August 24th, 2009
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1. NSB FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTS
We are waiting with bated breath. They inflate losses by a million here and a million there on damage to buildings. We cannot wait to find out from the report eventually filed by the City why a New Smyrna Beach fire engine trip noted as cancelled by an official County record seven second after it left the station went to the accident anyway. Maybe the fireman was playing Nintendo and did not hear the cancellation call.
2. NO NOISE AT THE AIRPORT
There never was a noise problem, just a bunch of people who did not like living next to an airport. Spin is when you say that you succeeded after you got the State and Feds to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an unneeded study of airport noise and they told you to get lost. The preliminary study finds no violation of the noise standards and the Feds are not likely to throw more money at it. The complainers moved to a nuisance and complained. Then they claim they won. That money they spent was your tax money, just from another pocket.
“Best Blogs of the Week”
(Edited for grammar and punctuation)
A POTPOURRI OF CITIZEN COMMENTS IS
AGAIN PROVIDED THIS WEEK IN ORDER
FOR YOU TO GET IN TUNE WITH THE
MOOD OF OUR READERS
8/20/2009, 12:23 pm
To 664
Actually, in this case the City is being taken advantage of by a few people who think they are privileged. Nice group? They have filed a federal suit against an individual who did nothing illegal. Probably won't hear about that from you though will we? 23,000 people in this town. 90 Anglers. Each Angler getting the equivalent of a $6000 per year subsidy so they can have a place to dock their yachts. There is no way to spin this so that it makes sense to the rest of us. Sorry. Looking increasingly like Marilee is our only choice on this issue otherwise one will have to hold one's nose and put their vote elsewhere.
8/21/2009, 3:18 am
Dear #670 *fhp--from Deland man
Email: YouaintfoolinNobody@BSville.com
Sorry to see another officer killed, God rest his soul and bless his family.
Don’t mistake comments from a few as lack of support of lawmen. The tax revolters across Florida are ticked. Those same angry taxpayers have figured out a few of the highest paid police around here haven’t dealt with a criminal or worked a beat since their first year or two on the job, they should be embarrassed. You can change their titles 8 times, promote them to the rank of colonel and they still won’t get an iota of respect. In our eyes 20 year desk riders are not cops, they are flops. The next elected folk will downsize the inside favorites and put more real police on the beat. Bottom line; One slow hillbilly could handle the administrative duties and should make similar pay as a guy or gal risking their necks. I just heard it last week, reorganize or outsource soon.
8/21/2009, 9:56 pm
Let them watch....
Ok, the $64 Question is........WHO ARE THE CITY'S UNIONS ENDORSING, AND WHY?
Have any of our candidates made back-room deals with the IAFF or the Teamsters Union?
Here's what to watch out for......If you see our Hose draggers out on the street corner waving signs for candidate X....
You know as well as I do, they don't get off their Lazy-Boys for nothing!
Of course, we already know Cindy and her IAFF brothers are supporting Randy........But what about the other races?
NOTES
1. FLORIDA ECONOMIC FORCAST.
Folks, it is bleak. LINK
2. HALIFAX HOSPITAL
The Halifax Hospital is eliminating 15% of its work force and its CEO is taking a 5% pay decrease. What is Bert Fish doing? Raising taxes!! That is what Bert Fish is doing! Halifax states it will not reduce medical services.
3. TAX ON HOMESTEAD
Unless they take the millage rate back by the decrease in property value as well as 3% less, if you have a homestead you will have a tax increase. They will squeeze more money out of you to pay for all those plastic Christmas trees.
DEAR PAM
As we have stated in the past, we realize that the City Manager is limited in the resources available to her for pursuing cost reduction projects, so we have decided to help her out and provide draft letters for her review. As we have said, this will free her up for important things, like dealing with all the serious problems of the police and fire department pensions.
Dear Sally,
They are asking why I should not call up the Halifax Marina in Daytona and find out what they charge for slips. I am told that it is $700 a month per slip.
Pam
HOW DO YOU NEGOTIATE WITH SOMEONE YOU CAN NOT TRUST? WITH DIFFICULTY!!
