Billing for Services

As we all know, the present governance is looking to take many services from under the "cap" and in many cases bill them directly to the residents.

To that end, the following is the hypothetical monthly bill that each resident will receive if the present governance has their way:

City of Marco Island
Monthly Combined Utility & Tax Bill
(Prototype)

Utility Related Charges

Water - As Is
$25.00

Water - Reuse
$0.00

Water - Drinking (Not from City Water)
$9.00

Sewage
$25.00

Sewage Treatment Plant Repair
$9.00

Sewage Treatment Plant Upgrade
$87.33

Sewage Treatment Plant Deep Injection Well # 45
$22.80

Beach Cleanup from Deep Injection Wells Suffusing Aquifer w/Contaminated Water Fund
$18.22

Reimbursement to Fortune 500 Hotel Chains for Loss of Business due to Beach Cleanup from Deep Injection Wells Suffusing Aquifer w/Contaminated Water
$109.67

Lease Payments for Fleet of Sewage Lift-Station Pumping Trucks
$99.20

Bond Interest Payments on Completed Phases of STRP
$45.00

Compensation to Family of Jorge Viera for being killed Implementing STRP
$0.00

Reimbursement to Contractor that Paid OSHA Fine Regarding Jorge Viera being killed Implementing STRP
$1.00

Special Assessment
(not subject to "Cap")

Fire Department
$14.75

Parks & Recreation
$1.25

Public Information Department (City-Wide Subscription to Naples Daily News)
$.50

Former City Manager Never-Ending Departure Compensation Package
$9.20

Police Chief Never-Ending Job Search Assistance Fund
$2.55

Police Chief Marital Issues Support Fund
$.60

Former Councilpersons Legal Defense Fund
$1.60

Jolley Bridge Toll - Supplemental Expenses
$1.90

Contractor Asbestos Cleanup Reimbursement
$45.80

"Marco Man" - Ray Charles Visual Art Appreciation Award
$1.40

Attorneys Fees: Hydrogen Sulfide Class Action Lawsuit
$809.09

"Teen" Center
$3.45

"Pre-Teen" Center
$1.20

"Post-Teen" Center
$2.00

"Post-Mortem" Center
$56.99

Stipend for resurrected Political Action Committee to hold more Hate Rallies (with wine and cheese)
$.80

Dog Defecation Monitoring Department
$.44

STRP Economic Impact Reimbursement Plan for Businesses
$2,909.55

STRP Economic Impact Reimbursement Plan for Residents
$0.00

Your Present Governance at Work!

iDebate

The iDebate is being held on January 10, 2008 at Mackle Park. Doors open at 5:30PM and runs to approximately 9PM.

The iDebate enables anyone to submit a question to the candidates. Simply click the iDebate logo on top of this blog and enter your questions. The format of the iDebate is detailed when you enter your question.

The goal is to ask every question thereby making the concerns of the individual and the public in general the most important issues to be addressed by the candidates.

The iDebate is sponsored by Joey's Pizza and this the Marco Island Blog!

Submit your questions today - your voice is the most important one in a democracy!

An Open Letter to The City Council

by Butch Neylon

Dear Councilors;

At the special called meeting scheduled for this coming Monday November 26^th you are being asked to award a contract for the Master Lift Station briefly outlined in agenda item 2A. There are several issues with this award of contract that I would like to bring to your attention as they affect the residents of Marco adversely.

This lift station will not be needed until the Mackle Park District is constructed and ready to go online. Mackle Park is not scheduled for construction until Year-4, 2009. This lift station will receive no sewage until 2010. Why are we scheduling it for construction at least a full year ahead of schedule?

The start of construction is scheduled for January 2008 and the contract proposes it will take 11-months to build. You promised our residents construction would not occur during peak season. You must respect that promise even if that means straddling two off season construction periods. This location is a major intersection and construction will adversely affect traffic and the Tennis Club. Compounding the problem will be the major increases in traffic as part of the detour necessary due to the closure of the East Winterberry Bridge.

