Category Archives: Government Spending and Taxation

Thinking of Stuart’s Future

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As we think about how to re-develop our city for the future, it is important to keep in mind what we want to accomplish. Are we planning for the future using the assumptions of the past? Who will be our residents and what will they expect next year and next decade? Too often, our thoughts are ingrained in that past instead of seeing the needs of our future.

How and where will our residents work and live? A recent survey from the Pew Research Center of the millennial generation (those born in the 1980’s and 1990’s) shows that they want to live in an urban environment. This is an ideal development for cities. But in order to keep and attract that generation to our city, we need to examine what they want that urban environment to encompass.

They are against government intrusion into their lives whether dictating who to marry or how to earn a living. Instead of expecting a “job” by either big government or big business, they are entrepreneurial and expert at selling their own brand. They expect to form loose alliances of associates that come together to complete one task at a time. They don’t want to commute to work or be in an office 9-5.

So as Stuart re-writes the Land Development Regulations or develops Sailfish, we need to take into consideration the residents that will be living in our city. We need to make sure that home occupation is not unduly burdened with antiquated notions concerning parking, for example. During the 19th and 20th centuries, artisans and farmers became office and factory workers travelling to a central destination. It now seems we are returning to an earlier time when there was not a distinct place to live and another to work. The most important thing we can do as a city is not be an impediment to these developments.

We must let the market decide what is needed. Ten years ago, who could have foreseen that millions of people would be able to act as hoteliers by renting out rooms in their homes to strangers through the use of airbnb. It is fruitless to try and stop this and other uses from occurring, and instead we should promulgate sensible and not overbearing rules to encourage the payment of taxes for these new uses.

Cities, such as Stuart, will also need to think about re-purposing their half empty retail centers. It is important that we do not stand in the way of zoning and use changes to allow apartments or offices to be built within the center. We are probably at least 20% overbuilt in the retail category, and because of changing shopping patterns, absorption is not likely.

The best we, as a city, can do is to not get in the way of our own future. That does not mean we allow anyone to do anything. Builders and developers still need regulation. It is up to government to make sure that whatever is built is sustainable so it can contribute to our tax base.  Our height limit does not need to be changed in order to accomplish this. In fact, it would be detrimental to our old Florida “brand.” Stuart needs to cultivate the right mix for today and, more importantly, for tomorrow.

Our House With The Leaky Roof

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Peggy Noonan’s WSJ column of July 12th was regarding our current immigration crisis. In the column she compares how Washington sees the crises as political and everyday citizens in a much more alarming way. We never imagined that America would have refugee camps housing thousands of children? Then who would have thought that our political system would become so dysfunctional? She compares the nation to a house where the owners can’t both make their mortgage payments and keep up the property.

The metaphor continues that on top of that you wake up one morning to find that there are people standing on your property just looking at you. They begin to gather in your garage and crawl through a window to your cellar. You call the police and when they finally come they take a few people away, always to be replaced by so many more. Your elected officials can’t stem the tide and the news media after a day go on to the next story. Our political leaders shout that the other party is to blame. It appears no one is in charge. No one will take responsibility.
I not only feel that no one is responsible about immigration but that no one in Washington will take charge and will take responsibility about anything. The adults have fled and the children can’t come up with solutions from our failing tax system to social security to our roads and so many other things. The other party or political opponent is to blame. Our elected representatives whether in their first term or tenth say they are powerless to correct what needs to be corrected. It is reminiscent of Pogo’s “we have met the enemy and it is us”.
Closer to home we have AAF that wants to barrel through our community after getting our tax dollars to build their new track. The summer rains will result in the Corp releasing water from the lake again devastating our lagoon. Our governor now claims to be with us except when it impedes FEIC or Florida Crystals. Our former governor, who wants to be our next governor, panders to those he once called liberal Democrats when he pretended to be a conservative Republican.
Our nation and state are not political board games where politicians get to manipulate and move citizens as if they were pawns. We elect people to office and send to Washington or Tallahassee to solve problems and fix things. They are not there to collect money for the next campaign or rig the system against the people to enhance the coffers of big business or labor.
We need a change and that must begin with us. We need to vote and not leave elections to the extremes on either side. We can’t be so dogmatic in our beliefs that we would encourage our leaders to destroy rather than fix the system. As citizens is it too much to ask, that we sacrifice and work with all our fellow citizens, whether we disagree or not. We all need to help America pay the mortgage and fix the roof.

