South Dade Matters

Looking at the World South of Miami: Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Pinecrest, South Miami and Miami-Dade County.

Category: Palmetto Bay

May 23, 2013

PB Bonus Post: Just in case…

SDM commenters have been sharing a rumor about the shade session that led to the Shores at Palmetto Bay, LLC settlement. Ultimately, we won’t know if the rumor is true until the transcript is forcibly taken from Mayor Stanczyk’s iron grip.

But just in case the rumor is true, let’s establish Mrs. Stanczyk’s statement on the settlement as reported in the Miami Herald:

“I believe that the village would have prevailed” in court, said Stanczyk. “I believe that the original ruling that the council made was correct. … We had no choice with an incomplete application to go forward, and he had other questions to answer, not huge questions, but questions nonetheless. With either vote they would get their development.* There wasn’t any reason to settle.”

Close readers of this blog may recall this statement published here:

SDM Code Breaker: The council met in a shade session before the May 20th special meeting was called. While the council cannot vote at shade sessions, they clearly can have their temperatures taken regarding whether they want to continue to fight or accept a settlement. Logic dictates that at least three council members decided to terminate the lawsuit, which also probably means that at least three of them believe that cutting the village’s losses will be better than risking an expensive judgment. So, SDM will wager that Shores will get their votes and the project will go forward.

Hypothetically speaking, if a member of the council were to indicate in the shade session transcript that he or she supported settlement but later voted against settling when the matter came before the public at a council meeting, what might SDM call such an act? Hmmm…

*SDM placed an asterisk at the end of that sentence because we cannot understand what the heck it means. Ideas?

4 comments
May 23, 2013

PB: Crushing Dreams Since 2002

As we gather this weekend with friends and family to remember those who died so that we may live free, SDM wants the village people to consider the story of two families whose desires to live free were crushed by the village council: the Basses and the Sezumagas.

These two families asked the Village of  Palmetto Bay for the following:

  • Those outrageous Basses wanted to add on to an existing canvas carport behind an existing structure – meaning it would be practically invisible from the street. Without getting too technical, the current carport was approved under the county code, but under the village’s code it sits too close to both the existing house and the property line. The existing structure is okay because it is grandfathered. The village code’s setbacks essentially make it impossible to add on to their carport and the village council adopted a very restrictive standard for varying its provisions. Thus, the Basses little addition died ignominiously. What they wanted to do violates the village’s aesthetics as defined by that tiny group of gadflies that drive village policy.
  • The wild Sezumagas  wanted to add some space to their home for their large family. Staff noted that their existing house is way outdated having been built in the 1960s. Unfortunately for the Sezumagas, their plan required a 2.5 foot deviation from a 25 foot setback, which according to the village would grant them a special privilege. Namely, the Sezumagas home, which is on a corner lot, would jut out farther than all the homes facing the avenue.  As SDM sees it, the Sezumagas are being penalized for having a corner lot because their side setback is greater than other homes sitting on “regular” lots. Of course, the fact that the family would be vastly improving the value of the neighborhood seems lost in the debate. Like the Basses, the Sezumagas dream of accommodating any family members in Palmetto Bay was voted down by a village that tied its own hands.

At the hearing, local resident and customary naysayer Gary Pastorella surprisingly rose to support both families. SDM has to wonder whether Mr. Pastorella also spoke favorably when the village adopted its strict hardship standard for variances. Hmmm…

In the end, both the Basses and Sezumagas wasted time and money going to the council in the first place. Palmetto Bay wants you folks to freeze in place. Don’t improve your homes! You might encroach a virtually unnoticeable couple of feet into a setback or you might install a canvas covering that nobody will see. Trust us, we will know these things are there and they bother the crap out of us.

Instead, conform to Palmetto Bay’s aesthetic regardless of how arbitrary it may be. Just because this village developed over almost six decades doesn’t mean we can’t have every house look and feel alike.

SDM Says: While you’re flipping your burgers and watching the kids splashing around in the pool this weekend, remember the Basses and the Sezumagas and be grateful you don’t need anything from your “hometown” government.

