Lies, Tract K, Eagle, High School

A good-sized high school can be built on Tract K within existing state and federal environmental laws.

But that is not what the cogent residents of Marco Island have been fed. Herein are the facts.

The History
Tract K was deeded to be a school site. In fact, the actual recorded deed clearly states SCHOOL SITE. This parcel of land was a vital element of the first and second movement of the last three years to build a high school on the island.

After the second initiative to establish a high school on Marco Island, local operatives formed United Energy Technology [UET] (Monte Lazarus and Gary Elliott et. al.) with the faux benevolent purpose of turning Tract K into a power generating property so they can sell the electricity to the charter middle school (which of course their operatives have super majority control of that school's board). They negotiated a non-public deal with superintendent of Collier School Dennis Thompson, and then they set out to sell the trick to the City.

Since UET (kind of sounds like UEB doesn't it?) could not change the wording on the deed (if it were not recorded at the court house they would have), they set their propaganda machine in motion: can't build a school on Tract K because of an existing eagle's nest. So should the land go to waste? NO! The only thing that can be built is their power generating facility.

Something about 330' setbacks, six years that the nest had to be abandoned and how environmentally sensitive UET operatives were. (An Entertaining Aside: Nearly chocking to death with laughter, aren't these the same environmentalist comosellamas that endorsed the dumping of millions of gallons of untreated effluent into the Gulf of Mexico, buried asbestos – right over an actually endangered species the burrowing owl – and pulverized asbestos not a mile from two schools?)

The puppets on the City Council repeated these ruses as fact. The staff was told to what to say and the staff testified willingly. A power generating facility could be built … but not a school.

Ipso facto, no school.

The Outings
Local watchdog Bill McMullan came up with a plan to expose UET. Despite the approving acknowledgement by the then City Council and the Goebbels-esque propaganda by the syndicate, the watchdog's strategy worked: have the citizens bypass the local syndicate and petition the state directly. UET was denied their grant and they were exposed.

A victory, but their damage was done.

At the same time this author contacted the president of MICA Howard Jordan to implore his organization to do what they claim they do. Since the deed clearly states SCHOOL SITE we thought that MICA would at least suggest that Tract K be used for a SCHOOL SITE. We were wrong. Mr. Jordan declined, claiming that MICA would not take a public position because their membership would not take on this issue and besides, this Tract K thing was too political.

The anything-but-a-school mantra was cemented. Proved emphatically when this author addressed the City Council on the cistern initiative (the other environmentally sound idea that the syndicate condemned and sought to torpedo) when at the end of his address said "And on an unrelated note, a school can be built on Tract K". The immediate response from Councilhead Popoff "There is an eagle on Tract K."

No kidding? So instead of asking for explanation, a rationale, the standard response: get lost.

Akin to the STRP being exposed as an environmental hoax, the cistern costing $5,500 and saving only a milliliter of water, there being pictures of septuagenarians burying asbestos, naming city hall was not done secretly, Charlie Crist didn't get involved with the STRP cover-up, and other lies, the corruption of misinformation leads to ignorance only to be exposed when it is too late.

As it wasn't too late for the cistern (well, we did lose out on the first grant thanks to the lies), it may not be too late for Tract K and a school.

The Facts
A school can be built on Tract K. And a big one at that.

In very recent conversations by this author with the state and federal agencies responsible for eagle protection, they are more than eager to work with the designers of a school. Additionally, a structure can be built much – very much – closer to the eagle than the other regurgitated non-fact of 330' without any problems or issues.

Actually a school that is active in environmental issues that "houses" or is the home for an eagle was found to be very exciting.

An Aside
The eagle is not on the endangered list. It was declassified as needing protection years ago.

One finds it odd that the state environmental bodies responsible for the eagle (thank God it wasn't the Florida Department of Environmental Protection – they would have shot the bird right out of the nest and had their own John Inglehart do the "investigation") was aware of the power generating scheme but yet had no objections, despite the known problems with the air and light above and near a solar panel field. Also odd is the unfamiliarity by these avian protecting agencies of when a real endangered bird – the burrowing owl – literally disappeared from the Marco Island asbestos dumping ground within days of the matter becoming public – a disappearing act without the required permits or any other paper trail.

Summary
A school can be built on Tract K with the eagle where it is, and the space be optimized to house a regular school with the usual accouterments for the number of expected students.

