South Florida Regional Planning Council No More. By Geniusofdespair

This is a continuation of my blog last week, July 6th.

Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava was there for Miami.

Commissioner Xavier Suarez was on the phone listening. I know because I was texting him.

I haven't been there in years but what a difference a few years make. They are going to a 4 day week and they are no longer the South Florida PLANNING Council. They are now the South Florida Regional Council and here is what they are about in regard to planning according to their website:

Dispute Resolution

The Council's Regional Dispute Resolution Process (RDRP) was adopted in response to the requirements of Chapter 186.509, Florida Statutes. The RDRP is designed to reconcile differences in planning, growth management, and other matters among local governments, regional agencies, and private interests. The RDRP endeavors to be a flexible process that will clearly identify and resolve problems as early as possible; utilize procedures in a low-to-high cost sequence, allow flexibility, provide for the appropriate involvement of affected parties, and provide as much process certainty as possible.

They have been cut off at the knees. I don't know why they meet anymore. Maybe I am too much of a pessimist but why is PLANNING out of their name?

Their job was reviewing Comprehensive Development Master Plans and you could go there to see them. You didn't have to go to the cities or Tallahassee.

Eric Draper

The dreaded Eric Draper form Audubon did a presentation on Amendment 1 and the problems Environmentalists are facing. He did a pretty good job on the need for the money to be spent as we voted for in the Amendment, like the sugar land we had a contract to buy for restoration.

Patricia Asseff from Hollywood (a governor appointee) should get the hell off the Council. She is a pave over Patty and has been on far too long. After Eric Draper spoke she totally missed the point. She said we don't need parks unless we get the money to run them. What about upkeep? -- This isn't about Parks lady. The woman next to her totally agreed with her. Gosh ladies what do you think the people in your cities want? You find the money for upkeep of your parks.

The land was supposed to be environmental land. Thomas Teets of the South Florida Water Management District had just finished saying we need more land for Everglades Restoration. She didn't understand a lick.  I said in comments:  You should all care that your constituents were betrayed that is the issue not upkeep. If you start using money for upkeep you will end up paying for soccer fields and other stuff. That is what they are already doing with the money in Tallahassee-- buying rice farms or something like that. I told them the big picture is that the money is not going towards what we voted for. The issue is not what to do with the land that we spend the money on.

South Florida Regional Council July 6th About 11:00 am. By Geniusofdespair

South Florida Regional (they dropped the word Planning from their name) Council meets July 6th (about 11). They took planning out of the name officially on July 1st.

Interesting discussion item:

Americas' Dream Mall

Program Report and Activities that should interest us all:

Thomas M. Teets

 A. Everglades Restoration Speaker Thomas M. Teets - office of Everglades Policy and coordination for the South Florida Water Management District.
 
B. Amendment 1 - (land buying funds we all voted for) Speaker Eric Draper - Audubon of Florida.

Agenda items of Interest to me

County Commissioners Daniella Levine Cava and Xavier Suarez are Miami Dade Appointees on the Council.

Be there if you can 3440 Hollywood Blvd. Suite 140. It starts at 10:30 but I don't see them getting to the good items till at least an hour later. This is the only State of Florida entity down here. It does a regional review of projects (3 counties participate). There has to be some public comment time although it was not on the agenda. The public hardly ever goes to this monthly meeting. If you want to ask about time call Phone 954-985-4416. I heard the whole meeting is only about two hours.

Keys Gate Has No Key...Guest Blog by Tired of Being Locked Out.

 This is the continuing SAGA of the DRI gone bad in Homestead.  Read the  earlier 2 posts.

I would like to share with you some key points that were discussed at the Keys Landings Meeting on September 18, 2014. The meeting started at 7:00 pm and ended at 8:10 pm.

The homeowners are being bullied by the Master Association into accepting Mr. Wayne Rosen's plans for the golf course and new amenities; which would be financed by an increase of dues of a minimum of $43.00 dollars a month based on what North Gate is paying for their Clubhouse and Pool.