1 comment
May 21, 2013

PB: Welcome Aboard the Village of Palmetto Bay

SDM watched in amazement the Village Council meeting last night as the Shores at Palmetto Bay, LLC lawsuit came to rest on a three to two vote with the remaining Amigas in the minority.

In fact, it was Marathon Man Tim Schaffer who held firm and voted to dispose of the lawsuit after facing the most petty nonsense from the usual village gadflies.

The arguments against settling the lawsuit at their well-rehearsed core amount to the following: “The developer should not have sued the village. Instead, he should have re-applied after he received a site-specific charter. We get nothing out of this settlement.”

Let’s just be real for a minute and dispose of the lie that “a site-specific” charter is required by the code:

Sec. 9-53. – Required information.

All public charter school facilities shall submit the following information to the village’s department of community development for review by the department and for consideration at a public hearing:

(a) Written information:

(14) A copy of the charter approved by the Miami-Dade County Public School Board.

According to the village attorney at the original hearing, the applicant satisfied all the criteria to hear the application. Mayor Stanczyk wanted to halt the application so she manufactured the alleged violation of the village code. Stanczyk’s hyper-political actions caused the lawsuit because she was forcing Shores – against the advice of her legal counsel – to follow a procedure that state law prohibits.

More importantly, does any rational, breathing person believe the village would have approved the Shores application had the developer merely re-applied and not sued? Of course not. The gadflies fail to mention that their plan all along was to wage a war of attrition against Shores. See Palmetto Bay Chutzpa Award dated March 26, 2013:

Mr. Templer also made sure to point out that he didn’t want to see soccer fields at Palmetto Bay park and that the existing green space should be maintained, which inspired his chutzpa: Templer said that to add more ball fields with lights, the village could go ahead and purchase 5 acres to the west of the park!

SDM Codebreaker: There are two five-acre tracts to the west of Palmetto Bay park and both are in private hands. One is owned by Miami Children’s Hospital and the other is owned by Palmetto Bay’s second-most-famous litigant-partner, Shores at Palmetto Bay. The Shores property was set to be developed into a charter school and commercial complex until Mayor Stanczyk and her cronies decided to kill off the project without a proper hearing. Thus, Mr. Templer is echoing a nutty idea – pushed originally by super-gadfly Marsha Matson – where Palmetto Bay shuts down the Shores project and then buys the property at a hefty discount.

Mr. Templer, who also happens to be the spouse of a sitting council member, testified last night against the settlement, which given his ulterior motive seems perfectly logical to SDM. What surprised SDM was when Templer began berating the applicant for having the temerity to sue the village. Mayor Stanczyk reined Templer in, but she didn’t apply the decorum rule to him:

All speakers must address their remarks to the mayor, speak in a dignified and courteous manner, and avoid admonishing individual members of the public, council and representatives of the village. Should a member of the audience become unruly or behave in an improper manner that is prejudicial to the dignified conduct of the meeting, the mayor shall have the power to require the person to leave the meeting and to be accompanied, if necessary, by a police officer. In the event the audience becomes unruly the mayor may either recess or adjourn the meeting. (Emphasis added by SDM.)

To paraphrase Pirates of the Caribbean, the decorum statement is more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Village of Palmetto Bay!

At the end of the day, the village elders (Dubois, Fiore, and Schaffer) overruled the Amigas, terminated the Shores litigation, and gave tax payers a break on future legal bills. SDM Says thank you for your leadership.

SDM Says to the Amigas Stanczyk and Lindsay: shame on you! Your re-election hopes should not be more important than what’s good for the village.  Perhaps it’s time for the serious people in this village to make you walk the plank, figuratively speaking of course.

18 comments
May 16, 2013

PB: Insomniacs Unite!

SDM should be getting paid to write when the topic is Palmetto Bay. Last night’s Committee of the Whole meeting was about as interesting as watching grass grow – or paint dry – or a Mayor squirming.

Wait, that last part was a little interesting.

Marathon Man Tim Schaffer proposed creation of a couple of committees where members of the council could get together and work on various issues facing the village. You know, parks stuff, police, etc. Not a bad idea…so long as Mayor Stanczyk thought of it first.

