Yes we are watching this “hit show” never knowing what to believe but feeling our voices are not involved in decisions. Thanks for helping explain some of what’s going on.
I have recently discussed with you "democratic input" regarding the "update" or "rewrite" of the County's comprehensive plan. There are very detailed provisions including broad dissemination of proposals and alternatives; open public discussion; information services; etc. in the statute. That same statute requires the BOCC to adopt procedures to implement effective public partcipation in the comprehensive planning process and the requirements of the statute are the minimum requirements for effective citizen participation. I also requested that the BOCC appoint a representative to represent the interests of the public during consideration of the comprehensive plan. The authority for such an appointment is in SEC. 120.52(13)(d) Florida Statutes. I have brought up these items no less than 4 times in the public comment portion of the agenda. It is easy to see what is about to happen with the comprehensive plan. Undoubtedly the plan will be drafted by the attorney for the Manatee Sarasota Builders Industrial Association with no input from the public whatsoever. That way the developers will be permitted to continue their relentless destruction of the County for the next 20 years. You indicated to me that you would discuss these matters with the County Attorney and get back to me. That should be interesting since the County Attorney or one of his assistants has been present each time I have brought these matters to the attention of the BOCC. At least you returned my call. My District One representative, James Satcher has not even acknowledged that I requested a meeting despite his assistants promise to do so. I guess that is why he has earned the nickname "One Term Satcher". If the County Attorney refuses to get back to you, why not inform the public what you have done and at least make a motion to implement rules for effective public participation in the county plan.
I actually have this on my list for discussion next week. We are having a work session on the Comp Plan process next Tues (9/19). I have every intention of asking about this based on our call.
Thanks. The 9/19 presentation by Kimley-Horn really concerns me. I do not understand how a consultant can arrive at an outline for the new plan with a half dozen town halls and comments from a relatively few individuals. It seems to me that the outline needs to be "broadly disseminated" to the public in a mailer plus social media. Perhaps KVO would be willing to pay for it. Once it is disseminated, then alternative outlines should also be disseminated to the public. The BOCC spends hundreds of millions assisting developers each and every year. Spending a few thousand on the democratic process is certainly cheap in comparison. The comprehensive plan deserves serious deliberation since it is a document which should not be very easy to change. I wonder how much was spent locking us down during CoVid, certainly a very undemocratic process. The County is able to communicate with us during hurricane events so the county must have a great deal of information on all of us. We would all probably be surprised to know the amount of facial recognition information regarding its citizens which is available to the county. Broad based communication should not be an issue in our technological society.
Ken, I would agree that it should be done and have a robust feedback mechanism. But highly doubt it would meet their agenda to represent the public. As you can easily tell by looking at their campaign donations who is buttering their bread. KVO great example 170k by only a handful of people. Just like the wetlands vote, they never cared what the public thought. The expansion out by the racetrack is another great example which will lead to that being shut down due to noise. Mr. Kruse how did you vote for that? That's right you voted for it. And we got the public comment shut down via video because of this.
Thank you for shedding light on the manipulation taking place. Unfortunately, most people in Manatee County are busy living their lives and don’t have time to pay attention to the insanity happening with the county government. I think people would be shocked if they ever had time to watch one of these meeting live and in person. Any thoughts on how to get more people involved and concerned?
Thank you for keeping us informed and representing your constituents. Too many petitions with hundreds and even thousands of signatures are ignored, too many public hearings fall on deaf ears. Recently, after five hours of expert public and scientific presentations and with hundreds in attendance, the wetlands petitioners were dismissed with a simple: we are Republicans and this is what we want. The vote: 6 to 1. Mr. Kruse, you fought the good fight that day. You have my support.
I like it and I am glad you are speaking up. Maybe in a future write-up you can shed some light on how you think we got where we are today with “This Board.” I mean why? Why, All of this destruction?
