"We are concerned with excessive growth"

 

ManaSota-88, Inc.  a 501.c3 Public Health and Environmental Organization

MANATEE COUNTY IMPACT FEES Manatee County is looking for public input over the next month for a new set of proposed impact fees, a one-time charge the County imposes on new development to pay costs of providing public services to the new development. A draft copy of the Manatee County Impact Fee Update Study can be viewed at www.mymanatee.org/impactfees  Manatee County will hold an online public comment period from Feb. 5 through March 8. Public comment or questions can be sent emailed to Nicole.knapp@mymanatee.org or sent to Nicole Knapp, Impact Fee Administrator, PO Box 1000, Bradenton, FL 34206 or call her at (941) 748-4501, ext. 7824. ManaSota-88 supports adopting impact fees that make new development pay 100% the costs associated with the residential and commercial growth. Funding mechanisms need to be in place that meets the educational and infrastructure needs of the community.   Nearly everyone now recognizes that those who benefit from fast development should at least pay for it, rather than having the cost hidden in everyone's property tax bill.   County income will never be enough to cover all costs caused by growth unless impact fees are adequate. Federal and state funds are diminishing and there is a limit to what can be raised by taxes. When there is a shortfall, among the services most likely to suffer are those that protect the natural environment and public health. Without adequate fees, capital improvements will be woefully shortchanged, or the burden will be passed on to all taxpayers as in the past. Sooner or later taxpayers will seek a remedy for this unfair treatment. It is certainly unwise to set impact fees below the actual cost of growth to the detriment of the county's fiscal position.   Our concern is not with normal growth unless it unduly and adversely impacts the environment as, for example, phosphate mining in a watershed. We are concerned with excessive growth. When you leapfrog undeveloped land to sanction urban sprawl, when you allow excessive development in a flood prone area, when you rezone many enormous tracts to higher density, that is no longer normal growth. Manatee County is projected to grow significantly in the next decade. Such excessive growth is not imperative, it will be the direct result of actions taken by the County Commission to encourage or at least permit it. Excessive growth must be required to pay its way.   If the Manatee County Commission is truly concerned with the well-being of its residents, then the Commission must use every available opportunity to provide equitable funding for necessary infrastructure and educational needs.   Manatee County will become a less desirable place to live if new school construction and transportation projects continue to be under funded.    Manasota-88 'Email: manasota88@comcast.net

Concierge service for developers, bum's rush for taxpayers

Big Development Wins ... Again

Dennis Maley• The Bradenton Times Sunday, Mar 25, 2018

On Tuesday, Manatee County residents were twice reminded who really runs this community: developers.

Tuesday's Manatee County Commission meeting included plenty of plot twists but the story ended the same way it always seem[s] to. First, we were told that Commissioner Stephen Jonsson would not be voting on whether or not to give developers a 10 percent subsidy on impact fees that are supposed to be paid in order to cover the cost of new growth. It turns out Jonsson’s son, an attorney, had just gone to work as in-house counsel for politically-connected developer Carlos Beruff. 

That’s the same Carlos Beruff who, after enjoying a long and fruitful relationship with Jonsson, a banker, went on to bankroll his 2016 county commission campaign, in which he defeated smart growth advocate and recently dismissed member of the Manatee Planning Commission (yes, those two things are related) Matt Bower.

As unseemly as this may appear, it actually seemed to bode well for the matter at hand. Since the item was a vote on scrapping a long-delayed return to collecting the impact fees at their prescribed rate, that meant that a possible 3-3 deadlock would kill the issue and they’d finally return to 100 percent next month, as scheduled. Since three commissioners—DiSabatino, Trace and Smith—had already balked at making the discount permanent, it seemed as though the public might win for once. More on that in a moment.

During public comment on impact fees, the board had to break for a time-certain item: the matter of whether or not to purchase 33 acres of woodlands from politically-connected developer Pat Neal for the exorbitant price of $3 million—nearly twice what he paid for it in December of 2016. A scheme to set up a Municipal Service Taxing Unit and force surrounding neighbors to pay back that $3 million over 30 years went askew when roughly half of them threw a fit, some of whom even filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent it.

