Girls Gone Wild Bradenton and Girl Dog. Although my limited imagination didn't turn up evidence of the senator's keystroke command, I did enjoy surfing and found a video he could use for his theme for Congress:
Press read more...
For years, Sen. Bennett lead the charge of Florida developers to weaken state regulations governing growth management, a state whose current economic crises are largely the result of too much development in the wrong places.. Taxpayers incensed by the costs of growth might consider what Sen. Bennett promotes is a more appropriately pornography than the Girlz Gone Wild stuff in Senate Chambers.
In the 2009 session of the Florida legislature, Senator Bennett pushed the worst legislation of the year; Senate Bill 360, or, "The Growth Anywhere Act". The Miami Herald wrote, "Floridians, living amid the rubble of a real estate collapse, hardly noticed SB 360 as it was slipped through the Legislature. Who was paying any attention to growth issues? Housing prices were down 31 percent from a year ago." County Commissioner Katy Sorenson said... : ''No doubt about it, the recession gave them cover to pass this bill. Calling SB 360 a "growth-management bill, was a downright Orwellian touch." Or, porn:
After Bennett's masterstroke for sprawl was signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist, he engaged in acrimonious verbal sparring with the state cabinet official charged with growth concerns, Florida DCA Secretary Tom Pelham. In unusual language belying the highly charged debate, Pelham suggested Bennett was misrepresenting the intent of the law to the public.
In the recently concluded session of the Florida legislature, the internet surfing state senator again lead the charge to eviscerate growth management in Florida, attempting for a while to pass legislation that would have killed off the state agency as an independent authority. On April 22, the Palm Beach Post wrote, "Also making a late appearance is the annual attempt by Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, to do a favor for Palm Beach County citrus grower Callery-Judge Groves. This year's attempt, in HB 7099, is designed to exempt the 4,000-acre grove's development proposal from meeting state rules for building roads to meet traffic demand. Sen. Bennett hoped to make the same bill palatable by adding language to reauthorize the Department of Community Affairs. House leaders have been content to leave the state growth-management agency in limbo until next year, when the DCA could be dismantled without worrying about retribution from voters."
Having done his work for the session, Sen. Bennett apparently started surfing the web without being aware of the press corps behind him. So incensed was the Bradenton Republican for being caught at his little mouse clicks that he sent a blistering message to the Sunshine State reporter: "I will do everything in my power, everything -- I don't know what that is exactly -- but I will do everything I can to make sure your days at the Capitol and reporting are over." The reporter wrote on the Sunshine State blog, "I'd like to remind readers that Sen. Mike Bennett was viewing the image on the Senate floor during session -- while I was in the standard place for reporters during session, which is one floor above in the reporters' gallery."
Several hundred miles removed, I tried a google search to duplicate the images Sen. Bennett was looking at: topless girls and a wet dog. At Youtube, I searched Girls Gone Wild Bradenton and Girl Dog. Although my limited imagination didn't turn up evidence of the senator's keystroke command, I did enjoy surfing and found a video he could use for his theme for Congress:
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
The Oil Spill and That Damn Food Chain. By Geniusofdespair
Bad enough that our South Florida beaches might be fouled, our wildlife killed and our habitat destroyed if the spill finds its way into the Gulf Stream, there is another danger that I forgot about. It was mentioned in Daniel Roth-Shoer's column today in the shitty Miami Herald: Poisoning from that pesky food chain. He says:
"...Let's talk about the fish or shrimp that we are going to eat for dinner. Petroleum compounds such as hydrocarbons and heavy metals dissolve in the sea and adhere to sediment, seriously affecting the food chain. In other words, microorganisms and microflora incorporate metals within their cells. Then the small fish feed on the metals. Predators, of course, will exhibit higher concentration levels than their prey. At the end of the food chain, it will be we humans who ingest this accumulation of contaminants. Bon appétit!"
Thanks for nothing Daniel.
Florida Republicans: bringing traffic cameras to your bedroom soon ... by gimleteye
Maybe this is the first effect of the Deepwater Horizon disaster: forcing Floridians to take a close look in the mirror and wonder: have I really been combing tar balls into my hair all these years? Here is what the mad hatter GOP did on the final day of the legislative session. The Republican Party of Limited Government passed, without vetting the bill through a single committee or any opportunity for public comment, a measure that forces all women wanting an abortion to have an ultrasound, to view it, and listen to a medical professional's description of the fetus from the ultrasound before she is allowed to give her written consent for an abortion. Through an amendment they proposed to the constitution, these Republicans also want to ensure that districts in Florida are built around a permanent majority; an unassailable kingdom ruled by The Family.
