Comment

Comment by J.R. on June 13, 2011 at 12:25pm

TO ALL FCTP MEMBERS:

The City Council Meeting, that will consider both the Ethics bill and have a first reading on the Everbank/Parador Partners,LLC/El-Ad Group, subsidiary of Delek Group deal, will be at 5:00PM, Tuesday, June 14, at City Hall across from Hemming Plaza. Please try to be there. 

Also, below are names and contact information for all Council Members. If it does not post correctly, you can go to the link above and find the list on the COJ website.  Please contact them and tell them we need full more time to obtain full disclosure and information on these bills and register our concerns, and that you want them to defer action on them until July, at the very earliest.  Add any other concerns you may have, also, Many of us are strongly objecting to rushing through the Everbank, et a,l deal at mach speed, without even having been provided information about one of the major businesses who are a party to the deal, as well as many other details surrounding the issue. 

Thanks!

http://www.coj.net/City-Council/City-Council-Members.aspx

District Council Members
District 1: Clay Yarborough	Phone: (904) 630-1389 Email: Clay@coj.net Assistant: BeLinda Peeples
District 2: William Bishop	Phone: (904) 630-1392 Email: WBishop@coj.net Assistant: Suzanne Warren
District 3: Richard Clark	Phone: (904) 630-1386 Email: Assistant: Sonia Johnson RClark@coj.net
District 4: Don Redman	Phone: (904) 630-1394 Email: Redman@coj.net Assistant: Scott A. Wilson
District 5: Art Shad	Phone: (904) 630-1382 Email: AShad@coj.net Assistant: Debbie Delgado
District 6: Jack Webb	Phone: (904) 630-1388 Email: Webb@coj.net Assistant: Suzie Loving
District 7: Dr. Johnny Gaffney	Phone: (904) 630-1384 Email: Gaffney@coj.net Assistant: Bridgette Green
District 8: E. Denise Lee	Phone: (904) 630-1385 Email: EDLee@coj.net Assistant: Tiffany Hager
District 9: Warren A. Jones	Phone: (904) 630-1395 Email: WAJones@coj.net Assistant: Rupel Wells
District 10: Reginald L. Brown	Phone: (904) 630-1684 Email: RBrown@coj.net Assistant: Daphne Colbert
District 11: Ray Holt	Phone: (904) 630-1383 Email: Holt@coj.net Assistant: Connie Holt
District 12: Doyle Carter	Phone: (904) 630-1380 Email: doylec@coj.net Assistant: Rebekah Adams
District 13: Dick Brown	Phone: (904) 630-1397 Email: DickB@coj.net Assistant: Stan Johnson
District 14: Michael Corrigan	Phone: (904) 630-1390 Email: Corrigan@coj.net Assistant: Dianne Smith

　

At-Large Council Members
Group 1: Ronnie Fussell	Phone: (904) 630-1393 Email: RonnieF@coj.net Assistant: Mina Hosseini
Group 2: John R. Crescimbeni	Phone: (904) 630-1381 Email: JRC@coj.net Assistant:
Group 3: Stephen C. Joost	Phone: (904) 630-1396 Email: Assistant: Celeste Hicks Joost@coj.net
Group 4: Kevin Hyde	Phone: (904) 630-1398 Email: KHyde@coj.net Assistant: Alison Miller
Group 5: Glorious J. Johnson	Phone: (904) 630-1387 Email: GloriousJ@coj.net Assistant: Sandra Lane

 

Comment by CJ on June 13, 2011 at 11:21am

Rod is right! My plan..

Since public speech precedes individual bill address I will open up a dialog in my 3 minutes with hints to the Bills I plan to address individually containing some back ground to past failures and bullets from current Bills that highlight current errors but that also are repeating the past, as well as circumventing the law. My last address will bring it all together again emphasizing how their jobs or the future there of rely on their actions.

