Handing over our State

There was a reckless decision made in 2011 when our state legislatures gutted 30 years of growth management. They now put politics back into the decision process by allowing city and county governments to handle it all.  They passed measures to restrict the public from challenging controversial development projects in the name of economic development. They dismantled the Department of Community Affairs and along came the Community Development Act signed into law on June 2, 2011.

Now we have a new bill. Aside from it being an overall lousy bill, one of the worst things in HB703 is the first step towards privatizing a public resource (water) by allowing Large landowners who participate in water storage programs to receive 50-year water use permits. They would then be allowed to sell that water to governments and utilities. No wonder the Fanjuls are on a buying spree. Someone should follow the money. This just keeps corrupt planners in business.

HB 703 - Environmental Regulation

General Bill   by Patronis (Republican)

Environmental Regulation: Specifies authority of counties to enforce certain wetlands, springs protection, & stormwater ordinances, regulations, & rules; provides vote requirements for adoption of certain elements of local government comprehensive plans & plan amendments; prohibits local governments from rescinding certain comprehensive plan amendments; authorizes durations & multiple commencement dates for certain consumptive use permits; requires delegated local governments to follow certain criteria & standards for well construction; provides that proof of insurance meets certain mitigation bank permit requirements; requires certain criteria to be incorporated into regional water supply plans; provides conditions under which DEP is required to establish certain greenhouse gas performance standards & repeal & revise certain rules; establishes solid waste landfill closure account within Solid Waste Management Trust Fund.

Effective Date: July 1, 2014

Last Event: Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee on Monday, February 03, 2014 5:58 PM. Next meeting: March 24.

Time Settles Everything - The Sun never shined with Sun

The city states:  Since the official closure of the City’s landfill in 1993, the City has dealt with a variety of issues. The issues include matters related to a 2007 lease to Sun Recycling Systems (SRS) as a hurricane staging area, allegations of odors emanating from the landfill, and allegations of contamination. At this time, a report from Mock Roos & Associates conclude that the odor and contamination issues are insignificant. City staff would like to move forward with analyzing viable uses of the landfill including a possible photovoltaic array.

Residents near site complaining about illnesses they
suffered  because of the debris dumped on landfill--some of which had arsenic

Well, of course it wants to move forward and forget about this past nightmare.  This is the MO of our present administration.  It conducted surveys in 2013 and sent out 56 of them to property owners adjacent to the landfill. Only a handful of residents bothered to complete them and send them in to the city which is a typical response rate.  After all those years of total city silence to their complaints, the city is using that response against them. The city had Mock Roos do studies, a company that has made multi-millions off the city.  Now the city wants the commission, a commission that probably has never even been on the landfill property, to accept  Mock Roos’ reports and close the book on all prior issues. This will allow the city to move forward in its analyzation and pursuit  of viable uses of the landfill.

On August 3, 2010 Mock Roos's John Biggs said, "In my opinion, RSM should not have been placed on the site. Arsenic was found in the samples indicating higher levels than acceptable (1/3rd over threshold) in certain areas of the landfill for surrounding residential areas. He also said that it would cost $1.5 million to restore the property. Per the lease Sun Recycling had with the city, they were supposed to do just that. They never did.

Even though Sun was required to restore our landfill to its original condition per the lease agreement, our city attorney, Christy Goddeau of the Glen J. Torcivia law firm, had recommended against the pursuit because of the cost which also includes attorney fees that they say we would never recover. It's just easier and cheaper to forget about it. The "bad" guys just keep on winning in this city and the city just keeps on minimizing everything, other than the Heights Referendum, that is.

This matter is on the Agenda tonight. The landfill is closed and the entire matter will be history. Time heals all wounds. Everything that Sun ever did is now minimized or reduced to little importance. Now this commission can feel free to accept any and all contributions from Sun Recycling companies without further scrutiny. Who knows, Sun might once again get our roll-off business.

We're all going to pot

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Jeff Clemens really does believe in the powers of medical marijuana. If all goes as planned, organizers say medical marijuana will be dispensed as early as the summer of 2015 and believe this industry will be mainstream in the next 5 to 10 years. We have a perfect spot to grow it--our landfill. Just think, no one there will ever complain again about fumes, etc--they will all be too high.

Jeff can't wait for the election in 2014 as he "unveiled the Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act, Bill 859, on Monday, rolling out a narrower framework for a medical marijuana program in the state."

Read more...

Great article on Jeff and pot and...

Irrelevancy in Lake Worth

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When you consider that there is less and less on the agenda at public meetings and the city manager NEVER gives a report and the commissioners NEVER give a report on their travel or what's going on in their districts, important city business must be going on behind the scenes out of the Sunshine. How else do you explain it? How do you run a city with this budget and NEVER learn a thing? The Palm Beach Post doesn't even report on Lake Worth anymore and it has an editor who lives here. Channel 12 is our only hope and even they have been quiet lately. Does the CM act as a conduit by meeting with one commissioner telling him what's going on and what his plans are and then meets with the next one, and so on and so on all the while passing on the outcome of those meetings from one commissioner to the other?