What is shocking is that the bill didn't also require a doctor to hold a gun to the head of the woman while viewing the ultrasound. Or maybe just put it on the instrument tray. Women, in the Florida Republic of Nuttiness, do not mind submitting to the will of their men. They love to. It is also very GOP sexy to imagine physicians who are women holding guns against other women who want abortions. There is, of course, a way to redeem those nymphomaniacs inclined to abortion: the Republicans provided that if the woman signs a form saying she's not being coerced to have an abortion, the physician doesn't have to hold the gun to her head. He just has to point it at her belly.
HB 1143 passed the Florida Senate on a 23-16 and the House on a 76-44 vote. Afterwards the Republican members of the Florida legislature were pledged with pins from The Family; the ultra-right wing group that believes if you are elected to political office, you can father all the girls you want outside of marriage and never worry that your mistress or girlfriend will have an abortion.
The GOP legislators couldn't contain themselves, though. The bill restricts businesses that receive tax credits from providing their employees with health insurance that covers abortion even if they don’t use federal or state subsidies to purchase their plans. More than 86% of employer-based health insurance includes abortion coverage. If HB 1143 is signed into law, hundreds of thousands of women will lose health care coverage that they currently have for an abortion. What can you do, other than hate women, love life and respect fathers?
Write a personal email to Governor Crist: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com to Veto HB 1143. Call Governor Crist: (850) 488-7146
TELL THE GOVERNOR:
Veto House Bill 1143 - it puts the health & safety of Florida's women at risk
Forces women to pay for an ultrasound ($400) whether recommended or not by her doctor
Forces physicians to perform ultrasounds even if not medically appropriate or against the physician's judgment
It violates the doctor-patient relationship & interferes with private medical decisions
It takes away abortion coverage from women who currently have it in their private health insurance plans
Does nothing to prevent unintended pregnancy or the need for abortion
The bill violates Gov. Crist's personal position of being anti-choice but not imposing his personal beliefs on others
What is shocking is that the bill didn't also require a doctor to hold a gun to the head of the woman while viewing the ultrasound. Or maybe just put it on the instrument tray. Women, in the Florida Republic of Nuttiness, do not mind submitting to the will of their men. They love to. It is also very GOP sexy to imagine physicians who are women holding guns against other women who want abortions. There is, of course, a way to redeem those nymphomaniacs inclined to abortion: the Republicans provided that if the woman signs a form saying she's not being coerced to have an abortion, the physician doesn't have to hold the gun to her head. He just has to point it at her belly.
HB 1143 passed the Florida Senate on a 23-16 and the House on a 76-44 vote. Afterwards the Republican members of the Florida legislature were pledged with pins from The Family; the ultra-right wing group that believes if you are elected to political office, you can father all the girls you want outside of marriage and never worry that your mistress or girlfriend will have an abortion.
The GOP legislators couldn't contain themselves, though. The bill restricts businesses that receive tax credits from providing their employees with health insurance that covers abortion even if they don’t use federal or state subsidies to purchase their plans. More than 86% of employer-based health insurance includes abortion coverage. If HB 1143 is signed into law, hundreds of thousands of women will lose health care coverage that they currently have for an abortion. What can you do, other than hate women, love life and respect fathers?
Write a personal email to Governor Crist: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com to Veto HB 1143. Call Governor Crist: (850) 488-7146
TELL THE GOVERNOR:
Veto House Bill 1143 - it puts the health & safety of Florida's women at risk
Forces women to pay for an ultrasound ($400) whether recommended or not by her doctor
Forces physicians to perform ultrasounds even if not medically appropriate or against the physician's judgment
It violates the doctor-patient relationship & interferes with private medical decisions
It takes away abortion coverage from women who currently have it in their private health insurance plans
Does nothing to prevent unintended pregnancy or the need for abortion
The bill violates Gov. Crist's personal position of being anti-choice but not imposing his personal beliefs on others
The District 2 race has two more Candidates. By Geniusofdespair
Pastor Anthony Dawkins joined the race against County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle. He ran against him in 2006 as well but only raised $450.00 and didn't do well at the polls. On a brighter note, longtime activist Mack Samuel also entered the race.
I know Mack Samuel from the 2006 Commission race. He was an activist and so was I, we set up a candidates forum together. I believe he will be a very credible candidate. He has been a resident of the district for the past 40 years. He said he has seen too many negative changes in the community and that made him want to run. He thinks the poverty rate and high unemployment are not being properly addressed. Mack Samuel believes the community can do better. He said "With my experience in Corporate America, I think I can give back to the community I care about in a positive way. It is hard to have an impact if you are not at the table. I need to be at the table."