Not to worry, Neal was getting his money one way or another. Commissioner Betsy Benac quickly suggested the county just buy the property and figure out some way to pay for it from somewhere else over the summer budget process. Suddenly, the board’s most pro-development commissioner, who had also had her seat sponsored by Mr. Beruff, just couldn’t live with the idea of missing out on the chance to preserve 33 acres of green space, no matter how much we had to pay Mr. Neal. 

County Administrator Ed Hunzeker, who developers like so much they made sure he stuck around (at significant taxpayer expense) even after he completed the state’s five-year Deferred Retirement Option Program, indicated that this was a feasible plan, despite his long-time penchant for telling commissioners that the funding for so many more important things like ambulances or competitive EMS and law enforcement pay just can’t be found during these economic times. 

That led to a mild uproar from Commissioner Charles Smith who demanded to know why the Palmetto community has been told for 50 years that putting a county-operated public swimming pool north of the river was just too cost prohibitive if a couple of million bucks were so easy to find. Surely the merit of teaching underprivileged black children how to swim in a state where the skill comes in more handy than most had to rank up there with sparing a mere 33 acres (much of which would have remained woods had it been developed), especially in a county that's usually so eager to clear land for new construction. Smith said that "anyone who knows anything about building pools has told me you can’t build one like that for $3 million" and was worried that if costs grew, the people in his district would be given yet another excuse as to why there was still no pool. 

Unable to come to a conclusion by lunch, the commissioners recessed with neither item having been voted on. When they came back, the mood was much more congenial. Support for the east county preserve purchase had suddenly materialized. Smith, having been assured by Hunzeker that the pool was a done deal, already budgeted for, and would be built as scheduled, grew more comfortable and joined Benac, Commissioner Baugh (another developer-supported commissioner whose district includes the site in question) and Commissioner Priscilla Trace, to flip the vote to 4-2. 

So, in the end, the 33 acres will be spared, and we’ll all pay Neal his $3 million. You can read about that in more depth here. 

That led us to the impact fee vote. Once again, those in attendance had to go through the excruciating dog and pony show of developers pleading with the board to relinquish them from this unfair burden and save the mythical middle-class homeowners who would be forced from this community in droves if the oppressive fees were allowed to increase.

Then we sat and listened as advocates like Bower, planning commissioner Al Horrigan, impact fee activist Ed Goff, and Federation of Manatee County Community Associations President Sandy Marshall shoot their arguments full of enough holes to bury nearly every single one of the $4.5 million that were stuffed into the pockets of local developers in FY 2016-17 alone by way of not paying the fees. Fees that were prescribed, by the way, in an expensive taxpayer-funded study the county commissioned from reputable consulting firm Tischler Bise.

Prices are market driven. Houses sell for what the market will bear. They don’t reduce a $350,000 house to $349,000 if you eliminate the fee. Your expressed fear of a lawsuit from developers is unfounded, as Tischler Bise has never ever had their prescribed impact fees successfully challenged in court. If everyone is so concerned about the middle class, why are new home sale prices growing faster in Manatee County than almost anywhere in the country?

Then we had to listen to the commissioners explain that these people don’t really understand impact fees, what they can be used for, how if they are sued it could ultimately cost more than the extra 10 percent to defend, how they are for jobs and middle-class home buyers. If you have an old house and didn’t pay impact fees,how can you say that someone building a new one should? Blotty blue, blotty blah. 

Commissioner Benac gave perhaps the most artistic performance. She reminded those in attendance that the county only collected about two thirds of the maximum millage on property taxes and suggested that maybe if we wanted the developers to pay 100 percent, so should we. Benac admitted that sure, we could probably find things to do with the money from the fees, but government can always find a way to tax someone and spend the money. Perhaps Benac missed Mr. Goff’s informative treatise on the difference between a "tax" and a "fee" during public comments.