There was nobody representing Mr. Rosen or the Master Association which is controlled by the Latterner family. The meeting was ran by our  ONLY Delegate.

The problem the homeowners have with Mr. Rosen's Plan is the following:

1. There are no plans being shared with the membership; No Artistic Drawings of Amenities and No plans of the new design of the golf course showing location and types of New Homes.
2. There are no defined amenities being discussed.
3. The membership is being threaten to agree in theory to the new amenities or Mr. Rosen will build up to 3,000 homes instead of 900 homes. In Theory -- due to the membership having no real say due to the fact that the POA has never been turned over to the residents.
4. The amenities as far as we know will not be on land that belongs to the POA which increases the cost to the membership.
5. The Keys Landing Membership voted No to the new amenities by a show of hands.
6. The Keys Landing Membership make it clear that any new amenities added should be an option to join; this is the current policy for Keys Gate Residents to pay up to $800.00 a year to use North Gate's Clubhouse and Pool.
7. The Golf Course is losing money due to poor management. There is no reinvestment and there is a total lack of  maintenance; poor greens and cow pasture fairways.

The main problem that The Keys Landing Membership has, is the Latterner family has never turned over the communities after build-out of that community; they have maintained control from my understanding for the past 25 years or longer since North Gate and Center Gate were built. 

A Keys Gate Aside:

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency action charging that a deceased Florida man who once served as President of the South Florida AARP had been running an offshore Ponzi scheme that took in at least $4.6 million from dozens of investors.  In a complaint filed last week, the Commission alleged that Joseph Laurer, a/k/a Dr. Josef V. Laurer, ran the scheme through a company he controlled in the Turks and Caicos until his death on May 15, 2014. 

Laurer was a resident of Homestead, Florida, where he was a member of the City of Homestead's General Employee Pension Board (appointed by Steve Bateman) and he ran Former Mayor Bateman's strong Mayor PAC. Keys Gate has a monthly newsletter. The financial expert chosen by Keys Gate to write investment advice was  - You Guessed It - Dr. Josef V. Laurer.


Genius said: A DRI is so big it is deemed to have impact on our 3 counties: Monroe, Miami Dade County and Broward County. Once they approve it the Regional Planning Council should see that it is working.  Someone needs to bring this DRI before the council of the 3 counties. It has to be fixed as it is impacting the quality of life of these residents. Promises have not been kept.  County Commissioners Jean Monestime,  Xavier Suarez and Juan Zapata are on the Council as are 16 others.

Obit: Carolyn Dekle of the South Florida Regional Planning Council. By Geniusofdespair

I was sad to read today that Carolyn Aileen Dekle had died...for her and for us.

Yesterday I told you that Tom Pelham quit from the Department of Community Affairs. Well the South Florida Regional Planning Council (SFRPC) is the local arm of the DCA and Carolyn headed it, in a good way for the most part. Now we will have no continuity.

The SFRPC staff prepares recommendations for the Council and gives guidance to municipalities on their Comprehensive Development Master Plans. The Council is made up of members from the Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe County Commissions. Who does the appointing to the Council? In Miami-Dade's case it is the chair of the County Commission: Little Bully Joe Martinez. Governor Ick Scott also has a few appointments (unless he does away with the Council). Don't expect anyone good on growth to be appointed from Miami-Dade or the Governor and now with Carolyn Dekle demise, growth management is in further jeopardy. All of you who didn't vote for Amendment 4 are idiots. My message to you: I hope you have to eat tofu turkey, Brussels Sprouts and apricot pie with cool whip on it this Thanksgiving (sorry vegans). That is what you deserve. This cascade of events -- Ick Scott/Pelham/Martinez/Dekle -- has shaken Miami-Dade growth management to the core.

Good bye Carolyn Dekle, I will miss you. If there is a God, it will be good for Florida to have a planner in the sky!

