Category Archives: Uncategorized

If its Thursday its SFWMD!

@SFWMD

@JaxStrong

@BarackObama

@joenegronfl

@RepMurphyFL

@SteveCrisafulli

If its Thursday its SFWMD.

From our good friend Cristy Costello. A true ray of sunshine and endless energy.

DSC_0029

This Thursday at SFWMD in WPB – don’t miss it!
Come one and all to the Governing Board meeting this Thursday in West Palm Beach! If you have attended these meeting in the last few months, no doubt you are tired of being ignored. But the thing is, we cannot stop now. This will not be over until we say it is over.
Because of the Special Legislative Session we still have time to (1) fight for the land to send water south and (2) shine a light on the consequences of the Governing Board’s inaction. It is high time the Governing Board members themselves feel the heat.
Folks should arrive between 9 and 9:30 am so we can organize ourselves for the Governing Board meeting and prepare for a possible press conference at 12 noon. The US Sugar land purchase agenda item should come up between 10 and 10:30 am.
The agenda item is #32:
32. Discussion of the U.S. Sugar Option – Tom Teets, Division Director, Everglades Policy and Coordination (ext. 6993)
This item will discuss the October 11, 2015 U.S. Sugar Corporation Non-exclusive Initial Option and how to proceed forward.
If you want to speak during the comment period please sign up for item #32 before you enter the auditorium. WE WILL HAVE NEW MINI-POSTERS AND PROPS for all.
The major message we want to repeat over and over again during the comment period is:
“Support Senator Negron and ask the Governor and the legislature for $500 million for land acquisition to store and send water south of Lake O. It’s a drop in the bucket when compared to the benefits received from Everglades restoration.”
Thanks and see you there!
—
Cris Costello
Senior Regional Organizing Representative
Sierra Club
2127 S. Tamiami Trail
Osprey, FL 34229
Cell: 941-914-0421
Office: 941-966-9508
cris.costello@sierraclub.org
https://www.facebook.com/FCWDcampaign
www.wewantcleanwater.com
http://www.facebook.com/FloridaSlimeCrimes
Florida “Slime Crime Tracker”: http://goo.gl/maps/uJEE

Thanks Cristy and the amazing endless support from the Sierra Club, Florida.

Please do not forget that the Board of Govenor’s are unpaid volunteers.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/04/13/unpaid-volunteers-make-choices-about-our-water/

If this too subtle for you just look at Rick Scott’s new panel for Hospitals where he is  taking the money away from non-profits hospitals that are the main folks that treat the poor.

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-rick-scott-floridas-socialist-governor/2229347

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/gov-rick-scott-appoints-nine-to-hospital-funding-panel/2229189

“Gov. Rick Scott on Monday named nine people to his newly created Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding.

None of the members are hospital executives. Only one is a medical doctor.”

How  dysfunctional is this behavoir? Rick Scott  and his Florida GOPers  hate Obama (why?) So they are taking away from poorest people.

Who does that?

http://thenarcissisticlife.com/narcissism-or-big-ego-how-to-tell-the-difference/

Diagnostic Considerations

According to the Diagnostic Statistics Manual (DSM-IV, TR), considered the bible for diagnosing mental health conditions, a person has Narcissistic Personality Disorder if they exhibit five or more of the following:

  • A grandiose sense of self importance; e.g., exaggerates achievements and/or talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements
  • Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love
  • Believes that he or she is special and unique; feels that he or she can only associate with other special or high-status people (or institutions), or can only be understood by other special people
  • Requires excessive admiration
  • Strong sense of entitlement; i.e., unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
  • Is interpersonally exploitive; i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
  • Lacks empathy; is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
  • Demonstrates arrogant, haughty behaviors and/or attitudes

Unfortunately there is more than enough to go around.

Maybe that’s what he expects here. Maybe he expects us to just be oppressed. “Let those people in Martin County be happy they have a roof over their heads and polluted water is better than no water.” or even this “If your river turns green with toxic algae look at all the jobs I can create cleaning it up.”

Nothing good comes from hate. And nothing good comes  when your ego is so inflated you can’t see past your nose and lack the ability to see the big picture. Sometimes you just cut off your nose to spite your face.  When thousands of people are contacting you to fix something I think it’s a bad move to ignore them.

I’m not sure if we are the nose or the face.

Some day’s I’m the nose and some days I’m the face.