There is no rush to accept these bids. They are good until Wednesday March 19, 2008. Part B – Instructions To Bidders, Section 3.1 clearly states that no bid can be withdrawn within 120 days after the bid opening. The City can accept any bid up to the 120 day limit with no additional cost.

Rony Joel and Bill Moss modified the standard terms and conditions for this and the next set of contracts to provide for increased fees to contractors if these contracts are cancelled. This action is very adverse to the best interests of Marco Islanders. It is clearly designed to benefit the contractors at the expense of the citizens.

This stealth change to the boilerplate that has been standard cancellation clause language for both the industry and Marco Island contracts for the past several years raises serious questions and doubts about the loyally of Mr. Moss or Mr. Joel. This totally inappropriate and anti-city action suggest a very serious violation of their fiduciary obligations to the city. These city employees have consistently favored the contractors over the residents of this City, and it is time for that to stop!

The following details the contract changes made by Joel and Moss to make it far more profitable to the contractors and more onerous for the citizens to cancel this and subsequent contracts. This change should be reversed, the original language should be reinserted into the contracts, and these employees should be censured for this attempt to degrade the residents protection under these contracts.

This is the original language that has been in our contracts for years.

TERMINATION FOR CONVENIENCE AND RIGHT OF SUSPENSION.

Owner shall have the right to terminate this Agreement without cause upon seven (7) calendar days written notice to Contractor. In the event of such termination for convenience, Contractor's recovery against Owner shall be limited to that portion of the Contract Amount earned through the date of termination, together with any retainage withheld and reasonable termination expenses incurred, but Contractor shall not be entitled to any other or further recovery against Owner, including, but not limited to, damages or any anticipated profit on portions of the Work not performed.

This language is straightforward and unambiguous. All of our present contracts have this clause and there is no reason to change it.

Here is the language that Moss and Joel have quietly substituted which will ensure a major windfall profit to the contractor if the contracts are cancelled.

TERMINATION FOR CONVENIENCE AND RIGHT OF SUSPENSION.

Owner shall have the right to terminate this Agreement without cause upon seven (7) calendar days written notice to Contractor. In the event of such termination for convenience, Contractor's recovery against Owner shall be limited to:

1. For Owner supplied material- A payment of five (5) percent of the invoice value for all material supplied by Owner that has not yet been installed by the Contractor, where the Contractor was responsible for vendor selection, shop drawing preparation, receiving and securing the material at a location designated by the Owner, and the Contractor assisted the Owner in the purchase order process.

2. For Contractor supplied material- A payment of seven and one half (7.5) percent of the invoice value for all material purchased by the Contractor and delivered to the project site and not used or installed by the contractor.

3. For Construction Bonds- Actual bond cost (based on vendor invoice) for the payment and performance bonds.

4. Mobilization and Demobilization-

A. Mobilization/ Demobilization included as a bid item- A payment of ten (10) percent of the mobilization cost balance not already paid. A payment of one hundred (100) percent of the demobilization shall be paid only after the project has surpassed the fifty (50) percent mark based on the CPM schedule. Prior to the fifty percent marked based on the CPM schedule, the Contractor shall be paid twenty (20) percent of the demobilization item.

B. Mobilization/ Demobilization not included as a bid item- The Owner shall pay the contractor for the actual documented (labor, material and equipment) cost incurred by the Contractor.

5. That portion of the contract Amount earned through the date of termination including, but not limited to, documented costs for labor, materials, equipment, supplies and storage of same through the date of termination, together with any retainage withheld.

Contractor shall not be entitled to any other or further recover against Owner, including, but not limited to, damages or any anticipated profit on portion of the Work not performed.

This language conveys major financial benefits to the contractors. Not only do they get paid a percentage of all the material ordered for the project even if they never install a single foot of pipe, but they also get their full bond cost, a portion of an arbitrary amount called Mobilization, and 100% of another arbitrary amount called Demobilization.

By awarding a contract with this language you will expose the residents of Marco Island to cancellation fees that are not earned, not appropriate, and not in the best interests of the residents of this city. I respectfully request that you, at the very least, withhold awarding these contracts as you have 120 days in which to act. It would, however, also be prudent to replace this new cancellation for convenience clause with the original one which worked for years.

