3 story Townhouse planned on S. Federal Highway

The applicant is proposing a 7 unit townhouse development. The unit mix will consist of 7 three (3) bedroom townhouses, located within three (3) buildings. Each three (3) bedroom townhome will have 2,557 square feet of area under roof, (2,018 consist of air-conditioned space), and a 752 square foot paver patio for each townhome. The units will be allocated throughout three (3) buildings, with each being three (3) stories with a height of 35 feet. On the first floor there will be a covered entry (87 square feet) along with a 430 square foot two car garage for each home. Also, there will be a 42 square foot covered balcony on the second floor and a 28 square foot open balcony on the second floor

 In addition, there will be a 30 square foot open balcony on the third floor for each home. Entrance and exit from the site will be from South Federal Highway.

Presently only 30 feet are allowed, or two stories. Staff is recommending the approval of Long Boat.

The owner of this property?  Charles Gusmano, principal of Longboat Development, and the very same Charles Gusmano, Founder and COO of Southern Waste Systems (Sun Recycling). Mr. Gusmano and Longboat Development have been around Lake Worth for years and involved in our local politics.

Click here

Connecting the Political Dots

Herman Robinson

Candidate District 4 Commissioner

Herman Robinson is raising money for his campaign. To date, he has received $12,622.68. But guess who some of his contributors are besides the "normal" residents who always support that side of politics?

Delray New Wave LLC: $500
Located at 10 SE 1st Avenue, Delray Beach gave a fundraiser for Pam Triolo when she was running one year ago. They are also registered at 102 N Swinton Avenue in Delray. Right down the road is Hudson Holdings at 20 S Swinton Avenue--Connect the dots.

Yesterday, while at breakfast at Clary's Corner, Herman said that he thought Hudson Holdings should sell the property and did not want to see them in LW.  If you recall, Mr. Robinson was chair of the Historic Resource Preservation Board that gave Hudson Holdings the waivers they wanted to build high and allowed a zoning change favorable to Hudson Holdings at the Gulfstream property.

Jetport II, LLC: $750
This company has the same corporate agent as Delray New Wave. JetPort is one of Sun Recyling's many companies that was acquired by Waste Management. Do you remember how Southern Waste Systems infiltrated our local elections back in 2008 and Retha Lowe was fined $2,500 for filing false reports regarding them? She got off lightly--this was a small price for her to pay for these days of honest services fraud. Sun companies have been lurking around our politics for years with campaign contributions to certain candidates that they feel are favorable to their cause.

Waste Management: $250
They were given our roll-off business for commercial and residential in August 2015 and connected to the above. Garbage is a dirty business.

Candidates say things that they believe you want to hear, not necessarily what they believe. Herman Robinson said that he thought candidates should be running on the same amount of money...an even playing field if you will.  I have always said that as I believe it would limit the special interest donations as well as corruption in our democratic process. You still have to connect these dots.

Herman's M1 Report

Lake Worth Solar Energy Project

We will be "only the third Florida city to construct a Solar farm." This is a great use of our 64 acre property where 47 out of the 64 acres were land-filled. There was a huge scandal at the time involving Sun Recycling.

What we do for a few bucks

Wellington and the Garbage Company

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The headline in today's local section of the Palm Beach Post said that rules change for less experienced hauler. Southern Waste Systems has plenty of experience hauling garbage and dishing it out.

We are always talking about corruption county, the free lunch and Southern Waste systems...you know, the guys who always have their hands in the crap pot who love to give campaign contributions to certain people even in the City of Lake Worth.  John Szerdi got contributions and even Serge Jerome got one. Southern Waste systems or one of its companies always seems to know who to approach.

Wellington has a policy regarding waste removal:  five years of experience with five contracts servicing an area no smaller than Wellington, at least 20,000 pickups. But it seems that Southern Waste met Wellington commissioner Matt Willhite, a former resident of Lake Worth, who marches to his own drummer. Solid Waste did not meet those requirements but after Willhite met with someone from Southern Waste Systems for lunch, it was all over but the shouting and Wellington's rules got relaxed.

Palm Beach County, corruption county of the country, did the exact same thing in 2012--waived its rules allowing Southern Waste Systems to get its business in a $46 million dollar five year contract that began in 2013. At the beginning of the year, the County waived its rules again and allowed them to haul in 78,000 tons of waste  a year from Broward County.

Now, I want to know who picked up the lunch tab.

Follow the Money

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Sometimes you just have to follow the money and draw your own conclusions.  Szerdi and Jerome followed some of their predecessors in the campaign game--You remember the Retha Lowe incident that got her in all sorts of trouble with Tallahassee. Retha lives in our landfill district.  Because they wanted to do more business in Lake Worth, Sun companies contributed the same amount to her 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 and gave $200 to Serge Jerome.

John Szerdi really drank the Koolaid during this election when he took $1,000 from various Sun Recycling Companies.