As Foreseen

In answering the question of whether the citizenry should entrust but one individual to head a government or agency, James Madison gave this answer:

These questions cannot be fully answered without supposing that the fears of discord and disunion among a number of counselors exceeded the apprehension of treachery or incapacity in a single individual.

Meaning that to simply pose the question, one believes that the propensity for the weak and corrupt that will invariably "serve" on city councils is worse than the evil or incompetence of a single ruler.

That question still plagues the considerate man solicitous of his government to this day.

But yet we have been treated to the worst of the two scenarios. Despots and special interest groups, akin to the local syndicate that infests the council and managing city bodies, rule without having to answer for their crimes. Acting through proxies, and under the guise of the "the majority spoke," they are in fact the despots that have placed this country and this city on a fast track to ruin.

Exacerbating this "disease", as Madison refers to it, is how those in the twilight of their years readily look the other way when their issue or when their cause or when their financial wherewithal is protected at the cost of a great crime or misdeed (How many here looked the other way when asbestos was being pulverized upwind not a mile from a school?). Because after all they believe that their solution is the best, that their solution is the only real answer to all of the problems.

As foreseen,

This censorial body, therefore, proves at the same time, by its researches, the existence of the disease, and by its example, the inefficacy of the remedy.

There are three honest independent councilors on Marco Island, perhaps they can be supported by the honest independent citizens to stem the disease.

Another Useless Politician

Come election time, they want your votes. Come time to act, they hide.

Congressman Connie Mack.

Your congressman was personally asked on November 10, 2009 to call for a congressional investigation as to why the United States Environmental Protection Agency did not prosecute the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the contractors, and certain staff at the City of Marco Island that violated the federal Clean Water Act.

Congressman Mack first claimed ignorance of the environmental crimes on Marco Island – both the dumping of millions of gallons of effluent into the estuaries and waterways and Gulf of Mexico, and as to pulverizing, dumping, burying and the illegal removal of asbestos. Despite these crimes being covered ad nausea by the printed and TV press in his district, he claimed he knew nothing. Fair enough.

But he did agree to look into the matter.

After four months of waiting for the Congressman to look into the matter, and after many reminders, a clerk in his office finally replied: Congressman Mack is not interested. On behalf of the Congressman, the clerk cited the EPA's privacy objection in that the EPA did not want to embarrass those that actually committed these crimes.

So as opposed to standing up for his constituents, Congressman Mack scurried into oblivion by standing up for those that harmed his constituents.

Don't you just love this country?

Is there any wonder that the Tea Party movement's agenda to eliminate ALL OF THESE POLITICIANS is so popular?

So the next time you receive one of those idiotic email chains decrying the actions of the Socialist-Democrat straw man in the white house, consider the Republican "conservative" sellouts of Crist and Mack and the local syndicate.

Oh, and speaking of Crist appointing those who contributed to his campaign and then covering up for their misdeeds (no, not the Marco Island appointment and the related FDEP stand-down when it was time to investigate the environmental crimes), just this week we get:

There is a call for federal investigators to look into whether Charlie Crist traded judicial appointments for campaign contributions from Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein. "State campaign finance records show a troubling pattern of large contributions from Mr. Rothstein and immediate and subsequent appointments of Judges to the Fourth District Court of Appeals, …"

Remember: the majority in the City Council stated on the record that Crist spoke with them personally and stated that "Marco Island will get a sewer system whether they like it or not!"

Don't you just love this country?

Collier Schools Fail – Again

So when this author made the utterly moronic mistake of vying for a seat on the local charter school board, he was denigrated, besmirched, slurred, slandered – you know, the usual tactics of the syndicate. And with the exception of one sole citizen, no one bothered – even those that have benefited from this blog – to address the sleazy tactics.

But who cares, right?

How about your $30,000,000 (or is it more?) of your tax dollars being wasted in a school district that just outright sucks (using the vernacular of the syndicate and those that graduate from same)? Are you having fun yet?

One of the only two truly independent and scientifically based assessments of schools has just been released. The U.S. News and World Report/Newsweek annual assessment of high schools in the U.S. showed what those of us in education (you know, the teachers, as opposed to the clones that sit on school boards or make six-figures in the administration) already know: Collier schools are the worst of the worst of the worst.