(To see current membership of the SFRPC hit read more)

ASSEFF, Patricia B.
Governor's Appointee

BARREIRO, Bruno
Miami-Dade County Commissioner

BATES, M. Margaret
Vice Mayor, Lauderhill

BLYNN, Michael (League of Cities Appointment)
Councilman, North Miami

BROOK, Scott J.
Governor's Appointee

CARRUTHERS, Heather (Secretary)
Commissioner, Monroe County

GUNZBURGER, Suzanne (Vice-Chair)
Broward County Commissioner

LIEBERMAN, Ilene
Broward County Commissioner

NEUGENT, George
Mayor, Monroe County

RIESCO, José A.
Governor's Appointee

RITTER, Stacy
Governmental Center

SCUOTTO, Joseph (Chair)
Commissioner

SOSA, Rebeca
Miami-Dade County Commissioner

TAYLOR, Norman
Broward County Office of Economic Development
115 S. Andrews Ave., #A540
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
PHONE - 954-357-7894
FAX - 954-357-5674

WALLACE, Paul
Governor's Appointee

WALTERS, Sandra (Immediate Past Chair)
Governor's Appointee

WEEKLEY, Jimmy
Commissioner, City of Key West

FREE SPEECH UNDER ATTACK IN SOUTH FLORIDA: And Miami Lakes we feel your pain. By Geniusofdespair

(Hit on above to increase size)

Free speech is under attack in South Florida, here are five instances:

First Assault: Was Local Newspaper Intimidated to Drop a "Hot Potato" Story?

I never saw an article and didn’t know about the issue until Miami Lakes people invaded my last post. I tried to look at the story but it is already off-line at the Herald. According to the not-reliable Fox news, Miami Lakes Vice Mayor Nancy Simon is accusing Gus Abella of stalking her and Gus is accusing her of practicing Real Estate without a license:

According to Simon's petition (for protection), her daughter was taking pictures of Abella's car outside of Publix. He believes she did it because he had a sign on his car that read "Vice Mayor Nancy Simon should resign."

Then, according to the report, he got out of the car and shook his arms at her or something, long story short: She got a 25 foot order against him.

First why does everything in Miami Lakes happen outside of Publix? Petition gatherers for the recall of Natacha Seijas got booted from Publix by police. Second, why is Abella wanting Simon to resign? I guess I would want her to resign as she is a boot licker of Natacha. However, there are alleged abuses of Simon practicing Real Estate without a license that Abella uncovered. Nancy Simon, FREC does not take kindly to practicing Real Estate without a license, you had better hope it ain’t true. In the crosshairs, the local rag covering the mess, the Miami Laker, got leaned on and the Editor said:

"We don't believe our role as a community newspaper is compatible with the extensive coverage expectations of local politicians."

Is he out of his mind or was he leaned on? I am guessing leaned on.

Let’s talk more about free speech abuses: (you had better hit read more – it get’s better)

Second Assault, Free Speech gets a Slapp Suit:

Developer Tibor Hollo has filed a lawsuit against a blogger.See Gimleteye's post January 29th.

Third Assault, Public Speakers are discouraged to speak out, often intimidated and belittled at public meetings. Here is a specific example:

A speaker making public comment at the Charter Review Task Force was intimidated by evil Natacha Seijas' appointee, Miguel DeGrandy. According to SunPost’s Rebecca Wakefield said, a Citizen, Mario Artecona made this statement and she describes what followed:

“I personally feel the group was manipulated by one of your members. Writing an op-ed piece and speaking about the greatness of parochialism, [he was] basically casting a shadow on anyone who wants to have a debate of regionalism versus district, [that they’re] somehow trying to take something away from minorities.”

Artecona didn’t mention him by name. But De Grandy, watching a tape of the meeting later (he’s a member, but wasn’t at the meeting), was incensed. De Grandy had, after all, written the op-ed piece in the Miami Herald a couple of days after the group had agreed that its members would funnel all its opinions through the task force’s chairman, Victor Diaz. I mentioned the squabble over this in a previous column.