Three of the commissioners are running again. You have to wonder why.  Is it those campaign contributions from Jet Port II LLC of $450 to Amoroso? What pony do they have in the race? Is there a connection with Jet Port II LLC and Sun Recycling, the company we finally kicked out of Lake Worth for ruining our landfill? Triolo and Amoroso are working in tandem, erecting their election signs at the same locations.  Back in 2012, candidate Jim Stafford took a contribution from Jet Port and listed it as coming from an "attorney." Maybe no one knows what or who Jet Port is.  Read more.  Is building up a campaign war chest a way of paying to fill up your gas tank?

Tomorrow night the agenda is full of NOTHING. They will be setting the election ballot.  Even that will be a bore unless miraculously someone comes forward to run. Voters here are getting used to being irrelevant. Don't bother choking down your dinner to get there on time. This meeting will last about one-half hour. It might go down as the shortest meeting in history.  No joke.

Term Limits are necessary

Years ago, I was totally against term limits. My thinking was, if they are doing such a lousy job, people will vote them out. In my mind, that was the democratic way. But living here in Lake Worth and being interested in the local political scene, I had an "incite to reality" one evening that changed my mind forever on term limits.

I ran into the McKinnons at the Cultural Plaza and Mary Jane said to me, "You elected your representatives, let them make the decisions and stop this." I forget why we were gathering signatures but it might have been Amendment 4 or the Supermajority. It was at that very moment I realized that my thinking had been flat wrong against term limits. They were necessary afterall. This was government by the people and for the people, not government for the elected few and their cronies.

We all know that once politicians win they stop listening to half the people. Sometimes they don't even listen to their supporters, the people who helped them along the way. They seem to listen to special interests and those groups that could possibly help their re-election, or they end up listening to themselves. We have some elected officials in Lake Worth who believe that all of us are a pain in the ass. Even Channel 12 has had to shame the city to no avail. One commissioner running for re-election has taken the strangest approach to politicking--he is not even cordial unless you are one of his known supporters. Power corrupts and it can breed arrogance.

Mac McKinnon was part of one of the worst commissions ever but a football field had been named after him and he was a "favorite" coach at Lake Worth High...he had many fans and was elected into office to make important decisions that would affect all of us. He was the darling of certain political factions. Another district, District 1, is an impossible nut to crack. That district has elected people forever as there are few who want to subject themselves to the abuse. Kissing everyone's "behind" in the campaigning process is bad enough.

Right now, Boynton Beach is tossing back and forth the idea of ending term limits. They want to be bad commissioners for life. That would be a big mistake. It is hard to defeat an incumbent because of all the uniformed voters. Name recognition helps to get votes. Those in office develop ties with lobbyists and special interests sometimes/often times to the detriment of their constituents and the city that they serve.  You get the firefighter's endorsement and a low information voter receives that flyer in the mail. People love firemen.

Boynton Beach has had its share of trouble with elected officials as has West Palm Beach. Term limits would help get new blood to run and open up the democratic process for more participation in government. Let's keep the process honest. Boynton has three year terms and they might want to rethink this and keep term limits. Let's change our Charter and get term limits in Lake Worth. Two terms is enough.

As some wise person said, "We should have learned by now that skill in running and winning does not translate into skill in ruling." We have seen proof of that in many past decisions here in Lake Worth, i.e., County Water Contract, unfavorable PBSO Contract price, the FMPA contract, Greater Bay and Sun Recycling on our landfill to name a few.

Share Our Strength

On September 5, the influential and some of the upper crust celebrated Palm Beach's 6th anniversary of Share Our Strength, proceeds going towards eradicating hunger in America. It was held at Palm Beach Motor Cars.

Those who bought tickets got to "mingle with the Chefs, nibble on treats, dance to live music, and enjoyed "great company" and complimentary cocktails. There was all sorts of fun stuff--the Ice Lounge with chilly treats and vodka ice luge, Lulu's photobooth, Finest Flavor contest, the wine toss, silent auction, swag bags, Rapunzel's fashion runway show and other surprises!"

The cost of this event was $55 in advance and $75 at the door. The restaurants participating in "FLAVOR Palm Beach" were: Buccan; Cafe Boulud; Café Chardonnay; Café L'Europe; Capital Grille Boca Raton; Capital Grille PGA; Charley's Crab, a few among many.

Among the guests were West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio, Ken Pruitt, former Republican member of the Florida Senate and its president for 2 years. Far removed from garbage that night, consuming fabulous tidbits and exotic drinks, were Charles Gusmano, founder and COO of Southern Waste Systems who once exclaimed at one of the Lake Worth commission meetings, "I was born and raised in the garbage business," along with Patti Hamilton his executive VP--the guys who dumped on our dump.

If you recall, Sun Recycling dumped all sorts of questionable debris on our landfill. (They were supposed to remove it and our landfill was to be in the same condition in which they originally received it per the Contract.) This entire matter of the cleanup of our landfill has been swept under the rug by this administration who now says there is nothing to cleanup--all is fine--the ones who hate legal fees and find it easy to hand over $1.6 million to a scam artist at our beach. It is easier to drag things out and/or forget about them.

