Gov. Rick Scott and Florida GOP: the public interest be damned ... by gimleteye

With the obstruction of the law in fulfilling the mandates of Fair Districts, Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP-led Florida legislature have shown a complete disregard for one of the most important provisions of democratic protections. Their failure to follow a Florida Supreme Court order to draw Fair Districts is not an isolated example: it is the normal practice of a ruling elite that is impervious to criticism.

Consider the following. The state's regional water management districts are powerful entities, supervised by appointees of Gov. Rick Scott.

Although water district governing boards have always skewed towards Big Ag and developers, Gov. Scott takes the micromanagement of district affairs to be a crucial way to enforce loyalty of regulated industries. It is a signature example of one hand washing the other, far from the view of the public.

According to the following news report, today the governing board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District could vote to ignore an administrative law court order, objecting to a permit for mangrove destruction.

This issue is properly filed in the folder: "the devil is in the details". Gov. Scott has proven nearly as skillful in papering over his tracks with those details as he was in private life, where he accumulated a fortune -- buying his way to the governor's mansion -- gaming the medical reimbursement system. Smart, yes. "Good for the public" never enters in the equation.

There are no overarching principles to guide this governor's sense of democracy, other than what is good for a narrow band of special interests who are alternately giddy and compliant, so long as their profits are protected.

In other words, the public interest be damned.

Permit Recommendation Denying Mangrove Destruction for Neal’s Perico Development Could be Approved by SWFMD on Tuesday
Bradenton Times, August 22, 2015
by Staff Report

BRADENTON — Pat Neal’s development needs a permit by SWFMD to destroy mangroves in order to build four homes on Perico Island. SWFMD approved a permit for destroying the high quality mangroves on the island, adjacent to the pristine Florida waters of Anna Maria Sound. Though an administrative law judge has recommended that the water management district's board deny the order, the board will cast a final vote on Tuesday.

Wildlife Abounds in Our Coastal Wetlands...For Now. Guest Blog By Concerned in Cutler Bay

I took this picture off SW 184 Street and Old Cutler Road of a Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbill spotted at coastal wetlands restoration off SW 184 st and Old Cutler Rd.

How appropriate to have a nine acre strip mall up to four stories tall looming over these wetlands  on already traffic packed Old Cutler Rd? Yet the Cutler Bay Council will soon decide if the change of zoning the developer wants will allow this rape of our few remaining open lands to go forth.

Don't Reelect County Commissioner Lynda Bell in District 8: The difference between a real Commissioner, Dennis Moss and Lynda Bell in the same situation. By Geniusofdespair

YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS FIRST VIDEO TO UNDERSTAND THE POST.  County Commissioner Dennis Moss is addressing Lynda Bell directly about her request to form a wetlands advisory task force.  She first formed a town hall meeting (see videos below) this is it.  Remember DERM protects our drinking water from things like arsenic contamination.

Dennis Moss said he had a meeting the same meeting Lynda Bell is proposing at this Commission meeting. When the 8 1/2 square mile people acted up, as they always do, Moss said he shut down the meeting. When they acted up against staff at Lynda Bell's meeting SHE WAS SILENT (see her meeting below, there are more than 7 parts I only posted 2). She even disobeyed her own rule of 3 minutes only. And she did throw DERM under the bus as Dennis Moss warned her not to.

You only need to watch the first 3 minutes of this first one. Alice Pena (who ran against Moss) is speaking (of course more than 3 minute).



By the way, County Commissioner Lynda Bell mentions 3 minutes to speak and let her friend John DuBois talk for over 20 minutes (she had her victory party for her last election at his home). He is being sued by DERM, unfairly he says, that is why he is at this meeting to talk about DERM's predatory practices - His words I believe. Some of the people from the 8 1/2 square mile district have illegal fill (some with arsenic in it) and they are up and arms because DERM wants it removed. The Army Corps wanted all of the people removed because they are illegally living on the other side of the UDB in a flow area for the Everglades. They are blocking the flow. The Army Corps removed about 1/2 the people at great expense after years of fighting with them. The ones left are very vocal. As you can see. They shouldn't even be living in that area. I would watch this whole video.


