Behind-the-scenes airport schemes have Ernie fuming
Ernest Zavodnyik ain't happy about the secret deals being made in
city hall on the acropolis that will be Venice Airport
-- letters, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/27/06
Housing, real estate spiraling down, causing fears of recession
"That's the largest decline on record since 1968, and the speed
of the decline has been breathtaking. It's just like a straight line down."
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/28/06
North Port tells county to FOAD in annexation wars, county to take referendum to
voters
It's an incredibly daring and stupid move on North Port's part,
but hey, it's their city -- at least until March of 2007
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/22/06
Growth is good: Mr. Reynolds goes to city hall
City hall's former personnel director Rollie Reynolds now covers
city hall and golly gee, things are just going swimmingly; coverage of city hall
could only be worse if it were being done by the high school paper (which,
incidentally, doesn't exist); Filibuster! Somebody start a damned filibuster!
Where the hell is Frank Capra when you need him?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 12/20/06
County commissioners balk at raping taxpayers, homebuilders association argues
that rape is required by law
Would the last homeowner to leave foreclosure proceedings to move
to North Carolina please turn out the light?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/20/06
Builders balk at paying their own way, would rather let taxpayers foot the bill
Impact fees? We don't need no stinkin' impact fees!
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/19/06
City hall under siege from electric animals
Don't go outside city hall unless accompanied by electric animal
control
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/18/06
Vandalized clown statues in Sarasota -- the clowns were asking for it
Don't put a clown over Bart Simpson's bed and don't put one on a
street corner -- clowns are evil
-- Sarasota herald-Tribune, 12/18/06
E-vote expert: Jennings was robbed
Oh sure, an expert witness thinks Sarasota County's elections
system screwed over Christine Jennings, but that's not the weird part -- the
weird part is that this is an expert witness who is testifying FOR the
manufacturer of the voting machines used in Sarasota County; it's gotta suck to
be Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent today
-- Pelican Press, 12/14/06
Note to self: do not sell weed on MySpace
Local cops using electronic Roundup
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/14/06
H-T almost smells a rat in airport planning
Could Venice planners and behind-the-scene investors be pulling a
fast one on the citizens? Well, no, kind of, maybe, aw geez, if we write the
real version, our advertisers will kill us
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/12/06
Just not in time for Christmas: Wired Magazine recommends taking a pass on
buying Microsoft's Windows Vista
Besides screwing up your HP printer to the point where it is
unusable (and a few other major glitches), there isn't a whole lot in Vista that
you don't already have
BONUS LINK:
Screenshots of the
new Windows Vista OS
-- Wired, 12/13/06
Bypass gets bypassed
State DOT still promising a widening of U.S. 41, doesn't have a
clue how they're going to do it, moves project to the bottom of the in-basket
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/11/06
Where is Fark's obvious tag when you need it?
State acknowledges red tide/fertilizer link
State capitol memo to lame duck governor spells out what the rest
of us already knew; environmentalists claim minor victory; state counters by
denying the existence of the Gulf of Mexico, thus making red tide a theoretical
exercise... again
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 12/10/06
Taxpayers League looking to increase membership
A mere 300 members nearly upset the applecart; Herb Levine
wonders what 600 or 900 could do
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 12/06/06
It's just like old times: Hunt leaves office and the investigations begin
State Attorney's Office is looking into Sunshine Law violations
in Barefoot Bay
-- TCPalm, 12/02/06
Police nab suspects in Golden Beach home burglaries
Stolen TV? What stolen TV? Oh... that stolen TV... Nope, never saw it before,
officer
BONUS LINK:
Sheriff's
Office arrest cards with photo goodness of these these three Einstein clones
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/05/06
Holiday alert: Don't invite Gary Norris to your Christmas party
School superintendent has a habit of eating everything in sight
and won't leave until you actually throw him out the door
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/05/06
The hell with moving the airport -- Let's just get the FAA to
close it
The U.S. is losing one airport every two weeks under the exact set of
circumstances that Venice is about to enter
The FAA is much less interested in preserving airports than it
used to be and is increasingly allowing cities to close them down outright under
certain scenarios -- like the scenario that Venice is poised to enter
-- General Aviation News, 03/24/06
Airport build-out buildup
Gondo Article |||
Ed Martin column
It's party time for the guys in the Tower of Babel
Sodom meet Gomorrah, Cain meet Abel
Have a ball y'all, see the lepers crawl
With the call girls under the table
Watch 'em dig their graves
Cuz Jesus don't save the guys in the Tower of Babel *
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/24/06 & 11/30/06
* Bernie Taupin, Tower of Babel, 1975
Open the pod bay door, Hal: Electronic voting machines gain self-awareness
Recount battle goes from weird to weirder as officials are
shocked to discover that electronic voting machines are actually alive and have
their own candidate preferences; PETA to weigh in on feeding and care issues
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/30/06
County to look at mail-in ballots
Kudos to the Pelican Press, who has been at the forefront of
forcing the county to look at the Oregon system of voting
-- Pelican Press, 11/30/06
Developers suddenly popping out of nowhere, all clamoring to build at the
airport
Sharks are in the water and Venice island residents are chum,
only a month after the elections, too -- what a coincidence
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/29/06
Day 1 of the Jennings/Buchanan vote test finds Talking Barbie code embedded in
voting machines
"Math is hard"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/29/06
Alright, Grove Terrace: What is your major malfunction?
Public housing project has never looked weirder -- no manager due
to no money, no money due to consulting on construction that now won't happen,
nobody in charge, and a city council that says it's not their problem
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/28/06
North Port dragging its feet in peace talks with county
Venice could be dragged down in county's peace talks by North
Port's plans to finish Death Star; North Port City Commissioner Palpatine
unavailable for comment
--editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/27/06
Grove Terrace: The rich get richer, the poor get the picture
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
Plans to tear down Venice's HUD housing project still look good,
plans for rebuilding look not so good; residents to be asked if they wouldn't
mind being relocated to either the Moon or Mars (at their own expense, of
course)
-- both stories 11/24/06
Jennings pushing for revote, iVotronic machines headed for the dumper
Vern Buchanan's "paperless-thin victory" still up in the air
-- Pelican Press, 11/22/06
Upscale island condos cause Jim Myers to soil underwear
Planning Commissioner (and former city council hand puppet) Jim Myers
is "excited" about upscale island condos (Note to self -- Do not shake Jim
Myers' hand. Ever.)
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/22/06
Rebooting the
ecosystem
Extinction is looming in the coming decades, but global warming could be stopped
in one of two ways: either change our energy models entirely or re-engineer the
planet; because humans are phenomenally stupid, guess which way we are likely to
go?
-- Wired, 11/22/06
Bullshit meter hits the red in VHA public housing story
From the story: "Venice Housing Authority is once again out of compliance with
HUD rules -- but this time it has a plan and a new enforcer to help it get back
on track" -- yeah, and how many times over the past decade have you read that?
Favoritism, uncollected funds, mismanagement, this story is as old as it gets
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/22/06
An Inconvenient Truth released on DVD
today
Venice's future in about 40 years is under 40 feet of water, due
in a large part to carbon footprints left by -- you guessed it --
overdevelopment; this film is a must-see for all Floridians
-- ClimateCrisis.net
You can have control over the money, but we ain't handing you the fire and
police chiefs
Voters tossed city's Financial Director's job into pool of
municipal employees but won't let the city manager have final say in firing the
city's top firefighter or top cop
--editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/20/06
Airport developers move in
Topic avoided by Gondo "reporter" in this story, but of major
importance: Harry Walia, who wants to build a
hotel complex with circus amenities, was one of John Simmonds' larger campaign
donators, this in spite of Simmonds' statements that he refused to accept
campaign donations from developers and Simmonds' threat of a libel lawsuit when accused
of accepting development money
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/19/06
Wired
Magazine on Kathy Dent: The problems with iVotronic machines that Dent never
told you about
iVotronic machines were responsible for losing 436 ballots in a
North Carolina election in 2002; the same machine was also used in another Florida
election in 2004 in which 134 ballots were recorded as blank
-- Wired, 11/17/06
Will the marketing genius who thought this up please step
forward so you can be shot?
City hall
plays gay joke on employees
Venice hands out t-shirts that say PRIDE to all employees, shirts
worn every hump day to work; city forgets to tell employees that
wearing PRIDE on your shirt anywhere else in the country and in the world would
mean that... YOU ARE GAY!!! Not that there's anything wrong with that (are the
shirts available in rainbow colors?); Next up: PR blitz with the title
"Government And You"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/17/06
BONUS LINK:
Wikipedia entry
on PRIDE -- People Rejoicing in Diversity Everywhere
BONUS LINK:
Google international search on PRIDE-Fest
BONUS LINK:
Looking for the lesbian lover of your dreams? Try PrideBride
Sharkey's Restaurant to city hall: Have you lost your minds?
Owners of Sharkey's speak out publicly on the civil court war
that stretches back to the Hunt/Calamaras administration
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/15/06
Sarasota vote snafu figure
involved in bribe scandal
Gee, what a Florida surprise: the election company executive responsible for the touch-screen
electronic voting machines in Sarasota County has a checkered past that
includes involvement in several election bribery scandals
-- Dan Hopsicker, 11/15/06
The hunt for the Anti-Hunt
Barefoot Bay wishes it had looked on the internet before George
Hunt was hired; residents would like to beat their Board of Trustees to a bloody
pulp with clue sticks
-- TCPalm, 11/14/06
It's 2000 all over again
New reality show casts Christine Jennings as Al Gore, Vern
Buchanan as W, Kathy Dent as Katherine Harris; Michael Moore written out of the
script
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/14/06
Dam it, George!
Out in Barefoot Bay, our former city manager, George Hunt, spent half of a
million dollars on state required dams; the state is doing final inspections and
will likely order a
total rebuild -- turns out that the state has this bizarre and heavy-handed requirement that dams
should be built above the actual water level -- who'da thunk it?
-- TCPalm, 11/10/06
VHA
board looks in mirror, discovers that you really can't fix stupid
The residents and their attorney, the press, and city hall have
been telling the VHA board all along that their plans for demolition and
reconstruction were based on stupidity, board finally has a DOH! moment of
epiphany
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 11/10/06
CQG to Venice: Suck it
In the wake of John Simmonds' victory, one thing becomes apparent
-- the CQG is still in power, rest of Venice will get brass chin slaps for
another year
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/09/06
Bradenton Police Department's Shakedown Unit modifies its rules
Back-alley shakedowns and kneebreaking will now be limited to just one knee
BONUS LINK:
This story
gets Farked
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/09/06
Simmonds wins
by 416 votes
Plus all other local races (Sarasota County results ONLY)
-- SRQ official election results
Kathy Dent bitches about paper ballots
Dear Kathy: STFU. Really. We mean it.
-- SNN, 11/07/06
Votes lost in Sarasota -- attorney for Jennings calls for state mandated recount
VIDEO: Attorney Kendall Coffey smells a rat
-- SNN, 11/08/06
Zavodnyik, Simmonds square off on growth
Zavodnyik profile |||
Simmonds profile
Simmonds states growth is a dead issue, points to his experience on council as
an example of how well he's controlled growth -- yeah, that's turned out so well; Zavodnyik's
jaw drops to the ground
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/04/06
BONUS LINK --
Simmonds' YouTube meltdown clips
as mentioned in above articles
Sarasota has the
Nazis, Englewood has the Klan
No hate groups in Venice because, well, what would be the point?
We're already an all-white town
-- Tolerance.org
John
Simmonds on the CQG: "If there are political bosses, I don't know who
they are."
"No one who has presented plans for zoning changes,
annexations, buildings or other things that might benefit individuals, law
firms, developers or others has ever asked me to support anything."