Give us some strength.

Call Governor Scott

to veto the following bills:

• HB 319 which reduces local governments' options for making development pay its own way (bill opposed by the League of Cities)

• SB 682 which gives blanket approval to some uses of coal ash and exempts its disposal from the prohibition on hazardous waste landfills in Florida (on Watch with the League of Cities)

• SB 1808 which facilitates and advances the flawed deal between the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (bill supported by the League of Cities)

 • Call Scott at (850) 488-7146 or
 • Email Governor Scott

Sierra Club's positions on Florida bills

The Sierra Club Florida ExCom  has approved the following positions which have been sent to Governor Scott.

 Sierra has requested that he sign--

• HB 277 which eliminates property tax assessment of the value of renewable energy improvements to residential property

• SB 1770 which contains a provision prohibiting the subsidy of construction seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line.

Sierra has requested that he veto--

• HB 319 which reduces local governments' options for making development pay its own way

• SB 682 which gives blanket approval to some uses of coal ash and exempts its disposal from the prohibition on hazardous waste landfills in Florida

• HB 999 which ratifies the Cabinet's approval of 30 year sugar leases in the Everglades Agricultural Area mooting a challenge filed by the Florida Wildlife Federation.  This provides an end run around constitutionally mandated separation of powers and effectively denies citizens meaningful access to the courts

• SB 1808 which facilitates and advances the flawed deal between the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Add your voice by sending your comments to Governor Scott at: rick.scott@eog.myflorida.com

David Cullen
941-323-2404
cullenasea@aol.com

Kicking the Can No. 3 - The Lake Worth City Commission

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Kicking the can down the Road No. 3

Every single person sitting on the dais should be informed on Sun Recycling and the course of events that began the problem at our landfill up to the day their lease was not renewed and what they did to our property. There is no excuse for ignorance in this matter...not one.

What Southern Waste Systems (Sun Recycling) means to Lake Worthians--a condensed history through Susan Stanton's tenure:

• 1993 - $2,375,000 cost to Lake Worth taxpayers to close the landfill (not mentioned last night)

• 20 years to reclaim land to make it safe for re-use (Mr. Biggs of Mock Roos in July 2010 said it would cost $1.5 million to restore our property but on Tuesday night he implied all was cool now--(It's going to cost much more than that)

• 5-25-07 - Commission entered into a 3 year Contract with Sun Recycling for $1,000 a month to use the landfill as a staging area to haul debris from violent storms (hurricanes). If there was a hurricane, the ante went up to $3,000 a month. We made exactly $36,000 on our landfill that will now cost millions to restore.

• Sun dumps over 6,000 truckloads of construction material on our landfill, some of which is 3.6 or 3.8 feet thick, hauling in material from south Florida construction sites. Trucks entering property late into the night. Contract was from 7am to 7pm.

• Endless complaints by residents near the landfill regarding health issues. Extensive research and exposes from Bill Coakley, informing the public and Commission as to what was occurring. No response from sitting Commission or Staff in charge.

• 2010 - City did not renew Contract.

• 6-1-10 - Mock Roos gives report that no testing or inspection was done at the landfill. City manager says although not budgeted, we need to evaluate the fill material. Mock Roos does borings and takes test samples at 12 locations on the dump site. 

• 8-3-10 - Mock Roos's John Biggs says, "In my opinion, RSM should not have been placed on the site. Arsenic was found in the samples indicating higher levels than acceptable (1/3rd over threshold) in certain areas of the landfill for surrounding residential areas. (residential not mentioned Tuesday night)


• Joe Kroll, then Public Works Director who was in charge of the landfill site, says that it would cost $3 a yard to dump RSM elsewhere. Ed Deveaux, contractor, disputes that figure and says that it would cost $45 a ton and $90 a ton in Okeechobee. Stanton says, "Sun does not see the duty of restoring the site in the same way that the City does." (not mentioned Tuesday night)

• Biggs reports that the Health department was to hold Sun Recycling accountable. Material was shipped to Sun's Site 4 and then shipped on to Site 5 implying that the testing requirement was circumvented.(not mentioned Tuesday night)

• The City Manager was directed to write a letter to all those in the neighborhood of the landfill and notify them of MORE discussion.

At any rate, all of the above lead up to where we are today. Sun was to surrender the property (Article 23) in accordance with the lease terms, in good order, condition and repair, as the same shall be on the date tenant opens for business in the Premises..."  Article 21 (c) says:  In addition to other rights and remedies available to landlord under this Lease and/or at law and/or in equity, tenant shall reimburse landlord upon demand all other reasonable costs, expenses and other sums reasonably incurred by landlord in connection with preparing and/or improving the Premises for Tenant's occupancy under this Lease and all collection costs and attorney's fees incurred in enforcing this Lease.