Not using the utterly faux FCAT test results as a guide, the two magazines reviewed over 21,000 high schools. Somewhere around 800^th was one Collier high school (no, not Lely), and nowhere else. But yet there are 10 Florida schools in the top 100.

Too many non-English speaking immigrants in Collier are the problem? Really? Then why does Miami have dozens in the list, four in the top 100 and one as high as 15^th!?

Keep listening to your local school board, the syndicate operatives that infest it, the county school board, and keep sending the money.

Rank	School Name and Location
1	Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Alexandria, VA
2	International AcademyBloomfield Hills, MI
3	Whitney High School Cerritos, CA
4	Oxford AcademyCypress, CA
5	School for the Talented and Gifted at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center Dallas, TX
6	Newcomers High School Long Island City, NY
7	Pacific Collegiate School Santa Cruz, CA
8	School of Science and Engineering Magnet Dallas, TX
9	BASIS Tucson Tucson, AZ
10	International School Bellevue, WA
11	High Technology High School Lincroft, NJ
12	Academic Magnet High School No. Charleston, SC
13	IDEA Academy and College Prepatory Donna, TX
14	Pine View School Osprey, FL
15	Design and Architecture Senior High School Miami, FL
16	KIPP Houston High School Houston, TX
17	Stanton College Preparatory School Jacksonville, FL
18	The Early College at Guilford Greensboro, NC
19	The High School of American Studies at Lehman College Bronx, NY
20	Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School Montgomery, AL
21	University High School Tucson, AZ
22	California Academy of Math and Science Carson, CA
23	Animo Leadership Charter High School Inglewood, CA
24	Raleigh Charter High School Raleigh, NC
25	Lennox Mathematics, Science and Technology Academy Lennox, CA
26	Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet Nashville, TN
27	Benjamin Franklin High School New Orleans, LA
28	Lowell High School San Francisco, CA
29	International Community School Kirkland, WA
30	Martin Luther King Academic Magnet School Nashville, TN
31	Stuyvesant High School New York, NY
32	The Preuss School UCSD La Jolla, CA
33	Townsend Harris High School Flushing, NY
34	Staten Island Technical High School Staten Island, NY
35	Baccalaureate School for Global Education Long Island City, NY
36	Mission San Jose High School Fremont, CA
37	Northside College Preparatory High School Chicago, IL
38	Boston Latin School Boston, MA
39	Bergen Academies Hackensack Hackensack, NJ
40	Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions Houston, TX
41	Yonkers High School Yonkers, NY
42	Paxon School for Advanced Studies Jacksonville, FL
43	Dr. Ronald McNair Academic High School Jersey City, NJ
44	School of International Studies San Diego High School San Diego, CA
45	Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School Philadelphia, PA
46	South Side High School Rockville Centre, NY
47	Langley High School McLean, VA
48	Jericho High School Jericho, NY
49	The Charter School of Wilmington Wilmington, DE
50	Westshore Junior/Senior High School Melbourne, FL
51	Horace Greeley High School Chappaqua, NY
52	High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies New York, NY
53	Signature School Evansville, IN
54	Hawthorne Math and Science Academy Hawthorne, CA
55	Blind Brook High School Rye Brook, NY
56	The Maine School of Science and Mathematics Limestone, ME
57	Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts West Palm Beach, FL
58	Bronx High School of Science Bronx, NY
59	Rye High School Rye, NY
60	Suncoast Community High School Riviera Beach, FL
61	William A. Shine Great Neck South High School Great Neck, NY
62	Sumner Academy of Arts and Science Kansas City, KS
63	Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn, NY
64	New Explorations Science Tech and Math School New York, NY
65	Walnut Hills High School Cincinnati, OH
66	Maritime and Science Technology High School Key Biscayne, FL
67	Henry M. Gunn High School Palo Alto, CA
68	YES Prep SoutheastHouston, TX
69	Pittsford Mendon High School Pittsford, NY
70	Monta Vista High School Cupertino, CA
71	Highland Park High School Dallas, TX
72	Newport High School Bellevue, WA
73	Piedmont High School Piedmont, CA
74	Academy of Allied Health and Science Neptune, NJ
75	High School for Law and Public Service New York, NY
76	Peak to Peak Charter School Lafayette, CO
77	Carnegie Vanguard High School Houston, TX
78	Bellevue High School Bellevue, WA
79	Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy Coeur d'Alene, ID
80	La Cañada High School La Cañada, CA
81	Queens High School for the Sciences at York College Jamaica, NY
82	New World School of the Arts Miami, FL
83	Palo Alto High School Palo Alto, CA
84	Pittsford Sutherland High School Pittsford, NY
85	Cold Spring Harbor Junior/Senior High School Cold Spring Harbor, NY
86	Campolindo High School Moraga, CA
87	The Bromfield School Harvard, MA
88	South Texas High School for Health Professions Mercedes, TX
89	Miramonte High School Orinda, CA
90	City Honors School at Fosdick-Masten Park Buffalo, NY
91	Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts Fort Worth, TX
92	Metro Academic and Classical High School St Louis, MO
93	Saratoga High School Saratoga, CA
94	Princeton High School Princeton, NJ
95	Coral Reef Senior High School Miami, FL
96	Walter Payton College Prep Math, Science, and World Language Academy Chicago, IL
97	Hidalgo Early College High School Hidalgo, TX
98	Lynbrook High School San Jose, CA
99	Jones College Prep Chicago, IL
100	John S. Davidson Fine Arts School Augusta, GA