-- ROTFLMAO -- good one, John, you are such a card; Stop it, my
sides are hurting
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 02/22/06
The buying of an election: Simmonds and the CQG raise $20,000 in campaign
contributions (so far), compared to $4,000 for Zavodnyik
Simmonds may hate growth, but growth sure loves him
-- Ed Martin, 10/27/06
Vero Beach is the new Venice
Hottest real estate market in the state, second hottest in the
nation
-- TCPalm, 10/26/06
Feds ignore RFID
security study
A Homeland Security advisory panel finds serious
privacy and security problems with RFID; the report is
stalled, while the government rolls out new ID cards using the controversial
technology
-- Wired, 10/30/06
Zuma
Dogg fights city hall
This nutcase regularly has his
manic fits at city council meetings on behalf of Venice Beach -- strangely
enough, this has nothing to do with Venice Florida where this would be normally
expected
BONUS LINK:
This story
gets Farked
-- YouTube
Videos from the final stop: The Bay
Indies Candidate Forum
David Shapiro
John Simmonds
Ernest Zavodnyik
-- Venice Florida! dot com via YouTube, posted 10/28/06
Laura Benson on negative ads: "We deserve to be dug into"
VIDEO: Politicians strip off the pretenses and talk
honestly about negative ads -- somebody at the GOP just got violently ill; you
won't believe this video even exists
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/27/06
McKee gets
McPissed
Joe McKee finally busts his cherry in Venice's political rite of
passage and acts like he's never heard of the practice before -- he's now
accused of libel by a public official; In other news, grass is green, sky is
blue
-- The Venice Resident, 10/26/06
Hey C.J.,
can we play, too?
Venice Florida! dot com's Patten responds to C.J. Fishman's line
of crap about how the Committee for Quantitative Growth is the voice of the people;
To C.J.: in case you lost our number,
it's right here
RELATED:
Fishman's original letter
RELATED: Video of Fishman's 2005 'I
own your ass' speech to city council
RELATED:
Fishman ignores Sue Lang's request for a CQG application to join
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/25/06
Ernie
gets a web site
Zavodnyik hits the internet -- Simmonds still holding
with page not found
-- ErnieForVenice.org
Damned by faint praise: Gondo, H-T both barely endorse Simmonds -- it's
that growth thing that bothers them
Gondo article |||
Herald-Trib article
Gondo:
"Simmonds
said he can't recall voting against an annexation... If we were making a decision purely of growth issues, we'd lean
to Zavodnyik;" H-T chides Zavodnyik's anti-growth views, saying it could land the city
in a lawsuit, forgets that Zavodnyik is an attorney
-- 10/22 & 10/23/06
Harris loses steam, wanders around aimlessly in debate
Blames her ADD performance on non-independent journalists;
Nelson: "At least she didn't embarrass herself"
BONUS LINK:
This story
gets Farked
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/24/06
Your wallet, your vote
Taxes, growth, insurance will be the key factors in
voters' minds when they hit the polls
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/23/06
Bradenton Police Department is now a very profitable shakedown
operation: BRILLIANT!
1.) Pull over motorists, make them empty their pockets
2.) ???????
3.) Profit!
BONUS LINK:
This story gets Farked
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/22/06
A jail in the city limits of Venice?
For months now, we've been hearing rumors that the county
wants to park a new jail within our city limits -- we think the rumor
has legs and here comes the first sales pitch
-- Pelican Press, 10/20/06
Simmonds on growth: "New homes are important for the city's tax base"
Simmonds has home court advantage in a debate sponsored
by pro-growth CQG stronghold Roatary Club; Zavodnyik holds his own with
hostile crowd
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/20/06
Gondo's Charter Amendment endorsements
Gotta admit, this is one fine editorial; Venice Florida!
com agrees with the Gondo 100% on the charter amendment issues for the
very exact same reasons that the Gondo spells out -- seriously -- no
joke
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/20/06
Goodbye, Mr. Hunt
Venice's former city manager leaves another town in the wake of scandals
and controversy; this is obviously the work of the Venice Taxpayers
League... again...
-- TCPalm, 10/19/06
Existing taxpayers to get screwed again:
City to pass law that will give developers yet another major break, will
allow city to front money to developers
Developers will be required to pay impact contributions up front, but would be
paying only part of the cost of the improvements their projects have
made necessary; work won't get done until it's fully funded from other projects
or the city decides to front the money
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 10/18/06
Why
can't the voting machine companies get it right?
With election season upon us, Wired spoke with two top election computer scientists and came up with
a wish list of features they would include in
a voting machine if they were asked to create
one
-- Wired, 10/18/06
ED MARTIN:
Save our constitution by voting NO on Amendment 3
If a majority of Floridians vote for a change in our constitution,
shouldn't that be enough? Not according to a number of big business PACs
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 10/13/06
Global warming from the transportation industry's view
You would think that transportation industry trade magazines, whose
readers' livelihoods depend on burning massive quantities of fossil
fuels, would poo-poo the threat of global warming, but you would be
wrong
-- Canadian Transportation & Logistics Magazine, 10/06/06
Little League's problem parents and coaches are no match for this umpire
"He'll make it pretty clear where you can put your problem"
-- North Port Sun-Herald, 10/15/06
State Rep Mike Grant disses Rigby for attempt to grab part of NOAA $4.7
million red tide research funding
"I'm not dealing with the guy anymore. Don't even
mention his name to me as having a cure for red tide"
-- North Port Sun-Herald, 10/13/06
County to have ability to veto municipal annexations? Yeah, that'll go
over well
Joint planning negotiations take a harsh turn, Venice city officials put
out bids for bomber airplanes, tanks, and armored personnel carriers;
county commish Thaxton to issue response from an undisclosed location
-- editorial, Venice Gondolier-Sun, 10/13/06
Who the hell is Bryan
Worthington?
Longtime online friend of Venice Florida! dot com puts on a campaign
worthy of the state house race... uhhhh, he's running for Charter Review
Board
-- Bryan4Charter.com
The Everyone
Orchestra
Bluegrass gets turned on its ear in this obscure kickass music clip from
Oregon pickers The Everyone Orchestra
-- YouTube
HERB LEVINE:
Council, CQG need to take a second look at their growth policies
Fresh on the heels of Fishman's self-immolation, Levine opines on why
council's and CQG's policy on growth has turned into economic suicide
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/10/06
Harris makes a grab for oil PAC money by supporting offshore gulf
drilling
Drilling for oil in the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico? What could
possibly go wrong?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/10/06
Fishman has a snit, Martin takes a hit
CQG chair C.J. Fishman comes out swinging with an 'interesting' set of
facts aimed at debunking
Ed Martin's recent column; Fishman insists the CQG is open to the
public -- hey C.J., can we join?
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/08/06
Farley slithers out from under a rock, hisses and misses
You know things are at an all-time low for John Simmonds when David
Farley has to come to his rescue, and yet it happened; Farley's reading
skills haven't improved -- he references an article by Herb Levine that
Levine never wrote (uh, Dave:
check the byline and next time, have your wife proofread your stuff)
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/08/06
ED MARTIN:
Vern Buchanan, Katherine Harris are ethically challenged
Turns out it's a congenital disorder, the two pols just can't help it
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/06/06
Hunt
threatens more legal actions -- hilarity ensues
Out in Barefoot Bay, Richard Bleau is running for a spot on the trustee
board; Bleau and our former city manager do not get along at all, so
what's Hunt's SOP? Why, threats of yet more lawsuits, of course
-- Unofficial Barefoot Bay We Site, 10/06/06
HOPSICKER BITES BACK:
Herald-Trib royally botches their 9/11 fifth anniversary issue
In their fifth anniversary of 9/11 issue, the
Herald-Trib went after author Dan Hopsicker over his use of quotes
from former Atta girlfriend Amanda Keller; turns out Hopsicker was
right, the H-T is full of crap, and Hopsicker is pulling no punches:
"Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporter
Heather Allen may just live in a blissful world where statements by FBI
agents can be accepted at face value. A willing suspension of disbelief
can be a wonderful thing to have... if you're on your way to Disney
World. But its not very becoming in a
reporter. Not a real one, anyway."
-- Mad Cow Morning News, 09/05/06
REGINA LYNN:
Wired's
cybersex expert chimes in on Foley
You cannot apply a blanket law to online sexual activity among
adults; if there is a crime here, it's related
to the ages of the boys and also to their vulnerable positions as pages.
It is not the internet or cybersex itself
-- Wired, 10/06/06
Just because he's quitting doesn't mean he can't stay
School board bickers internally over whether or not to beg Norris to
stay on as Superintendent -- looks like Norris is out, but don't place
your bets yet
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/-6/06
Black is up for the Golden Tuba
or whatever it is that the Florida League of Cities gives out for
Manager of the Year; note to Black -- take a look at other acceptance
speeches, like those given by Marlon Brando and Bono, and then do the
opposite
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/06/06
ED MARTIN:
Democracy is owned and paid for in Venice
Lifting the veil of secrecy that covers the CQG
A select group of businessmen, developers and their attorneys choose who
does and does not get a seat on the Venice City Council dais; their
decisions are certain and final as to who will represent them and not
you -- Ed Martin blows the lid off of the secret society known as the
CQG
BONUS LINK:
Ed Martin on the Simmonds vs. Zavodnyik council race
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/29/06
County should honor paper ballot petition
When more than 14,000 registered county voters petition for a charter amendment
that requires voting machines
with paper ballots, elected officials should feel obligated to
honor their request -- but then again, this is
Florida after all, what did you expect?
-- editorial, Pelican Press, 10/05/06
And the city funded this?
Bob Rigby's secret anti-red tide formula is bleach
Bob Rigby's it'll-cure-what-ails-ya secret red tide formula, the same
one that former Mayor Calamaras funded with city money, is out -- IT'S
BLEACH; Rigby's formula also promises to reduce body fat, increase
breast size and enhance male dangly parts
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/04/06
Ah the joys of growth
Three stories in today's Herald-Trib highlight the wonderfulness of
development -- I feel warm and fuzzy, how about you?
-->
Developer in Murdock walks away from development
-->
Businesses along U.S. 41 Bypass in Venice are doomed due to planned road
expansion
-->
Another 8,000 homes are coming, this time in Lakewood Ranch
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/04/06
Satan Claws is coming to town
Haliburton's poster child Dick Cheney to get chummy at the Hyatt because
the last time an elected White House official visited Sarasota, things
went so well; local Republicans look forward to greeting protestors: "We
revel in their protests"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/04/06
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR.:
Will the next election be hacked?
Fresh disasters at the polls -- and new evidence from an industry
insider -- prove that electronic voting machines can't be trusted
-- Rolling Stone, 10/05/06
Funniest Mark Foley link yet:
Nude summer camps alarm lawmaker
Back in 2003, the St. Pete Times reported that Mark Foley wanted to
eliminate nude summer camps because they are a breeding ground for pervs
-- well, that and the fact that he wasn't invited to tour the dorms
-- St. Pete Times, 06/19/03
Stairway to Heaven
-- the Irish flamenco version?
Best Led Zep cover you'll hear today
-- Rodrigo y Gabriela live in Dublin, via YouTube
VHA continues to bumble along:
"HUD, I'm confident, is going to come up with some
help for us"
Wrecking ball all but set in place, leaderless reconstruction effort
dubious, blind trust placed in HUD -- what could possibly go wrong?
Condo developers have to be watching this story with a huge smile
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/02/06
Annexations, growth and the county: a more thoughtful examination
Herald-Trib finally comes to grips with a story that is as complex as
the economics behind it
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/01/06
Republicans covered for Mark Foley
The scandal widens as Dennis Hastert gets dragged into what bloggers are
dubbing 'Predatorgate'
-- ThinkProgress.org, 10/01/06
Mark Foley is a hot chatter
The text of Rep. Mark Foley's live online chat with a 16-year-old boy is
fairly unremarkable and mundane except for one thing -- he's 55 and the
object of his lust is some 39 years younger
-- Miami Herald's Gay Blog, 09/29/06
Spankin' it in the garage
See, now if Mark Foley had just stood in his garage and had a good time
in front of his neighbors, like this guy did, he would have been
perfectly legal
-- Tom Lyons, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/28/06
Help Wanted
Looking for a good paying job? Perks include travel expenses, free
postage, and access to cute underage twinks
-- Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, 09/29/06
VHA continues downward spiral, decapitates self
Financially strapped housing complex loses its head
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/28/06
Republicans jumping ship to support Jennings
Detert, Hudson staying not-so-quietly on sidelines while their
supporters make the crossover from red to blue
-- Pelican Press, 09/28/06
County aims to control growth east of Venice
That's the actual headline -- sometimes the jokes just write themselves
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/27/06
County vs. city on growth: Hey, somebody at the Gondo reads Ayn Rand
A = A is taken to a bizarre and incomplete extreme in this Gondo
editorial; the question nobody, including the Gondo, has asked yet: just
what does the county charge for residential development impact fees?
