Who Is Watching

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Who is watching government?

It became apparent to me that the Stuart City Commission was not concerned whether anyone was watching. Our only local and major news source, The Stuart News, no longer has a reporter routinely assigned to City Hall, or for that matter our County Commission. Sunshine doesn’t mean much if no one is there to pull back the curtain.

Speaking of Sunshine, a look behind the curtain is in order regarding how Nick Blount was chosen at the last meeting to fill my vacated seat.  Nick has been an outstanding member of our community for years. He has served on numerous boards and been involved. He would be an excellent candidate for that seat under any circumstance.

But there were others who have an equal pedigree who also expressed a desire for the appointment. Why weren’t they considered? Why wasn’t there an application process so that other possible candidates could have applied? Commissioner McDonald did motion for a special meeting to discuss the appointment but no one seconded and the motion died. Then Commissioner Bruner moved for Blount to be appointed and it was seconded by McDonald. It passed on a 4-0 vote. The vote seemed almost as if it were staged. There was no discussion or deliberation by the Commission. It reminded me of the old Soviet Politburo.

Stuart is descending even further into shade. Citizens don’t attend meetings. They really don’t seem to care. Millions of tax dollars are being spent with all the trappings of open meetings but none-the-less without the benefit of any scrutiny. The elected officials should be keeping the staff in check. Citizens and the press should be the check on the elected officials. None of this is occurring presently.

All the Sunshine, Open Meetings and Public Records laws mean nothing without citizen participation and scrutiny. What is the sense of these laws when there are no citizens at the meetings to watch, listen, speak and remember at election time? Without a press to report those mundane, routine and yes, at times, boring proceedings, our democracy cannot be sustained.

If local government can’t be responsible and responsive to the citizens then how can state and federal governments be expected to do so? The answer is not in more laws or regulations. It is in the people’s willingness to make sure that self-government works. Sitting on the couch at home and having big opinions won’t help. You becoming involved could make the difference.

The Press & Local Government

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Martin County has a problem. While there are large financial and procedural problems both within the City and County governments, what I am concerned about is much more fundamental. It is simply a lack of press coverage on what those governments are actually doing. Without unbiased reporting, citizens have no idea what their governments are doing in their names.

How can citizens possibly be able to keep tabs on their elected officials if they have no idea what is going on? Sure, we have public meetings, but public meetings do no good if the public has no knowledge of what goes on in those meetings. While at least the City of Stuart’s meetings are held in the evening, Martin County Commission meetings are strictly held in the daytime, precluding most people with a job from attending.

The City’s meetings are streamed and can also be watched later online while the County’s meetings can be seen on MC-20. This is not as helpful as it may seem. What I have discovered is that the best way to keep something secret is to give people too much information without context. Until recent years, that context was provided by the local press.  Our current local press corps has failed us miserably in this respect.

While we have very talented opinion writers in the local newspaper, they are not reporters. They give us their opinions with a certain slant. It is valuable and good reading, but it is not a substitute for the good old-fashioned reporting of “who, what, when, where and why” when writing a news story to inform the public. TV journalism is not relevant in Martin County unless it is to report the sensational. Radio has no news component in local reporting at all.

I can’t blame TC Palm/Treasure Coast Newspapers or any television station for no longer being journalistic in the traditional sense. Perhaps it is too much to ask for any one news source to inform the public. The public has turned away from these conventional sources and want their news from social media. But social media has its limitations for a number of reasons, including the lack of verification of the facts.

I have painted a grim picture. But all the “Sunshine” in the world doesn’t help if no one is watching what government is doing. We have become an electorate of opinions absent the facts. It is a place where our prejudices and suppositions cloud our informed decision-making.  So, we re-elect incumbents without knowing their actual records and votes.

This is ultimately not good for local self-government nor for our democracy. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to Charles Yancey in 1816:

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.”

 

Leadership

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I was in Orlando the last few days participating in a class offered by FLC University, an affiliate of the Florida League of Cities. The purpose of the course for government officials is to make us better leaders. It was very interesting and gave me insight on not only my leadership abilities and style but also how to spot traits in others, including their motivations. It was worth the time to attend.

However, I am not a leader in the conventional sense. Neither I nor any member of the City Commission has any real authority to affect the City’s everyday operations. This sentiment was echoed by the dedicated elected officials who took the class with me. Commissioners don’t have a portfolio or a department that we oversee. We have limited ability to do more than speak with the city manager. This is not the classical definition of a leader. This is not how you would normally accomplish things.

So where does an elected official derive his or her leadership from? The simple answer is from the citizens we represent. Once elected, I stand in for the voters and residents of Stuart. I can express leadership by being the representative of the voters and residents. When speaking to the city manager or staff, I speak for you.