 

 

Grant for Cisterns Now Available

Contact your independent city councilors to pursue this wonderful opportunity for water conservation. The grant can pay the entirety of the conversion.

Based on the highest previous award, and given a real cost of a cistern at $500, the grant will pay for 1,500 conversions. That's a very conservative water saving estimate of over 14,000,000 gallons per year.

Here is a list of previous grant awards:

• Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department ($75,000): Retrofitting 1,000 homes owned by seniors or low-income residents and built before 1985, with high-efficiency showerheads, toilets and aerators.
• Lee County Utilities ($14,646): Purchasing and installing 16 automatic flushing devices near the extreme ends of the potable water distribution system.
• City of Fort Lauderdale ($15,000): Purchasing and installing 10 automatic flushing devices for potable water distribution lines near the boundaries of the city’s service area.
• Palm Beach Parks and Recreation Department ($37,120): Purchasing and installing a computerized irrigation management system for South County Regional Park.
• City of North Miami Beach ($8,000): Installing battery-powered controllers and rain sensors in 40 medians. Mediterra Community Association, Inc. ($35,622): Installation of smart satellite irrigation controllers.
• Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department ($38,875): Evaluating, calibrating and providing rebate funding for efficiency upgrades to the irrigation system of 25 larger homeowner associations.
• Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority ($30,000): Providing rebate funding toward the purchase and installation of 350 high efficiency toilets and offering free low-flow showerheads and bathroom aerators.
• Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department ($75,000): Providing rebate funding toward the purchase and installation of 1,000 high efficiency toilets and offering free low-flow showerheads and bathroom aerators.
• City of Lighhouse Point ($33,000): Purchasing and installing efficient irrigation controllers and emitters on irrigation systems on city-owned property.
• City of Pompano Beach ($14,950): Purchasing and distributing 2,000 high efficiency retrofit kits (showerheads and kitchen and bathroom aerators) to city residents.
• Broward County, Board of County Commissioners ($75,000): Issuing up to 3,000 utility bill credits to reach at least 1,500 homes for the purchase and installation of high efficiency toilets.
• City of Plantation ($50,000): Issuing utility bill credits to reach at least 1,000 homes for the purchase and installation of high efficiency toilets.

Marco Syndicate to be Explained ...

Rebuilt DNA Could Lead to Cloned Neanderthals

FOXNews.com 2/10/2010

As scientists come closer to completing a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome, creating a living person from an ancient DNA sequence is becoming a real possibility, claims Archaeology Magazine.

Final Word on the Cistern

This will be the last posting regarding the cistern(s) on Marco Island.

Yesterday's relatively light shower filled the 1,400 gallon cistern - again. Now, the third time since January 1, 2010. Despite the rantings of the syndicate, these rains in the last five weeks are at, or below, normal (instead of listening to idiots, try getting the facts - in this case from http://www.noaa.gov).

Therefore, in the dry season, the cistern saves a tremendous amount of water.

The City required a last-minute overflow valve - costing approximately $100 - pushing the cost to install a cistern to $600 from $500. As I posited, this valve is useless and in fact it is deleterious to your lawn. But of course, who listens.

So yesterday's rain proved the point. Notice this picture - the overflow valve is now flooding one area of the yard.
As opposed to allowing two gutters to overflow naturally and disperse the extra water over a much larger area and minimizing if not eliminating flooding in one area, the valve floods and damages one area. Perfect.