Many of our citizens believe there are hidden agendas in the very pro contractor manner in which our staff deals with our contractors. Other citizens believe the council’s actions, including this language and the unwarranted acceleration of unneeded construction is nothing more than one more attempt by City Staff to increase the cost to cancel the STRP in order to provide a political platform for pro-sewer candidates for city council to stand on. City Hall has no place entering into the political arena to the determent of the residents of Marco Island and either motivation is reprehensible.

The proposed Sheffield and Lamplighter contracts also have this new cancellation clause inserted. If you do not revert to our standard language or postpone award of those contracts you will likely obligate the residents for several millions in cancellation charges. Please review this information and act in the best interests of Marco Island. Given the shelf life of these bids there is nothing to be lost by postponing any action until the fate of the sewer program is clear.

Respectfully;

Butch Neylon

Governance by Stealth

As was reported on this blog on November 13, 2007, the present governance convened a secret meeting to do something, as it turns out, regarding their ill-fated boating ordinance. What that something was, well, depends.

The issue raised herein was that if the present governance decided on anything during that secret meeting, then they would be in violation of the Sunshine Law.

So anyone that cared to follow this albatross began to wonder when and how was the decision was made to pursue the appeal. A published article alluded to conveyance of approval through body actions and non sequitur herd theory.

Not believing any of this, we issued a Freedom of Information request for the transcripts of the secret meeting in an effort to ascertain who voted for what.

We were denied the request via the following response:

"The transcripts for the closed meeting will be released following the conclusion of the litigation. See agenda attached for names of participants and explanation."

Now, with even the present governance knowing that they cannot admit to having made a decision on such action in such a secret meeting, we submitted another 119 request thus:

"Pursuant to Florida Statutes Chapter 119, provide transcripts of any and all events where the city council, or any city employee, or city attorney(ies) or any agent of the city voted for, or in any way decided that the city of marco island will pursue the appeal in the case against mr. david dumas and/or the boating ordinance."

To which the reply was:

"We do not prepare transcripts of regular Council meetings. The minutes from the November 5th 5:30 meeting have not been prepared yet. Those minutes will indicate that at the beginning of the meeting Chairman Minozzi commented that the City will continue its efforts to defend the anchoring ordinance through the appeal process. The transcript of the closed client-attorney meeting that preceded the meeting at 4:30 will be released following the conclusion of litigation of the matter."

Well, let's see ... nobody voted for it in the secret meeting, there is no record of a public vote, but the decision was announced in public by the council chairperson "commenting" that the city will pursue the appeal.

So ... that leaves us with the following choices as to how the present governance decided to pursue the appeal:

• the council chairperson decided to pursue the appeal on his own,
• the city manager and/or the city attorney made the decision,
• there was a vote in the secret meeting but the transcripts will not be released until the "conclusion of the litigation" thereby affording time for the statute of limitations to expire on Sunshine Law violations - not that the present governance needs such cover given that the ever facilitating Inspector Clouseau of the Collier County Sheriff's Department wouldn't recommend Charles Manson for prosecution if Manson were part of the present governance,
• a series of head nodding, arm flailing, beard stroking, eye-brow raising, head bobbing, grunting, hand wringing, winks, nods, mild eructation, emphasized harrumphing, and fidgeting reached critical mass in the secret meeting so as to leave no doubt that there was a vote - without actually voting,
• the decision was made by a majority of the councilpersons and transmitted to the council chairperson telepathically.
  

Intentionally leaving citizens in the dark as to how their purported government makes decisions leads to such speculation. And worse, it is symbolic of an intentional wanton process set forth to avoid detection by moving carefully - the meaning of stealth - a process that must be intolerable in a democracy.

Top Ten Reasons to Celebrate Thanksgiving

(As Related to Marco Island ...)

1. The city manager is leaving.
2. The city police chief is perennially looking to leave.
3. The detwatering is predominantly affecting the marine life - as opposed to predominantly affecting us.
4. There will be an election on January 29, 2008.
5. We can elect four persons to the next city council.
6. Ten solid residents have announced their candidacies thereby affording us choices!
7. None of the candidates have a last name of Clinton.
8. We live on a beautiful island ...
9. Striving to live in harmony ...
10. In the greatest country!

