Commissioner Indian Giver !
Todays' Broward County Commission meeting was one for the record books.
Commissioners crying, yelling, stomping their feet over the proposed Ethics Proposal. They even had to call a time out and send everyone to their corners for a cooling off period!
But while Rome was burning, and Commissioner's ethics was the topic, District 9 County Commissioner Al C. Jones was busy passing out goodies to the neighborhood Presidents in his District by e-mail!
Commissioner Al C. Jones .... formerly just Al Jones
Here is the first e-mail which arrived just before 1:30 this afternoon
Greetings District 9 Homeowner’s Association Presidents,
The Broward County Commission has been given tickets to the two pre-season Miami Dolphin Games listed below that will be presented to the constituents of each perspective District. Commissioner Jones wants to present each president with two tickets to one of the games for distribution to your members or yourself.
Miami Dolphins -vs- Tampa Bay Buccaneers Saturday, August 14th, 2010 @ 7:00PM
Miami Dolphins -vs- Atlanta Falcons Saturday August 27th, 2010 @ 7:00PM
Please note there is a limited amount of tickets and they will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. So please contact our office as soon as possible. Also, to ensure constituents of District 9 are served, we will need the name and address of the recipients.
But then, the County Commission came back to the dias and finished thier business about the ethical behavior of Commissioners and this e-mail followed about 5:00 p.m. .....
Attention District 9 Homeowner Presidents!
In lieu of today’s vote by the Broward County Board of County Commission which approved Item No. 7, Motion to consider enactment of Ordinance creating Chapter 1, Article II, Section 1-19, relating to a Code of Ethics for the Broward County Board of County Commissioners on the August 10th Public Hearing Agenda, the former offer to present two tickets to the Miami Dolphins, August 14th - Tampa Bay Buccaneers and August 27th - Atlanta Falcons game has to been rescinded.
Maybe the new Ethics Law is working already !!
Commissioners crying, yelling, stomping their feet over the proposed Ethics Proposal. They even had to call a time out and send everyone to their corners for a cooling off period!
But while Rome was burning, and Commissioner's ethics was the topic, District 9 County Commissioner Al C. Jones was busy passing out goodies to the neighborhood Presidents in his District by e-mail!
Commissioner Al C. Jones .... formerly just Al Jones
Here is the first e-mail which arrived just before 1:30 this afternoon
Greetings District 9 Homeowner’s Association Presidents,
The Broward County Commission has been given tickets to the two pre-season Miami Dolphin Games listed below that will be presented to the constituents of each perspective District. Commissioner Jones wants to present each president with two tickets to one of the games for distribution to your members or yourself.
Miami Dolphins -vs- Tampa Bay Buccaneers Saturday, August 14th, 2010 @ 7:00PM
Miami Dolphins -vs- Atlanta Falcons Saturday August 27th, 2010 @ 7:00PM
Please note there is a limited amount of tickets and they will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. So please contact our office as soon as possible. Also, to ensure constituents of District 9 are served, we will need the name and address of the recipients.
But then, the County Commission came back to the dias and finished thier business about the ethical behavior of Commissioners and this e-mail followed about 5:00 p.m. .....
Attention District 9 Homeowner Presidents!
In lieu of today’s vote by the Broward County Board of County Commission which approved Item No. 7, Motion to consider enactment of Ordinance creating Chapter 1, Article II, Section 1-19, relating to a Code of Ethics for the Broward County Board of County Commissioners on the August 10th Public Hearing Agenda, the former offer to present two tickets to the Miami Dolphins, August 14th - Tampa Bay Buccaneers and August 27th - Atlanta Falcons game has to been rescinded.
Maybe the new Ethics Law is working already !!
Great scoop! Commissioner Wexler told the public in this meeting that those were to be given out to the poor!
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Wexler was wrong....Tim Smith is supporting another person in the race...HOW ABOUT TRANSPARENCY TIM!
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Ethics reform...Broward County public officials...when pigs fly!! Gremlin
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WOW!!! I guess that dingbat thought that bribing people for votes was OK before they passed the law today- I don't know which is better- that,or putting a " C " in his middle name, obviously trying to confuse voters with another Alcee- That speaks volumes about what he thinks about the intelligence of his constituents......The joke is on him!!!!!!
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WOW!!!
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Gremlin said yesterday ethics reform would happen when "pigs fly". Last night some very plump pigs who feed at the public trough were coerced into passing strong ethics reform initiatives. I would guess they will now hope against hope that the courts will intervene and weaken the initiative or that they can navigate around the reform provisions. Hope springs eternal among our elected officials who have the credo: a public office is a public lust.
Gremlin
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LA ....I'm on the record supporting Margaret Bates for the District 9 Commissioner seat... she is the only candidate that has agreed ( in writing ) to support that district's residents by pushing to bring the County TIF money to the new CRA....