The above breach of lease is the only thing that should have been considered Tuesday night...not that grass had grown over the mess and all ''looked" fine...not that residents bordering the landfill were no longer hacking to death. It wasn't mitigated nor was the landfill "fine" as attested to by residents regarding the oder and the illness. 6,000 trucks drove onto our property depositing all sorts of material, some of it nasty, and their trucks very possibly/probably did damage to the membrane cap.

Sun agreed, per the Lease, to have our landfill looking exactly the same when they exited from the day they first signed this contract. It doesn't. They didn't. Now to make it right, someone has to pay multi-millions. City Manager Bornstein says it will be done. Who will pick up the cost?  We know it won't be Sun Recycling because the city does not want law suits and the city attorney advised Sun's lawyer to stay quiet and not say too much Tuesday night per Bart Cunningham. Good advice but he's OUR lawyer.

This is another major incident in our city that is being played down. I suppose it is because of costly litigation. The message that was given in THREES on Tuesday night, was that anyone can come into Lake Worth and do just about whatever they damn well please and it all can get twisted to justify it all.

Sun Recycling - what we do for a few bucks

Comment Up

Tonight's agenda has the Sun Recycling "case" and perhaps there will be a reminder of what they did at our 64 acre property where 47 out of the 65 acres were land-filled. The commission will discuss the former lease and make a determination whether or not Sun Recycling breached its contract with the City of Lake Worth.

At the time, soil was tested and 1/3rd of the tested material found arsenic. Even though arsenic contamination has been considered the largest mass poisoning in mankind’s history, Sun, to this day, has not been concerned nor have they removed one piece of the debris or uttered one apology. The only thing that they have tried to do,  subsequent to the dumping on our landfill, was to recently get our roll-off container business and act like they never did anything wrong.

Residents near site complaining about illnesses they
suffered  because of the debris dumped on landfill

In May 2010, the 4 commissioners who were on the dais, Maxwell, Jennings, Golden and Mulvehill, voted to allow the contract to expire. Stanton drew up a demand that Sun honor the agreement and restore our property to its original condition. Later on, the city manager, Susan Stanton, as well as the city commission, changed while this demand process was in effect. The demand that Sun Recycling restore our property was then put on the back burner. Soon after, our city attorney who had been with us for 9 years "disappeared" too and the entire Sun Recycling landfill matter fell through the cracks.

Even though Sun was required to restore our landfill to its original condition per the lease agreement, our city attorney, Christy Goddeau of the Glen J. Torcivia law firm, has recommended against the pursuit because of the cost which also includes attorney fees that we would never recover. Even Stanton at the time said that it might not be to the city's benefit to pursue Sun's contractual obligations. The "bad" guys just keep on winning in this city and we just keep on minimizing everything.

The real tragedy of this was that staff was not doing its job in the oversight of the 6,000 trucks coming onto our property dumping RSM 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. Not one soil test was taken even though the then Public Works director said they were testing on a weekly basis. This declaration proved to be false and he had the nerve to apply for the city manager's position.


CLICK HERE FOR SENTINEL ARTICLE ..."hearing officer termed Sun Recycling's conduct as a "deliberate violation" of county solid waste regulations and charged that it had a "history of noncompliance." According to the case file, Sun Recycling has been cited six other times between 2001 and 2005 for environmental violations. That led the hearing officer to impose the $254,652 fine, saying the company had been undeterred from violating the law. The Department of Environmental Protection alleged that Sun Recycling illegally dumped material at 35 locations across South Florida. Some were lots with no address."

When it comes to campaigns, sometimes moral principles are thrown out the window. Some candidates who have run for Lake Worth public office have taken large campaign contributions from Sun Recycling, knowing what Sun did here and in other cities, the last being our present commissioner for District 4, John Szerdi. I even had one commissioner say, 'What's wrong with Sun Recycling?"  Now the city is saying, "not much." History cures all ills and unfortunately most elected officials do not take the time to learn it even though they are all hopped up about Lake Worth's centennial.

Many contaminated brownfield sites sit unused for decades because the cost of cleaning them to safe standards is more than the land would be worth after redevelopment. Tonight we will hear what great shape our landfill is in and how three government agencies have concluded that the City may discontinue ground water monitoring and the long term care at the landfill, as the site is now considered stable. Perhaps we will learn how that all happened. That documentation is not in the backup. We might even be told that Sun Recycling is a good neighbor after all.


BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION FROM LAKE WORTH:

In May 2010, the City notified SRS that it would not renew the lease, and Mock Roos and Associates (MRA) researched the landfill’s condition and reported on the cost to restore the landfill to its previous condition and remove/remediate any hazardous material. MRA estimated the cost of such action by SRS to be over $1.5 Million. SRS responded to the City that it did not have a duty, under the lease, to remove the Recovered Screen Materials and was not responsible for any hazardous material at the landfill.

In 2010, the MRA study revealed that levels of arsenic with 4 of 12 test bores on the land fill were above the allowable residential limits but were below industrial limits. Additionally, the State Department of Health, DEP and MRA concluded that the City may discontinue ground water monitoring and the long term care at the landfill, as the site is now considered stable. Now Mock Roos say that this year marks the completion of the 20 year post-closure monitoring period. Any future use of the site will require approval by the FDEP.