Your Tax Dollars (& Water)

Permit Application Under Review
Site Name:	CITY OF MARCO ISLAND/CR951/MARCO RIVER/ERP
FDEP Office:	SOUTH DISTRICT
Florida County:	COLLIER
Permit Type:	Water - ERP SGP No Conceptual Approval Permit
Application Number:	255209-003
Applicant Name:	A. RONY JOEL
Applicant Company:	CITY OF MARCO ISLAND
Application Received:	JUL-09-2007
Current Processing Status
FDEP is currently reviewing this permit request.

I'm OK, You're OK

By Doug Enman

This is a story that began in spring of 2006. The place is Marco Island Florida. The issue is the location of a sewage lift station in an easement on my property. The point of the story is my opinion as to how Mr. A. William Moss, Marco Island City manager, used and misused his position and power to influence me, my wife and the Marco Island City Council.

The first part of this story opens in a conference room at the Marco Island City Hall. In attendance is the city’s attorney, the city’s STRP project manager, the Public Works Director, Mr. A. William Moss, a city council candidate, my attorney, my wife and myself. After the usual introductions, Mr. A. William Moss proceeds to explain that the sewage lift station, they plan to install, is benign, quite, almost odorless and will be well landscaped to minimize its intrusive appearance. After making each sub point in his presentation he looks at my wife and me and says OKAY.

When he is finished with his presentation, I tell Mr. A. William Moss it is NOT OKAY to install this lift station at his proposed location because it will damage my existing septic tank. Being the well informed and well prepared manager that he is; he pulls out a site survey of my property and shows me the location of a septic tank on the drawing. He then says that because the tank is here and not where you say it is there will be no damage to it by the construction of the sewage lift station OKAY. I respond with, it is NOT OKAY because your drawing is incorrect with respect to the driveway and the orientation of the house. I then pull out the FINAL site survey, filed with the Collier County Health Department, and show Mr. A. William Moss the ACTUAL location of the tank and in order to prove to him that it is too close to the easement to construct a sewage lift station without damaging my septic tank. We suggest alternative sites and configurations be discussed at a second meeting. A second meeting did occur and the final configuration of the sewage lift station was agreed upon. A configuration, which to date, is used to construct other sewage lift stations.

The second part of my story opens at a city council meeting. At this meeting Mr. A. William Moss is presenting his reasoning for awarding contracts for STRP and Collier Boulevard. After each sub point he looks at the council, takes a breath and says OKAY. Councilors dutifully buy into his reasoning by looking glazed over and remaining silent. After all, he has all the facts and they only have an executive summary yellow sheet, which, by the way Mr. A. William Moss writes for them. After a short comment period with very little or no debate the contracts are awarded as presented to the bidders recommended by Mr. A. William Moss. The city manager flashes his OKAY back to the councilors and their unanimous vote is duly recorded by the City Clerk. What other outcome could one expect after Mr. A. William Moss obtained ‘buy-in’ using the same OKAY technique with individual councilors during phone calls, in e-mails, and over lunch?

This event coupled with my personal experience with Mr. A. William Moss drove me to view some of the video tapes on the city’s web site. Several show a similar pattern to the meeting in which I observed this behavior originally. Any college freshman who has taken Psychology 101 will recall this behavior as the ‘I’m OKAY your OKAY’ theory in Transactional analysis. It seems, to me, that Mr. A. William Moss has artfully and masterfully managed to pre-destine a single outcome from council votes for most of the past ten years. I, for one, must give credit where credit is due however, when one uses a manipulative and bad behavior to influence outcomes it is a discredit to that person. I wish Mr. A. William Moss well in his future endeavors’ but I will not mourn his departure.

Doug Enman

In Florida, It's OK to Pollute

Proving once again, that in the Good Ol' Boy Network, permits or lack thereof is irrelevant to protecting our health and our environment. Its protecting the Iron Triangle that counts.

