West Palm Beach south-end revitalization Dream

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Well, if we know anything by now, we know that former Lake Worth CRA member Shanon Materio who is a  commissioner in West Palm Beach, is all for revitalizing the Dixie corridor where she has a business as well as developing the area in the south end of West Palm Beach.

Last night Mrs. Materio along with former commissioner Kimberly Mitchell were at a meeting that lasted about 1.5 hours hosted by the WPB South End Neighborhood Association held at the South Olive Community Center in order to tell the neighbors what they have in mind for the south end of the city--create what they call a spectacular southern entrance to West Palm Beach. The Redevelopment Management Associates, hired by West Palm Beach as a strategic planning agency, conducted the meeting.

When they say "spectacular" they mean opening up the canal on both sides (Lake Worth as well as West Palm Beach) that would entail creating a boat-lift on the C-51 canal with little finger canals like the city of  Venice, Italy.  Once completed, it would become an anchor feature. West Palm Beach bought the old IHOP property in 2012  for $2.9 million which is at the most southern tip of West Palm Beach directly on the canal. WPB leaders bought it in order to eventually revitalize the south end.

Ms. Materio answered  a few questions from the audience. One attendee asked a question on the C-51 Canal and  stated that "7 permits are needed" but Materio said that it is a long way out and therefore that as well as environmental concerns are premature and don't need to be addressed at this stage.  As it is on the Lake Worth side, Materio said that Lake Worth had to be involved. Also it was mentioned by the consultants after Mrs. Materio had left the meeting, that she has been talking to Lake Worth about this project for the past two years.

A few Lake Worth residents were in attendance, one of whom was Commissioner Ryan Maier.

Shanon Materio and friends - Caught with a smoking gun?

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It seems as if West Palm Beach Commissioner Shanon Materio was a busy gal.  Now it's the South End Political Action Coalition, a political committee of some type that was formed right before Kimberly Mitchell, her BFF, filed to run for mayor of West Palm Beach in order to replace Jeri Muoio.

The Committee was formed for the benefit of Commissioner Mitchell, Len Fintzy, and Cory Neering in the recent election. The campaign treasurer for Fintzy is no other than Lake Worth's Mary Lindsey, another BFF of Shanon Materio. Lindsey was also the campaign treasurer for Shanon Materio.

Because of a dumb mistake and using the wrong e-mail address, (it should have been Shanon Materio's daughter's e-mail address as Shanon was staying out of the spotlight it seems) the plot was discovered--PAC’s are not legally allowed to coordinate mailings with candidates or candidate staff. The e-mail clearly shows that SEPAC coordinated with Beth Kennedy, campaign manager for Mitchell, Fintzy and Neering, and please notice Richard Pinsky, lobbyist and ex husband of Commissioner Mitchell, was also copied, says West Palm Beach Gov Watch. Richard Pinsky, if you recall, is a paid lobbyist for the City of Lake Worth.

Read about it... Did an "innocent" e-mail auto-fill error expose campaign tampering by all of those in bed together?

Garbage is Juicy - Connect the Dots - Follow the Money

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Grassy Waters

When I say "juicy," I mean the characters involved in Tuesday's decision by Palm Beach County (Dissenters: Valeche who was really for it and Burdick) that will give Sun Recycling a five year contract to truck in 78,000 tons of waste a year from Broward to the new Palm Beach County incinerator.

You have to ask the question--why?  "All of this will only reap $3 a year in alleged savings"' said one resident who spoke.  There is no advantage to allow Sun Recycling to dump waste in Palm Beach County or one that is readily available or could be implemented without tremendous cost. Well, the answer is obvious to me--

Some of the players:

Sun Recycling-- a company that has been around for some time and one that dumped 6,000 truckloads of questionable RSM waste of approximately 105,000 cubic yards all day and night with some of it 3.6 to 3.8 feet thick after it was crushed and mashed on our landfill and that never restored our property per the lease agreement. Back then, Christy Goddeau of the Glen J. Torcivia law firm, had recommended against Lake Worth filing suit because of the cost which also would have included attorney fees that she said we would never recover.

A company that gave and continues to give large campaign contributions to any candidate for whom they feel will serve their interests.  They gave plenty to Lake Worth candidates and even to sitting commissioners one of whom is John Szerdi.

Burt Aaronson, now a lobbyist for Sun Recycling and the former boss of Mary Lou Berger who replaced him on the county commission after he was term limited. 

Another lobbyist was there for Sun Recycling who is the co-chair for the second annual mayor's ball for Shelley Vana, Neil Schiller.

Drew Martin was there representing the Sierra Club and told them that dioxins in small percentages can cause cancer. The smoke stack will be over the water supply at Grassy Waters.  Hal Valeche was furious and dumped on Drew for that remark telling him that they were highly regulated. According to Drew Martin, the County had to rewrite the ordinance to allow it and they went to the DEP to get an increase in allowable air pollution.

Mayor of West Palm beach, Jeri Muoio spoke out against it.  She is being challenged for mayor by Kimberly Mitchell, good friend of Shanon Materio whose campaign adviser was Richard Pinsky considered a political genius and ex-husband of Mitchell. Materio has a relationship with Sun Recycling and even accepted money for her BacPAC. Pinsky was hired by the present Lake Worth City Commission as a lobbyist for them in Tallahassee at $2,000 a month.  We haven't heard a thing how that's working out.

Well, do I have to spell it out?  Palm Beach County still has big questionable issues. And it is still known as corruption county of the country.

Democrat Jeff Clemens supporting a Republican

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I keep saying that Fl. Senator Jeff Clemens, a Democrat, is all over the place.  He is now supporting Republican Kimberly Mitchell who is a good friend of WPB Commissioner Shanon Materio who is also a good friend of his, for mayor of West Palm Beach.

And that's not all he's supporting in West Palm Beach--he's also working on behalf of Cory Neering who is challenging Katherine Waldron in District 2, and Leonard “Len” Fintzy, who is taking on District 5 Commissioner Keith James. All seats on the commission are elected city-wide in West Palm Beach.

They all want Mayor Jeri Muoio, a well-known Dem, out.

Read about it...