TECHNOLOGY AND US

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When I was a kid, the most advanced technology we had was a black and white television with “rabbit ears”. As I became more tech savvy, I received a transistor radio for Christmas and an old manual typewriter in high school. Rich or poor, there just weren’t many gadgets to buy. There were no cell phones or computers or tablets. You shared a single phone line with several of your neighbors which was euphemistically called a “party” line.

When I first started working in a real estate office, listings were kept on index cards in file drawers very similar to library catalogues. We used ledger books to record rents and expenses. Comptometers (manual calculators) added and subtracted columns of numbers. And, I marveled at the IBM Selectric typewriter.

In the ensuing years technology has advanced and intruded more and more into our daily work and personal life. Now I am instantaneously connected with e-mails. My businesses records and information reside in a “cloud.” I can work from anywhere with any computer and have all my business and personal records available whether I am sitting in my office or using my smart phone in some far off place. This has allowed productivity to be increased exponentially.

As a nation we are unfortunately in danger of not being able to take advantage of all these possibilities. Like so much of our infrastructure, our technology is woefully behind our global competitors. Our internet speed is ranked 11th and the cost is three times as high as France or the UK or most of the OECD due to a lack of market competition. This has led to a lack of spending by the internet providers to improve their product. If this continues along with a governmental neglect of the rest of our infrastructure, the U.S. will eventually not be economically competitive.

The more immediate problem today is the lack of skilled technicians to service our technology. We train electricians and plumbers for years both in school and on the job. The person who fixes our computer or diagnoses our connection problem has two weeks or a month of training before being “certified”. The IT professional in your company could have been self-taught and relies more on trial and error than any real knowledge. There is a growing gap between the technology and the people charged with its maintenance.

This is just another symptom of our nation’s failure to confront our problems head on. Many of our governing, educational and social models are no longer capable of providing answers and solutions. We need to rethink and restructure our approach. The world in which we find ourselves today is vastly different than when I was a child or a young adult or even the world at the turn of the 21st century. We can keep our core believes enshrined in the Declaration of Independence but adapt our governance to solve the problems of today and tomorrow.

Maintaining Stuart’s Unique Charm AND Economic Prosperity

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I am a strong proponent of economic development for our city. I believe that we can maintain our unique “old Florida charm” and still bring new businesses, jobs and residents to Stuart. However, I am not in favor of changing our 4-story height limit (which, according to code, can be as much as 60 feet from slab to peak). I do not want to see Stuart become Delray Beach or City Place. If we are to stand out from the rest of South Florida, we must maintain and enhance our strengths not try to emulate others.

If elected, I will strive to enhance our Economic Development Department. I would like to see it act as an ombudsman with every city department for anyone trying to open a business or construct a building. Most interactions between the public and city departments are informational and problem solving. Every employee should be customer centric. The city government should not be seen as an obstacle but as a resource.

That is not to say that we do not enforce our rules, regulations and laws. Bad projects are still bad projects. Those rules, etc. are there for the safety of all. We do need to treat everyone the same whether they have just come to town or their family has been here for generations. There is no room for favoritism at City Hall. Cronyism will sabotage our efforts to increase our economic development.

At the same time, I am not in favor of subsidies for any individual or business regardless of the promises made for expansion or bringing employment.   Subsidies come from tax revenue collected from our citizens by the city, and tax revenue should not be used to benefit a favored few. The role of government is not to pick winners and losers, but to make our city a good place for every business and family to succeed and thrive.

