QUOTES FROM THE MPSC MEETING… (prev. post- boards cat.)
1/19/10 -BTSTime Owner/Publisher /Editor Campaign Manager For -Couriel/Evans/ Silverstone, Cristie Furth -“As a stakeholder on El Mar Drive I’m all for it and a lot of my neighbors and friends are. I don’t know who’s talking to you but my people that I know love the idea!”…
1/19/10 -Mayoral candidate Joe Couriel-“It just needs to get done! Now quit talking about it otherwise nothing will ever happen, thank you.”…
1/19/10- Candidate Marjorie Evans Dist 1-“It’s the fact that all this time has gone by there’s a million dollars, nothing has been done with it and I don’t understand. Like if you go back to the drawing board again nobody’s ever going to be 100% happy with this.”
1/19/10- Candidate Commissioner Jim Silverstone Dist. 2- “But as Marc Furth said it always seems when the decision’s made we get you know, people saying it’s the wrong thing to do. Well, maybe that’s true maybe people haven’t been paying attention. Hopefully we are now as a commission. I hope the other commissioners will agree to do this if we get a lot of calls. I think one of us can put it back on the agenda. Maybe review this or look at this again. I think that’s fair but until I hear from people out there, um, I’m gonna pretty much say what the vote of the, the commission.” …
Mayor Minnet was unable to attend due to a prior commitment but was on record voting against the $980,000 and asking for the Comm. to allow the MPSC more meetings to discuss the medians…
1/19/10- Candidate Scot Sasser Dist. 1-“Mr. Novak, I couldn’t have said it better than these people have. I’ll just let you know that in my journey’s all across town and talking with people, tonight is just a microcosm of what I’m hearing personally. and a few people are for it, many are against it.Me personally, I would just like to see an overall plan as many of the Maser Plan Steering Committee have already stated before we move forward with anything.”
1/19/10- Candidate Chris Vincent Dist. 2- “It’s not a good safety idea, a sidewalk down 1320 feet of El Mar Drive. So people can walk on the street, on the sidewalks, cross over and say hey there’s 1320 feet of sidewalk lets’ go walk that, get to the end and walk back over on the other sidewalk. If you think that’s going to entice people to come into our town because we’re going to spend a million dollars for 1320 lineal feet of a new sidewalk, you’re dreaming! That’s not helping the town, that’s polarizing the town by spending a million dollars on a sidewalk in the middle of the median on the south end of El Mar where the majority of the residents do not want it.”
Dear Readers… once again the current majority on the dais has made a situation more difficult by not listening to a Town Board or their constituents… Lets’ quickly review…the MPSC were given (finally) direction to come up with ideas for the “Oriana million” that the Town Manager insisted could only be used for the south end of El Mar Drive per the agreement…The MPSC went back the students at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale with the assistance once again of Vice- Chair Sandra Booth…The students quickly tackled the project due to their semester already being started and in a matter of weeks presented their creative ideas for the medians sought of Commercial…and south of Oriana…The Commission dropped the ball and caused unnecessary delays in making a decision on a winner causing much embarrassment for the MPSC and some real upset for some of the student and their families for the poorly executed non- event when the item finally made it to the dais…Fast forward to the incredible chain of events that started with Commissioner “Clueless” Clottey having a burger with former Mayor Oliver Parker (She was active in his failed CIC recall)…and the unbelievable news at the 11th hour from the Town Attorney that the staff simply checked and informed her that the million was for ALL of El Mar Drive!… The Manager was never taken to task for her false statements…The MPSC was caught off guard and the consensus was they would not have proceeded in the same manner if they were provided the correct information at the start… After some back and forth and a meeting with the Commission, the consensus was give the MPSC some more meetings to work with the new info and several plans offered up …The next meeting the majority on the dais Silverstone, Clottey and McIntee did a 180 and decided to go for option #1…that fit the cost of the dollars available…On that very night residents were voicing opposition…It didn’t matter…these 3 had their marching orders from Town Hall East!…
As word spread throughout the Town, walkers, residents, and “stakeholders” all agreed they did not want to walk in the medians and they did not want to spend the money!… Another MPSC meeting was convened on Jan 19, 2010 (prev. post)…and the candidates and commissioners are on record for their remarks…
What changed from that meeting to the Commission meeting on Jan 26th…door to door politics of a municipal election that’s what!… Feedback of what candidates Minnet/Sasser and Vincent heard early on in their door to door travels finally sunk in for their opponents who did not hit the streets until after the MPSC meeting!…OOPS!…
