Sierra Club Florida has Endorsed Amendment 4

Sierra Club Florida

Political Endorsements - Florida Amendments

Sierra Club Florida has endorsed Amendment 4 to the Florida Constitution, also known as the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment. It is meant to give citizens a veto over elected officials' decisions to change comprehensive plans, the blueprints for community growth. You can find more information about this on the web by searching on Florida Hometown Democracy.

The Sierra Club, with 1.3 million members and 35,000 in Florida, has official policies on many conservation issues. They group these into 17 categories: agriculture, biotechnology, energy, environmental justice, forest and wilderness management, global issues, government and political issues, land management, military issues, nuclear issues, oceans, pollution and waste management, precautionary principle, transportation, urban and land use policies, water resources, and wildlife conservation.

Is this what Wes calls a "special interest?"

Scott Maxwell made Motion to Contract with FMPA

Commissioner Maxwell is giving Town Hall Meetings and complaining about high utility rates inferring that if you vote for his candidates, something will change about our rates.

Below is the document where Scott Maxwell made the motion to approve the contract with FMPA which was signed on June 18, 2002.

The next time Commissioner Maxwell complains about the cost of utilities in Lake Worth, (he is having two more town hall meetings before the election) ask him about his vote. Ask him if he is not directly responsible for our high rates.

Click to enlarge

KrazyLoco Lake Worth gang member sentenced to Life

Florida Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison.

Today Manuel DeJesus Medina, a member of the Krazy Locos criminal street gang of Lake Worth, Florida was sentenced. Medina, 19, was sentenced to life imprisonment, followed by a consecutive term of 420 months’ imprisonment, on charges related to two homicides committed in Palm Beach County during January and February 2009.

Read the entire story at 7th Space Interactive

Morning in Florida: What will it be like Nov 3rd?

NASA photo

Morning in Florida:
What will it be like Nov 3rd?

On November 3rd, Floridians will celebrate bright prospects for the Sunshine State. Or -- if Amendment 4 fails – big national homebuilders will celebrate permanent victory over the protests and rights of Florida’s citizens, and the bulldozers will be unstoppable.

At the polls, YOU will choose what kind of a morning it’ll be.

You may have heard lots of false information from the developers about the consequences of passing Amendment 4. The developers' “Say-Anything Gang” wants to confuse you and to protect their power and profits, and all of what they’re saying has been shown not to be accurate. Let’s look now at the very real consequences if Amendment 4 does not pass.

If the developer forces win and Amendment 4 fails, we’ll see more of the corruption -- via campaign contributions and bribes -- that make Florida the #1 most politically corrupt state. Our future will be one of continued sprawl-homebuilding, increasing the number of job-seekers in a labor force already suffering one of the country’s highest unemployment rates. The economy, crashed by the developers, will continue to be dismal and worse.

Florida’s main industries – agriculture and tourism – will be the first to suffer, as they find themselves with tract housing in place of products. No new businesses will want to come to this abused and ever-poorer state. Meanwhile, profits from endless homebuilding will head out of state to Pulte, KB Homes, Lennar, Toll Brothers and the others funding the “Vote No” Campaign. The national homebuilders Anti-4 campaign funds ironically come from your own "bailout" tax dollars.

Without doubt we’ll see an end to Florida’s commendable Growth Management efforts, begun in 1985 and weakened steadily since. Whoever gets into office will merely determine how rapidly this happens. Senate Bill 360 (shifting developers’ costs to taxpayers) will pass again, despite the court's ruling overturning it. The state’s growth watchdog, the Department of Community Affairs, will be dismantled or rendered ineffectual. These events aren’t guesses; they would have happened already except that Amendment 4 was on the horizon.

Politicians and developers have been sitting on their hands for at least a couple of years, holding back on doing their worst because they’d ignite still more anger among citizens and support for Amendment 4. After November 2nd, if Amendment 4 fails, their pent-up greed will be unleashed, unstoppably.

Floridians’ voices will truly be silenced by the newly reinvigorated politician-developer conspiracy. Floridians’ quality of life will sink, with further soaring taxes, reductions in services, inability to sell our homes, and the bulldozing of the State’s remaining natural beauty, fertile agricultural lands, and life-sustaining wetlands.

If you’ve been told that there are “better” solutions than Amendment 4, don’t believe it! Developer-influenced politicians have already killed off those other proposals every time they’ve come up, and they’ll continue to do so. Amendment 4 came to be because the other side concedes there's a problem, but has never wanted a solution that will really work. It's their way or the highway.