For Immediate Release: November 14, 2007
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337

CORPS SLAMS FLORIDA FOR VIOLATING WATER QUALITY STANDARDS — Army Corps Refuses to Share Costs of Deficient Everglades Clean Up Projects

Washington, DC — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers refuses to contribute a dime to Florida water projects to reduce high levels of pollution flowing into and out of Lake Okeechobee, according to a memo released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The Corps claims the state is disqualified from federal assistance due to its continuing violation of minimum national water quality standards, noting that the state “is not likely to come into compliance for several decades.”

These harsh pronouncements are contained in a May 25, 2007 memo from Major General Don Riley, Director of Civil Works for the Corps, to Army Assistant Secretary J.P. Woodley. In that memo, Gen. Riley rejects overtures for a “50-50 cost sharing” between South Florida Water Management District and the Corps on Lake Okeechobee water treatment projects, citing both law and national policy stipulating that “the State must be in compliance with WQ standards for the current use of the water and the work proposed must be deemed essential to the Everglades restoration effort.”

By contrast, Gen. Riley contends that the state plans fail to meet either prong of this test –

• Polluted Water Revolving Door. “Cleaning water deemed essential to the Everglades restoration which then flows into Lake Okeechobee which has significant pollution issues and then to propose that the same water must be cleaned a second time as it flows out through canals from the Lake’s several outlets calls into question the economic wisdom of the water quality features being considered in this project.”
• Lack of a Clean Up Plan. Gen. Riley points to the need for the state to set total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for the affected water-bodies so as to be able “‘to implement applicable water quality standards with seasonal variations and a margin of safety’ but that, as of April 1999, no TMDL program had been implemented.” In fact, Florida fired its key water quality lab manager after he reported horrendous pollution levels. Meanwhile, the state’s already long overdue TMDL program remains in limbo; and
• Unclear Relationship to Restoring the Everglades. “The Federal Government would pay 50% of these costs in one limited instance – that instance being where the water quality features are deemed essential to the CERP [Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan] restoration effort…In the case of the Lake Okeechobee project, no such determination has been made.”
  

“Florida’s approach to water pollution is pure science fiction,” stated Florida PEER Director Jerry Phillips, a former enforcement attorney with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). “When a state lab confirmed Lake Okeechobee water so dirty that it might as well have come directly out of the rear end of a cow, DEP fired the lab manager and compromised the data, leaving the entire South Florida TMDL program in chaos.”

CBS-WINK Coverage of EPA/FDEP Order

CBS Network local affiliate coverage as aired on Nov 14, 2007 at 5PM and 6PM covering Marco Island's present governance refusal to abide by EPA/FDEP letter ordering that all dumping of toxic effluent into the waterways cease immediately.

click arrow to play

Videos of Effluent Dumping AFTER Cease Order

Four videos proving that the present governance continued to dump the toxic effluent from the dewatering into the waterways AFTER receiving the cease order from the FDEP/EPA are available in the VIDEO LIBRARY! and NEW! VIDEO INDEX links on this blog.

Videos taken November 14, 2007 at approximately 4PM on Marco Island.

Marco Island Governance Found in Violation of Environmental Laws

Note: Despite receiving this directive five days ago, today, the present governance ignores the letter and the dewatering continues as of this morning Nov. 14, 2007. The video, photographic and research evidence put forth herein was and is the basis for action.

SENT VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

November 9, 2007


Mr. A. Rony Joel, P.E.
Public Works Director
City of Marco Island
50 Bald Eagle Drive
Marco Island, Florida 34145

Email: RJoel@cityofmarcoisland.com

RE: Collier County-DW

Marco Island
Dewatering site(s)

Dear Mr. Joel:

Our records indicate that you may be in violation of Chapter 403, Florida Statutes and the rules promulgated thereunder.

The City of Marco Island has discharged water from the dewatering site(s) to surface waters of the state without a permit. Florida Administrative Code Rule 62-620.300 (1) states that no person shall discharge wastes to waters without a permit from the Department, unless exempted by Department rule or statute.

