Police Union Representatives at Daniella Levine Cava Fundraiser. By Geniusofdespair

Photo by Harry Emilio Gottlieb

Okay police union people here are some tips. First: Steve Shiver, whom they hired, I don't want to shake your hand. My hands were behind my back, that should have been a clue but I was happy to leave your hand awkwardly in front of you waiting. It just wasn't going to happen. You were the only one to ever threaten me on this blog. The only one out of 8,118,599. I guess that makes you special.

Police union guy number two (good looking one in the background), I don't want to hear what a nice guy Donald Trump was when you were guarding him in Doral. I don't even want to hear his name. Try to identify the crowd, if you were a cop that should have been easy: This was not the crowd to bring  up Trump.
------------
On a brighter note, Daniella Levine Cava is a shoe in for reelection despite the wacky leadership of the police union present.  She gave a great speech at the Slesnick home.

Harry Emilio Gottlieb, County Commission Daniella Levine Cava, Frank and Fran  Rollason

Daniella is collecting petitions to get on the ballot. Please contact her campaign about that.

Congressional Candidate, State Senator Jose Javier Rodriguez Speaking with
Allie Martinez of the Women's Fund of Miami-Dade. 

That Wayne Rosen Really Gets Around. By Geniusofdespair

Page from Steve Shiver's Will.

Remember all that golf course stuff going on in Hudstead with Wayne Rosen? Well this guy gets around. Here he is in Former Steve Shiver's 2006 Last Will and Testament, appointed as his Personal Representative and Trustee.  Steve Shiver was Former Opa Locka City Manager, Former Miami Dade County Manager, Former Hudstead Mayor, and Former owner of a cowboy reenactment theme park that went belly-up. I didn't know Steve Shiver and Wayne Rosen were that close. Shiver's will was submitted to the Ethics Department on another matter having to do with Councilman Steve Shelley.

OFF TOPIC, BUT STILL IN SOUTH DADE...

Is the rumor true that Lynda Bell was being considered as Village of Palmetto Bay's Village Manager? Come on. I heard that Councilwoman Karyn Cunningham and Vice Mayor John Dubois were all for it. Could that be true? Not you Karyn, you appeared to be normal when I met you. You are not that stupid....are you?  Anyone know if she is that stupid. I hope this is a rumor because I would be totally turned off to this lady. Bad enough she had Jose Luis Castillo run her campaign. He ran Lynda Bell's campaign too.

Once Jose Luis Castillo runs a campaign for any of these gals (from Palmetto and Cutler Bay he has at least 3 gals in office) they are likes zombies -- under his Svengali-like spell. He ain't looking so good lately packing on the pounds. Maybe that will break the ties that bind. Don't let him exploit you Southern Dade gals in government (he then lobbies them after they are elected). We are watching you all and your votes when he lobbies you.

Former Hudstead Mayor Steve Shiver is Now Former Opa Locka City Manager. By Geniusofdespair

Former Steve Shiver - Opa Locka Mayor Myra Taylor

I don't think Former Steve was totally at fault with this one (really!). Opa Locka's finances are a mess. The city just didn't want it broadcasted all over the State of Florida and Hudstead's Steve Shiver isn't one to keep quiet. Accused of soliciting a bribe early in his Opa Locka career, on behalf of the Mayor, you knew his days were numbered. After only about 3 months in office he got the boot for airing Opa Locka's dirty laundry: Massive debt. He gets $87,500 severance pay.

Shiver did find a lot of money missing from Opa Locka's coffers. But the City doesn't want to know about it nor do they want us to know about it. They have had 5 city managers in 5 years. Opa Locka: You can't run, you can't hide.

Two Commissioners in Opa Locka - might as well be all of them.

This is a city that should be dismantled. How do you do that?

Former Hudstead Mayor Accused of Seeking a Bribe. By Geniusofdespair

I have nothing to say about this. Nothing. The Miami Herald wrote:

Just one month after his hiring, Opa-locka City Manager Steve Shiver — the focus of spending audits and ethical scrutiny in assorted past government dealings — has been accused of trying to shake down a local contractor.

George Howard, in a letter obtained by the Miami Herald, contends Shiver solicited a $150,000 bribe in exchange for the city paying his final invoice for work on a sewer project —a $272,000 bill that the manager and Opa-locka City Commission have previously refused to pay.

Read the rest in the Miami Herald.

Eye on Miami Saturday Editorial October 3rd: Rumors, Flooding, Hillary and Opa Locka... By Geniusofdespair

Start Getting Accustomed to the Miami Herald Saturday Editorial Page Lite. Mine is on its way out.

RUMORS AND TRUTH

WHAT?? Jorge Luis Lopez has City BFF's Too? That is Marc and Teresa Sarnoff

Jorge Luis Lopez was BFF of the two former Miami Dade County Mayors Alex Penelas and Carlos Alvarez, not just Carlos Gimenez. He is a latcher oner. Some call him a parasite who feeds at the public trough and is the BFF of anyone he can leach onto. Some call him a lobbyist (insulting to lobbyists). He will do anything to insure his current BFF stays in power. Lopez cloaks his political activity in ”charitable work” paid for by his work for his BFFS. He is the puppet master. As they said in the movie about the Watergate scandal, “All the presidents Men”, ”follow the money”.  Speaking of money, I didn't see him registered lobbying for Wayne Rosen for that Palmetto Bay thing in January. But then I didn't look in Palmetto Bay records...duh.

From Jorge Luis Lopez's website. What better way to butter up a Mayor: have a ball in his honor.

No way can Carlos Gimenez compete with this.

Former Steve Shiver came in as Opa Locka City Manager and Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi quit as Opa Locka  City Attorney.  Was it forced out, bad blood, not enough bucks? I guess I should have asked Pizzi. But those two surely are oil and water. Meanwhile Pizzi has more troubles, this time with the insurance company. According to Ben Kuehne:

Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi learned today that the Town’s insurance carrier is refusing to pay the legally required claim for litigation costs arising from Mayor Pizzi’s federal court exoneration and his successful fight to resume the Office of Mayor to which he was elected to serve until November 2016. “For many years, the insurance company charged the Town’s taxpayers premiums to cover claims just like this one, and the Town duly paid every premium for what it believed was the insurer’s contractual coverage,” remarked Mayor Pizzi. The insurer’s denial is absolutely unjustified under the terms of the policy and Florida law.

This is an all-too typical ploy by insurance companies. They charge high rates to be paid by the Taxpayers, and when obligated to pay claims, they defer, delay, and deny. Often, insurance companies will only pay claims – legitimate claims exactly like this one -- when courts order them to pay.

MIAMI BEACH FLOODING AT A GLANCE 

The City got in trouble this week with DERM (the County) for pumping into Biscayne Bay without permits. You can pretty much see the water in the Bay.

OTHER FLOODING AROUND TOWN DURING KING TIDE

Matheson Hammock

Matheson Hammock

Rickenbacker Causeway

QUOTE OF THE WEEK (MAYBE THE YEAR):

"I don't want to operate anything." Mayor Carlos Gimenez

FIU STUDENTS GET CLIMATE CHANGE

(Didn't Marco Rubio teach here?)