No one commissioner has authority in the traditional sense. The Commission has the authority to vote to appoint the manager but not much else. It is no secret that I believe that the strong manager/weak commission form of government is not accountable to the voters. I think it is the antithesis of what our democracy is all about. Our leaders in the public sector must derive their legitimacy from the people. That can only be done by the people choosing their leaders. It is hard to be a leader without the carrot or stick.

But we do not have that system so I must work within the current one. So, as your elected official, the leadership I show is derived through you. I have only the moral authority that you have provided by your vote. I am your leader for as long as I have your support. My effectiveness for you demands that I have that support. Without it, I have a title but no authority. And, I think you know by now, I didn’t want to be elected to have an empty title.  The reason I ran for Commission was so that I could be your voice in setting policy for the City and to ensure accountability to you rather than to the special interests that often prevail when no one is watching out for the citizens.

Citizen Apathy

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So, another week has passed. FBI probes, indictments, mass shootings and sex and infidelity scandals are what greet us morning, noon and night. Our government in Washington can’t seem to pass legislation. Our President can’t stop the tweets. And Tallahassee is trying to run every Floridian’s life in the name of giving the individual freedom. This is the state of the nation.

Being a citizen means more than just coming to the polls and voting at election time. Throughout their terms, elected officials need to have citizen participation on an ongoing basis. As one of those elected officials, I need that input to do my job. Residents, taxpayers and voters must be active and informed for our system of government to work.

When I am on the dais, I will always see City staff in the audience. There will be lawyers and planners representing applicants waiting their turn before the Commission. Perhaps a neighbor or two that may be affected by the proposed projects. And, as usual, two or three citizens, the same citizens that attend meeting after meeting. This is not acceptable. In order to make sure that our Commission acts for the benefit of the entire City, more residents need to know what is going on.

We need citizens to be there even when a project will not directly affect them. We need citizens to be there to make sure that a “favored” friend is not voted an undue advantage. We need citizens there to make sure that nothing is slipped by without, at the least, a voice to sound the alarm and remember. We need citizens because otherwise we will have a government that is not accountable to the people.

It is true that the farther government is from the people the less responsive it is to the people. Congress and the Legislature know that and that is why they have made government less and less accountable by taking away or pre-empting local control. But even local government only stays accountable by having citizens involved. You can’t be in Washington or Tallahassee on a weekly basis. You can be at City Hall.

Little Corruptions

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On Thursday, February 15th another school massacre occurred. A deranged kid with a gun took 17 lives. The dead were school children and teachers. Most of those lives were extinguished before they had begun.

We have grown accustomed to these incidents. The playbook has been written. There will be tinges of sadness followed by outrage then the political hyperbole about gun control. We will hear that this is not the time to discuss what to do while relatives and loved ones are grieving. And, of course, that old chestnut of “If there were more good people with guns…” There is always an excuse but never any concrete action to curb the violence.

So much of how America operates is dysfunctional. We are a selfish society polarized by politics and inflamed by people with ulterior motives. All of which occurs for the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many. We have become a country that is corrupt. We have not yet become a nation where bribes are expected in order to have our telephones installed. Rather we are more and more morally corrupted by our elites playing on our emotions and beliefs for their own sinister purposes.

Nothing is accomplished by our government of any substance. The perception is now more important than the actual reality. As a society we no longer believe it is wrong that the playing field is not fair. It is alright for those who know the right people to benefit at the public expense. Those very few now manipulate government on all levels for their benefit. The majority no longer counts except as backdrop.

From our educational system to our political system to our financial system, it is now all rigged to enhance those fortunate few. They have cynically taken over the levers of power as their own. They use any means necessary to enhance their positions. They have no core beliefs or principles. There is only the pursuit of power and riches.

So the little corruptions continue. Rational thought and the art of compromise no longer matter in the nation’s public life and is true in our personal ones as well. We believe some of the lies told and shut our eyes and pretend that we do for the rest. This is the America we inhabit where truths are far from self-evident and government is not for all the people.

In the not too distant past, America’s politicians and leaders would never have stood by while these massacres happened. A common sense for the common good would have prevailed. But not today! No, in the name of power and greed Americans, especially our youngest, will continue to die. It is more important that the connected few keep the false feuds going between the American people in the name of political discourse. Then those connected can amass even more money and power. These little corruptions are eating away at the fiber of our nation and ultimately will destroy it.

 

 

Where Is Stuart?

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One of my pet peeves is the number of people that state they live in Stuart when, in actuality, their homes are located in unincorporated Martin County. People living outside the City send emails complaining about something or expressing an opinion regarding an agenda item. What they fail to realize is that they do not vote in the City of Stuart, they do not own property or a business within Stuart, nor do they pay taxes to the City. Yet they believe they should have a say in how Stuart residents govern themselves.