Food for thought, in the Bus terminal bill (361) if the bill gets approved as worded they will have approval to for for the whole new terminal as well as the Authority to run it.  See they are not asking to just buy land there  is more than one idea to the Bill which is illegal.  If it moves forward anyway we are bound to it and must to pay for the whole kit and caboodle because it approves everything they want for the whole project. Im pretty sure it can be stopped for the reason stated but the group is very cagey right now and there is no telling what they will do.

My guess the council is none to happy right now because I think these were slammed on them too plus one bill says the city needs no prior notice to the bills creation to the council because that part was waived and after they approve it, the Mayor and the JEDC has full control and any further service of the Council will longer be necessary, Nothing need pass through chambers again for approval  or funding.

 

What will help is turning council against the Mayor, at this point I think that should be easy for most because they along with us are being played for suckers.

Comment by J.R. on June 13, 2011 at 8:46am

Rod, failure to provide transparency and fully disclose vital information to the public is a major problem. The JEDC did not include El Ad Group on their Agenda for June 9, 2011, has left them un-named, and no identifying information has been provided related to them other than the amount of the forced taxpayer subsidy they would receive. Florida law requires full disclosure. I will be posting some information about them today, as well as new information about Parador.

I am planning to speak on both the Ethics bill and the Everbank/Parador Partners/El-Ad Group bill. El-Ad is a subsidiary of Delek Group, and nothing about it has been disclosed by the Mayor, JEDC, or City Council. There are three major private corporations/conglomerates that are players in this corporate welfare deal... not two.

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 13, 2011 at 8:10am

Rod, the whole point of this is time and it is not on our side since these issues were hidden from sight until they popped them on us a week or 2 ago.  They count on that, and that is what makes an ethics commission so important.  I have no idea if there is even time to do what you suggest or if people want to submit a group opinion (as Billie may do that at the city council meeting and ask for those people who support her opinion to stand..........or at least I hope she does and asks those who support her views to stand).

Comment by Rod Morrill on June 12, 2011 at 11:05pm

 

Patricia, JR and all,

 

I am in e-mail contact with CJ (Connie) and exchanging ideas, findings and plans and would suggest something for here.

 

Try to itemize the points of issue or wrong doing, remove all editorializing and opinion and create a "bullet List" of those items and then a summary paragraph of how serious these are and the time and resources needed to be applied to resolve them.  Finally a paragraph declaring that no processing of these matters could or should be done at least until e.g.   (a), (c), (g) etc. is done.

You can use that list to formulate whatever petitioning you do by phone, e-mail or speaking at City Council (important).

 

Here is just a suggestion to how to get you entire message presented at City Council within the time limit.

Divide the task to three people (or more if needed).

 

With three people each has a copy of the letter, which is the “List” and the two paragraphs.

You can divide the "Bullet List" up between two people.  Whoever gets called first hands the 19 copies of the written letter for each of the City Council Members to the clerk and reads the first half of the list. Whoever gets called second reads the second half of the list.  Whoever gets called third reads the two paragraphs.

Comment by J.R. on June 12, 2011 at 6:01pm

I don't know if anyone has pointed this out or not, but under this EverBank/Parador Partners,LLC/El-Ad Group deal, EverBank will get $2.75M in taxpayer subsidies if they move downtown, and $1M in taxpayer subsidies IF THEY JUST DO NOTHING AND STAY WHERE THEY ARE. That would be forcing taxpayers to pay for inactivity... which is Florida's and 26 other states' argument in Federal Court against Obamacare and U.S. citizens being forced to pay for it. It's not constitutional in that case and it's not constitutional in this one.

Further, there is nothing in Florida Statutes that I can find that allows county governments to force taxpayers to subsidize private businesses, let alone pay them what is tantamount to a $2.75M bribe to move downtown. EverBank is a private business and it can well afford to pay its own way.

If our squirrely elected officials are looking to consumate RICO deals, they need to move to Chicago... or Washington, D.C., where the Obamacare plot was hatched.