I can think about that but, honestly, I’m trying to keep this professional and focused on topics/issues and not on people. I’m not going to attack anyone directly on here. I’ll leave that high school stuff to other members of the Board if they feel it helps them look tougher. I’ll think about how to structure my opinion of your question for down the road. I already have a list of upcoming topics right now.
One thing that I’m really confused about is I know we really need housing. My kids need affordable housing. And I feel like the builder should be my friends, but they are not and I don’t understand what’s going on really.
I know there is suspicion regarding your motives and I hold no opinion either way as to the accuracy of that suspicion. I do believe people can change perspectives and admit when they were wrong. Speaking from personal experience, you have been the only commissioner from this current board willing to work with me on projects for Parrish as my current Dist One commissioner has refused to meet with me. There is so much noise going on and I just want the local commissioners TO DO THE JOB THEY WERE ELECTED TO DO! I believe you do that. There have been votes that you have made that I have disagreed with but I always feel like you are prepared, have done the research and have validity to the arguments you make as to why you are voting a certain way. I appreciate your blunt honesty at this point and hope it continues because if it is a ploy for votes...fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!
Good write up and explanation of manipulation techniques. I know that public comments are ignored as was the case at the recent working session regarding the parking garage at Holmes Beach. About 225 written comments against the project were submitted prior to the working session but never mentioned nor inquired about. The BOCC position was only to validate their opinion on supporting the garage and why HB government was wrong and obstructive. Quite shameful. The proposed parking garage expenditure on Holmes Beach should be brought to a referendum vote by all the county citizens. It is a complete waste of money!
Maybe a wast of money but the entities wouldn't come to a compromise on parking. The way the island is now, you can't find parking. Public beaches should be open to the public. If parking can't be found because local gov only want permit parking but allow all of the tourism traffic there is a problem for locals getting their share of the beaches. seems like the beaches are all rentals now a days.
That's not true, there's plenty of parking except on big holiday weekends, which is a huge duh. The bigger problem is getting to the Island because of traffic and our narrow bridges with small capacity.
There isn't enough parking on a good non-holiday weekend. Getting to the island is a problem. Even if it was widened to 4 lanes there still would be a backup due to the small lanes on the island. No real parking for Ana Maria beach, small parking for Holmes, koquina has the most parking. Not everyone wants to be forced to go down there. There are spots blocked off along the drive to koquina that require permits to park at the beach. Again this could have been worked out but we had a bunch of Not in my back yard people. I am affected by the traffic when it is full even on non-holiday weekends and week days during the spring. Manatee can be backed up to almost 59th. So I do feel the affects of it. Again the gov's couldn't work together over the years to solve these issues. they were more interested in where their next election money was coming from. Just like they are now.
The root cause of parking and traffic challenges is that the island is over capacity during busy times. Only so many people and cars can have access. More parking or wider roads only makes the problem worse. You can only ram so much water thru a pipe or hose. AMI is only so big. Boating around the island on busy days is the same situation. AMI is a great destination and beautiful for sure but unfortunately we have choose our times carefully to enjoy it. That’s the reality.
Thank you for addressing just a few of these issues- you are the only Commissioner who will actively engage with the public or respond to e-mails. I only get responses from Jorge Arana -District 3 commissioner- and a non-response from Bearden. The September 12 meeting should be required viewing before voting in 2024. This meeting provides just a small sampling of what is wrong with 6 of our commissioners- who no longer care about what their constituents want for our community. During the Port Authority portion of the meeting, I am baffled by “the 6” commissioners’ inability to comprehend the simple statement that once a spill is reported, the Coast Guard becomes fully in charge of the investigation, they do not take direction from the county at any level, nor do they have to report to the county in any manner. This was made abundantly clear three times by USCG Warrant Officer-Mr. Bueros and you. The actions of Van Ostenbridge and Bearden during this meeting are an embarrassment to the public, as was removing you as the Chair. In addition to all the other issues it is frustrating that “the 6”, headed by Bearden, are intent to blow up any veterans housing by Tunnels to Towers and are now seeking an alternative site and will waste tax dollars on a venture they have no expertise in, when we have a willing partner and it will not cost the taxpayers more than the donation of land (that clearly a developer wants.)
