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There is a post today at goodmorningfloridakeys.com, which you should be able to reach by clicking on this link:
the shadow flashes, the Navy commander maybe didn’t get fully vetted for the chief operating officer position, and other Florida Keys school district gossip
Jerry Weinstock, M.D., of Key West, retired Florida Keys schools psychiatrist, avid fisherman and environmentalist, replied to yesterday’s
Rumblings and mumblings from the key with no rudder – Key West
and
the shadow and the flash – Florida Keys school district
posts at goodmorniningkeywest.com and goodmorningfloridakeys.com, respectively.
Sloan: interesting very blog Blog — again GOOD WORK!! Jerry
Michael Shields of Key West told me yesterday that he enjoys reading my blogs and hopes I will keep at it because I offer perspectives people caught up in the thick of things do not see. I chuckled, said my perspective is different because I am not from this planet. Michael chuckled.
Meanwhile,
A senior living center letter to the editor in the Key West Citizen today from a fellow who used to be the US Attorney in Chicago, as I recall. As I also recall, he spent much of his career prosecuting the Mob. He has lived in Key West a good while and is active in community affairs and is on the board of Hometown! PAC. My interjected thoughts in italics.
www.keysnews.com
There is no reason for a referendum ‘do-over’
The illusion of choice: Commissioner Tony Yaniz wants another ballot vote on the assisted and independent living facility on the Truman Waterfront.
In a normal vote on a city referendum, the choices are: “yes” or “no.” In a Yaniz world, the choices are “no” or “we can do this as many times as it takes.” How democratic!
In 2007, a vocal but small minority vigorously opposed the building of this assisted living facility because it was not affordable and was being built on free land in the Truman Waterfront — a misnomer because the property being used for this elder community is nowhere near any water.
See letters to the city clerk and the editor of The Citizen by David Lybrand, at the time a Truman Annex resident and a strong opponent of the proposal.
I ran for mayor that year. One of the vocal minority, I was the only mayor or city commission candidate who opposed the referendum, but not for this reason. I opposed the referendum because it was understood there was not enough senior demand in the city to fill the facility and make the numbers work. It was understood the city was going to give the land to a developer, who would build the facility, then offer units first to Key West seniors, and then sell units to seniors who did not live in Key West. I maintained only Key West seniors should be able to live there, if the land was given to the developer. If the developer paid market rate rent, then I was okay with non-Key West seniors living there.
Here’s a birds-eye view of Truman Waterfront, the bare land, all of which is close to the waterfront.
The 2007 referendum was put on the ballot because the city was legally unable to lease any city-owned property for a term greater than 10 years without voter approval. Did the city and the Florida Keys Assisted Care Coalition (FKACC) err in not putting the $1 a year lease provision in the referendum? Hindsight dictates that they were.
But remember: The thrust of the referendum was to seek approval for (1) a 99-year lease on (2) this particular parcel of city land.
Yet it is undeniable that FKACC board members consistently told citizen groups, in minute detail, prior to the referendum vote, that but for free land, the facility could not be built, that the Truman Waterfront was the place for this facility and that the 99-year lease provision was vital for financing reasons.
All of that is true, except the FCACC board members told citizen groups that Truman Waterfront was the ONLY place the senior living facility could be built, which was not true. The city owned land on Stock Island where the senior living facility could be put, land far more convenient to the hospital, helicopter medical evacuation pad, North Roosevelt shopping centers and doctors offices. However, that land was not on the waterfront, and it was not next door to upscale Truman Annex.
Present-day opponents want the referendum — overwhelmingly approved by 67 percent of the voters — stricken and another vote taken.
They cannot establish, however, by clear and convincing evidence, a legally viable reason for this “do-over.”
Sheldon, as a retired lawyer you know that the wording of the 2007 referendum controls. There is nothing in the referendum about a nominal lease, and, as a retired lawyer myself, I say that means the city can charge market rent for the lease, if the city wishes to do so. I say this is just another condo development, with a new wrinkle - it is limited and tailored to seniors. I say, if the development is not limited to only Key West senior residents, who already live in and sleep nights in Key West, and not, say, in Key Haven, Marathon, Islamorada, Key Largo, Miami, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Toronto, London, etc., then it should not be subsidized by getting free land from the city. The developer should pay market rent.
Yaniz’s unsupported allegation that “his constituency” is against this facility is irrelevant to the will of the entire city’s voters.