-- editorial, Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/27/06
Paper ballot
fight continues
For some reason, Sarasota County really, really, really doesn't want to
be accountable for its elections by paper ballots; the idiocy continues
as Sarasota's case bounces into yet another damned courtroom
-- AP, via Charlotte Sun-Herald, 09/26/06
Housing market takes another dive
The obvious solution: build more houses in gated communities that nobody
can afford to insure anymore -- BRILLIANT!
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/26/06
The Barefoot Bay
Tattler:
The George Hunt Is A Worthless Sack Special Edition
Hunt-related material on pages 4 thru 7
page 4 |
page 5 |
page 6 |
page 7
For the first time, the Tattler goes online with their complete paper in
PDF format and it's all about our former city manager -- this makes
anything we've ever written about Hunt sound like praise; editorial
rakes Hunt, plus a tell-all article by a former employee tells how Hunt
deliberately ignored warnings that Barefoot Bay was sinking deeper and
deeper into unpaid debt
-- Barefoot Bay Tattler, October 2006 issue, complete
A "beleaguered" George Hunt
resigns from Barefoot Bay
City of Palm Bay is getting Venice's ex-city manager as their new
personnel director -- here's hoping they don't have any
whistle blower problems; resignation comes on the heels of Hunt receiving an incredibly
severe and bloody beatdown
[video]
by Trustee Chair Wilma Weglein
-- TCPalm, 09/20/06
A
paper of puff: At least one Gondo reader can recognize manure
The Gondo has become a bastion of puff pieces -- a recent puff job on
9/11 terrorist trainer Rudi Dekkers finally gets a reader to cry foul
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/22/06
School Superintendent Norris
mumbles something about leaving
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
Top educator says he'll be gone before the 23rd century, news writers
crap their pants (wait for the beg -- Oh Gary, please stay)
-- both stories 09/22/06
Venice's next county deadline: January 13
Venice has until January to draft a suck-up agreement with the county,
otherwise the ballot boom gets lowered
-- Pelican Press, 09/21/06
LaMorte sentenced to 21 years for molesting students, says "These sins
will always be with me"
That won't be the only thing that will always be with you, Coach: hope
you look good in lipstick and heels
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/20/06
Is
the county big enough to wear grown-up pants?
Ineptitude and ignorance in past practices do not bode well for the
future in the county's attempt to gain absolute control over residential
and commercial development
-- editorial, Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/20/06
Yet another over-simplified look at the county/city war over growth
An enigma wrapped up in a mystery hidden in a riddle, and yet the
Herald-Trib is confident that they have it all figured out
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/19/06
Frances Rice claims she plagiarized by accident (see last five paragraphs)
Last year, when this web site caught the self-proclaimed leader of black Republicans
plagiarizing Colbert King,
Rice claimed the accusation was racially motivated; when recently cornered by blogger
Richard Mathis on the
matter, Rice freaked out, used the "million monkeys + a million
typewriters = a Shakespeare play" defense
-- OpEdNews, 08/24/06
Barefoot Bay's attorney gives Hunt some cover
According to Richard Torpy, a variety of factors led to the district's
financial meltdown and little of it was Hunt's fault: gremlins, aliens
from Mars and planetary collisions are curiously not used as excuses
-- YouTube, posted 09/16/06
County, cities not out of ballot battle yet
But Mr. Natural: What does it all mean?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/17/06
Vern Buchanan's court case unsealed
Vern Buchanan asked the courts to seal a lawsuit he filed that netted
him $1.35 million, the court amazingly agreed; now we know why Buchanan
didn't want the public to see the case -- Buchanan is one incredible
bullshiat artist
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/17/06
Jim Ley wants out
After helping to set up the current growth zoo, then accusing everyone
else of causing it, plus with anti-dumb growth Commissioner Barbetta
coming on board, Sarasota County Manager Jim Ley is trying to bail to
Osceola County
-- Orlando Sentinal, 09/16/06
County, city to make sweet, sweet love
What could possibly go wrong?
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/16/06
North Port city commission gets mobbed by no-growthers
In 1959, North Port was less than a square mile, now it has more land
than Orlando, still has about a square mile worth of sewers -- do you
see a problem here?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/16/06
Realtors with benefits
Gay real estate professionals band together to survive, fight
stereotypes, and to swap recipes
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/16/06
NASA
reports Arctic ice reduced by 14% in last year alone
This news coming to you via the BBC because everyone here in America
knows that Arctic ice shrinkage is a Democratic Party plot
BONUS LINK:
Peter Gabriel's Here Comes The Flood
-- BBC, 09/14/06
County nixes turf war charter amendment
Ha ha, gotcha! Sure had you fooled, didn't we?
County takes charter amendment gun out, holds it to Venice's head,
cocks, then puts it back in the holster -- Good joke, eh? Was that
hilarious or what?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/15/06
More on The War Between the North and South
Same tale of county versus city, slightly different take, this time from
the H-T
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/15/06
Voters to vote on paperless ballot issue on paperless ballots
Judge Bennett orders that the iVotronic machines be used to decide their
own life or death -- open the pod bay door, Hal;
Elections
Supervisor Kathy Dent to take the stump
with
traveling puppet show featuring "Hangin' Chad, the Paper Ballot Gone
Bad"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/14/06
Venice, North Port in last minute effort to talk county out of charter
amendment
Is it a question of too little too late?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/14/06
County commissioners face pitchforks and torches
Taxpaying public sick of taxpaying, threaten to become part of taxpaying
public elsewhere
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/12/06
Bigger hurricanes are definitely caused by human activity
Or maybe not; in other news, Al Gore acquitted
of beating reporter on grounds of
justifiable pimpslapping
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/12/06
9/11,
Venice, Rudi Dekkers, Huffman Aviation and 43 pounds of heroin
While the Gondo is painting Huffman Aviation as just
a company that coincidentally trained the 9/11terrorists, Dan
Hopsicker points out that there were plenty of shady things going on in
the company's background, including the seizure of 43 pounds of heroin
-- Mad Cow News, 09/06/11
City hall on Venice and 9/11: Let's not talk about it, it didn't really
happen anyway
Terrorists? What terrorists?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/11/06
Meet Ernest Zavyv.. Zadony... Zyvovn... Meet the guy who is running
for council against John Simmonds
Best quote: "Simmonds said without new development, property
values would skyrocket and drive out working families"
-- yeah, that's what kept that from happening... oh wait... nevermind
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/09/06
They love George down in Barefoot -- oh, wait, it looks
like they don't
Venice's former city manager George Hunt is watching a lynch mob form
outside of his office -- oh, and he's still suing Venice Florida! dot com
and an elderly retired widow for conspiracy, cuz obviously it's all our
fault that he can't find another job
BONUS HILARITY:
George
tells his bosses to FOAD
Here's another document that you might not want to include in your
resume, George
-- The Unofficial Barefoot Bay Web Site, 09/09/06
North Port to county: You've slipped the rails
North Port, having annexed over 17,000 acres since 2000, thinks the
county is going overboard with referendum fever
-- North Port Sun, 09/08/06
Crist is a "happy warrior"
"La Florida, the state with the
prettiest name, covered with flowers" -- well, that
pretty much guarantees him the gay vote
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/08/06
Joe Barbetta on replacing county commish David Mills
We've come not to praise Mills but to bury him
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/08/06
The war between the North and the South: County
seeks permanent jurisdiction over all its rural land
And the
media blitz begins...
--
Pelican Press, 09/06/06, reprinted in Gondo, 09/08/06
Holy crap, that batshiat crazy Harris pulled it off
After telling the GOP to FOAD, after saying that non-Baptist politicians
legislate sin, after... you get the idea -- and she wins?
-- Fark, 09/06/06
Venice is not for sale -- it's already owned
In a puff feature, Gondo finally admits what the rest of us already knew
-- that the City of Venice is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boone law
firm
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/03/06
Venice poised for yet another million dollar legal fight
When Dan Boone's interests are at risk, his puppets are ready to march
to war -- county's attitude so far: "Bring it on"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/03/06
The mayor ain't sleeping now:
County pulls out the BIG paddle,
tells Venice, North Port to bend over
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
Both cities have a habit of annexing county land and then rezoning to give
developers a better deal (more density) than the county -- county has said they have
had enough
-- both stories 09/01/06
That damned
Al Gore
First, he gets us all hot and bothered about global warming and now he's
railing against the corporatization of the American media;
Gore says that concentrating the ownership of newspapers and TV
stations in fewer and fewer hands poses a threat to democracy
-- Wired, 08/31/06
County sheriff's office busts major meth lab in Venice
Dealers cry foul at not being tipped off in advance
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/30/06
Meanwhile: After extensive undercover investigation into area retailers,
Venice Police confiscate one unused crack pipe
The war on drugs can now be declared as won
BONUS LINK:
Comments on this story from Fark
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 08/30/06
Mom of 16-year-old student shocked -- SHOCKED -- that her daughter is
seeing porn movies in high school
Principal, school board falling all over themselves due to shocking
allegations that
a 1987
made-for-TV documentary on the Viet Nam War has brief frontal
nudity; oddly enough, this film has been shown in high schools across the country for over
a decade without complaint
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 08/30/06
BONUS LINK from IMDB:
Teachers, students from around the world comment on Dear
America: Letters Home From Viet Nam
Dear Venice mom: Take your meds and STFU
-- IMDB.com
Tom Lyons on Kathryn Harris: "I think a tree fell on her hangar"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/29/06
Ernesto to arrive in South Florida today
This marks the first time in the past 50 years
that an Ernesto has come to Miami without arriving on a floating car
-- Fark, 08/29/06
Pole dancing? Shame on you, David
Mills:
Lying about a political opponent can backfire
Especially when the lie is that your opponent is a former
pole dancer; big
ouch is when the papers catch you lying and then say she is teh hot and
you look like Monty Burns
BONUS PICS:
David Mills -
Monty Burns
- Laura Benson
-- Tom Lyons, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/24/06
Treated wastewater to be stuffed into the aquifer
New water treatment process is designed to give your morning coffee that
extra kick to keep you going (and going and going);
Frank Zappa unavailable for comment
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 08/27/06
Haworth v. Swartz
Judicial race takes on a weirdness factor of 7
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/28/06
Local rap chops wood
Vell Venture busts outta Venice with his second album (Parental
Advisory)
-- MySpace
Front page, above the fold,
Saturday:
Insurers: If you are going to build in the path of a hurricane, we're
gonna go Enron on your ass
Floridians: But we can't afford it
Insurers: Start sucking
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/26/06
Front page, above the fold,
Saturday:
County to Venice: If you are going to continue to annex the rest of the
state, we're gonna go Enron on your ass
Venice: But... but... but...
County: Start sucking
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/26/06
Front page, above the fold, Friday:
Hurricane insurers complain that they aren't giving enough UFIAs to
Floridians
Entire state threatens to move to Arizona
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/24/06
Front page, above the fold, Friday:
Free fish
All you can eat
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/24/06
Front page, above the fold,
Thursday:
County announces hunting season on developers, land-use attorneys
How would you like land-use attorney Jeff Boone's head mounted above
your fireplace? County commission would like to give you a fair shot
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/23/06
Front page, above the fold,
Thursday:
Housing slump deepens
Sarasota County is second-worst in state as sales fall nearly 50%
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/23/06
Sharky's lease, city attorney's
powers: Undoing what Hunt hath wrought
City has asked a judge to kill the Sharky's "blank lease" that former
city manager George Hunt negotiated a few years back (second
item); meanwhile, council wants the city attorney to do more
than just review legal documents -- curiously, the current city manager
likes it just the way Hunt set it up ("Low
man" item)
-- H-T and Gondo, 08/23/06
Front page, above the fold,
Tuesday:
Property owners share stories of rising insurance
Insurance costs
are forcing some families to cut spending;
others say their insurance bills pushed them over the edge and
they are looking to move somewhere cheaper
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune,
08/22/06
Front page, above the fold, Monday:
Desperate home sellers turning to auctions
Eager to unload property, sellers hope for
bids
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune,
08/21/06
Sarasota politics: 'America's craziest?'