Mack understands business, he was a successful businessman working for AT&T for 30 years. Even when he retired he started his own telephone equipment business which he ran for 10 years. He now is consulting part-time in the telecom industry.
I asked him if he knew that Dorrin Rolle has $154,500. He said:
"I wish I had 4 times that amount but if the will of the people prevails, money won't be as important. I am going to run a strong grass-roots campaign and I will focus on getting people to the polls."
Always an advocate for young people in the community Mack believes they are the future, and he has been investing his time in mentoring them.
"I believe that strong elected leadership in our community is missing and it is needed." Samuel thinks he can fill the leadership void. "If we are going to focus on guiding people to reach their full potential in County Commission District 2, the leadership needs to change because it is not working now.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Deepwater Horizon: buy Gulf Coast vacations at post-oil prices ... by gimleteye
Did we have to kill the Gulf of Mexico to stop, "Drill, baby, drill"? Before the spill from Deepwater Horizon is contained, Florida will see exactly the environmental catastrophe that kept offshore oil, off Florida's coasts until the November 2008 elections. "Drill, baby, drill!". The question arises: why must the American public "see" an environmental disaster before believing it represented an unacceptable risk all along?
A government official sought to describe the difficulty of containing the spill on account of "the tyranny of distance and the tyranny of depth." There is no tyranny here except the tyranny of idiots. Sarah Palin, in an Iowa campaign stop a week before the November 2008 presidential election, articulated that so-called logic; her speech started with the recognition that we need to apply new technology to the business of a clean energy future. Jobs, etc. But that wasn't what the crowd was waiting for, and she knew it. "Now is the time for 'drill, baby, drill'", she read from the script-- like a really bad actor telegraphing the punch line. (It is all memorialized in the Youtube clip - hit read more - and worth noting that President Obama is following the same script of "all of the above" on energy investments, absent the fear mongering.)
This idiocy was also the foundation of Florida's future as imagined during the Bush regnum in Florida--test tube for conservative extremists during two terms of a governor now re-emerging through a surrogate candidate for US Senate, Marco Rubio. You can't make progress, the thinking goes, without accepting the costs-- and evading public disclosure of risks of environmental destruction.
Environmentalists--at least, in the United States-- have been on the defensive almost from the first moment that concern for our air, water, and natural resources popped up on the radar of corporate interests. The Sagebrush Rebellion and its acolytes, funded by large conservative think tanks, emerged as an integral aspect of the Reagan years and morphed, eventually, into the bloviators and right wing message machine of the new Idiocracy. "Eco-Nazis" and "eco-terrorists" is how environmentalists opposing offshore drilling and other protections for the planet have been described by propagandists like Rush Limbaugh.
Now that risks materialized in a trashed Gulf of Mexico, environmentalists who have argued for the precautionary principle applied to economic activities may have another moment in the oil-drenched haze. The precautionary principle implies that there is a social responsibility to protect the public from exposure to harm, when scientific investigation has found a plausible risk. But throughout America, corporate America has persuaded the public that "plausible risks" are too expensive to work into the price of goods. In Miami-Dade county, this logic lead rock miners to pollute our drinking water aquifer, virtually without penalty. In the Everglades by Big Sugar; to put the heart of the state onto life support. And throughout the state by well drillers, phosphate miners and the Growth Machine; pretending to diversify the state's economy while magnifying the risks.
"BP has not said how much oil is beneath the Gulf seabed Deepwater Horizon was tapping, but a company official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the volume of reserves, confirmed reports that it was tens of millions of barrels — a frightening prospect to many." (AP, Gulf oil spill swiftly ballons, could move east, May 1, 2010) That spill, the Exxon Valdez, poured its cargo mostly onto a rocky coastline. But at first, BP told the world it was a leak of only 1000 barrels a day. Then it was 5,000. Now there is concern that the remaining damaged pipe a mile under the sea is restraining the oil flow and an uncontrolled blowout on the ocean floor is possible. According to the Mobile Register, "The following is not public," reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Emergency Response document dated April 28. "Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought." ('Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher', April 30, 2010)
The sum result of this idiocracy at work is to mis-state the real risks embedded in drilling deepwater offshore oil. For tenderizing the body politick with fear mongering, the right wing extremists should all be tarred and feathered with oil from the Deepwater Horizon and paraded in the public square. In Florida, those public squares would be the instant grow Malls that were built with fraudulent credit to serve demand that did not exist, except in the fevered imaginations of Wall Street bankers and the Growth Machine; the same fevered imaginations that sold the public a bill of goods that sometimes you just have to kill a little piece of the planet to save it.