Dealing with the Angler’s Club as it fights for its privilege to rip off the taxpayers is turning into a farce. It is no longer just a comedy. They cannot be trusted to tell the truth. Think about it. Just a few of the facts since 1988:
1. In 1988 “someone” told the County Tax Appraiser’s office that the Angler’s Club boat slips were open to the public and should not be taxed. We do not have a copy of the letter, but now who would benefit from not taxing these slips? Howdy Doody immediately comes to mind. But if not Howdy Doody, maybe a member of the Angler’s Club At a minimum that misrepresentation cost the taxpayers between a a half a million to a million dollars over the last 20 years;
2. For the next 20 years the City submitted a form annually through the Community Redevelopment Agency (trading as the Chamber of Commerce) stating that the designation of the Club as tax exempt was correct. The County Appraiser said that in his letter;
3. In 2004 the Angler’s Club sort of “bent the truth” when it told the Small Business Administration that it did not discriminate and was open to the Public. DUH. Look at the sign in front that says “Members and Guests only”. They got $325,000 from the SBA which the City basically guaranteed and then their contractor apparently told the City Permit office that the repairs they needed to make cost only $135,000. The City collects about 2% of the value of construction for issuing permits;
4. Then they told the Submerged Land Office that they did not discriminate despite the fact that they have no members other than the 90 white male grifters who pay $50 a month for slips worth at least $700 each per month;
5. Last week an attorney from Jacksonville came down to New Smyrna Beach, said he did not represent the Angler’s Club, and threatened a law suit on their behalf. Elmer Fudd might believe he just showed up as an unpaid friend: the Shadow is just a little bit suspicious. We think that there is more than enough evidence to say that they cannot be trusted to tell the truth. So why not tell them what you want for the lease? Take it or leave it.
DEBATE DEBATE DEBATE DEBATE DEBATE
AUGUST 29 AUGUST 29 AUGUST 29
BOUCHELLE ISLAND CLUB HOUSE
The first of the debates among the candidates is scheduled for the Clubhouse at Bouchelle Island on Saturday August 29, 2009. The moderator is Jason Allen who covers Volusia County for ABC Channel 9 News. Saturday: 9 am until 1 pm.
THE NON-LAWYER-LAWYER
A guy shows up from Jacksonville who says he has NOT been hired to represent the Angler’s Club. You got it right: NOT been hired. He addresses the Commission for an hour as their non lawyer lawyer. They should have told him to sit down. If he is not representing them, his views are not worth having at this point any more than that of the Jacksonville town drunk. He speaks for an hour and our citizens have three minutes. Three minutes at the beginning of the meeting when they have no idea that a non lawyer lawyer will be given an hour. At the most they should have let him speak for three minutes. That we think is what Sally was given when she tried to insert herself in Port Orange zoning issues. (Oh, on the 26th Sally is going to Deland to try to get the Port Orange zoning decision overturned. Her idea of no-growth for a neighbor.) Sally then let this Jacksonville “drop in” talk ad nauseum and would not subsequently recognize a number of the locals.
Anyway, why did not one of these elected worthies just ask one of the members of the Angler’s Club who were present whether the club would agree to pay full market value for the leased slips. At least three members of this “Club” we are told were present at the meeting and one is running for Mayor. Any of them could have answered the question, or done what they have done for the last two years which is sat on their hands. Interestingly, why did this non-lawyer’s opinion that he had a good case go essentially unchallenged? The Shadow thinks he has a lousy case if the legal opinion of the Orlando lawyer is valid. Easy to determine if Mr. Gummey reads the 1944 law. Is Gummey a potted plant? Give the Club a short lease for fair market value. If they refuse, throw them out.
By the way, every week they delay paying a fair rent is about $6,000 in these grifters’ pocket. Enough to pay the non lawyer lawyer to spend part of his evening in Hicksville we figure. Think about it: $500 an hour: two hours of consultation, four hours in travel door to door, and two hours in town. That equals the $4000 they probably will ultimately pay him to not represent them. The grifters are ahead by $2,000 of your money just for one week’s delay. It is hard to believe that a high paid lawyer from Jacksonville, a professional with a smooth demeanor and well spoken, came down here to make a pitch for them and he was not paid. He is a friend of a member they say. At one point he referred to them as his client. How about being paid in trade, like a free slip rental the next time he brings his boat south before heading for the Bahamas or a couple of swigs of wine at the wine club. Shucks, we do not even know whether he has a boat, but it is a thought. In sum, for at least the last 20 years they have lined their nest by taking your money. Nothing will change unless the taxpayers say enough is enough.
INCUMBENTS
Being an incumbent has a distinct set of advantages. Start with name recognition. Unless you are a serial killer, you have all the advantages of having had your name before the voting public every week whether you are smart or not so smart. The Daytona Beach news Journal never seems to have an opinion but it will print your name in a useless “news” article. It also means in New Smyrna Beach in particular that you have the advantage of having handed out favors and money to your friends. These three incumbents have handed out almost $600,000 to the golf club last year to about 350 members---close to $1,750 each.