And don’t think that if Amendment 4 fails this time, there will be another chance to support it later. No, Amendment 4 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s the result of 7 years of strenuous effort by dedicated citizen-volunteers who collected more than a million signatures, and fought off 7 court challenges from developers. Lacking the opposition’s developer money and paid workforce, Amendment 4 supporters have given this citizens’ initiative their all.

Amendment 4 either makes it or doesn't on November 2nd. This is truly the moment of truth. Floridians urgently need to protect their rights and their neighborhoods by voting “YES.”

Otherwise, it’s back to wringing your hands and protesting developers’ rampages and politicians’ secret deals. Back to soaring taxes, plummeting home values, a boom-bust economy, and stagnant prospects for bringing jobs to a State in a downward spiral.

One simple thing you can still do to make sure Amendment 4 passes is this: Engage others – pass this message to neighbors, relatives, and friends. Get this message out to all voters: the hometown that you save will indeed be your own.

Your future . . . awaits your “YES on 4” vote on or before November 2nd. Before it's too late, take your rightful seat at the table. Give yourself the right to vote on your community's future. Your friends, family, children, and grandchildren will thank you.

Sincerely,
John Hedrick,

Member, Amendment 4 statewide coordinating committee
Chair, Panhandle Citizens Coalition

Riviera Beach gets to vote on Charter Amendment

Can anyone even imagine The Palm Beach Post endorsing a Charter Amendment by the residents of Riviera Beach to keep their public marina public when it involves BIG money such as Rybovich and Wayne Huzeinga? It wouldn't happen in a million years. The Editor told all Riviera Beach citizens to Vote NO to save their marina just like they tell all of us to Vote NO on Amendment 4. It would affect their pocketbook. How sad this is when you have a newspaper with so much influence that is not fair and balanced.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Edward H. Fine of the 15th Judicial Circuit Court (I LOVE this Judge) ruled that the ballot initiative was valid even though the City of Riviera Beach and the Community Redevelopment Agency sued the Citizens Task Force that went out and got certified signatures to get it on the ballot.

Now the people can vote whether they want this land-use change or not.

Just another reason why Amendment 4 is so necessary.

Michael E. Arth for Governor on Corrupt Politicians

Carla Blockson needs to Rethink her Endorsements

Comment Up
If Carla Blockson had ever attended City Commission meetings, which she did not, she would have avoided bragging about some of these highly questionable and just plain awful endorsements. Let's take a look at some of them.

Endorsements for Ms. Blockson:

• Mayor of Lake Worth, Rene' Varela--the TOTAL FLIP-FLOPPER of all time. NO one (either side of the political spectrum) can understand him. Rene Varela has voted correctly on 99.9% of the issues this year, as has the rest of the Commission that includes Suzanne Mulvehill, however, he has flipped to the other side, a side that is against everything he has stood for this year by supporting candidates that want to stop the Casino and complain about the Budget. His endorsements are confusing and we feel that he is betting his options on his political future. He is betting wrong.
  

• City Commissioner Scott Maxwell--This is someone who was elected to overthrow the present Commission by any means possible. He keeps complaining about high utility bills but it was he who had the opportunity to sell our Utility to FPL while he was first in office. He voted to have FMPA as our power source and is directly responsible for the high electric rates. He keeps blaming his colleagues on the Dais. He has voted against the Budget that reduced every department across the Board by $5 million and a Commission that voted to amend the Union Pension Plans. His backers are Unions and those sympathetic to them. He wants to stop any progress in this City by stopping the Casino. He bucks Staff at every opportunity over just about everything. No one understands what in the heck he wants. Give him a lollipop.
  

• Former Lake Worth City Commissioner, Dave Vespo--Voted for the flim-flam man and having Greater Bay control our beachfront for 40 years. Stopped our Reverse Osmosis System after spending $15 million dollars and agreed to go to PB County Water. Voted to stay in FMPA saying that "they are dependable" not realizing that this had nothing to do with our Grid. Thus we have higher electric rates thanks to Vespo. As a Banker, Vespo made destructive decisions and his mis-informed "vision" contributed to our financial stress we are experiencing today.

• Former Commissioner Retha Lowe--We already know what happened to her with Sun Recycling that did untold damage to our landfill and the health of residents in the Osborne Community. She also filed false reports for the purpose of preventing the public from finding out the actual source of Sun Recyling's bundling of $3,000 in contributions. She was in violation of five "willful" Florida Statute violations and fined $2,500. Lowe is one of the reasons why our City is distressed today because of votes that cost our City untold millions of wasted dollars. Also, Carla has aligned herself with the BAC PAC that has solicited contributions from Sun Recyling.