DSC_0030

“SFWMD Mission Statement:
OUR MISSION: To manage and protect water resources of the region by balancing and improving water quality, flood control, natural systems and water supply.
The South Florida Water Management District is a regional governmental agency that oversees the water resources in the southern half of the state, covering 16 counties from Orlando to the Florida Keys and serving a population of 8.1 million residents. It is the oldest and largest of the state’s five water management districts. Created in 1949, the agency is responsible for managing and protecting water resources of South Florida by balancing and improving water quality, flood control, natural systems and water supply.
A key initiative is the restoration of America’s Everglades – the largest environmental restoration project in the nation’s history. The District is also working to improve the Kissimmee River and its floodplain, Lake Okeechobee and South Florida’s coastal estuaries”

Do I really have to reiterate? The BOG haven’t even taken the time to read the mission statement.

So when you guys do down there please include this in your speech. Ask them what they plan to do to stop the discharges? Ask them why if they knew for weeks there was toxic green algae didn’t they say anything? Ask them what is the plan to recharge the aquifers, stop sea level rise and salt water intrusion. Do it. They don’t have a plan because the only plan they have is to oppress us and steal our water. Ask them why in the last two years have they not fixed the dike in the south of the Lake?

wake up and smell the koch brothers.

In the last two years my friends and I have done everything possible to make buying the land a possibility. Yet, last week what went around came around and we were back at the very place we started. Green toxic algae at our doorstep.

Apparently no one is in charge. No one.

The blame game goes around. SFWMD blames it on the legislators. The legislators blame it on the ACOE. The ACOE blame it on the people that live south of the Lake and their safety. The people south of the lake thumb their noses at us fully funded by big sugar.

Its a circle jerk.

Two years after our river turned green we still have no solution.

So when you guys go please ask them what is their solution?  What is their plan.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That goes for all of us. Let’s not be insane.

DSC_0032

and lets all be gladiators. Be the good guys. Change lives. Slay dragons.

Famous Fictional Nurses

Famous Fictional Nurses

Some inspire us. Some scare us. Sometimes we channel them.

nurseratched

“Hot Lips” Houlihan: This character in the TV show M*A*S*H was based on a Korean War Nurse, “Hotlips Hammerly.” The most watched episode in U.S. television history took place in the series finale, when she kisses Hawkeye Pierce.

Audrey March Hardy: One of the most famous hospital shows was General Hospital, and one of the most famous characters was Audrey March Hardy, played by Rachel Ames from 1964 to 2007.

Samantha Taggart: One of the most popular modern medical dramas is ER. Samantha Taggart is one of the most drama-ridden nurses on TV, punching out the abusive patients of boyfriends and blowing away her estranged husband when he tries to kidnap her.

Carla Espinosa: The wife of surgical intern Chris Turk, Carla Espinosa is an extremely capable and feisty nurse on the show Scrubs. She is the head nurse, and tries to help those less fortunate.

Some of my favorites from this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_nurses

http://www.nursingprograms.com/famous-fictional-nurses-on-tv-and-movies

6. Nurse Betty

Nurse Betty was an American comedy film from 2000 featuring Betty Sizemore, a Kansas waitress who was, in fact, not really a nurse. After witnessing her husband’s murder, Betty starts obsessively following an actor from her favorite soap opera. The actor is a doctor on the show, so Betty pretends to be a nurse, believing she is a character in the soap opera.

7. Gaylord “Greg” Focker

Gaylord Focker, or Greg, as he prefers to be called, is a male nurse in Meet the Parents. Greg has trouble getting the approval of his fiance’s father, who looks down on Greg for working in a profession typically associated with women. Although we don’t get to see much of Greg at work, from what we do get to see of his personality, it seems like nursing may be a good fit.

Here YOU can vote

http://www.ranker.com/list/greatest-nurses-in-tv-history/ranker-tv

Kill-Bill-movies-48667_1024_768

who’s your favorite?

The Asylum Life: House on the Hill.

The Asylum Life: House on the Hill.

What goes around comes around.

It’s still nurses week and I’m giving my brain a rest from the usual suspects.

Danver’s State Hospital was the second state hospital in Mass that I worked in. My third job in psych. I had worked at the “Cambridge Hotline” as a volunteer and Metropolitan State Hospital as  a Mental Health Tech. As a nurses I’ve worked CCSU with kids (South County Mental Health) from 5-18, Home Health, In patient chemical dependency, general psych population, nursing supervisor, and then back to Medicare Home Health.

