Antunes: Following the Money for District 1 Teresa Mast

From Cathy Antunes' The Detail 

It used to be that candidates were prohibited from even coordinating their campaigns with PACs. No more! Now candidates are actually administering their own PACs, usually as the chairman. It’s a gross conflict of interest. Instead of being limited to the new lofty “limit” of a $1000 donation from any one person or corporate entity, now candidates for local office in Florida can set up their own PACs and get unlimited funds from donors. Can Florida’s campaign finance ethics get any worse?

Have a look at Friends of Teresa Mast. Mrs. Mast is running for Sarasota County Commission, District One, and she is chairing her namesake PAC:

On July 24, Cathy Antunes will present her latest research into Dark Money at 5:30 pm at Fruitville Library, 100 Apex Road - right next to the new Publix and the rising County Administration Building.

Meanwhile, read Cathy's full post on The Detail relating to candidate funding and the dangers to fair elections.

Help keep Cathy and The Detail working for us on WSLR

Cathy Antunes is an advocate of longstanding dedication in Sarasota. She's done incredible research into the money and powerful interests that have been shaping the County.  Cathy is also one of the founders of Citizens for Sarasota County, and a founding administrator of the Facebook page for the group.

This is the first time she has asked our support.

From: Cathy Antunes 

Subject: Please support The Detail - donate to WSLR!!

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I hope this email finds you well!  It's been nearly 5 years since I began broadcasting my radio show, The Detail. It's been my mission to highlight the importance of local government on the show.  Instead of just 3 minutes of public input at a commission meeting, I wanted to give public advocates a whole hour to explain an issue to the community.

Giving voice to citizens has highlighted important issues!  The Celery Fields.  Lido Pavilion. Single Member Districts. The Detail provides a platform that gives candidates an opportunity to share their ideas in complete sentences, not soundbytes. Exposing dark money in local elections has been a focus of mine, and The Detail provides a means to communicate how special interest money is at work through PACs on City and County races.  We're seeing more candidates who are not backed by dark money running for office.

We need your help to continue. 

Please donate what you can to support the show, and please share this message with others.  You can click this link right now and make a one-time donation, or become a member by donating monthly:  https://wslr.org/membership/

Your donations make a difference!  They keep the lights on at a radio station which serves Sarasota and Bradenton every day.  Your generous donation matters. 

Thank you!

Cathy Antunes

Host, The Detail

 

Antunes: Bayfront Park -- Another Big Promise?

Cathy Antunes's blog, TheDetail.net, is the intelligent reader's guide to Sarasota politics.

This column, entitled Bayfront 20Money, appeared in The Detail 3.13.19:

When it comes to achieving a big goal, good intentions are not enough. Commitment is essential. Commitment is what separates doers from dreamers. Planning for the City of Sarasota’s future Bayfront Park—the public’s 53 waterfront acres including the greening of the Van Wezel parking lot—has now moved beyond the “vision” stage into the “make it happen” stage.

Historically, this is where big plans in Sarasota can go very wrong.

We’ve seen big promises when it comes to public-private partnerships before.

The Benderson Rowing Park nonprofit, SANCA (Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates), said they would raise $22 million to construct a boathouse, grandstand and finish tower in time for the 2017 World Rowing Championships at the rowing park. Instead of SANCA raising that $22 million, a second nonprofit, the Benderson Foundation, funded the $5 million finish tower just in time for the event. The rowing p ark still lacks a boathouse and grandstand.

Public money—over $50 million—has been the main source for the rowing park’s construction. Sarasota County is the ongoing source of funds for park maintenance. SANCA has not brought the funding it promised.

In 2009, as part of their stadium deal, the Orioles promised to raise $10 million to construct a Cal Ripken Youth Academy out at Twin Lakes Park. This was the sweetener, the game-changing project that was going to “re-invent spring training.” Kids playing with the pros, a great economic engine that would fuel our local economy! Today there is no Cal Ripken Youth Academy. Taxpayers funded the stadium but didn’t get the baseball academy they were promised in return.