..... Shame on Commissioner Jones, and my former colleague Carlton Moore, for refusing to do so....I'm working to get Bates elected....come to the Middle River Terrace Park on Sat. Aug. 21st at 5 pm and join the rally !!...
P.S. who are you LA ?
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Too bad the tickets weren't for a boxing match. Oh, they have that at the county commission meetings already! The commissioners should use the tickets themselves. They could all sit together to get to know one another better!
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An Open Letter from Charles Jordan - Trust For Historic Sailboat Bend
August 29, 2010 at 7:46 am
Dear Mayor Seiler:
We read the article by Dan Christensen in BrowardBulldog.org and the Sun-Sentinel with great interest in how you handle your quasi-judicial responsibilities as Mayor, specifically regarding your letter of September 14, 2009 (attached). Your flippant response to what we view as a serious violation of due process requires that we set the record straight.
Here are the facts and the questions they raise:
Your quote: “It is like a judge making a comment 10 years ago that he likes to protect dogs. Now, the judge is hearing a dog abuse case and people say he prejudged the case because 10 years ago he said he liked to protect dogs,” Seiler said. Your analogy misses the mark by ten years.
In the Dr. Kennedy Homes case, no one is saying that you said something ten years ago, in general, about being against historic preservation or against public housing for very low income families and therefore cannot be an impartial panelist in a quasi-judicial process.
In fact, you wrote a letter of support for a specific project, the Dr. Kennedy Homes, on the first day of public hearings to decide whether the City of Fort Lauderdale would support the project. You didn’t do that as Jack Seiler, private citizen; you did that as Mayor “On behalf of the City of Fort Lauderdale” (your words) on City of Fort Lauderdale letterhead (see attached).
You stated that the letter ‘was for the specific purpose of supporting the authority’s project application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’ (words attributed to you in the attached article). On whose authority was this letter sent? Was there a City Commission vote on the matter? It would seem that such a blatant and willful misrepresentation of the status of the project would be well beyond your power as Mayor under the City Charter. It raises many questions as to the entire public process:
· How did you know on September 14, 2009 that at least two other City Commissioners would eventually go along with you on March 2, 2010?
· Are there financial beneficiaries of your premature letter of support?
· Who in the private sector financially benefits from the privatization of our public housing in the City of Fort Lauderdale?
· Is it good public policy, in difficult economic times, to reduce the number of public housing units available to very low income families from over 100 units to only 14 units at the Dr. Kennedy Homes?
· Is the City of Fort Lauderdale giving up the mission of public housing? The City’s Comprehensive Plan indicates a loss of 184 public housing units between 1987 and 2007 – and this doesn’t even count the subsequent loss of Dixie Courts and the proposed loss of the Dr. Kennedy Homes.
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Seiler letter continued -
Historic Trust for Sailboat Bend
· Was the letter used to induce HUD to support the project, without full public input into the required Section 106 review, by representing that there was widespread support of the community when in fact there was opposition to the project?
· With major federal government tax credits at stake, why didn’t you pause to consider the legal processes of approval and the fact that you are the member of a five member commission that is the last stop in the quasi-judicial process before heading to circuit court?
· Why didn’t you disclose the letter, or the communications that led to the letter, at the public hearing for the Historic Preservation Board appeal on December 1, 2009 or at the de novo public hearing on March 2, 2010?
You also are quoted as saying you knew of no opposition to the authority’s plans. This was news to many of us in the Sailboat Bend Historic District. The opposition dates back to meetings held as far back as 2006 and has been in the public record at least since 2008. The Fort Lauderdale Housing Authority was well aware of the opposition. Why weren’t you?
The project had already been through two public hearings regarding the plat approval dating from 2008. There was even a hearing, approving the plat, before the City Commission on February 17, 2009 between your election and your inauguration as Mayor; Sailboat Bend representatives were there to object to a plat that contemplated demolition of such a large portion of the historic district, as they had twice done before the Planning and Zoning Board. There was even opposition to the plat by members of the P & Z Board as evidenced by their split vote to approve.
How elected and appointed officials handle their quasi-judicial responsibilities demonstrates whether it is possible to have fair and impartial public hearing in the City of Fort Lauderdale, regardless of whether the applicants are politically well connected or not. That is true, whether the issue is Dr. Kennedy Homes, the First Presbyterian Church PUD, Bahia Mar PUD or any other project of major impact on our established neighborhoods.
It is our hope that the City of Fort Lauderdale will govern according to its code and apply the same set of rules for all property owners – and hear all of the evidence before ruling.
Sincerely,
TRUST FOR HISTORIC SAILBOAT BEND, INC.
Charles M. Jordan
Vice President
Attachments
Charles M. Jordan
Vice President
TRUST FOR HISTORIC SAILBOAT BEND, INC.
Post Office Box 1776
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33302-1776
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