• Former County Commissioner, Addie Greene--A good friend of Retha Lowe's. Greene dropped out of the PB County Commission race citing health reasons. This was right after her colleagues, Masilotti and Newell were hauled off to prison.
  

• Palm Beach County Professional Firefighters/Paramedics--The next five are special interest groups. The Firefighter's Union is no surprise as her husband was our former Fire Chief who condemned the City Manager as well as a few members of the Commission for attempting to withhold Sick Pay benefits when he went to PB County Fire Rescue. Sick pay was not negotiated with the Union and only paid by Lake Worth when an employee is sick. He got his money because of politics on the Dais with a vote from Maxwell, Varela and Golden. They were wrong for not caring about the taxpayer first but rather, they catered to the Unions. As Carla Blockson is condemning 3 to 2 votes that rarely happen, this is one of which I am sure she approves.
  

• Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association--Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches--I'm a former Realtor and this special interest group is self-serving.--PEU Public Employee Union PMSA,--Professional Supervisors and Managers Assoc.--one of the WORLD'S WORST special interest Unions. The Unions are the reason that Lake Worth is in a financial crisis. She will never be able to make the tough decisions regarding the Unions and their run-away contracts.
  

The Constitution Committee endorses Rosenblum District 89

Comment Up--a must read!
Dean Taffel of The Constitution Committee says,
"Steve Rosenblum is the clear choice in District 89. He is a highly principled Constitutional conservative. As with most office holders from Lake Worth (but not necessarily all), Steve's opponent is a (corrupt?) collectivist with an extraordinarily troubling record. He deserves plenty of support and in this year when anything can happen."

The voters have a clear choice in District 89:
Left-wing progressive Jeff Clemens or Fiscal-conservative Steven Rosenblum and we need your help to get the TRUTH out to the voters, so they can avoid the CONSEQUENCES of voting for his opponent.

As Mayor of Lake Worth, Steve's opponent:

1- Favored Obama's "stimulus" and still does.
2- Kicked seniors out of their recreation center; leased the building out for $1/year to create a "day labor center" where 80% of the people seeking work are illegal immigrants and had the taxpayers continue to pay the utilities and maintenance.
3- Voted not to terminate the FMPA contract (which requires 5 years notice) which means residents continue to pay 1.5 times more than FPL customers for electricity.
4- Rejected an ethics ordinance proposed by another city commissioner, saying, "I'm not comfortable legislating ethics from the dais," but now claims to have championed ethics reform.
...And the list goes on.

When elected Steve will put taxpayers first, keep taxes low, reduce the size and increase the accountability of government and bring ethics, principles and common sense back to Tallahassee.

You can make a secure, online contribution at:
http://www.electrosenblum.com/donate

With your support Steve will be victorious on November 2nd!

Amendment 4 at the Forest Festival

Residents in Perry, Florida do not want sprawl and over-development
and why would they? The town is beautiful.

Forest Festival in Perry

Perry is located in Taylor County, Florida.
The town was named for Edward A. Perry, who was the 14th Governor of Florida.

Today's moon

94% full

Land on the Moon in Google Earth

"Pants on Fire" says PolitiFact regarding Vote No ad against Amendment 4

PolitiFact speaks to the full page ad that the vote NO group just had in the Orlando Sentinel on October 17 that was full of lies--

Their conclusion--Our ruling

Let's look at what Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy said again in its ad. Citing PolitiFact, it said Amendment 4 "will force counties and cities across Florida to raise taxes and fees."

Well, we can speak unequivocally about this one. PolitiFact Florida never said that what happened in St. Pete Beach's case will happen in cities and counties across Florida if Amendment 4 is approved. We never said it in any other Truth-O-Meter items either. And even ignoring that, PolitiFact Florida never said St. Pete Beach's local hometown democracy rules forced the city to raise its tax rate.

No doubt about it: Pants on Fire! (And no footnote required).

Amendment 4: Power to the People

Guest Commentary by Gwen Azama-Edwards
Daytona Beach

Contact: 386-767-8847 Cell 386-453-4410

Floridians will get the chance Nov. 2 to give themselves new power and a new vote. Amendment 4, on the statewide ballot, is a nonpartisan citizens’ movement that will empower ordinary Floridians. It will give us a seat at the table — a vote — on issues that affect our community.