John Dubois, vice mayor of Palmetto Bay is speaking to Derm staff members.

If you vote in District 8  you should watch these videos. The third one is awfully rude.  Listen at 3 minutes of this third one. Lynda Bell should have shut it down just like Moss did.  All the clapping is against DERM by the way, try to listen to the end. I would not submit my staff to such rude behavior. That is, if I had a staff. Daniella Levine Cava would never let staff be bullied and abused.

You don't throw your staff UNDER THE BUS.  The head of DERM quit a couple of weeks after this Lynda Bell meeting.  I beg you to watch the videos folks in District 8.

People watching videos I post are very important. Don't take my word for it, see what happened. Make your own conclusions.

Jeb Bush gets a free pass in Sunday New York Times … ALL the news that's fit to print? Whatever. … by gimleteye

Anyone familiar with the record of Jeb Bush's two terms as Florida governor will be rubbing their eyes at the recent NY Times profile depicting Bush as "an intellectual in search of new ideas, a serial consulter of outsiders who relishes animated debate and a probing manager who eagerly burrows into the bureaucratic details."

Bush could be a micromanager. But "an intellectual in search of new ideas"? Hardly. Bush was infamous for requiring adherence to preconceived ideas, like those developed by his conservative think tank, The Foundation For Florida's Future. "A serial consulter of outsider who relishes animated debate"? Debate requires two sides of an argument, and Bush rarely paid attention -- more frequently was dismissive than not -- of those who disagreed.

The depiction by the New York Times  may be the portrait Bush advisors want to paint for the public, but it doesn't resemble in the least the Jeb Bush who used Florida as a model for radical conservative experiments with not an inch of room for debate.

"Those who have hashed over policy and politics with Mr. Bush describe him as a conservative animated less by rigid ideology than a technocrat’s quest to identify which solutions work best." Well no, New York Times. That is just wrong.

Instead of consulting with those who tried to change Jeb's mind, the Times relies on an author and a conservative think tank executive (from the American Enterprise Institute, no less) to polish Jeb's intellectual credentials. It's nonsense.

"The approach, aides said, suffused his government, which became a hothouse for ambitious, mostly conservative policy programs. They included assigning A through F grades to public schools, offering performance bonuses to government workers, privatizing many public services and, through billions of dollars in land purchases, locking in the conservation of the Everglades."

In rebuttal, let me offer this:

Mitigation Banking Con and the Dolphin's Con. By Geniusofdespair

The Miami Herald reported on two con games going on: Marlins Dolphin's deal and mitigation banking. Patricia Mazzei breaks down the 80 plus page stadium deal that the mayor brokered - good reading. Also Carl Hiaasen wrote critically about the Marlin's Dophin's deal today.

Truthfully, I am more upset by the mitigation banking con. If you don't know what that is and don't care, don't bother reading Eye on Miami. This blog isn't for you because we care deeply about mitigation banking.

Mitigation banking is where developers are ALLOWED to fill in our precious wetlands if they create some wetlands elsewhere. It is a crock of shit and always has been. I hate mitigation banking. They even have an Association called Florida Association of Mitigation Banking (I would hate to look at that Board) because it is so widespread.  Even the St. Joe company owns and operates 2 mitigation banks. Makes me want to puke. There is a 161 page report on the effectiveness of mitigation banks that was done in 2007. If you want to read an excerpt hit "read more."

Anyway, back to the Miami Herald, Fred Grimm wrote an excellent column about an incident of a mitigation banking ripoff complete with lobbyist interference, political appointees and The Department of Environmental Protection and one woman on staff that refused to bend:

On a thirsty tract up in Clay County, some savvy businessmen pulled off a nearly magical act of hydraulic engineering. They converted hundreds of acres of dry piney woods into an extremely profitable wetlands mitigation bank. And they did it without water.