Benac then posited that the reason there seemed to be a perception that the public was overwhelmingly in favor of collecting full impact fees was owed to the fact that they're only a burden on people who've not yet arrived. Who will be the voice of those taxpayers who've yet to make the decision to come to Manatee County in the first place, the commissioner wanted to know. It seemed she was intent to be the champion of all (future) Manatee County residents. The commissioner, whose voice often drips with condescension when forced to answer those who would question the board publicly, then gave yet another soliloquy on the public's failure to grasp the nuts and bolts of the process and how frustrating it can be to hear their misinformed complaints and how they contradict what impact fees can be used for.

Chairman Priscilla Trace District 1	Charles B. Smith District 2	Stephen R. Jonsson District 3	Robin DiSabatino District 4
Vanessa Baugh District 5	Carol Whitmore At Large	Betsy Benac At Large

It's true that many citizens are unaware of every spending limitation attached to the funds. However, that doesn't mean that the ones who understand them more fully don't have very valid arguments. To wit, some additional irony came by way of an earlier proclamation that National Library Week would be scheduled from April 8-14. The board took great effort to fawn over their support of libraries in general and our county’s hard working and talented library staff in particular. Yet, when was the last time we used the impact fees we apparently don’t need to build a library that we demonstrably do? Despite massive population growth in Lakewood Ranch and eastward, there is still not a library east of I-75 and south of the river. For LWR residents, the only option is the small Braden River branch, quite a ways down the traffic-riddled SR70 corridor, which is closed two days a week and only stays open until 8 p.m. on two others. 

During the recession, the county cut library staff and operation hours, and despite increased usage and budgetary growth have not found the money to put them back, let alone build new facilities to keep up with population growth. Impact fees can only be used for capital expenses, not operational costs such as staff, as commissioners are quick to point out, but I’ve never heard anyone say, hey let’s restore all of the libraries to their regular hours and put adequate programming staff in place and then find the money during the summer budget process. My guess is that unless Pat Neal and Carlos Beruff get into the business of building libraries, we won’t.

When it came time to vote, everyone knew that three votes were in the bag. Commissioners Benac, Baugh and Whitmore would vote for capping the fees at the reduced rate. Commissioner Robin DiSabatino held firm once again, as did Commissioner Trace, which put the decision on whether we collect the fees at 100 percent or give up around $10 million over the next three years on Commissioner Smith. 

Smith, who is up for reelection in November, had showed signs of wavering during the public hearing, arguing that all the fees in Lakewood Ranch and Ellenton couldn’t pay for projects in his district anyway. Without much explanation, Smith once again grew more comfortable, pitching in the fourth vote to give developers another win. His mood would improve further after the next item when it was decided to move the Washington Park environmental preserve in his district to a list of projects funded by the half-cent sales tax voters approved in 2016.

DiSabatino was livid. "It was the people of this county who lost today,” she told me afterward. "It’s disgusting. You have a developer (Neal) gouging the county on the price for land, pitting neighbor against neighbor over who’s gotta pay for it. That must be the new business model. Why build the development when you can just get the county to pay you twice what it cost for the land? And the commissioners just stand there and vote for it. It makes me sick. Then they vote for capping the fees, when everyone knows the reasons are all phony. It’s a rigged game. You try and do what’s right and represent what’s best for the people of the county, but you just can’t win. This is a dark day in Manatee County."

It is indeed, and DiSabatino’s had her fill. She’s already announced that she won’t be seeking another term. You can’t blame her for having grown tired of fighting the good fight, maybe getting another commissioner or two to join her on a good cause once in a while, but never seeming to be able to flip the board in favor of the people when it counts. She knows that until more people also run for the right reasons and survive the developer-sponsored attacks to actually get into office, nothing will change, and she’ll be left to continue to bang her head against the wall. 

