Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Hi there from Springers Bar and Grill.

Thursday: shrimp salad on a Kaiser roll

Friday: potato crusted mahi mahi with a mango curry sauce.

Happy Hour 2-7 daily with great drink specials. There’s Always Something Special at Springers

Once the construction contracts were awarded, FKAA then announced that large areas of the CRWS would be served by a low pressure sewer (LPS) that would require homeowners to surrender a perpetual easement on their property. The easement is to give FKAA access to repair or replace the E-1 grinder pump. Obviously this was not well received by the public and accusations of graft abounded.

One group challenged the wholesale use of grinder pumps in the Cudjoe area, the Sir Isaac Newton Coalition. You will find a “Report to Governor Scott” on their web pages http://www.newtoncoalition.com/ that leaves little doubt that the fix was in for E-1 grinder pumps. Other islands of the CRWS began to slowly band together and formed the grass roots organization, Dump the Pumps, Inc (DTP) to lobby for change from E-1. DTP members began researching the E-1 pump, places it had been used, and technical specifics of the design. What they found was a second rate system.

DTP filed an intent to sue the DEP and FKAA, outlining some specifics that FKAA and its engineers had not followed. There were misleading or false statements on the DEP’s permit applications. Both are grounds for revocation of the permits.

The DEP ignored the threat of the lawsuit for nearly the 30 days allowed, then claimed they needed another 30 days to review the claims. DTP agreed, subject to temporarily stopping work on the grinder/LPS installation.

DEP was largely uncooperative during the extension, stalling on requests for information that was readily available and being generally uncommunicative. DEP answered DTP at the end of the extension with a brief statement that said they found no validity to the claims. No explanation at all! It was a disrespectful dismissal after stalling for two months while construction continued. Contractors are required to meet minimum standards in this Area of Critical State Concern. Failure of the grinder pump system would negatively impact the Outstanding Florida Waters protection within a National Marine Sanctuary.

The FKAA estimates for conversion from grinder pump areas were deceptively made to appear far more expensive than they actually were. Deleted infrastructure was credited at a lower unit cost than the exact same infrastructure was charged as an “add on”. At times it was the exact same pipe in the same place. Two commissioners would have approved those inflated prices, the money is there, but three wanted to use the sales tax extension money raised to pay for the sewers elsewhere.

Because of our efforts FKAA had to seek revised permits for Upper Sugarloaf Key and Cudjoe Key. DTP protested the continued construction saying the system was not to minimum standards of the electric code. There were known risk of explosion in neighborhood lift stations. A Petition for Administrative Hearing was filed. That filing renders the permit ineffective pending the results of the hearing. Similar Petitions were filed against the original permits for Big Pine Key North, Big Pine Key South, and Little Palm Island.

FKAA published the required Notice of Intent for injection wells in Broward County, two counties away. FKAA does most of its business in this county, why would they publish the notice in another county where it’s less likely Monroe County residents would see it? DEP accepted that evasive tactic as meeting the law for publishing public notices.

Knowing their permits were legally rendered ineffective, FKAA continued work on grinder pumps and their Executive Director boasted about it on the radio. DEP advised FKAA to ignore the petition.

DTP hadn’t had a membership roster until about two hours before the petition was filed. A hasty email appeal got 36 sign-ups in time for the filing. DTP already has a petition against grinder pumps with over 1450 signatures.

the castle is not the only infamous property to hit the market. The Scarface mansion where Tony Montana met his end is for sale for $35 million. The 10,000-square-foot home looks out onto the Pacific. It’s located not in Florida, where the film took place, but in Montecito, Calif.

This is what I received from my notice to them: “I apologize for this automatic reply to your email. To control spam, I now allow incoming messages only from senders I have approved beforehand.”

-Salary is one part of compensation. I pay over $800/mo for my employer health insurance and I don’t get a pension like civil servants, these are significant compensation elements of at least $15k a year.

-There’s no competition. No wonder they stay at these generous jobs and such low turnover. In private sectors competition keeps the compensation matched to the market which then makes companies competitive.

I wish I had been smart enough to get a cushy private sector job when I entered the job market – the politicians cater to them to curry their votes. Link

Terrence Bradley

Loving husband, devoted brother, stepfather, and friend, he will be loved and missed. Heaven is lucky to have him. ~Linda & Terry Bradley, Elizaville, NY, formerly of Big Pine Key.

Other than providing a long term source of employment for our already overpaid civil servants in U.S.F.W.S., this program serves no purpose except to squander tax dollars that could better be spent elsewhere or, even better, not extracted from citizens in the first place.

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A POSTER WROTE: “”It’s not just the EPA, as we were sinking into its worst financial crisis in more than 70 years” Oh surely you must be kidding. Don’t you read the press, listen to CNN, MSNBC, etc.. ? Obama has saved us, saved us I tell you! We are now in the biggest and bestest recovery the USA has ever seen. Hallelujah! Things couldn’t be better – as long as I don’t look up from my computer screen….”

FTR’S RESPONSE: When you’re right, you’re right. Sarcasm triumphs.

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Part 1) Our suave, loquacious, well tanned, charmer, Charlie “Tuna” Crist, aka “Runaway Charlie” celebrated a big anniversary the other day. It was the 5th anniversary of his announcing his candidacy for Senator. Nothing wrong with that, but he was only 2 years into his term as governor. He had made a commitment to the people of Florida that he would use whatever talents he had to govern our state. He reneged on that promised and decided to bail out. From that moment on Charlie lost interest in governing Florida and he began doing what he does best. Schmoozing and campaigning. Charlie is obsessed with getting federal office.

When he cut and ran, the Democrat party unloaded on him. It is supremely ironic that his current top political consultant, Steve Schale, blasted, roasted, and bbq’d Runaway Charlie for running away from his job as our governor. In a May 12, 2009 press release Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman was really hacked at Charlie, she said: ” Floridians expect bold leadership and real solutions from our elected officials. By running for U.S. Senate, Charlie Crist has cut and run on the Sunshine State. Once again taking the easy way out, avoiding responsibility and leaving the hard work of facing Florida’s problems to the next governor*.” Not exactly kind words.

Happy Fifth Anniversary Charlie….we’ve prepared a little gift for you and your supporters, it features your old friend and current consultant, Steve Schale. Video

Just one more thing. The “next governor” that Democrat Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman, was speaking about turned out to be Republican Rick Scott. She was flat right….the next governor. Rick Scott, did the hard work of fixing the problems that Runaway Charlie left behind. Now, Florida thrives. Then, Florida foundered.