FDOT Commits To Study Interchange Need, Mayor Says It's A Done Deal, Is Somebody (Bateman) Telling Tall Tales?

If this is a done deal as the mayor claims why would they do a study?

Mayor Bateman said the following, "The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has approved my request for a new Homestead turnpike interchange. FDOT committed to begin the Project Development and Environmental Study and to construct the interchange."

"In a letter, FDOT’s Secretary, Ananth Prasad, wrote to me: “We look forward to working with you as, together, we seek to make positive contributions towards job creation and long-term opportunities for the City of Homestead.”

The new interchange will consist of a southbound exit ramp and a northbound entrance ramp at Lucy Street and the Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike.

The commencement of the study and subsequent construction are dependent upon the execution of contracts for the development of adjacent properties and the willingness of the development partners to fund half the cost of the interchange.

The interchange is the result of many months of effort and numerous discussions between Governor Rick Scott and me. Governor Scott embraces and supports the project as being consistent with his policy of statewide job creation. The Governor’s aggressive job creation initiatives throughout the state moved this project forward for us.

The turnpike interchange will bring jobs during its construction and jobs from the commercial development that will occur after construction. It has been estimated that more than 1,000 jobs will be created."

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Mayor Bateman Wants To Bailout Super Target His Plan Is To Use $6MM Of Taxpayer Cash For Exit/Entrance Ramps @ SW 328 St.

Target is a multi-billion dollar company, why would the Mayor commit City of Homestead dollars to such a project?

http://www.businessinsider.com/target-beats-same-store-sales-rise-above-expectations-2012-5

http://investors.target.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=65828&p=irol-homeprofile

http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Target_(TGT)/Data/Sales_per_Store

FDOT Has Committed To The Following: 
FDOT committed to begin the Project Development and Environmental Study.

"I anticipate that a big-box retailer such as a Super Target and many other commercial opportunities will locate there. About 4 million persons travel to and from the Florida Keys on the turnpike in the area annually.

Our new turnpike interchange will deliver a major economic impact to our economy and will create hundreds of new jobs for our community. If we build it, they will come." Mayor Steven C. Bateman

The subject came up during the budget presentation and the Mayor has been doing a lot of lobbying for the Lucy Street interchange. Let FDOT, Super Target or the Alger Family, who are the landowners, pay for the interchange, why is the City of Homestead bailing out millionaires and corporations?

This is some of the malarkey brought up at the budget meeting. Must be another Bateman COINCIDENCE!

Dr. Von Laurer commented at the last budget hearing Councilman Williams and Councilwoman Waldman asked the subcommittee if they had any suggestions for increasing revenues and one of the members of their committee was going to pass out to the Council a plan on forming a coalition between government and the private sector and the object of this group would be to find the funding to pay the $6 million obligation that the City of Homestead has for the interchange at SW 328 Street and find investors to come to the area at the interchange. He mentioned this was not a proposal but it was an idea the group would like the Council and City Manager to review and from this plan come up with some ideas.

Mayor Bateman stated Dr. Von Laurer timing was perfect pertaining to the interchange and what it can do for this community in job creation and economic impact because the Council received a letter from the Alger family that was sent to him and the Secretary of FDOT. He summarized the contents of the letter which ended by stating the Alger family was pleased to partner with FDOT and to offer their property in working towards the completion of a 2nd interchange for the City of Homestead.

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Trouble In The Homestead Police Department?

Dade County PBA official Steadman Stahl has written the following in the PBA October Newsletter,

To the Homestead Police Officers calling us, we hear you. We hear that when you are approached by the Homestead Command staff and told to sign a letter of support for the chief, if you don’t sign it, you are retaliated against. 

When the command staff tells you to call the chief and wish him a happy birthday, if you don’t follow their orders and call the chief, we know the retaliation from the Command Staff is relentless.  

President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “you do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.” 

At some point the Chief will wake up and realize he has been getting misinformation from those that might not have his best interests in mind. Stay tuned for more on Homestead.

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Message From The Pets' Trust In Miami Dade County, Vote Yes On #240 On November 6th

"How can people do that?" a friend asked me recently?  "How can they just take a part of their family and give it away?"

"I guess in a society where people beat and abandon their kids, this should come as no surprise," he said, answering his own question.

My friend was reacting to an e-mail I'd forwarded him about a dog that had been dropped off at Miami-Dade Animal Services because its family "no longer wanted him." It was one of dozens I receive weekly about what has become an epidemic in South Florida. 