DON'T MISS

Trailblazers: The Perilous Story of the Tamiami Trail at the Coral Gables History Museum -October 2, 2015 - May 22, 2016

I went to the opening and I was very impressed with the exhibit. It was very cool to read a letter with an address of the Kampong on it signed by David Fairchild (his winter home). You will learn a lot about Florida's History in connection with the trail:

The Tamiami Trail's history, culture, its devastating impact on the Everglades and plans to mitigate that damage are all featured in this multi-media interactive exhibit featuring images, artifacts, historic documents and film. Curated by Jon Ullman.

LUNAR ECLIPSE SEPTEMBER 27TH

I don't know what happened in my best photo, but I like it.

BREWERIES, BREW PUBS, DISTILLERIES AND WINERIES ORDINANCE
This ordinance's prime sponsor is Miami Dade County Commissioner Pepe Diaz, accused of a DUI late last month. Hmmm.


THE REAL HILLARY CLINTON vs. THE OVER-REHEARSED HILLARY CLINTON

Yes the question in the first video is painfully long (I skipped a lot of it) but the answer by Hillary was actually given by a genuine Hillary for once. You can see how smart and likable this woman is if she would just be herself and not that rehearsed Hillary.


Part 1

Part 2

Eye on Miami Saturday Editorial Page - September 5th. By Geniusofdespair

Miami Herald gave up on having opinions on Saturday...we took up the slack.

HUDSTEAD (HOMESTEAD)

"Homestead Bob" lost his battle with cancer. He was a Veteran of the Vietnam war with a purple heart and he had his share of battle scars. Bob was a loving, sharing guy. I have known him for years and have shared a few dinners and lunches many at The White Lion eating enormous slices of  cake iced in pastel colors. Although I spent time with him, I never remembered his last name. Let's face it, going to Homestead is very far for most of us but we texted a lot. He is "Homestead Bob" on my contact list.

 I just know he is at peace now because he is such a good soul. He loved the cat he was a allergic to and he loved life. He also liked the Sci-Fi Channel. Not a bad bone in his body.

And now we have other Hudstead news. Former Steve Shiver will be making $150,000 at his new job as City Manager in cash poor Opa Locka. Watch out for the triangle Steve. Sorry, I mean go hang out in the triangle (The Triangle is an area known for violence and drug use. It is bounded by State Road 9 on the south, Northwest 17 Avenue to 22 Avenue on the east and west portions and Northwest 151 Street on the north in the City of Opa-locka).

LETS GET PERSONAL

I need to share at least a few pictures from my Italy trip.

Guy Excavating Pompeii

Sign Outside Assisi Bathroom...

Some hilltop town on the West Coast. (Only normal tourist photo here)

Germany Airport - Old World meets IPad. What is that she is drawing? A butterfly?

Our Rock-Mining Disaster - The Lake Belt - Looking North from the plane. These lakes were created by Strip Mining rock in Miami Dade County and putting our aquifer in jeopardy.

CAPITAL ONE VENTURE CREDIT CARD SUCKS

Okay, while in Italy I bought $450 worth of groceries at Winn Dixie. At least I tried to according to Capital One Venture Card (did I say they suck?). I have never charged groceries on the Capital One Venture Card ever. When I got back my credit card was on hold. I found out at Starbucks when the card was rejected.  I called them. The call center in some foreign country asked about whether I tried to charge coffee at Starbucks. I said: "yes." They said okay we will take the hold off.  Wait a minute Capital One Venture Card! When I questioned them about my last charges I found about the attempted Winn Dixie grocery charge. Then I questioned them further and found out my phone number and address were changed. They said they would send a new card and make the address correction.

I checked to see what they were doing in a call yesterday and this time I got someone from Florida fraud. "No, we are not sending you a new card, we reactivated it." "No we did not change your address." What???? Captial One Venture Card left the fraudsters with an active card? I told them about my call to the foreign call center and their promises. They didn't seem to care nothing was done, they said they would take care of it. I even have a password on the card and a chip. Anyone who ever worked in a doctor's office or a department store has access to the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number.

I was told by the Florida Call Center for the Capital One Venture Card that I called them (while I was in Italy) and made changes to my account including putting my password on (they told me I never had one before which I did). I said "Do you really think I am going to call for a $1 a minute to do stuff for an account while in Italy?" I did make a charge in Italy while all this fraud was going on in Miami. They kept accusing me of doing stuff (I hope someone listens to the recorded call to see how customers are treated by fraud prevention), so I shut down the Capital One Venture Card account. Apparently all you need to change an address is your birth date so keep putting that on your Facebook page fools.

JOBS FOR GRANTS: THE BIG FAT LIE 

According to the Miami Herald, Miami Wilds the stupid water theme park they want to put near the zoo, promised 2,800 jobs for a $13.5 million grant. Now they are promising 400 jobs for the same grant. Sounds like the same empty promises we got from the Wet Dream American Mall. They got public land not grants.


The $75 million of our hard earned money, earmarked to bring businesses with jobs to the county - it was an Economic Development Fund - is being thrown down the drain (SkyRise Miami is getting $9) on insane, phony jobs projects by the Gimenez administration and the County Commission.

Opa Locka Picks Former Steve Shiver of Hudstead to Be City Manager. By Geniusofdespair

Former Mayor, Former Councilman, Former County Manager:

This should be very interesting fodder for us.  We have written about Steve extensively (in over 40 Posts) and so has Miami New Times. 

The Miami Herald wrote about the coronation today of Steve Shiver as Opa Locka City Manager in Opa-locka’s new city manager is tied to Homestead’s past money woes:

But what the Opa-locka commissioners didn’t talk about was how Shiver was nailed in a county audit for misusing county and city funds in a series of bad business deals connected to the city’s political elite. And they didn’t mention how he was part of an investment group that purchased a beloved Wild West theme park in the mountains of North Carolina, which the investors took into bankruptcy.

When he left Homestead to become the county manager significant financial concerns were revealed,” said former Homestead Vice Mayor Steve Losner. “It was under his watch.”

Oh well, I could say: "What was the ethically challenged City of Opa Locka thinking?" but the Miami Herald already did... in so many words.

Joe Centorino, Ethics Czar: Pretty much always "Let Them Go Joe". By Geniusofdespair

Stephen Shelley's wife worked for Steve Shiver at one time.  He put her in his will without her knowledge and now was trying to negate Shelley's vote against the project based on the will he produced last minute  -- bad government at its best. Why was this left out of your opinion so the public would know there was a form of extortion going on?

Joe once in a while, you could advise on the side of caution, never huh? What is wrong with... "it might be technically legal but it looks like shit because X Y Z". That is why you are known as "Let Them Go Joe." You also could look at the personalities involved. This is ethics not Rundle's office. It is a lower threshold.

I call him 'go by the book Joe.'

We need to partner with the universities and get an ethics code that makes sense. MAJOR OVER-HAUL NEEDED. Daniella Levine Cava's sister in law in involved in Ethics at the University of Miami. The County ethics department stinks to the high heavens the way it is designed. All it does is offer cover for bad behavior...i.e. "it's okay he is my brother not my son." Please let's address this, this year with our new Commissioner who ran on ethics. Let's get a better code we all can believe in. The secret discussions at the ethics meetings don't help. I was glad to talk to Councilman Shelley to hear what is really going on. And that really stinks. Because I know the two men involved, I think a new ethics complaint should be filed with the intent part of the equation.