A government official sought to describe the difficulty of containing the spill on account of "the tyranny of distance and the tyranny of depth." There is no tyranny here except the tyranny of idiots. Sarah Palin, in an Iowa campaign stop a week before the November 2008 presidential election, articulated that so-called logic; her speech started with the recognition that we need to apply new technology to the business of a clean energy future. Jobs, etc. But that wasn't what the crowd was waiting for, and she knew it. "Now is the time for 'drill, baby, drill'", she read from the script-- like a really bad actor telegraphing the punch line. (It is all memorialized in the Youtube clip - hit read more - and worth noting that President Obama is following the same script of "all of the above" on energy investments, absent the fear mongering.)
This idiocy was also the foundation of Florida's future as imagined during the Bush regnum in Florida--test tube for conservative extremists during two terms of a governor now re-emerging through a surrogate candidate for US Senate, Marco Rubio. You can't make progress, the thinking goes, without accepting the costs-- and evading public disclosure of risks of environmental destruction.
Environmentalists--at least, in the United States-- have been on the defensive almost from the first moment that concern for our air, water, and natural resources popped up on the radar of corporate interests. The Sagebrush Rebellion and its acolytes, funded by large conservative think tanks, emerged as an integral aspect of the Reagan years and morphed, eventually, into the bloviators and right wing message machine of the new Idiocracy. "Eco-Nazis" and "eco-terrorists" is how environmentalists opposing offshore drilling and other protections for the planet have been described by propagandists like Rush Limbaugh.
Now that risks materialized in a trashed Gulf of Mexico, environmentalists who have argued for the precautionary principle applied to economic activities may have another moment in the oil-drenched haze. The precautionary principle implies that there is a social responsibility to protect the public from exposure to harm, when scientific investigation has found a plausible risk. But throughout America, corporate America has persuaded the public that "plausible risks" are too expensive to work into the price of goods. In Miami-Dade county, this logic lead rock miners to pollute our drinking water aquifer, virtually without penalty. In the Everglades by Big Sugar; to put the heart of the state onto life support. And throughout the state by well drillers, phosphate miners and the Growth Machine; pretending to diversify the state's economy while magnifying the risks.
"BP has not said how much oil is beneath the Gulf seabed Deepwater Horizon was tapping, but a company official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the volume of reserves, confirmed reports that it was tens of millions of barrels — a frightening prospect to many." (AP, Gulf oil spill swiftly ballons, could move east, May 1, 2010) That spill, the Exxon Valdez, poured its cargo mostly onto a rocky coastline. But at first, BP told the world it was a leak of only 1000 barrels a day. Then it was 5,000. Now there is concern that the remaining damaged pipe a mile under the sea is restraining the oil flow and an uncontrolled blowout on the ocean floor is possible. According to the Mobile Register, "The following is not public," reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Emergency Response document dated April 28. "Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought." ('Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher', April 30, 2010)
The sum result of this idiocracy at work is to mis-state the real risks embedded in drilling deepwater offshore oil. For tenderizing the body politick with fear mongering, the right wing extremists should all be tarred and feathered with oil from the Deepwater Horizon and paraded in the public square. In Florida, those public squares would be the instant grow Malls that were built with fraudulent credit to serve demand that did not exist, except in the fevered imaginations of Wall Street bankers and the Growth Machine; the same fevered imaginations that sold the public a bill of goods that sometimes you just have to kill a little piece of the planet to save it.
Videos of 3 Candidates for County Commission District 8. By Geniusofdespair
This blog post gives you a chance to hear 3 of the 7 candidates for District 8 (Katy Sorenson's Seat) who spoke at the Comprehensive Development Master Plan meeting on April 28. Lynda Bell was at the meeting and so was Pam Gray. Lynda did not speak, Pam could not speak as she is a member of the Planning Advisory Board. I am looking for a tape of her remarks at the PAB meeting. Please do not make up your mind on your vote by these brief presentations. The item that Annette Taddeo, Eugene Flinn and Albert Harum Alvarez were to speak on was pulled from the agenda so they didn't have prepared statements. The subject they were speaking on instead, was a truck parking lot outside the UDB line near a drinking water wellfield. Think of this as an opportunity to get to know them not to judge them. Culler and Piedra did not show up for this meeting.
Link to Albert Harum-Avarez on Youtube.
Link to Annette Taddeo on Youtube if you do not see the video.
Link to Eugene Flinn on Youtube.
Come talk to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Staffers May 6th. By Geniusofdespair
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Staff is having an open house Thursday, May 6th to talk/hear about Turkey Point safety concerns. It will be at Homestead City Hall, 790 North Homestead Blvd., Homestead starting at 11 a.m.