Trash, a dirty business

Comment Up

Trash is not transparent and neither are some commissions.

Just a few months ago, Palm Beach County awarded trash contracts to four companies. Two of them were Republic Services of Florida and Southern Waste Systems that will have the southern and western portions of the county, with Southern Waste Systems also handling the Glades communities.

Today, Republic Services agreed to pay $111,811 to PB County's Solid Waste Authority to settle a dispute on dealings perceived as shady for improper trucking of trash in Broward County. Republic also agreed to stop delivering trash to facilities not owned by the Authority. This was all to beat the Authority out of $42 a ton for dumping fees. Read more.

Republic is a large national corporation and Southern Waste Systems is privately owned and local.  In 2011, Southern Waste Systems was awarded a contract for Broward's trash business through a sub-contract deal with Republic. "We are really excited about the partnership on this contract with Republic Services and to have city staff and commission support on the collaboration," said Charles Gusmano, President and CEO of SWS and Sun Recycling. 

In spite of pulling a fast one in the past on the Solid Waste Authority, Palm Beach County commissioners still awarded them a contract in February.

And, in spite of Sun Recycling dumping all sorts of questionable debris on our landfill, (They were supposed to remove it and our landfill was to be in the same condition in which they originally received it.), this entire matter of the landfill has been swept under the rug. The Lake Worth Commission was all set to award them another contract for roll-off services on March 19.   After the roll-off contract was removed from the Consent Agenda because of some public out-cry as well as the commission's desire to end all meetings early (can you imagine the time that would have been wasted for public speaking and everyone in the Osborne community showing up to voice their horror?), we have not heard a word about this new contract.

Is this just another example of the lack of transparency in Lake Worth--the mindset that the public has no need to know? As public meetings are getting shorter and shorter, we have to wonder what is going on out of the Sunshine. The mayor and vice mayor were both absent from what has been described as the shortest meeting in history and opine that they missed a meeting allowing them to go home early.

Last Night's City Commission Meeting

Comment Up

With one of the shortest meetings in history, last night the commission agenda was lead by the Vice Mayor Pro-Tem, Andy Amoroso, who did a good job, for the most part, until he allowed the hecklers to take over during my public commentary. The Mayor had some family emergency and the Vice Mayor was in Tallahassee on what was described as "Lake Worth business."  We will never know what that business is as this commission voted not to tell the public how they spend their travel budget. They never have given reports anyway--not once.

Meetings just get shorter and shorter. Before long they could eliminate them all together. I still want to know what is being decided out of the Sunshine.  Last night's agenda had seven items on Consent that are just voted on by the commission without public discussion. The Southern Waste Systems roll-off container contract was pulled off the agenda...no explanation from anyone.  Don't be surprised when it is discussed down the road and all commissioners will agree that this company deserves to have a contract in Lake Worth for being a good neighbor even if they did leave our landfill a wreck and uninhabitable and a lot of sick people in the Osborne community--even if they have been charged with illegal activities in the past. It's like believing that a pedophile has now gone straight.  Garbage is a smelly business.

The developer side in this city has always been in the wings ever since I started attending Lake Worth Democratic Club meetings in the 1990's.  Years ago, it was our beach they wanted to hand over to a developer for a hotel, Anthony Pugliese.  Later, there was another beach plan referred to as the "Webber Plan' for Bruce Webber that never got off the table for $10 million.  Later there was a Shwab Twitty Plan that went out on a vote of the people in 2002 as the commission wanted to tie us up on a general obligation bond in the tune of $19 million that had NO cap.  By the time it got all through, the cost could have been double.  The voters gave a RESOUNDING NO along with Scott Maxwell, then commissioner in District 1. Later came Greater Bay that resulted in a few law suits with a commission that was going to allow Greater Bay tie up our property for 40 years as one law suit suggested.  The people had no say in this. The commission and developer side in this city nearly got away with that one. It has been a battle ever since.

Changing zoning or even changing heights can, and often does, make a property more valuable depending upon its location. It's always about the money. Even when the owner of the Gulfstream was granted every waiver he asked, the owner still never performed and we have been left with an empty hotel ever since.

Commissioner Szerdi said last night that so many people were confused about the height amendment and that some even thought that there would be development of 100 foot buildings next to their residences. If someone actually thought that, it was 100% due to the the mailer that the NO people sent to the voters. No one is confused, Commissioner and if they are, you need to ask the Friends of the Gulfstream with whom you campaigned that sent out a mailer showing 100' and 65' surrounding the downtown, calling the YES amendment "more bad planning." You need to explain the banner that was erected on The Gulfstream with many voters confused by you that the YES folks wanted to tear down the historic building. You need to have them send out a mailer of apology to all the voters. And you need to apologize as well.

Garbage is a smelly business

Comment Up

Garbage is big business and Waste Management, Inc. is back in the news for funny business.

Waste Management, Inc. is a holding company and all operations are conducted by its subsidiaries. Their subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services. They are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Their subs are all friends and all in bed together.