Hundreds of animals are being abandoned by people who no longer want them.  Sometimes the reasons are legitimate.  People have lost their jobs and don’t have the financial resources to care for the pets they love.

But reasons like "he's not purebred," or "I just don’t want her anymore," are inexcusable.  And they fuel the anger of pet advocates in our community. (The two dogs shown above were surrendered because they aren't purebred. Thankfully, a rescue group found them good homes.)

Every day, about 70 animals are killed at Miami-Dade Animal Services to make room for the hundreds that they take in each week.  It’s called euthanasia.  But let’s not kid ourselves.  

Euthanasia is the practice of ending the life of an animal with a terminal illness or an incurable condition.  And while many pets are put down for these reasons, hundreds of healthy, adoptable animals are put down simply because there's no room for them.

That’s not euthanasia.  It’s killing, plain and simple.  Seventy dogs and cats a day, every day. 

These are animals that are either surrendered by their owners or picked up on the street by animal control officers after they are thrown out of cars, dumped in the Everglades, or just left to roam the streets on their own.

Who’s to blame?  We are.

It’s easy to point the finger at the shelter, which despite a recent change in management, continues to suffer from the same problems that plagued its previous director.

Why doesn’t someone do something to find a permanent solution?

Well, someone has.  His name is Michael Rosenberg. 

Last year, Rosenberg adopted a 6-week-old kitten from Miami-Dade Animal Services and named her Wren. Four days later, Wren died – just one of the victims of panleukopenia, a deadly virus that spread through Miami-Dade Animal Services, forcing the shelter's temporary closing.  Dozens of cats had to be euthanized after they contracted the highly contagious, incurable disease.

Though heartbroken, Rosenberg vowed to make something good out of the situation. With the help and support of animal advocates and local rescue groups, he came up with the idea of creating The Pets’ Trust in Miami-Dade County.

"The County has managed Animal Services for at least the 25 years I've been here," Rosenberg said.  "What are the results?  21,000 animals killed every year -- over half million in the past 25 years.  And the County just keeps those lethal injections coming."

The Pets’ Trust would help provide funding for programs and resources that would cut down, and hopefully eliminate, many of the problems that plague Miami-Dade Animal Services.

The goal is to end the senseless killing of healthy animals and promote responsible pet ownership. Monies deposited into the fund would go toward operating and staffing a new shelter – set to open next year – lower the cost of spay/neuter services and fund programs to educate pet owners about the importance of vaccinating and microchipping their animals.

To fund the Pets’ Trust, Miami-Dade homeowners would be assessed approximately $13 each year on their property tax. A $13 assessment may not seem like much, but at a time when so many families are struggling just to keep their homes, asking them to fund the county’s animal shelter may not seem like a good idea.

Nonetheless, Rosenberg says he’s received a lot of support from everyone with whom he shares his cause. 

That's why he thought getting it on the ballot for a general vote would be as easy as getting the Miami-Dade Commission to approve it. But, he says, he has hit a wall of bureaucracy when trying to get the support he needs to even get the petition on the ballot.

"Almost all the animal rescue groups and animal advocates have come together and we created The Pets’ Trust for the people of Miami-Dade County to vote on," Rosenberg said.  "All we want is to have it on the ballot so people can vote. How will we know if people want this or not, if we don’t give them the chance to vote on it?"

Even if you’re not an advocate for the animals, at least you can agree that the citizens of Miami-Dade County should have the right to decide what they want on the ballot.

How can you help?  For starters, go to www.PetsTrustMiami.com  and sign the petition asking for the right to vote.  For more ideas, and to keep up with the latest on the petition, follow The Pets Trust on Facebook. Once it’s on the ballot, you can always vote against it.  But let's at least get the petition on the ballot.

"Cut the bureaucracy and let the people decide," Rosenberg said. 

I couldn’t agree more.

• Copyright 2012 by Post Newsweek. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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New Rule: If You Collect A Fee, There Had Better Be A Fee Benefit Especially If Public Safety Is Involved

Caption For This Picture:
So Sorry Gated Communities Of Homestead, You're On Your Own, Your Money Is Needed Elsewhere


Where is the City concern for the health and safety of the residents paying the stormwater fee yet residing in a community with "private" roads?

Shouldn't the goal of the City of Homestead stormwater management plan be first and foremost to insure the health, safety and general welfare of it's citizens by the reduction or prevention of hazards from flooding, inadequate drainage and contamination?