Tangible commitments are SMART—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound. Both the rowing park and Cal Ripken Youth Academy were promises, not commitments. The associated contracts between the County a nd SANCA, and between the County and the Orioles were effective at compelling the County to spend public money, but worthless regarding ensuring the promised private sector financial support.

Enter the Bayfront Park Conservancy agreement.

Everyone agrees a 53-acre bayfront park is a great idea. The park vision includes a softened shoreline, transformation of the Van Wezel parking lot into green space and a new performing arts hall. Estimates for the cost of the envisioned Bayfront Park are up to $500 million.  The contract currently being hammered out between the BPC and the City of Sarasota should answer a fundamental question: Why does the City need the BPC? What tangible value does the conservancy bring to the table? Among other problems, there is no dollar amount specified that the BPC will raise and no associated deadline.

Funding the ongoing costs of operation and maintenance of this new park will be critical to its financial sustainability and the financial health of the City of Sarasota. The annual operations and maintenance costs for the proposed park has been estimated at $5 million to $6 million. The draft agreement says the BPC will develop an operating and maintenance plan for each phase of the park, but there is no requirement that the BPC plan actually be successful.

This park plan began with an emphasis on private money. However, it has become clear that the lion’s share of the project financing will come from public coffers. The current contract obligates the City financially, but fails to spell out the financial commitment of the private sector. Come on people. We’ve been down this road before. Show us the money

The more specific the contract is about the City’s obligations, and the more vague the contract is about the conservancy’s obligations, the more reason there is to for City residents to be concerned.  The City Commission must get this right.

Cathy Antunes is host of The Detail on WSLR. 

Detox Sarasota: Vote August 30th

The Detail:

Since 1973, every single Sarasota County Commissioner has been a Republican. Every. single. one.

Where are we today? Corruption. Over-Development. Traffic. An environment that is turning toxic.

Corruption - Notorious Jim Ley memo gathering the cabal of developer/owners leading to the evisceration of the 2050 plan:

Thanks Jim!

Overdevelopment - Gated communities receive approval in defiance of the (vitiated) Comp Plan. Whole Foods wins permission from County Commission to pave a wetland:

Traffic

The Sarasota County Commission election is on August 30th, not November 8th.

Going Stupid

Anyone who has spent half a day in S. Florida knows that the folks over there blew it. Growth created hell, and it extends even to public lands. Here's an advisory from a public parks site near Avvventura:

* ALERT: PARK CAPACITY 

Once the park reaches capacity no one will be allowed to enter until space becomes available. If you have rented a pavilion, hosting an event or have been invited to an event please plan accordingly because you will not be allowed to re-enter until space is available. 

This is, simply put, stupid growth. For years, Sarasota County has tried to rein in cupidity and stupidity -- to allow for a slower, more organic, thoughtful pace of development.

Dan Lobeck's analyses of the new Comp Plan heading for State review convincingly show that smart growth is over:

Neighborhoods, Mobility under Attack

Nature at Risk

And Jono Miller notes a change that could make hunting in parks not the exception, but the norm:

On Friday the tenth of June 2016, the County Commission may consider amending PARKS Policy 1.1.5 to allow recreational hunting in areas voters were promised would not experience consumptive uses or activities that were not ecologically benign.

Jono's complete post is here.

What's behind all this?  

Start with Cathy Antunes on the dark money propelling these changes. 

And listen to Cathy's new show Friday at 2 pm on SRQ.

Is this the year Sarasota County officially goes Stupid?

"The Detail" to premier On the Air

A new radio show focusing on local issues premiers in Sarasota on Friday, June 10.

Cathy Antunes, a citizen, activist and thought leader hosts a new show on WSRQ to air from 2-3 p.m. weekly. The show will be called "The Detail" from Cathy's blog of the same name.