Why is there such a desire by so many non-residents to consider themselves part of our municipal family? The first reason is many have moved to Martin County from somewhere else. Many of Martin County’s new residents originally found us because they vacationed here, or friends and relatives are already living here. Naturally to most of these people, whether they are on Hutchinson Island or in Port Salerno, it is all Stuart. Another reason is because the newspapers and TV stations identify stories as happening within Stuart when identifying the location as Jensen Beach or Rio would be more appropriate.

The third reason is that people don’t quite understand the governmental relationships between Martin County and Stuart. In other parts of the country, counties are not as consequential as towns, cities and villages. School districts are not county-based but could be part of a municipality or an independent district within a municipality. In the New England area, for example, governmental decisions are made at the town level. Counties have very few governmental responsibilities.

The last reason is probably the most prevalent. Martin County grew up around Stuart. The area even beyond the incorporation boundaries became known as Stuart. People became used to saying they lived there even if they lived outside the incorporated area by a street, or even miles. Until relatively recently if you needed to buy something in Martin County, you came to Stuart. If you wanted to eat in a restaurant or go to the movies, you came to the City. That, of course, is no longer true as Martin County has grown exponentially compared to Stuart.

With all that said, as a Stuart City Commissioner, I must remember who I do represent. While the thoughts and opinions of other Martin County residents may be relevant in some cases, I owe my allegiance to those who live within Stuart’s boundaries. As a Commissioner, it is my responsibility to do what’s right for my constituents — the citizens of the City of Stuart.

I Hate Florida East Coast Railroad!

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I hate Florida East Coast Railroad and Brightline. For longer than I have been elected, I have been fighting the coming passenger trains. I missed the CARE meeting last night at the Lyric because I was in Tallahassee for the Florida League of Cities. I applaud their action. I applaud Martin County’s continuing fight against this atrocity for all of the county’s residents. I continue to hate Florida East Coast Railroad and Brightline.

The scheme to run high speed trains along a densely populated corridor is insane. Nowhere else in the world would this be accepted. The cities and towns along the tracks are being asked to tolerate the intolerable. Our citizens are being told to sacrifice their quality of life for the profits of a private company. That private company falls back on 19th century federal law for their right to disrupt the wellbeing of millions of people. Everyday autonomous trucks and cars are closer to reality and yet we must accept the “iron horse” as a modern way for people and freight to be moved.

There is a bill going through the Florida Legislature which would mitigate some of the effects of the promised endless trains. I will be speaking to the sponsors today to thank them for their efforts. I don’t know if it will pass and be signed into law by our Governor? And, if so, will the courts uphold it because of the federal supremacy laws? That’s a good question. I am afraid that, no matter what happens, Martin County and Stuart will have to learn to live with the unimaginable.

I do believe somewhere and sometime along these tracks a train will derail leaking either chemicals or compressed gas, causing immeasurable harm. I believe there will be politicians screaming and saying to ban the train, but the train will continue. I believe that people will continue to be hit by speeding trains and die. I believe that the people of the Treasure Coast will be ignored for the sake of corporate interests.

With all that said, I also believe that we must look at what we can do to mitigate the railroad’s effect on our citizens. We must look at “Quiet Zones” so that our residents will not sacrifice all their quality of life. There is an argument to be made that, without the horns, people will not know that trains are coming. But there is something known as personal responsibility. Cars should not ignore gates being down and lights flashing. People should not be taking a shortcut by walking along the tracks.

Is any of this ideal? The answer, of course, is no. That doesn’t mean we don’t look at “Quiet Zones” and their costs. It is easy to bury our heads in the sand. It is politically more acceptable to not seek out less-than-optimal solutions. I want us to continue the fight in the courts and through Congress and the Legislature. I just want us to make sure we look at every option to ensure our residents and taxpayers have the best quality of life.

How Far Should Individual Rights Go!

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During the years I have been travelling to Tallahassee, I have spoken to many legislators in pursuit of advocating for municipal self-determination. One of the by-products of these meetings is receiving various legislator newsletters. One newsletter I receive is from Senator Greg Steube. Senator Steube is the ultimate property rights advocate — to such an extent that he wants to prevent any regulation by local government of the trees on your property. Another of his bills would prevent regulation of short-term vacation rentals.

In many ways I agree with Senator Steube’s philosophy of private property rights. You should be able to do what you want with your property. However, there is no right that is absolute. We need to remember that what you do on your property does affect your neighbor. So the question really becomes how much the government should regulate an individual’s behavior and actions.

If you live on a 400-acre farm, should you be able to have a garbage pit to throw your trash into? Should you be allowed to dam the stream that runs through your property to create a lake? In a more urban setting, should you have the right to rent out your home by the day?  Should you need a permit to cut down a tree?