Within the framework I have outlined, I will work with anyone to accomplish his or her dream of starting or expanding a business in Stuart. I will sit down with any developer who wishes to build here as long as what they propose is in keeping with Stuart traditions. New residents are drawn here because of our water front, neighborhoods, parks and way of life. We cannot destroy any of it in the name of economic progress. Actions that do will only be counterproductive and lead to the opposite of what we are trying to achieve.

THOUGHTS ON COLORADO, DEVELOPMENT AND THE SALES TAX

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I was reading my earlier posts, and there is one instance where I really was wrong, and that was the Colorado Avenue upgrade. While I am still not a fan of traffic circles, I think that the narrowing to two lanes, pedestrian crossings and center median have contributed much to the revitalization of the entire street from Federal Highway to Confusion Corner. Now, with the planned addition of public art to the avenue, this will really be a great introduction to downtown.

When the current sales tax initiative was first brought up, I supported a more limited ½ cent for a three- to five-year duration.  I now believe it should be a full cent for ten years. The county and city infrastructure is crumbling before our eyes. Without a prolonged and targetted income stream to address these problems, planning and implementation will not happen. Because of the uncertainty of future funds, only projects for the favored few will be done instead of projects for all of our benefit.  With the right language in the statute, we can make sure that the proceeds won’t be used for another Splash Park.

Here are a few things I did get right. The idea of a Customs and Immigration facility at the “county” airport should be, once and for all time, scrapped. The same oligarchy that is always crying against expansive and expensive government wants to have the tax payers pick up the bill for their convenience. Besides the separation of powers in our constitution which clearly leaves this function to the federal government, we do not need to vote ourselves one more unfunded mandate to pay.

The BDB still needs to be weaned from the taxpayer’s treasury. There is no earthly reason to continue to support an organization that business people themselves won’t support with their own funds. Business will organically develop when they believe that Martin County and its cities have expedited permitting processes, good schools and is a great place to live. The worst thing we can do is subsidize any business entity with the promise of jobs or tax revenue at some future date. It is the same crony capitalism that we deplore in Putin’s Russia.

I will continue to speak out and fight for the maintaining of our county’s Comp Plan. Sprawl happens when we allow the supposed benefit of building for building sake and the “they will come” mentality to overlook sound economic judgment. Within the Urban Service District, Stuart and the other municipalities are where new and repurposed development should be encouraged. At the same time, Martin County and Stuart need to come together in common cause. Stuart is not a step-child that needs the county’s permission to perform as a government. The commissions and their staffs, especially on the county side, need to operate for the good of all residents.

Now that development is heating up, we will once again face challenges to maintain the Martin County way of life and the “Old Florida” ambiance of Stuart. Developers will try to breach the four story height limit through seemingly innocuous means such as roof top entertainment. We need to toughen not only the granting of Special Permits but how often and how many can be given in any one year. Legitimate restaurants and other establishments that operate within the parameters and the spirit of the law should be encouraged. At the same time those that use a mechanism meant to foster one-time events (such as block parties) as their business model should be stopped from ruining an entire neighborhood’s tranquility.

Outdoor music venues need to erect soundproofing barriers around their areas and position their speakers differently to minimize sound being carried beyond the venue’s boundaries. There is no constitutional right to have music blaring to the detriment of others who live nearby. I want to encourage people coming Stuart to enjoy themselves, but there are responsibilities that businesses have to the community as a whole.

I also would like to see in Stuart a mandatory meeting by the Development Office between developer and the neighbors when any new projects come before the city. There are instances where the plan being presented is more advantageous in terms of density, parking and setbacks for the neighborhood than what the developer has “as right” to build.  If both sides are talking to each other there would be less chance that a good plan is misunderstood. A little advanced planning could go a long way to solving problems before the politics take over.

 

 

LETTER TO COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

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I believe that the following e-mail sent to the county commissioners expresses my opinions on the sales tax, new passenger trains and proposed customs house:

Dear Commissioner:

There are three issues I would like to address with you.

