Category Archives: Other

Don’t Forget….

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For now, the green algae on the Saint Lucie has subsided. On the stretch of river that I live on, the birds have returned. I have noticed more mullet jumping out of the water. So I guess things are returning to normal. But what is normal for the Saint Lucie?

Is normal now the cycle we went through this summer? Is it releases of water from Lake Okeechobee that kill oysters and sea grass, turn the water green and keep tourists and locals in fear of being in contact with it? Will the cycle repeat itself as it has in 2014 and 2016, or will it happen every year?

Our Washington representatives have gone away. Their caring faces, fact finding tours and photo ops duly noted. News crews have departed for the next story of disaster. Even our local paper has moved on to the next headline.

Once our state legislative session has begun, will Joe Negron’s bill to buy land south of the lake move forward, or will it die in the morass of Tallahassee? Even if it passes in some form, it requires federal dollars also. We know Washington hasn’t even made good on the dollars to help Florida that it has already pledged.

What I have learned, though, is that we need to keep on plugging away. I am not about to let Washington and Tallahassee forget about us. It would be great if the news media continued to take interest in this story. It would be marvelous if everyone came together and continued the fight. We do not need vitriol and accusations.

There is not just one solution to our problem. Every project that brings us closer to where Florida needs to be should be welcomed. The Saint Lucie, Indian River Lagoon, Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades will require many steps before we can all say the work is complete. We need to keep the pressure on and not despair. It took 100 years for this travesty to reach this level. I am hopeful it won’t take a century to be reversed.

The River Isn’t Green This Week

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Another week has passed. The attention that Stuart and Martin County have received from the national news media because of the algae has been incredible. Special reports, columns, cameramen and opinions have been broadcast, written and opined. But are we any closer to a solution? I am pessimistically sure that we are not.

What has fundamentally changed? Did we suddenly buy the land to our south? Have the Feds allocated the money to complete the projects that are already on the books? I fear not. Did agricultural subsidies and supports go away? Was there financial campaign reform? Has the Governor finally seen the ecological light? Has the President issued a Declaration? Sorry to report…none of the above.

This failure to correct our problem was not from a lack of trying by our local elected leaders on the Treasure Coast. But we are barely 3% of the state’s population…insignificant to the power brokers of Tallahassee and Washington. President Obama loves playing golf here but hasn’t mentioned our plight even once. If you write him a letter, you get a form one back that doesn’t even mention the reason you wrote, which is a feat of shear political magic.

Will it ever change? Maybe there is just a ray of hope. A reason we can be optimistic. We, the people, are just fed up with the status quo. We are tired of being ignored or being condescended to. Our communities are being ruined in the name of corporate and political greed. We are now the disciples of Howard Beale from the movie, Network that shouted, “We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore!”

We have been treated to technology that cleans and polishes the water so that the algae either is or appears to be gone. Some elected officials and citizens are headed to Washington as they did in the now not-so-bad lost summer of 2014. But I still hear the Republicans shouting at the Democrats and Florida blaming the Feds and the inverse in all of the above. Each of these people will tell you that they are not to blame in “political-speak”…that it is really the other guy.

This week, the river isn’t green in back of my house. This week, the water is just not alive. This week, it is black, mucky, and loaded with bacteria. Is that an improvement? I don’t really know.

The Green River

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Who would have thought such a diverse estuary would be dying? I always believed we lived in a country with laws to protect this from happening. Perhaps we do until the polluter is one of the largest sources of contributions to local, state and federal politicians. It is as if no environmental laws exist. He who pays calls the shots I guess.

Florida pols are blaming the Feds and the Feds are blaming Florida. I thought you guys all worked for the people? Our Senators and Congresspersons do their dog and pony show. They take a ride on the river and see the lagoon, have a news conference, then poof they’re gone. The Governor can’t even bother doing that. At least our Florida state legislators come and take the heat but to what end?

From my dock I notice there is not even a bird, which means no fish. It does not matter whether algae is in the water or not, the oysters and fish are gone because of the salinity. The segments of our economy based on tourism and the marine industry are on the verge of collapse. Why do we put up with it? Is it that our political system is so broken that things such as this are allowed to occur?

Or maybe it runs deeper. Perhaps we have abandoned principles and morality for the expedient and greed. Is our system so broken that this is the outcome? Is doing the right thing to be impeded by ideology and the pursuit of self-aggrandizement?

As a small town elected official, l speak to those in Washington and Tallahassee. They give me the same looks and nods that my parents did when I was a kid…”you don’t understand.” Our local commissions and boards pass resolutions that express the will of the people, but the will of the powerful still prevails.