It ain't just Venice Florida! dot com -- web sites
all around the country think we're the biggest nutters in the land; Why
do you think Fark
has a Florida tag for bizarre stories?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/22/06
Scooters: fun, sleek, fast and 50 miles to the gallon
And those are just the bigger ones -- Venice Florida! dot com's choice,
appropriately called
The Venice, gets around 85 MPG
-- L.A.Times via Longview Daily News
Red tide = red ink
The upside? Our private golf courses are gorgeous
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/21/06
Thought for the day:
Easiest way to reduce water pollution is to change the definition
Other proposed changes: Head up ass syndrome to be referred to as
"cranial-colonic conjoinment"
-- Pelican Press, 08/20/06
Kurt Vonnegut's Apocalypse
He survived being captured by the Nazis and the
suicide of his mother to write some of the
funniest, darkest novels of our time, but it took George W. Bush to
break him
-- Rolling Stone, August 2006
Crist campaigning for governor in former CIA torture
plane
That explains the leather stewardess uniforms
PLUS:
Comments from Fark
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/20/06
Cops, offender unite in Jogging For Freedom
3-hour charity obstacle course run includes the traditional handcuffed
run through dense brush; new features this year include Helicopter Hide
'n Seek, Schoolhouse Lockdown, and Dodge the Doggie
BONUS LINK:
Comments from Fark
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/17/06
Three council seats plus the mayor's job are up for grabs
So far, no opposition to incumbents
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 08/16/06
Neighbors watch in horror as homeowner is slowly eaten alive by taxes,
insurance fees
Witnesses report that the screaming just wouldn't stop
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 08/16/06
Apparently, "tax relief" in North Port has something to do with inviting the
tax assessor into your bedroom
We're just as clueless as you on this one
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/13/06
Hammett
throws his toupee into the mayoral ring
Hammett takes center stage but all eyes are on stage right -- is anyone
gonna say "Here comes de judge?"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 08/13/06
TCPalm takes the light and breezy approach: Barefoot Bay audit shows
"flaws"
TCPalm is either on the take or on drugs --flaws? FLAWS???? Have you
lost your minds?
from Dictionary.com:
flaw (fl) n.
An imperfection, often concealed, that impairs soundness
Oh, and Hunt has a new plan to fix the first plan
that he announced after the last audit, which was to fix the original
problems that still haven't been fixed -- anyone follow that? Cuz it
seems to make sense to Barefoot Bay's trustees and to TCPalm for some
reason; peyote, anyone?
-- TCPalm.com, 08/12/06
BONUS LINK: residents sound off on
The Unofficial Barefoot Bay Web Site
Hopsicker busted
Authorities finally nail Venice's 9/11 conspiracy author and publisher
of Mad Cow
Morning News -- thank God, our streets are safe now (yo Dan -- if
you can't remember to go to the DMV, we'll pay for your license plate)
-- Sarasota County Booking Sheet, 08/08/06
Hunt in Hell, Part Doh!
Audit report in Barefoot Bay is out, eight months late and
half-a-million dollars short; Hunt cannot be found for comment, is
reportedly preparing an Ooops! Report
-- TCPalm.com, 08/10/06
EVERYONE PANIC!
Homeland Security issues terror alert: update your Windows
Somebody up in D.C. suddenly discovered a virus on his computer,
probably after visiting a few web sites that he shouldn't have; oh, and
this U.S. terror alert is so vital that it's being announced in Sydney,
Australia first
-- Sydney Morning Herald, 08/10/06
Area man unhappy that cable company won't carry his favorite channel
-- The Onion, 08/09/06
-- wait a minute, this isn't
The Onion
-- holy crap, this is a real story
-- hahahahahahahaha
-- ROTFLMAO
-- (complete
archive of Onion's "area man" stories)
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/09/06
Forget virus
and spyware attacks -- there's a new kid on the block
Rootkits -- learn that word, they're the current rage among virus
writers thanks to an idiot pilot program by Sony; your anti-virus software can't do a thing about them
RELATED:
F-Secure's free Rootkit detector
-- PCWorld, June 2006 issue
Venice's 'other' underground
economy:
Short term rentals to get shorter
Council set to squeeze acceptable rental periods down to zero; attorneys
gearing up for the appellate cases that will take a few years to sort
out, popcorn shortage predicted
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 08/09/06
City workers complain of getting hosed at kids' fountain
(hey Rollie, you're starting to get the hang of this reporting
thingie -- good job)
Downtown fountain is turning into a major maintenance PITA for workers
who have to monitor the water quality on their days off -- city's
personnel department tries to label it as voluntary duty
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 08/09/06
Herald-Trib gets bronzed by Keith Olbermann
H-T changes
its gas saving tips after getting called out for Tip #7 which
featured a picture of stop sign and the following advice: "Don't stop;"
revised Tip #7 asks readers if we really thought that H-T was asking us
to break the law; Tip #8 is a real winner as well, guaranteed to screw
up your fuel pump
BONUS LINK:
Comments from Fark:
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/09/06
Grove Terrace ready for the wrecking ball?
HUD gives a thumb's up to kicking the residents out, but don't worry,
they'll all get "vouchers" -- what could possibly go wrong?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 08/06/06
Rollie Reynolds wets self, utils director Sharek
(because a bunch of over-50 wieners
complained about the great original headlinel)
That's about
the politest thing we can say about this bulls**t PR campaign that the
city, the Gondo, and aging cub reporter Rollie Reynolds have launched -- Enough is enough!!!
It's not only bad journalism, it's causing a diabetes epidemic
WORST. LOCAL. NEWS. STORY.
EVER.
HERE'S WHY:
SEE ITEM #2
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 08/06/06
Short-term rentals are now not OK
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
In a sharp reversal, the city now says they have had the tools all along
to prevent weekly vacation rentals; migrant worker rooming houses still
OK
-- 08/03 & 08/04/06
Katherine Harris declared insane
Senate hopeful to spend rest of campaign in the Howdy Doody Home for the
Terminally Befuddled
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/04/06
Venice's city plan to earn place on National Register
This is really, really, cool -- we'll be only the third town in history
to make the grade
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/02/06
Cops bemoan lack of on-the-job porn
If it was even possible to make police work duller, the city's computer
department found a way by refusing to let cops look at boobies links and
ESPN; so to all of our cop friends,
we send you some badgers
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 08/02/06
Armed robberies up, language skills down
"Robberies in Venice is usually real low;"
well, that all depends on what the meaning of "is" is
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/30/06
Judge Rick DeFuria is caught hiding
court cases from public view for no apparent
reason
Justification: Anyone who would take the time
to look up court cases "must not have much of a life"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/30/06
So why did Venice's Finance Director want to leave employment with the City
of Lubbock, Texas?
Ya know, we never asked Jeff Snyder that question; after reading this story, we don't
have to
BONUS:
Comments from Fark
-- UPI, 07/24/06
Stalin returns from grave, demands apology from Howard Dean for
comparison to Katherine Harris
"I'm a piker compared to her"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/29/06
Venice Housing Authority wins financing
Let the diaspora begin
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/29/06
Here's a first: Taxpayers League gets some good press
Article is confusing at best, but it appears that some people are
against something that some other people are for
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 07/27/06
Floridians think the folks running their government are a hard-working,
whip-smart, squeaky-clean, no-nonsense bunch
In other news, that really was a monkey that just
flew out of your ass
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/28/06
Office space rent too pricey? Here's a backyard office shed
A hot-tub maker gets with the times by producing a DIY cedar home office
kit for the telecommuting crowd -- but where's the soaker?
-- Wired, 07/28/06
Bad news day for government
--Herald-Trib is all over government corruption and stupidity today:
--> $2 million hit to taxpayers in fines and
legal fees, Feds may seek indictments against city employees, plus Levine's lawsuit against the city and former manager
George Hunt (story)
--> Cop who leaked drug raid info wasn't
a bad cop, just a stupid one, this according to Sgt. Mike Treanor --
think you would have been better with a "no comment," Mike (story)
--> Two sheriff's deputies in FBI probe
quit force, pair allegedly made buys of stolen liquor for strip club (story)
-- > School Superintendent Gary Norris
taking heat for deceptive practices during school tax referendum drive
(letter
to editor) (story)
-- all stories Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Fresh out of the shrinkwrap, it's a brand new Bishop
Bishop Frank Dewane was ordained yesterday, continuing a longstanding
tradition of high-ranking church officials wearing funny clothes
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/26/06
MUPPET RADIO!!!!
Now you know why the internet was invented -- so you can listen to the
Muppets 24 hours a day (C is for cookie, that's good enough for me)
-- Muppet Central
School Superintendent Norris grins, admits duplicity: We have your
money, now go screw yourselves
This has got to be the strangest, most maddening article yet to come out
of the Sarasota School Board -- Norris and the board basically admit to
putting up a false front (i.e., A BIG LIE) in order to get the
school tax passed and now it's fess-up time: Hi, we lied, we have your
money, now go screw yourselves
BEST QUOTE FOR JUSTIFYING DUPLICITY:
"I'm going to be the last board member that's going to disrupt
the apple cart 14 days before school starts"
-- Carol Todd
-- Sarasota
Goodye John, hello Frank
Bishop Frank Dewane to be ordained today
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune.com
Barefoot Bay gets its first look at Herb Levine
Levine lawsuit makes the news in Hunt's neck of the woods
-- TCPalm.com, 07/24/06
Cops respond in anger and dismay to
news that one of their own foiled drug raid
Venice
Police board |||
Sarasota
Sheriff's board
LEOAffairs.com's message boards for cops come alive with the news of VPD
cop's suspension over leaked drug raid info; biggest amazement seems to
be the perception that the punishment was so light and that the
offending officer is rumored to be jumping ship to go to work for the
Sarasota Sheriff's Office
-- LEOAffairs.com
Leaky cop suspended, ordered to stop dripping
Veteran cop Ralph Adrian disciplined for playing double agent in drug
raid
(note: Gondo erroneously writes that three drug raids took place,
mistakenly citing the dates of three drug buys that led to the raid
-- the actual raid took place on April 3)
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 07/23/06
Golden Beach Quiche-Eaters
Association scores a win... maybe
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
With fall elections looming, interim mayor does an about face and
promises strong state code enforcement against one owner of short-term
rentals; say, has anyone at city hall done a Google search on the phrase
"selective
enforcement?"
-- both stories 07/23/06
And then there are the good cops
Mark Jarvis honored by American Legion (practice this phrase: "I'm from
Holland and I didn't know I was speeding" -- it apparently works)
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/21/06
Hunt loses appeal in Levine lawsuit
NEW:
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
Appelate decision paves the way for Taxpayers League prez to go after
former city manager in false arrest lawsuit
-- H-T 07/20/06, Gondo 07/21/06
As seen on CourtTV:
Dead kids endorse Riva
Debra Johnes Riva's campaign ads in judicial race are not going over
well in the legal community
-- Bradenton Herald, 06/11/06
Photos of ad
are
online here
Unable to find a farmer's market to
crash into, letter writer asks: "Do we
really want girls on roller skates, blaring rock music?"
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND??? HELL YES, WE WANT
GIRLS ON ROLLER
SKATES!!!!
-- letters, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/21/06
The potholes of North Port
Growing number of potholes causes growing numbers of accidents, but the
city takes it all with a sense of humor: anyone who complains gets the
Catch Me If You Can
knock-knock joke
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/20/06
Gondo hits the road
In what seems like its first bona fide city news story in nearly two months, the Gondo
actually mentions city government in a story about transportation -- to
J.J. Andrews, wherever you are, please come back
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 07/14/06
Katherine Harris hits herself
There's gotta be an easier way to commit suicide but so far, Katherine
Harris hasn't discovered it
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/14/06
Vacation home rentals in Venice: why weekly rentals are needed
In a groundbreaking article published a few months ago, the H-T noted
that the demography of vacation renters is changing drastically and will
forever alter the business of tourism; this is the article that Planning
Director Tom Slaughter cited in his presentation to council
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 03/19/06
Short term rentals bring out shorter tempers
Steve Milo, former head of New Media (internet and computer games) of
Marvel Comics, is
Captain America to some property owners and to the local real estate
biz; Golden Beach Homeowners Association likens him to
Doctor Doom
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/12/06
RELATED:
Milo's
Vacation Rental Pros
web site
Growth
Guess who said this: "Water is going to be a problem;
infrastructure to accommodate the people who will be moving in to South
County... How are we going to afford and pay
for requirements these people will have? Most of the new housing will be
here, part in North Port on the Thomas Ranch."