Now I guess as a “swan (quack, quack) song” for the McIntees…Moe and Jerry as they prepare to depart to darken the town limits of some new low-rise village up north…The “Muckrakin” McIntee’s” decided with a few loyal leftover supporters that it was okay to demean the residents for not speaking up until now…HUH?…
Let’s put it this way, when you remodel your home…you get the contractor ..the drawings …the permits(?)….. and proceed…BUT…as we all know when it comes down to the end…there are changes made…depending on circumstances…financial…or a change of mind…Perhaps you are adding on room and after you see the final drawing, the final costs involved you decide to either add the addition you were planning for a few years down the road…or you decide to back away and wait until you can afford to do it all… nothing unusual…nothing abnormal…in fact it’s being responsible!…
As for already investing some money (around $21,000+ per the Jan finance report backup – reflecting expenses in Dec.)… LBTS has done this before with this same group …when it came to stopping the entryway pelicans and the Jarvis Hall enclosures…In fact they were adamant about it being worth it to lose money in order to get it right…even on the pavilion…OOPS!…
At the Jan. 26th meeting …comments were made again…take a look voters to see your choice of candidates for the commission … speaking on this topic…
Public /Commissioner Comments-
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Candidate Scot Sasser Dist. 1-
“I would like to express my opinion regarding Agenda Item 16 (h) regarding the El Mar beautification project. I was in attendance at the MPSC meeting on Jan. 19th and it was clear that my concerns are also felt by many of the residents. I ask the Commission to start listening to our concerns especially those who reside on El Mar Drive in the south end. The overwhelming majority of speakers were not in favor of moving this initiative forward at this time. Some of the concerns brought up during the meeting were as follows:
• It makes no sense to put a walkway down the middle of the road.
• It is not safe with traffic moving in both directions
• Car exhaust and emissions will prevent walkers in the middle of the road
• We need to address flooding
• Corroding water and sewer lines should take priority
• We should put outdated power lines underground first
• We need an overall plan. No more piecemealing
• We need greenspace and this is paving over greenspace
• Greenspace has always been a major priority for any new development in town
These are but a few of the concerns that were expressed during the meeting. In fact, the MPSC themselves agreed that an overall plan is needed before moving forward with this project. They are not asking for a year, just a few additional meetings with professional assistance to present the best plan and ensure we are not making a mistake. One common theme that I am hearing from the small amount of people that are actually for this project is “we have been discussing this too long, it’s time to move forward and begin work”. Let me be as clear as possible…just because you have been discussing this over a year doesn’t make it right. El Mar can be our Champs Ulysses but not if we take this detour. Let’s pause and make sure we get this right.”
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Candidate Chris Vincent Dist. 2-
” I would like to speak on Item 16 h- Final approval of construction drawings for El Mar Drive
I want to thank commissioner Dodd for putting this on the agenda.
This is a hot topic and for good reason. Certain members of this commission who do not live on El Mar Drive or walk on El Mar Drive chose to ignore the citizens that do and the majority of the citizens in this town that oppose this plan. They also ignored the Master Plan Steering Committee recommendation. It was understood that the commission was going to give the Master Plan Steering Committee additional time to make sure the design to be voted on was what would work best for the community and the citizens that use it. However that request fell on deaf ears. Instead it was put to a vote and passed 3 -2. No one was asking to delay this for 6 months or a year; the committee just needed a few more meetings to get additional input from the people. Makes sense to me.
Your spending a million dollars to begin a piece meal project of approx. 1000 feet of walkway with the attitude we have the money, lets just do it and hope for the best. You’re gambling with the taxpayer’s money…that is just plain wrong.
If this decision is made we will be committed to a design that the people do not want. Then we will be stuck finishing a project that the people do not want.
It all sounds great on paper but will this turn out to be another failed project, because once again you did not take the time to get it right.”
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BC- both candidates Sasser and Vincent have stayed consistent with their stance and their comments throughout the process …..