The first is “All Aboard Florida” owned by FECI a company of the Fortress Group which has real estate worth $62 billion under management presently. In 2002 the group had $2 billion. Obviously, there is much more to their operation than a railroad. FECI’s, Flagler Company describes itself on its web site this way:  Flagler is one of Florida’s oldest and largest full-service commercial real estate companies. The company owns, manages, leases, or has under development more than 7 million square feet of Class-A office and industrial space located in strategic markets throughout the state. Flagler also owns 2,500 acres of Florida land with entitlements in place for in excess of 14 million square feet of development. Additionally, Flagler provides world-class, third-party real estate services including brokerage, property management and asset management to a prestigious roster of corporate, private and institutional clients.With more than a century of experience specifically in Florida, a business model built on the concept of stability and innovation, and an integrated service line, Flagler is the strongest choice for any organization seeking a Florida partner in commercial real estate.

“All Aboard Florida” can be a loss leader for their parent for years in order to further and accomplish what I believe their real goal… real estate development. As Commissioner Scott stated yesterday at a Martin County Chamber event, railroads in this country are almost sovereign. A full scale battle against this behemoth is not winnable in my opinion. It may be much more to our advantage to work with the Coast Guard and our legislative delegates to minimize the impact of the trains and to continue to lobby for a stop in Stuart which is the most logical place on the Treasure Coast.

My second issue is the sales tax. As I stated at Tuesday’s commission meeting, I would like to see a 10-year one cent proposal. It needs to be tightly written so as to make sure that the proceeds are used for the intended uses only. You are right that past commissions used the money for favored projects such as building the outrageous water park.  At first, I supported a three-year limitation but upon further thought, it seems that will not allow enough time or resources to really make a difference to the infrastructure deficit. A shorter span may result in just “favored projects” being planned and completed which will leave most of the public seeing little benefit in voting once again to extend the tax three or five years hence.

Lastly I want to address the Customs facility. I object to us as a county having anything to do with this for multiple reasons. First, no matter how a deal is structured (either with private entities or by using the airport fund), any shortfall for any reason will need to be made up by the county. It is ultimately the responsible party in this instance. Secondly, we have seen time and time again that no matter what assurances we receive from Washington as to how the facility is to be operated and that any local obligations will remain consistent, we all know that the federal government can rewrite the deal obligating us to spend funds for things never contemplated at any time. We may not even be able to close the facility at our discretion.

I don’t believe that we, as a county, should be maintaining and paying for a facility that clearly falls under federal authority. There is no ambiguity as to who will be in charge of enacting and enforcing regulations and laws pertaining to trade and immigration. It is a federal responsibility. For argument sake, even if we agree that it may be beneficial to a few of the county’s residents and businesses, it does not mean that it should be done. It has always amazed me that the biggest proponents for governmental subsidies, quotas and tax breaks are supposed conservative, free-market-oriented wealthy individuals and businesses. The free market is great unless they must operate within its parameters. This is one such instance where we should not allow the favored minority to trump the interest of the majority. 

Our City Hall and it’s future.

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This was sent to my fellow committee members regarding City Hall after our last meeting on Feb 14, 2014:.

 

What this committee has been tasked with accomplishing is more than the fate of City Hall. It is actually to define the future of downtown and the essence of Stuart. Everyone from my fellow committee members to city staff, our elected commission and the general public sincerely want what is best for our home. It will not be our motivations that may make our individual conclusions differ. We are celebrating our 100th anniversary as a city. While the past is ever present, we must concern ourselves with our future direction.

Here is what we can all agree upon. First that access to the water and the keeping and enhancing of the park behind our current site for all our citizens is essential. Second, we want to maintain the architectural character and feel of our downtown area. This would limit the size and height of any new or remodeled structures for this site. The “Old Florida” small town charm is a nonnegotiable trait that should not be lost.

Since our last meeting, I have spoken with Jacque Lewis of the Martin County Hotel Association, Mike Braid, and Steve Vitalli . I have also spoken with a couple of other hotel people that I know as well as my own experience with the industry. If we keep in mind my above statement regarding our agreed upon traits, then I received the same answer from all, that a hotel is neither economically or physically possible on the city hall site. Perhaps there is someone who would want to do the project but it would be irresponsible to make such a recommendation without a bona-fide and thoroughly vetted developer-operator.