Did you guess Herb Levine? Wrong...
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 07/09/06
Despite drastically increased property taxes, North Port can't pay for
infrastructure without levying additional fees
Relax -- it could never happen here in Venice
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/06/06
Dear Marty: Take a chill pill
Bob Crossley sounds off about plans for an airport marina
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 07/05/06
Dear George: Take a chill pill
Stephen Rice of Barefoot Bay writes: "Demand that our manager and
board stop worrying about suing citizens and start being professional.
We are paying for these errors and, unless we start paying attention and
doing our own oversight, we, too, are part of the problem"
-- letters, TCPalm.com, 06/28/06
Finally available in America: Doctor Who first series DVD box set
One of the best shows evah and the U.S. has been getting stiffed all
along -- at long last, there is justice
-- DVD review, Detroit Free Press, 07/04/06
Taxing the snowbirds:
Part-time residents, investors may be pressured
to leave
Stickin' it to the snowbirds may be fun and profitable, but is the
present two-tiered tax system an
economic implosion waiting to happen?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/02/06
City Attorney Bob Anderson on the grill
City's cleanup man isn't fast enough according to some critics, but here
are some unasked questions that might have balanced the article:
Question 1: How many lawsuits and union arbitrations is the city facing?
Question 2: Is that number normal for a city this size?
Question 3: How much of that would have been avoidable with some plain
common sense?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/02/06
Charter Review pushes for the concept of Separation of Cash and State
Say, here's a thought -- let's put control of all of the city's money
into the hands of two people; proposed charter amendment on finance director would remove direct
control from council and place it under city manager; then there's
some minor point about a $1 million bookkeeping error -- wait -- what?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/30/06
Environmental crimes don't pay?
Beg to differ with the H-T on this one: actually, environmental crimes
do pay and quite handsomely -- taxpayers are now paying up to $2
million while, it turns out, the individuals responsible will likely
walk away unscathed
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/29/06
An
invitation to Marty Black
The folks at Bridle Oaks are a little miffed that their ponds are going
dry, this due to the fact that the city isn't filling the ponds with
reuse water anymore, which the city, in turn, blames on compliance
issues with the EPA and the DEP; here, the homeowners invite the city
manager over for a round of golf and have already lined him up with a
partner
-- Bridle Oaks Homeowners Association
Gondo to city: leave the City Charter alone
City, Charter Review Board makes a less-than-compelling case for making
any changes in the way the city handles term limits and its charter
officers
-- editorial, Venice Gondolier Sun, 06/28/06
City, EPA hug, share recipes and fond memories
Venice about to begin its three year 'probation' as a convicted felon in the
drawn out case of U.S. v. City of Venice; indictments may still be
pending against The Executive Group, then again, the Feds may just take
everyone out for a night of bowling and beer
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/28/06
Associated Press polls climatologists on Gore's An Inconvenient Truth
NYC flooded? Florida inundated? All possible unless we change our ways,
according to Gore; AP asks nation's climatologists if it's true
-- Associated Press via Wired, 06/27/06
The future of South Sarasota County
There, behind the glass, stands a real blade of grass -- be careful as you
pass, move along, move along
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 06/25/06
Downtown Venice: success and failures
Restaurants and upscale clothiers booming, other types of businesses
struggle
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/25/06
VIDEO:
Circus
arena needs to be torn down to make way for marina buildout
"Revitalization" of airport is needed in order to make the airport
economically viable; sweetheart lease with the Venice Golf Association
is curiously not mentioned
-- video, WWSB-TV, aired 06/20/06 at 5:30 PM (some 12 hours after
our Move afoot to move the airport
article was first posted)
This means war!
City manager kicks Venice Florida! dot com out of press conference
because "reporting the news and selling ads don't mix;" print media
allowed to stay because they are charitable organizations that don't
sell ads -- wait -- WTF?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/22/06
H-T to Councilman Woods: Come in, sit down, have a drink, now leave
"Woods told reporters he hasn't decided whether he will become a
candidate for City Council in the November election.
He's certainly free to run, but we wish he wouldn't."
-- opinion, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/19/06
Feds nix marina funding
Marina idea isn't dead, according to city manager: "It would be
unlikely that we would use property tax dollars;"
also: circus arena demolition price tag could be as high as $1 million
-- anyone got a match?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/18/06
County to cut taxes
Oboy oboy oboy oboy oboy oboy woohoo oboy oboy oboy oboy; snowbirds:
this does not apply to you, you will continue to be taxed like there is
no tomorrow
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/16/06
There's a bishop on the landing
Venice is about to be invaded by wannabe Monty Python extras
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/16/06
Boone nominee gets the nod for council
It's hard to say anything good or bad about appointed councilman Jim
Woods as he's an unknown quantity when it comes to municipal politics,
but when Dan Boone likes him, bells and alarms should be sounding
Bonus chest clutcher: Hammett says he intends to run for mayor
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/14/06
Miller's Manhattan Project favorably received
Former judge Don O'Connell goes to the mat, states that spot zoning that
allows the project has been illegal for years; nevertheless, Miller's
project gets a tentative green light
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 06/14/06
Miller successfully gets Venice to say wow
Would you look at those... plans... yeah, we were looking at the plans
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/13/06
The circus is back in town: Forget the sewers, try the water
Sharek's image is getting an attempted municipal makeover as he plays
the part of a
carny huckster
[pops new window]; meanwhile, OMI, the utilities management company
that Sharek is supposed to be
supervising, can't figure out how to use the deodorizers at the lift
stations, so that job is now being farmed out for $70,000 (see bottom of
this page) -- just what, exactly, is OMI doing and why are we paying
them anything?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 06/11/06
Children terrorized at city park
Unsuspecting parents and children attacked by mysterious propelled jets
of water that shoot up from the ground; Homeland Security investigating
possible terrorist ties, City Manager Marty Black spotted nearby
sporting an evil grin (with scary pic of traumatized children)
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/10/06
Manhattan Project gets a poke in the eye with a sharp stick
Mike Miller says he's drastically downgraded his plans from nine stories
to six in his island buildout vision; Gondo calls for a reality check,
points out that the original plans called for seven stories, not nine,
and that the new plans are not all that different from the previously
rejected ones
-- editorial, Venice Gondolier Sun, 06/11/06
Speaking
of public records, what happens if...
...a government agency delays giving them out or charges more than the actual cost of
duplication? In the case of the City of North Port, the State Attorney's
Office gets involved and that's where things can get a bit ugly
-- Charlotte Sun-Herald, 06/01/06
Don't pay for Microsoft Office!
So you bought a new computer and your Microsoft Office suite expired
after 90 days -- now you're miffed because you thought you had already
paid for it. Do you pay a couple of hundred dollars to renew? Don't do
it -- Sun Microsystems is now giving away their competing software
package (formerly known as Star Office) FOR FREE and it
does just about everything that Microsoft Office does while taking up a
hell of a lot less room on your hard drive; oh, and did we mention that
IT'S FREE?
-->
Article from Times-Standard.com
-->
Sun Microsystems download site for
OpenOffice
Condo eminent domain bill smacked down by Gov. Bush
Don't count on this piece of legislative crap going away any time soon,
though; rule would make it easier for developers to force out
homeowners; developers and state
Rep. Nancy Detert (R-Venice)
love the bill; Detert states she heard no objections to
it from constituents -- uhhh, maybe because we
didn't know about it?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/08/06
Gramps has a bad experience with "scantily clad" sunbathers, freaks
out
Homophobia grips the Gondo in the wake of a tourist who stumbles into a group of
g... ga... g... lumberjacks... the word is lumberjacks
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 06/02/06
RELATED:
I had a
bad experience with the CIA and now I'm gonna show you my feminine side
Beach renourishment is a temporary fix
More than 75 percent of Florida's shoreline, 47 percent of New York's
shoreline and 26 percent of New Jersey's and Virginia's shorelines are
critically eroding; sea levels have already
risen four to ten inches, depending on the
location, over the past 100 years; increased storm
activity and global warming promise to speed up that process
dramatically in the very near future
-- Wired, 06/02/06
Lessons in Bad Manners:
American Legion to Venice High School Band: You suck, go away
North Port HS gets the nod to play on Memorial Day in Venice, American
Legion forgets to tell VHS band that they won't be needed; Legion's Putman
hopes that there won't be any animosity between the Legion and VHS
-- hey, we all have dreams and hopes; in other news, VHS campus to be moved
to North Port
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 05/31/06
Lessons in Bad Journalism:
Stop the presses -- youth center to close, kids may be forced to read a book
or two
Sure, closing the center is not a good thing, but this H-T article drips
with so much overkill bleeding heart goo that you'll need a shower after
reading it
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/31/06
Nudist franchises battling it out in brand domination wars
He who gets the most retiree boobies wins
(this article is perfectly useful without pics)
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/29/06
Marina
battle heats up
City pushing for federal grant funds that will end up benefiting private
interests, Sue Lang responds by giving voice to David Farley's greatest
dream -- "[The FAA] should review the benefit of moving this airport"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/28/06
The next person to suggest moving the
high school will likely be tarred and feathered by the populace
Gondo
editorial |||
Herald-Trib story
How to win friends and influence people? One way is not to suggest
destroying a community's sacred cow
-- both stories 05/28/06
Post-boom real estate market:
Buyers hope for lower prices
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/27/06
Renters looking for ever shorter leases
-- HomeAndCondo.com newsletter, 06/01/06
Venice Florida! dot com's Patten to TCPalm: Try searching the record for those defamatory e-mails
Hunt claims they are out there, newspaper keeps mentioning them as though
they exist, all of which leads to the question: has anyone actually seen just one of them?
-- letters, TCPalm, 05/27/06
Condo
king Mike Miller opposes VHS relocation
Yay Mike -- go get 'em
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/26/06
Water, water everywhere -- oh wait, maybe not
Myakka River is bone dry, heading for scorched status, but damn, your lawn
looks great
Scary
pic of Myakka River that accompanied article
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/26/06
Cops crack down on supply teens with guns
FAP Explorer program conference to be hosted in Venice --
everyone duck!
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/25/06
Forged e-mails in Barefoot Bay: George Hunt's supporting cast of morons vote
not to call the cops
THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND: Board of Trustees vote unanimously to
bury the scandal after their attorneys advise them that forged e-mails are
not a serious matter... so somebody else made the call for them... gosh, we
have no idea who could have made that call...
-- TCPalm.com, 05/25/06
Ex-CIA Director Porter
Goss' resignation tied to Mexican cocaine seizure, which in turn is tied
to...
Ahhh, you figure it out, Hopsicker's convoluted writing style has us
befuddled as well
-- Mad Cow Morning News, 05/25/06
Fire board sex taps cats
You try writing these things before your first cup of coffee
-- Englewood Sun Herald, 05/25/06
"Oh
boy" -- Introducing Hizzoner
With Quimby gone, council appoints Ned Flanders as a fill-in mayor until
November; Dan "Montgomery" Boone is heard muttering "Excellent!" while tapping fingers
together, unfolds plans for nuclear power plant/marina at airport
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/24/06
No good deed goes unpunished: Konecnik
sinks, Marker 4 Restaurant may sink as well
Gondo
story |||
Herald-Trib story
After learning that he owned some of the land under Harbor
Lights Mobile Home Park, John Konecnik gave the land to the park. That was a
few years ago. Yesterday, park
residents return the favor by successfully opposing his extended dock on the grounds that
it would block their donated view. Sour grapes? Ya, you betcha.
-- both stories 05/24/06
Englewood Water District to reach up into South Venice
South Venice expected to get indoor plumbing, electricity by 2009
-- North Port Sun
Konecnik is back
Fisherman's Wharf dock project is back before county commission today;
city hall staying mum, wants marina at airport instead
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/23/06
The Pentagon Papers of our
generation?