Serge Jerome even got his hooks into the Vice President of Sun Recycling for $250. He failed to identify the company for whom she works and said that her job was that of a "vice president." And many of his supporters in the Haitian community live in that area where Sun dumped arsenic.  What were you thinking, Serge?

If you recall, Sun Recycling dumped all sorts of questionable debris on our landfill. People in the Osborne area complained over years about their health because of asbestos. (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 was 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 and now complain or give the excuse that it was a "bad business plan."

The guys on the dais, who only listen to their own voices, just pat themselves on the back and treat the public abombinally and we, as an electorate, just keep hoping for the best or throw our arms into the air asking, "What can we do?" We told them last night. The tide was turned and they finally had to listen to the voters.

Patti Hamilton, Vice President of Sun Recycling and

Charles Gusmano, Founder and COO of Southern Waste Systems

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.

Last night's meeting Lake Worth

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Mathews Consulting Presentation
If you recall, they were hired by the city to oversee Mock Roos Engineers on the Park of Commerce project (the salvation of Lake Worth according to the "visionaries") and a firm that has worked for our city for 50 years. We are paying them $349,930 to ensure that everything the engineering firm is doing is right and on time.

Inmate Labor
Florida Department of Corrections will provide inmate labor in work programs under the supervision of the Florida Department’s staff. An inmate work squad consists of up to seven inmates plus a Florida Department of Corrections Guard/Supervisor. The work squad is available five days per week throughout the year except when a Department of Correction Guard is on vacation or sick. This service will continue to be overseen by the City’s Ground Maintenance Division. And get this--they have to use E-verify to verify eligibility of all persons employed during the contract term. Cost:  $23,957.08.

CRA Shuffleboard Court property Lease
We turned over control of our shuffleboard Court property to the CRA to be used for arts. We just can't get enough art or enough CRA. They in turn sub-leased the property to the Armory Art Center for one year. Because of that action, the lease with the CRA had to be amended. For various tuition charges, you too can become an artist.  Go with the flow.

Sun Recycling and our Landfill
Not once did the city mention the contract terms...out of sight for city staff and commissioners and certainly out of the minds of the residents. They bent over backwards in sending out surveys with self-stamped return envelopes. Only 10% returned them which showed that there was little interest or no problems left in the Osborne area. It is a landfill that was compromised--big time--by a firm whose operators had no conscience. 6,000 truckloads of construction material, some highly questionable, dumped on our property as a pretense to building a staging area for hurricanes.  We believe that the membrane was penetrated by these heavy trucks allowing gas to escape causing odors and sickness. We did find out that one commissioner, Andy Amoroso, has walked on the property without experiencing any odors or any problems. Sun Recycling got off the hook because of our lack of resolve. It was cheaper to forget about what they did, forget about the contract terms and move on. Anyone can come to Lake Worth and get away with just about anything because our legal team will find a way to appeasement.

Right of Way at 1501 N. L Street
The City gave that away too on a Revocable Permit on the First Reading. It was said by the city manager that we don't understand rights-of-way. 

Beach Decal parking
As predicted, the city commission gave away the availability of use of our 50 decal spots to non-residents. Even after having made the motion to do so, the speaker for the out-of-country Snowbirds said that charging them more money than residents was "unfair." You can't win with people who want it all. And you definitely can't win with a commission that is confused about what is "fair" or the circumstances of today compared to the circumstances of yesterday.

Also it was said last night that residents who rent couldn't get a decal which is not the case. Then Juan Ruiz clarified by saying that they had to have a year's lease which is a requirement.  Also mentioned was that the decal could be pro-rated. When did that happen?  I talked to Juan this morning and he wants to change that stipulation and I agree. The city will bend over backwards for these non-resident property owners for 50 decal spaces. Unbelievable. There even was a person who complained that there was no handicapped parking in the resident decal parking area. WTF?

Parking spaces are always filled on weekends, according to Juan Ruiz Recreational Director.  Holidays, forget about it.  Spring Break--don't even go there.

Some interesting quotes from the beach decal discussion:

Remembering that we have 50 decal parking spots--

Scott Maxwell:  We need to take a hard look at costs...wants to significantly increase the benefit to the residents and ridicules the amount we have been paying. (We now know where he disappeared to for 45 minutes or so--he traveled to the ROLOH neighborhood association meeting, a rare appearance)
Pam Triolo:  Let's charge $50 for residents and $75 for Snowbirds.
Andy Amoroso:  I don't want any cap on the number sold because it would discriminate against your residents. (It was said that 1745 permits had been sold for 50 spots)
Mike Bornstein, city manager:  Sell as many as you can...it will be like a lottery ticket to find a parking spot. It will be car "bling."