We all watch politicians approve new developments left and right, and we all watch tax dollars go to pay for schools, police, fire, water, sewer and roads for all these new developments, while our neighborhoods languish. Is a new development affordable to our community? We should get a vote before we’re forced to pay.

Amendment 4 — called Florida Hometown Democracy — will give us that vote. Under Amendment 4, citizens will have the opportunity to give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down — the final say — when their local council or commission approves major development changes.

Politicians are still approving more development today, even though you drive around and see empty strip malls and foreclosed houses. Even if no one’s living or working in those ghost buildings, all of us in the county have to pay for the services, and that means higher sales and property taxes.

Study after study shows development doesn’t pay for itself; we taxpayers subsidize it. Things have been too cozy between Florida politicians and real-estate speculators. They busted the economy, ran off with the loot, and left us paying the bills. What we’re saying with Amendment 4 is: If it affects my home and my taxes, I want to vote on it. That’s just common sense.

Here’s how Amendment 4 will work: Local city or county commissions will study, hold public hearings, and vote on changes to the overall land-use plan (local comprehensive land-use plan) just like they do now. The new step is that once a commission approves a plan change, voters will get to approve or veto it at the next regularly scheduled Election Day. That’s it. If you agree with the commission’s decision, vote for it. If not, vote it down. No special elections required.

These comprehensive land-use plans are designed to guide future growth, and there is plenty of land in these plans set aside for building now and into the future (and that means jobs, too). In fact, all the plans in Florida combined have enough land set aside for enough building to quadruple our current state population.

Under Amendment 4, we’ll hold a vote only when someone insists on building outside the plan’s already approved areas. That makes sense, because everyone in the city or county has to pay tax money to extend services to developments that are outside of our planned growth boundaries. Amendment 4 applies only to changes to the overall comprehensive land use plan. It doesn’t require votes on minor changes like rezonings, variances, or set backs.

Voters won’t vote on every new grocery store or car lot, but will get to vote when politicians decide to change farmland to apartments, or turn a residential area into a commercial zone, for example. After all, when it comes to our homes and our communities, these should be our choices!

— Azama-Edwards is a retired Daytona Beach city clerk and former Daytona Beach city commissioner. She hosts the Truth Radio Show on Goliath Radio, and is president and CEO of A-E Enterprises Inc.

Stop cannibalizing Florida - Vote YES on Amendment 4

Staff runs this City

Update: As told to me by one Commissioner and the Mayor this morning, they relinquished their involvement and turned it over to Staff in order to move the issue quicker and keep politics out of the equation.

If you want to know what is outrageous, it is this entire process of evaluating the contractors for our Casino. Not only did Staff shove out the entire City Commission and exclude them in the process, it sent out an e-mail on Thursday that this meeting would be held and that they could come if they wished.

It is the Commission that makes decisions such as these. This should have been a special City Commission meeting, not just a Staff meeting. It should have been noticed and we should have been able to listen to it on-line. And the Commission should have been able to hear all presentations--there weren't that many.

The e-mail sent out on Thursday to Valerie:
We rescheduled the presentations so that the City Commission can attend if they choose to, the presentations will now be on the morning of 10/25 & the schedule is as follows:

Who runs this City?

Evaluation of Qualifications for Casino Contractors

Click photo to enlarge
Process begins at 8am today

Commissioner Scott Maxwell's Deceptive Stratagem

An obvious political meeting by Commissioner Scott Maxwell

Town meetings have been arranged by Commissioner Scott Maxwell using the City Logo. More than likely the City of Lake Worth paid for all the costs of the printing that was distributed to those attendees. What could have been an enlightening service to residents of Lake Worth has turned out to be nothing but sleazy politics and a desperate attempt to get his candidates elected as the present Commission voted against him on these issues.

Click photo to enlarge.

City Commission Meeting tomorrow am

This Commission meeting is not listed on the City's web site.

8:00-9:00am Hedrick Brothers
9:00-10:00am Kaufman Lynn
10:00-11:00am Morganti
11:00-12:00pm Final Ranking by Evaluation Committee

General Contractor for Casino

Does Staff really run this City?

Responses from the general contractors responding to the RFQ were opened on October 13. City Staff met on October 19th to rank the proposals and to hear the presentations. Staff picked the following:

Hedrick Brothers
Morganti Group
Kaufman Lynn

Supposedly these three firms will make a presentation at City Hall and the Commission will rank and then select the top ranked firm.

I find it rather incredible that Staff, consisting of
Rebecca Mattey
Joseph Kroll
Steven Carr
Walt Smyser
Rachel Smithson

are experts on what firm would be best for our Casino. Don't you? Why did not all six firms come before the City Commission? As one resident said, "I didn't elect staff to make these decisions."

