Un-freaking-believable: MEA/Hanson airport consultant price
tag so far: $1.5 million
And we have what to show for it? So much for that number of
$350 thousand that VABA keeps spitting out. Hey, here's an idea -- let's toss
more good money after bad
-- contract summary sheet from City of Venice, Finance Department
Hizzoner nominates Godzilla for sainthood, Mothra unavailable for comment "I have a high regard for Nancy Woodley. She is intelligent,
experienced and has the ability to choose good staff. I think she will do an
excellent job as Interim Manager" -- Well yer honor, we're sure Hans
Behrens will agree
-- Ed Martin's blog, 07/19/08
Godzilla to be named interim city manager
From the land of exploding sewers and power lines comes the one
person who can make it worse -- natch
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/19/08
Mogensen to Hizzoner: You forget about something there, bub?
Motion filed in court accuses mayor of ignoring the court's
orders; Ground Control to Major Ed, your circuit's dead, there's
something wrong, can you hear me Major Ed? Can you hear me, Major Ed? Can
you...
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 07/16/08
Waterford foreclosure: Mike Miller blames the banks for lending him money "This occurred after overly generous lending practices and
large demand from investment bankers to obtain mortgage paper fueled
overbuilding and eliminated the demand for quality housing;" TRANSLATION:
"It's their fault I stole the car, the idiots left the keys in the ignition" -- Venice Gondolier Sun, 07/16/08
WCI implodes
Initial attempt by homebuilder to discuss restructuring ends in food fight;
CEO Carl Icahn focuses instead on hostile takeover of Yahoo! ... wait ...
what?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 07/16/08
Comcast sanctioned by FCC for deliberately blocking web traffic
Peer-to-peer and web utilities deliberately slowed or stopped;
cable giant hired street people to fill seats at public hearing to prevent
complaining customers from attending
-- Wired, 07/12/08
It's official:
Mike Miller is going down
Regions Bank is going after Miller's Waterford Co. for
defaulting on $23 million worth of
loans, has started foreclosure on occupied Waterford condo project... this
isn't just a condo or three, the bank is foreclosing on a whole condo complex
-- land, parking lot, buildings, and all!!!
-- Bradenton Herald, 07/08/08
VABA wants to be taken seriously... seriously... no, we're not joking... we
really mean it this time, honest
Gondo story |
Herald-Trib story
Nevermind that plan to discredit council, now let's see if we can't discredit
council
-- both, 07/09/08
Boone blinks
Faced with an affidavit accusing him of having an over active
imagination, Boone decides not to push the hacking envelope
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 07/02/08
Public records requests inundate city hall
City clerk Lori Stelzer can't find her desk, several staffers feared missing
in mountains of paper
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 06/29/08
Sheriff settles with Mogensen for $15,000 in SSO Sunshine Law case
Balkwill gets smart, negotiates way out of suit early; meanwhile,
Venice attorneys have already skyrocketed taxpayer legal bill into six figures
with their FOAD stance against Mogensen
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 06/25/08
Simmonds, Boone get Farked! "The Sunshine State triumphs yet again;"
"This interwebbie thing is a useful device for outing local government
corruption;"
"Hey, I saw this on Law and Order once"
-- Fark, 06/26/08
link goes to list of previous Other Voices links
Woodley should be dropped from
consideration for interim city manager gig
Nancy Woodley consistently fails at giving straight
answers, plus there's a conflict of interest in the Hans Behrens investigation.
How much would you pay for all this? But wait, there's more: that pesky
admission by the city last year that Woodley violated federal labor laws by
engaging in discriminatory employment practices
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 07/21/08
Attorney
Peter Baranowicz slammed by Bar Association for stiffing clients
Baranowicz admits to totally failing to represent his clients
after being accused by Venice
Florida! dot com and Kim Foust, sister of imprisoned DUI manslaughter offender Dabney Young; Florida Bar Association recommends fines, psych evaluation,
possible drug counseling, and a
three-year probation term
-- Florida Supreme Court plea agreement, 14 pages, posted 07/12/08
Patten to Simmonds: "You are a coward;"
Patten to Boone: "Blow me!"
Jeff Boone, acting as attorney for Councilman John
Simmonds, drags Venice Florida! dot com's Patten into court to reveal
source of public records emails that Simmonds has admitted to criminally
destroying; Boone accuses this web site of hacking to obtain emails
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 06/26/08
Oh Mr. Simmonds:
What's this, then?
Emails uncovered by Venice Florida! dot com between
Councilman John Simmonds and Venice Jet Center's CEO Art Nadel reveal that
Simmonds was in attendance at least once in private airport planning
meetings -- you know, the same meetings that the Herald-Trib falsely
accused the mayor of attending
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 06/15/08
We rate the
city manager
Council gets to do it, so we thought we'd throw in our official
evaluation as well. You can join the fun, too:
just download the form, print
it out, grab a crayon, and send it in to city hall, attn: Ed Martin -- BONUS: if
you send it in, it'll automatically become a
public record
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 06/17/08
Bennett's signed court order
Judge Bennett's written order becomes a compromise of what
he originally verbally ordered in court on June 11 and what attorney
Mogensen originally wanted; Martin and Moore now actually do have to turn
in their computers for evidentiary freezing purposes, this in case the
court later orders a forensic analysis
-- court order signed by Judge Bennett, 06/13/08, 4-page PDF file
Venice is
officially out of clean underwear
That earth tremor you felt yesterday? That was no tremor...
everyone even remotely connected with the CQG simultaneously exploded at both
ends with attorney Mogensen's latest public records request (and we'll have fun,
fun, fun, 'til daddy takes the T-Bird away...)
-- letter to city hall, PDF file, dated 06/09/08
Bobbo talks!
City Attorney Bob Anderson finally comes out of hiding,
says some stuff about the Sunshine Law and the Herald-Trib that makes it look
like he's done some real lawyering
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 06/10/08
Judge
Bennett kills Bella Citta rezone: City did not afford due process
City Attorney Bob Anderson already has a black eye from the due
process issues in the short-term rental case, now he's 0-2 as a result of
another "denial of due process"
-- 9-page court ruling, posted to the web on 06/08/08
Herald-Trib's
Hackett and the Sunshine Law: An exercise in utter legal crappery
The newspaper again goes after Mayor Ed Martin for
attending yet another meeting that he never actually attended... and then there
is the newspaper's highly creative interpretation of Florida's Government in the Sunshine
Law
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 06/07/08
Part 9: Vellucci walks again
City's attorney Wayne Hall usurps Code Enforcement Board
Chair Diana Mier, acts as defense attorney for Vellucci; Code Enforcement Board
backs down, blames society, pats Vellucci on the
fanny and sends him on his way
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 06/06/08
Sunshine:
Emergency motion for injunction filed
Lorenzo claims he has the goods on Moore, Lang, and Martin, asks
judge for immediate cease and desist order
-- Sarasota court records filed 05/23/08 (8 pages, PDF)
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