2016 MTC Recap and Fact Check



Greetings Neighbors,

We had a successful and informative Meet the Candidates meeting on Tuesday night. As mentioned previously, I hope that all in attendance (and those residents who were unable to attend- but are watching the videos provided) were able to walk away with a much better understanding and feel for each candidate.

As with any political forum, there were some misstatements and errors from several of our candidates. Today’s post will focus on fact checking in an attempt to correct the inaccuracies. We will not be discussing concepts or platforms from the candidates as they are subjective to interpretation and would be better served coming directly from the candidates themselves.

There were clear themes generated throughout the evening to include: “Oversight and outreach,” “Reserves and fiscal responsibilities,” Police department expenses,” "Listening to the residents” and to “Treat others with respect.”   

So, let’s get started. I’ll address each candidate in the order that they were seated.

Tracy Truppman: School teacher

INCORRECT STATEMENT 1: (Video 1)  41:16 / Tracy mentions that for the past 4 years the  Village has been on a State audit “watch list.”

CLARIFICATION: The source material for this statement is found on the July 7^th, 2015 meeting (link here-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igWgFbCocaw&feature=youtu.be 11:30 time) The auditor is addressing the Commission to explain that the financial condition assessment for the Village has been upgraded from that of “deteriorating” to “inconclusive.” He further explains that the reason for the status is due to 7 of 23 ratios being deemed inconclusive. He says “if the trend continues you will no longer be like on a watch list.”

Since Tuesdays meeting we have verified (with the auditor) that the Village is not on any State watch list. I have no other explanation as to why he used that language in July of last year.

INCORRECT STATEMENT 2: (Video 2) 0:07 / Tracy, addressing the police overtime expenses mentions “which I believe if correct on the figures- don’t hold me to this- but I believe it’s around $160,000." (she may have said $116,000 as it’s hard to tell on the video)

CLARIFICATION: The verified number is estimated to be $75,000.

Dan Samaria: Small business owner

INCORRECT STATEMENT 1: (Video 2) 37:07 / Dan claims that the $350,000 loan came out of our reserves.

CLARIFICATION: The $350,000 bank loan (funding for the Log Cabin restoration) did not come from our reserves.

William Tudor: Auditor

No misstatements found

Jenny Johnson-Sardella: Attorney

No misstatements found

Fred Jonas: Psychiatry

INCORRECT STATEMENT 1: (Video 2) 4:03 / When answering a question regarding the special assessment ordinance that was passed last year Fred states, “I haven’t ever been asked to decide on anything like that so I can’t image that kind of action in the absence of a referendum.” 

CLARIFICATION: Fred was presented and asked to decide on this type of action last year.  He  voted in favor of this very assessment. This was in the absence of a referendum. 

INCORRECT STATEMENT 2: (Video 2) 33:23 / In defense of one of the budget questions, Fred states that “we set aside $40,000 for the reserves.”

CLARIFICATION: This was the number presented during the first budget workshop. However, it was assumed to be an accounting error and as such was lowered to approx. $23,000 for the second workshop.

INCORRECT STATEMENT 3: (Video 3) 20:41 / In defense of a statement made by another candidate (Tracy) Fred declares “assessments are not an end run around the millage. You cannot have a millage of 9.7 and an assessment. The assessment is part of the millage.”

CLARIFICATION: The intent of the special assessment was to raise approx. $200,000 for the purpose of purchasing engineering master plan surveys. The vote was defeated 2-3 and was supported by Fred Jonas and Rox Ross. So the suggestion that the attempted assessment was not an “end run around the millage” is incorrect. It would have been in addition to our existing 9.7 millage.

If anyone finds any other misstatements I may have missed, please contact me and I’ll update and amend this report.

Standing Watch, 

Milton Hunter

The Biscayne Parker

2016 Meet the Candidates Night Videos

Last night we had a standing room+ crowd for our traditional Meet the Candidates Night. My (very unofficial) head count was upwards of 85 neighbors in attendance. So, all in all we had a great turnout. I hope that all of those who came left with a much better understanding of what each of the 5 candidates potentially has to offer our Village.

Please see below the videos links from the event. Our 2013 MTC videos got over 150 views so this illustrates that many are interested that either could not make the meeting, or are interested in re-watching the occasion.

Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBONgnEBXXQ

Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W9OVW_jqKo

Video 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN-QpySDWXY 

Standing Watch,

Milton Hunter

The Biscayne Parker



Mug Shots

There have been reports of these dastardly moochers prowling our streets. Protect yourselves and your loved ones at all cost and be on the lookout!!

But, why limit and isolate our list of misbehaving miscreants when we have a host of other rabid- rousers (pun intended) causing havoc and mayhem throughout our Village. Help Us Please!!

 

(oops…wrong fox )

Anyway, I hope you all had a good laugh... as I did in putting this together. It’s really pretty silly when you look at it, isn’t it?

Standing Watch,

Milton Hunter

The Biscayne Parker



2016 BP Semi-Annual Crime Statistics

 

I had the opportunity to sit down with Chief McKenna earlier today to review our 2016 semi-annual crime statistics. I know this is a much talked about area of both concern and interest for our neighborhood and as such wanted to get this information out as soon as it was made available.  We attempted to get this together for you last week, but hurricane Matthew had other ideas and came close enough to delay our attempt.

 

But luckily we avoided the worst of it and I wanted to express my thanks to our Chief for getting these numbers together for us all to review.  