403.0893 Stormwater funding; dedicated funds for stormwater management.—In addition to any other funding mechanism legally available to local government to construct, operate, or maintain stormwater systems, a county or municipality may:

(1) Create one or more stormwater utilities and adopt stormwater utility fees sufficient to plan, construct, operate, and maintain stormwater management systems set out in the local program required pursuant to s. 403.0891(3);

(2) Establish and set aside, as a continuing source of revenue, other funds sufficient to plan, construct, operate, and maintain stormwater management systems set out in the local program required pursuant to s. 403.0891(3); or

(3) Create, alone or in cooperation with counties, municipalities, and special districts pursuant to the Interlocal Cooperation Act, s. 163.01, one or more stormwater management system benefit areas. All property owners within said area may be assessed a per acreage fee to fund the planning, construction, operation, maintenance, and administration of a public stormwater management system for the benefited area. Any benefit area containing different land uses which receive substantially different levels of stormwater benefits shall include stormwater management system benefit subareas which shall be assessed different per acreage fees from subarea to subarea based upon a reasonable relationship to benefits received. The fees shall be calculated to generate sufficient funds to plan, construct, operate, and maintain stormwater management systems called for in the local program required pursuant to s. 403.0891(3). For fees assessed pursuant to this section, counties or municipalities may use the non-ad valorem levy, collection, and enforcement method as provided for in chapter 197.

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$$$ Redistribution: Despite Paying Stormwater Management Fees City Will Not Assist Residents Of Gated Communities

If you live in a gated community in Homestead and pay the stormwater management fee, the city will not help your community clear storm drains. They are saying that those roads within gated communities are private, so what are you paying for? 

You are paying for the city to do other projects involving stormwater management in other areas of the city. 

Now a contradiction is that services involving water, sewers, recycling, bulk trash and solid waste are all delivered via the so called private roads, so why the distinction?

This internal City of Homestead memo to Mayor Bateman from Julio Brea sums up the City of Homestead position: 

Mayor, I wanted to explain that is not that the City does not want to repair their drains, the fact is that we are not allowed to use public funds on private property. The funds collected for stormwater utilities are for use on public roadways not private roads that are not designed, built or maintained by the City. The drains on private roads are equivalent in jurisdiction as a drain on a private parking lot or road within a parking lot... The City cannot use public funds to repair or maintain private property.

We are eager to guide them on what they should do or the steps they can take to rectify their issue. We are available to meet and explain our position and the limitation we must work under at their convenience.
Julio A. Brea, P.E.
Director
Public Works and Engineering Department
City of Homestead
Office: (305) 224-4405
Fax: (305) 224-4439
Jbrea@cityofhomestead.com

Several Questions on this correspondence: 
1. Why did the Mayor bypass the City Manager? 
2. Is this his customary Standard Operating Procedure? 
3. Doesn't Julio Brea work at the direction of the City Manager?

Note: Julio Brea did not bypass the City Manager on his response, Mr. Gretsas was copied. 

Additionally, the Mayor said this: 

On the 20th Anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, we found ourselves preparing for Tropical Storm Isaac. This time, we were prepared.

Homestead was recently recognized by the National Weather Service as a StormReady® community. The StormReady® program better prepares community leaders and residents for hazardous weather and flooding through advance planning, education, and awareness.

StormReady® is a program started in 1999 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It helps arm America's communities with the communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property before and during a severe weather event. StormReady® helps community leaders and emergency managers strengthen local safety programs.

Prior to the start of the hurricane season, Homestead’s major storm drains were cleaned and South Florida Water Management Division lowered canal levels to provide for more storage capacity to better accommodate excess rainfall. 

StormReady Fallacy: Unless of course you live in a gated community as the city uses your fees elsewhere, like the Villages of Homestead in the photo. The Mayor said in his newsletter "City of Homestead employee begins road repairs immediately" after Tropical Storm Isaac.

http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1110108144715-14/August+Newsletter.pdf

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Slowdown Looming? Updated 2012 City of Homestead Lobbyist List

Looks Like It's Just A Bump In The Road

Most of these lobbyists have already appeared with their applications so a slowdown may be in Homestead's future. The New Aquarius Corporation is the owner of the trailer park adjacent to City of Homestead facilities complex on Lucy Street. Local Attorney Michael Marcus (below) is their representative. 

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