epc wetlands director fights back
Yep. Here’s more on the HCBOCC’s killing wetlands protection. Before I get to Jadell Kerr, I just want to point out the opening of an editorial from the St. Pete Times - Wetlands sellout:
Not since three members were hauled away in handcuffs in a vote-buying scandal 24 years ago has the Hillsborough County Commission displayed such deplorable conduct. It was bad enough that the board, meeting Thursday as the Environmental Protection Commission, moved to kill the wetlands program that has protected against flooding and pollution for 22 years. But the way commissioners rammed it through, in a kangaroo court greased by falsehoods, raises legal and ethical flags.
Comparing this BOCC to those that were hauled away in handcuffs? And it’s not hyperbole. Read the entire editorial. And the Tribune, too - Costly Loss Of Wetlands Certain If County Kills Its Own Rules:
Their sole purpose, it appeared, was to please those developers who have long sought to get rid of the safeguards.
Now, on to the current EPC Wetlands Director.
Comment #35 on Friday’s post about the sellout of our wetlands is by Jadell Kerr, Director of EPC’s Wetlands Division. County Commissioners are trying to get rid of her and her division, but she’s not going quietly. Her statement is so frank and courageous I want to point it out so she can inspire others like she has inspired me. I have added the emphases:
I am so heartened to see the public outcry over the Commissioners’ attempt to dismantle the Wetlands Management Division of EPC. As I drove back to the office after the meeting, I began to look at the wetlands I passed by thinking to myself, “who will protect you now”?
The truth of the matter is that we cannot count on the State doing its job to protect wetlands. I will tell you that they DO NOT and leave it at that. The Commissioners did not hear me when I said that local government had saved over 200 acres of wetland impacts from phosphate-related impacts… THE STATE ALREADY APPROVED THEM… and Mosaic is annexing more land into their mining operation. The Little Manatee River and the Alafia continue to be at huge risk.
It was obvious to me and by all the emails, obvious to you, that the whole thing was rigged. I even believe that SWFWMD was involved. For those of you who do not know it, Todd Pressman sits on the Governing Board of the Water Management District. He is appointed in that capacity by our Governor. He is also the political consultant to Stephen Dibbs. There is no doubt in my mind that he has brought pressure to bear on the Water Management District. It seemed to me that WMD representative, Richard Owen, knew the questions that were going to be asked of him. I also thought it was odd that the Director of their ERP program did not get to speak. I’m just sayin.
Stephen Dibbs has had it out for EPC for quite a while. He has hired private investigators to follow me and other EPC staffers. He has some huge controversial development plans in the pipelines and without the EPC, those plans are likely to be a slam dunk.
Apparent to me and apparent to you, the Commissioners knew their script when they came in the door last Thursday.
Comm. Blair said after the meeting that he would be willing to change his vote if EPC could come up with an alternative idea. But he is the one responsible for the circus that we witnessed last Thursday. His alternative, pure and simple, is for the Water Management District to do the permitting and for EPC to conduct compliance. That makes it easier on developers trying to get a permit and if the EPC Wetland Rule is gone, under what authority does he expect the EPC to enforce? Many are saying that this may be the only hope of keeping some EPC presence in wetland protection. I hope that is not all we can hope for.
It is great to hear the Citizens rally and to know that someone is out there fighting for the right thing. These arrogant commissioners have to go….they are not listening to us. The Planning Commission is next, be on the watch.
Keep fighting, you all give me hope.
J. Kerr
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June 25th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Mariella — thanks so much for this coverage. Keep up the great work!
June 25th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
The Times printed evidence of Stephen Dibbs hiring private eyes to follow EPC staff around. (I should’ve included that link in the post.)
June 25th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
One thing: They have LONG AND CONTINUALLY displayed such behavior.
Verizon contract.
Brighthouse contract.
forty million dollar erection
Imaginary fights with city council so they can buckpass.
Public access television.
eminent domain.
And, it’s all been just as obvious.
Steven Dibbs got caught.
Now, it all begins to make sense when I say that people are stalking me around.
IF developers believe themselves to be above the rules of an entire state what do you think the City of Tampa would stoop to when trying to take a valuable property??
They have city employees doing all manner of illegal stuff around my home. NOT just the firemen.
By the way, has anyone ever wondered why it’s called Tampa Firemen but they are all Hillsborough County Employees??
Doesn’t anyone care that we are paying ALL of these crooks in retirement??
The root of the problem is how these people get elected.