Charlie Crist: first fundraising event as an independent ... by gimleteye
I attended the Crist fundraiser last night at the Grand Miami Beach Hotel. The Grand is just up the block from the Fountainbleau. It is a modest addition to the strip in keeping with the times.
The Crist campaign for US Senate as an independent is also part of these changing times. In the Herald, Beth Reinhard focused on the support for Crist by Miami Dade mayor Carlos Alvarez. I can understand why she and the Herald editors chose that as the news hook, but for my money the better angle was Crist calling the opposition of Republicans to the Obama stimulus plan, "moronic".
Then there was his veto of SB 6, that would have tied teacher pay to performance of students under the Bush FCAT system, triggered massive opposition by traditional Dems and from this angle, in short, Crist is banking his senate shot. Judging from raised hands in the audience, the number of Republican enthusiasts slightly exceeded the number of hands raised of Dems and those self-identified as independents.
No question: this will be the most entertaining US senate race in modern history. A friend speculated that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be in Florida, soon, to help cheer on Charlie. While these anti-Bushes will naturally bond, the bigger draw would be Michael Bloomberg. Can you imagine a Bloomberg and Crist event at Century Village? I can, but I hope Charlie leaves former senate president Ken Pruitt at home.
The Crist campaign for US Senate as an independent is also part of these changing times. In the Herald, Beth Reinhard focused on the support for Crist by Miami Dade mayor Carlos Alvarez. I can understand why she and the Herald editors chose that as the news hook, but for my money the better angle was Crist calling the opposition of Republicans to the Obama stimulus plan, "moronic".
Then there was his veto of SB 6, that would have tied teacher pay to performance of students under the Bush FCAT system, triggered massive opposition by traditional Dems and from this angle, in short, Crist is banking his senate shot. Judging from raised hands in the audience, the number of Republican enthusiasts slightly exceeded the number of hands raised of Dems and those self-identified as independents.
No question: this will be the most entertaining US senate race in modern history. A friend speculated that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be in Florida, soon, to help cheer on Charlie. While these anti-Bushes will naturally bond, the bigger draw would be Michael Bloomberg. Can you imagine a Bloomberg and Crist event at Century Village? I can, but I hope Charlie leaves former senate president Ken Pruitt at home.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Ridiculed Speaker at County Meeting Strikes Back. By Geniusofdespair
First let me say it is very brave to speak in front of this ugly County Commission because the consequences can be infuriating. County Commissioner Souto ridiculed a public speaker at the County Commission Meeting April 28th - the subject was a truck parking lot outside the UDB line near a drinking water wellfield. The speaker had no opportunity to respond to the attack so we thought we would give him one. First here is a video of part of what the Rambling Commissioner said about Andrew followed by the open letter by Georgiadis: (if the video isn't working this is the link)
Commissioner Souto,
I was disappointed by your vote in favor of the impervious parking lot yesterday. The applicants and most of your fellow commissioners seemed to concentrate on the cleanliness of the water exiting the site. When the Director of DERM assured you that the water would be monitored, most of you seemed relieved. However, not one of you, save for Commissioner Sorenson, discussed the other water issue: runoff. Impervious surfaces of this size will reduce acquifer recharge. This is a separate issue to that of water contamination, and one which was not acknowledged yesterday.
You accused me of “living in another galaxy” and not being in touch with reality because I suggested that we emphasize rail over trucking. Then you made statements about reverting to horse drawn buggies, something none of us had ever mentioned during the hearing. I’d like you to realize that many highly civilized modern cities around the world approach the problem of transportation (both freight and passenger) according to the way I described.
Best practices in urban design and transportation planning are not of another galaxy, but are realistic, time-tested, and being accomplished right now. Also: you suggested that the inability to construct this particular parking lot would result in higher priced produce and “shirts.” You even pointed to me and asked how I expected to get tomatoes on the table without trucks. I wish I had the chance to answer the honorable board when you asked the question. The answer is that my wife and I don’t watch TV or surf the internet. Instead, we spend several hours per week cultivating fruits and vegetables in our small Miami backyard. We cultivate tomatoes, salad greens, fruits, a broad array of vegetables, and herbs, all due to our own sweat and without the trucks that you mentioned. Additionally, we do this at low cost in a way that does not pollute the environment, as hyper-dependency on trucking does. Our household is almost entirely self-sufficient for our fruit and vegetable needs.