So, without further to-do, let’s now get into it-  

		FULL YEAR	1st 6 months	FULL YEAR	1st 6 months
		2015	2016 (estimated)	2016	2015 (actual)
Population		3,147	3,147	n/a	n/a
Crime Index		65	n/a	n/a	Calculated by State
Index Change		80.6	n/a	n/a	Calculated by State
Murder		0	0	n/a	0
Rape		0	0	n/a	0
Robbery		3	1*	n/a	0
Aggravated Assault		0	0	n/a	0
Burglary		19	10*	n/a	16
Larceny		42	21*	n/a	27
Motor Vehicle Theft		1	0*	n/a	0
Crime Rate		2,065.50	n/a	n/a	Calculated by State
% rate Change		80.2	n/a	n/a	Calculated by State
% Cleared		1.5	n/a	n/a	Calculated by State

Total=                                                           65                     32 (estimated)                                      43

 

For our general discussion purposes here, the “good news” is that we are currently slightly under last year’s actual crime totals for the first 6 months of 2016. It also identifies that our “types” of crimes are similar to those from previous years. I asked the Chief if he had the additional crime numbers (since the end of June) and he mentioned that he does not at this time. 

I started keeping an unofficial record on the blog (posted under the Crime Watch Meeting from 7/17/16) and will keep all new reported crime events listed there. I will admit that this effort didn’t fully start until September- so the information for July and August is spotty and probably somewhat incomplete.  That said, here’s what we do have to add to the semi-annual crime numbers: 
 

July: (1) residential burglary. A rear window was broken in to gain entrance. 

August: (3) 2 residential burglaries- 1 broken into and 1 gained entry through an UNLOCKED WINDOW. -  1 burglary to a vehicle  

September: (8) 2 stolen cars, both UNLOCKED. (both cars have since been recovered in North Miami)- 1 stolen motorcycle- 1 stolen tires and rims off a car- and 5 burglaries to cars - ALL 5 CARS WERE UNLOCKED.  

October: (2) 1 arrested juvenile suspected for breaking into several cars in our community- 1 BURGLARY ARREST/ of what turned out to be the burglary of a residence on NE 11th Place.  

So, this brings our unofficial estimated year-to-date crime total to 46 events.

 

People of BP…do you see a trend here?   

What is it going to take for everyone to understand that WE ALL MUST LOCK OUR DOORS AND WINDOWS- and not just sometimes, BUT ALL OF THE TIME! Houses, cars, boats, it doesn’t matter.  Just LOCK EM UP.  

I know that Crime Watch has pleaded with you. I know that our Chief has pleaded with you… repeatedly.  Now I am also pleading with you to be responsible enough to understand that by not LOCKING YOUR DOORS AND WINDOWS you are putting out the Welcome Mat and inviting criminal activity into our Village. And not just for yourselves… but for ALL of us.  

This request is not some violation of your rights, but basic common sense based on the type and number of crime events happening within our community. We all need to both help ourselves and our police department by reducing the number of easy “crimes of opportunity.” 

Got it? Get it? Good… rant is now over.  

I sincerely hope that in six months’ time when we next review our crime stats I won’t have to report the same number of unnecessary crime events based on UNLOCKED CARS or HOMES. 

Until we meet again-

 

Standing Watch,

Milton Hunter

The Biscayne Parker

 







Hurricane Matthew Recap

We were very fortunate to have been spared the worst of hurricane Matthew’s wind and rain due to it staying far enough off the coast. However, other cities in our State weren’t as lucky as it moved further north.  It did provide a good “trial run” for hurricane preparation as I saw many of our neighbors take this storm seriously by securing their homes and belongings. (BTW- please remember we have a newer ordinance regarding shutters and awnings and a time frame for getting homes put back to normal).

As we’re going to be discussing storm water flooding later this month, (UPDATE: the workshop will now be held on Sat. 11/12/16) I thought this may be a good time to view some pictures of what was experienced in St. Augustine, Fla. as just one example. This being that we will be competing with this city (along with others in need) should we seek State funding for our own standing water issues.

 For those of you who haven’t “waded” through the 1,000+ page report we have received from Craig A. Smith regarding Biscayne Park storm water assessment, I will at this point offer several observations.  During the first community workshop (held last September), I had the opportunity to speak with Gene Schriner (president) and site engineer Al Caruso.  We discussed some general conditions, they explained their lack of information and I then offered to assist them by providing “before and after” photos of our standing water areas throughout the Village. In a follow up email to me Gene states, “Thank you very much for your quick response to assist on this critical program for the Village.  Once I have the time to further review all the info you have sent I am sure I will be in touch with you.  The public participation portion of this program is critical to more accurately identify problem areas, severity and to determine the degree of corrective action.” Further, “Again thank you so much for your interest and assistance in this program.  We will be contacting you once we get the program underway.”

I mention this as the genesis of how and why we started collecting the time-stamped photos of our standing water areas.

Moving forward I never heard back from either Gene or Al again- even after reaching out to provide them the link to our additional and updated photo entries. However, I saw in their report that they did indeed use some of the pictures we provided… but curiously only the worst case scenario ones from 16 years ago during the No Name Storm of 2000. 

I would have thought the most current photos that depict our more usual and normal water puddling would have been better examples but then again, that’s not what we got. I suspect the reason for this is that it would be a much harder sell based on the $13M (thirteen million dollar) project cost estimate.

Be that as it may, they also excluded the one photo from the No Name Storm that actually shows some sense of scale as to the depth of water on the street. It is shown below with one last photo from St. Augustine… can you SEE the difference?
  

 

Standing Watch,

Milton Hunter

The Biscayne Parker