This is the haunting place.

I drove past this place  my whole life driving from Mass to Maine and always wondered what went on up there on the hill.

Danvers-State-Insane-Asylum23

One woman’s life at Danver’s State

Images of Danver’s State Hospital

https://vimeo.com/47212135

So as we learned from the story of Dorothea Dix she wanted the mentally ill separated from the people who were in jail.

The hospital was opened May 13th, 1878.

image from: Wikimedia Commons

image from: Wikimedia Commons

Danver’s was originally established to provide residential treatment to the mentally ill, it expanded its repertoire in 1895 with the opening of a pathological research laboratory.

By the 1920s the hospital was also operating “school clinics” to identify “mentally deficient children”.

It was also during this time period that reports were made of various inhumane shock therapies, forced lobotomies, and the use of experimental drugs and straitjackets.

This is where the frontal lobotomy was born.

During the 1960’s as a result of increased emphasis on alternative methods of treatment and deinstitutionalization and community based mental health care, the inpatient population started to decrease. Danvers State Hospital closed on June 24, 1992 due to budget cuts within the mental health system.
After it closed it was bought by a group that was going to convert it into apartments.

“4-11-08 After fire, Danver’s State complex almost finished By Ethan Forman Salem News

Almost one year after a fire swept through the former Danvers State property, the 433-unit Avalon Danvers apartment complex atop Hathorne Hill is nearly complete.The fire, which burned down three buildings and whose cause was never determined, set construction back six to eight months. All the buildings in the apartment complex are now scheduled to open June 1, with some ready for occupancy May 1. By the time an open house is held in June, the developer expects it to be 80 percent to 90 percent occupied, said Scott Dale, vice president of AvalonBay Communities.

Today, the complex, which cost $80 million to build, sports apartments with lofty ceilings, large windows and sweeping views of the North Shore. Another 64 senior condominiums should take shape over the next 18 months.In a way, this is the second time Danver’s State Hospital has risen from the ground. The push to redevelop 77 acres of the former Danvers State Hospital has meant the demolition of most of the buildings of the former insane asylum, with just one-third of the 1878 Kirkbride building remaining.”

Rents in the Kirkbride building range from $1,300 to $1,700 for a one-bedroom apartment to $1,575 to $2,400 for a two-bedroom apartment.

So the need was there. The state hospital’s were built to separate the mental ill from criminals. Once we started having medications to treat these people instead of frontal lobotomies, electro shock treatment, insulin shock treatment ended and they used neuroleptic drugs.

The Hospitals were emptied out and we supposedly had Community Mental Health Centers.

  1. Is an entity that meets applicable licensing or certification requirements for CMHCs in the State in which it is located; and
  2. Must provide all of the following core services to meet the statutory definition of a CMHC.  However, effective March 1, 2001, in the case of an entity operating in a State that by law precludes the entity from providing the screening services, the entity may provide for such service by contract with an approved organization or entity (as determined by the Secretary) that, among other things, meets applicable licensure or certification requirements for CMHCs in the State in which it is located.  A CMHC may receive Medicare reimbursement for partial hospitalization services only if it demonstrates that it provides such services.  The core services include:
    • Outpatient services, including specialized outpatient services for children, the elderly, individuals who are chronically mentally ill, and residents of the CMHC’s mental health service area who have been discharged from inpatient treatment at a mental health facility;
    • 24 hour-a-day emergency care services;
    • Day treatment, or other partial hospitalization services, or psychosocial rehabilitation services; and
    • Screening for patients being considered for admission to State mental health facilities to determine the appropriateness of such admission.

The 90’s was the decade of the brain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decade_of_the_Brain

There was hope.

Here is a fact sheet from NAMI

http://www2.nami.org/factsheets/mentalillness_factsheet.pdf

Here are some recent statistics.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/mental-health.htm

Now the mentally ill are back in jail.

http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/by-the-numbers-mental-illness-jail/

  • In state prisons, 73 percent of women and 55 of men have at least one mental health problem
  • In federal prisons, 61 percent of women and 44 percent of men
  • In local jails, 75 percent of women and 63 percent of men

The Affordable Care Act—and its expansion of Medicaid—is expected to connect previously uninsured ex-offenders with medical care and mental health treatment. But in the short term, jails and prisons remain the places where those with severe psychosis are housed: There are now three times more people with serious mental illness incarcerated in the United States than in hospitals, and the types of behavioral and mental health problems among inmates are becoming more severe.