How did the folks behind the not-so-wet Highlands Ranch Mitigation Bank do it? They hired an influential lobbyist. They leaned on the Department of Environmental Protection and the St. Johns River Water Management District to get rid of pesky regulators who saw the purported wetlands as mostly a mirage.

When state regulations governing mitigation banks didn’t jibe with its business plan, Highlands Ranch’s corporate counsel simply dropped by DEP headquarters and rewrote the rules.

Fred Grimm also wrote a good description of what mitigation banking is (better than mine):

Mitigation banks were conceived as a market-driven solution to the destruction of wetlands. Mitigation bankers buy up former swampland, restore it to wetlands. Regulators from DEP or local water districts then employ the state formula for awarding mitigation bank credits. Developers who plan to drain wetlands elsewhere buy those credits from the banks, making it, at least in theory, an even swap — an acre of restored wetlands for every acre lost to development.

Read more about 2007 Mitigation Banking study:

Lynda Bell at it again with the 8 1/2 square mile folks...How did this pass the legal department? By Geniusofdespair

Lynda Bell - Fan of Selective Enforcement,Chain Link Fences
and Pink Slime in Meat Products.

 

The problem with Lynda Bell's latest resolution coming March 14th is that resolutions are NOT suppose to address INDIVIDUALS. Laws and resolutions are for everyone. You don't pick and choose who is exempt. If Joe Blow or Carlos Gimenez is not allowed to dump dirty fill on wetlands, why should Pepe Diaz be exempt and be allowed to dump it? We all follow the same rules...Don't we? Well not if you are a friend of Lynda Bell. Then you get a law fashioned just for you because you made a lot of noise and sucked up to her. I bet she wishes she could do this to John Dubois to make all his wetland violations go away. Maybe she will.

 The people who already paid the fine are going to go berserk when they find out. This whole issue is a fundamentally UNFAIR. The County code defines what makes up clean fill and how you can use it. Vegetative debris mixed with garbage is not clean fill and does not belong in wetlands. Fill DOES NOT include garbage and it DOES require a permit.

Lynda's resolution  is specifically tailored for people who 1) did not get/follow a permit and 2) used garbage to fill wetlands. Many property owners accepted the garbage tainted mulch and dumped it on their property. Once discovered, DERM required corrective action. Many property owners and contractors complied. Of the nine listed in the resolution, a few are resisting (not all). If this resolution passes it will legalize illegal fill on those parcels. It will also make application of county code arbitrary - what about the people who already paid to correct the problem. I bet they don't even know this is happening. I bet some of the owners of the parcels listed in the resolution don't even know. So 9 people will be exempt. Stupid is as stupid does. Here is what Lynda Bell's law dujour, for COMMITTEE ON MARCH 14th, says (only important part is bold - hit read more to see it):

RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE MAYOR OR MAYOR’S DESIGNEE TO REFRAIN FROM FURTHER ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT IN THE FEW REMAINING CASES AGAINST PROPERTY OWNERS FOR MULCHED HURRICANE DEBRIS DEPOSITED DURING THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE WILMA

February 21st County Commission Meeting. By Geniusofdespair

Link to video.

I took a video excerpt from the infamous February County Commission meeting that Gimleteye and I have been reporting on all week.

This video is from the end of the meeting when the Commissioners tried to impose a moratorium on issuing wetlands' violations in the 8 1/2 square mile area. The County lawyer warns against such a move saying you don't have a factual record here that the laws are being enforced any differently in the 8 1/2 square mile area than any other area.

Also listen near the end to Alice Pena at 3:20.  What insanity.  Listen to Lee Hefty respond to her complaints. 

Here is a link to Gimleteye's 3 part post on this County Commission Meeting.

Judge Gold's Status Hearing Today. By Geniusofdespair

Artist Rendering of Hearing (LOL)

I went to Federal Judge Alan Gold's status hearing today on EPA enforcement of the Clean Water Act. Friends of the Everglades (see Gimleteye's post below -- he is President of Friends) requested it, in my opinion, because of all the delays manufactured by the Feds and State in getting anything done.