In regards to the price of my shirt, which you pointed to in the meeting, I would be glad to pay more for certain goods, especially if it encourages our city to be more thrifty, and less of a throw-away society. Especially if the true costs of fossil-fuel dependency were factored into the goods that we consume and dispose, this would help create a rebirth of local manufacturing.
Lastly, I feel it is my duty to remind you, since you accused me of not living in reality, that fossil fuels are a finite resource, and are rapidly depleting. Most geologists admit that we have only a few decades of cheap oil left. Then what? We must plan for Miami Dade County to be survivable and prosperous in a post-oil world. Votes like yesterday's postpone our ability to face reality head-on.
Respectfully yours,
Andrew Georgiadis LEED AP, CNU
Commissioner Souto,
I was disappointed by your vote in favor of the impervious parking lot yesterday. The applicants and most of your fellow commissioners seemed to concentrate on the cleanliness of the water exiting the site. When the Director of DERM assured you that the water would be monitored, most of you seemed relieved. However, not one of you, save for Commissioner Sorenson, discussed the other water issue: runoff. Impervious surfaces of this size will reduce acquifer recharge. This is a separate issue to that of water contamination, and one which was not acknowledged yesterday.
You accused me of “living in another galaxy” and not being in touch with reality because I suggested that we emphasize rail over trucking. Then you made statements about reverting to horse drawn buggies, something none of us had ever mentioned during the hearing. I’d like you to realize that many highly civilized modern cities around the world approach the problem of transportation (both freight and passenger) according to the way I described.
Best practices in urban design and transportation planning are not of another galaxy, but are realistic, time-tested, and being accomplished right now. Also: you suggested that the inability to construct this particular parking lot would result in higher priced produce and “shirts.” You even pointed to me and asked how I expected to get tomatoes on the table without trucks. I wish I had the chance to answer the honorable board when you asked the question. The answer is that my wife and I don’t watch TV or surf the internet. Instead, we spend several hours per week cultivating fruits and vegetables in our small Miami backyard. We cultivate tomatoes, salad greens, fruits, a broad array of vegetables, and herbs, all due to our own sweat and without the trucks that you mentioned. Additionally, we do this at low cost in a way that does not pollute the environment, as hyper-dependency on trucking does. Our household is almost entirely self-sufficient for our fruit and vegetable needs.
In regards to the price of my shirt, which you pointed to in the meeting, I would be glad to pay more for certain goods, especially if it encourages our city to be more thrifty, and less of a throw-away society. Especially if the true costs of fossil-fuel dependency were factored into the goods that we consume and dispose, this would help create a rebirth of local manufacturing.
Lastly, I feel it is my duty to remind you, since you accused me of not living in reality, that fossil fuels are a finite resource, and are rapidly depleting. Most geologists admit that we have only a few decades of cheap oil left. Then what? We must plan for Miami Dade County to be survivable and prosperous in a post-oil world. Votes like yesterday's postpone our ability to face reality head-on.
Respectfully yours,
Andrew Georgiadis LEED AP, CNU
Boca state of mind ... by gimleteye
More than 39 million have viewed Jay-Z and Alicia Keyes' 'Empire State of Mind' on Youtube. I'm down with the Boca parody.
This is the Florida I know, baa--aa--by!
This is the Florida I know, baa--aa--by!
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Deepwater Horizon and conservative values: polluters pay ... by gimleteye
The proof that politicians who claim to be conservatives -- mostly Republican-- aren't really who they say they are is that they support laws and policies that don't require full cost accounting for pollution. This is true of Big Sugar's pollution of the Everglades as it is of Big Oil's destruction in the Gulf of Mexico or Big Chem's pollution of the Mississippi River basin. When it comes to pollution, ours is a nation of avoidance.
The reason so many environmentalists "just say no" to offshore oil drilling is because there is no cost accounting that incorporates what happens when catastrophe hits. See, what we mean? But it is not just oil production where the evasion of cost accounting is standard procedure: the same is true of coal generating power facilities that pour carbon dioxide into the atmosphere or nuclear power facilities, like Turkey Point, that fail to protect groundwater despite legal agreements or safe storage of spent fuel rods. When disaster strikes, the true costs of these "takings" are never fully paid by the polluter. Instead they are judged to be acceptable costs and pushed onto consumers in our modern, industrialized society.
These costs are weighed according to rotten assessments of risk that permit them. What have we learned from these "conservatives" -- like Wall Street for example-- in recent years? The wealth of the nation has been stripped as cleanly as a car in a chop shop. While Democrats bear their share of blame, the biggest portion goes to conservatives who ran the economy into the ground. Take the SEC under former Congressman Chris Cox, or the USFWS, or the EPA. Whether synthetic derivatives or wetlands in Florida, these federal agencies weren't in business to enforce "polluter pays": they were meant to keep their mitts off regulation and enforcement. They sat surfing porn on the internet while the real pornography was layed out across the American landscape watching risk analyses of CDO's and biological opinions dressed up like painted whores. (I'm not making this stuff up!)