This is the kicker.

“In trying to explain the rise in mental illness in prisons and jails, public health officials and researchers point to the closure of state psychiatric hospitals in the late 1960s.”

http://www.newsmax.com/US/prison-mental-health-inmantes/2013/09/26/id/527895/

The nation’s jails and prisons are turning into warehouses for the mentally ill, with the three largest jail systems housing more than 11,000 prisoners under treatment on any given day.

Now let’s bring it on home.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
State Statistics:
Florida
Mental Illness Is Common
Of Florida’s approximately 18.3 million residents, close

to 660,000 adults live with serious mental
illness.
 About 181,000 children live with serious mental health conditions.
Untreated Mental Illness has Deadly and Costly Consequences
In 2006, 2,440 Floridians died by suicide
Suicide is almost always the result of untreated or under-
treated mental illness.
•
Nationally, we lose
one life to suicide every 15.8 minutes.
Suicide is the eleventh-leading cause of
death overall and is the third-leading cause of death among youth and young adults aged 15-24.
Public Mental Health Services are Inadequate to Meet Needs.

Florida’s public mental health system provides services to only 26 percent of adults who live with
serious mental illnesses in the state.
Florida spent just $38 per capita on mental health
agency services in 2006, or $686.6 million.
This was just 1.1 percent of total state spending that year.
In 2006, 56 percent of Florida state mental health
agency spending was on community mental health
services; 42 percent was spent on state hospital care.
Nationally, an average of 70 percent is spent
on community mental health services and 28 percent on state hospital care.
Criminal Justice Systems Bear a Heavy Burden

The average rent for a studio apartment in Florida is
119 percent of the average Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) payment, making housing unaffordable
for adults living with serious mental illness who
rely on SSI.
How is this better than the Asylums?
How does this fit into the rights of the mental ill?
Then we have sick things like this.

According to the Herald, three former employees of the psychiatric unit at Dade Correctional Institution have alleged that staff at the facility were tormenting and abusing mentally-ill inmates for years. One of the former employees took their complaints to the U.S. Department of Justice last month.

The Herald reports:

In his complaint, George Mallinckrodt, a psychotherapist assigned to the unit from 2008 to 2011, related a series of episodes, including the death of inmate Darren Rainey. The 50-year-old was placed in a small, enclosed, scalding-hot shower by guards and left unattended for more than an hour. He collapsed and died amid the searing heat, suffering severe burns when he fell, face up, atop the drain.

reference sites
How can we continue to go in this direction and not care for the people who need the care? How can we close our hearts and minds?

Preview of coming attractions: Toxic Algae and your Pets

DSC_0066

http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/blue-green-algae

Alternate names: Cyanobacteria, algal, Microcystis, Anabena, Aphanizomenon, cyanotoxin, anatoxin

There is no antidote for the toxins produced by blue-green algae. Immediate veterinary care is imperative. If you suspect your dog was exposed to blue-green algae, contact Pet Poison Helpline immediately for guidance.

Very small exposures, such a few mouthfuls of algae-contaminated water, may result in fatal poisoning.

Common signs to watch for:

  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Blood in stool or black, tarry stool
  • Pale mucous membranes
  • Jaundice
  • Seizures
  • Disorientation
  • Coma
  • Shock
  • Excessive secretions (e.g., salivation, lacrimation, etc.)
  • Neurologic signs (including muscle tremors, muscle rigidity, paralysis, etc.)
  • Blue discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Death

Please keep your dogs out of the water.

DSC_0028

Very Old Stinky Dog gets washed by group of very good kids.

Last Sunday I brought my 17 year old golden rescue Barney (Barnacles -seemed appropriate when he came to me he was 14 years old very ill ,filled with worms, skin issues, thyroid issues). I love these dog washes our Humane Society of the Treasure Coast Does.

DSC_0004

Here is their website

http://www.hstc1.org

Thanks to everyone that supports this very special place.

Thanks to our friend Aidan Lewey, clean water advocate and really good kid and his friends for putting this together. They raised 200 dollars.

DSC_0014

You can read about it here

https://katylewey.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/kids-really-can-make-an-impact/?fb_action_ids=959269670752806&fb_action_types=news.publishes&fb_ref=pub-standard

Look at all those hands!