Unfortunately for Schaffer, the Mayor didn’t think of it first, so she spent the night doing what she usually does: interrupting, criticizing, making irrelevant comments…the usual.

But while tearing down Mr. Schaffer’s idea, our Mayor Problem offered a tiny glimpse at what may be going on behind the scenes at village hall. “It sounds like a good idea in terms of building bridges between people and working on things that [are] collegial…” (12:12) Mrs. Stacnzyk repeated a similar sentiment in between “buts.”

Permit SDM to read some tea leaves here.  Our Mayor Problem must be starting to feel some heat from her devious and underhanded statements on pbcheckstherecord.com. Why else would she be so concerned about collegiality? SDM guesses she is feeling the whatever the opposite of  collegiality is every time she mounts the dais.

What is also painfully obvious – and trust SDM, watching these meeting is nothing but painful – is that even the Mayor’s sycophants no longer bother to attend council meetings. The ever-present and ever-ready Mme. Bev was there to comment, but SDM could see almost nobody else in the chamber.

Resident Steve Kreisher spoke at the end of the meeting and expressed a similar sentiment regarding how long and unproductive the council meetings were getting. (He used other words, but SDM can’t bring ourselves to watch again.) Aside from Mr. Triangle and Mme. Bev, nobody seems to be paying attention to what’s going on at these meetings.

Of course, the council met on Monday (Heat playoff game) and Wednesday (Heat playoff game), so external forces were removing eyeballs and back sides from the council chamber, too.

But SDM can’t help but notice that the Mayor ain’t turning out even her trolls anymore.

Oh, and just for the record, our Mayor Problem still hasn’t owned up to or denied involvement with the website.

SDM Says: Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

6 comments
May 13, 2013

PB: Super Secret Transcript Leaked to SDM

Shelley:    Thank you for coming to this emergency meeting of the Committee to Re-elect the Mayor or CREEM.

Warren:    Boy, that name sure sounds familiar…

Shelley:    Of course it does, Warren. It’s the name of our re-election committee. Remember? We met a couple weeks ago.

Bev:   No, there’s something else about that name…can’t put my finger on it.

Shelley:    What’s in a name? Anyway, I called you here today because we have a crisis.

Betty:    Darn right we do. That website is a big problem.

Shelley:    Tell me about it. That wicked JB Harris served the lawsuit on me last week just as I was going start giggling at John Dubois during his government hearing. They sued me!!!

Warren:    I think  we’ve all been sued. Shouldn’t you be in the stew with the rest of us since the website was your idea and you wrote all of the nasty stuff on there?

Gary:    Yeah. This was all about you wanting to shut up SDM and all the other people on your enemies list. You told us no one would ever figure out who wrote the crap on that site. Nice job getting caught.

Bev:    Enemies list…hmmm…this is really sounding familiar now.

Shelley:    Look, you don’t understand. I have to hire a lawyer now and it’s expensive.

Betty:    No sh&* Sherlock.

Gary:    Shelley, you got us into this mess and you need to get us out of it. When are you going to tell the community that you own the website and wrote the material on it? You need to get our names out of it.

Shelley:    Just calm down. My lawyer doesn’t want me to do that. Besides, we all contributed to pbcheckstherecord.com.

All:    WHAT?!?!?

Shelley:    We all contributed. Everything I wrote, we discussed at one time or another. I just wrote it down for all of us.

Warren:    Hold on a minute. We didn’t write that blog, you did.

Gary:    You can’t write all that stuff and blame it on us.

Shelley:    Nobody’s going to be blamed for anything. I gave the whole thing a lot of thought over the weekend and remembered that somebody hacked my Paypal account on the day in question.  The whole transaction happened without my knowledge.

Bev:    You think anyone will believe that?

Shelley:    Yes I do. I think people believe everything I say. Now, on to our response. I put together a psychological report that  one of you is going to have to put in JB Harris’s doctor’s office. Do I have any volunteers?

12 comments
May 12, 2013

PB: Time for a Code of Core Values for Civility and Ethics?