Is Steve Shiver headed back to Miami?

US Century Bank: barely floating with $1.6 billion in deposits ... by gimleteye

In a just world there would be a trial of US Century Bank and its founders in Miami, Florida, who were just slapped with what might be one of the harshest, if not the harshest, consent orders in US banking history. And if there were a trial the insiders who used US Century as their piggy bank would also be called to account for turning a federally chartered institution into a political apparatus to control the local levers of power governing zoning and permitting in farming and wetlands. But it is not a just world, is it?

The closest view the public may ever have of justice is the federal Consent Order slapped on US Century, its officers and directors by the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) with its pale disclaimer: "(US Century Bank) has consented, without admitting or denying any charges of unsafe or unsound banking practices or violations of law or regulation related to weaknesses in asset quality, management, earnings, capital, liquidity, and sensitivity to market risk, to the issuance of this Consent order by the FDIC and OFR (Florida Office of Financial Regulation)."

US Century Bank was the late manifestation of the empire, now vastly reduced, of uber lobbyist Sergio Pino. It started as a simple plumbing supply business and leap-frogged to vertical integration with mass produced housing; a local aspirant to Lennar, one of the nation's largest homebuilders whose fortunes were built from mass production housing in the former Everglades. Pino's chief lieutenants, Ramon Rasco, Rodney Barreto, Jose Cancela, Armando Guerra, and others; built fortunes from the ring suburbs, growing like a toxic culture in a petri dish. For the model to work, the builders required minimum friction and speed in execution; that meant quick zoning to provide housing and supermarkets and strip malls, and then financing and connections to off-load commercial and residential mortgages. Unlike Jorge Mas Canosa, whose corporate empire was built on county road contracts and a highly public persona, the growth of US Century Bank started in the chamber and hallways of the county commission but the main operators retreated from view and hid within boards of lobbyist associations like the Latin Builders and South Florida Builders. They erected legislative turnstiles and gates barring the public from seeing how the worst economic bust since the Great Depression was built into the model.

Unless there is a forensic audit of US Century Bank that reaches the public, we will never know the exact details (and The Miami Herald, whose leadership was complicit in its own way with the downtown power structure, lawyers, and lobbyists for the housing boom will not be of much help except to provide facts without context or commentary.) But we can imagine both the just world and the trial.

The deposed witnesses would include every elected official who counted on the builders and developers in South Florida for campaign contributions that tie back to US Century Bank. Their votes on the Urban Development Boundary and infrastructure serving the bleak suburbs of Miami-Dade County (like those surrounding Tamiami Airport or Homestead Air Force Base) were oaths of allegiance to the speculators and thieves who claimed to be delivering "what the market wants" while fattening their bank accounts. Their defense: "there is no crime playing the system better than our opposition."

The witness list would include former Miami-Dade Mayors and their county managers; Alex Penelas, Armando Vidal, and Steve Shiver, Carlos Alvarez, former county commissioners Barbara Carey Shuler and Carrie Meek, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Jimmy Morales, recalled commissioner Natacha Seijas, her ex chief-of-staff Terry Murphy, sitting commissioners Joe Martinez, Javier Souto, Pepe Diaz and Dennis Moss, Barbara Jordan and Audrey Edmunson and the phalanx of political consultants who serve them including Armando Guttierez. It would also include past and county department heads; John Renfrow, Miami Dade Water and Sewer, Bill Brandt, and former DERM chief Carlos Espinosa. By taking apart the insider dealing and political operations of US Century Bank, the trial would expose how $7 billion in infrastructure deficits accumulated; how those deficits served the business of bankers and developers and how Chamber of Commerce values ("Growth pays its own way") eroded our quality of life, water quality and our Everglades and dimmed our economic prospects by setting South Florida on a course where only more growth and development could bail us out. The disclosures would paint the picture of corporate politics disguised as democracy; from county commission races to presidential campaigns like the one that delivered the United States to George W. Bush through the halted recount in downtown Miami and its legacy, FreedomWorks. (for more, you will have to read our archives).

One has to read between the lines of the FDIC Consent Order with US Century to understand just how suspicious and mistrustful federal regulators are. Over this week, we will focus on a few of the highlights. For example on Page 3:

The implication is that official records of the Board of US Century Bank or incomplete or maybe in a storage box that can't be found. Complaints to the Florida Bar Association and to the Division of Professional Regulation would be in order. If only it were a just world.

Ghost Town at Maggie Valley and Steve Shiver Update ... by gimleteye

We continue to receive comments on old posts from readers in western North Carolina. Click, 'read more', for the latest from Smoky Mountain News of the amusement park meltdown involving the former Miami-Dade county manager, Steve Shiver and our archive.

Drama at County Hall today ... by gimleteye

There is a rumor that the unreformable majority of the county commission may appoint Alex Penelas as interim county mayor this morning, pending a county-wide election. I am curious to see the commission at work, without the heavy presence of former commissioner Natacha Seijas. You will know me by the blue HAZMAT suit I will wear and a laptop wrapped in clear plastic.

It should be self-evident why ordinary citizens with nothing to personally gain from the outcome would want to protect themselves from the radioactive waste of the ethically challenged, unreformable majority. What is not so clear is why anyone would waste their time. On the other hand, it is an instructive lesson in civics and there ought to be a requirement at Miami Dade high schools where students choose an issue-- say, on rock mining for instance, or nuclear power at Turkey Point or the UDB-- and observe the county commission deliberate and then give their report in a written thesis; a prerequisite for graduation. These students, too, would wear HAZMAT suits at County Hall. Over the 'down' escalator from the ground floor to the hearing chambers a decontamination sprayer has been installed. At the bottom of the escalator yellow dotted lines lead to an area to dump Tyvek coveralls, gloves and masks to be recycled. Always be recycling, right?

Penelas was the worst of the worst, when he was county mayor as might have been predicted by the solid phalanx of lobbyists who hung out like vultures on the 29th floor. News at the Herald that this once promising Democrat has been loan-sharking in the wilds of Hialeah for collapsed real estate deals while pretending on Miami-Dade politics for Spanish language TV, isn't exactly far from the picture he painted as mayor with highlights such as appointing the former mayor of Homestead to be county manager. Get the drift?

I am with Miami Today publisher Michael Lewis on the issue of Carlos Alvarez who succeeded Penelas, unsuccessfully it turned out. With strong mayor powers, Lewis says, Alvarez could have been much worse and the cronyism and inattention could have been deployed to much worse effects for Miami-Dade. Another rumor circulating, is that Norman Braman is prepared to launch more recall campaigns against sitting commissioners. If the county commission even entertains a discussion this morning about putting Penelas back in-- as an interim "steward" of local government-- I hope Braman will come out like a slingshot in response: I'd suggest going after Joe Martinez or Pepe Diaz first. But Javier Souto might not be bad, either.