In a small southern town where almost all those who hold power are able to put their friends or relatives on the public payroll, and this is very true here, this is a big advantage. Then there is the intertwined control of the money pots controlled by your friends. That includes the Community Redevelopment Agency, Utilities Commission, and the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority all of which take money from taxpayers and hand it out to their friends. And all of which are so incestuous that it gives a new meaning to the term. Randy, for example, needed support for the anemic Surf contest which was more like a free beer event. The advertising authority gave them money. The bars need some extra money, so the CRA supports New Smyrna Beach Uncorked which was also a bust. The merchants along Canal Street want a plastic Christmas tree, so you buy one with City money. And then look at the votes bought by incumbents through subsidizing the water taxis with grants for management and fancy bookkeeping. Do not even think of the kayaks. Certain developers with too many unsold houses like incumbents if they promise to delay granting building permits to competitors. Moreover, the incumbents can promise an easy track for building a gasoline station say on Pioneer trail and Williamson.
O.K. The incumbents have advantages. But these groups of incumbents, particularly the three that are running for re-election, have refused to reduce any of the City employee pay, pensions and benefits. They are protecting the base they have bought and managed with taxpayer money. But they have done it so poorly that it is evident to all taxpayers that they are misspending money. Stated another way, they are so beholden to the City employee voters that they have bought off that they refuse to fix the glaring problem of overpaid and overcompensated City employees. Many of these employees now make more than three times in salary alone than the taxpayers who pay for their services. Even Randy must know that the $64,000 a year pension his wife receives is out of sync with reality. He wants to raise your taxes to pay his wife’s pension.
Vallejo, California, filed for bankruptcy to get out from under an “out of reality pay and pension” system for its fireman and other City employees. We are now in the same boat. Vallejo has settled with both its police department union and other government employee union for a rollback to 2001 pay, pension and benefit package. The International Association of Fire Fighters has thrown in the towel in Vallejo and will settle shortly. If it does not, the Bankruptcy Judge will throw out all of these bloated pay, pension, and benefits packages. These three Commissioners cannot even reduce mandatory four hours overtime hours for the fire department or turn down a 2% pay rise last year for all City employees last year. READ MORE
WHAT THE CITY SHOULD DO WITH
THE ANGLER’S CLUB SLIPS
Could someone just tell Gummey to act like a lawyer rather than a politician. The following BLOG says it all.
8/21/2009, 10:26 am
Declaratory Judgment Action
I listened to the audio on NSB new. Gummey said the law was unsettled on the issue of the Angler's Club so we should settle. The problem is outside attorney did not say either that the law was unsettled or that he could not reach an opinion. The outside attorney’s opinion was that the lease was not valid. It was Gummey who could not reach a legal conclusion. The Anglers club’s attorney played a little trick in his presentation to the city commission. First, the Anglers Club’s attorney assumes that the lease is valid and then says it will be a condemnation of the property. The problem is if the lease is not valid, the Anglers Club’s Attorney is standing in court with ……..nothing. Condense down everything the Anglers Club’s attorney had to say and what he said was if the Anglers have a valid lease the Anglers could sue the city if the city attempted to oust them from their property. Duhhhhhhh! As if that is that something we all did not already know? In other words he got up there for 20 minutes and told us nothing we do not already know. To scare the city commission Gummey (the city attorney) talked about the case going to the Florida Supreme Court. The State of Florida has an inexpensive legal method to decided disputes of this sort. It is called a declaratory judgment action. If the Anglers Club or the city wanted to resolve the issue of the validity of the lease it could file a declaratory judgment action to ask the circuit court if the lease was valid. The city could do that without ousting the Anglers Club from the property. It would not cost a lot of money or take a lot of time. Since neither the city nor the Anglers Club was willing to go forward with a declaratory judgment action, you can safely assume everyone involved in Wednesday’s meeting was a lying bag of bovine excrement.
The outside lawyer they hired for a legal opinion said the same thing. He said that a settlement was better, but if they would not pay a fair lease amount (market value) that a Declaratory Judgment action was the way to go.
The Volusia County Tax Appraiser has added a tax calculator to his web site. Go to the Appraiser’s web site, then click on tax calculator and follow the prompts. You change the assessed value, mailed today, in the block on the top left. Please take a sedative before doing this and think of Randy saying he cannot wait to raise your taxes. He is not alone. The School Board, Bert Fish and the County also see money in your pocket.
HELP ANIMALS THAT HAVE NO PLACE TO GO
The Journey’s End Animal Sanctuary in DeLand is in financial trouble. It has been unable to pay its mortgage for two months because the money was needed for vet services and food. Journey’s End takes in animals that cannot be adopted and cares for them for all of their natural lives. Wachovia Bank has been most understanding, but the facility needs help to stay afloat. If you care enough for the animals they help (240 cats, 57 dogs, 4 horses, 3 sheep, etc.), you can help by sending a donation.
Any amount will help. Send t
o :1899 Mercer’s Fernery Road,
DeLand,Fl., 32720.
Call Florence at 386 736-6396.
FLASH
The debate originally set for Saturday morning at Bouchelle Island has been moved to the Public Room at Hidden Lakes Golf Course. Same time. Same format.