The City of Dunedin (a bedroom community on the North side of St. Petersburg) addressed some problems they experienced in their public dialogue by adopting just such a code. Given the chaos caused in our little community by certain un-civil acts by our Mayor, SDM suggests the village council consider adopting one, too:

Code of Core Values for Civility and Ethics

Integrity – I shall make no promises or commitments I cannot reasonably expect to fulfill, and I shall maintain appropriate social, ethical, and organizational norms in City related activities.

Ethics – I pledge to maintain the highest standards of professional behavior and to comply with the laws, regulations, and policies under which we operate.

Civility – I pledge to help create an atmosphere of respect and civility where individual Commissioners, City Manager, department heads, staff, committee and board members, and the public are free to express their ideas and work to their full potential.

Respect for the Individual – I respect the diversity of Commissioners, staff, committee members, and citizens, to provide fair and equitable treatment in all areas, and to encourage personal and professional growth.

Communication – I pledge to be open, consistent, truthful, and respectful in all communications, written and verbal, as this is vital for reflective and sound decision making for the Dunedin community.

Teamwork – I shall work together with others, with mutual respect, to achieve organizational goals, recognizing that unity of purpose and effort leads to increased productivity and greater accomplishments.

Leadership – I shall lead by example, using appropriate interpersonal skills, and shall strive to maximize citizen and staff involvement to further the vision of Dunedin’s quality community.

Creativity and Innovation – I shall strive to stimulate and appreciate new concepts and solutions suggested by all, as Dunedin’s creative community is enriched.

Quality – I shall strive for excellence in every phase of our work.

Stewardship – I shall strive to make a positive contribution to our City and to enhance the quality of services throughout the Dunedin community.

Efficiency – I shall work to attain our goals by optimizing the use of our energy, time and resources.

Organizational Sensitivity – I shall consider the impact of all decisions on resources and to recognize the limitations imposed by our environment.

Adaptability – I shall respond efficiently and effectively to the needs of our citizens as well as to changes in our environment.

Recognition – I shall recognize and value individual contributions to the Dunedin community, as the City’s mission and vision are pursued.

SDM knows that codes of ethics and civility – like citizens’ bills of rights, sadly – merely set the lowest bar of political behavior. We have a right to expect that any person seeking public office is internally constituted to be an honorable person. Unfortunately, public office often attracts precisely the opposite type.

So, we should insist that codes like the one above – adapted to our village – be included in the political dialogue. In Palmetto Bay, we could make the code above part of the packet of documents a candidate signs (or refuses to sign) when he or she qualifies for election.

Then, when we run into a politically devious act (like trashing your opponents, colleagues and community-members through a theoretically untraceable website), then at least we have a political yardstick against which we can measure the guilty pol.

SDM Wonders: Since your agenda at the May 15th Committee of the Whole is so lacking in consequential matters, will one of you add a serious item so this village can begin the process of reconciliation?

7 comments
May 10, 2013

PB: SDM’s Thoughts on a Wild Week

David Singer began the week when he quoted Sir Walter Scott: Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

It’s now Friday afternoon and the SDM crew will be heading to a nearby watering hole to try and forget a certain politician. Before heading out, SDM decided to disgorge some final thoughts on Mayor Stanczyk and her foray into anonymous blogging.

When this site was established, SDM chose to be anonymous. We did not do so because we wanted to avoid legal troubles that could arise from defaming people. The idea was that we wanted our sometimes acerbic commentary and analysis to be read for its content. We exchanged some credibility for the freedom of anonymity.  To bolster the credibility lost, we try to adhere to certain rules:

  1. Avoid personal attacks. We routinely delete or edit comments that discuss personal traits. We figure that if you want to throw those kinds of stones, you can go on Eye on Miami and call everyone and anyone whatever ugly name you desire. We also don’t allow attacks on a person’s business and try to avoid needlessly including the names of third parties, unless those names are necessary to an issue. If we fail in following this rule, we apologize and/or take down the material.
  2. Cite the sources of our facts. Regular readers know that SDM cites the source of the facts we quote. We often transcribe comments from meetings and provide the times and dates that correspond to the words. We reference documents so that readers can check our facts, which they do often, thankfully.
  3. Comment on public acts and statements, not on private statements or rumors. This one is hard to follow, but we also routinely delete comments that are based on rumors and innuendo. If we can’t verify the facts alleged, we avoid the comments. We will always approve comments that disagree with SDM so long as they are respectful and comply with basic fairness.