The AT&T
Docs
You may not have heard of former AT&T technician Mark Klein yet, but
you will: Klein's
whistle blower's tale of collusion between the NSA and AT&T has been
sending shockwaves through geek and legal circles for months now, this
major story is about to go mainstream
-- Wired, 05/22/06
RELATED:
Why Wired
published the AT&T Docs
RELATED:
Comments on this story from Fark
Electronic privacy:
If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to
hide?
The premise that privacy is about hiding a
wrong is wrong -- Privacy is an inherent human
right, a requirement for maintaining the human condition with
dignity and respect
-- Wired, 05/18/06
Doublespeak deluxe: School Superintendent Gary Norris does a little
sidestep
Norris is emphatic that VHS will not move off of the island, wants talks
about moving VHS off of the island -- it's the best impersonation yet of
Charles Durning's character in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas by
a local politico: "I do a little sidestep..."
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/21/06
Activist web sites hit politicians hard
I think its a phenomenon that were going to see more of, and
frankly I think its a good healthy thing, said John Morris, staff
counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/21/06
Is a marina the best use of airport land?
City hall is all for it and is pushing hard despite the fact that the
public is feeling left out of the decision making process
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/19/06
If we can't move the airport off of the island... well, how about
replacing the high school with high-rises?
"[School Superintendent Gary]
Norris emphatically denied the district plans on relocating the high
school. Instead, this week's meeting simply
kicked off what will be up to a year's worth of discussions and public
meetings about its future -- including possible relocation."
-- uhhhhh.... what?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/19/06
Hunt on lawsuit motions:
"My lawyer thinks they're just trying to see what
we have on them"
Pure genius, that one. No getting anything by him. Uhhhh, George: you
are the one filing this lawsuit. Have you ever seen
the movie My Cousin Vinny? Remember that bit in there about the right of
discovery?
-- TCPalm.com, 05/19/06
Zacharias Moussaoui in
Venice?
A 5.5 ton cocaine bust in Mexico leads Dan Hopsicker through a twisted
chain of evidence that leads back to Venice with a bizarre and
unexpected discovery: Moussaoui was here in Venice and the FBI is
apparently still covering it up
-- Mad Cow Morning News, 05/16/06
Hunt bombs out of job search, sues self
After filing a lawsuit against this web site for allegedly conspiring to
keep him from finding a new job, Hunt withdraws himself from candidacy
for the city manager job in West Melbourne and promptly files a lawsuit
against himself
-- TCPalm.com, 05/16/06
Wanna play 'pet the lizard?'
Florida panics as gators try to up their own status on the food chain,
FEMA promises to send more poodles
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/16/06
The deHuntification of Sharky's on the Pier
Councilman John Moore argues that former city manager George Hunt gave
Sharky's restaurant too good of a deal, wants to continue the argument
in front of a judge; Hunt unavailable for comment
available for deposition
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/14/06
RELATED: Death of a
Manager, the strange tale of Sharky's lease from 2003
President
Gore's message to the nation - full video
"Gas is down to 19 cents
a gallon and the oil companies are hurting. I know that I am partly to
blame by insisting that cars run on trash. I
am therefore proposing a federal bailout to our oil companies because
-- hey if it were the other way around, you know the oil
companies would help us."
-- Saturday Night Live via CrooksAndLiars.com, 05/13/06
Church pre-school finally finds insurance, will stay open despite child abuse
lawsuits
Where is your God now? More importantly, who, exactly, is your God now?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/14/06
$500 a month efficiency apartments?
And that will be economically possible... how?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/14/06
Duckin' on the dock of the bay
Council stares blankly at ceiling during Fisherman's Wharf discussion
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/14/06
FEMA says it's ready for the hurricanes
In other news, Elvis is alive and well and living in Topeka
-- Reuters, via Yahoo, 05/11/06
BONUS LINK:
Comments on this story from Fark
FBI creates web site for government corruption tips
Attention all city workers -- are you there? Here's your
chance...
-- Wired, 05/11/06
Katherine Harris is primed and ready to step on a rake
Dems respond by hoarding bandages
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/12/06
News Flash: John Nolen wasn't an ax murderer
The man who laid out Venice is getting a new examination from around the
country and everyone seems to love him... everyone except the people who
run one of the towns that he designed... this one, for instance
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/07/06
The King is dead; Long live the King (ummm, err, who exactly is the King
now, anyway?)
Mayor Calamaras' resignation is now official, power vacuum sucks the
usual suspects into the limelight; Gondo gives a nice mention to Venice
Florida! dot com's Patten
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 05/10/06
Lawsuit frenzy heats up as council
decides to take Sharky's to court:
Death of a Manager, Act II (?)
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
In 2003, Councilmen John Moore and Rick Tacy skewered then-City Manager
George Hunt over the city's lease with Sharky's -- it was an event so
bloody and dramatic that Venice Florida! dot com
converted the transcript into a
one-act play; with Calamaras now out of the way, Moore renews the
attack by successfully urging council to take the lease to court in an
attempt to nullify it
-- both stories 05/10/06
Venice to get $2 million in federal grants to build luxury marina? The
federal agency to hand over the cash will be HUD? WTF?
To top that off, Katherine Harris' name is associated with this federal
porker -- now it all starts making sense, eh? Which, in turn, leads to
the next question: What interested party gave bucks to her campaign in exchange
for this 'favor?'
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/08/06
RELATED -- A MUST READ ARTICLE:
Looting Homeland Security, from the January issue of Rolling
Stone
Say goodbye to Quimby
The mayor is saying farewell at a going away party and the public is
invited... What could possibly go wrong?
-- City of Venice press release, 05/01/06 (second item on page)
Yet another Florida politician accepts donations from
(and gives out gravy contract to) a
company with ties to Abramoff
This time around, it's U.S. Representative
Dave Weldon (R - FL 15th); Of course there's that oblique
reference to God tucked in there, cuz that makes
everything OK
-- TCPalm, 05/05/06
Charter Review Board done with reviewing
Term limits to stay pretty much the same; city manager to have power to
fire police chief without approval from council -- no word yet if Hunt
will file suit demanding that the powers be retroactive
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/05/06
Sure, I ran off to the middle east with millions in bilked real estate
investments, but last night I slept in a Holiday Inn
FACTOID: Rooms in Amman go for $77 a night
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/05/06
Venice puts off bulldozing home... for now
Code enforcement described as "friendly" -- hahahahahaha, stop it, my
sides are hurting
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/03/06
Herald-Trib crashes and burns
14 NYT affiliates, including the H-T, go offline for a day; memo from
NYT tech team reminds writers not to use their CD-ROMs as coffee cup
holders
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/04/06
HUD housing wars bubbling under the surface
Attorney Jon Preiksat and Sarasota low income housing czar Carmen
Valenti go nose-to-nose, Valenti pauses to blink
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/30/06
Marina? Didn't we have one already in the plans?
Gary Anderson points out that Marker 4 marina plans have been around for
a while and boaters won't have to go under three drawbridges to get
there
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/30/06
Mayoral exit + existing term limit laws + Farley in the wings = major
political clusterflap
Mayor's exit is cause for both celebration and consternation as council
members scramble to get closer to the ultimate doggie dinner bowl -- and
why does David Farley's name keep popping up in discussions (and now
this article) whenever the word "appointed" is used?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/26/06
Big picture missing in Venice development puzzle
H-T columnist Larry Evans examines Jeff Boone's metaphor of a jigsaw
puzzle in explaining the mess that will become North Venice, suggests we
don't have the picture that comes on the box; what Evans doesn't know is
that Boone pocketed two of the corner pieces, so we're pretty well
screwed from the start
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/26/06
Historians assess Bush: The Worst President in History
In early 2004, an informal survey of 415 historians conducted by the
nonpartisan History News Network found that eighty-one percent
considered the Bush administration a "failure;"
in fact, roughly one in ten of those who
called Bush a success was being facetious, rating him only as the best
president since Bill Clinton -- a category in which Bush is the only
contestant
-- Rolling Stone, 04/21/06
Uhhhh, George: while you were quelling that conspiracy...
George Hunt has been so busy suing anyone who has anything bad to say
about him that he kinda forgot to let the locals in Barefoot Bay know
that they are being overrun with sex offenders -- that's called an ooops
-- TCPalm, 04/24/06
Band Aid Bandit gets his own fan site
FDLE goes gaga over gunman; your dog wants a fan site sponsored by the
local animal control
-- FDLE, 04/21/06
That loud
mysterious pop that shot you out of bed last night? It was the housing
bubble -- relax, go back to sleep
Annexation-happy Venice developers' worst nightmares are starting to
come true and it's not just happening in Venice, either -- affordable
housing will soon be in gated communities and will come with heated
pools and vaulted ceilings
-- MSN Money, 04/24/06
Black wants to merge Sarasota and Venice's HUD housing
VHA resident's attorney Jon Preiksat: "Sarasota Housing Authority
is so bad, you can't even imagine how bad it is"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/23/06
Venice finds it harder to cut taxes
That's the official story; Answer: just take a page from the George
Hunt book of municipal monkey money: bill the bejeebers out of the
airport for fictional services and add new and mysterious fees to
residential sewer bills (what, exactly, is sewage flavor enhancement?)
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/22/06
Charter Review in a split on term limits
Upside: at least there's some thought going into this; Downside: given
enough money for campaigning, we could end up with a Calamaras for life
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/21/06
A new wrinkle in politics: The Detert Dilemma
FEC tells congressional candidate that she can't accept $94,000
in restitution from her thieving campaign manager because it would
violate campaign contribution laws
BONUS LINK:
Comments on this story from Fark
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/21/06
Language skills cited as cause of Hep C, semi-literate editorials
"Another issue is the rapid spread of the disease among
immigrants -- some of whom have little or no money and don't read or
speak good English;" in other news, Yoda swears
not infected he is
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/20/06
If you build it, they will come
Call us wacky, but here's a novel thought: STOP BUILDING IT! This
message brought to you by the Department of Obvious Solutions
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/20/06
Retirees coming
to Florida are getting bigger and bigger and bigger
There's a special retirement home in Polk County for large retirees --
some who live there are as big as elephants
-- Wall Street Journal, 04/19/06
Planning Commission OKs yet another 2000 homes
Attorney Jeff Boone calls it "one more piece of the puzzle;" Planning
Commish Benny Weaver responds with "I just see it as one more piece of
total gridlock"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/18/06
Charter Review Board: Venice is asleep
Board chair Greg Roberts bemoans lack of public input, CQG members
ass-slapping each other like they are in a high school football locker
room
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/18/06
City leaders set goals for dealing with growth
Expanding height restrictions, offering
developers the right to build more units -- yeah,
that's the ticket
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/17/06
Stick a fork in Detert -- she's done
Detert burned by campaign manger after he steals campaign war chest and
heads for Buenos Aires; Detert gives standard Poli Sci 101 'this sucks'
speech
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/17/06
Behold: The future home of the beautiful deserts of southwest Florida
County Commish Jon Thaxton asks one question about growth: Uhhh, wait --
where are we gonna get the water from?
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 04/16/06
Patten on Hunt's lawsuit: "I don't think he likes me very much"
TCPalm skims over the history of this web site and its torrid
relationship with "Furious George"
-- TCPalm.com, 04/15/06
H-T's Tom Lyons: Bulldozers are an extreme solution
"That roof isn't a bomb that is about to explode"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/13/06
Council suffers from multiple personalities
Council, city staff take psych tests, results confirm what everyone
already knows -- our government is nuts; in other news, the
Boston Globe is reporting on a schizophrenia drug study
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/14/06
They won't answer the door so maybe these bulldozers will get their
attention
City Hall takes a Vogon approach to code enforcement, will raze home in
order to make way for a hyperspace bypass -- the plans have been in the
basement at city hall all this time; Arthur Dent unavailable for comment
(speaking of code violations, yo city hall -- about that circus
building...)
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/12/06
Just because I'm part of the growth boom doesn't mean I should pay for
it
After all, I've been heer since 2002!