As some of you might not know, you can't bring a camera or cell phone into a Federal Courthouse so I did one of those court sketches. Pretty lame. Anyway more went on than my sketch but I didn't listen very well. Herald Reporter Curtis Morgan was taking notes as I was busy drawing so read his article tomorrow.

What I got out of it (all filtered through my preoccupied mind):

Gold said to the EPA why delay in setting up the public hearing? It takes away the credibility of the EPA when hearings are not scheduled promptly. There appears to be a lag time that is unnecessary. He also said something like...if EPA will take more than 30 days to make a final decision, tell me why. This is not an invitation to tell me you need another 60 or 90 days. Lagging equals insecurity of commitment. He warned that besides scientific basis -- which he said should be shared by the way -- can we afford clean-up? Public should be told the truth. He cited Curtis Morgan's article in the Herald about problems that have resulted with slashing funding to the South Florida Water Management District. The State's answer: Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper. LAME, especially since the reporter was sitting in the room.

Judge Gold finished off with the bottom line. He said it was a matter of good faith. It is easy to engage in litigation tactics but his patience with that is worn.  Further he said, Friends of the Everglades is saying we have been to this dance before and it feels kind of old. He said we are all being tested here but he was committed to see the rules of the Clean Water Act implemented in this case.

It was interesting that the State, in their hyperbolic speech, mentioned by name all the groups they were cooperating with, i.e. The Tribe, agriculture, the Everglades Foundation and Audubon. But twice they neglected to mention Friends of the Everglades --- the party in the suit. I found that more than noteworthy. It did sound like a snake oil speech.

Wetlands in South Florida: a case of the runs ... by gimleteye

As president of Friends of the Everglades (note: at our request, there will be a status conference in the Miami courtroom of federal judge Alan S. Gold this morning, more than a year after the U.S. EPA and State of Florida pledged to expedite "enforceable remedies" according to the 2008 ruling in favor of Friends and co-plaintiff, the Miccosuckee Tribe), I know something about wetlands. For those who may be unaware, South Florida was once ALL wetlands except for the coral ridge; ie. Coconut Grove. We are fighting to maintain the environmental integrity of less than half the remnant wetlands; most is under federal and state protection, but a significant area-- influencing the East Everglades and Biscayne Bay-- is under county authority.

So I have been deeply concerned that the radical revolution undertaken by the Rick Scott administration and the GOP in Florida to "streamline" environmental regulations by eviscerating state authority in favor of local jurisdictions would cause a bloodbath. Last year, the Florida legislature-- endorsed by Scott-- took a cudgel to 40 years of regulatory authority under the cover of jobs! Never mind that a majority of Florida voters, in 1996, passed an amendment to the state constitution requiring the polluters to pay for the destruction of Everglades wetlands: it has never been enacted by the legislature.

Miami-Dade is a place where environmental protection is always elevated to a boil. That's because we have Biscayne National Park on one side, and Everglades National Park on the other: both are severely threatened and have already suffered massive losses of habitat and wilderness values. Furthermore, we have a local political culture that glorifies corruption; whether it is Medicare fraud (the highest in the nation), mortgage fraud (Homestead, anyone?), or environmental fraud (Miami-Dade police, anyone?). Fifteen years ago, an environmental champion-- the late Congressman Dante Fascell-- told me it would take 40,000 agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to clean up Miami-Dade County. It will take you years if you want to get a dock permit in Miami-Dade, but if you want to destroy wetlands, you can do that with a snap of your fingers-- especially if you are politically connected.

The frustration is widely shared and boiled over at the recent annual Everglades Coalition Conference where a younger and less patient generation, represented by Everglades First!, demanded the resignation of the long-time head of Florida Audubon. It was a rare and notable moment. What the protest contains is the fruited seed of environmental failure in Florida on a massive scale, ubiquitous as mercury in the atmosphere making us all dumb as ox.

The big political lie, and one replicated across the states, is that environmental regulations at the federal level should be killed. This is manifest in the central plank of the current, virulent strain of Republicanism: that state authority is always better than federal authority and that local authority is better than the state. It is also the worst aspect of Libertarianism.