If the public had a chance to really, really listen to Souto who would be battling for his political life, voters might finally get the point.

Six degrees of separation: Steve Shiver and Ghost Town at Maggie Valley ... by gimleteye

Up there in wintry Maggie Valley, North Carolina, the former county manager of Miami-Dade, Steve Shiver, is scrambling to salvage an amusement park investment that has taken down hundreds of local debt holders and $5 million in equity. It’s called Ghost Town and once sported live shoot-em up’s and the goodwill of a town that desperately depended on the attraction for its economic wellbeing.

According to local reports, a new investor has been brought in to breathe life into Ghost Town, its 288 acres and a collection of amusement park rides gathering snow and ice in the freezing winter. The investor, Clint Walker, has a record in penny stock trade manipulation and an SEC violation tied to other Florida operators. The new scheme appears to rely on using a shell corporation and floating stock to attract new investors to the new venture resonant with the name of an old venture—owned by Miami businessman Allen C. Harper—called American Heritage Family Parks.

Ghost Town at Maggie Valley and its CEO Steve Shiver, the controversial former county manager of Miami-Dade, followed the economy down. Harper and Shiver purchased Ghost Town in 2006 at the peak of the real estate bubble. The park had been dormant for five years. According to court proceedings, Ghost Town’s revenue plunged from $5.5 million in 2007 to $4.4 million in 2008. Amidst a major slump in entertainment attractions across the nation, the 1960’s era facility declared bankruptcy in March 2009.

The park had been scheduled to re-emerge from bankruptcy on May 31, 2010, but by late April, Shiver—a minority partner—had failed to come up with an acceptable plan to the bankruptcy court. By then, there was the landslide.
http://www.smokymountainnews.com/index.php/news/item/922

Through bankruptcy proceedings, the frustration of local vendors, owed considerable amounts from Harper and Shiver, had been mounting. Allegations of lies and misrepresentation in Maggie Valley echo in Homestead and South Florida, where Shiver’s performance as county manager and earlier as mayor of Homestead stirred mistrust and controversy. The Ghost Town attorney called the Shiver/Harper project “a tar baby.”
http://www.smokymountainnews.com/index.php/news/item/971

In 2009, Shiver and Harper went back to the local government for a $200,000 bailout. They appeared to have persuaded local officials, but in two packed town hall meetings it was clear that the sentiment of voters was running strongly against the town’s main source of revenue. One resident complained, “It is throwing good money after bad… They owe everybody in the county. How do they expect to pay back Maggie Valley?”
http://smokymountainnews.com/advertise/item/2408-ghost-town-withdraws-loan-request

To the consternation of aldermen and townsfolk, Shiver had only provided one page summaries of business operations in 2007 and 2008. Ghost Town owed, at the time, $30,000 in back taxes.
http://smokymountainnews.com/advertise/item/2408-ghost-town-withdraws-loan-request Last April, the Smoky Mountain Times reported that the theme park owed a total of $13.5 million. The North Carolina banking giant, BB&T, held more than $9.5 million. Ghost Town owed everyone from the local utility, to the telephone company, to the town and to the IRS and hundreds of local vendors. In 2010, as Shiver struggled to make his case to bring Ghost Town back to life, a federal bankruptcy administrator on behalf of claimants derided the plan as “vague, ambiguous and not feasible,” and even called one portion, “absurd”.
http://www.smokymountainnews.com/index.php/news/item/971

Ghost Town LLC was incorporated on December 20, 2005 in Florida City by Allen C. Harper and Steve Shiver. Harper is chairman emeritus of Esslinger Wooten Maxwell Realtors and a director of one of Florida’s premier suburban sprawl land bankers, Consolidated Tomoka, based in Delray. According to Forbes.com Harper has been CEO of the American Heritage Railways since 1998. He 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.”

There is no record of how Harper and Shiver met in Miami. As a transportation booster in Florida, Harper was a supporter of the biggest infrastructure project in the mid 1990’s in South Florida: $10 billion in promised benefits from the plan to convert the Homestead Air Force Base into a commercial airport. Insiders comprised from the board of the Latin Builders Association had secured a 99 year, no-bid lease from the county even before the US Air Force had decided on the air base disposition. Shiver was Homestead mayor at the time, a community marked by insider dealing. He was the go-to guy for the project. While the top lobbyists plied the hallways at the Federal Aviation Administration and other Washington agencies, at public hearings in South Florida Shiver goaded on behalf of HABDI (Homestead Air Base Developers, Inc.) and took to baiting objectors to the project, “environmental terrorists”. The plan included a future rail link between the air base, in the far southern part of the county on the edge of Biscayne National Park, to Miami International Airport. Although billed as a needed provider for low-cost domestic airlines, the distant hope of HABDI investors was turning the air base into a private supply base handling cargo to Cuba once Castro died and control passed to pro-Miami rulers. They counted their eggs before the chicken hatched. By 2002, the controversy flamed out spectacularly. By that time, Shiver had been rewarded for his duty, appointed by county mayor Alex Penelas to be his county manager administering a $6.5 billion budget.

In its annual “Holding the Bag” wrap up of 2009, the local Smoky Mountain News wrote: “When Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year, it had a trail of unpaid bills — owing $2.5 million to some 215 companies. Local electricians, contractors, building supply stores, sales reps for souvenir merchandise — even newspapers that had run ads for Ghost Town — filled the long list of those never paid for their goods or services. But they aren’t the only ones still holding the bag. Ghost Town employees never got their final paycheck at the end of the season. Cash flow was so tight all year, the park often couldn’t make payroll on Fridays and instead relied on revenue from weekend ticket sales to pay employees the following Monday, and occasionally still fell short and had to make up the difference the following Monday after another weekend of revenue came in. Employees are still waiting for their last two weeks of pay from October. The park was plagued this year by lagging ticket sales due to the economy, the primary rollercoaster ride being inoperable most of the season, and expensive repairs to update the aging theme park. The park was forced into bankruptcy after falling behind on its $9.5 million mortgage, but CEO Steve Shiver maintains that the park will reorganize and pull through, including repaying the small businesses and employees who are owed.”
http://www.smokymountainnews.com/index.php/news/item/1369

It got worse. In December 2009 a minor landslide foretold disaster. Shiver and his team—that had spent most of the year willing the park forward—were slow to respond. Then, on February 5, disaster struck. In the gloaming, on the mountain top section that had given way more than once, a massive landslide, reaching as wide as 90 feet and 30 feet high, fell 3000 feet down the mountainside. For nearly 30 minutes, the slide pushed rocks, trees, and an enormous muddy riprap mercifully dodging downstream neighbors.

At the time of the slide, Ghost Town was five months late on its liability insurance. A few days after the slide, Ghost Town finally wired in its late insurance payment. One neighbor plaintively told the local The Blue Banner at the time, “Developers need to better review these home sites where they know unsafe terrain exists.. They should focus more on the preservation of that area's beautiful mountain landscape …, instead of just continually building and building.”
http://www.thebluebanner.net/maggie-valley-mudslide-causes-resident-evacuation-1.1174344

There was no money to open Ghost Town, by spring 2010. In bankruptcy court, Shiver presented a plan requiring $2.3 million in new equity without detailing where the equity would come from.