-- letters, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/13/06
The
Tischler Report
In 2000, Sarasota County paid
$50,000 to evaluate the fiscal impacts of various types of land
uses in the County; the study concluded that growth
does not pay for itself, that taxpayers have to subsidize costs
of these developments -- six years later, the report
finally surfaces
-- Citizens for Controlled Growth (scroll down a bit)
Tom Lyons weighs in on Hunt's lawsuit
"Patten's relentless and
sometimes well-informed criticism certainly helped make Hunt's last
years in Venice less pleasant"
-- sometimes? What's this sometimes crap? Other than that, great article
and thanks, Tom
-- opinion, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/09/06
Venice and Sarasota County realize that after years of living together,
they hardly know each other
Silent accusations bubble near the surface as both hint
that the other may have been sleeping with developers
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/11/06
Forged e-mails were "mistakes"
TCPalm.com finally figures out that there might be a
story in the forged e-mails that surfaced in Barefoot Bay; also, TCPalm
mistakenly makes the leap that former Venice city intern Dan Morgan
forged the e-mails in question, paper accuses him as such -- it's a bold
accusation, but it
isn't born out by the evidence so far
-- TCPalm.com, 04/08/06 (free registration required)
Cops in online pissfest
Cops diss each other online, both
here and on
leoaffairs.com; mayor scours pages, asks city attorney if there is
anyone involved that he or George Hunt can sue
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/09/06
Mar-tay sashays into VHA fray (hooray)
City Manager Marty Black meets with HUD officials over
lunacy at the Venice Housing Authority -- get your popcorn now, the good
part of this movie is coming up
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/07/06
City, county meet again again again
Best quote comes from Councilman Bill Willson: "I don't
want to be sitting here next year agreeing to agree that we agree on
something that we agreed on"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/07/06
Patten is running scared?
Hunt rubbing his hands with glee, states Venice Florida!
dot com's recent silence is proof that his case has legs
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/05/06
Herald-Trib on VHA reconstruction blueprints: suitable for fishwrap
Local HUD planners face opposition from low-income
tenants, Venice City Council, newspapers, Venice residents, and the
Venice Taxpayers League; VHA board still blundering on with a cheery
"This will all work out fine" attitude
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 04/04/06
City Attorney says Hunt is not part of the Executive Group
For the first time since the EPA investigation began, a
government official is stating that Hunt is not a target
-- TCPalm.com, 04/01/06 (free registration required)
Hunt sues!
Gondo story |||
TCPalm story
Hunt files lawsuit against Venice Florida! dot com's Patten and a
72-year-old caregiver of her 83-year-old Alzheimer's husband -- nobody
ever said Hunt didn't have a heart
-- both 03/31/06 (TCPalm requires free registration)
Calamaras denies that resignation
has anything to do with critics or ongoing Grand
Jury investigation
Global warming, alien abductions,
psychic terrorist cows and entrance into the Federal Witness Protection
program also cited as non-factors
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/29/06
Calamaras denies EPA investigation is behind resignation
Mayor vehemently denies that current Grand Jury
proceedings have anything to do with his decision to quit and move out
of town, says he regrets
investigation because "it just made the
whole city look bad;"
mayor's house and business are already sold, still looking for a buyer
for the Circus Bridge
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/28/06
Anybody wanna be on council?
Here's your chance at money, fame, money, sex and... did we mention
money? In other news, David Farley spotted hiding in city hall stairwell
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/28/06
The
mayor gets Farked... AGAIN!
Nine days after being featured on the national news site,
Fark notes the mayor's resignation with a bit of irony
-- Fark.com, 03/27/06
Venice City Council on oncoming development along East Venice Avenue:
What Avenue? Venice Avenue? East Venice Avenue? Nope,
never heard of it
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/26/06
Jon Preiksat, Carter Canada fight the underdog fight
VHA disobeys public records laws, gets caught, wants
Residents Council to pay the expenses involved in in proving it --
hilarity will ensue
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/26/06
Airport land leases are a helluva deal
Having apparently learned nothing from the FAA
investigation a few years back, the city keeps leasing airport land in
sweetheart deals
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/25/06
Katherine Harris chases God
Harris tries to
distance herself from that defense contractor illegal
contribution thingie by getting closer to God; lawyers for God
file request for restraining order
-- Sarasota Herald Tribune, 03/23/06
VHA
doesn't want a new director
Based on a recommendation from the Tampa
Housing Authority, VHA suspends its search for a new director; not in
story but confirmed by Venice Florida! dot com: Tampa Housing Authority
refuses to confirm that the
unsigned letter (PDF file) originated from them, Appell is
appointed as interim director until August 15 based on letter's
recommendation to halt search
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/21/06
Moore on charter changes
Ex-judge takes issue with the notion of removing the
Finance Director job from the status of being a Charter Officer
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/22/06
Yet even more VHA/HUD shenanigans
Break out the brooms
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/20/06
VHA's Appell puts on Sgt. Schulze act for HUD, city hall
Appell tries to duck a fed inquiry by telling HUD that
there are no conceptual plans for rebuilding the housing complex; city
manager points to conceptual plans that Appell and Lopez filed with the
city and gives an understated assessment: "I find this inconsistent"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/19/06
The
new chief is a...
woman, specifically the 1999 Criminal Justice Woman of the
Year from Michigan; mmmmm, a woman with handcuffs
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/17/06
New chief has a thing for younger cops
It's called mentoring... mentoring, you know, like in teaching?
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/17/06
Venice votes 50-50 on school tax
And, since this is a non-recurring tax for recurring
expenses, we'll repeat this dumb way of funding in four years
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/17/06
The
mayor gets Farked
Mayor's "worst thing ever" comments go nationwide on Fark,
hilarity ensues
-- Fark.com, 03/15/06
An ounce of truth and a ton of lies
Herald-Trib picks up on mayor's mental meltdown over Venice
Florida! dot com: somebody give Hizzoner a handkerchief, he's blowing spittle
all over everything (and where the hell did that pic of Patten come from?)
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/15/06
VHA doesn't pass the smell test
Suspicious of the VHA's recent dealings, council asks HUD to take a look;
VHA chair Appell does a bob and weave, blames former director Lopez
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/15/06
VCC is now a hurricane shelter... for 700 people, anyway
Got wind? Get in line early
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/15/06
Building height consultants may be hired by city
And the Boones approve? The fix is in as HST would say
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/14/06
Norris turns to the dark side of The Force
As the school tax referendum vote looms, Norris unveils death star,
calls on Senator Palpatine for support; Yoda unavailable for comment, Herb
Levine is quoted instead
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/12/06
Aliens are
stealing our cows
The California Milk Processor Board (the "got milk?" people)
want you to know how to protect your cows from alien abduction; in other
news, Venice Taxpayers League donates
cow suit
to the mayor
-- CowAbduction.com
You want to see what? Why? Who are you?
Newspapers across the state go after government agencies for
failing to provide public records access to the public
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/12/06
Arson
at Grove Terrace
At 5:00 am on March 5th, somebody tried to torch a building
that was full of sleeping parents and children -- this wasn't just arson,
this was attempted murder of over a dozen people
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/10/06
Hunt still not done screwing up Barefoot Bay's finances
David Farley called George Hunt the best budget person he had ever known --
apparently, some folks in Barefoot Bay are a little smarter than Farley
-- TCPalm.com, 03/09/06 (free registration required)
Randall gets a state butt-whoopin'
City's former computer chief fined $12,140 by state's ethics
commission; also receives public censure, reprimand, and a job offer from
the mayor (page 6); curiously enough,
that is the exact amount that Randall illegally billed the city for back in
2002
-- Florida Commission on Ethics, posted on 3/10/06
Airport Manager Fred Watts: Marina? What marina? Oh, thaaa-at marina...
nope, never heard of it
Airport Advisory Board is kept unaware that city is seeking
$2 million in federal grants to build a marina -- it's like George never
left!
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/10/06
One week after Hanks retires as police chief, burglary rates skyrocket
Coincidence? We don't think so
Dear Jim:
We know retirement can be boring, but please try to find a better hobby than
busting out the windows of local businesses
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/10/06
The country is losing its collective mind
Yes kiddies, it is time for tinfoil hats to hit the
mainstream -- consider these three stories:
-- Bill O'Reilly thinks
he has his own police, threatens callers if they mention Keith Olbermann
(from Media Matters);
--
President Bush announces faith-based wiretapping (from official White
House web site);
--
Katherine Harris' hand permanently wedged in cookie jar while she announces
her senate candidacy is gaining momentum (from Herald-Tribune)
-- posted 03/08/06
Rock 'em sock 'em politics: Tacy, VHA's Appell bout set for ten rounds
Tacy orders spring-loaded boxing gloves for his wheelchair,
Appell practicing duck and weave moves; meanwhile, pro-bono attorney Jon
Preiksat is somehow (according to the Herald-Trib, anyway) setting himself
up for a financial windfall
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/03/06
Hanks on city charter changes
According to Venice's former top cop, making the police chief
accountable only to the city manager is a setup for corruption and disaster
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/03/06
Top cop spot may go to woman
Slapp loyalists in department panicking, scouring FDLE
certification rules to see if testosterone production is mandatory for
chief's position -- so far, no luck
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/02/06
Oooops: George Hunt's financial fiasco
Barefoot Bay's finances are seriously messed up, Hunt blames
former Venice city hall intern Dan Morgan for the snafu
-- TCPalm.com, 03/01/06 (free registration required)
VHA
board, developer to HUD residents and city council: Kindly get out of our
way so that we can make some money
Here -- have a voucher, learn to like it and shut your pie
hole
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 03/01/06
Say hello to your new Venice neighbors -- all 9,000 of them
Gondo
story |||
Herald-Trib story
Big yellow taxi to take away cows, drainage and probably your
old man as well (and you thought 7,000 was a high number? - muhahahaha)
-- both stories 03/01/06
Norris to voters: Please give me another chance with your money, I promise
to spend it on kids and teachers this time
The hype is on in a multi-million dollar tax referendum
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 02/26/06
Say
hello to your new Venice neighbors -- all 7,000 of them
Just don't plan on driving anywhere worth going to
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 02/26/06
VHA de-Lopezed
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
HUD housing boss packs up in the middle of the night -- literally
-- both stories 02/24/06
Tom Lyons carves up "the whittler"
Lopez wanted to whittle away undesirables, Herald-Trib's
Lyons serves up Lopez for dinner
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 02/23/06
Planning an urban nightmare
Mayor calls Laurel Road area a future suburban area that
people want, approves urban planning instead; only Taylor and Moore are
apparently paying attention
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 02/20/06
In
re Steve Randall
City's former computer head is headed back to state's ethics
commission for another round in March (background
story)
-- Florida Commission on Ethics agenda for March 3, 2006 (PDF file)
Indictments are coming
U.S. Attorney's Office is expected to file individual charges
within the next two months in
ongoing EPA case
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 02/19/06
More VHA shenanigans
VHA Director Lopez accused of falsifying information on
Federal grant
application by VHA Residents Council
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 02/17/06
Hunt says Federal Grand Jury is not out to indict him
Former Venice city manager claims he has never been
interviewed by a law enforcement agency in the EPA case (note to George:
just in case you didn't know, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the EPA's
Criminal Investigation Division are both bona fide law
enforcement agencies); Hunt further states that an
unnamed local newspaper here in Venice was out to get him
-- Fernandina Beach News Leader, 02/15/06
All this
fuss about releasing effluent seems silly -- I mean it's only harmless
water, right?