Here is short piece I put together with my co rescue friend TIna Valant who brought me to the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast. Thanks to Frank Valante who allowed us to do this.

TIna has a vision and I said “Sure I’ll do it if you can get permission to use the song.: and she did.

enjoy. I hope it inspires everyone to support their local rescues and humane societies.

PR Firm plays both sides of the road. Makes stupid remarks.

@craigtimes

Some of  us contacted Sarah Bascom when she started this website for a few reasons.

http://bascomllc.com/sarah_bascom

1. The intention when they rolled it out was confusing and we wanted to make sure that we were supporting the right thing.

2. We’ve been doing this for a long time. We’re the ones that have been documenting, blogging, protesting, writing and keeping this issue alive. We, being the River Warriors. We wanted to offer our help so this would succeed. We were asked at one point to help to find businesses that would join in the Coalition to support the EAA.

We were so appreciative of the Everglades Coalition. Especially after the amazing meeting in Key Largo this year. For myself I felt like there was solid support of the big guns and we could accomplish this for sure.

http://www.supporteaareservoir.com

I privately asked a lot of people who was behind this website and what was the point and most people did not know. So I emailed Sarah who basically blew me off. I know others did also and she blew them off. I felt at the time she was trying to accomplish something good and just left it alone.

Then I started seeing her name pop up -here is one

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/florida-taxpayers-pay-ranchers-millions-to-hold-water-back-from-lake/2223173

There are others

“One source for money to revive the water-farming contracts was money from the taxpayers from the rest of the state, via the Legislature. But the water district’s governing board, under state law, is not allowed to hire its own lobbyists to pursue funding.

Instead, Alico did it for them.

The company employed 16 lobbyists last year, and it turned them loose on the Legislature to get $13 million to pump new life into the project. Alico spokeswoman Sarah Bascom said the company was just helping out a state agency in need, and its lobbyists did not specifically ask for money for Alico’s own contract.”

There are more. I’ll find them later.

Then this morning I saw this

http://www.saintpetersblog.com/archives/224602

Sarah Bascom, spokesperson for the Support the EAA Reservoir Project Coalition, an actual stakeholder with something meaningful to say, thought so too.

“This is absolutely ridiculous and, quite frankly, embarrassing for these two groups to have hired paid actors to pose as protesters who ultimately had no idea what they were there to oppose,” wrote Bascom in a statement Thursday.

If Sarah had been paying attention she would have learned that the actors that were paid were also duped.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/04/13/who-paid-the-duped-actors-at-sfwmd/

Those actors thought they were filming the back drop of a tea party piece.

Sarah Bascom. Shame on you for not doing your homework. Our death mermaid is a dedicated water advocate. Probably one of the most compassionate and creative people I know.

Here is she speaking last week at SFWMD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KOAv4XGv_4

Did you get confused about who you were working for?

Here a great article about the Death Mermaid you might to read it and then issue an apology

http://contextflorida.com/diane-roberts-legislators-ignore-the-death-mermaid-at-your-peril/

Please do your home work and understand the issues. Until then find someone else to represent the people are being decimated, by the water we have dedicated ourselves to protect and the everglades we have dedicated ourselves to saving. For us this is not a client. It’s our lives.

With friends like you we will surely get toxic discharges forever.

DSC_0024

Who paid the 3750?

So as I have reported here

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/04/13/who-paid-the-duped-actors-at-sfwmd

and

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/04/07/actors-duped-in-tea-party-protest-at-south-florida-water-management/

about the duping of our local actors.

Why are people harassing the actors especially Jason who was totally in the dark.

Who does that?

Stop it!

If you want the truth this is the person who knows it.

Everett Wilkinson Photo by Darrell Brand

Everett Wilkinson
Photo by Darrell Brand

He put the protest together.

He told the news crews that no one was paid.

He knows who came with the 3750 to pay the 50 actors that thought they were filming a documentary.

We’re just waiting for an answer. If I was in the Tea Party I’d want one.

Because no matter what party we are in no one wants to be duped by a person posing as a leader.

According to some there was a person whose name was “Tim”- He was referred basically as the producer of the piece . He was supposed to do principle photography. He brought the money to pay the actors.