It is my belief that we are lacking several critical components in making a determination of this magnitude today. First we still do not know what FECI intends to do with the parking along their right away. Without a long term parking commitment (at an affordable price) anything decided would probably be sent back to the drawing boards. If we believe that we don’t have enough parking now and are looking to build a parking garage, how many more spaces would we need and where should we locate those spaces?

There is also a question as to whether we will eventually have an “All Aboard Florida” train station or stop. Does the parent company, which is essentially in the hospitality, residential and office development business, want to invest here. If so, can a mutually acceptable project for both them and a vast majority of Stuart residents be achievable. We also need to consider the best path of solidifying the great strides we have made in our core downtown while continuing the synergy between the core and Ocean, East Ocean, Colorado and East Stuart.

The other missing element in this exercise is how do we, as a community, fund moving city hall or even keeping it and doing any sort of rehabilitation. While it is nice for us to dream and pontificate about a future direction, it would  be totally irresponsible of us to recommend a “shiny new city hall by the Saint Lucie” without taking into account the actuality of paying for that vision.

Our gem, which is the city, is too precious to allow development of each parcel in isolation. We should ask the Planning and Development Department to be allowed to do what their name implies. We should not be asking for one more consultant’s report or one more un-vetted pipe dream such as “Salt Life”.

The time needed is more than a few hours over two days to make this recommendation. All components of downtown development must be looked at in totality so that an organic future can be imagined, embraced, encouraged and realized by the people of our city. For the past thirty years, we have had exercise upon exercise regarding this. It is now time for us to allow a more “nuts and bolts” approach to how we achieve these goals.

This committee should continue this discussion gathering more facts and information. There should be ongoing workshops with the various city departments but especially Planning and Development, the City Manager and Budget Director to formulate our next steps. As a Sunshine Committee, all our meetings are open to the public and public comment should be encouraged. This should be looked at as a beginning and not an ending.

One of Shakespeare’s most fascinating works is the “The Tempest”. In it, he explores the concepts of illusion and reality. What “is” and “is not”. Prospero, one of the characters, metaphorically tries to explain that what a couple has just witnessed is not reality. The buildings and palaces and city are not real but merely the product of a well-staged entertainment — that of life itself.

“Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind.

We are such stuff, As dreams are made on;”

Stuart Main Street has been given and accepted a task. I believe we should continue the work.
 

 

PLEASE SETTLE THIS TIF

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Sometimes we allow our personal feelings to overwhelm our better judgment. This is happening now between the Martin County and the City of Stuart Commissions over TIF money belonging to Stuart which was wrongly paid to the county. It was a clerical error made by the County Appraiser, and when discovered, it was immediately brought to the attention of both entities. For brevity, I have simplified the matter but the net result is that the county owes the city money.

If the IRS gave you a refund to which you weren’t entitled, they would expect you to return the money when the error was discovered. It’s no different here. There are minor points of law as to interest amounts and whether the statute of limitation is three or four years, but this issue can surely be settled without litigation.

However, it appears that the commissioners’ egos may be getting in the way of a just settlement. From my understanding, the county is taking a hard line. This will cause the city to do the same and could end up costing the taxpayers, whose money it actually is, unneeded and unnecessary legal bills. If this isn’t the height of stupidity, I don’t know what is.

It seems Commissioner Fielding, whose district comprises most of the city, should be taking a leadership role in settling this “TIF” amicably and fairly. Commissioners are only important because the people bestow that importance at the voting booth. While I generally support the views and actions of the majority of both commissions, I think changes may be necessary if this escalates further. Spending taxpayer money to keep taxpayer money in one pocket or the other is idiotic … not frugal or wise.  Both governmental entities should work together in the interest of the people they serve.

