Sunday, October 26, 2015

One of my concerns with development is our water supply. If you heard US 1 Radio Friday you heard that we also have other concerns about our water supply. I am not afraid to say what needs to be said.

I heard the cries of my friends and neighbors calling for a change in their representative, and I answered. Help me to help you. Tell you friends, neighbors, family members and co workers, especially from the other districts, that I am here for them and we need them to help us achieve the change we long for. My opponent has not carried the district he is sworn to serve in the last two elections. He is being put upon us by the other districts that he panders to. Ladies and Gentlemen, this change needs to be made now, otherwise we do not know how much damage can be done in the next four years. Please vote for me Eleanor McAdams Democratic Candidate for County Commission District 2 on Nov 4th.

The county spent $340,000 on this program in 2013 and will have spent $329,000 pumping out boats by the end of this year. So what do county officials want to do with this effective program? How about terminate the program by evolving it to a pay-as-you-go pumping service? County Commissioner George Neugent and fellow County Commissioner Danny Kolhage are leading the effort to implement this change. On the surface, it may seem like a smart idea to require boaters to begin directly paying for the service; however, we are not so certain this is wise.

According to county estimates, the average pump-out cost per vessel is about $19.50, and a boat is usually pumped out every week or two, depending on the number of people living on the boat. Sure, there are boaters who have the financial resources to pay for pump out services. However, we believe that there are also boaters who would forgo paying for pump outs and would begin dumping sewer into the near shore water to avoid paying for the service. We base this observation on the fact that an unspecified percentage of live-aboard boats have become part of the Keys affordable housing stock. Many of the habitats of these vessels are members of the Keys workforce, and are often struggling financially to live in the Keys due to the high costs of onshore housing. Further, the effectiveness of a “free” pump out service program is that it provides a “carrot and stick” reward and punishment policy to enforcement agencies. Instead of tinkering with this program, we believe it should be left intact. If additional funds are needed, a modest increase in the registration fees of all boats registered in Monroe County would be a good solution. Think of it as an insurance premium that is spread across all boaters to insure the beauty of the waters they enjoy

1. Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the [holy man] who represents God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged. Link

The Mosquito Control Board (MCB) has a very important mission that affects many aspects of our lives in the Florida Keys. The life experiences of each board member are very important to our success. The MCB is not an advisory board but makes the final decisions that determine our success or failure. The collective knowledge, vision and experience of that board guide the district in hopefully the right direction.

The Board gives final approval of a $15,000,000 annual budget, offers guidance to the director, who is a scientist, and has total oversight of what is a highly technical organization. Not everyone on the board needs, nor should they have, the same background. To optimally function, their experiences should span a wide range of important and pertinent areas and complement each other. One of our current members is an attorney and one is a pilot. Both of these backgrounds increase our scope. My background as a businessman, developing and managing many budgets much larger than Mosquito Control, my knowledge of the chemistries and technologies we use combined with my knowledge of our local environmental needs also broaden our scope as a board.
Concerning our budget, it is not just a matter of reducing costs or raising taxes, it includes identifying and eliminating waste and shifting that money into killing more mosquitoes. This adds more value to our services and allows us to continuously improve and better control costs. We have eliminated much waste at Mosquito Control in the past three years which has allowed us to offer good service and lower costs. My number one goal is to provide increasingly better Mosquito Control in the Keys but this does not necessarily involve spending more money. It does involve using what we have more efficiently, demanding a return to the taxpayers on what we do spend, and knowing what we are doing. Someone who has never run a successful business will have difficulties to understand this. We have to spend our hard earned tax dollars in the right places. Accomplishing this takes much experience. We do not need to increase taxes as long as we have waste that can be cut; finding that waste is all our jobs. We all know there is a lot of waste in government and Mosquito Control is no exception. It often takes a deep understanding of what we are doing to find it. I had years of experience in finding and eliminating waste in my own company which helps me to find it at Mosquito Control.

Better technology is one of the ways to provide better service and control skyrocketing cost. We must sometimes seek these better technologies ourselves because in a small industry segment like Mosquito Control they do not always knock on our door. A person who has never been in a fast paced technology business will have problems understanding this. What happened on Big Pine Key last year, when we had to curtail adulticide spraying for a year, was a real eye opener and proved this point to many. If we had not earlier expanded into larviciding technology and continuously improved that technology each year, this incident would have caused more problems that it did and it caused plenty. This occurrence is likely to happen again in other areas of the Keys due to ever increasing environmental concerns from other agencies over what Mosquito Control sprays. We must be ready. We have to get better at killing more mosquitoes and impact the local environment less. This is no small order and will require new innovations and much creative thinking from all of us. As a chemist and entrepreneur, I have much experience in this arena.

If the MCB members have limited or no experiences to assist in these and other pertinent areas, we then become a rubber stamp for the staff’s decisions. This was partly the cause of Mosquito Control’s problems experienced only four years ago when the board repeatedly turned a deaf ear to pressing issues. The director, staff and employees are important to our success but the Commissioners alone answer to the taxpayers.

My background and experience is a good complement to the MCB as I am the only one with both a business and technical background. I have used my background and experiences in the past term to make decisions and I have made a difference. We have made much progress in the past three and a half years but there is much more we must do.

I am Phil Goodman and I ask for your vote for District 2 Commissioner, Florida Keys Mosquito Control Board in the General Election. If you have any questions or concerns, please call me at 305-600-8441.

Phil Goodman has been endorsed by the Keynoter and the Key West Fire Fighters.

But let’s look just a tad deeper. The poster cited PEER as the source for his/her info. Who or what is PEER? The poster did not tell us.