Reading this makes me realize why people tune out of politics. It sounds like an episode of "Suits" (sorry, I'm binge streaming this show now). A bunch of lawyers running around trying to block other lawyers using obscure legal loopholes and blackmail threats to get themselves and their clients richer, all the while claiming they're taking the high road. It's great soap opera material but not a good way to run a country.
Why must modern man make living so complicated nobody can figure out what's going on? If we MUST have layers of government so thick with bureaucrats our elected officials don't stand a chance against them, let's ensure that we the people divide and conquer: feds CAN"T stick their nose in state biz, states CAN'T stick their nose in county biz, counties CAN'T stick their nose in city/town biz; and city/towns CAN'T stick their nose in district biz (does that sound familiar? Does the U.S. Constitution come to mind?). Clearly defined boundaries and statutes/ordinances/regulations with sunset dates no greater than 20 years will stop this pileup of bullshit that we are expected to wade through in order to get anything done or undone.
Let's start by demanding our fed candidates in 2024 eliminate EVERY FED DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY that has a duplicate in the 50 states, and do the same for state candidates handing over specific functions to the counties, then all the way down. The Convention of States (conventionofstates.com) is working on the fed part; we need to do the same at the state, county, and local level.
The same thing is happening in Lee County, and a lot of it revolves around a particular campaign manager, TM consulting, who represents a large number of elected officials here. It is disheartening when what the people want are elected officials who are in office to serve, not to gain power and money. I wish I could say I was talking about the Democrats, but unfortunately I am talking about the Republicans.
Thanks for writing this. Please keep on letting the public know what's going on. Hopefully enough are waking up to make changes at the ballot box next year.
Yes we are watching this “hit show” never knowing what to believe but feeling our voices are not involved in decisions. Thanks for helping explain some of what’s going on.
I have recently discussed with you "democratic input" regarding the "update" or "rewrite" of the County's comprehensive plan. There are very detailed provisions including broad dissemination of proposals and alternatives; open public discussion; information services; etc. in the statute. That same statute requires the BOCC to adopt procedures to implement effective public partcipation in the comprehensive planning process and the requirements of the statute are the minimum requirements for effective citizen participation. I also requested that the BOCC appoint a representative to represent the interests of the public during consideration of the comprehensive plan. The authority for such an appointment is in SEC. 120.52(13)(d) Florida Statutes. I have brought up these items no less than 4 times in the public comment portion of the agenda. It is easy to see what is about to happen with the comprehensive plan. Undoubtedly the plan will be drafted by the attorney for the Manatee Sarasota Builders Industrial Association with no input from the public whatsoever. That way the developers will be permitted to continue their relentless destruction of the County for the next 20 years. You indicated to me that you would discuss these matters with the County Attorney and get back to me. That should be interesting since the County Attorney or one of his assistants has been present each time I have brought these matters to the attention of the BOCC. At least you returned my call. My District One representative, James Satcher has not even acknowledged that I requested a meeting despite his assistants promise to do so. I guess that is why he has earned the nickname "One Term Satcher". If the County Attorney refuses to get back to you, why not inform the public what you have done and at least make a motion to implement rules for effective public participation in the county plan.
I actually have this on my list for discussion next week. We are having a work session on the Comp Plan process next Tues (9/19). I have every intention of asking about this based on our call.
Thanks. The 9/19 presentation by Kimley-Horn really concerns me. I do not understand how a consultant can arrive at an outline for the new plan with a half dozen town halls and comments from a relatively few individuals. It seems to me that the outline needs to be "broadly disseminated" to the public in a mailer plus social media. Perhaps KVO would be willing to pay for it. Once it is disseminated, then alternative outlines should also be disseminated to the public. The BOCC spends hundreds of millions assisting developers each and every year. Spending a few thousand on the democratic process is certainly cheap in comparison. The comprehensive plan deserves serious deliberation since it is a document which should not be very easy to change. I wonder how much was spent locking us down during CoVid, certainly a very undemocratic process. The County is able to communicate with us during hurricane events so the county must have a great deal of information on all of us. We would all probably be surprised to know the amount of facial recognition information regarding its citizens which is available to the county. Broad based communication should not be an issue in our technological society.