Maybe it is they that do not understand. We have had enough. Our frustrations with the water can no longer sustain business as usual. We don’t care about who gives money to whom. We don’t even care whether sugar or agriculture is good for the economy or not. We know that the quality of the water is not good for us.

The river runs green past my house. It flows to the ocean closing the beaches and killing everything in its wake. The question is as citizens do we buy into the same old routines and patterns. It’s the Democrats! It’s the Republicans! It’s the State! It’s the Federal Government! How about everyone stop blaming the other and just fix the problem. I want the river to stop being green by everyone’s house.

Hope in Tragedy!

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We in Florida have now been touched by terrorism. Who knows why this act occurred? Was it ISIS inspired or homophobia? Was the perpetrator of this act insane or not? The reasons that he killed 49 people and wounded 53 more can only be surmised now that he is dead.

Omar Mateen was born in New York and attended high school in Martin County and college in Saint Lucie County. He lived and worked in our midst. We passed him at the mall or sat next to him at Wendy’s. Mateen was one of more than 3 million Muslims that are citizens and residents of the United States. Islam is a religion not a terrorist organization. Only last week the nation mourned the death of an American hero and Muslim, Mohammed Ali. Mateen was employed by a security company and assigned to a gate at a home owners’ association. The same company provides guards at the nuclear power plant on Hutchinson Island. Could he have been assigned to protect the power plant instead? What would have been the ramifications if he were?

We could argue about the availability of guns in our society. We could be debating whether that particular type of rifle should be sold to the general public. The F.B.I. interviewed him twice regarding his radical beliefs. Did the authorities, his employer and his family turn a blind eye to his behavior? This morning it is reported his wife drove him to the club to scope it out and was with him when he bought the ammo. Why didn’t she report it to the authorities?

In the coming days and weeks, Mr. Mateen’s life will be investigated and dissected. His life should be examined in order for us to better understand. But, what we cannot do is succumb to the terror. Terrorists win when we discard our fundamental beliefs in order to have a perceived safety, or when we begin to hate and fear our fellow Americans, or when we presume a religion or a race or an ethnic group is somehow inferior to another. If we, as a nation, do this, then we have lost the fight.

America is synonymous with freedom to the entire world. We are not safer by the loss of our freedoms or beliefs. It is so very important that we do not let terrorism succeed by making us disregard those things that we cherish. America needs to rejoice in our intellectual and political heritage…not curb it. The free expression of views, whether you are at a Trump rally or a college campus, needs to be nourished and protected.

Discrimination in any form cannot be tolerated. In colonial times, Benjamin Franklin railed against German settlers for being stupid and overrunning Pennsylvania. The Irish were thought of as animals and their papist religion was scorned. Italians, Jews and Poles were not treated better. Africans were brought here in slavery. This is our history. Assimilation into the American fabric was and still is the antidote for such intolerance. Similar to President Obama or Donald Trump, Omar Mateen was the son of an immigrant. Success is not determined by lineage but by desire.

It is no different today whether you or your parents were from Mexico or Pakistan. America means freedom. The freedoms to live, work, succeed or fail. The terrorist doesn’t win by killing us. They can’t kill 320 million Americans. Terrorists win when Americans no longer believe in America and our ideals.

Here We Are Once Again

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“Here” we are once again. This year a little earlier than usual we have arrived “here”. We are in a place where we really do not need to be though all the same “here”.  How often can we be “here” without destroying our way of life and the why we live in Martin County? The killing of our estuary seems to be as inevitable as the water flowing to the ocean via the St. Lucie. So we find ourselves once more in this predicament.

Washington and Tallahassee keep promising to do something. The governor wants the Corp to stop the discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee and the St. Lucie. But the governor has done nothing more but paid lip service to our plight. He is not a serious man when it comes to this “problem”. I wrote President Obama three years ago about our river and six months later received a form letter back siting his accomplishments on protecting the environment throughout the country but no acknowledgement of the Indian River Lagoon’s impending death. He is not a serious man when it comes to this “problem”.

Senator Rubio held a press conference here in Stuart. He sat in our city commission chamber and listened to the experts. He promised to fight to end these discharges. The senator was going to come back and report bi-monthly. I guess becoming president became more important. He is not a serious man when it comes to this “problem”.

Representative Harrell and Senator Negron have modestly proposed measures that may bring some relief to the “problem”. Will it be enough help to prevent the death of the rivers and estuaries remains to be seen? We, the people of Florida, did our part; we passed a constitutional amendment to spend money on this “problem”. Unfortunately the powers that be in Tallahassee would rather use the funds for other things and ignore the will of the people. Citizens are only an impediment to the pols getting what they want.