THE COST OF OUR SWEET TOOTH

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I keep hearing that all politics are local. However, there is much more to that phrase than one might think. One of the prime reasons that we cannot re-establish a flow way south from Lake Okeechobee is nothing more than the political clout of the sugar cane industry. Our rivers and lagoons on the Treasure Coast are being destroyed so that a few families can continue to live in a baronial manner. Big Sugar has blocked every attempt to correct our flawed earlier ecological mistakes when their inexcusable business practices are at all threatened. Floridians’ futures are being stymied by one interest group that is impeding us from economically moving forward.

Like no other state in the U.S., our waterways are the thing that brings billions of dollars to Florida each year. Tourists won’t come if they can’t fish or are afraid to go to our beaches or just paddle a canoe on our rivers. Without clean water, new development won’t happen, commercial and sport fishing will disappear and other types of agriculture will be harder to sustain.

So how does the sugar industry manage to stand against the interests of the rest of us? Political power is the answer without a doubt. A few sugar families located in Palm Beach County receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year in tax payer subsidies, supports and grants. That enables Big Sugar lobbyists to “contribute” to the campaigns for president, senators, congresspersons, governors and state legislators.  Political party, ideology or rhetoric is never an impediment to receiving that money. A vote that is cast for corporate welfare and crony capitalism by a pol calling himself or herself a liberal, conservative, Democrat or Republican is all the same.

Yes, the sugar cane industry is local but the politics are national. Not only do we, the citizens, support the industry with our tax dollars, we also pay well above the world price for sugar in America.  If the U.S. stopped producing sugar tomorrow, each of us would be better off. We could import our sugar at cheaper prices. Tax dollars would stop flowing to multi -millionaires. Politicians would have to get over having a sweet tooth for those contributions. And our state and its waters could stop being polluted for the benefit of the chosen few.

 

WHY GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY IS SO DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE

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In the last Martin County Defender Ginny Sherlock wrote concerning how county employees seem to bend the rules to the benefit a chosen few to the detriment of the rest of us. I urge you to read that issue of the Defender and to get on the e-mail list. Here is a link for your convenience;

http://cache.nebula.phx3.secureserver.net/obj/NTM1RUQwREJGOUQ0RTZBNDBEQjE6OGYxYjVlNWM2ODYyYjQyZjM0MjZiNjdkYzU4Y2FhMzQ6Ojo6

However I believe that county employees and all government in general lack accountability for their actions for a more basic reason which is accountability. Here are my comments to Al regarding this.

 

Dear Al:

I always enjoy reading your “Martin County Defender”. On county affairs it is almost always right on the money.  I want to thank you for doing such good work.

Ginny Sherlock is correct in her assessment of how some county bureaucrats seem to be going out of their way to help certain people to the detriment of all residents. I don’t believe that is consciously the case. Instead the county employee sees his job as trying to expedite a request, especially one that is asked from a familiar lawyer or architect or consultant. That is the way things are done among “friends”. The other and more telling factor is that when confronted with a problem all employees, private or public, just want it to go away.

The real problem is supervision. I owned my first business, a luncheonette in Queens N.Y. at eighteen years old, and more than forty years later still own a business. In all that time I have owned restaurants, bars, hotels, construction companies, dress factories and always real estate firms specializing in property management. I have stressed to all employees to bend over backwards to assist the customer or client. They are never to argue. Mine and the manager’s job if needed were to confront the offending person and set him straight. The nub of the problem is there is no “boss” in government.

You can say there is a county administrator or a department head and their responsibility is supervision and stepping in when something like Trailside is about to happen. The bottom line is that there is no bottom line. It is not their money as it is mine. They won’t lose their job for those reasons. No one is ever disciplined.Human nature is not to make waves unless there is a gain by making those waves. The proof is no one raised any flags at the county when that monstrosity of a house was being built out by Trailside.

It is the same mentality that permeates the schools where every student is a genius and every teacher is superior. Yet we continue as a nation to fall in world rankings. The students aren’t to blame nor are teachers who play the game. It is the school superintendent and school board for accepting mediocrity and claiming that it is superiority. The county commissioners do the same by praising their employees for doing their jobs as if that is an accomplishment. When was the last time they held anyone accountable for not doing their job? The commissioners have no skin in the game either.