One of their "friends" is Southern Waste Systems/Sun Recycling, a company that has been entrenched in one way or another in our Lake Worth political scene. Through the past several years, they have given contributions to:

Retha Lowe (the most infamous of all)
Tom Ramiccio, candidate and former mayor of Lake Worth
Lisa Maxwell, candidate for Commissioner District 4
BacPac, Shanon Materio, Chair and presently West Palm Beach City Commissioner
Jim Stafford, candidate for Commissioner District 2
John Szerdi, present Lake Worth City Commissioner

Lake Worth approves Resolution for U.S. Constitutional Amendment

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Dave Hyde, Co-chair Move to Amend PB County

Last night the room was packed with supporters of the Move to Amend crowd.  Even Harriet Lehrman long-time Democratic politico who has her own radio show was there ready to speak on corporate personhood. They all came prepared to speak to the issue but that was not to be.

On January 21, 2010, with its 5/4 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions.

The City had a Resolution for a Constitutional amendment on the CONSENT agenda. Constitutional amendment!  Can you imagine that no one was allowed to speak to it?  The Constitution is the law of the land and what we ALL live under, not just 5 city commissioners-- and they want to amend it with NO public speaking.

It was obvious that the Commission did not want the public to tie up precious minutes listening to what the public had to say. It was not important...let's get rid of the entire thing...put it on Consent; let it go away.  Perhaps they were remembering the Arizona 1070 meeting that took hours; perhaps not--none of them were in attendance that night.

As someone who has always advocated a fair and balanced playing field when it comes to election contributions, I am for this resolution. However, when the commission got involved in Arizona’s states rights and voted in a resolution opposing Arizona 1070, that was clearly wrong and none of our business.  This resolution, however, affects every citizen of the United States and every election. Corporate big money can change the outcome of our Republic. Just to think that a foreign corporation that has a U.S. subsidiary could give millions to a candidate to promote their special interests is corrupt and undemocratic. Even Obama complains about super PACs and then got millions from his, Priorities USA Action, that out raised Romney's.

I will always remember Andrew Procyk years ago when he was running for Mayor. He advocated for fair elections and an even playing field with each candidate using the same amount of money. I still think he was right. But big money has taken over elections and the Move to Amend Crowd know that.

We know that money corrupts and power corrupts. Corporations that can write off their contributions are there to influence our elected officials.  That is their goal.  We have seen it in local politics with a certain company that ruined our landfill by dumping debris and candidates taking their contributions. On a larger playing field, until we take big money and corporate money out of politics and the loophole that allows them to form super PACS through their U.S. corporations or subsidiaries, our system will never be fair.

Limiting corporate contributions does not take away their 1^st amendment right. The Super PACs of today funded by corporations are, in many ways, controlling the outcome of our elections.

Sun just keeps rising to new lows

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Patti Hamilton, Exec V.P. and
Charles Gusmano, founder and COO of Southern Waste Systems

We have to know who we are partnering with...we found that out the hard way when we got involved with Greater Bay without doing any due diligence or even reading the Contract. Thanks to insurrection on the dais and Vice Mayor Retha Lowe signing the Greater Bay contract initialing every page of the Development Agreement, Ground Lease and Construction Contract, it caused  a series of events that led to a $1.6 million legal settlement. The Commission of Lowe, Burns and Vespo made a grave political and stupid mistake.

But we also found out about Sun Recycling in one of those "deals" even though the city had been warned over and over again by this blogger as well as Lake Worth Media. It was reported to the then Public Works Director who later wanted to become our city manager after Stanton, to the City Manager and to the City Commission. We eventually kicked them out of town too but by that time it was a little late--our landfill was used as a dumping ground when Sun dumped over 6,000 truckloads of questionable construction material on it, some of which was 3.6 or 3.8 feet thick, hauling in material from south Florida construction sites.

For a little background on Sun and Republic:  Back in June 2011, Recycling Today stated that "Southern Waste Systems (SWS), Lantana, Fla., was awarded, through a subcontract agreement with Republic Services, a five-year franchise to provide waste removal services in the city of Lauderhill, Fla. It allows Southern Waste to pick up garbage and bulk materials from 20,000 multi-family residential units within the city limits. In addition, SWS will provide the bulk pickup for 12,500 single-family homes and all commercial roll-off activity will be exclusive to SWS. The deal involves collaboration between Southern Waste Systems and Republic Services, who will be handling the residential and commercial portion of the contract. The contract began on July 1, 2011."

In a news release back then, Charles Gusmano, president of SWS and Sun Recycling, said, “We are really excited about the partnership on this contract with Republic Services and to have city staff and commission support on the collaboration.” The contract will be handled by Sun Disposal, a division of Southern Waste Systems. Tony Badala, general manager of Sun Disposal, says, “It’s our intent to provide the same outstanding service to Lauderhill that’s enjoyed by the other customers and municipalities we service in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.”

Back in 2010, in spite of residents' protests as well as Cara Jennings speaking out against Sun, the PB County Commission voted 5 to 1 with Santamaria dissenting to give Sun an extension of its contract.  The Solid Waste Authority's Staff recommend only a 6 months permit but the County Commission didn't listen to them. The County gave them one year.