There was a good reason Floridians opposed offshore oil for decades. It is not just the cormorants and herons and other birds that need to be cleansed, we need to be bathed to wash off the ridiculous logic, the bloviators and the media circus tag teams and think tanks funded by so-called conservatives. No more "drill, baby, drill". Insist on energy reform that brings the big electric utilities into line. Remember, when it is time to vote next November, how during this legislative session Florida Republicans failed to approve qualified appointees to the Public Service Commission. It was pay back against Charlie Crist who led the way, rejecting the FPL base rate increase in January that would have paid for twenty billion in new nuclear reactors without adequate safeguards to the public interest in South Dade.
These "conservatives" are not conservative at all. And don't let President Obama off the hook, either, on his continued support for unacceptably dangerous offshore oil exploration. Of all people, he should know better.
Palmetto Bay – Palmer Trinity Zoning Tug of War Resumes. Guest Blog by Miamigal
The Palmer Trinity School zoning hearing affects the people who live in Palmetto Bay and in Cutler Bay, as well. The requested increase in students (from 600 to 1150 or 1400) plus staff, massive new buildings and the 17 sports different venues are bound to change the lives of many thousands of residents. There will be a hearing, May 4th - 7:00 PM at Christ Fellowship Church, 8900 SW 168th Street.
The effect of the 3rd District’s court ruling combined with the precedence set by this zoning hearing could have far reaching impacts state-wide and could very well dilute any success gained by the Hometown Democracy Amendment 4 should it win. In the end, we all could lose.
After a bizarre court ruling which sets a nasty precedent not only for the Village of Palmetto Bay but the whole state as well, the hearings revisited the issue Thursday, April 29th. The dismal outcome of the hearing dumped the agricultural zoning on the 33 acre mango grove which opens the door for Palmer to run rough-shod over the community with its sports complex that is more suited for the Summer Olympics than a school nested in a residential district.
This is not a NIMBY issue. This is an issue that begs the question of a landowner’s desire for a higher, more valuable use than the zoning that sits on the property verses the very measurable impact on not just a few homeowners, but the impact on two incorporated areas. The higher use IS NOT something guaranteed by law; property comes with the zoning that was on it when one purchases it. Government cannot easily downgrade a parcel’s value without a “taking”, but it does not have to up-grade the zoning either to the benefit of the landowner.
The history of the school has been one of steady growth:
Starting back in 1961 – County approved school use and facilities at 7900 SW 176 Street.
1979 – County approved the request to expand the school and permit outdoor table dining area for students, bringing the school closer to its property line.
1985 – County approved a classroom building and additional parking
1988 – County approved a two-story library/administration/classroom structure, the continued use of the undersized 19 foot wide driveway where 22 feet is required, and 200 additional students for a total of 600 students
1991 – Palmer and Trinity merged, two schools struggling to survive
1999 – Community Council #13 approved a science building, library expansion, chapel, media center, locker room expansion, café expansion, band room, pool house, field house, new kitchen addition for a total of 61,261 square feet.
Neighbors voiced their concerns about the noise from the athletic fields and the traffic. At this time Palmer had approximately 485 students. At this time, Palmer-Trinity promised they would never ask for more than the 600 maximum they were given in 1988 – this was mentioned over 60 times in the transcript from the hearing.
In the end, after all the construction, women cannot use their backyard pools without catcalls from the students. Western neighbors look up to see almost 35 foot high buildings hovering over their backyards and roof tops. The eastern neighbors get to tolerate traffic fumes, early morning school bells, and security lights, while the community to the north gets the traffic tie-ups and the teen drivers.
2003 – Palmer Trinity acquired the 33 acre mango grove for 4.7 million
2005 – 2008 The school presented the proposed plan to the neighborhood. The political games began. The school has more than the 600 students permitted. Neighbors see numerous examples of non-compliance with the 1999 zoning hearing.
2009 – The issue goes to public hearing. Palmetto Bay residents come out on the better side of the issue. The bullying against the activists and Village leaders begins in earnest. Intimidation tactics get out of control. Attorney Stan Price and deep pocketed school clients step in to slap lawsuits everywhere they can think of. The fall election results in the Village residents voting in new laws requiring certain protections for residents against unchecked growth. The Appeals Court bounced Village out of court with a nonsensical, but devastating response that tramples local government’s right to determine what zoning is in the best interest of its residents.