Please submit an application and fee for these dewatering activities. You may qualify for a permit for discharging from Non-Contaminated sites. The requirements for this permit can be found in: Rule 62-621.300(2) , F.A.C. Generic Permit for
Discharge of Produced Ground Water from any Non-Contaminated Site Activity

- Provides specific discharge limits and operation requirements for discharges of produced groundwater from any site activity to surface waters.

The link for this is http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/wastewater/rules.htm#industrial.

If these activities do not qualify for the above permit please contact this office to determine the type of permit required.

You are advised that any activity that may contribute to violations of the above described statutes and rules should cease immediately. Continued discharges from dewatering activities in violation of state statutes or rules may result in liability for
damages and restoration, and the judicial imposition of civil penalties pursuant to Sections 403.141 and 403.161, Florida Statutes.

Please notify the Department in writing within 15 days as to what actions you intend to take in order to address these deficiencies.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Deanna Newburg at (239) 332-6975, ext. 173, Charles Davault at ext. 165, or Keith Kleinmann at ext. 182. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Sincerely,

__________________________
Keith Kleinmann
Environmental Manager
DWF/jli

cc: Elsa Potts
Jon Iglehart
Elijah Fleishauer

=========================================
For the original letter, CLICK HERE.

Hiding or Ashamed?

In yet another incredulous maneuver by the present governance, all residents of Marco Island will once again be involved in some expensive endeavor – without our approval – without knowing which councilors voted for it – without knowing who authorized it – without knowing where it’s headed.

Of course we are referring to the closed door meeting of Monday November 5 where it was decided to pursue an appeal of the present governance’s loss to their ill-fated “boating ordinance”.

The off-island press has correctly brought up two serious problems with this behavior, the most important of which is that a secret meeting where an approval takes place appears to violate the Sunshine laws. Of course, the present governance, having once again blundered, spins it with intellectually insulting comments by alluding to having made or not made or sort of made a decision using head nodding and positive grunting as opposed to an actual vote.

Yep, we are all stupid. But not to worry about prosecution since the county will never prosecute the present governance given the political prostitution that exists between the two. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office won’t recommend prosecuting this crew even with signed confessions and videos.

But beyond hiding or being ashamed of their actions, there are even far greater problems. Conducting a “strategy” session behind closed doors on a criminal matter is tantamount to setting up an ambush – which is not only unethical but arguably illegal.

Even being above the law, one would think that the ethical councilors would have the wherewithal to ask:

• Why are we committing to moneys we can ill afford to spend on something that has no constitutional, human, environmental or practical value?
• Why does the present governance insist in placating special interests at the expense of the residents?
• How many reasonable people care if and when and where rich people park their yachts?
• Aren’t there enough laws in place to regulate what boaters do in state waters ... without having to come up with another one that is being successfully defended by a quarter-million member organization?
  

We call on the principled councilors to remedy this abomination and demand the release of the transcripts of the meeting, enable public input at an open council meeting, then vote – in the open – lest you be hiding something or are ashamed of your position.

Don’t Repeat History Here

As we gear up for the campaign to elect four city councilpersons, let us break the norm in politics and government practices –

As a community in dire needed of elected officials that represent all the people, respect all the people, rebuke those in their charge that denigrate people, and protect all the people, let’s see if we can start a road to these noble goals by having a campaign that is devoid of personal attacks, slurs, and character assassinations.

There must be no room for this ignoble behavior in the process leading up to the method by which we implement the greatest form of government ever to be conceived.

A campaign where the marketplace of ideas are in of themselves debated is what we desperately need, is what we urgently deserve. Challenge the ideas and plans on their merit, irrespective of who brought them to our attention. But challenge them with facts, as slurring the idea with vitriol and hate quite accustomed by the select few on this island and their organs in the press is tantamount to slurring the individual.

And there is a special plea to those souls in the blogosphere that put forth whatever of certainly dubious value under the disguise of anonymity. While this author affords no worth to anything posted by anonymous keyboard mechanics, it seems that others do.

You can instill credibility in our form of government by simply ceasing to look at anonymous or fictitiously assigned postings – rest assured that you will miss nothing since these nameless folks are not Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel García Márquez, or other Nobel Laureates in Literature, nor are they Madisons, Jeffersons, Jays or Tocquevilles.