Of course voters have the power to change all that by paying closer attention and then holding public officials accountable for their allegiances. But as many as 130,000 people will vote in a countywide commission race, and you’d be hard pressed to find 10 percent of that number who have any real grasp of issues like this one or even have any idea of the sort of power developers wield in our local government and how it affects them personally. Instead, most just look at whether there’s a D or an R next to the name and vote accordingly. 

Developers know this, of course, which is why they funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars into the races to ensure there’s always at least four friendly votes who can send much more dough their way once they’ve gotten a seat at the dais. In 1949, George Orwell wrote in his seminal novel 1984 that all the power was with the proletarians, if they could only ever figure out how to use it. Seven decades later, it’s clear we haven’t.

related:

Same Old Story, Same Old Song and Dance

Big Meeting May 4 for Long Bar Pointe: 1:30 PM

13-story high rises here?

Long Bar Pointe

By a vote of 3-2 the Manatee County Planning Commission barely recommended approval for Aqua by the Bay on Thursday, but commissioners had many doubts.
The best thing you can do now is write a letter to the editor. The Bradenton Herald and Sarasota Herald-Tribune reach thousands of people in Manatee County.
The easiest way is to go to their websites.
Bradenton Herald: Go to Full Menu/Opinion/Submit a Letter. Herald-Tribune: Go to the bottom of the Home page and click Letter to the Editor under Submissions.
Almost 200 people have emailed commissioners objecting to the project.

If you haven't written yet, you have until May 4, when the County Commission meets.  Please write to Commission Chair Betsy Benac at betsy.benac@mymanatee.org

Our petition has more than 1,200 signatures.  Thanks to all who signed.  You can add your name at: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Save-Longbar-Pointe-on-Sarasota-Bay.

Here is a summary of the issues involved.

The big meeting is May 4 at the County Commission, which will have final say.  If you can attend the meeting, please do. A big turnout matters, especially if you speak.

Carlos Beruff

If you want to speak, sign up for a speaker card outside the commission chambers.  If you speak as an individual, you get three minutes.

If you speak for an organization with five or more members, you get 10 minutes.  You need to bring a letter signed by an officer of the organization.

The meeting will be held at 1:30 pm in the County Commission building, 1112 Manatee Avenue West, Bradenton, FL 34205.

Thank you for helping save Manatee County's last great place.

Stuart Smith - for Manatee/Sarasota Sierra Club & Suncoast Waterkeeper 

PS - If you are an officer in a conservation or civic organization, please pass this email along to your membership.

The Herald-Tribune weighs in on Long Bar Pointe.

"Not one more public nickel": Pat Rounds seeks Public Info on Benderson Costs

To the Sarasota County Commission, Nathan Benderson Park Foundation, and SANCA:

On January 18, 2017, Michael Bennett made an appeal to the local state legislative delegation on behalf of the Nathan Benderson Park Foundation for an additional $5 million in state funding for a permanent boat house at Benderson Rowing Park---this handsome sum on top of an initial $10 million in state grants for rowing park Phase I/II infrastructure, and another $2.5 million granted last year. In all, well over $40 public millions have been invested in this park for infrastructure, operations/management, and event hosting expenses for the World Rowing Championships (WRC) this fall.  This total includes over $20 million from Sarasota County. 

According to a Sarasota County press release (Sept, 2013): 

"...Phase III of the project, construction of a state-of-the-art boathouse, timing towers, grandstands and other amenities, will be funded by SANCA and corporate support..." 

Estimated costs of Phase III construction have been up to $22 million. But despite nearly two years of submitting public information requests to Sarasota County, Benderson Park Foundation and SANCA for status updates on private/corporate funding for Phase III structures, the sole document provided has been the attached "Aug 4 email" - a 2015 Benderson Foundation commitment to fund the finish tower (estimated to cost about $5 million). 

So imagine my surprise to see Mr. Michael Bennett on video last month telling local state legislators that $15 million has been raised in "private money" for Benderson Rowing Park. For your reference, a link to the video of the Legislative Priorities Input Session held on January 18, 2017 in the chambers of the Sarasota County Commission is at the end of this message. 