Sheldon, you also know the 2007 referendum was not a binding referendum. The city commission does not have to put a senior living facility on Truman Waterfront, and it should not put one there, if that means giving free land to a developer who will market units to seniors who live up the Keys, on the US mainland and even overseas. That was never the the will of the voters. They were led to believe the senior living facility would be for Key West seniors, and that’s why they were okay with the city giving the land to a developer. If the voters had known there was not enough senior demand in Key West to fill the facility, if they had known the developer was going to sell units to seniors living up the Keys, on the mainland, and even overseas, would the voters have approved the referendum? That, I think, is what is bothering Tony Yaniz and some of the other commissioners, and city attorney Shawn Smith. They don’t want the city to subsidize a commercial condo development that is not purely for Key West seniors.
Democracy in the nature of elections must have finality and must have meaning to the voters. Democracy cannot just be a pacifier to give the voters the illusion of power over the City Commission.
Alas, the referendum wording was not clear re the free lease, nor was the referendum wording clear re the development being open to seniors from anywhere. Who takes the wrap for that? Looks to me FKAAC takes the wrap. It was their referendum. They went along with the wording the city commission approved. I bet the conch farm a similar rumpus will follow the “channel-widening study” referendum this year, if it is passed by the voters.
Sheldon Davidson
Key WestAlso in the Key West Citizen today:
College Rd. land swap talk heats up
Mosquito District, SPCA, 24/7 homeless shelter all want Stock Island property
BY GWEN FILOSA Citizen Staff
gfilosa@keysnews.com
Should the city of Key West kick out the Mosquito Control District from its College Road headquarters, services and staff will suffer on the 2-by-4 mile island, a 16-year veteran of its board said this week.
“I will fight very much to keep us here,” said Steve Smith, the Key West commissioner on the district’s board. “I don’t want a bare bones operation here that will kill our services. We can’t afford to not give the right service here.”
City commissioners on Tuesday signed off on allowing the city manager to explore other uses of the Stock Island property, 5224 College Road, namely to help house the planned 24-hour homeless services shelter.
It’s hardly news that city leaders are eyeing the spot for Mayor Craig Cates’ vision of a comprehensive center that feeds, shelters and provides a wealth of services to the island’s homeless.
City Commissioner Jimmy Weekley questioned why they needed to approve a resolution, since city staff has been kicking around the idea of a property switch for months.
“It’s kind of redundant,” Weekley said.
But the matter heated up this week when Smith and Cates exchanged some choice words about the possibility at Old City Hall, and quickly turned into a complex, 35-minute discussion that included concerns about locating the new homeless shelter and helping the Florida Keys Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to either expand or repair its quarters next-door on College Road.
This is where the senior living facility could have been located, instead of on Truman Waterfront.
Smith, however, said he will do what he can to keep Mosquito Control where it is, no matter what his fellow commissioners say.
“If we don’t have anywhere to keep trucks and vehicles, we’re going to have to cut staff back,” Smith said. “Now, you can call us at 3 p.m. and there will be someone at your front door by 4 o’clock.”
Cates replied in kind.
“The citizens pay their fair share of taxes and expect a good quality job whether the city of Key West makes a deal with you for the building or not,” he said.
Smith said he wasn’t threatening anyone, merely stating some facts about the agency’s limitations financially.
City Commissioner Mark Rossi backed Smith’s argument, promising that such a move would cost residents come tax season.
“I stand with you 100 percent,” Rossi told Smith from the dais. “I tried to work with the previous city manager to keep that building there.”
For eight years, Smith said he has been trying to negotiate with the city for the agency to buy the building to no avail.
Mosquito Control has $500,000 saved up to repair the city’s building, but won’t while the location remains uncertain.
A new building would cost some $3 million, according to Smith. Federal guidelines and security measures require strict controls on storing chemicals and equipment, he said.
Didn’t Mosquito Control spend a wad on a new headquarters in Marathon? A wad I heard plenty of grumbling about.
Mosquito Control has worked out of the city-owned College Road property since 1959, having always paid $1 a year. The current lease expires June 2014.
$1 a year might be the problem. If Mosquito Control had paid market rent, would we even be having this discussion?
Further complicating the issue is the Florida Keys SPCA’s longtime request to expand its footprint at its College Road location.
In January, the commission unanimously approved a resolution in full support of the SPCA’s plans for a new 15,000 square foot complex that could withstand flooding.