By October 2010, the lawsuit filings related to the landslide traded volleys back and forth. They also became more specific. “The latest filing in a lawsuit over the massive landslide in Maggie Valley last winter claims the collapse of the mountainside was triggered by a broken waterline at Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park. Until now, accusations centered on a failed retaining wall intended to shore up the slipping mountainside… The suit also names Ghost Town CEO Steve Shiver personally, alleging he was aware that failure of the retaining wall was imminent, but didn’t warn anyone.”
http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/1972-homeowners-in-limbo-as-sides-volley-blame-in-maggie-landslide-lawsuit

In 2010 Harper formed a new LLC called American Heritage Family Parks. Its name is based on the corporate entity for his other railroads, American Heritage Railroads, including the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado and other touristic railroads in Bryce City, North Carolina and the Texas State Railroad.

According to the Smoky Mountain Times on May 5th, 2010, Harper agreed to put up $7 million to take Ghost Town out of bankruptcy. “There are some of us in the room that if the plan is allowed to move forward would lose a substantial amount of money, but it would allow Ghost Town to open,” Shiver said. The deal was indeed approved the next day by the bankruptcy court.” Many local investors will have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of dollars and federal taxpayers, according to the news report, could be liable for $2.5 of Ghost Town’s bad debt.
http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/837-$7-million-investment-rescues-ghost-town-from-bankruptcy

The Harper plan appears to split off his good asset—the Durango Silverton—from his bad ones; transferring minority ownership, including Ghost Town, Bryce City and Texas to a new public entity. The transaction, valued at $21.5 million including 100 lots in Savannah GA, has a new partner: Clint F. Walker, from Charlotte, NC.

The new company that hopes to take over Ghost Town is being called, American Heritage Family Parks. Walker’s previous corporate entity was Remodel Auction, Inc. Remodel Auction is a penny corporation, traded on the “pink sheets”. “Remodel Auction™ is a proprietary online marketplace that empowers homeowners to put their remodeling projects up for competitive bid online. The system was designed with the needs of both homeowners and contractors in mind. Remodel Auction is a fast and reliable solution to get competitive pricing for common remodeling projects. Remodel Auction, Inc., founded in February 2005, is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.”

Walker echoes Shiver-esque hyperbole: “We believe everyone should have a dream to work toward. As Remodel Auction grows and has become a publicly traded company my dream is becoming reality. By many accounts we are a small company in history and size, but not in Vision. We believe Remodel Auction will be a leader in the $230 Billion Remodeling Industry and having sold millions in remodeling contracts door to door we understand first hand the needs of both parties using our system. We will continue to be diligent in our focus to target niches inside the business that can grow the fastest.” In July 2010, Remodel Auction had an estimated market cap of $771,152 with more than 7.7 million shares outstanding.

The web-based remodeler now intended minority-owner of Ghost Town went public (in a manner of speaking) through by acquiring a corporate shell, called AMSTAR Financial Services. (http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=10402) In a 2008 SEC registration, AMSTAR disclosed share par value of $0.001. Its accountant, Joel Galpern based in North Miami, noted, “Management has elected to omit substantially all of the disclosures as required by generally accepted accounting principles. If the omitted disclosures were included in the financial statements, they might influence the user’s conclusions about the company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Accordingly, these financial statements are not designed for those who are not informed about such matters.”

The corporation reported $4.8 million in “goodwill” with no other assets. It showed paid in capital of $16.5 million with negative retained earnings (ie. loss) of $11.6 million. There were no material business operations in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. The SEC registration states, “Presently there are minimal controls or procedures in place regarding business, because there is no business to control.” Only two names associated with the corporation: Nelson Locke, director, and Charles Kluck, director.

SEC filings also indicate that AMSTAR had a wholly owned subsidiary, Jupiter Mortgage Corporation d/b/a Synergy Mortgage Solutions and d/b/a America’s Senior Financial Services and Synergy Mortgage Solutions, Inc. In 2005, at the height of the housing asset bubble, these were assigned to Michel P. Phelan of Michael Moecker and Associates.

An SEC filing states, “Clinton F. Walker is the Founder and CEO of Remodel Auction of Charlotte, NC. From April/2003 to January/2006, he was General Manager of Patton General Contracting of Charlotte, which is a home remodeling company where Walker sold home improvement contracts and trained new salesmen. From November/1999 to January 2003, he was Vice President of 21st Equity Partners of Charlotte.”

In 2003, an SEC lawsuit against 21st Equity Partners and Clint F. Walker, obliquely referred to the principals as two of “several recidivist stock promoters and two attorneys in a “pump and dump” market-manipulation case. The SEC suit alleged that Walker, among other defendants and companies under their control, violated the securities-registration and anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities law. Walker’s firm entered into a fraudulent trade with stock promoters using offshore corporations in the Cayman Islands, Belize, and Bermuda. Among the 2DoTrade bogus claims: that the corporation “was testing an anti-anthrax compound called “ATHOQ” at a hospital and a university in the UK for imminent distribution in the United States. In reality, ATHOQ was a sham, and no anthrax or product distribution ever occurred.” The SEC sought a penny-stock bar against Walker.

It was the same year that Shiver, in Homestead, and out of government service decided to become a land developer. In a poor dilapidated neighborhood, Shiver was paid $310,000 over a two-year period, finally giving up after failing to develop the land by selling it to Homestead for $1.9 million. A county audit report later noted, “According to the appraisal report, the only comparable in the area had a value at the time of sale that was much lower than the CRA purchase price.” Of the serial failures of Homestead to account for public moneys, a professor at the University of Miami law school’s ethics center told the Miami Herald, “It is scandalous and unfortunately all too typical of South Florida's political culture of cronyism and public nonaccountability. The public ought to be hopping mad,'' said Tony Alfieri, who teaches at the University of Miami's law school and directs an ethics center.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/24/1498507/homestead-agency-wasted-millions.html

Walker and his partner engaged directly with the 2DoTrade promoters in a stock trading scheme that enlisted primary money men from Florida, called MCG Partners Inc. and an attorney licensed in Florida, Michael Karsch. Karsch shows up in a Broward controversy that strikes a refrain familiar to six degrees of separation: outlandish business dreams skirting the law and underlined by the bizarre. In 2003, the same year Karsch became embroiled in 2DoTrade, a business associate in Boca Raton was involved in a deal to convert an 18-acre cemetery into a land development. Through Karsch, two widows were instigated to sell the cemetery for $6.1 million even though its price was realistically, at the time, as much as $40 million. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/leader-of-palm-beach-county-building-effort-accused-675319.html

His MGC partner, on corporate filings of the State of Florida, is Neil Swartz in Boca Raton.http://www.sunbiz.org/COR/2001/0830/4172004B.tif Swartz’s brother, Mark, was CFO of Tyco whose CEO, Dennis Kozlowski is now doing time in federal prison after falling from one of the highest corporate perches in America. In 2002, Mark Swartz and Dennis Kozlowski were undisclosed shareholders of a public corporation, first called Global Technology Marketing International, then called TargitMail, then bought by a company called GourmetMarket.com, that changed the corporate name to TargitInteractive. GourmetMarket.com was owned by iiGroup, whose CEO was Neil Swartz. In a late 2001 SEC filing, TargetInteractive expressed concerns that negative cash flows “raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” http://www.thestreet.com/story/10007337/disclosure-questions-at-tyco.html

Six degrees of separation from Neil Swartz to Michael Karsch to Clint Walker to Steve Shiver and Alan Harper: a distance lost in the field of aspirants clamoring for the safest position on the Wall Street witches broom flying trillions of derivatives based on mortgage banking, roadways to suburbs, cement, asphalt, rock mines, buses and trains; first showering a rain of commissions and compensation long before the debt cratered in the balance of the federal treasury and the balance sheet of US taxpayers.