For proof that the character assassinations posed by hacks afford no value whatsoever to the democratic process, consider the following makeup of our history:

• “Our President has lied to us.”
• “He has falsely led us into this war.”
• “He has abused our civil rights.”
• “He has exceeded his Presidential powers.”
• “Americans are dying because of this war that should have never been fought.”
• “He was overstepping his role as President and violating our civil rights.”
• “He is a dictator and a tyrant.”
• “A slangwhanging stump speaker.”
• “A half-witted usurper.”
• “A mole-eyed monster with soul … of leather.”
• “The present turtle at the head of the government.”
• “Unfit.”
• “A political coward.”
• “A dictator, timid and ignorant.”
• “Shattered, dazed, utterly foolish.”
• A speech by the target of all the above smears was branded as “ludicrous, dishwatery and silly” by the London Times.
  

Don’t repeat this history here for you may be preventing an Abraham Lincoln from even seeking office. And if there was ever a community that needed a Lincoln, and a “ludicrous, dishwatery and silly” Gettysburg Address, it’s here.

Get Ready ...

REUTERS
August 2007

WASHINGTON – The number of U.S. beaches declared unsafe for swimming reached a record last year, with more than 25,000 cases where shorelines were closed or prompted health advisories, an environmental group reported Tuesday. The Natural Resources Defense Council, which compiled the report from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data, said the likely culprit was sewage and contaminated runoff from water treatment systems.

“Aging and poorly designed sewage and storm water systems hold much of the blame for beach water pollution,” the group said in a statement. “The problem was compounded by record rainfall, which added to the strain on already overloaded infrastructure.” Other factors include urban sprawl in coastal areas, which destroys wetlands and other natural buffers like dunes and beach grass that could otherwise filter out pollution, the group said.

In its 17th annual report on beach water quality, the group found the number of no-swim days at 3,500 U.S. beaches doubled from 2005 to 2006 along the oceans, bays and Great Lakes.

The beaches at highest risk are those that are most popular, close to pollution sources or both.

Indispensable Services

The candidates vying for the city council should be formulating their respective plans by which to help Marco Island recover from the seeming fiscal mess they are inheriting. No doubt that all services should be evaluated in terms of efficiency. However, such study must also evaluate the intrinsic but perhaps not inherently obvious benefit of every service in terms of the longer term effects to the city’s financial health.

Clearly, none of the declared candidates will opt to jettison police, fire and emergency services as part of a plan to reclaim the island’s wasted wealth. But what may not be clear and therefore become perceptibly easy marks for discontinuation are community programs.

Community programs should not be targeted as dispensable because there is much more at stake. By looking to eliminate community programs as a means to austerity, the recovery could be prolonged or otherwise thwarted.

The onus of the next city council is to re-establish the harmonious community congruous in its zeal for the way of life on Marco Island. Without a community, no fiscal rebuilding plan will succeed. The new council can’t simply rely on austerity measures, forensic audits, prosecution of malfeasance and seeking redress from the contractors’ bonanzas as the strategy by which to regain our financial wherewithal.

Analogously, the new council should not look at the revenue side of the budgetary spectrum as a money printing press – as all governments have the penchant to do – without due consideration as to ultimate source of those funding sources.

Namely, the forthcoming council can not simply address the pecuniary troubles through accounting and policy terms in order to rebuild fiscal sanity. They must be ultimately cognizant that the money roads originate from and lead to …

A community is but a cooperative collective of residents and responsible business entities, the former being indispensable to the latter. It is only with concerned and active residents that the new council will have the financial support and popular mandate to succeed in carrying out their vision for facilitating the transition of making Marco Island a paradise once again.

But because an appreciable number of residents have been driven out, maligned or otherwise alienated due to the spiraling cost of living, or because they happen to disagree with the ruling class, or because they simply became disgusted with the entire governing process, respectively, there must be a systematic agenda by which the most vital part of the community – the people – once again become active and willing participants

We can go a long way to that end by ensuring that the new governing body is an all-inclusive city council, respectful of all points of view and serving the residents and business interests – in that order.