Comment by J.R. on June 12, 2011 at 6:01pm

I don't know if anyone has pointed this out or not, but under this EverBank/Parador Partners,LLC/El-Ad Group deal, EverBank will get $2.75M in taxpayer subsidies if they move downtown, and $1M in taxpayer subsidies IF THEY JUST DO NOTHING AND STAY WHERE THEY ARE. That would be forcing taxpayers to pay for inactivity... which is Florida's and 26 other states' argument in Federal Court against Obamacare and U.S. citizens being forced to pay for it. It's not constitutional in that case and it's not constitutional in this one.

Further, there is nothing in Florida Statutes that I can find that allows county governments to force taxpayers to subsidize private businesses, let alone pay them what is tantamount to a $2.75M bribe to move downtown. EverBank is a private business and it can well afford to pay its own way.

If our squirrely elected officials are looking to consumate RICO deals, they need to move to Chicago... or Washington, D.C., where the Obamacare plot was hatched.

Comment by CJ on June 12, 2011 at 4:42pm

I notified someone about the many concerns of our administration who in turn notified the Inspector General. 

I will write Gov. Scott soon this evening. I want to rattle cages and ring as many bells as possible to bring attention to our problems.

Im tired of the embarrassing cloud over this city brought by our "leadership" 

Comment by J.R. on June 12, 2011 at 1:41pm

GOVERNMENT IN THE SUNSHINE

RE: Florida’s Open Government and Public Records laws.

Welcome to MyFLSunshine.com!

This website is designed to help government agencies, the media and private citizens understand Florida’s Open Government and Public Records laws.

Government must be accountable to the people. The Florida Constitution – the document which sets forth our rights as citizens of this great state – provides that the public has the right to know how government officials at all levels spend taxpayer dollars and make the decisions affecting their lives. As such, the principle of open government is one that must guide everything done in government for its public.

Florida is among the nation’s leaders in providing for public access to government meetings and records. However, simply allowing access to records is no longer enough in light of the technological advances which make it infinitely easier, cheaper and more efficient to provide information to people far and wide. This website is intended to help facilitate that process.

If you need further assistance with questions regarding public records, or you are interested in the Attorney General’s Mediation Program, feel free to contact our office at 850-245-0140.

"A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both."
— James Madison

http://www.myflsunshine.com/

Comment by J.R. on June 12, 2011 at 1:29pm

This Executive Order by Governor Rick Scott is not specific to local governments, but it is specific to state government agencies who have oversight of local government requirements, procedures, ethics, transparency, following state laws:

Office of Open Government
Contact:
(850) 921-6099
(850) 488-0219 (fax)
scottopengov@eog.myflorida.com

The Office of Open Government is charged with providing both the Executive Office of the Governor and each of Florida’s agencies with the guidance and tools to serve Florida with integrity and transparency.
On January 4, 2011 Governor Rick Scott issued Executive Order 11-03 reestablishing the Office of Open Government.

The order states, in part:

“The Office (of Open Government) will (1) facilitate Floridians’ right to know and have access to information with which they can hold government accountable, (2) establish and maintain a website providing ready access to accountability information, (3) continue to assure full and expeditious compliance with Florida’s open government public records laws, and (4) provide training to all executive agencies under my purview on transparency and accountability. The Office will also have primary responsibility for ensuring that the Office of the Governor complies with public records requests in an expeditious manner.”

Open Government Contacts by Agency

Request a Public Record

Source: http://www.flgov.com/open_government/

THIS REQUIRED ACCOUNTABILITY AND ENFORCEMENT OF OPEN ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT RECORDS NEEDS TO ALSO BE IMPLEMENTED AND ENFORCED AT THE LOCAL COUNTY GOVERNMENT LEVEL, WHERE TRANSPARENCY IS OFTEN MADE AVAILABLE AFTER THE FACT, IF AT ALL.

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