Anthony Pugliese, The Turkey

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Anthony Pugliese, the developer who wanted to "steal" our beach years ago, just got sentenced to six months in jail for a million dollar swindle. Small price to pay.  And he gets to stay home before jailed so that he can eat his Thanksgiving turkey. I would say that he has a lot to be grateful for.

It does pay to be a crook.

Read about it...

Anthony Pugliese and powerful developer interests

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On March 11, 2013, a Judge agreed to return the passports of Delray Beach developer Anthony Pugliese and his business manager Joseph Reamer as they await trial on charges they stole nearly $1.2 million from Subway franchise founder Fred DeLuca in a failed land development, Destiny, Florida. He's back in the news today. Even though he's facing grand theft and money laundering charges as well as stealing approximately $1.2  million...he now has asked the Judge to allow him to travel to Italy for 9 days.

The Destiny project had been highly controversial and contentious from inception. In 2009 Osceola County proposed an amendment in its comprehensive building plan for a "new city overlay on more than 500,000 acres in a rural area in the county," which would allow for the construction of the Destiny development as well as several other large-scale projects. The Florida Department of Community Affairs opposed the amendment, citing the Florida’s Growth Management Act and stating the amendment would contribute to urban sprawl. The PB Post back in 2009 said "it is an inappropriate exploitation of natural resources and will be a setback for Florida."

In 2011, Florida legislators wiped out 30 years of growth management law and passed measures to restrict the public from challenging controversial development projects in the name of economic development. We here in Lake Worth know what all these shenanigans are about and have been dealing with developer backed politicians for years. Recently the Lake Worth city commission denied the results of an election to change its Charter held this past March that would have limited heights in downtown Lake Worth to 4 stories because of some law that Rick Scott passed in June 2013, three months AFTER the election, that they say makes our vote moot. This is being challenged. The commission has now passed an overlay Hotel District allowing heights to go to 6 stories.

Throughout the years, Florida residents have had to challenge those with the power--developers and politicians, and those sitting on major boards who are forcing heights and/or sprawl even believing their own lies and twisting the truth to get their way. Lobbyists, politicians and those hell bent on ruining our State and local  municipalities, continue to effect laws under the guise of "we need growth" and the hell with what you want and your quality of life and the Florida environment.

And Anthony Pugliese gets to have a European vacation.

Pugliese Padded his Pockets?

A few years ago I wrote a few blogs on Mr. Pugliese, a resident of Gulfstream, as it was highly suggested that it was he who wanted to get hold of Lake Worth's 19 acre beach property. This, of course, got my interest. He is connected through business and family connections with one of our business owners and his tentacles are wide.

Today he is back in the news for allegedly defrauding Fred Deluca of Subway fame regarding the 41,000 development of planned sprawl known as Destiny, south of Orlando in Osceola County near Yeehaw Junction, Florida. Read more... at the Palm Beach Post.

Past Lynn's Little bit of Trivia blogs written about Anthony Pugliese:

Anthony Pugliese

5 billion dollar law suit filed

We need growth management and the DCA

Mr. Sunshine and connecting the Dots

Mr. Sunshine and Connecting the Dots

Ms. Stanton was at a meeting yesterday with the city managers of four other cities: Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Lake Park, and Mangonia Park. It was a meeting that she initiated to discuss the tremendous cost for services with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department. Pahokee, South Bay and Belle Glade should have been invited. They can't pay for the service as it is now. After she spoke for approximately ½ hour, the City Manager of Wellington, Paul Schofield, informed everyone that the Press was invited by him and were in the audience. Surprise! Stanton was blindsided.

The "good ole boy network" is alive and prevalent in Palm Beach County. It's been here for years and the seed never seems to die. It just keeps springing up like a bad weed. Afterall, we are not the Corruption County of the Country for nothing.

Paul Schofield has been with the City of Wellington for the past 9 years or so first starting as its Director of Community Development. He became Town Manager in February 2008. It was reported several years back by the Post that he is an old drinking buddy of Anthony Masilotti as well as Daniel Miteff, who both got 5 years in the Federal Pen.

Some of you might not remember what got Miteff in trouble or his connection to corruption.

The Sun Sentinel reported on December 13, 2006 that “The third criminal defendant in the public corruption scandal alleged to have profited former County Commissioner Tony Masilotti through secret land deals is scheduled to appear in federal court in Fort Pierce this morning on 16 counts of conspiracy and fraud.

Daniel N. Miteff, 55, a civil engineer and Wellington businessman, is indicted secretly Friday by a grand jury and arrested Monday afternoon by FBI agents for his role in a Royal Palm Beach land deal. He allegedly paid Masilotti for representations he made as a public official with cash and $39,000 worth of gaming chips when the two met at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino in the Bahamas in February 2004.

Miteff was charged with conspiring with Masilotti to use his power as an elected official to win a contract to develop 50 acres in Royal Palm Beach owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach for about $1 million in profits. The indictment also said Miteff lied to the grand jury on two occasions in August when questioned about the diocese deal.”

Daniel Miteff, if everyone recalls, was the front man for Anthony Pugliese when he was trying to get hold of our Lake Worth beach in order to build a hotel complex during the Romano administration here in Lake Worth.