We have evidence to the contrary, and we have blogged about it for five long years: the "unreformable majority" of the Miami-Dade county commission. This -- the local level-- is the locus of political power that is supposed-- according to the GOP-- to best protect the public health, welfare, and environment. The list of reasons this logic is false is nearly as long as our archive, but for the sake of brevity, we can start with the South Miami-Dade Watershed Study.

To make a long story, short: several years ago, Miami-Dade initiated-- with the support of the South Florida Water Management District-- the most comprehensive and costly effort to plan future water use and development in the nation. It also involved thousands of volunteer hours of a committee; balanced in favor of farmers/land speculators, rock miners and the construction industry, but nonetheless included a few environmental representatives. After the committee submitted its final report, it was killed by the builders through their proxy; former county commissioner (the Queen of Mean) Natacha Seijas. The report sits on a shelf.

Yesterday I attended yet another iteration of "local control", GOP-style. It was a meeting held in a 2nd floor conference room of the former environmental agency re-branded as a result of the election of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. It doesn't have the name or the mission to protect the environment. The Miami Dade Wetlands Advisory Committee was hastily assembled by a new county commissioner, Lynda Bell, who had replaced the most reliable county commissioner (of 13) for the environment; Katy Sorenson. Bell's representative on the committee is Alice Pena, who encapsulates a strand of anti-environmental and anti-Everglades fervor that can be traced back to the 1980's and the Reagan Revolution manifest as the Wise Use Movement and the Sagebrush Rebellion; strongly supported by Big Sugar. In the audience, James Humble who made millions speculating on land with partners in the East Everglades.

There is not a single environmental representative on the committee charged with recommending changes to Miami-Dade's wetlands regulations. The committee is filled with lawyers and industry representatives determined to drive the point home, now that the State of Florida has essentially surrendered its own regulatory authority. It is every man and woman for him or herself, the environment be damned.

The representatives from the U.S. EPA and Florida Department of Environmental Protection-- who will be in Judge Gold's courtroom this morning-- ought to have been required to sit through yesterday's meeting and the meetings to soon take place. They would see the shambles being made by the radical revolution hiding behind the skirts of an historic economic crisis. In the view of the politically powerful, the housing bust-- and resultant loss of tax revenue-- is an unfortunate cyclical event. From the point of view of environmentalists, it was the predictable result of failing to adequately assess costs when they are incurred through growth-- including the massive loss of wetlands-- and instead shift the social costs to the benefit of private businesses. Our economic woes were substantially fortified by the same forces who remain in control of the levers of power in Florida and in the county. Accountability? A myth. Yesterday, after an hour I fled.

This morning I feel a little better. Judge Gold's hearing is three hours away.

Wetlands Advisory Task Force Meeting: TORTURE! By Geniusofdespair

The only thing worse than going to Lynda Bell Wetlands Advisory Task Force meeting is going to an Army Corps of Engineers meeting when you don't know the acronyms. The Army Corps are all about acronyms. They speak in them and they use hundreds of them at every meeting, such as:

IPR - Independent Peer Review
ITR - Independent Technical Review
LERRDS - Land Easements Relocations Right of Way & Disposal Sites
EDEN - Everglades Depth Estimation Network
EDR - Engineering Documentation Report

Bad Dresser Kerri Barsh

They never explain the acronym so you are lost before you begin. They might say a sentence such as "EDEN has determined the LERRDS and has submitted an EDR with an IPR." And you say to yourself: "Huh?"

At the meeting yesterday, it was not that I was lost...it was that I was so bored I could have torn every hair out of my head. They spent 3 hours discussing the smallest points, it was a bonanza of minutia. One particular woman on the panel was super annoying, parsing every word. She was a lawyer, no surprise. Seemed like she was working on getting concession for clients, not working for the good of the public. Shame on you lady if that is true.