So the next day, the task force had another meeting. De Grandy attended and let loose on Artecona and Diaz for some 30 minutes for impugning his reputation. Impugning may seem hard to do to a guy who is, arguably, the most successful lobbyist running the County Commission. But apparently it is still possible. “It ticked me off,” De Grandy told me. “The word manipulation involves some sort of underhanded behavior. Artecona insulted every member of this board as well as me. This is the second time someone took a pot shot at me. And because Victor Diaz, the chair, disagrees with me philosophically, he lets it happen.”

Diaz shot back. “While it’s my responsibility to make sure the debate remains respectful and high-level, I do not view my role as being the speech police,” he responded. “When you invite the public to speak, you have to be careful not to stifle it.”

Fourth Assault, Citizen Petitions To Ammend Charter Go Uncounted:

Valid Citizen Petitions, with a deadline of February 1st, may not be counted. The Elections Department had an election to contend with and by the end of today, they still have thousands of 3 petitions to verify.

Fifth Assault, State Tries to Censor Handouts at South Florida Meeting:

The South Florida Regional Planning Council is the local arm of the State Department of Community Affairs. It is where 3 counties' representatives decide policy issues of Regional Importance. The head of SFRPC staff took the handouts of a citizen speaker and would not hand them out until Council members insisted on seeing them. Head honcho, Carolyn Dekle finally distributed the hand-outs but would not change policy, saying that her staff should review all hand-outs. I ask: "What for, to censor them?"

Where is the ACLU in Florida, asleep at the wheel?

South Florida Regional Planning Council: What the hell is it and why did they vote on our UDB? By Geniusofdespair

Believe it or not, we do have growth management guidelines in place in Forida. Really, I am not kidding. I am not calling them laws, because they have no teeth but there is this shitload of rules that exist.

Quick civic lesson: The Dept. of Community Affairs (DCA) is the State Department in charge of growth management. There is this part of the DCA, which I don't quite understand, called the South Florida Regional Planning Council (SFRPC) which votes on regional issues. Regional issues are those that impact more than one county. The SFRPC offices are in Hollywood. Government elected officials from Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe County sit on the SFRPC board. The 3 Miami County Commissioners on the SFRPC are Moss, Heyman and icky Pepe Diaz. Katy Sorenson was removed by that snit Joe Martinez when he was Commission Chair. It was ugly.

Anyway, The SFRPC met this morning to evaluate, among other things, the 3 applications to move the UDB line that the County Commission moved forward (remember the Mayor's veto and the override?).

The outcome of the vote on the 3 applications to move the Urban Development Boundary at the SFRPC:

Applications 5 and 9 - SFRPC Transmitted the applications to DCA as inconsistent with the Regional Comprehensive Plan. This is a good thing. Pepe must not have been a happy camper on the Lowe's application. The "school property" that Lowe's was going to sell cheap did not entice Broward and Monroe County members of the board.

Application 8 - (The one way West on Kendall Drive) went through with small caveats...Moss, the Mayor's appointee and a Commissioner from Monroe voted no. Everyone else transmitted it. Sally Heyman supported it and spoke in favor of it — she was the cheerleader for some dumb road right-of-way the developer was dangling in front of Miami-Dade County and the developer proposed removing any residential element from the application.

Now the 3 applications are officially transmitted to the Department of Community Affairs for review and we can send our personal comments to them: Paul.Darst@dca.state.fl.us and Charles.Gauthier@dca.state.fl.us.

Boring, huh?