If it were not for Straticon, this entire Casino project would not even have gotten off its feet...the building would have been demolished. If you recall, it was Straticon that brought in Nutting Engineers that drilled 10 inches into the test area structures, with 3 inch diameters to test the salt and chloride in the cement. They tested the strength. Remember, this was poured concrete and this building has lasted since it was built in 1922 other than some spires and roof and some upper decking. This was done around the parameter of the building. Now Straticon has been removed from consideration by Staff. This company deserves much better.

Scott Maxwell and his Town Hall Meetings - Are they all about Politics?

To what started out as a nice idea, a District 1 Community Meeting held at the Gym in the Osborne area in order to inform the citizens, has turned out to be what we all suspected--politics. Maxwell is now calling his meetings "town" meetings. They have nothing to do with informing the people in his district but they are all about getting out the vote for Blockson and Lisa Maxwell.

Commissioner Scott Maxwell, who is working very hard behind the scenes (we have to wonder how he has time just to be a Commissioner) to turn the dais on November 2, has scheduled two more Town Hall Meetings on the Utility, with high electric and water bills being the hot ticket item for all Lake Worthians, right before the election. The meetings are as follows:

October 30 at Iglesia Puerta Del Cielo, 709 N F St at 10am

November 1 at South Grade Elementary, 716 S K St at 6pm

As everyone knows, we are paying for upgrades to our Utility. We are going forward with our Reverse Osmosis System ( a move that he blames on high water rates). Even without this direction, we would have had to pay 25 million to build an interconnection with PBC and purchase the necessary capacity at the PBC water treatment plant. Commissioner Maxwell as well as his "candidates," Blockson and Lisa Maxwell, complain about high rates but offer NO solutions for reductions and obviously do not understand that we have to pay either way...in either case, we would have had to raise rates.

The Commission must direct the City Manager to stop this cunning and devious political ploy immediately by telling Commissioner Maxwell that no city staff will be involved in his meetings.

Rumor has it that he wants to run for Mayor next year. Is this deja vu?

Who wouldn't want an Ethics Policy?

The Palm Beach Post recently said, " Palm Beach County has spent a lot of effort moving forward on the difficult path of ethics reform. Against the backdrop of multiple investigations and prosecutions of public officials, elected and non-elected, at the federal and state levels, the public has seen how we have been victimized by corruption fueled by greed and arrogance."
Commentary: Put municipalities under ethics scrutiny along with county

In today's Post, it endorses the Palm Beach County Ethics Reform which is on the November 2 ballot, the last item listed on your ballot. It reads as follows:

REQUIRING COUNTY CODE OF ETHICS, INDEPENDENT ETHICS COMMISSION AND INDEPENDENT INSPECTOR GENERAL

Shall the Palm Beach County Charter be amended to require the Board of County Commissioners to establish by ordinances applicable to Palm Beach County and all municipalities approving this amendment; a Code of Ethics, an independent Commission on Ethics funded by the County Commission and an independent Inspector General funded by the County Commission and all other governmental agencies subject to the authority of the Inspector General? (YES) (NO)

Who wouldn't want an ethics policy? Excuses from the Sheriff to be exempt from an Ethics Law as well as Commissioner Scott Maxwell's citing the possibility of not remembering who has contributed to his campaign, were dissed by the Palm Beach Post. Also, an ethics policy would stop the political shinangans of Scott Maxwell that occurred yesterday at his Town Meeting--a worthwhile event that was tainted by him. As I did not stay to the very end of this meeting, it has just come to my attention that at the end of the meeting, a political flier was passed out urging the public to help him gain the 2 supporting votes on the dais.

In any successful political campaign, three things matter the most: Discipline, organization and a clear message. Scott Maxwell had all three yesterday and managed to get his message across by implying if you vote for two candidates you will get lower electric bills. To use the City and its Staff in this manner is revolting behavior by an elected official. This should be addressed by the City Commission at the next regularly scheduled meeting and this Commissioner must be censored, controlled and told to follow protocol.

We can thank Commissioner Cara Jennings for pursuing an Ethics Policy for the past two years and who was stymied by politics. Her pursuit of an ethics policy is approved by Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill as well as Candidate for District 2, Christopher McVoy. After November 2, we might just be under Palm Beach County's oversight for ethics and pay to play violations and even have our own, more stringent policy.

Vote YES on November 2 on requiring a Code of Ethics and an Independent Ethics Commission.