Paul Schofield was the one who hired Paul Masilotti, Tony's bother, as Wellington's Building Inspector. You always have to follow the money to attempt to figure it all out and connect the dots.

So Mr. Schofield is a close friend of these guys so we have to wonder what his purpose really was for notifying the press and not even bothering to let the ATTENDEES KNOW UNTIL WELL AFTER THE FACT. .. certainly bad manners. Does anyone really believe it had to do with “sunshine?"

Anthony Pugliese

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Remember Anthony Pugliese III? As it turns out, not only is he a builder but a collector of Pop Culture.

This is the guy who wanted to build a hotel on our beach. This all happened during the Rodney Romano regime not that many years ago. As the Greater Bay contract was made to flip, who is to say that he is still not lurking around town? He has given campaign contributions to "friends" running here in Lake Worth.

He didn't get hold of our Lake Worth Beach but he did get hold of 41,300 acres or 64 square miles in Osceola County for his planned community, Destiny.

Perhaps he needs money as I read some time back that he was suing his former partner, Fred DeLuca, co-founder of Subway Restaurants for $5 billion.

PR for the Pugliese Collection:

"The Pugliese Pop Culture Collection may well be the finest collection focusing on 20th Century pop culture ever privately assembled. Approximately eight hundred and fifty of the most extraordinary objects imaginable from the worlds of motion pictures, popular music, magic, television and politics were gathered over several decades by Anthony Pugliese, a man who might well be described as a true visionary.

A small sampling of the Collection's treasures include Houdini's straightjacket, the Maltese Falcon statuette, Christopher Reeves' Superman suit, John Lennon's Abbey Road suit, Elvis Presley's personal rifle collection and the gun that Jack Ruby used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald. Indeed, Mr. Pugliese is sharing his wonderful Collection with the rest of the world as he shifts his interests towards the creation of Destiny, the nation's largest eco-sustainable community currently being sensitively created in central Florida.

His collection will be auctioned off on May 15 at 2:00 PM ET at Guernsey's in New York City. A portion of the proceeds from this remarkable event are earmarked for the Audubon Society, long known for its important environmental work."

$ 5 billion law suit filed

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Well, it could be worse. We could have been doing business with Anthony V. Pugliese who just filed suit saying his former partner tried to defraud him. He was involved in the urban sprawl project 75 miles south of Orlando of a 41,000 acre development.

Isn't this the very same Pugliese who was trying to get our public beach just a few years back?

Read about Tony HERE

Florida--we need growth management and the DCA

Holy! The Palm Beach Post got another one right -- well, sort of! Essentially they are saying, fix the problem of urban sprawl now and you won't need FHD in 2010. Things must be improving at the Editorial Staff. Perhaps they realize now that they have made some boo boos in the past. The Post says, “Head off Florida’s land rush,” and ask, "why would any developer contemplate a new town in this economy?" We ask, why contemplate ANYMORE sprawl across Florida, period.

Right now there are some State Legislatures who want to abolish the DCA, our only watchdog on development within the State of Florida. And as imperfect as this agency may be, it is all that we have as residents to oversee growth within our State. Otherwise we, as citizens, are just complaining about outlandish projects to elected officials with hearing problems. Why do some in our State Legislature want to do this? Lobbyists for developers have been working overtime to convince them that the DCA is the problem and that the DCA is the reason for what is slowing down growth in Florida. All governments are in budget crunches and they are believing the developer line. With over 300,000 houses sitting empty in our State, our selected officials need to get a grip.

Near Yeehaw Junction, there are 27,400 acres and Tony Pugliese wants to build 100,000 houses for a new town called Destiny. He’s the guy who wanted to get his hands on our beach several years back. The only destiny we will have here is sprawl--100,000 more housing units of it.

Read what the St. Petersburg Times has to say.

We have so many empty houses within the State of Florida. St. Lucie alone has 10,000 empty houses and has the 10^th highest foreclosure rate in the United States according to Sally Swartz, writer for the PB Post. According to realestate.aol.com, the City of Lake Worth in both zip codes, 33460 and 61 have a total of 2,294 units for sale and a total of 1,426 in foreclosure. Why then do certain people want to get rid of controls we have in place for growth management? Money. It is always about the money. They can build to their hearts content, bulldozing prime land. Environmentalists are angry because wildlife habitats will be cut off and possibly totally eliminated. Residents are unhappy because we do not want our State paved over, traffic problems and sprawl.

The DCA reviews local governments’ Comprehensive Plans and unless something is totally out of whack, they usually end up approving what a city wants but it takes time. Builders want everything paved over yesterday. Right now the DCA has approved the Sunset parcel zoning change and land use. Seven of us are now in a lawsuit with the DCA and The City of Lake Worth. We can at least present our argument, and if good enough, get this approval reversed because zoning is all a political decision as confirmed by our Planning & Zoning Board’s own counsel choice, Nancy Stroud. She also said that it was illegal--contract zoning. So, there are still ways to skin this cat.

Citizens shouldn’t have to go through hoops to protect their neighborhoods from self-serving decisions of Planning & Zoning Boards and some developer backed officials who just want to feed the budget's bottom line. We need to hold the line from population increases, the development at any cost mentality and have a proper plan for growth. Good growth management is essential for a healthy State. We need to keep the Department of Community Affairs.