Ken, I would agree that it should be done and have a robust feedback mechanism. But highly doubt it would meet their agenda to represent the public. As you can easily tell by looking at their campaign donations who is buttering their bread. KVO great example 170k by only a handful of people. Just like the wetlands vote, they never cared what the public thought. The expansion out by the racetrack is another great example which will lead to that being shut down due to noise. Mr. Kruse how did you vote for that? That's right you voted for it. And we got the public comment shut down via video because of this.
Thank you for a dose of sanity and relaying the reality of the corruption
We need to catch up soon.
Thank You Sir. This was well written and I respect you for it.
Thank you for shedding light on the manipulation taking place. Unfortunately, most people in Manatee County are busy living their lives and don’t have time to pay attention to the insanity happening with the county government. I think people would be shocked if they ever had time to watch one of these meeting live and in person. Any thoughts on how to get more people involved and concerned?
Thank you for keeping us informed and representing your constituents. Too many petitions with hundreds and even thousands of signatures are ignored, too many public hearings fall on deaf ears. Recently, after five hours of expert public and scientific presentations and with hundreds in attendance, the wetlands petitioners were dismissed with a simple: we are Republicans and this is what we want. The vote: 6 to 1. Mr. Kruse, you fought the good fight that day. You have my support.
I like it and I am glad you are speaking up. Maybe in a future write-up you can shed some light on how you think we got where we are today with “This Board.” I mean why? Why, All of this destruction?
I can think about that but, honestly, I’m trying to keep this professional and focused on topics/issues and not on people. I’m not going to attack anyone directly on here. I’ll leave that high school stuff to other members of the Board if they feel it helps them look tougher. I’ll think about how to structure my opinion of your question for down the road. I already have a list of upcoming topics right now.
One thing that I’m really confused about is I know we really need housing. My kids need affordable housing. And I feel like the builder should be my friends, but they are not and I don’t understand what’s going on really.
That’s a whole topic unto itself. It’s on the list. In the interim, feel free to reach out to discuss.
Love it: "“Agitator”, “Decorum Breaker” and Skipper of Photo-ops." If you are ticking those people off, you're doing something right.
I know there is suspicion regarding your motives and I hold no opinion either way as to the accuracy of that suspicion. I do believe people can change perspectives and admit when they were wrong. Speaking from personal experience, you have been the only commissioner from this current board willing to work with me on projects for Parrish as my current Dist One commissioner has refused to meet with me. There is so much noise going on and I just want the local commissioners TO DO THE JOB THEY WERE ELECTED TO DO! I believe you do that. There have been votes that you have made that I have disagreed with but I always feel like you are prepared, have done the research and have validity to the arguments you make as to why you are voting a certain way. I appreciate your blunt honesty at this point and hope it continues because if it is a ploy for votes...fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!
Good write up and explanation of manipulation techniques. I know that public comments are ignored as was the case at the recent working session regarding the parking garage at Holmes Beach. About 225 written comments against the project were submitted prior to the working session but never mentioned nor inquired about. The BOCC position was only to validate their opinion on supporting the garage and why HB government was wrong and obstructive. Quite shameful. The proposed parking garage expenditure on Holmes Beach should be brought to a referendum vote by all the county citizens. It is a complete waste of money!
Maybe a wast of money but the entities wouldn't come to a compromise on parking. The way the island is now, you can't find parking. Public beaches should be open to the public. If parking can't be found because local gov only want permit parking but allow all of the tourism traffic there is a problem for locals getting their share of the beaches. seems like the beaches are all rentals now a days.