Sun knows how to play the political game and continues to give campaign contributions to some in this city.  They say they are a good neighbor. Now Sun Recycling is back in the news because of its  partner, Republic, that was hired by the Solid Waste Authority and PB County to remove garbage in the unincorporated areas of the County. After an investigation by the Inspector General's office for diverting waste to a Broward County subsidiary to avoid the dumping fees here and then followed by an audit, they have been charged with over-billing nine commercial customers by $121,169.

After Sun's contract was not renewed in Lake Worth, the city manager, Susan Stanton, insisted in her June 2010 letter to Mr. Gusmano that Sun's "improvements" to the property, including the work platform, access road and ramp constructed from RSM be removed and the landfill property be restored to its original condition per the Contract. This request has fallen silent and the citizens are still wondering why it was all swept under the rug. We suspected at the time that it would have cost multi-millions to remove all the debris that was dumped on our landfill.

As the City had just as many lawsuits back then as it does today, the mindset started to change about law suits when Lake Worth got in more and more of a financial crunch. Everyone knew they could sue us and walk away favorably as we would roll-over to just the threat of any legal action, cowering in fear. Think billboard blight, one of Clemen's claim to fame.

Is this what happened in the Sun Recycling situation?  Did we capitulate like we did in the Greater Bay suit and justify it by blaming all of the wrong people?  We don't know. It's still under the rug.

If you throw enough stuff against a wall, some of it will stick

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If enough (perhaps false or reckless) accusations are made against a person (or organization), his reputation will suffer, whether or not the remarks and accusations are deserved and that is the tragedy of what came out of the Greater Bay settlement meeting. Instead of pot-shots against Greater Bay and giving the public all the reasons why we kicked them off our beach to begin with and mentioning that three attorneys said we were in the "right" and giving all those reasons, our attorney made a ridiculously weak argument to settle. But, his mission had changed.
 
This is a strategy that even Obama is using: "You know what? We’re going to keep on trying a bunch of stuff until something works," said the president.  Our attorney must have picked up on this as that is what he did in the Greater Bay lawsuit. How in the world did an outside counsel become political? The suit went on for three years. Why didn't he advise us years ago that, in his opinion, we would be hard pressed to win.  Why wasn't he that aggressive in going after the Plaintiff instead of the citizens? Was that not his objective? But in the end, he was following his bosses' (the City Commission's) will and threw enough crap against the wall in order to make a case to settle. Those of us who have lived through this entire matter know the facts and it did not stick with us.

It is clear to many of us that this present commission wants to settle lawsuits, not win them. This is a new strategy facilitated by low city revenues and high legal bills and prompting from their friends. They are scared to death. They honestly believe that this strategy is "leadership." The mantra is "Let's get them (the lawsuits) off our plate....legal bills are killing the city." In the end, it didn't matter that the man from Rochester was out to screw us. Nothing mattered but justifying the Commission's decision to settle even if it meant throwing blame on all the wrong people, all political. They got their cake and ate it too by killing two birds with the same stone.

The guy who inflicted damage and who never performed got $1.6 million and citizens who spoke the truth and uttered their opinion got thrown under the bus and by the very same attorney who sued the citizens several years ago and by a commission that holds itself up to being fair.

This mindset started with Clemens, as so many things did, with the billboard company. We had an ordinance on signs but because this obnoxious company sued us, we caved in. We were so desperate for money, we caved in on the landfill too and gave Sun Recycling a pass on cleaning it up and taking off all that debris. It was all covered up. Sun, to this day, is still giving campaign contributions to political hacks.

Mock trials and all, the only thing that was a mockery were the reasons for this settlement. Sometimes, it is extremely difficult to stand up for what is "right," especially in Lake Worth.

Quote of the Day - Burt Aaronson

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The experience of the company's management team, not the track record of the company, should count.

~Burt Aaronson, Palm Beach County Commissioner


Southern Waste Systems (Sun Recycling) is back in the news today.

The Palm Beach County Commission agreed to ease its rules on who can compete for its garbage business. It used to be that you had to have experience hauling residential garbage with at least 30,000 curb side customers. Palm Beach Commissioners instructed staff to re-write the restrictions so that Sun Recycling can bid.

Lake Worth has had its experience with Sun. They dumped all sorts of crap on our landfill and left the 66 acres unusable. If you recall, Sun dumped over 6,000 truckloads of construction material on our landfill, some of which is 3.6 or 3.8 inches thick, hauling in material from south Florida construction sites, giving that commission (one of the WCE) a song and dance abiout using it for a disaster staging site. Our reclamation of the land was again, dead. This was in a lawsuit but I don't see it any longer on the list. Perhaps it was settled or dropped and we weren't informed. This is what I  hate about our lawsuits--the public never knows what's happening.