Every year the beauty that is Stuart and Martin County becomes a little less so. Another reason that we are living in this place is gone. The concentration of political power in both Tallahassee and Washington allows for the flaunting of the people’s will. Are we mad enough to really do anything about it? Or will our anger revert to type and once again be manipulated by party hacks and labels. We, the voters, do the same thing over and over and somehow expect a different outcome. In the meantime “here” we are once again.

 

“Just Leave Me Alone!!!”

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Having been a teenager and then having parented teenagers, I remember saying and hearing the words, “Why can’t you leave me alone?” As an elected official of Stuart, I am using those same exact words when I speak to legislators in Tallahassee. Though they are not my parent and I am not their child, I do feel a certain loco parentis relationship in our respective roles. What has become one of my main responsibilities as a commissioner is making sure that the legislature does not saddle us with unfunded mandates and rules which would have an impact on the city and you.

The Florida constitution enshrines the principle of “home rule.”  It states that municipalities can write their own laws and ordinances except for taxation as long as it is constitutional and the legislature does not pre-empt the municipality’s right to do so in a matter. The legislature has no problem in using that pre-emption authority every session. Little by little, Stuart’s rights (which are your rights) to self-determination are more and more infringed upon. Instead of leaving you and me to decide the manner that we want to live our lives, state government exerts its will and its judgement over ours.

So far this session, there have been a number of bills discussed and passed in the legislature that would dictate to us when to hold our local elections and the terms of our office holders and prevent us from deciding how to best regulate rentals, cars for hire and fracking. Take a simple thing like the term of a commissioner, there is currently a bill in the legislature that would pre-empt when that term begins and ends and even when we hold our elections. Why does the legislature care what day local elections occur and the term of a commissioner?  What is the purpose except to say that Stuart and the other 410 cities in the state need the legislature’s guidance in this matter and in dozens of other matters? To the gods of Tallahassee, the charters that were approved by our voters are pieces of paper and not the will of our citizens.

In the instance of fracking, the proposed legislation would prevent a municipality from regulating the procedure. Whether you think fracking is a good or a bad thing, is it possible to have an operation with trucks streaming down our streets and using large amounts of water needed in a way that would not disturb our residents? Every time either Washington or Tallahassee passes a law that restricts what and how we can regulate on the local level, a little more of our freedom to live our lives is taken from us.

It is true that we need federal and state laws to solve problems that do cross county and municipal boundaries. We do need far away Tallahassee and Washington to pass laws to prevent the devastation of the Indian River Lagoon. Give us back the Everglades by creating a flow way south. Clean up the pollution that is or has killed our wonderful springs. Stop rewarding Big Business, Big Ag and Big Labor at the people’s expense. Don’t tax us to give incentives and subsidies to your friends and contributors. Just do the right thing on that level. Your job is to protect us from things that we cannot protect ourselves from. You are not currently doing so.

We can decide for ourselves whether we want to vote for local government in March, August, November or December. Do we want fracking, our Uber drivers to have criminal background checks, and our neighbors to be able to rent rooms in their houses on a nightly basis?  Those decisions should be our choice not your mandate. Tallahassee let my fellow citizens and I decide these things. We are your voters, citizens and tax payers…we are not your children.

How Our CRA Should Operate

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The Stuart Board of City Commissioners will vote next Monday on approving the CRA expansion moving forward. I will be voting in favor. This will enable us to allocate funds toward improvements in those neighborhoods. For far too long, many neighborhoods of our city have not had the attention that the Downtown and East Stuart have enjoyed. I believe that the commission, city manager and staff have had too narrow a focus that has not encompassed all of Stuart’s neighborhoods.

While downtown is important, it is not the only center of economic and social life that Stuart has. Many of our residents never venture to Osceola or Flagler to shop, drink or eat. In 2013, the city’s median family income was $27,000 which does not afford much (if any) discretionary income to use in those downtown venues. The economics of continuing to spend so many city dollars in one area should be examined in relation to what the taxpayer is receiving for those expenditures.

East Stuart is part of the current CRA. Over the years, the city has spent CRA and other dollars to improve infrastructure and community services to the area. This is what should be done within a CRA. This type of actions should enable economic development to begin throughout East Stuart. With those improvements that neighborhood now needs private investment to piggyback on our public expenditures. No amount of public money will ever be enough to bring economic vitality without the private sector willing to invest.