The mayor has made statements like this several times and he
couldn't be more wrong -- chlorinated effluent, which is what caused the
city so many problems with the EPA, is some pretty nasty stuff that can be
highly toxic even in small amounts
-- Wired, 03/15/05
Fernandina Beach takes a pass on hiring Hunt
City manager job is offered to Michael Czymbor, former city
manager of Milan, Michigan
-- TCPalm.com, 02/15/06 (free registration required)
The
mayor and the head of VHA: The pot is calling the kettle
Mayor Calamaras wants VHA Director Lopez to appear before
council -- this oughtta be rich
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 02/15/06
On restoring the Lord House
Herald-Trib asks the standard five news questions: what,
when, why, where, and how? So far, there aren't many answers
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 02/14/06
WHOA: Funny funding at the VHA
Gondo's J.J. Andrews stages a journalistic coup in uncovering the funny
dealings in the fine print of the VHA reconstruction planning; Andrews, Brad
Baker and Jon Preiksat deserve a lot of praise for putting the spotlight on
this ongoing but hidden circus
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 02/12/06
Fernandina Beach's paper urges taking a slow path in hiring of city manager
Paper is not entirely thrilled with the choices that Colin
Baenziger has presented (including former Venice city manager Hunt),
suggests starting the process anew
-- editorial, Fernandina Beach News Leader, 02/11/06
Snyder, Jacobovitz are a lock
Council to vote to hire new finance director and new utilities head
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 02/12/06

Keep building more condos, we can still
fit a few more cars on the bridge
1:00 pm on a typical Saturday afternoon: traffic is backed up for almost a
full mile over and across the Venice Avenue Bridge with drivers trying to
get onto the island (photo: venfl.com)
OMI pulls a Venice
The company that manages Venice's utilities is in trouble in
Connecticut for doing the exact same thing that earned Venice a guilty plea
in Federal criminal court last year
-- NBC30, New Haven, 02/08/06
City serves up fire hydrant water
Bottled water from a dog's favorite sniffing post ...after
reading the article, you still can't figure out if it would have been
cheaper just to buy a couple of palettes of Evian
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 02/09/06
County masses tanks north of Venice, warns city not to annex Poland or
France
Venice gets to keep Sudetenland for now; county's annexation
maps now mysteriously refer to Venice Beach as "Omaha"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 02/08/06
Miller fondled and stroked by council
Town hall meeting an orgy of council self-love, citizens
invited to watch quietly
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 02/07/06
Blue
collar flight, blue collar bitterness
Dena Boan is forced out of Venice by the land development
economy -- just another anecdotal casualty that nobody cares about
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 02/03/06
Hunt still in the running in Fernandina Beach
City commissioners read Herald-Trib article regarding Hunt's
"cost of doing business" quote, shrug; in other news,
Fernandina Beach cop will not be prosecuted for allegedly boffing a 16-year-old
police explorer in a 4-cop gang-bang -- George, you have found your
Nirvana
-- Fernandina Beach News Leader, 02/01/06
City, county in community barbecue brawl on a cruise ship
Or maybe the whole community is located on a boat; city and county are
fighting about annexations or something... not sure, because my head
exploded from the
mixed metaphor in the opening two paragraphs... somebody call
the metaphor police
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 02/03/06
Dawn of the Dead
(Alternate headline: Stop or my great-grandchild will
shoot)
All six finalists for top cop spot are retirees or darned close to it -- out
of this pool will emerge the ultimate short-timer zombie cop
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 02/02/06
Six
finalists named for top cop spot
Gentlemen: Start your Googles
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 02/01/06
Shiny happy Lopez of VHA ain't so shiny (he's probably
not too happy today, either)
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
Audit reports are missing, incorporation papers were filed without board
approval and Lopez is a business partner with his current assistant and
named successor (can you say 'conflict of interest?'); city manager gives
the best understated quote in a long while: "I don't think it's a good sign"
-- both stories 02/01/06
The harder they fall
"The Republicans are now and
always have been the party of reform," said a grinning David Dreier;
the House Rules committee chairman then paused, as if to give someone
in the crowd a chance to chuck a bottle at his head
-- Rolling Stone, 01/27/06
Baenziger rounds up more usual suspects in Fernandina Beach
After Hunt became the last man standing in a bid for
Fernandina Beach's city manager job, governmental headhunter Colin Baenziger
scraped up yet two more candidates at city commission's request, including
Michael Czymbor, ex-city manager of Milan, Michigan
-- Fernandina Beach News Leader, 01/27/06
WWJND?
John Nolen must have been spinning in his grave when former
city manager George Hunt stated to Federal investigators that paying fines
for polluting is just the cost of doing business
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/27/06
VCC
may be a hurricane shelter after all... for only 655 people
Entrance to the shelter during an emergency to be determined by mob
rule, city hall considering switching back to the "it was never intended to
be a shelter" story
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/27/06
City
manager wants more power
Marty Black wants the cops, the firemen and all of the city's
money in his back pocket; other demands include a mini-Marty and sharks with
frickin' lasers
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/26/05
Growing in the dark
North Port's annexations are coming back to bite the city on
its fiscal bum in a big way; meanwhile, one citizen in Venice
urges putting our city's welcome sign on wheels to save a few bucks
-- editorial, letters, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/24/06
Mug
shots from Florida
A study in mug shot portraiture from the Sunshine
State
PLUS:
Comments from Fark
-- The Smoking Gun, 01/23/06
Not all Sarasota teachers support school changes
Sarasota County teachers are increasingly questioning
Superintendent Gary Norris' Next Generation Learning Plan
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune,
01/22/06
EPA
Shade Meeting: George Hunt whips out gun, shoots
self in foot and then hands smoking gun to Fed prosecutors
The EPA was having a difficult time proving criminal intent right up
until our trigger-happy former city mangler cheerfully and cluelessly handed
them the "smoking gun" -- Yippie-tie-yay, George!
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/22/06
Gilda
Radner is alive and well and working for Sarasota County
Radner's character Emily Littella becomes county's spokesperson in
investigation into city's Villa Lago annexation: "What's all this about
saving natural racehorses... oh, you meant resources? Nevermind!"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/22/06
Hunt to Fed prosecutors: "We violate, you
fine us, we pay the fine"
Fed prosecutor to Hunt: "Mr. Hunt, one of the most difficult things
is proving willful [sic] and knowingly having done
something and you've just told me that the City of Venice willfully and
knowingly violates its permits and the
Clean Water Act as a cost of doing business"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/21/06
EPA
Shade Meetings: City manager says city won't be coerced into obeying Florida's
public records law with "threats or attempts at intimidation"
dj vu [French:
dj,
already + vu,
seen]: An
impression of having seen or experienced something before;
dull familiarity; monotony (from
dictionary.com)
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/20/06
Wetlands? In South Venice? Fuggidaoudit!
South Venice community gets its first touch of modern developmental
disability, suddenly figures out why city residents to their north have been
up in arms for years
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/20/06
Hunt in limbo
Former Venice city manager floating in space with
unbaptized Catholic
babies
-- TCPalm.com, 01/19/06 (free
registration required)
Planning commission* pushes for taller buildings downtown
Ya gotta love 'em, those rascally appointed-by-mayor
commissioners
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/18/06
* NOTE: Herald-Trib's headline incorrectly
attributes city council
Planning commission pushes businesses off of Venice island
Ya gotta love 'em, those rascally appointed-by-mayor
commissioners
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/18/06
After his city manager candidates bail, Baenziger pitches the Friends and
Family Plan on Fernandina Beach's city council; where's George?
Fernandina Beach was down to three finalists for their city
manager position out of eight candidates that headhunter Colin Baenziger had
promoted; former Venice city manager George Hunt was one of the final three until Hunt's two
competitors withdrew themselves for consideration; Baenziger will now ask
friends and relatives to apply for the job and... there's no mention of Hunt?
-- Fernandina Beach News Leader, 01/15/06
So what do British tourists really want while on vacation?
According to one survey, they just want to relax, have a nice
meal, have a few drinks, read a good book... oh, and one other thing
-- UPI, 01/15/06
VHA
to county, community: You did not help us;
Community to VHA: Did you ask?
Finger pointing is fun-damental
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/14/06
Venice Avenue Freezeout
County pulls an Envision Venice: gives community chance to
speak out before the bulldozers roll in anyway; Bruce Springsteen available
for comment: "Seems
like the whole world's walking pretty
and you cant find the room to move -- well
everybody better move over, thats all" (reference)
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/14/06
USF fires 3 over lost loot
Spring cleaning finds cash all over the place in USF offices
PLUS:
comments from Fark on this story
-- Tampa Tribune, 01/14/06
Lobeck
goes down in flames
Sorrento Ranches' attorney crashes and burns in annexation
fight with city
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/13/06
Hunt wants out of Barefoot Bay after board criticizes his performance
"Continued problems with
financial reports and the district's financial software;"
Yogi Berra unavailable for comment (with the scariest damned pic of George
yet)
-- TCPalm.com, 01/12/06 (free registration required)
Colin
Baenziger presents: Jeffrey Snyder and... George Hunt?
Gondo story on Snyder
News Leader story on Hunt
Headhunter Baenziger's latest two acquisitions are being
shopped around; his candidate for Venice Finance Director may be
voted in by council as early as January 24; meanwhile, the Fernandina Beach
News Leader is reporting that Baenziger is trying to sell George Hunt as a
swell guy and a great city manager candidate to Fernandina Beach city
commissioners (did you notice that Venice doesn't appear in the Hunt story?
-- very odd, that)
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/11/06
-- F.B. News Leader, 01/07/06
Old Konecnik had a dock ee--eye-ee-eye-oh, A mobile home park had a cow
ee-eye-ee-eye-oh
Konecnik threatens to morph into Mike Miller if he doesn't
get his way
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/11/06
County investigating city annexations
County accuses city of an illegal jump across a pond, city thinks county has
jumped the shark
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/08/06
Real estate boom is over(?)
"People wanting houses will have to settle for
condos, and those wanting condos will have to rent"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/10/06
Who
wants to be chief of police?
115 candidates have applied, now comes the city hall string
test -- can the candidates walk in daylight without showing their strings?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/09/06
The Bait and Switch Chronicles
Marty Black on the VCC storm shelter debacle
"Funds were spent in the initial design with
the intent that it would withstand some significant storm activity so that
it would be available before a storm or during a storm or after a storm for
recovery efforts" -- text article with link to full video
of aired story
-- WWSB-TV, posted and aired on 12/20/05
The Bait and Switch Chronicles
FEMA should join the club and investigate Venice
WTF, why not? Despite being a dinky southern town, in the
last five years we've managed to attract the attention of investigative
branches of the EPA, the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, the FAA and HUD -- FEMA
would actually be coming in late to the party; new municipal slogan: "We're
Venice, we do things different"
-- letters, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/06/06
The Bait and Switch
Chronicles
Contact FEMA
Unhappy? Write 'em a letter -- see the "Contact Region IV" button on the
left side of the page -- or you can just call them, phone number is also
listed
-- FEMA.gov
WWJND?
Venice was city planner John Nolen's masterpiece; on any given day the
historical figure is either revered or reviled, this depending on any given
developer's current plans
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 01/07/06
Low
income VHA HUD housing up for grabs
Director Peter Lopez is calling it quits but may stick around
if there's more money in his paycheck; VHA can't acquire the land it wants,
the housing complex may or may not rebuild and may or may not allow its
present tenants back in after the rebuild -- other than that, it's Situation
Normal...
BONUS LINK:
Fark
flashback to 2003
-- Venice Gondoier Sun, 01/06/06
The Bait and Switch Chronicles
Ohhhhh Mayorrrrrr, I think you got some 'splainin to do....
We asked for a hurricane shelter, we thought we were paying
for a hurricane shelter, but hey, this is Venice after all, what were you
expecting?
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/06/06
The Bait and Switch Chronicles
VCC won't be a hurricane shelter, Myers quoted as saying
"There's been a hell of a lot of confusion"
Calamaras and Myers pushed hard for a $10
million bond by stating that VCC would be a hurricane shelter; the pair now
come just shy of admitting that they sold us down the river
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/05/06
More free downloadable music than you can shake a tambourine at
All legal, too; our picks: Grapefruit Ed, a pretty good
Grateful Dead tribute band, funksters The Mission Players, plus full live
concerts from Zwan, Warren Zevon and moe (ya just gotta check out moe)
-- WebArchive.org
The scariest political report of 2005:
Looting
Homeland Security
Katrina was a natural disaster, President Bush's gutting of
FEMA and filling the agency with corporate cronies was a man-made one;
article also contains an exhaustive history of FEMA, including events that
led up to the agency being swallowed up by the Department of Homeland
Security
-- Rolling Stone, current issue
City Hall wish lists
Gondo
|||
Herald-Trib
Gondo, Herald-Trib dish out their wish lists for 2006 -- a
lot of the items are the same things this site has screamed about over the
past few years (To the Gondo: Is there any possible way to say that a
government official is incompetent without getting personal? Please get back
to us on this)
-- editorials, 01/01 & 01/02/06