Mr. Bennett appears at 28:40 on the tape, and states: 

'....When you look at the money that we've gotten from the State of Florida, from Sarasota County and Manatee County over the years...$5 million will complete our boathouse.  We have raised about $15 million in private money, and through the foundation we will continue to fund it.....'

Really?  How is it that Mr. Bennett's recent appeal for more state funding divulges private funding figures that haven't been disclosed after months of public info requests? According to the attached 2013 Bi-County WRC Reimbursement Agreement (3Q: Public Records/Open Meetings), SANCA and Sarasota County agreed to comply with F.S.119.  Doesn't adherence to F.S.119 require some transparency?

Rowing Park March 21, 2017

Requests for Public Information:

• Please provide evidence that $15 million has been raised in "private money" for Benderson Rowing Park. 
• Please indicate where/how this $15 million has been spent or allocated---beyond funding of the finish tower.  
• Please indicate the significance of the hand-scribbled statement made on Page 23 of the 2013 Bi-County WRC Reimbursement Agreement--a page from a WRC bid questionnaire listing the provisional budget for capital improvements (including a boat house): 

"SANCA and Benderson Development CCC shall have no obligation for these capital improvements."  

If $15 million in "private money" has been raised, Benderson Rowing Park shouldn't need another $5 million in state grants for a boat house. Simple math would suggest that beyond the $5 million spent on the finish tower, there should be another $10 million in "private money" available to fund a permanent boat house and maybe even permanent grandstands.  (Mr. Bennett said that $5 million would complete the boat house, after all.)

SANCA/corporate support should fund Phase III structures as promoted over three years ago.  Not one more public nickel should be granted for this venue until that happens. The State of Florida, Sarasota County and Manatee County have contributed more than their share to this "public/private partnership".  

HB 2161 has recently been introduced in the FL House to fund another $5 million for a boat house at Benderson Rowing Park.  (Also see below.) Since $15 million has been raised in "private money," there is no reason why "public money" should fund a boat house, grandstands or anything else. 

Also, please forward this message to officials at Nathan Benderson Park Foundation, as their newly updated website contains no e-Mail addresses. Speaking of which, the website has new renderings of the future boathouse. The text printed under a previous boathouse rendering has been removed.  http://www.nbpfoundation.com/Home/Photos#

  

See text under the website's former boathouse rendering. Note the timetable and the link between boathouse construction and the World Rowing Championships:   

The Boathouse, also designed by Guy Peterson, will be located on the south end of Regatta Island, opening out into the widest expanse of Nathan Benderson Park Lake. It will consist of two stories. The Boathouse will feature a variety of rowing and boating bays, supplemented by fitness facilities, dressing rooms, offices and more. The boathouse will commence construction in late 2015 and will be opened prior to the World Rowing Championships in 2017.

Please attach this public information request to any official responses.

Respectfully,

Pat Rounds
Sarasota, FL

========

Letter to County Administrator Tom Harmer from Todd M. Mathes:

HB2161 

F L O R I D A H O U S E  O F  R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

A bill to be entitled 

1An act relating to the Appropriations Project titled 2 Nathan Benderson Community Park Boathouse 3 Construction; providing an appropriation; providing an 4 effective date.

5

6 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 7

8Section 1. Nathan Benderson Community Park Boathouse 9 Construction is an Appropriations Project as defined in The 10 Rules of The Florida House of Representatives and is described 11 in Appropriations Project Request 247, herein incorporated by 12 reference. 13
Section 2. For fiscal year 2017-2018 the nonrecurring sum 14 of $5,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund is appropriated to 15 the Department of Economic Opportunity to fund the Nathan 16 Benderson Community Park Boathouse Construction as described in 17 Appropriations Project Request 247. Notwithstanding any law to 18 the contrary, there shall be no recurring funding provided for 19 this Appropriations Project. 20
Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.

========

For more history of the Benderson Rowing Park, see this piece from the Herald Tribune, Oct. 7, 2015.