They also gave campaign contributions here in Lake Worth. You remember the Retha Lowe incident that got her in all sorts of trouble with Tallahassee. Retha lived in our landfill district.  Because they wanted to do more business in Lake Worth, Sun companies contributed the same amount in the general election as they did in the primary to Tom Ramiccio...$2,500. A few years back,  Sun companies gave $2,500 to Lisa Maxwell, now Chair of the Electric Utility Advisory Board as well as $1,400 to Shanon Materio's  BacPac that was supporting certain candidates. Materio, as you know, is now commissioner in West Palm Beach.

Our commission voted not to renew any contract with Sun Recycling (the BCE) and we would use our own rolloff containers.  Palm Beach County made a decision on May 18, 2010 to extend Sun's permit.

Burt Aaronson is finally term limited but Southern Waste Systems is moving right along.

Covanta Energy

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There were interesting presentations last night at city Hall in order for the city commission, staff and its advisers to eventually come to a conclusion as to whom will be our new energy provider beginning in January 2014.

There were a few that were outstanding but the most interesting presentation of the night, and the one that gave me a smile, was given by Covanta Energy. Its mission is to be the  world's leading Energy-from-Waste (EfW) company, with a complementary network of waste disposal and energy generation asset facilities that convert everyday trash into clean, renewable energy for communities around the world. All trash you discard is converted into energy--even those styrofoam cups you use for coffee. Covanta’s North American facilities supply electricity for  approximately 1 million homes and is headquartered in Doral, Florida.

The facility is the Miami-Dade County Resource recovery Facility and the seller is Miami-Dade County. On average, each ton of waste processed at Energy-from-Waste facilities yield approximately 550 kilowatt hours of electricity and approximately 50 pounds of recycled metal.

How Energy from Waste Works

1. Municipal waste is delivered to our facilities and stored in a bunker.
2. The waste is transferred to a combustion chamber where self-sustaining combustion is maintained at extremely high temperatures. We maintain the building around the tipping and bunker area under negative pressure and use this air in the combustion process to control odor.
3. The heat from the combustion process boils water.
4. & 5. The steam from the boiling water is used directly, or more frequently, the steam drives a turbine that generates electricity.
6. Electricity is distributed to the local grid.
7. Ash from combustion is processed to extract metal for recycling. It is then combined with residue from the air pollution control process (see items 9 and 10).
8. The combined ash is either disposed of in a monofill (where only ash is stored) that receives only that waste, used as cover material at a conventional landfill, or landfilled with other waste.
9. All gases are collected, filtered and cleaned before being emitted into the atmosphere. We manage gas from the combustion process with state-of-the-art air pollution control technology that operates to state and federal standards.
10. We control emissions of particulate matter primarily through a baghouse (fabric filter).
11. We monitor criteria and other pollutants and operating parameters to ensure compliance with permit conditions.

William Meredith, Business Manager Covanta Energy, said to give him a call if I wanted to take a tour of the facility. I would like to see our Commission take him up on that offer.

6,000 Tons of Concrete to be dumped at the Lake Worth Lagoon

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It seems we have been getting a lot of stuff from Lantana over the past: demolition debris dumped on our landfill from Lantana company, Sun Recycling, Lantana's old city manager and now 6,000 tons of concrete will be dumped on the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Not only are we getting massive traffic coming through Lake Worth because of the Lantana Bridge being rebuilt, "most of the 6,000 tons of concrete are being cut up and will travel north to shore up the mud bottom at the Snook Islands habitat-restoration project in Lake Worth," says the PB Post.

Property on South Federal Highway in Lake Worth denied Release of Lien

Jeffrey Lynne, attorney for the owner at 21 S. Federal Highway, appeared last night to appeal to our commission to waive an assessment on the property for boarding up charges that were never paid by his client. He was very careful not to mention who the "former" owner was but did say that the present owner, Ann McGuane, is a member of the family of the "former" owner.

Through his dissertation, Mr. Lynne pleaded his client's case even going so far as to say, "I'm here free tonight as my client is threatening a law suit against me for malpractice...to clear title and if it isn't cleared up, I will probably have to pay for it myself." It is most unusual that an attorney will literally throw himself on a sword for a client. Although he calls the cloud on title a travesty, it seems as if he is basically admitting that someone in charge never did a title search. He blames both the city and the "former" owner..."something fell through the cracks."

The City reduced all code fines on the property by 90%. The original fine was around $200,000. They paid approximately $15,000 to settle but the special assessment, which is different from a code fine, for boarding up, was still in place. A Corporation of this magnitude can't use an excuse that they just didn't know about a lien, didn't know the difference between a code fine and an assessment.

When information is withheld, this is also a travesty for justice. He, as well as the backup, did not declare that the owner of the property, Long Boat Development II LLP is a company owned by Southern Waste Systems/Sun Recycling Company, the very same company that brought in 60 truckloads a day and dumped questionable debris, some even consisting of asbestos, on our city landfill. To this day, they have not removed this debris. Their actions on our property will cost multi-millions in order to restore our 66 acres to its former state.

The vote was 5/0 to deny the owner a release of a special assessment lien in the amount of $1,594.36 at 21 S. Federal Highway. The City Commission made the right vote.