Another Lawyer (from Greenberg Traurig), Rock Mining's Kerri Barsh was on the edge of her seat listening intently, taking reams of notes and texting away. Oh, it would have changed things if I were paid to be there like her. Maybe then I wouldn't have been watching the clock, tick, tick... Why was Barsh there? What do you think readers? Trying to get concessions to benefit super wealthy Rock Miners of course, at our expense.

Ed Swakon - Engaged in the Proceedings

Barsh does have a passion for radical print dresses.

Then there was Ed Swakon, Engineer of choice for developers and rock miners. He is a thorn in the side of every environmentalist. Once at DERM he knows every trick to play against them.  He works for  a rock miner, a big campaign contributor to Lynda Bell's campaign. Ed looked more like me...bored.

I wrote some comments about the meeting...nothing earth shattering, hit read more to see edited version:

The Politics of Wetlands Destruction: US Century Bank, Sergio Pino, Ramon Rasco, and Jeb Bush ... by gimleteye

In the United States, Occupy Wall Street protesters are taking aim at the vast inequity of wealth created through financial engineering, without knowing how the small gears link up to the big ones. The engine of destruction starts with home mortgages linked to financial derivatives matching up to credit default swaps: leveraging small errors into a blizzard of money raining billions in compensation. It all depended on speed of execution.

The evidence in Florida piles up. It manifests through the carnage of housing markets, especially where low-cost, production housing turned wetlands into petri dishes for the particular culture of suburban sprawl. In South Florida, the last fumes of the housing boom consumed vast acreage in former Everglades wetlands. Its results permanently etched the landscape as lifeless ghost suburbs where foreclosure rates have soared. They were pushed through local zoning and permitting processes as "what the market wants". In fact, they were what the financial markets could sell to gullible and greedy investors, seeking better return with risks comparable to government bonds.

The insatiable demand for financial derivatives tied to mortgages was met by willing suppliers: builders and developers, lobbyists, traffic engineers and planners. Everyone needed to execute quickly, carelessly and rampantly. At public hearings in Florida, at the base rung of the step ladder of approvals for planned developments, dissenters during the run-up of the housing boom were relentlessly opposed 99 percent of the time.

Today Florida has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation. And still in local and stage legislative arenas, demagoguery persists that land use and environmental regulations, such as those that protect wetlands, are barriers to job creation. It is the mantra of Republicans mainly: knock down regulations as fast as possible so the scrapers, the bulldozers, and stick frame and particle board can fly off the shelves the way they did in 2004.

The landscape can't speak for itself in Florida. Wetlands can't exchange business cards at political fundraisers with promise of new opportunities. That is the problem with wetlands. And it the problem that Jeb Bush, policy tinkerer of the conservative right, imagined he could solve through "wetlands mitigation banking".

In 1996, still smarting from his loss to Gov. Lawton Chiles, citizen Jeb Bush used his Foundation for Florida's Future to outline his case for "free market" environmentalism. The foundation publication, "Outside The Lines", led toward an essay by Denver Stutler, who would be Bush's chief of staff and later, secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation. Stutler laid out the case for mitigation banking of wetlands.

In a Senate hearing in 1995, then US Senator Bob Graham introduced Stutler and ECOBANK as "one of the older of those programs and... we will have the benefit of his extensive experience." Graham-- who claims Everglades restoration among his signature achievements--didn't even know ECOBANK had not obtained its first permit. Wetlands mitigation banking turned out to be all myth. It all sounded good on paper: match the need to protect wetlands with the profit principle, never mind that when it comes to wetlands protection, future commitments are worth the paper they are printed on. 

Rock mining in Palm Beach suffers rare defeat ... by gimleteye

Rock mining is one of the wealthiest, most secretive industries in the state of Florida. It is an industrial activity involving the dynamiting and harvesting of ancient corals to make the base materials for cement and concrete. When you fly out of Miami International Airport, or pass by old lakes in South Miami, what you are seeing is an industrial activity that substantially helped destroy the Everglades. By allowing rock mines in the Everglades, local governments have drastically complicated restoration by the state and federal government and, in the case of Miami-Dade, imposed huge risks (and potential costs) on anyone who drinks water -- that means, everyone.