After reading dozens of pbcheckstherecord.com pages, SDM can state with confidence that Mayor Stanczyk followed virtually none of the rules we try to follow here. Had she done so, she might have avoided insulting (or worse) so many:

  1. Governor Rick Scott
  2. Commissioner Lynda Bell
  3. Vice Mayor John Dubois
  4. Former Councilman Howard Tendrich
  5. Former Mayor Eugene Flinn
  6. Candidate for Mayor (2010) Peter England
  7. Candidate for Vice Mayor Karyn Cunningham
  8. Candidate for Councilman Jim Araiza
  9. The Christian Coalition
  10. Palmetto Bay resident JB Harris
  11. Palmetto Bay resident David Singer
  12. Berkowitz Development Group
  13. Palmetto Bay resident David Zisman
  14. Frank Pintado (“of the Parking Lot Frank Pintado,” whatever that means)
  15. Randall Hilliard
  16. Palmetto Bay property owner Wayne Rosen (Shores at Palmetto Bay, LLC)

Mayor Stanczyk managed to accomplish flinging wild accusations or outright lies about the folks listed in less than two months as a blogger! Quite a tangled web, indeed.

SDM Wonders: Are the zealous supporters of Mayor Stanczyk feeling queasy at all about supporting a person like this? Or, do they think SDM has gone too far?

14 comments
May 9, 2013

PB: When Winning Is Not Enough

In the 2010 election, current Palmetto Bay Mayor Shelley Stanczyk faced candidate Peter England in an epic battle. Stanczyk won by 18 82 votes out of 4,554 cast. Rather than being thankful and feeling blessed by the slim victory, Stanczyk seems to have become embittered by it.

Look at her Palmetto Bay Checks the Record post in which she rips her vanquished opponent:

Palmetto Bay did have reasonable campaigns, once upon a time. I remember when it started to change. In the second campaign for Mayor, Eugene Flinn (whose opponent was the perpetual candidate Jim Araiza, yes I know, again) was able to raise a huge amount of money. Then, in the following election of 2010 the flood gates really opened with the Peter England campaign. He started about a 15-18 months out from the election to win the Mayor’s seat and went over the top with money from the business community. For little old Palmetto Bay? (Posted October 29, 2012)

Funny thing about politicians: it never seems to occur to them that the reason an opponent raises so much money is because a bunch of people really, really don’t want YOU! Meanwhile, when the politician goes out and raises money for herself, well, that’s just evidence of community support. SDM just calls it hypocrisy.

Now take a look at a later post where Stanczyk gives her supposed ally Tim Schaffer a backhanded compliment that is really a dig at her last opponent:

Tim Schaffer is a new person on the campaign and political front. I met him a couple of years ago when he delivered a letter to me opposing the CRA development vehicle that Peter England was supporting. (Posted November 2, 2012)

Later, in the same post, Stanczyk offers a rambling, Nixonian attack on a bunch of her political enemies:

Charter schools and developers now own Dubois and Araiza and Cunningham. Dubois’ property holdings on the US1 corridor and the Triangle in conjunction with his want for an Enterprise Zone tell you how his vote will be used. Enterprise Zones remove the normal controls over development and give tax cuts and other incentives that cost the residential tax payer. Dubois, Araiza, Tendrich (owns US1 property) as well as Cunningham (Flinn’s friends own multiple properties on US1) all have a strong connection to development. The healthy $10.1 million reserves of the Village is (sic) a cache of money that could be drained for developer subsidy. Dubois’ friend Peter England wanted to do it in the last election. Here we go again with our tax dollars and financial security under threat by the big business group. I’m not seeing any concern for the residents and families of our community from them. (Posted November 2, 2012)

Let SDM get this straight so we are all on the same page when Palmetto Bay’s 2014 election rolls around. When Mayor Stanczyk accepts a contribution, that person or entity now owns her. And, assuming Stanczyk has any political “friends” left in 2014, then those friends are all seeking subsidies from village coffers, right? Got it. Warped as they may be, at least we voters know the ground rules now thanks to our “leader.”