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Mayoral candidate Joe Couriel-
“Good evening Joe Couriel, ah, ladies and gentleman, friends and neighbors ah, just wanted to make a brief comment on the discussion of the El Mar Drive beautification and ah, I’d like to say that I think we should get the most bang for the buck as far as greening the area is concerned. Um, med, the walkway the concrete the um, walkway and see if we can apply those funds to increase the ah, the greening of the area maybe perhaps take some of that money and repair all the cracks on sidewalks. Make it more pedestrian friendly, which is the object of the ,of the money anyway. That’s the end, the ah, the desired result we improve the walkability, so ah, I’d like to see it finalized tonight and take into consideration those two issues. Improve walkability by fixing the sidewalks. I know we don’t have the money to put brand new sidewalks but but if we can improve those ah, that, that would be beneficial. Also the more green the better so ah, please let’s make it as lush as possible and enjoy for all of us. Thank You”
BC- What comes to mind…”A chicken in every pot”!….
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Candidate Marjorie Evans Dist. 1-
” Um, I would like to speak, to speak to the El Mar Drive. As a person who was, a gone into the condominiums and spoken to some of the residents. They’re very concerned about the cracks in the sidewalks. Some of our elderly and disabled are afraid they’re going to fall. I would like to suggest that we use some of this money to repair those cracks. The second thing I would to assist, I believe her name was Betty Ross in providing um, um, County resources for disabled elderly. I think I can assist ingetting um, more provisions into this city. Thank You”
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BC- Perhaps nobody informed candidates Couriel and Evans..We already have a sidewalk repair program in the budget!…This has been going on for the past years…and if they walked the town they would have observed the repair…the marked sidewalks and the new ones!…If they were participating before they announced they would have heard the updates on the program and would have seen the budget showing the Town sidewalk repair program!…OOPS!…
BC- Candidate Marjorie Evans..is like a double dose of Clueless Clottey!…Betty Ross who came to speak about her program specifically pointed out she deals with “mental wellness” and does not “deal with physical body”!…Right after her presentation Clueless Clottey asked her about helping fragile and disabled residents..Ms. Ross was understandably confused by the question…and then Marjorie Evans comes to the podium to repeat what Clueless #1 said…..Do we really want 2 “Clueless” Commissioners on the dais?…
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Candidate Comm Jim Silverstone Dist. 2-
First repeated his early calls for turning El Mar Drive into a one lane road with a side lane of squiggly lines for walking and artwork …He went on…
” Streets that are abating, albeiting the, the, ah, ah medium ( Silverstone calls the medians-mediums)to be used for walkways if possible that’s the direction I was going into but again we had this board who’s an advisory board for this community, for, for the commission and their job was to go out there and get input from the people out there. But people are so angered over what’s going on in here. Nobody wants to get involved so that’ feedback is lessened and that’s the worst thing we can do in this town is, is doing anything to stifle the, the the peoples getting involved in town. Getting feedback to what should be so then it came before us it’s seems like that’s the way the committee wanted it based upon the, the assumption that’s what the people wanted and now we find out the people don’t want that. Well, I’m also gonna try ah, change that. Nothing’s been done with that yet except the starting RFPs but I think we can change the ideas and start working into something we all agree upon. But it’s unfortunate all that time to get to that point.”
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BC- HUH?….Later on the item was addressed in item 16h put on by Comm. Dodd…
16h-
The meeting was running over 11 pm and Vice Mayor McIntee was already packing up to get outta there…He tried to thwart Resident David Nixon from speaking saying “Point of order, I think we pretty much agreed public comments we were gonna push this thing off for 4 months so you, you know you’re gonna be saying everything twice you’re better off waiting.”
BC- Who said that we were pushing it off for 4 months?…
Mr Nixon asked for thirty seconds and spoke of his delight for a fresh look at this, stating it “was wise for them to not do the proposal the way it had been structured”…and explained the greenspace of the medians were the “signature of this Town”…He said to let the MPSC work with landscape architects to come up with renderings and produce a “lasting effect for the Town”…
Diane Boutin spoke as well about a 3-5 year plan maintenance monies and caring for the portals…infrastructure and lights…and proper plants …sidewalks that were wide and not sitting in a median absorbing gasoline fumes…
Comm Silverstone -” I just want to give a little history of this whole, how we got the million dollars um, when the , when the, when the Oriana built out five feet too much I actually did a calculation based upon the current prices that, that actually had an increase of five million dollars on a piece of property. In my old office on Commercial before I moved into next door into my new office ah, two of the owners came in and they said Jim what’s going on? Are you going to tear it down? Cause one of the first things we were gonna do thought about doing was tearing down the whole thing down which we had the right to do. And I said to them well it looks like you got a benefit here of about five million bucks and he, the person, the owner said that’s a little heavy. He said how about three million? I said great! I’m thinkin’ to myself ok I’m gonna go back to the dais til I found out that the former Mayor made a deal already for a million dollars which is unfortunate. So we coulda got three million dollars out of that thing, but we have a million dollars and um, I still believe my original idea of having as Mr. Nixon said and I think the consensus of the ah, people in this town to beautify what we have and take care of the problems of drainage if we can. But let’s beautify the, the center property the ah, a great start um, um, I’m going in that direction, I Yield.”