As the CRA expands into new neighborhoods, it is the obligation of the residents and property owners within the expanded district to make their ideas on improvements known to the city. In order to facilitate that to happen, city staff will be organizing neighborhood meetings. I plan on attending as many of those meetings as possible so that I understand and can advocate for property owners and residents throughout the expanded areas. Earlier, when the CRA expansion was first announced, I did meet with the Stypmann Blvd neighborhood regarding a concern of theirs. Because of that meeting, I had a possible road expansion project removed from the plan at their request.

Any increase in taxes for projects within the expanded CRA won’t be immediate. Funds can be used from within the entire CRA to begin new projects that will increase property values within those new areas. Ultimately, the entire city becomes a better place because of the increased spending on infrastructure and community projects. This is a win for all our residents.

There have been many untrue statements made about CRA expansion. However, one statement does have some merit…that the city has spent too much on administration and “feel good” initiatives instead of on “bricks and mortar.” I intend to do everything possible to end this and make sure funds are invested in projects that have a return for the tax dollars expended.

I have been a big proponent of our tram system. I have done so with the expectation that it become truly a mini-transit system that serves the entire city. Such a system cannot happen overnight but the continued existence as a strictly downtown shuttle, a tourist convenience and occasionally being used for special events is not what I want to see moving forward. If the tram does not begin operating as it should, as a public conveyance, then I will not support keeping it at anything near its present capacity.

The CRA expansion is a good concept. We will have more dollars to spend on neighborhood improvements. It is ultimately up to your commissioners to make sure that the dollars are spent on those neighborhoods and not on larger budgets to pay more staff. I want to see all tax dollars spent to maximum efficiency. The people must be heard. They must make sure that their wishes are known to the commission, city manager and staff. Then use your vote if your wishes are ignored.

Nothing Is Perfect

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Each of us believes we have the answers to the problems besetting our county, state and nation. We are convinced that the other person’s ideas are not only wrong but dangerous. Some impugn the character and motives of people whose solutions disagree with their own. If an alternative solution contradicts their ideas, a few would rather see nothing done.

This denigration of motive and character of those with whom we disagree leads to paralysis in solving the problems that confront us. A good example of this is the problems affecting Florida’s waterways. From our natural springs to the Indian River Lagoon to the Everglades, there are no easy, quick or inexpensive answers. What we cannot afford is to continue a war among us which results in nothing being accomplished.

I would love to have the Kissimmee go back to what it once was. Imagine how pure the water would be if the ranches and farms along its banks would return to savannahs and the towns and cities would all disappear. Lake Okeechobee’s wall could come down, the canals disappear and the area south be returned to swamp instead of developments, farms and sugarcane. Do I really have an expectation that this dream will come true…sorry to say, the answer is no. That leaves two alternatives which is doing nothing short of achieving 100% of one’s own solution or working with others to have more modest yet realistic outcomes achieved.

To me it doesn’t mean we stop advocating and working toward restoring the natural flow to our waterways. In the interim we need to use any means necessary to prevent further denigration of those waterways. An example is the Caulkins’ Water Farm off the C-44 canal. Having seen the farm first hand, I now understand better the negatives and positives to moving forward with this use. The farm is on the canal and has the pumps and gates to allow the water to flow to the farm immediately. Their research shows that its 3200 acres can hold about 45% of the excess water in the C-44 from Lake Okeechobee releases. It would prevent that water from contaminating the Saint Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.

The water farm is not the final solution to this problem. It is a stop gap measure in the fight to save our waterways. An ultimate grand plan will only be achieved if we accept small steps in going forward. Let’s press on with the goal of moving the water south. The way to do so is by not making more enemies but by making and converting more people into friends for our cause.

The Safety of All of Stuart

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Our City of Stuart is a good safe place to live. There is one neighborhood; however, that has experienced multiple shootings and criminal activity due mostly to the drug trade. It is plagued with greater poverty than other neighborhoods. This neighborhood is the historic African-American East Stuart.

East Stuart was established because of segregation though it was a vibrant place in spite of it. During its economic and cultural prime of the 1940s and 1950s, the neighborhood thrived. It was the home to African-Americans from the most educated and prosperous to the poor and unskilled. Since these residents were denied access to the broader Stuart because of race, the people of this neighborhood were self reliant in all things.

When integration began in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, that broader world became available to many East Stuart residents. While once constrained by the geography of the neighborhood, this slowly changed. With the ending of legal segregation, new opportunities happened for many of the more educated and affluent. Everyone then could shop anywhere. Most of the businesses in East Stuart could no longer compete with the wider world. As norms changed, so did the make-up of the residents. While East Stuart is still primarily African-American, it is a neighborhood for the impoverished. Individuals now live there due to income more than race.