I have heard there is lots of empty office space in the nearby county detention center, and there could be lots of parking spaces underneath that empty office space, where Mosquito Control could relocate. Mosquito Control is a county agency. The Sheriff Department, which owns and operates the detention center, is a county agency. Let them work something out.
But City Manager Bob Vitas at Tuesday night’s meeting said the homeless shelter plan is the city’s priority.
Vitas said he knows the SPCA’s current place suffers from “deplorable conditions,” and called recently published photos of dogs standing in flooded cages “gamesmanship” that he doesn’t appreciate in light of having to work on solutions to the island’s homeless problem as well.
Since when is truth gamesmanship?
“That’s the gamesmanship that goes on,” Vitas said. “I’m a great game player, too, but in this case, this is a real serious issue.”
Vitas, if you screw with ASPCA, you will wish you had never been born. Animal lovers are far more formidable than senior lovers, homeless haters, mosquito fearers.
Move to Marathon?
On Friday, two of Smith’s fellow Mosquito Control District Board members disagreed with his theory that Key West would suffer in services if the agency lost its College Road address.
Board member Jack Bridges said moving the agency’s administrative operations from Key West to Marathon wouldn’t affect services at all.
“It doesn’t matter where we’re headquartered; we’re not a storefront business,” said Bridges on Friday. “We will certainly need to have a satellite office in Key West where we can store the trucks and chemicals.”
Under the county detention center.
Bridges supports moving the administrative operations to Marathon, where he said the second floor is vacant, save for a gym and a bathroom.
Makes sense.
“Over the long term it makes a whole lot more sense to move it to Marathon,” said Bridges. “You could move it to Timbuktu and it wouldn’t affect services.”
Smith didn’t like the idea.
“We could never move the whole thing to Marathon,” he said.
Phil Goodman prefers the Key West location stay put, but said there were several options to consider. “I’m not in favor of moving everything to Marathon,” he said.
Goodman added that the agency will remain obligated to performing all services in Key West no matter what building they work out of on the island.
Weekley said he didn’t want to see any jobs in Key West move out of town and noted the 100-mile round-trip commute to Marathon would financially sting some families.
Put the trucks and chemicals under the detention center. Move the administrative offices to Marathon, fill up that expensive building.
Vitas is merely investigating possibilities on College Road, Commissioners Tony Yaniz and Clayton Lopez cautioned.
“We’ve got a couple of properties we might be able to discuss with them, still in close proximity,” said Lopez. “We’re not kicking them out, so to speak, without any recourse.”
Yaniz said maybe the SPCA could move to the county property now holding the Keys Overnight Temporary Shelter (KOTS), while the Mosquito Control moved over to what is now the SPCA property, 5230 College Road.
KOTS allows homeless with dirty urine to stay there. Homeless loaded with booze and/or other narcotics stay there. If the city closes KOTS, those addicts will be forced into the new homeless shelter with homeless who are not addicts. A recipe for the new shelter’s failure as a place for trying rehab homeless people back into mainstream.
City Commissioner Teri Johnston questioned Smith about available space at the 6-year-old Marathon substation, where about 23 employees work.
“Wasn’t it the taxpayers who paid for the new building in Marathon whose second floor is vacant?” Johnston asked Smith.
“A piece of the second floor is empty,” Smith replied. “We could put maybe six administrative offices there.”
Yep.
Yaniz sponsored the resolution directing Vitas to explore uses for the Mosquito Control building. It passed 5-2 Tuesday, with Weekley and Rossi dissenting.
Guarding Key West from mosquitoes is a ground game, Mosquito Control Director Michael Doyle pointed out to commissioners.
Doyle said his Key West crew needs a building that can hold 16 employees and 27 trucks.
Talk with Sheriff Ramsay.
When it comes to inspecting and spraying the small city for mosquitoes, the district has a “guerilla warfare” type of approach, Doyle said.
“It’s in and out of houses,” said Doyle, “In the Upper Keys it’s more of a land war.”
The district has inspectors checking out 2,600 homes and 9,000 storm drains each month, in addition to aerial spraying.
Other workers set traps to search for mosquitoes.
The agency is investigating its options, said Doyle, and has mentioned relocating to the Marathon offices, built in 2007, which are much larger and newer than the Stock Island offices.
It would cost $500,000 to make the second floor of the Marathon substation ready for administrative offices, Doyle said, and the agency has been looking for available spots on Big Coppitt Key and on Stock Island.
“We need an acre,” Doyle said, estimating $1 million for the land alone and maybe $2 million or more for a building.