PEER is an assemblage of largely ex employees of various state and federal environmental protection agencies. When Scott took office he reduced staffing in the DEP. Scott demanded that the remaining staff do more and do it more efficiently. Certainly there are ex DEP employees who are unhappy that they have lost their jobs. PEER professes to be protective of whistleblowers, and brag that they are “exposers” of what they view as being government affronts to the environment. It’s worth noting that none of the stats quoted by the poster have attribution or sourcing. We only know that PEER claims them to be true. PEER is a special interest group.

But, some of the claims may be true. When Scott took office he set about to fundamentally change the process whereby our DEP enforces the environmental laws of our state. In years past, collecting fines was believed to be a measure of the effectiveness of DEP. In many instances those fines may well have been just the cost of doing business. Fines levied by the DEP were a big source of state revenue, just as the speed trap in Waldo Florida was a huge source of revenue for that municipality. Scott set about to end that “speed trap” mind set and refocused the states mission to actually getting compliance, to actually protecting the environment.

Before Scott, if the DEP received a complaint or a company flunked an inspection, the agency would send a warning letter ordering the company to fix the problem. If that didn’t spur action, the DEP would send a formal “notice of violation.” If that failed, then the DEP would take the polluter to court, going after fines and penalties. Scott’s DEP added a new first step: sending “compliance assistance letters.”

Instead of hammering alleged violators, the letters say DEP’s experts can help get them back into compliance. Since January 2013 the DEP has issued more than 800, resolving more than 90 percent of potential violations without taking things any further.

The DEP regulates about 75,000 facilities, everything from wastewater treatment plants to car repair shops to phosphate mines. In 2012, facilities considered in significant compliance with Florida Department of Environmental Protection rules and regulations rose to 94 percent, a five-year high and a four percent increase from 2011. This improvement comes after the Department held more than 600 workshops, compliance assistance meetings and outreach events for private businesses, government groups and the public last year.

In 2013, the number the DEP considered to be in significant compliance with all of its regulations hit 96 percent. That’s 8 percent higher than the 88 percent rate in 2006.

The poster also complained about our new wastewater treatment system. Frankly, I know little or nothing concerning the issue, but I do know that both Florida’s DEP, under Republican management, and the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency, managed by the most environmentally aggressive liberal Democrat administration in history, have jurisdiction and oversight on the project. And I have no reason to believe that either agency has failed to approve the methods, procedures, and the machinery utilized by the project.

Finally, the poster listed a litany of what he/she claims to be short comings in our new system and closed by stating: “You can easily guess why (the reason for the supposed shortcomings).”

No, I don’t believe any of us can easily guess “why.” After all, remediating every single one of the alleged short comings to satisfy the poster would be vastly more expensive than the current plan. More money would be flowing into the hands of private contractors. One would suppose that if there were a corrupt motive, that the most expensive methods would be pushed by vendors/contractors and that public officials would get bigger kickbacks if they were part of a bribery scheme.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Rick Scott is fully committed to Florida’s environmental wellbeing. With his “Let’s Keep Florida Beautiful” plan, Governor Scott is proposing a $1 billion investment in Florida’s waters – $500 million for alternative water supply and $500 million for springs restoration. This plan also commits to continuing the Governor’s efforts for Everglades restoration.

• Under Governor Scott, the State Budget included more money for Everglades restoration than under Charlie Crist and included the highest state appropriation ever for Everglades restoration.
• Governor Scott helped to secure more than $23 million to protect the oyster fishery in the Apalachicola Bay.
• Governor Scott provided more than $40 million for springs restoration, which, with local matching investments, is expected to fund more than $100 million in projects. Governor Crist’s administration invested less than $8 million in springs restoration.
• Governor Scott provided $100 million to protect the waters and reefs surrounding the Florida Keys. The Crist administration invested nothing in wastewater grants for the Keys.
• Governor Scott secured the second largest conservation easement in the state’s history – over 21,000 acres.

Governor Scott inherited a state government and an economy that was in shambles. He has done a great job of getting us back on our feet. We leaders in the nation in job creation. With the increase in tax revenue spurred by the increase in business, Scott will be able to accomplish even more to ensure that our children and grandchildren will enjoy an even more beautiful Florida that we enjoy today.

Part 2) A huge tip of the FTR fedora to those people who combine exercise with civic service by picking up the trash dropped by troglodytes who toss junk from their cars along our streets. These civic minded people make BPK an even better place to live.

Part 3) A woman who had been married three times walked into a bridal shop one day. She told the sales clerk that she was looking for a wedding gown for her fourth wedding.

“Of course, madam,” replied the sales clerk, “exactly what type and color dress are you looking for?”

The bride to be said, “A long frilly white dress with a veil.”

The sales clerk hesitated a bit, then said, “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but gowns of that nature are considered more appropriate for brides who are being married the first time, for those who are a bit more innocent, if you know what I mean?”

“Perhaps ivory or sky blue would be nice.”

“Well,” replied the customer, a little peeved at the clerk’s directness. “I can assure you that a white gown would be quite appropriate.”

“Believe it or not, despite all my marriages, I remain as innocent as a first-time bride”. “You see, my first husband was so excited about our wedding, that he died as we were checking into our hotel.”

“My second husband and I got into such a terrible fight in the limo on our way to our honeymoon that we had the marriage annulled immediately and never saw each other again”.

“What about your third husband?” asked the sales clerk.

“That one was a Democrat,” said the women, “and every night for four years, he just sat on the edge of the bed and told me how good it was going to be, but nothing ever happened!”