Poverty, lack of education and employment opportunities have brought the tragedy of drug addiction and an economy based on supplying drugs to the addicted of all neighborhoods. This underground economy has resulted in gang activity and violence to control this illegal market. We need to end this lawlessness as a perception of normalcy. The children of East Stuart should not have to grow up under such circumstances. The elderly of East Stuart should not have to fear being hit by a stray bullet while sitting in their homes. The pathology of this criminal pattern of behavior must not be tolerated.

This will require more police being assigned to East Stuart. If we are to eradicate indiscriminate shootings and drug dealing the city must be willing to devote long term the resources necessary. I want us, as a community and city, to stand firm against this plague. Our police must be fair and objective but do everything possible to accomplish this goal. Community policing should be a big part of this strategy. The hearts and minds of the community is as big a part of safety as is any law and order goal.

The police cannot do this work without community involvement. The people who live in this neighborhood must want to rid their community of this scourge. They need to be the eyes and ears of law enforcement. They have to stand and be part of the solution. When things are toughest, the East Stuart community and the rest of the city cannot afford to back down to those that have interest in the lawless status quo. For this type of behavior knows no geographic bounds or skin color.  Every neighborhood has an interest in eradicating the problem.

It is true the people who perpetuate these crimes are dangerous and have little regard for life. They want us to fear them because that is their ultimate weapon of compliance. They are home grown terrorists doing precisely the same thing as ISIS does in Syria. A healthy fear is natural but can’t be allowed to derail what needs to be done. Our children’s future is at stake and what we do will decide their destiny.

As a commissioner, I will ask that the needed funds are made available to support this effort. While a “Town Hall Meeting” may be called, all of us know what must be done. The actions needed on our part have to be more than just expressing complaints. The time for discussion is over. East Stuart and all of Stuart need to come together and expel the drug dealers and gangs from our city. Along with the police, we must make our city safe for all…especially our children as they are the future.

Do We Need “Open Carry”

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As a kid, I would play “cowboys and Indians” or “soldiers” with my siblings and friends. All of us in the neighborhood would be involved. Even girls could be Dale Evans and fire a gun. Right after Christmas or a birthday, we would have new toy guns but as the year went by sticks or broom handles would substitute for our lost or broken make-believe weapons. We were kids running around the sidewalk or park making explosive sounds and playing dead.

Then one day, I was no longer interested in playing with toy guns. I grew older and other things occupied my time and imagination. But somewhere in the back of every man’s mind is the little boy who wants to play at being that cowboy again…Wyatt Earp with a six shooter in a holster strapped to his hip. For what else could explain why the third most populous state in the nation is so obsessed with guns and especially what is known as “open carry.”

I believe in second amendment rights. Law abiding citizens do have a right to own and possess fire arms. I have a concealed weapons permit. I can’t remember the last time I carried a weapon outside my home; but I want the right to do so. I should be able to defend myself and my family if needed. But I am not a law enforcement officer nor do I desire to “play” one in real life.

So why do we need “open carry” in Florida? Do we really have some inordinate fear or vulnerability that we would need to have a Glock 43 holstered at the hip? Will this make us safer as a an individual or a society? I think not.

Law enforcement professionals receive hours and hours of training in the art of firing and holstering a weapon. Proper procedure and technique is drilled into them before being sworn and throughout their careers. Because of their training, officers are better able to know when the use of deadly force is appropriate. The average person does not have this extensive training, and the vast majority of us do not have the required temperament.

Florida leads the nation in concealed weapons permits at 1.3 million. When a weapon is concealed, the carrier has an advantage. The person can defend himself if necessary and if he believes his life is in danger. No one knows you are armed. You are far more able to walk away from situations that may not, at its inception, be life threatening. Once you take it upon yourself to openly carry a weapon, you may be putting yourself in situations where you are provoking a problem.

What happens during a traffic stop and the police officer sees you are carrying a weapon? Now, when the officer approaches, if you have a weapon in your glove box or concealed on your person, you have an opportunity to calmly tell the officer that you pose no threat. If you carry in the open, that stop may become quite deadly. Misunderstandings occur. With guns in the mix, there is a far greater chance of deadly force being used.

You know the first thing Wyatt and his brothers did when they became deputies or marshals in a place was to make sure no one was carrying a gun within town limits. Common sense dictates some sensible measures for the common good. Crime has never been lower. In Stuart or Port Saint Lucie or anywhere on the Treasure Coast, will we be better served by the openly carrying of weapons? I think not. Let’s leave the make believe to the kids and the law enforcement to the professionals.