So for those that are actually going to pursue this idea, petition the City to negate this unnecessary, costly, and damaging overflow valve.

Lastly, there is a grant that just came available. In speaking with the director of said grant, it is highly likely that the grant will cover 100% of the cost of a cistern.

The grant needs to be applied for by the City (good luck) or by a home owners association (none on the island). It is a shame that yet another opportunity will be passed up.

It will be telling what happens next. If this initiative is stillborn - as it appears it is - don't blame it on the usual suspects. Unlike the STRP debacle, the efficacy of the cistern initiative has been proven in practice. There are the three non-syndicate councilors that have openly supported the cistern. The local newspaper has now covered it twice. The Florida Department of Health has abated most of the fee.

It is now up to the individual citizens - and therein lies the problem.

Now, onto the last battle solely for the sake of virtue, and then silence will reign.

Address to City Council February 1, 2010

The first septic-to-cistern conversion on Marco Island is now complete.

On January 29, 2010 I received final inspection approval from the City. Two weeks earlier I received approval from Collier County's office of the Florida Department of Health.

My cistern design is hydrostatic. The cost specific to the cistern is approximately $600 dollars, inclusive of a pointless $100 overflow valve.

But best of all, the cistern supplies 1½ gallons of water per minute to the sprinklers!

Since January 1, 2010, my 1,400 gallon cistern – yes, 1,400 gallons – has been filled twice. And keep in mind we are in the dry season. For more information and specific details please visit the Marco Island blog.

From concept to design to implementation, the cistern is an unbridled success.

I would like to once again thank this Council for abating the cistern fee – now if I can only get the refund. I would also like to thank the Florida Department of Health for their rule change and for abating most of the County inspection fee; Roney Joel and his team for their invaluable input and suggestions. And lastly, Councilors Kiester, Recker and Councilor-elect Batte for stopping by and witnessing the cistern in action.

I urge this Council to encourage those residents that are being forced onto the STRP to convert their septic tanks to a cistern. A cistern from a perfectly sound septic tank saves money, and more importantly, protects the environment by conserving water. And as I have proven, the conversion is inexpensive.

So, how can we leverage this accomplishment to further our obligation at conserving and protecting the environment and thereby benefit the Marco Island community?

Given the unnecessarily arduous and protracted process to prove the obvious with this cistern, I ask that this Council institute an independent agency to pursue environmental initiatives and environmentally-based opportunities. This agency must report directly to this Council and be comprised of non-aligned volunteers that are scientists, environmentalists, economists and other environmentally-conscious citizens. But unlike the politicized local and state so-called environmental agencies, or the radically marginalized environmental organizations, this agency will act, will work to bring positive constructive initiatives and grants to this Council, will develop novel approaches to conservation, will implement approved initiatives, as well as providing a consistent eco-friendly message to the community.

Such an agency will buttress the fact known and practiced by many of us, and a lesson yet to be understood by some, that the individual citizens are the stewards of our environment, not government. Governments, as evidenced by the actions of Marco Island just a few short years ago, and by the perennial abdication of the statutory and legal obligations of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, governments act in their self interests, the consequence of which is deleterious to the environment and to the public. Notice that it was not the City of Marco Island, certainly not the FDEP, nor the South Florida Water Management District or Collier County, nor any other government bureaucracy that brought the cistern to realization – but one sole citizen in effect tilling at the windmills of these very government bodies.

This agency that I am urging will assist residents undertaking environmental projects such as conversions to cisterns, as well as bring to this Council and the public myriad environmental programs, grants, cooperatives, allegiances and initiatives that protect the environment, conserve our natural resources and in many cases save money. In but one example, there is a grant coming available this month that looks to cover the entire cost of converting to a cistern. What a shame it would be for this grant to be also politicized and lost.

It seems that the majority of time and energy expended by this council focuses on financial matters. Fair enough – but given our one-dimensional seasonal-tourist-related economy, has everyone in authority come to grips as to why seasonal visitors come here? It's certainly not for the food. Plagiarizing the sanguine campaign adage of "It's the economy, stupid", for us, "It's the environment, stupid".

Please seriously consider establishing such an independent public service agency for the benefit of our community. Once again I thank the entirety of this Council for supporting the cistern.