First let’s take the example of cutting down trees. One of the most contentious items in granting development permission is how many and where trees can be removed. The second part of the equation is, after the developer removes the trees, how many should be replanted and what species. As a society, do we not want to encourage habitat for birds and other wildlife within our communities? Since most of us in cites live in very close proximity to our neighbors, how every home and yard is maintained has a direct economic and aesthetic impact on other property owners.

Vacation rentals can pose problems. If I move into a residential single family neighborhood and the owners of the house next door begin renting their dwelling out on a daily or weekly basis, doesn’t that have an impact on my rights? If I wanted to live in a more commercial setting, I would have chosen a different place to call home. We have zoning to prevent just such problems. Hotels must follow certain building and health codes for the protection of their guests and public. What about the tax money that is lost to jurisdictions?

It has been my experience that local government doesn’t regulate just to regulate. There usually is broad support for the ordinances they enact. Tallahassee should not concern itself so much with what cities and towns do but rather with statewide problems. Senator Steube is not only a state senator but a citizen of a local jurisdiction. He has the same rights as any citizen to petition his local elected officials to change the local ordinances that he does not like. If enough of the local electorate agrees, it will be accomplished.

What he or any state legislator shouldn’t do is use their authority to circumvent Florida citizens’ local self-determination. If enough voters of a municipality want to change something then they can elect others in the next election that agree with their position. Unfortunately, Senator Steube and other legislators believe that Tallahassee should be the arbiter of what we do locally and not you, the people who actually live, pay taxes and vote within your communities.

What Is the Indian River Lagoon & Council

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I attended a meeting of the Indian River Lagoon Council Management Board this past week. As the representative of the Treasure Coast Regional League of Cities, my purpose for being appointed is to give the other board members the perspective of our cities.  What you quickly discover is that the problems of our Indian River Lagoon are not restricted to Stuart, Martin County or even the Treasure Coast. The estuary encompasses five counties and two water management districts. Each of those areas has its own set of challenges which affect the water quality in everyone’s areas.

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) has three main bodies of water: Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River and the Indian River Lagoon. There are no true rivers because there are no headwaters and no mouths, such as the Mississippi River has. The IRL is an estuary and that is why it is part of the National Estuary Program.  The Council is a federal program under the supervision of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is funded by Congress.

Through the IRL grants program, local governments and other organizations can participate in an RFP process to secure funding for water quality projects. This is an additional source for money besides going to the Florida Legislature. The Indian River Lagoon Council is a resource that should be used in our fight for our Florida waterways.

As I have repeatedly said and written, there is no one magic solution to Florida’s water quality problems. It took over a hundred years of neglect, ignorance and, in some instances, downright skullduggery to create this problem. We will need another century and billions of dollars to correct it. One water farm or reservoir or sewer system is only one piece of the puzzle in this ongoing fight.

So I will continue to make what contribution I can in this area, both as an elected official and resident of the area. Unfortunately, this should be looked on as a multi-generational struggle. I am not going to blame or demonize one industry or interest group.  That would be counter-productive to achieving the goal. It took all of us, either through greed or ignorance, to harm our estuary. It will take everyone to help in its transformation into what we want it to be.

 

We Need to Discuss Quiet Zones

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In the past few months, my thinking has changed on the subject of “quiet zones” along the FEC right-of-way. With the near exhaustion of Martin County’s court challenges, which I believe the county was correct to bring even though they were not successful, we should seriously consider this option. Whether one believes Brightline will succeed as a business model or not is becoming less relevant. It is also irrelevant whether there will be more freight or not. The reason I believe that we should explore this option is because, if they build new tracks, whatever will run will go faster and be noisier.

What is the downside to having “quiet zones?” First, since there are still open areas the public can access, individuals will not have the warning of the train whistle. This can make it easier to have fatalities. Another reason is that it is much more expensive to have four gates than two gates at grade crossings. The City will be maintaining the crossings and those costs will be added to our budget forever. These are both serious considerations that need to be weighed before any final decision is made.

To qualify for the improvements necessary for “quiet zones,” trains must be traveling above 79 miles per hour; none of Stuart’s crossings reach that speed. Brightline only has to pay for improvements for intersections where the train is travelling above 79 MPH. Therefore, Martin County would have to request the implementation of “quiet zones” throughout the County. I believe this would have to be done in conjunction with the Martin County MPO. But the time has come for us to have an open and frank discussion unclouded by politics.

In the past, other elected officials and I have been reluctant to broach this subject. During our legal and administrative challenges to Brightline, no one wanted to undermine our efforts. With the winding down of these cases, we need to look to our future. While there still is a glimmer of hope with bills filed by Senator Mayfield, Representatives Magar and Grall in Tallahassee, we do need to at least begin a dialogue to see what is possible to minimize the impact.