That's not true, there's plenty of parking except on big holiday weekends, which is a huge duh. The bigger problem is getting to the Island because of traffic and our narrow bridges with small capacity.
There isn't enough parking on a good non-holiday weekend. Getting to the island is a problem. Even if it was widened to 4 lanes there still would be a backup due to the small lanes on the island. No real parking for Ana Maria beach, small parking for Holmes, koquina has the most parking. Not everyone wants to be forced to go down there. There are spots blocked off along the drive to koquina that require permits to park at the beach. Again this could have been worked out but we had a bunch of Not in my back yard people. I am affected by the traffic when it is full even on non-holiday weekends and week days during the spring. Manatee can be backed up to almost 59th. So I do feel the affects of it. Again the gov's couldn't work together over the years to solve these issues. they were more interested in where their next election money was coming from. Just like they are now.
The root cause of parking and traffic challenges is that the island is over capacity during busy times. Only so many people and cars can have access. More parking or wider roads only makes the problem worse. You can only ram so much water thru a pipe or hose. AMI is only so big. Boating around the island on busy days is the same situation. AMI is a great destination and beautiful for sure but unfortunately we have choose our times carefully to enjoy it. That’s the reality.
Thank you for addressing just a few of these issues- you are the only Commissioner who will actively engage with the public or respond to e-mails. I only get responses from Jorge Arana -District 3 commissioner- and a non-response from Bearden. The September 12 meeting should be required viewing before voting in 2024. This meeting provides just a small sampling of what is wrong with 6 of our commissioners- who no longer care about what their constituents want for our community. During the Port Authority portion of the meeting, I am baffled by “the 6” commissioners’ inability to comprehend the simple statement that once a spill is reported, the Coast Guard becomes fully in charge of the investigation, they do not take direction from the county at any level, nor do they have to report to the county in any manner. This was made abundantly clear three times by USCG Warrant Officer-Mr. Bueros and you. The actions of Van Ostenbridge and Bearden during this meeting are an embarrassment to the public, as was removing you as the Chair. In addition to all the other issues it is frustrating that “the 6”, headed by Bearden, are intent to blow up any veterans housing by Tunnels to Towers and are now seeking an alternative site and will waste tax dollars on a venture they have no expertise in, when we have a willing partner and it will not cost the taxpayers more than the donation of land (that clearly a developer wants.)
Reading this makes me realize why people tune out of politics. It sounds like an episode of "Suits" (sorry, I'm binge streaming this show now). A bunch of lawyers running around trying to block other lawyers using obscure legal loopholes and blackmail threats to get themselves and their clients richer, all the while claiming they're taking the high road. It's great soap opera material but not a good way to run a country.
Why must modern man make living so complicated nobody can figure out what's going on? If we MUST have layers of government so thick with bureaucrats our elected officials don't stand a chance against them, let's ensure that we the people divide and conquer: feds CAN"T stick their nose in state biz, states CAN'T stick their nose in county biz, counties CAN'T stick their nose in city/town biz; and city/towns CAN'T stick their nose in district biz (does that sound familiar? Does the U.S. Constitution come to mind?). Clearly defined boundaries and statutes/ordinances/regulations with sunset dates no greater than 20 years will stop this pileup of bullshit that we are expected to wade through in order to get anything done or undone.
Let's start by demanding our fed candidates in 2024 eliminate EVERY FED DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY that has a duplicate in the 50 states, and do the same for state candidates handing over specific functions to the counties, then all the way down. The Convention of States (conventionofstates.com) is working on the fed part; we need to do the same at the state, county, and local level.
The same thing is happening in Lee County, and a lot of it revolves around a particular campaign manager, TM consulting, who represents a large number of elected officials here. It is disheartening when what the people want are elected officials who are in office to serve, not to gain power and money. I wish I could say I was talking about the Democrats, but unfortunately I am talking about the Republicans.
Thanks for writing this. Please keep on letting the public know what's going on. Hopefully enough are waking up to make changes at the ballot box next year.
Thank you....Enlightening and an interesting read