"The federal government isn’t buying the poverty plea, asking in court papers that a magistrate declare Century Homebuilders in contempt of court and sock the company with $313,000 in added penalties.
U.S. Justice Department attorneys, in Miami federal court filings over the last few months, expressed skepticism about Century’s plight and questioned whether the company was maneuvering to escape its obligation. They contend that Century was tardy with an initial $50,000 payment, remains two months overdue on a second installment and that Pino “secretly” transferred ownership of the Doral parcel at the heart of the dispute to a “mysterious’’ Venezuelan mining company."
This is why I hate mitigation. What happened here is that in order to build on our precious wetlands, 415 acres of wetlands, Pino promised to create a paltry 51 acre wetland preserve. This is called mitigation, or in my book "a shitty deal for the environment". He gets a sweetheart deal and he couldn't even make good on it.
11 comments:
throw them all in jail, one day per every dollar they owe the "feds" which is us the taxpayers! Believe me, he'd find the money fast if they were going to really be serious about collecting.
Wrote about this on Nov 9
http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2011/11/lthe-politics-of-wetlands-destruction.html#more
It takes the Herald a month to decide if certain stories are more trouble than they are worth.
Century Builders/Century Bank? How come he doesn't pay the fine using TARP money the bank took and hasn't paid back yet?
Why aren't Miguel de Grandy and Ramon Rasco bailing him out?
The Herald story is a diversionary tactic. The IRS and SEC have launched full scale investigations into Pino, US Century and its Board. A then of course there's still the open arson investigation into the circumstances surrounding the sinking of Pino's yacht.
To think this is the guy who controlled the county commission for so long. If Natacha Seijas would only sing. Gag.
Genuis,
Not to be a nitpicker or apologist here, but the statment in your post "What happened here is that in order to build on our precious wetlands, 415 acres of wetlands, Pino promised to create a paltry 51 acre wetland preserve. This is called mitigation, or in my book "a shitty deal for the environment" is not technically correct. The 51 acre preserve is part of minimizing the impact of the greater development (i.e. not all wetlands get destroyed). then Century needed to pay millions to a mitigation bank to buy credits to offset the rest of the impact. It's not perfect, but this is the system as we know it. The Feds went after Century because the preserve area did not meet the agreed specifications as part of the permit.
THANKS FOR THE CLARIFICATION. Hate mitigation banking too. You can't fix destruction. Money doesn't replace natural wetlands.
There is a reason why they call it the “myth of mitigation”. Genius had it right.
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