Everyone wanted a piece of that action, including the good citizens and burghers of Maggie Valley. On the other hand, one might well wonder by what strange twist of fate did a bucolic community at the edge of the Blue Ridge Parkway end up on a lanyard hoist by South Florida connections?

In November 2009, The Mountaineer reported, “M Point Productions, the Miami-based company who brought the House of Terror to Ghost Town this fall, is in negotiations with city officials trying to nail down a deal to build a replica of Ghost Town in Miami as a limited time winter attraction. M Point’s CEO Peter Regalado Abad said if all goes according to plan, construction will begin in Miami next month in preparation of a February opening. Plans call for a short stint in Miami, February through March, so entertainers and employees can return to Maggie in time to prepare for the slated May 14 park opening.” Dolly Parton’s sister was going to rescue the entertainment programming. Anonymous foreign investors were going to ride to the rescue.

In March 2010, the mayor of Maggie Valley Roger McElroy told the Smoky Mountain News, that he just hopes Ghost Town stays an amusement park “rather than getting turned into a real estate development.” But in truth, real estate development is what Ghost Town investors wanted. What else was there? Basket weaving? Furniture making? NASCAR?

Ghost Town, for its investors, was a core attraction to lure future condo farms and as much sprawl as its owners could gin up, as fast as possible, connected by big roads to the highway. For Harper, the transportation and land development entrepreneur, it always worked. It is the story of Florida. Bring ‘em in, sell ‘em plots of land. In 2006, it was nothing but blue skies.

Back in the day, Shiver gave an interview (May 15, 2003, Center for Digital Government) that concluded: "When I was going into college I knew that I was going to be a performer. I had been in a Miami boy's choir for six or seven years, and I was a performing artist. I knew for a fact that was what I was going to do.” And he did.

The taxpayers and homeowners and businesses of Homestead, Florida might nod to the assessment of one business owner in Maggie Valley who lent money to Ghost Town, “A closed amusement park is one thing. A failed amusement park is much worse… it has always had a problem of being undercapitalized.”
http://www.smokymountainnews.com/index.php/news/item/971

Now a shell corporation built on the record of penny stock operators cited by the SEC will attempt to gin up new investors of millions of shares of stock in a minority ownership of Allen Harper’s bad assets plus 100 lots in Savannah, GA. It will be a real estate play. The economy will turn around. People on limited incomes will seek out amusement parks close to home. Asheville is growing. Atlanta is not far away.

But Maggie Valley is already putting out another anchor, in the post-Ghost Town era. Flowers. Lots of them. Everyone is going to put in flower beds. Beautiful flowers to attract tourists like bees to the pollen of a fruiting tree.

What Steve Shiver needs more than Ghost Town is a ghost writer. He has born witness to so much skullduggery that a well told tell-all of the tales and their actors – rising to mayor of the most corrupt little city in America, Homestead, to becoming right hand man to the politician who cost Al Gore the 2000 presidential election, then turning over a new leaf in Maggie Valley only to be caught up in a land slide his negligence may have triggered. We live in a curious time where any reality – however weird or self-serving—can sell in the hothouse of public vanities. Shiver may be twice as broke and half as charismatic, but he could be a hundred times more interesting if he put it all down on paper. If he wanted to make serious money, he would have to do the 12 step program to eliminate hubris, leave out the bravura, his hallmark earnestness, the 100 percent assurance that if there is blame, it is always someone else fault. With a deft touch, he could make it all back. Millions. Just like the little train that could.

Steve Shiver and Ghost Town at Maggie Valley: update ... by gimleteye

EOM blog readers know, the ongoing saga of the former Miami-Dade county manager, Steve Shiver, gets darker and darker (see our archive feature). Here is the latest from Maggie Valley, North Carolina, where a speculative land deal to turn a railroad attraction collapsed in more ways than one and took down hundreds of creditors. Shiver was CEO when a massive landslide wrecked the long shot efforts by Miami owners to rescue the amusement park from bankruptcy. Shiver is named personally in a recent lawsuit "alleging he was aware that failure of the retaining wall was imminent, but didn’t warn anyone." Maybe Alex Penelas, making his revival as a lobbyist, has a job for Shiver? Read on.

Wednesday, 13 October 2010 14:51
Homeowners in limbo as sides volley blame in Maggie landslide lawsuit
Written by Becky Johnson

The latest filing in a lawsuit over the massive landslide in Maggie Valley last winter claims the collapse of the mountainside was triggered by a broken waterline at Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park. Until now, accusations centered on a failed retaining wall intended to shore up the slipping mountainside.

A broken waterline pumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of water into the soil over the course of several days, “destabilizing the mountain and saturating the soil,” according to the recent filing in the suit.

Homeowners suing for damages originally claimed the culprit was a faulty retaining wall built two years earlier to hold back part of the mountain. The homeowners sued Ghost Town in the Sky for damages citing negligence, as well as the contractor who built the wall, and the engineer who designed it. The suit also names Ghost Town CEO Steve Shiver personally, alleging he was aware that failure of the retaining wall was imminent, but didn’t warn anyone.

The landslide sideswiped the home of Kurt Biedler and his wife, Tammy Jones, rendering it unlivable until repairs can be made. The house was their primary residence. They still owe a mortgage on it, but lack the money to make the repairs out of their own pocket.

Despite their lawsuit seeking damages, recourse could be hard to come by.

They have sued Ghost in the Sky, but the theme park has been in bankruptcy since early 2009 and is facing foreclosure later this month. Ghost Town’s liability insurance lapsed just before the slide because of nonpayment, according to the insurance company. And the homeowners’ own insurance policy doesn’t cover landslides.

The contractors who built the retaining wall claim it wasn’t their fault, but instead point to the leaking waterline.

The suit names cousins Burton and Colin Edwards of Maggie Valley as the contractors who performed the work, and Colin’s father, Verlin, as the engineer who designed the wall. The Edwards are represented by Waynesville Attorney Rusty McLean.

McLean wrote in a countersuit that Shiver should have known about the waterline leak based on the extensive water use from the Maggie Valley Sanitary District, which pumped water up the mountain to serve Ghost Town.

The slope had been a source of consternation for the mountaintop amusement park for years. An old retaining wall of wooden timbers was visibly buckling at the time Ghost Town hired the Edwards to build a new wall in 2008.