And as an all-inclusive respectful government is essential in reestablishing the cooperative and collaborative spirit, but so are community programs and initiatives, for after all, the latter is but an extension of the former.

An expanded community/activities center with even greater programs is one of those essentials that must be identified. If anything at all ran exceptionally well during the dark years was the Marco Island Parks & Recreation service. Let that function and the related programs and activities expand so as to facilitate the embracing of a greater community – a community that must come together in their diversity of age, wealth and politics.

Also along these lines is bringing to Marco Island a high school for academic excellence. While the majority of those polled oppose a high school, consider the demographics of those being polled. Also consider that a community is made up of seniors, part time residents of all ages and young families with children. And also consider the numbers: Presently the elementary school and the middle school have approximately 900 children. Do we want those families to also flee – as their peers have done in droves over the last two years? We give away somewhere between $55,000,000 and $70,000,000 is taxes annually to the Collier Country School District. How about investing part of this money – our money – in our community? And talk about increase revenues by which to ameliorate the serious financial crisis we are facing? Bring a high school for exceptional education to a community and watch what happens to the demand for quality housing and the economic boon that comes with it.

There was talk of a teen center. Let’s go forward, for we desperately need to broaden the range of demographic inclusion in this community so as to ensure viability and survivability. And to that end, what better teen center is there than a premiere high school? One paid for already, many times over?

Generally it is not the role of non-socialistic forms of governments to provide for community efforts. This is true, affirmed as such by Hamilton, Madison and Jay. But the founders of this great experiment also knew that dire times call for dire measures. And arguably, irrespective of where one stands politically, Marco Island is in such times.

Hence this is a call to identify all of the indispensable services that will remake this community, and to protect them so that we may unite and rebuild in unexpected hours.

Update on Super Poll #4

We are pleased to announce that the analytics – namely how the numbers, statistics and graphs were derived – have been validated and proven correct by an independent source. The source is an academic economist who was provided with the entire database and has no ties to us or the island.

By virtue of the fact that the poll was made available on the internet without restrictions, it was truly an open, fair and balanced poll. Efforts were made to reach out to as many potentially interested people as possible. Emails were sent to varying email lists, including several times to lists containing city supporters, members of the now defunct local neo-nazi hate group, and people that have made personal attacks against anyone who dares even to question the present governance.

Despite these extraordinary efforts, if those that are anti-city (by virtue of their personal anonymous attacks on those of us that have an opinion), opted not to vote, that was their choice. Their refusal to participate in an open community service was their decision apparently driven by their own questionable motives, but by the same token their repudiation of anything positive does not invalidate the openness and the effort of the poll.

But unlike closed, special interest polls, like those of the chamber of commerce (you have to be a member to vote), and MICA (you have to be a member of their mindset to vote), our poll was open to everyone, anyone and from anywhere.

Which raised a curious albeit ignorant objection from an anonymous member of the Hate Slate (An aside: we have been informed that the term Hate Slate is being used in postings. This blog will shortly pursue copyright infringement venues given that we were the first to use it quite some time ago to depict those that participated in the supremacists’ rally that fortunately was captured on video by a resident who was later verbally accosted by one the supremacist with a hoary racial trope). This anonymous person argued, not well, that a vote could be from someone not related with, interested in, nor have anything to do with Marco Island since the vote is via the internet and that voter could be anywhere. True. But why would anyone take the time to answer questions about Marco Island – and leave their computer address and often time their name – if they were not interested in the issues of Marco? Also, unlike the present governance, we don’t discount temporary residents or tourists – which are more than likely not on Marco Island.

We reached out to a city supporter and asked for input on formulating the questions. That person provided some suggestions which were used. Other suggestions did not apply to this poll, but will be used in future polls.

We used sophisticated algorithms to minimize, if not eliminate in its entirety, the chance that the final results included the same person voting several times. We are quite confident that these rubrics were successful, especially given the number of emails we received from voters complaining that they were locked out. In all of these cases, we were able to prove that they had voted before!

Invariably, many that don’t fare well in polls or in articles act out the worst of the zeitgeist – demean, besmirch, and threaten the messenger. As has happened here. Good news, isn’t it?!