And by the way Mme. Mayor, you really need to spend a minute learning about Enterprise Zones and CRAs because your “facts” are all wrong, again. SDM doesn’t have the time or energy today to correct you, but if you continue to lie to the village people we will take you to task on that subject, too.

SDM Says: If politics is like a game, then the metaphor is most relevant to the way winners and losers are treated. Shelley Stanczyk’s narrow victory over Peter England in 2010 was not enough for her. Even two years later she continued to bash her opponent, which reminded SDM of a saying: ”It is your response to winning and losing that makes you a winner or a loser.”

26 comments
May 8, 2013

PB: Meet The Village Spokeswoman

During the council meeting on Monday, Mayor Stanczyk mentioned during a discussion of the traffic circle project that she had already been in contact with Commissioner Bell’s office, which got  SDM thinking…

SDM recalled that Mayor Stanczyk’s Palmetto Bay Checks the Record website mentioned other public officials in some of the posts. So, SDM went to our trusty archive and checked what the Mayor – the village’s elected spokeswoman to other levels of government – said about these folks. Here’s what she wrote about Governor Rick Scott:

Headline: “John Dubois for Vice Mayor is the NEW Rick Scott of Palmetto Bay with TV ads, PAC Money… $100,000 to Buy a Village Council Seat.” Text: Well, it had to happen sooner than later to be sure. John E. Dubois with his limitless resources has surfaced as the new Rick Scott of Palmetto Bay. His PAC money from the illegal and voided registration of the Floridians for Ethical and Responsible Government certainly is unable to be counted or accounted for. (Posted on October 29, 2012)

Boy, Rick Scott must be racing to the phone to take Mrs. Stanczyk’s calls! He must be thrilled a local politician is parroting lines from his opponent’s campaign ads.

Closer to home, the person who we elected to represent us in out little burgh said this about our other representative Commissioner Lynda Bell:

Following the development of the case to today, Dubois has allegedly caused his next door neighbor to be sued by DERM and be fined daily as a result of Dubois’ alleged illegal filling of the neighbor’s property. The alleged motive or hidden agenda that is talked about across Palmetto Bay and County DERM is that Dubois wants to purchase the property at a reduced price. The reduced price is the result of the damage allegedly done by him to the property and the daily liens assessed by DERM. I guess he thinks his friend Lynda Bell will forgive the fines once he gets in line to buy the land. Emphasis added by SDM. (Posted on October 9, 2012)

Apparently, Mrs. Stanczyk thinks a county commissioner can unilaterally waive fines; or – and this is far more likely – she knows precisely that a commissioner has no such power and is intentionally lying to the village people. Either way the Mayor looks pretty bad.

But how do you think Commissioner Bell is going to react to reading the statement now knowing that her suck-up Mayor-buddy was talking trash behind her back all along?

Just to make things worse, Mrs. Stanczyk posted a link to the scurrilous Eye On Miami so readers could quickly and easily find more dirt on the commissioner:

Check out how he protects himself with his friends at County Hall.
http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2012/06/eom-investigative-report-lynda-bells.html (Posted on October 9, 2012)

Then on November 13, 2012, the Mayor doubled down on her animus towards Bell:

You remember what happened to DERM don’t you? His friend, Commissioner Lynda Bell dismantled it following a town hall meeting where Dubois played a very loud, public role.

SDM is no fan of Commissioner Bell – this blog opined in opposition to some of her policies, but this statement is patently false. Bell definitely went after DERM almost immediately following her election, but the the truth is that DERM was reaching beyond its regulatory authority and harassing people. Believe it.

Nevertheless, the fact is that DERM was consolidated into a larger department by Mayor Gimenez. SDM covered the Mayor’s departmental shifts at the time, so we have a record here. To say that DERM was dismantled is a lie; those functions moved to another department. Mayor Stanczyk knows this fact and SDM would argue that she intentionally painted a false picture for her constituents and to damage Commissioner Bell in their eyes.