2010 – April 29th, the first of two hearings. The Village Council, with apologies and no defiance to the court, votes to give the school the pathway to the Olympic village. Mayor Flinn read aloud the damning opinion from the court. The lack of appeals and meek acceptance of the court ruling by the Village attorney makes residents uneasy and wary of the way the political wind is blowing.
This Tuesday, the final hearing is scheduled. Ironically, the Village of Palmetto Bay has no venue large enough to hold this hearing, other than a church that fought for an expanded school and lost. While they are waiting in the wings for the opportunity to come back for their coveted high school, this church has quietly been buying the community property in the neighborhood. They are simply watching and waiting.
If you go:
May 4th - 7:00 PM
Christ Fellowship Church
8900 SW 168th Street
Palmetto Bay
The effect of the 3rd District’s court ruling combined with the precedence set by this zoning hearing could have far reaching impacts state-wide and could very well dilute any success gained by the Hometown Democracy Amendment 4 should it win. In the end, we all could lose.
After a bizarre court ruling which sets a nasty precedent not only for the Village of Palmetto Bay but the whole state as well, the hearings revisited the issue Thursday, April 29th. The dismal outcome of the hearing dumped the agricultural zoning on the 33 acre mango grove which opens the door for Palmer to run rough-shod over the community with its sports complex that is more suited for the Summer Olympics than a school nested in a residential district.
This is not a NIMBY issue. This is an issue that begs the question of a landowner’s desire for a higher, more valuable use than the zoning that sits on the property verses the very measurable impact on not just a few homeowners, but the impact on two incorporated areas. The higher use IS NOT something guaranteed by law; property comes with the zoning that was on it when one purchases it. Government cannot easily downgrade a parcel’s value without a “taking”, but it does not have to up-grade the zoning either to the benefit of the landowner.
The history of the school has been one of steady growth:
Starting back in 1961 – County approved school use and facilities at 7900 SW 176 Street.
1979 – County approved the request to expand the school and permit outdoor table dining area for students, bringing the school closer to its property line.
1985 – County approved a classroom building and additional parking
1988 – County approved a two-story library/administration/classroom structure, the continued use of the undersized 19 foot wide driveway where 22 feet is required, and 200 additional students for a total of 600 students
1991 – Palmer and Trinity merged, two schools struggling to survive
1999 – Community Council #13 approved a science building, library expansion, chapel, media center, locker room expansion, café expansion, band room, pool house, field house, new kitchen addition for a total of 61,261 square feet.
Neighbors voiced their concerns about the noise from the athletic fields and the traffic. At this time Palmer had approximately 485 students. At this time, Palmer-Trinity promised they would never ask for more than the 600 maximum they were given in 1988 – this was mentioned over 60 times in the transcript from the hearing.
In the end, after all the construction, women cannot use their backyard pools without catcalls from the students. Western neighbors look up to see almost 35 foot high buildings hovering over their backyards and roof tops. The eastern neighbors get to tolerate traffic fumes, early morning school bells, and security lights, while the community to the north gets the traffic tie-ups and the teen drivers.
2003 – Palmer Trinity acquired the 33 acre mango grove for 4.7 million
2005 – 2008 The school presented the proposed plan to the neighborhood. The political games began. The school has more than the 600 students permitted. Neighbors see numerous examples of non-compliance with the 1999 zoning hearing.
2009 – The issue goes to public hearing. Palmetto Bay residents come out on the better side of the issue. The bullying against the activists and Village leaders begins in earnest. Intimidation tactics get out of control. Attorney Stan Price and deep pocketed school clients step in to slap lawsuits everywhere they can think of. The fall election results in the Village residents voting in new laws requiring certain protections for residents against unchecked growth. The Appeals Court bounced Village out of court with a nonsensical, but devastating response that tramples local government’s right to determine what zoning is in the best interest of its residents.
2010 – April 29th, the first of two hearings. The Village Council, with apologies and no defiance to the court, votes to give the school the pathway to the Olympic village. Mayor Flinn read aloud the damning opinion from the court. The lack of appeals and meek acceptance of the court ruling by the Village attorney makes residents uneasy and wary of the way the political wind is blowing.
This Tuesday, the final hearing is scheduled. Ironically, the Village of Palmetto Bay has no venue large enough to hold this hearing, other than a church that fought for an expanded school and lost. While they are waiting in the wings for the opportunity to come back for their coveted high school, this church has quietly been buying the community property in the neighborhood. They are simply watching and waiting.
If you go:
May 4th - 7:00 PM
Christ Fellowship Church
8900 SW 168th Street
Palmetto Bay
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