Timing is becoming a pressing issue, he said.
“We need to have someplace to move by June or July to get it in this year’s budget,” said Doyle. “The lease is up June 2014. We would need to move and start mosquito killing by March.”
Talk with Sheriff Ramsay.
Employees who live in Key West would have to start making the 55-mile one-way drive up U.S. 1 to Marathon, Doyle noted.
Cates ended the volley on an optimistic note.
“You all do a great job; the board does a great job,” Cates said. “Key West is trying to decide what’s the best use for it for the city.”
Cates already has decided the best use is a homeless Taj Mahal. That is more important to Cates than a senior living facility, mosquito control, unwanted animals.
On a sad and personal note, an email today from a Key West amiga:
Sloan, Thank you for calling me today, it meant a lot to me. Thank- you, also for your referral to Jerry Coleman, he is actually one of the few lawyers in town that I haven’t heard bad stories about. I’d left a message but the holiday weekend was already upon us. I thought you might appreciate this message I sent to my once “knight in shining armor.” I will be turning 62 in September and I think I have a story to tell. Lord knows I can’t contain it much longer, I am about to go crazy ( not really, actually I refuse to!) (ever since I took my sisters place for just a couple hours in the St. Francis psyche ward in 1971, so she could go home and shave her legs) it left a life long impression, you NEVER WANT to be institutionalized and herded like cattle… (or Sheeple!) Anyway, here’s to the good ‘ol USA, what’s left of it, and God Forbid, we ALL shut up! Thanks for being a pain in the ass to those who consider you so! Your keeping this country AMERICAN! God Bless Us All! Jan
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jan ___________ <_____________@yahoo.com>
Date: May 24, 2013, 7:54:47 PM EDT
To: Jeff Barnes <jeff@wjbarneslaw.com>
Subject: Non- representation agreement
Mr. Barnes, As per your suggestion, I agree, I need a different attorney. I am requesting a letter of non- representation from you. I have no words to describe my disappointment in your performance. Not once within the last year have you ever mentioned bankruptcy as an option. I didn’t at any time expect this, and it is happening with strategic planning, your trademark,I’m definitely outnumbered here. I only wish you could have been on my side. In fact, that is what you do for a living, fight banks? Long ago you said the best plan was that we should lose in the local court and that the best strategy would be to take it to the appellate level, where chances are better to prevail, that there would be very little bond, because there is no structure on that piece of land. I believed you, after all, you are for the people and against the fraudulent foreclosures, right? We both know there is no note. The plaintiffs lawyer requested a copy of the note from the clerk the day before the SJ hearing. If indeed he had the original, there would be no cause to request it. You have done irreparable harm to me Mr. Barnes. Wiping out all the work and hard labor Ive done for the last 2 decades, not to mention my devotion and dedication to an old soldier and his dying wishes. I’m sure as I knew him very well, that he would be enraged by your actions, Mr. Barnes. This not why he fought in WWII, or the Korean War, or the reason why any American soldier fights in any war in far away lands to protect the citizens of this great country, only to have others tear apart the fabric of our society, bit by bit. I trusted you, Mr. Barnes. Maybe that was one of the hugest mistakes of my entire life, which is swiftly turning to old age. I apologize for whatever I have done to you for you to treat me in this way. Never once have you mentioned bankruptcy as an option, and suddenly, when you couldn’t get me another emergency hearing, since the plaintiffs lawyer didn’t show up at last weeks emergency hearing at 1:45pm Friday for the stay of sale/ bond hearing. Why wouldnt they grant the bond and stay of sale if that lawyer didnt show, only to file an opposition to the stay 6 days later???? Why would the judge schedule another emergency hearing? Yes, I’m full of questions.
I paid you $3500. Towards this case as a retainer one year ago, I paid $3500, split up between November and December as a retainer on my other house which I worked so hard on to make beautiful. You hadn’t asked for more money on this case yet, but as long as I was mailing you, I put in another check for $1750, thinking you might need it by then. You mistakenly thought I said I would pay you $1750. Per Ad Infinum and you would have that to deduct your work from. You said you don’t bill and maybe that is where the problem is. Most lawyers keep intricate track of their hours, and you can see the work that’s being done. In our agreement it says nothing about that amount per month or I would know then I’d need to find another lawyer. Jan
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It seems not a day goes by that I don’t give legal advice to someone.
Sloan Bashinsky
keysmyhome@hotmail.com