The Village of Palmetto Bay Code contains the following provision:

Truth in Government. No municipal official or employee shall knowingly furnish false information on any public matter, nor knowingly omit significant facts when giving requested information to members of the public. (Palmetto Bay Charter, CITIZENS’ BILL OF RIGHTS (A)(2).)

Of course, Mayor Stanczyk could always say she wasn’t giving requested information to members of the public; she wasn’t even claiming ownership at the time!

SDM Says: Dear Governor and Commissioner, please don’t hold it against us that we have a thoughtless oaf as our Mayor. We can’t get rid of her right away, but some of us will do our best to give you a representative worthy of the people of this good community. Oh, and don’t hold SDM against the village people either! :)

P.S. Palmetto Bay Checks the Record has been scrubbed so you won’t find any of this trash up there now.

7 comments
May 7, 2013

PB: Who is Shelley Stanczyk?

Watching last night’s Village Council meeting struck SDM as surreal. SDM was trying to imagine what was going on in the minds of Mayor Stanczyk’s colleagues and we decided they must be asking “who is this lady sitting next to me?”

Vice Mayor John Dubois must sit there steaming; he certainly looks like it. The woman sitting next to him created a fictitious persona and website to accuse him of a crime! Mayor Stanczyk’s website posted copies of some nasty fliers that claimed Mr. Dubois “illegally” cut down mangroves on his property. When one claims in writing that another person did an illegal act, that can constitute defamation under Florida law.

Here at SDM, we vet every post and comment to make sure we don’t cross the line. And, we will take down material that amounts to defamation – if we agree – when a damaged party makes a request.

Mrs. Stanczyk’s claims against Dubois are particularly troubling because they are so uninformed. The fact is that trimming mangroves is a regulated, legal activity subject to interpretation by the county. If the county determines that mangroves were trimmed in violation of state law, then they can impose fines and ultimately sue to collect outstanding monies due.

For any person who has ever faced an enforcement action, you know that the government isn’t always right. Mr. Dubois finds himself under fire from the county and eventually will come to some resolution with them. Does that make his conduct illegal? Not necessarily and Mrs. Stanczyk knows better. In fact, SDM doubts she’d have made the accusation if she thought it would catch up to her. How’s that for political courage?

SDM Wonders: How does Mr. Dubois sit on that dais next to someone who seems to think that no act in a political campaign is beneath her? SDM wrote last month that village politics is not a war…unless you are the Mayor, apparently.

Speaking of code enforcement violations, how do you think former Council Member Howard Tendrich feels after re-reading the website now knowing that his one-time ally wrote that “he’s the anonymous caller if you ever have the code officer visit you and he tells you a complaint was made.”

Really Mme. Mayor? Your statement is either an outrageous lie or a truth without any substantive evidence in the record. If the latter is the case, then produce the inside information and the staffer who is leaking it because we are told that code enforcement violations are called in anonymously.  If the former is the case, you have no shame.

SDM Wonders: How do the Mayor’s allies on the council and in the community view this politician now that they know what she’s been up to? She seems to have no compunction to say anything once an ally disagrees with her. Better watch your back Council Members Lindsay and Schaffer; you may be next on her hit list.

SDM Says: We understand there is another shoe to drop in this scandal – perhaps several more, in fact. Therefore, we have no choice here at SDM but to wait and watch as this wonderful little experiment in self-government is smeared by a forgettable, small-minded political flyweight. The next election can’t come soon enough.

Final note to our readers: For those of you out there saying, but SDM, you anonymously blog and say some pretty tough – sometimes nasty – things about the village people. What gives you the right to judge the Mayor? Here’s the difference between SDM and the Mayor: SDM is written by outsiders. No one is elected to diddly squat. Even if you don’t believe it, SDM gains nothing by writing this blog except the satisfaction that another perspective is being published. Someone has to point out the other side of the village story and that’s what we try to do here. No defamation…just carefully researched facts and opinions derived from our best efforts at understanding what is going on.

14 comments
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