BC- One night later this writer ran into the former Mayor and he was asked by a resident about Comm. Silverstone’s comments and the new story that he [jimmy] was going to get 3 million dollars…Without missing a beat the former Mayor replied,” he’s blowing smoke out of his ass” …and went on to explain that he[former Mayor] negotiated with the lawyer for the property owners and was lucky to get the million when it was though at the time we would be lucky to get $500,000…OUCH!…
This writer has never ever heard the Silverstone 3 million dollar story…and if it is to be believed, it would have come out long before this commission meeting…and if it is to be believed for all the time and all the talk of McIntee/Silverstone accusing the former Mayor of making a “backdoor deal” for the “Oriana million”…moot…For Jimmy-boy just admitted he too was making deals on his own!…OOPS!…
Comm. Dodd made a motion to move the issue along and wanted to put a hold on the project waiting for a new commission or a new MPSC…after March… Comm. Clottey did not want to defer…she wanted it to go back to the committee but wanted it to move forward in a couple of months…
Commissioner Silverstone- ” Can I make a friendly amendment? I’m making a friendly amendment since we got this ball already going and why don’t we just amend it to say take the sidewalks out, bring us back something that beautifies the ah, the, the medium landscaping and lighting and see what they come back with. I mean we already spent money correct me if I’m wrong Town Manager to do something with this so why don’t we just amend the plans and say now we want this. Why can’t we just do that cause I think that’s the consensus of everybody out there?”
BC- Hmmm…1/19/10 – Cristie Furth -“As a stakeholder on El Mar Drive I’m all for it and a lot of my neighbors and friends are. I don’t know who’s talking to you but my people that I know love the idea!”…
The Town Manager went over what she had sent in response to Comm. Dodd on this agenda item and spoke of the way the Commission had voted…and spoke of the project, the plans and having the 5 commissioners and the MPSC come and see what Ocampo is working thus far and tell them of any changes …She spoke about stopping altogether and the need to involve the Town Attorney to assist with the contract…
Comm. Silverstone- ” My friendly motion would be to not stop it but continue with another direction. Bring back that direction so everybody could see what we come up with.”
The Town manger brought up a past project when this happened and there were ten different directions…she wanted them to look at the plans thus far and again saiud she would need the Town Attorney to look at the contractual obligations they have with Ocampo…
Comm. Silverstone- ” I mean I guess, I’m makin’ a friendly amendment to the original amendment to, to, to proceed with this because I don’t understand what doesn’t make sense to me for them to come back her with the design, spend all this money and time on it and it has a sidewalk in the middle of it.”
BC- Hmmm…1/19/10 – Cristie Furth -“As a stakeholder on El Mar Drive I’m all for it and a lot of my neighbors and friends are. I don’t know who’s talking to you but my people that I know love the idea!”…
The Mayor reminded the residents it had been a 3-2 vote …She and Comm. Dodd did not vote for it…Ocampo was brought up to the podium…
Comm. Silverstone- ” I’m not sure how far you are? Is it possible to direct you to focus on landscaping and lighting for that area and not do the walkway on the udder plans the plans you presented had gazebos and other factors in there. Um, to do away with that to increase the landscaping, the lighting which I think is the key and beautify the, the medium because I think this is the general consensus. So the question pacifically is I’m not sure how long, how far you are along with this?”
BC- Hmmm…1/19/10 – Cristie Furth -“As a stakeholder on El Mar Drive I’m all for it and a lot of my neighbors and friends are. I don’t know who’s talking to you but my people that I know love the idea!”…
Ocamapo said he was 50-75% complete!…
Comm. Silverstone ” How much of an issue?”