Here are the members of the SFRPC:
ASSEFF, Patricia B. (Chair)
Wimbish-Riteway Realtors
950 South Southlake Drive
Hollywood, FL 33019
PHONE - 305-931-8266
FAX - 305-933-1141

BLYNN, Michael (Immediate Past Chair)
Councilman, North Miami
15516 Biscayne Boulevard
North Miami Beach, FL 33160
PHONE - 305-947-8882
FAX - 305-947-9420

BROOK, Scott J.
Mayor, Coral Springs
9551 W. Sample Road
Coral Springs, FL 33065
PHONE - 954-344-1142
FAX - 954-757-1770

CHERNOFF, Jay R.
Commissioner, North Miami Beach
17011 NE 19th Avenue
North Miami Beach, FL 33162
PHONE - 305-948-2986
FAX - 305-787-6036

DIAZ, Jose "Pepe"
Miami-Dade County Commissioner
Miami-Dade Center
8345 N.W. 12th Street
Miami, FL 33126
PHONE - 305-599-1200
FAX - 305-470-1791

GUNZBURGER, Suzanne
Broward County Commissioner
Governmental Center
115 S. Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
PHONE - 954-357-7006
FAX - 954-357-7129

HEYMAN, Sally
Miami-Dade County Commissioner
Miami-Dade Center
111 N.W. 1st Street, Suite 220
Miami, FL 33128
PHONE - 305- 375-5128
FAX - 305- 372-6179

LIEBERMAN, Ilene
Broward County Commissioner
Governmental Center
115 South Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
PHONE - 954- 357-7001
FAX - 954- 357-7295

McPHERSON, Morgan
Mayor, City of Key West
P. O. Box 1409
Key West, FL 33041
PHONE - (305) 809-3840
FAX – (305) 809-3847

MOORE, Carlton
Vice-Mayor, Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale City Hall
100 N. Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
PHONE - 954- 828-5011
FAX - 954- 828-5667
MOSS, Dennis C.
Miami-Dade County Commissioner
Stephen P. Clark Center
111 NW 1st Street, Suite 320
Miami, FL 33128
PHONE - 305-375-4832
FAX - 305-372-6011

NEUGENT, George
Monroe County Commissioner
Stephen P. Clark Center
25 Ships Way
Big Pine Key, FL 33043
PHONE - 305-872-1678
FAX - 305-872-9195


PEREZ, Marta (Vice-Chair)
Miami-Dade County School Board
1450 NE 2nd Avenue, Suite 700
Miami, FL 33132
PHONE - (305) 995-2794
FAX - (305) 995-2786


RIESCO, José A.
Certified Public Accountant
Jose A. Riesco, PA
2801 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, Suite 1000
Coral Gables, FL 33134
PHONE - (305) 445-0777
FAX - (305) 446-8576

SCUOTTO, Joseph (Secretary)
Commissioner
City of Sunrise
10770 West Oakland Park Blvd.
Sunrise, FL 33351
PHONE - (954) 746-3250
FAX - (954) 746-3243

SPEHAR, Dixie M.
Monroe County Commissioner
500 Whitehead Street, Suite 102
Key West, FL 33040
PHONE - (305) 292-3440
FAX - (305) 292-3466


WALTERS, Sandra
Sandra Walters Consultants, Inc.
6410 5th Street, Suite 3
Key West, FL 33040
PHONE - 305-294-1238
FAX - 305-294-2164

WEXLER, Lois
Vice-Mayor, Broward County
Governmental Center
115 South Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
PHONE - 954- 357-7005
FAX - 954- 357-7044

DONN, Gary L.
Director of Planning and Programs, Dist. 6
Florida Department of Transportation
602 South Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33130
PHONE - (305) 377-5900
FAX - (305) 377-5967
KENNEDY, Chad
Watershed Management & Planning
Program Manager
Department of Environmental Protection
400 N. Congress Avenue, Suite 200
West Palm Beach , FL 33401
PHONE - (561) 681-6661
FAX - (561) 681-6755

WATERS, Elbert (Bert)
South Florida Water Management District
Broward County Service Center
8211 W. Broward Boulevard, PH3
Plantation, FL 33324
PHONE - 954-713-3200, ext. 4981
FAX - 954-475-4169