There is a

Tim McClellan

Spokesman

South Florida Tea Party

Employment History

  • Outreach Director
    South Florida Tea Party
  • South Florida Spokesman
    Tea Party

http://www.zoominfo.com/s/#!search/profile/person?personId=1519449512&targetid=profile

So for the people telling me that somehow Karen set them all up. Tim was bringing the money. So you can that theory and flush it down the polluted nasty st lucie river.

Who paid the duped actors at SFWMD?

So lately a group called Florida Citizens Against Waste popped up. Their facebook page has about 350 hits and not much of a paper trail.

http://www.politicalfixflorida.com/2015/04/07/batten-citizens-against-waste-and-transparency/

Then on April 2, 2015 they showed up at the WRAC meeting at SFWMD.

http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/xrepository/sfwmd_repository_pdf/wrac_meeting_dates.pdf

Fake duped protestors at april 2 WRAC meeting. Photo by Darrell Brand

Fake duped protestors at april 2 WRAC meeting. Photo by Darrell Brand

As you can see here these people have clearly identified themselves as members of the South Florida Tea Party.

Except they were paid actors who were there under false premises. They thought they were filming the backdrop of a Tea Party Documentary.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/04/07/actors-duped-in-tea-party-protest-at-south-florida-water-management

It was lead by this guy.

Everett Wilkinson Photo by Darrell Brand

Everett Wilkinson
Photo by Darrell Brand

Then someone came out to get Everett and he sat next to this guy.

Does any know who came to get Everett?

L1110339

Person in the tan coat is who sat with Everett Wilkinson.

In the meeting Everett Wilkinson patted this guy on the back.

L1110363

Person Everett patted on the back

Throwback Thurs: Toxic River. Will it be deja vu all over again?

Here’s is a video I made when the River Warriors went to DC. Please remember what we went through and the rest of you please help us not have to go through this again!

Don’t ever forget this day when we didn’t know each other but we all came together.

Please go here and follow these directions. We need you today!

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/04/01/save-floridas-water-campaign-call-to-action/

If you have not signed the petition please sign now. This petition will be presented at Everglades Day in Tally next Monday. We need lots and lots of signatures. Speak now and know you have done everything possible to make the land buy happen.

www.savingflwater.com

For our area in the Treasure Coast call (Phone calls are imperative)

Senator Joe Negron

850-487-5032

Representative Gayle Harrell

850-717-5083

Marylynn Magar

850 717 5082

After you’ve done this send an email over to the Everglades Trust and let them know so no one can these calls were never made. (takeataking@gmail.com)

Here are the big ticket items. Please speak from your heart and tell them your personal story.

“Please Act now to protect and save Florida’s drinking water ! Last November, 75%  of Floridians voted for Amendment 1 to set aside funds to clean and protect the Everglades and our drinking water.

We need to hold the sugar industry to their binding and written contract to sell 46,000 acres of sugar land to the state for Construction of the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir. The project will help control pollution and save the Everglades.

I urge you to take action, follow the will of the  voters and prioritize Everglades Restoration and fund the purchase of this critical land. ”

For those out of our area we need you to call your representatives. One of the big issues is that other legislators from all over the state have no earthly idea what we are talking about. You need to let them know. This issue affects not just us in Treasure Coast. It affects the entire Everglades ecosystem, the Florida Bay and the drinking water of South Florida.

Toxic Real Estate and the Loss of “Full Market Value,” St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon

Please pay attention! This could be fixed by buying the land in the EAA! Our legislators aren’t interested. please help us today.

Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch's avatarJacqui Thurlow-Lippisch

Toxic real estate is not real estate at its full market value. (Google map of Stuart, Sewall's Point, and Hutchinson Island area of Martin County, words JTL) Toxic real estate is not real estate at its full market value. (Google map of Stuart, Rio, Sewall’s Point, and Hutchinson Island- areas of Martin County, words JTL.)

Real estate taxes are paid in arrears, so one learns about the property values of a calendar year, a year later. In the Town of Sewall’s Point, the 2014 (really 2013) tax value increased .14%. This seemed low compared to other similar areas of the state. During this time,  I contacted Laurel Kelly, our Martin County property appraiser. She had her staff research the issue, and assured me that the answer to my question: “Did the toxic St Lucie River/Southern Indian River Lagoon of 2013 have anything to do with lower property values?” was a negative– or at least could not be verified.

Rather, data showed it had to do with other things like the number of homesteaded properties and a limited…

View original post 605 more words