Still troubled by the slope, Ghost Town hired an engineer to assess it in 2009. The engineer, Pat Burgin, wrote a report informing Shiver the retaining wall was inadequate, and “structural failure of the wall was possible if not replaced,” according to the suit and the report itself.



A horrific winter night

Whether the wall collapsed on its own or was triggered by a leaking waterline doesn’t change the fact that Biedler and Jones no longer have a home to live in. The lawsuit describes the mudslide as one of “immense proportion” that made a “rapid descent down the contours of the mountain, accumulating additional standing timber, earth and debris in its path.”

The wave of mud was 90 feet wide and 30 feet high, and “destroyed virtually everything in its path.”

Jones was home alone in her living room when she heard the mudslide coming.

“The home began to shake and vibrate, and seconds later the accumulated mud, timber and debris slammed into the home,” the lawsuit states. “The mudslide struck the home with violent force, knocking the house from its foundation.”

It ripped off the front door and blew Jones back, trapping her in her house, which had been thrust into darkness.

“Ms. Jones had to remove mud, limbs, and wood to escape from the home. Ms. Jones feared for her life, that her home would collapse, and additional mudslides would occur,” the lawsuit states.

It took out the porch, deck stairs, hot tub, heating and air conditioning unit, patio, gazebo, outdoor cooking area and the septic system.

Despite the damages, the home was not condemned by the Haywood County building department.

“There was some foundation damage but it was not in danger of collapse,” said Bruce Crawford, the Haywood County building inspector.

But in their suit, the homeowners claim the home is unsafe because it shifted on its foundation, not to mention that it lacks a septic field. They are now living in Henderson County.



Barking up the wrong tree?

The bankruptcy court ruled that the homeowners can’t go after Ghost Town’s assets — those are already spoken for given the more than $14 million in debt the theme park is carrying — but it will allow the homeowners to go after Ghost Town’s insurance company.

Whether Ghost Town’s insurance was valid at the time of the slide is a different story, however.

Ghost Town was five months late on its liability insurance payment at the time of the slide. Ghost Town twice received warnings that its policy would be canceled if a $14,000 payment wasn’t made.

On Jan. 28, a notice of cancellation was sent out, effective immediately. The insurance company claims Ghost Town had no coverage by the time the slide occurred on Feb. 5, and therefore isn’t liable for damages.

A few days after the slide, Ghost Town finally wired its late insurance payment, but it was too late. The company refused to reinstate the insurance, according to bankruptcy court filings.

But the homeowners dispute that the insurance was canceled at the time of the slide. Although a copy of the cancelation notice dated Jan. 28 is part of the official court record, the cancelation notice and actual cancelation are two different things, the homeowners seem to be arguing.

“The insurance company claims they had terminated coverage prior to the slide, and we are not necessarily in agreement with that,” Daniel Hitchcock, an Asheville attorney, said in an interview. “We wouldn’t go this route if we didn’t think there was insurance in place.”

Steve Shiver's Ghost Town, ghost town

News report speaks for itself.
Ongoing issues foil Ghost Town reopening plans
Written by Becky Johnson

Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park in Maggie Valley will not open this summer, contrary to previous assertions by park owners and managers.

The amusement park is still mired in bankruptcy and remains in a holding pattern until a major landslide blocking access to the park is cleaned up and stabilized.

A proposal by one of the park’s main owners to buy Ghost Town out of bankruptcy failed to go through as planned. Al Harper, owner of Great Smoky Mountains Railroad and a principal investor in Ghost Town, hoped to buy the park for $7 million. That price tag would fall $6 million short of covering the park’s debts, but it would have allowed the park to emerge from bankruptcy. Harper hoped to put the amusement park back in operation, but the deal was contingent on a loan from an offshore lender.

Maggie Valley business owners that rely on tourist traffic from the theme park had been hoping the deal would go through. But even if it had, the challenge of getting rides in working order to pass state inspections and hiring a seasonal staff to get the park open for the summer would have proved challenging, according to park officials.

Meanwhile, stabilization of a massive landslide that originated from the mountaintop amusement park is months away from completion. Until then, the risk of another even more massive slide is possible.

The work is estimated at $1.3 million, a tab being picked up by federal and state grants.

The town of Maggie is contributing $25,000 in matching funds and is coordinating the work. Ghost Town made a verbal promise to pitch in $25,000 as well. Maggie Town Manager Tim Barth said he won’t authorize work to start until the money from Ghost Town is in hand.

The town is still waiting on state environmental permits before the project can go out to bid. However, a debate has now emerged concerning competing plans.

Ghost Town CEO Steve Shiver is not satisfied with initial engineering plans to fix the slide.

“We thought there was a better way,” Shiver said.

The plan to recontour the mountainside on a gentler grade would claim a small flat area Shiver says may be critical to the amusement park’s future plans. As the only level spot on an otherwise extremely steep slope, it’s one of the few places Ghost Town could add attractions in the future.

As a result, Ghost Town asked for a second stabilization plan to be formulated. A slightly steeper grade, bolstered by a retaining wall, would preserve the level area.

Barth said Ghost Town must pick up the tab for engineering work required for the alternative plan, which is still in development. A cost estimate for the competing plan is not known yet, Barth said.

“If that option is significantly more expensive, that’s where more money might be necessary from Ghost Town,” Barth said.

Once one of the two plans is chosen, more detailed plans must be prepared before the project can go to bid.

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.

More from Maggie Valley, Ghost Town and Steve Shiver: too big to fail? by gimleteye

The current owners of the roller coaster ride/ regional amusement park/ speculative land development deal called Maggie Valley include the former county manager of Miami-Dade County, Steve Shiver. Without re-hashing the story (you can check our archives, for more), it turns out that more than 200 locals would be left holding the bag for past debts to the tune of $5 million at least, if the court protectors allow a nebulous partnership controlled by current investors to buy the park from bankruptcy. "A primary owner of Ghost Town in the Sky wants to buy the amusement park out of bankruptcy. But there’s a catch." As in, catch a wave. As in, "too big to fail" so let's do it again. I don't know why, but I found myself humming an old Beach Boys tune: a old anthem for the new era. (Click read more, for the full story from The Smoky Mountain News.)


Ghost Town charts course to walk away from debt
By Becky Johnson • Staff writer
April 20, 2010
A primary owner of Ghost Town in the Sky wants to buy the amusement park out of bankruptcy. But there’s a catch.

The owner would walk away from more than $5 million in debt, yet continue to own the park — only this time under a new corporate name.

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.

Employees who were sent home at the end of last season still owed two weeks of pay may be out of luck as well under the deal.

The deal is merely a proposal and would have to pass muster with the bankruptcy court. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 4. Ghost Town has asked the court to approve the sale to the new entity.

The timing is no mistake. Foreclosure of the park is scheduled to begin May 31. The plan put forward would avoid a forced auction of the park on the courthouse steps.

The bankruptcy court could opt to let the auction go forward in order to determine if there are any other prospective buyers willing to pay more.

The deal

The 1960s-era theme park was once a cash cow for Maggie Valley, raking in tens of thousands of visitors each year.

But attendance declined throughout the 1990s and the park was eventually shuttered in 2002.