The laws protecting wetlands in Florida have proven ineffective against special interests that specialize in the lucrative game of lobbying and pushing loopholes into legislation. The best book written on the subject and a very good read: "Paving Paradise: Florida's Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss".

Palm Beach County is a special example. The county is run by sugar billionaires (the Fanjuls) and rock miners. The sugar barons invite whatever economic activity will keep government at bay, especially government that seeks to restore the Everglades by forcing them to clean up their pollution. The sugar barons are deeply burrowed into protective farm programs protected by Democrats and Republicans alike. The Palm Beach County Commission -- like all county commissions -- have proven eager accomplices in the business of converting wetlands for profit since everyone is doing it.

Push back by environmentalists in the courts consumes an enormous amount of time, money and effort: commodities in increasingly short supply as waning public interest combines with economic and personal financial insecurity to create a laissez faire political climate where any sort of demagoguery attached to the word "jobs" gives momentum to the money changers, lobbyists, and sycophants.

That is why yesterday's news that a district appeals court ruled against a mine expansion in West Palm Beach is so rare. The PB Post reports, "In a decision that environmentalists say could affect the future of rock mining in the county's rural western area, the court ruled the 470-acre expansion planned by Bergeron Sand and Rock Mine Aggregates did not meet criteria spelled out in the county's comprehensive plan -- a long-term blueprint for growth and development." (Ron Bergeron, self-proclaimed Everglades defender, is behind the rock mine.)

What you will see, now, is an effort on many fronts to re-write comprehensive plans across the state of Florida. Why is that going to happen? Because Gov. Rick Scott gave carte blanche to local government when he beheaded the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the beaten-down agency with the sad, difficult task of trying to protect Floridians quality of life and environment from crappy development schemes. The schemers, won. If only people knew. (Click 'read more' for the whole Palm Beach Post story.)

Story of A Pig: Lynda Bell. By Geniusofdespair

That pig County Commissioner Lynda Bell has got to go. Are you listening Vanessa Brito of Miami Voice?

Here is what she did. She insisted on this wetland's task force to f--k with Derm. Seriously. It was so transparent what she was doing even Commissioner Moss referred to it - I have it on video ...he didn't say f--k however. He said about Lynda's proposed Task Force: "The thing we can't do is throw DERM under the bus on this issue. That is my concern." So, with that warning, Lynda got her friggin' task force.

This week it was formed. There were 7 members to be nominated, one by the Mayor and 6 by the 13 County Commissioners. Lynda made 6 of the 9 nominations. All 6 of her nominees made it on the task force. She had 5 picks originally which was already piggish but then she had the GALL to add a 6th nominee late Monday after 5 (the choices were suppose to have been in Monday - See email above) The fix was in. She certainly didn't need that 6th nominee except to pummel the lone environmentalist that was assured a seat prior to her 6th entry. That is why I am calling her a pig, she didn't need 6 nominations when most other Commissioners only made 1. I swear this Bell woman is trouble with a capital "PIG".

Special thanks goes out to County Commissioners Rebeca Sosa, Xavier Suarez, Sally Heyman, Barbara Jordan and Jean Monestime for not going with Lynda's slate. Even Dim Bruno managed not to go with the pack entirely. The rest (except Audrey Edmonson and Dennis Moss who didn't vote) voted as expected. Bovo, the new guy, will soon be part of the unreformable majority. We now await the Mayor's appointment. Don't expect good things from this task force.

My picks would have been, Dennis Olle nominated by Xavier Suarez, Sara Fain nominated by Jean Monestime and Laura Reynolds nominated by Dennis Moss. By the way Lynda Bell, Laura Reynolds lives in your district.

So not only did Lynda cook up this dreadful task force, she got all her people on it by nominating all of them. Oink. District 8 voters...What did you do?? You had better right this wrong -- Lynda Bell -- before she does some real damage. She is as devious as Natacha Seijas. Little surprise as there is a Seijas confidant, Jose Luis Castillo, in her district office most days, and his wife also works there.

Lois, call me, let's talk some more!