Ocamapo answered as if he did not get it explaining the “hardscape” (walkway) and how it is the most important component…and the drainage required (I though this #1 portion of the “whole enchilada” for $980,000 did not include any drainage)…
Comm. Silverstone- “Ok, you understand the, the intent of the people out there, I believe that there’s been in the thought of how to do this they don’t want the walkway through the middle anymore. They would rather see a beautification of the medium and so um, I would hate to have you finish up the rest of 40% of this work and find out that the major part of doing it is, is not necessary anymore. That’s my concern. I, I just don’t want to waste anymore money on something we can all agree is sure…”
BC- Hmmm…1/19/10 – Cristie Furth -“As a stakeholder on El Mar Drive I’m all for it and a lot of my neighbors and friends are. I don’t know who’s talking to you but my people that I know love the idea!”… Cristie Furth went for round two…saying the design was “lovely”…and saying stop the “stalling”..spend the million!…
Ocampo said they didn’t need the practice and he was ready to accommodate the Town…although he needed to look a the costs incurred and those of his consultants as well…and get back to the Town Manager…
Comm. Silverstone ” Town Attorney, what can we do at this juncture? You heard what is wanted.”
BC- Hmmm…1/19/10 – Cristie Furth -“As a stakeholder on El Mar Drive I’m all for it and a lot of my neighbors and friends are. I don’t know who’s talking to you but my people that I know love the idea!”…
The Town Atty said she saw no disagreement from Ocampo or the Town to change the direction, butr spoke of the costs and what a hit the budget would take for this going so far as to imply there might not be enough left in the budget to finish!…OUCH!…
Comm. Silverstone- ” We could do that even though we voted one way before are we in the position to change that?”
The Mayor jumped in and asked at what cost…Ocampo did not know!
Candidate Mayor Minnet -” I voted no to this to begin with because I knew this wasn’t a project that I felt the residents would want to move forward with and now we’re seeing it and now we’re sidestepping and we wasted a lot of money and that’s a problem. And I think the residents are seeing that that’s a problem consistent mode on, with the direction on this dais. I wasn’t for it to begin with and I’m not for it now. It’s unfortunate that now we have to sidestep and piecemeal this project. It wasn’t right to begin with and now what do we do? We’re sitting with the architects and the engineers who’ve done 50-75% and spent quite a bit of money on a direction that the majority of this town doesn’t want. We need to decide as a dais where we go. Who are we going to give this to? Is it going to go back to the Master Plan Steering Committee or are your thoughts and ideas going to come back to this commission for consensus? So that commissioners is the question. Number one do we decide to hold off on this project for a specified period of time? Number two who does it go back to for clarification? Those would be my questions.”
Commissioner Clottey said she thought Ocampo knew what the commission wanted and it should go back to the MPSC …stating the commission “can’t slap them [MPSC] in the face that’s their job and they’re an advisory to us and most of the time we accept their recommendations”…
BC- Hmmm…1/19/10 – Cristie Furth -“As a stakeholder on El Mar Drive I’m all for it and a lot of my neighbors and friends are. I don’t know who’s talking to you but my people that I know love the idea!”…
Comm. Dodd said the public comments from the residents were “a plea” for no walkways, greenspace and he wanted it passed back to the MPSC with Ocampo in attendance …
BC- this was exactly what was asked for by the MPSC and the consensus at the end of last year… right after the MPSC and the residents learned that the “Oriana million” could be used for the entire length of El Mar Drive!… To be at this juncture now …is the fault of the majority on the dais (who chose to disregard the consensus early on)….Silverstone-Clottey- McIntee and…
Cristie Furth -“As a stakeholder on El Mar Drive I’m all for it and a lot of my neighbors and friends are. I don’t know who’s talking to you but my people that I know love the idea!”…
The MPSC will meet in February..and in March it is up to the voters what kind of representation you have on the dais for the next 4 years!…Judging from the El Mar Drive median mess-up..”mucked-up” by the Silverstone-Clottey-McIntee-majority…the choice is easy… and it’s being heard loud and clear!….
more to come….
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Tags: Boards, Lauderdal e By The Sea Christie Furth, Lauderdale By The Sea Candidates Joe Couriel- Marjorie Evans, Lauderdale By The Sea Candidates Mayor Roseanne Minnet- Scot Sasser- Chris Vincent, Lauderdale By The Sea Commisisoner Jim Silverstone, Lauderdale By The Sea ElMar Drive Beautification Project, LBTS Agendas/Meetings, local government, Local Politics, Scoops
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