It was purchased by a trio of new owners in 2006, including Al Harper, the owner of Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City and other railroad tourism ventures, including the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado.

Harper formed a new LCC just two weeks ago called American Heritage Family Parks — the entity that is now trying to purchase Ghost Town out of bankruptcy. The name of the new entity is similar to the umbrella corporation for his railroad ventures, American Heritage Railroad.

The LLC was just created by Harper on April 8, apparently for the express purpose of buying the park. The registered agent is Jon Schlegel, the former general manager of the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. The address listed for the new LLC is the same as the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad headquarters in Bryson City.

The public face for Ghost Town for the past two years has been CEO Steve Shiver. It is unclear from court filings or incorporation papers what, if any, role he would have in the new park.

“It is an unfortunate situation for all of us,” Shiver wrote in an email. He directed further requests for comment to Harper. Harper did not immediately return phone calls or emails requesting comment.

When Harper bought the dated theme park in 2006, he got an aging facility that needed millions of dollars in costly repairs and modernization. Coupled with the economic downturn, the park lost money and after just two years of being open landed in bankruptcy a year ago. It owes a total of $13.5 million. CEO Steve Shiver pledged the park could regain its footing and become profitable again, eventually paying off what it owes and pulling out of bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy court requires a detailed plan spelling out exactly how a turnaround will be achieved. Shiver was unable to put together an acceptable plan.

BB&T, which holds more than $9.5 million in debt on the property, was given the green light to proceed with foreclosure. The park was slated to be auctioned off to the highest bidder as early as June.

The entity is offering to buy the park for $7.5 million, although Ghost Town has more than $13.5 million in debt.

BB&T would get $7 million and back taxes would be paid — and that’s about it. The plan calls for paying back $300,000 in select debt, though it doesn’t say to whom.

Financial filings show past due bills of more than $400,000 still lingering from last year — racked up on top of the debt Ghost Town carried with it into bankruptcy. Last year’s past due bills include everything from property taxes to utilities, which were cut off due to failure to pay at the end of the season.

Current owners had been trying to find financing to bail themselves out of bankruptcy and open the park for the summer season. Ghost Town is urging the court to quickly approve the sale to the new entity so that it can still try to open the park by summer.

However, Ghost Town is still plagued by unstable remnants of a landslide that makes the mountain unsafe, according to state geologists. Stabilization will not be completed by the start of summer.

State, Feds to help rescue bankrupt park run by former Miami Dade county manager ... by gimleteye

Read with fascination as Steve Shiver makes the case that everyone needs to pitch in after the recent landslide at Maggie Valley because Ghost Town, the amusement park that Shiver and Miami speculators bought at the top of the market, is too big to fail. The story begins, "Everything has fallen into place" ... an ironic refrain. Next, a plague of locusts:

Federal, state taxpayers to fund Maggie slide cleanup
By Bibeka Shrestha • Staff writer
Everything has fallen into place for a government-sponsored cleanup of the Rich Cove mudslide in Maggie Valley, an undertaking pegged at roughly $1.47 million.

The federal Natural Resources Conservation Service agreed last week to foot 75 percent of the bill to stabilize the slide through the Emergency Watershed Protection program, which helps repair watersheds damaged by natural disasters.

The N.C. Department of Transportation has agreed to fund much of the remaining 25 percent local match since the slide affects a state-maintained road.

Maggie Valley’s town government has agreed to chip in $25,000 toward the local match, while Ghost Town in the Sky, a bankrupt amusement park where the slide originated, has volunteered $25,000 as well, but possibly in in-kind services rather than cash.

Town officials were driven by a sense of urgency to lock down funding for the cleanup since a large part of the mountainside remains unstable and threatens an even worse slide.

“I don’t think we have a choice but to do it,” said Maggie Valley Alderwoman Saralyn Price. “Because I feel like it’s a safety issue.”

At first, the town was at a loss for how it’d come up with the local match, which under current estimates comes to $334,000. Maggie Valley could hardly afford the whole amount by itself.

The town asked county leaders for help, but they balked at the idea of committing tax dollars to fix a slide that originated on private property — even though the property owner is in bankruptcy with a long trail of debt and was unable to pay up, either.

In the end, N.C. Rep. Phil Haire and N.C. Sen. Joe Sam Queen stepped in, teaming up to secure emergency funding from the N.C. DOT.

“We realize the dire circumstances those people who use Rich Cove Road were in,” said Haire. “I’m certainly glad Sen. Queen and I could do all we could to help out.”

Alderman Scott Pauley said Friday he was disappointed in the county board for not pitching in.

“We’ve got county residents and town residents that are losing sleep every night and haven’t slept since the slide,” said Pauley.

Pauley called the town’s contribution of $25,000 “a small, small cost to get this done.”

Town Manager Tim Barth said the town had to take action because it was unrealistic to expect Ghost Town to foot the bill.

“The reality is Ghost Town is in bankruptcy,” said Barth. “I know that they don’t have $334,500, so there’s no point in forcing them to pay because they won’t.”

However, Barth and Pauley have not ruled out the possibility of suing Ghost Town to be reimbursed. For now, Pauley said the focus is on getting the cleanup going.

“Anything after that is going to have to be for a later date,” said Pauley.

Ghost Town CEO Steve Shiver said he hopes to pay the company’s share of the cleanup cost by contributing work from Ghost Town’s engineer.

“We want to make sure that he’s involved completely,” Shiver said.

Shiver also pointed out that Ghost Town has already cooperated with NCDOT, and state and local agencies to help study the slide and facilitate cleanup.

According to Shiver, the economic importance of Ghost Town to Maggie Valley “far outweighs” the government’s investment to repair the slide.

“There are issues that we all must be a part of the solution,” said Shiver. “This is one of them.”

Now here is a novel idea for Steve Shiver and Ghost Town at Maggie Valley ... by gimleteye

As if the county audit of the Homestead Community Redevelopment Agency did lay bare the passage of former mayor and county manager Steve Shiver, ("Among other things, the audit found that the Homestead Community Redevelopment Agency paid $1.9 million for 44 dilapidated "shotgun houses" from a company affiliated with former Homestead mayor, and later Miami-Dade County Manager, Steve Shiver. The price was above market value; the houses were demolished and the land remains vacant.") there's the recent mudslide at the bankrupt tourist attraction Shiver now manages at Maggie Valley in North Carolina. Shiver, as mayor, lead the development rampage in south Dade farmland and wetlands. He spearheaded for the Latin Builders Association the costly attempt to convert the former Homestead Air Force Base into a major commercial airport to the benefit of past LBA directors incorporated as HABDI. No similar county audit has ever been conducted for that fiasco, including the diversion of county resources. For his service to campaign contributors, former county mayor Alex Penelas rewarded Shiver with the county manager job. Only intervention by environmentalists-- who Shiver derided as "terrorists" at public meetings-- stopped the plan from wrecking nearby national parks. Every two-bit politician in South Florida lined up with Penelas and his lobbyists. I can't help noting the remark made in a local North Carolina newspaper a few days ago, of the disaster at Shiver's Ghost Town, “If they had only kept Mother Nature in mind, then maybe some of those mudslides could have been prevented." Ah, Mother Nature.