In looking over my beach decal receipts, the following charges applied not including tax:
2006:  $10 for a resident---$30 for a snowbird
This continued until...
2009:  $20 for a resident---$60 Seasonal
This continued until...
2013:  $30 for a resident

Some of the required Documentation to purchase a beach decal:
For Residents: Fl Drivers License, FL Vehicle regisgtration, homestead Exemption card, Ad Valorem tax receipt, Utility bill and if a renter, a one year lease minimum.
For snowbirds in the past when we had an unlimited number of spaces:  FL Driver's License, Vehicle registration, Ad Valorem Tax Receipt or Mobile Home Registration.

Roadway and utilities master Plan Capital projects
There was some question as to whether this was the 2020 Plan. Answer-- NO.

Professional services agreement with URS Corporation Southern for engineering, design and construction services for the Roadway and Utilities Master Plan Capital Projects for a twenty-four month term with provisions for three two-year renewals. The initial work authorization is for engineering and permitting services for Year 1 Projects # 2, 4 and 7 in a lump sum amount of $681,807.

Agreement with Craven Thompson & Associates, Inc. for engineering, design and construction services for  the Roadway and Utilities Master Plan Capital Projects for a twenty-four month term with provisions for three two year renewals. The initial work authorization is for engineering and permitting services for Year 1 Projects # 1,3,5,6 and 8, in a lump sum amount of $467,185.

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.

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.

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.

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

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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

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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.

"As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly"

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 Sun Recycling - They're baaaaaaaaaack

"This is a company that wants to dispose of all of our garbage, one of the most important functions in our society, especially from an environmental standpoint. And this company happens to have a long history of illegal dumping and other violations. Character is important, even when it comes to trash," so wrote Bob Norman, Channel 10 Miami.

See the shocking video

Sun Recycling did it in Dania Beach and they did the same thing in Lake Worth.

Through the years, I have written blog after blog on Sun Recycling as well as their political ties to some candidates for office in our city and their campaign contributions to influence. There were meetings after meetings regarding the acts of this company. Residents of the Osborne community gave testimony after testimony on their illnesses that they believed were caused by Sun's dumping.  Finally we did not renew their dumping contract.  And we did not renew their roll-off container contract, with Joe Kroll, Public Works Director saying that we could do it better and do it cheaper. At last, Sun was out of our city, or so we thought.

Charles Lomangino's alleged Mob connections were never proven, but he's never been too popular with many of the residents of Lake Worth who believe with 100% degree of certainty that his company Sun Recycling is a public nuisance and environmental menace. Source:  New Times Broward

On Tuesday's Consent Agenda, Southern Waste Systems is back and we are about to just give them a three year contract with 2 one year renewal extensions on our roll-off container business with absolutely NO discussion and now saying it will save us money.  Can we ever get a anything right?  Even morally right? This company was allowed to bid and was one of five in an RFP that went out last year. Sun (Southern Waste Systems) came in the low bidder and presented its proposal back on August 29, 2012 to mayor Pam Triolo.

Republic came in 2nd and Sun is affiliated with them. Back in June 2011, Recycling Today stated that "Southern Waste Systems (SWS), Lantana, Fla., was awarded, through a subcontract agreement with Republic, a five-year franchise to provide waste removal services in the City of Lauderhill, Fla.

Now, a few years later, and for some strange reason, officials have convenient short memories and staff come and go. They believe that the public all has "dementia" and in some ways they are correct. We never seem to keep a history of what has happened in our city and to remind politicians. Factions in this city continue to polarize and bad decisions continue by commission and staff alike. In this case, insanity abounds.

Special Interests

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If you look through the Treasury Reports for The Friends of the Gulfstream, you will see some of the usual suspects--Loretta Sharpe, of course. Then there is Greg Rice who personally gave $500 along with the Lucerne Condo Association giving $500.00. Mr. Rice is on its board.  The Realtors' Association  gave $1,000. Sun Recycling has been heavily involved in what goes on in Lake Worth always giving contributions in one way shape or form to the developer crowd that has a big interest in our little city. There are always contributions from developers to builders to Realtors to real estate attorneys. One of those people is Michael Weiner.

Mr. Weiner is the principal, agent and Manager of  Jet Port II, LLC in Delray Beach which is a real estate company. He is a real estate attorney. He gave $500 to The Vote NO group. Read a little background on Mr. Weiner and the developer connection and then read this revealing news on the Sun Recycling connection. Mr. Weiner is creeping closer to Lake Worth.

Special interests are: Lobbyists, PACS, Business groups, Professional bodies, Trade Unions, 501 c, 527 s, and other groups giving money to influence political decisions and election results.

The only special interests involved in this election were the contributors and Friends of the Gulfstream PAC. The majority of the people did not get duped by all this money and all of this sneaky slimy stuff.

Garbage is a smelly business

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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

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.

Jim Stafford gets campaign contribution from Southern Waste Systems

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Jim Stafford's latest Treasury Report shows a campaign contribution from Southern Waste Systems.

Haven't all of us in Lake Worth had about enough of this company? Not Jim Stafford.

Although one of the smallest contributions from that company in Lake Worth politics--if you want to know something about a candidate, follow the money.

 G4 Treasury Report

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.