PB: It’s Time to Take a Side
by SDM
SDM read with interest a letter from village resident Betty Noe in the Miami Herald Soapbox on Sunday. Mrs. Noe sees the disputes roiling Palmetto Bay as a battle of one side against the other:
I take neither side because I don’t completely agree with either side. I don’t agree with a recall petition drive because we don’t like how our elected officials are governing our village. Governing by recall is dangerous, goes against all of the voters who cast ballots for those officials in the first place and it can come back to bite you in the future. It is a bad precedent to set and will put a pall over any future election.
I don’t like the lack of transparency of Mayor Shelley Stanczyk, Councilwoman Joan Lindsay and Vice Mayor Brian Pariser over the Palmer Trinity issue. We have paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars over their misguided decisions. Those decisions, I believe, have led to the sad and painful fault lines that now run through our village.
Here’s the rub. I know and like all of the people involved on both sides. We are friends from before incorporation when we all just disliked the county, not each other. We need to look at a map and find the high road.
SDM has great regard for Mrs. Noe. She offered herself for public office a few years ago. She was a thoughtful candidate. But SDM cannot agree that the failures of the current council majority are somehow morally equivalent to the recall movement. In fact, SDM would argue the recall is merely a response to what many residents now see – at best – as chronic mismanagement. At worst, Palmer may represent malfeasance and intentional discrimination on the part of the Three Amigos.
That residents stay neutral when presented with these facts – see Mrs. Noe’s statement that she “takes neither side” – is exactly what is wrong in Palmetto Bay. Managing Palmetto Bay is not a big a job: keep the grass cut and the budget balanced and you can pretty much skate along without the public paying much attention. Instead, the council racked up over $600,000 in legal bills while losing a lawsuit to Palmer Trinity School. The ultimate cost of that suit could be in the multiple millions of dollars and there is plenty of evidence already that the council majority ignored their lawyers on multiple occasions.
Palmer should be enough, but in addition the current council majority have gone off the rails by pandering to a tiny minority of residents who think they live in an over-55-only community. They continue to push the divisive “neighborhood protection” ordinance (NPO) despite clear evidence that it’s both unnecessary and dangerous to the interests of the village’s most important cultural, religious and educational facilities.
SDM Says: Chronic mismanagement, malfeasance, and intentional discrimination constitute sufficient cause to recall elected officials and/or to vote against those seeking re-election. Each of the above has occurred repeatedly under the current council majority.
With due respect Mrs. Noe, it’s time to take a side.
Please find my response to Betty in the Herald below. I am in agreement that recall’s are dangerous, but in this instance a recall is warranted and completely necessary to safeguard the future of Palmetto Bay.
Betty,
I completely agree with your comments. Unfortunately, it has been a sad couple of years for the Village of Palmetto Bay and our residents deserve better. I personally did not take the decision to spearhead a Recall lightly. I would rather be spending my time with family and friends then focusing on an exercise that is so negative.
That being said, a Recall is completely necessary for this community. Palmetto Bay needs to have elected officials that represent the principles and ideals this community was striving for when we voted for incorporation. I did not vote to live in an exclusionist bigoted community.
Mayor Shelly Stanczyk, Councilwoman Joan Lindsay and Vice Mayor Brian Pariser have continued to demonstrate they do not represent the majority of residents who live in Palmetto Bay. If left in office they will continue to damage the community I was raised in, my children are being raised and I care about. Through their legislation these individuals continue to prove an intolerance of both educational and religious institutions and what they bestow upon a community.
The (Neighborhood Protection Ordinance) NPO they are now attempting to pass will once again bring further litigation to Palmetto Bay. It has zoning procedures that are extremely onerous and punitive to churches and schools and are not equivalent to what is required for either businesses or residential housing. It is blatant narrow-mindedness against these types of institutions and must be stopped.
The future is at play for our community and it’s time for a change.