Sometimes, the People Win -but maybe not - UPDATE

Bradenton Times follow-up to eariier story (below):

Beruff Seeks ACOE Approval for Long Bar Mitigation Bank Amidst Claims of Undue Influence by Former DEP Employees

Dennis Maley• Tuesday, Mar 07, 2017

BRADENTON — Following DEP's recent green light, Medallion Homes CEO and Long Bar Pointe Developer Carlos Beruff has applied to the Army Corps of Engineers for a mitigation bank permit that would vastly alter the allowable development at his controversial waterfront project on Sarasota Bay. Meanwhile, a DEP employee who was suspended after failing to recommend approval for a similar bank, has finally spoken out about the developer’s influence with the agency.

Manatee County may have won an important victory against the politically-connected developer when an appeals court judge recently upheld a decision that ruled against Beruff's challenge to the constitutionality of elements of the county's comp plan that were used to deny him the ability to build a hotel and marina, while dredging critical waters in Sarasota Bay. However, Beruff is continuing the pursuit of what may amount to an end around on some of those rules through the use of a mitigation bank that would provide him with credits that could be used to facilitate the dredging.

Despite firm opposition from the public and several environmental groups, DEP put out a notice of intent to issue approval for a similar application to their agency in December. An employee who was suspended from DEP in 2012, after recommending against a similar bank in Clay County, told Politico on Thursday that she also authored a memo reviewing Beruff's mitigation bank application, but that it was never put out by her superiors.

"That was the first indication that he (Beruff) was going to control what was done with that project," former DEP environmental administrator Connie Bersok told Politico. "That was the clue. And things sort of went downhill from there."

Continue Reading . . .

. . . from the Bradenton Times:

Hats Off to the County for Victory in Long Bar Pointe Case

Dennis Maley• Sunday, Mar 05, 2017

Too often it seems, a political columnist is forced to dwell on negative outcomes or dubious decisions. Trust me, I'd always prefer to celebrate a happy ending, and this story provides just that.

On February 24, Manatee County prevailed in a lawsuit filed by politically-connected developer Carlos Beruff over the limitations imposed on his controversial Long Bar Pointe project by the county's comprehensive land use plan. The importance of this victory would be hard to overstate.

Carlos Beruff

Long Bar Pointe is a series of housing developments Beruff is building on the last major undeveloped portion of Sarasota Bay in southwest Manatee County. Had Beruff and his partner on the project, Larry Lieberman, gotten their way, protected mangroves would have been replaced by a stone promenade, a marina, a navigational channel, and possibly a hotel, all just south of the historic Cortez fishing village. Among other worrisome concerns, it would have required a major dredging in a very environmentally-sensitive area that is critical to our local fisheries and sea grass formations.

The county approved the project only after the BOCC appeared to have reached a deal of sorts with the developers, who agreed to withdraw the hotel and marina portion of their application during a contentious meeting that drew so many members of the public that it had to be moved to the local convention center. Only once they got the nod on some of what they wanted, Beruff and Lieberman turned around and filed suit in order to get the rest. (emphasis added)

Continue reading . . .

Manatee County: Jan. 14 demonstration against Mosaic Mining

Please read: Two more ways to resist Mosaic

Medallion Home investigated after knocking down conservation area

Before and After: Carlos Beruff's Medallion Homes has reportedly destroyed a conservation area - via the Bradenton Herald:

BY HANNAH MORSE

hemorse@bradenton.com

Although the neighborhood of Legends Bay is still under construction, it still can be an environmental getaway for the few who call the gated community home.

A trio of otters played in the creek. A bald eagle’s nest sits on top of a tall pine tree. Even coyotes have been seen.

But a sizable chunk of the protected conservation area on Legends Bay’s property that divided it from Medallion Home’s Long Bar Pointe development, west of the property along El Conquistador Parkway, has been bulldozed over and ripped from the roots. The county is investigating how this happened.