Cathy's guests this Friday will be Sarasota attorney Simon Rosin and John Garcia of Firefox West, an embattled community dealing with development near a potentially toxic landfill.

WSRQ Talk Radio can be found at 106.9 FM, as well as 1220 AM on the dial.

What does Waechter want at the Charter Review Board?

From The Detail:

Waechterians at the Gate

January 13, 2016 cathycantunes@gmail.com Corruption, County Charter, County Elections, Elections, Ethics, Sarasota GOP 

Your presence is kindly requested at the January 20th Charter Review Board meeting.* Here’s why:

We have a lot to celebrate and give thanks for in Sarasota. Sarasota County is a “home rule” county—one of 21 counties in the state of Florida with a County Charter. Sarasota County instituted a local constitution, or County Charter, in 1971. Amendments to our County Charter can be initiated by citizen petition, the County Commission or the Charter Review Board. The CRB works on behalf of the citizens of Sarasota County to review and recommend changes to the County Charter for improvement of County government. Charter amendments are put to referendum for voter approval. It’s a system which has served us well. But in the past decade we’ve seen numerous proposals, each one defeated, which would have undermined citizen powers through the County Charter amendment process. Bob Waechter has been one of the principals in such efforts, proposing changes which would constrain effective citizen engagement in local government. Waechter is at it again.

You might remember Bob Waechter. He was caught on videotape purchasing a debit card in the name of a fellow Republican—a candidate for County Commission he wanted to defeat. He made donations to Democrats with the card. Mr. Waechter was charged with felony identity theft. Thank goodness for security cameras. Without the videotape, we’d have to rely upon the former Sarasota GOP chair’s conscience to kick in and let us know the donations were fraudulent. How long would that take? 

Continue reading at The Detail

*Meeting details:

January 20, 2016
6:00 p.m
Charter Review Board Regular Meeting
Robert L. Anderson Administration Center Commission Chamber
4000 South Tamiami Trail
Venice, FL

The Charter Review Board gives citizens 5 minutes each to provide public input. Public input typically begins at 6:05 pm. Please attend and speak for preserving publicly elected CRB officials and time for public input during CRB meetings.

Is Sarasota County Hallucinating?

How did Sarasota County's plan for Fruitville go from this . . . 

to this?

The Bendersonville Initiative

The Detail
Cathy Antunes

The Fruitville Initiative began when Sarasota County approached five landowners about working together to plan high value, walkable development at the Fruitiville-Interstate-75 interchange. Rather than standard big box retail, gas stations, fast food or strip malls, the County wanted to coordinate development of the 42 acres of public land next to Fruitville Library with 300 adjacent acres owned by private landowners. The private landowners agreed. Public workshops attracted hundreds of residents. The collaboration produced a beautiful, walkable residential and commercial mixed-use development plan that harmonizes with Audubon’s Celery Fields bird sanctuary. The County paid a national expert $500,000 to put the plan on paper, and passed the Fruitville Initiative in 2010. Today, the County has reneged on the plan, selling the public’s 42 acres to Benderson Development for a bargain-basement price. On October 28th, this Wednesday afternoon, Benderson’s plan to build a trucking distribution center will be presented for a vote to the Sarasota County Commission (to attend and give public input, see details below). The Browardization of Sarasota County (aka Bendersonville) continues. MORE . . .

County Commission will decide whether to adopt the new Bendersonville Trucking Center on Wednesday afternoon:

Sarasota County Commission meeting, Wednesday October 28th, 1660 Ringling Blvd.  Commission Chamber, Sarasota, FL.  

Here's the Agenda

The site plan presentation, public input, Commission discussion and vote will occur in the afternoon (item 10), sometime after 1:30pm (exact time depends on how quickly the Commission will move through other agenda items – see agenda link below).  Because it is a public hearing, citizens who sign up to give input at the meeting will each have 5 minutes to speak.