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| I believe we did the homework and the four of us made the right decision. |
Just because the cartoon guy didn't do his homework, does not mean the four commissioners did not do ours. I met with the engineering staff on this project particularly several months ago. It was fraught with issues. I met individually with multiple residents that were opposed. I listened intensely at the forum, and I made the right decision that I stand by. Not 1 resident showed up to support it this project. Like I said in the meeting, this plan was not ready for prime time, it needed to be massaged so that the residents could get behind it. I believe we as a board made the right choice, even if one of the commissioners and the cartoonist disagree. We stay the course for the right plan and carry on.
10 comments:
Anyone with common sense could see that none of the commissioners were confused, fooled, or uninformed. Most everybody--except for the typical Doug tools--saw that the other commissioners were simply trying to be nice and allow Doug the room to get out of yet another mess he created for himself. But, as usual, "My Way Or The Highway" chose to run the car off the road in order to prove that he's a hardhead who enjoys wrecking for the adrenaline rush. As if we needed continued demonstration.
His arrogant and defiant attitude on the dais, and the shameful interrogation tactics he employs on citizens at the podium, were nothing compared to the fall-out of his reaction in the wake of the meeting. As I stated in an email that I sent the BOCC and Alison Rogers, the citizens of Escambia are tired of Doug Underhill charging his peers with "corruption" simply because they don't agree with a particular position or project. And as I said at the podium that night, there is simply no level that he won't stoop to, including crashing and burning himself and anybody else he can take down with him, including County staff. We haven't seen the worst of it yet, I fear. Buckle in.
Melissa Pino
413 SE Baublits Drive
The commissioners did the right thing. Eminent domain should never have been contemplated here. The homeowners who are the ones to face consequences either way stood up to the bully and said "no". Trying to force the issue shows how disconnected Underhand is from his constituency. What is in it for him to take this parcel? Somehow this fits some latent agenda otherwise he would never have pushed so hard for this issue.
I can't get past the discussion about the drainage spillway. Multiple speakers said it had trees growing in the middle of it, and the pictures showed that it was overgrown with vegetation. I tend to think that if a project was written to clear that spillway/swale--the water could flow much more freely out to jones swamp. The idea that the spillway should be left clogged up with sediment, dirt, trees, beaver dams, high grass, etc. so it can "percolate" sounds ridiculous to me. Concrete the spillway and let all the water flow out to jones swamp and let it percolate in vegetation there. The other pitfall that didn't make the news piece was the looming lawsuit and the fact that once we took the $2 Million and did this project---we would own that lake and TONS of claims of flooding the next time a huge rain hits. Why should we buy that liability??? Just because the government would give us money to buy it??? No way!! Sometimes the wise course of action is to NOT take the government money (e.g. the $2 billion for "high speed rail" in central Florida the FEDS offered Gov. Scott that would have cost state taxpayers an extra $25 Billion) No thank you! So yes, just because one guy and a cartoonist drank the Kool Aid on this one, does not mean they were right, they did the homework, and the rest of us and all the speakers and residents were wrong. It is actually the opposite of that. They got it backwards....
Yes the PNJ and Underhill wrong again. It takes a long time to watch the meetings and look through items and many comment protecting him on his fan club pages. It is apparent who watches and who just takes a side. Thank you for your leadership.
The cartoonist is a buffoon.
One project somewhere else, doesn't he brag about how they are replacing vegetative swales with proper culverts? (maintained culverts that is)
What's up with CHIP K? rhetorical..anyway the wind blows or what?
Seems Will Dunnaway is getting quite a handle on things, of course he is paid well, Hopefully the BOA will improve.
Ms Lavoy was forthright.
Good!
Keep up the good work.
How is the administrator hiring going?
"You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the people all of the time."
A lot of the watchers are being blocked by Underhill on facebook so we depend on you and the fabulous four on the BOCC more than ever!!
No, no, no Doug won’t,
Take our land and steal,
Terribly, terribly, terribly, terribly,
Is how he sells his deal.
Per the overgrowth including trees in the culvert area, I noted the following comments by Wendy Underhill on ECW:
"the statement by a certain speaker Thursday night that the ditch was not properly mowed and cleared wasn't true. Stay tuned..."
Dean Kirschner and I both spoke to the massive overgrowth in the culvert area of the Lake Charlene drainage system, so I don't know which one of us she meant as the "certain speaker." Neither of us referred to it as a "ditch"; Dean referred to the "culvert" area where the water is supposed to drain, and I referred to the overgrowth area as a "canal." The term "canal" might have confused the culvert area with the canal portion of the lake itself, where the accumulated sediment is a far greater problem than overgrowth.
In any case, the culvert/drainage area--which Commissioner Underhill tried to mischaracterize as a bioswale and now Wendy Underhill is calling a "ditch"--has been very overgrown for some time, was still overgrown at the time of the meeting on Thursday night, and is in the same state this afternoon (1-13-2019).
Per my comments on mowing, my point was that calling Wes Marino up to grill him about mowing was a red herring, as we are talking about the need to clear a drainage channel, not mow. Unless the county has underwater mowers?
It short it looks like the county project could leave the lake very very low during a drought. Why doesn't the county clear out the outflow and let the HOA operate the sluice gate? Anyway this was dropped by the board. It would seem after about 3 hours the motion should have been to table it at least.
He seems to be spinning it that the other four commissioners are now to blame for a flood but isn't it the other way around, if you assume the project then you are liable for flood damage.
I wanted to check in on the drainage area of Lake Charlene for myself when I saw Wendy Underhill's "stay tuned" comment, as I figured that Underhill had probably had a crew out between the meeting and now, or perhaps set for tomorrow morning. Kevin Wade and I drove up there this aft. It's still something of a mess, but has been cleared in the last couple of days with lots of evidence of recent cutting and some plants trampled down. We took photos of that area, and also the horrible drainage coming from holding ponds and runoff from the Lago Vista subdivision to the west, which includes street runoff and the most bizarre concrete drainage ditch that was run between two houses in the Lake Charlene neighborhood and currently has stagnant, disgusting water in it.
Lake Charlene itself had running water in the gutters,and I didn't realize until I saw the concrete trough running between the two houses right into the street that I was looking at a stormwater plan. From the street it runs into underground drainage and then comes through a 60-inch pipe on the west side of the lake. Not too far down from there are another couple of small pipes jutting out from underneath somebody's back yard and draining into the lake. That's just 3 of the 9 entry points. It's an ecological nightmare already, and would have gotten a whole lot worse with the plan Doug was pushing.
He is still pitching a hissy fit, can some one tell him he lost, get over it?
I am going to be honest with you, Jeff. I don't really think I agree. I don't think this should have been the choice when such a personal thing is on the plate. We don't treat folks like this, especially after trauma and tragedy that was done from the BP oil spill. Personal property rights HAVE been violated and I kind of think it might and should die, despite whatever "benefits" that could happen. But you see, it's not about hiding, it's about respecting others. Not the way to help others, and I am being completely honest as a potential condo owner. Sure, I guess this issue could go big, but at what stake? At vandalizing others? At them forgoing their dreams and personal choices (because we aren't sure where this is leading, but it feels like folks want to use it for personal gain). This has affected real lives for THREE YEARS (yes, even those who deal with the issue are angry because they wanted to enjoy the beach too, and live their best on it). I just frankly disagree with how the issue has come about, and it might be a disappointment, but either the end game needs to be revealed or we should just let it die.
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