The homeowner who lives directly in front of the affected area, who asked not to be named, said she first saw a bulldozer going after one of the tallest pine trees — a “landmark tree,” neighbors called it — on Oct. 17, and she started wildly waving her arms to get the worker to stop
“He stopped ... for a couple of minutes and then he continued,” she said.

The homeowner and her husband moved to Legends Bay three years ago, choosing their house specifically because it was in front of the thickest portion of the conservation area.

She took photos of the destruction and said she tried contacting Medallion, but to no avail.

A letter sent out to Legends Bay residents by Bruce St. Denis, the senior manager of the Development Planning and Financing Group Inc. and manager of Legends Bay’s community development district, said they had asked Medallion to stop clearing land until ownership could be confirmed.

“(Medallion) responded they would have the area resurveyed to make sure they were not on our property, but that they would not stop the clearing activities,” St. Denis wrote in the Oct. 25 letter.

...

Manatee County Code Enforcement was notified about the violation and is continuing the investigation.

“In (the code enforcement’s) opinion, the clearing had damaged a wetland and conservation area on Legends Bay property for which Legends Bay had provided an easement to Manatee County for preservation purposes,” St. Denis’ letter continued.

The company’s founder Carlos Beruff, president Pete Logan and attorney Ed Vogler III could not immediately be reached for comment.

===

An eagle's nest has mysteriously disappeared from another Beruff property:

Bald Eagle Nest Disappears and Reappears Near Long Bar Pointe Project

More on Beruff:

Long Bar Pointe reapplies for mitigation bank state permit 

Long Bar Pointe withdraws plans for ‘mitigation bank’ 

Hannah Morse: 941-745-7055, @mannahhorse
Read more here

Dark Money - gets darker

The Detail:

When it comes to dark PAC money in Sarasota/Manatee, there are relatively few managers. Eric Robinson is by far the leader in managing local dark money. With 30-40 political committees under his management, Mr. Robinson manages millions in political committee donations. As he has explained in the local press, donors to political committees “don’t want to be identified”

By the way, remember that $50,000 donated by Robinson Hanks Accounting to Manatee Against Taxation on June 5, 2013?

On July 3, 2013, Manatee Against Taxation turned around and paid Robinson Hanks $50,000 for accounting services. It’s interesting that a political committee required accounting services valued at 43% of its total 115K in assets, and remarkable when a company can make a 50K political committee donation and then one month later charge the same political committee an exorbitant 50K accounting fee, recouping its original donation. Even more remarkable how the PACs treasurer, chair and registered agent are one and the same – Mr. Robinson. Now Sarasota has Mr. Robinson’s accounting prowess at the helm on the Sarasota School Board.

Eric "Dark Money" Robinson

Complete story at The Detail.

Science Doesn’t Matter Much to Water Management District Board

Bradenton Times

Dennis Maley• Thursday, Sep 03, 2015

Last week, the governing board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District voted to ignore the recommended order of an administrative law judge and allow local developer Pat Neal to destroy high-quality wetlands in order to build four McMansions on Perico Island.

When it comes to understanding how our local environmental resources are squandered, the story of this development is instructive. It shows a flawed process in which those who decide the fate of some of our most precious resources are often the same ones who have demonstrated the least respect and appreciation for it. 

SWFMD originally voted to issue the required permit. The challengers, which included TBT publisher Joe McClash, asked that an administrative law judge review the application and issue a recommended order. After three days of presenting evidence, expert witness testimony and scientific explanations as to why the proposed development would be devastating to the local ecology, that administrative law judge’s findings of fact led him to issue a recommended order that the water management district deny the request for the permit. 

In the somewhat backward process of such matters, that order than was given back to the same board who was already poised to pass it. At the meeting, Neal’s team was able to present all of their supporting arguments for ignoring the ALJ’s ruling, while McClash and his partners, which included Sierra Club, F.I.S.H. and Manasota88, then had just 20 minutes to convince the governing board to follow the ALJ’s recommended order.

Read more. . .