David Singer
You have to admit that the letter was powerful. I got to know Betty from many years of PTA service. She must be tortured to write such a letter. I must say that I too am not a fan of government by recall, but Mayor Stanczyk. Vice Mayor Pariser and Councilwoman Lindsay have made the case for it. So many people are frustrated by the fact that the decisions are being made by a very small clique in private meetings held outside the public view. Let’s face it, we all have grown to love Palmetto Bay, but it is time for tough love and to protect the residents over the politicians. I believe that we either need to engage in government by recall or continue the ongoing government by vendetta. I say that we choose the people over the politicians. We need to save Palmetto Bay. I am willing to fight for Palmetto Bay. Let’s us fight for our own local Bastille Day, when we rise up and replace this unconstitutional self-appointed local monarchy run by those who would “let them eat cake” and return Palmetto Bay to a true democracy for the people.
Wow, It’s nice to see SDM take such a strong stand on the recall. The support for the recall is a sign that the folks of Palmetto Bay are sick and tired of the behavior of the 3 (4) Amigos. I have given the Mayor every chance to mend her ways and stop the discrimination against our schools, churches and the evil developers, who ever they are. I personally haven’t met anyone yet who wants to buy up a neighbor hood and put up a Wall Mart.
I go to the mindless council meeting and listen to the outright lies that come out of Shelley, Joan and Brian’s mouth. The hypocrisy, deceit, misinformation, condescending attitude and criminal behavior have reached a level never seen before in politics. (That’s saying a lot).
It’s time to say to our elected officials, if you are going to spend our tax dollars on attorneys instead of police, if your going to subject our city to millions of dollars of lawsuit damages, instead of improving our parks, if your going to cause us to file bankruptcy instead of fixing the potholes in our streets, then it’s Time For You To Go. Shelly and Joan it’s time for you to resign and save our city from the embarrassment of tossing you out. Brian, your recall will take care of itself in Nov.
I also know Ms. Noe and she is a gracious lady. If she had written that letter a year or 18 months ago i would probably have agreed with her. Now as I move from the silent majority and remove my blinders, I am seeing the damage being done to our village. Our current triumvirate has shown a complete disregard for appeals for common sense, good leadership and decisions that benefit the community rather than a small group among other complaints.
I only voted for one of the 3 Amigos and I won’t make that mistake twice. Ms. Noe, thank you for loving our Village enough to voice your concerns. Please make sure you and your friends vote both on the general election day and any potential run-off. We all need to make sure that the voices of reason & the silent majority vote.
I believe to best remedy the crisis brought to us by the three amigos, is to show up at the polls this November… And vote. Vote Dubois and Vote Araiza. They will definitely put us back on the road to fiscal and moral recovery.
SDM doesn’t support Araiza. He has never said he opposed extending the Palmer litigation or NPO. Howard Tendrich has voted against the Three Amigos dozens of times and voted against Staczyk’s motion to limit Palmer to 900 students. SDM’s view is that voters must reward elected officials that do the right thing. Tendrich has done so and deserves your vote.
I agree about Mr. Tendrich – he has been saddled with irrational colleagues who had seized the majority vote. I am willing to give him another opportunity
Stanczyk, Lindsay and Pariser are poster children for a recall. It appears people are just itching to sign the petitions. For those who want to show their solidarity, the Recall committee will be manning a table at the 10 year anniversary party this Friday at Palmetto Bay Village Center 7:00 p.m.
Unfortunately the number $600,000 in legal fees paid to Village attorneys has gotten stuck in the media’s and public’s mind. That figure only applies to fees paid to Eve Boutsis for her work in the Palmer lifigation. In addition, former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raul Cantero from White & Case, attorney George Knox from the late Adorno Yoss firm, and attorney Tucker Gibbs have also represented the Village in the Palmer litigation. All told I would estimate fees paid to attorneys in the Palmer litigation to be upwards of $1 million.
You’d think at least one of the members of the council would demand a full accounting along with an estimate of future liabilities, right?
Mr. Tendrich – here’s your chance to show who you represent — get the citizens of Palmetto Bay a full accounting of monies spent thus far for the Palmer debacle.