IF one goes out in handcuffs, they all should. They are ALL guilty of deception of the public.
They play this game with you where a few appear to be on your side but do you ever notice how it’s just enough votes to be in the minority???
This is hardly even the worst thing they have done. When I went in front of the commission to question them about eminent domain and why they had given so much power to CDC’s to take peoples’ homes — they just LIED. One of the ones running CDC’s taking peoples’ homes is elizabeth hapner the disbarred judge who ran for judge again and almost won.
What the hell, Tampa folks.
take the wool from your eyes.
I’ll be happy to fight with you but don’t sit there and pretend that this is the one isolated area these folks fave f’d someone over.
My family members have lost jobs, our health has been effected, they have threatened to burn my home down. ALL of these actions can be traced directly back to city or county employees.
They are pigs. If they are NOT pigs, it is time for them to speak up.
I don’t care if they are scared. They look scared.
You should never look askance when a person reports what this city and this county is doing to them.
Believe me, they are DOING IT.
These are just the well-dressed pigs.
When I finally create some DVD’s it’s going to send a shockwave through this community.
They’ll try to pretend it doesn’t but if they could shut me up legally they would have done so by now. They CANT. But they do send their low-level pigs out to harass, intimidate and stalk people. Eyes on EVERYONE not just the EPC.
Please.
Sue them. Sue the everliving bejeesus out of them and let the other Tampa people out of the chains at the same time.
They don’t WANT yall looking at what they are doing to the water too close. If you can follow me they are releasing so many toxins into it that they do NOT want discovered.
It’s not just development. Think.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Let’s write Governor Crist and ask him to remove Todd Pressman from the SWFWMD Governing Board. Pressman clearly has a conflict of interest in that he represents developer Stephen Dibbs and they are working together to spearhead the campaign against our EPC. Pressman cannot act in the best interests of our wetlands on the SWFWMD Board while actively campaining against our EPC wetlands division.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Done!
FYI There is a place called USalone which allows you to set up petitions for one-click gathering and sending to newspapers, muckety mucks, etc.
I would advise faxing charlie crist if you have that capability, as well. His office is in the habit of reporting how many calls and emails they get and when they mention faxes, you can be sure I am one of those. (receipt!!)
If I’m going to take the effort, I want it to be effective. I’ve used the letter-writing thingy as well but there I figure they have the excuse that if someone selects the wrong department they can say it floated all over the place and never got to the right eyes.
But, that’s just my opinion.
I’m sure he and dibbs and pressman go to the same club.
Here’s something interesting and informative: Google crist fraternity. Then google each of those names.
Chain of command and corruption jumps right out. Even if I were as naive as I was two years ago ….
I’m still waiting for Charlie to be the ‘people’s governor’. I really want him to be but … then again, I’m not as naive as I was two years ago … LOL
June 25th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Perhaps we create a fund and hire our own private investigator to follow Stephen Dibbs around and see were that leads.
June 25th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Mariella: Report Todd Pressman to the Florida Commission on Ethics regarding his conflict of interest. He is covered by the FL CODE OF ETHICS FOR PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES (ss. 112.311-112.326)and his conduct may violate those rules to the extent he has failed to file a memo of conflct regarding his voting on these matters within 15 days of the vote.
June 26th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
It’s time to start investigating all involved in this issue. Todd Pressman, Brian Blair, Jim Norman and Dibbs. All these guys have conflicts of interest.
It’s pretty common knowledge among the little people that Todd Pressman pressures WMD Staff to push his poorly conceived permits through the system.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:02 am
The local EPA is under assault and I blame Commissioner Jim Norman. He knows very well what he did at the June 21st meeting to disband the wetlands program for the county. Commissioner Norman is a smart man and not a fool or pawn like Commissioner Blair. What he accomplished at the meeting should become his legacy. Among other things, he knowingly eliminated county control over the phosphate wetland impacts in the county. Massive wetland impacts on a scale dating back decades in Florida’s history. He gave up local control so that the decisions affecting residents here could be made in Tallahassee. We are not talking about an acre here and there but 1000s of acres. Look at the other counties with phosphate mining and no local programs. Commissioner Norman voted and clearly indicated that phosphate was not important enough for the County to regulate. He also knowingly gave up control over Tampa Bay Water’s wetland impacts. If someone thinks the county can say a lake was inappropriately drained or wetlands destroyed by over-pumping don’t call the locals. Take your comments to Swiftmud. Norman doesn’t care about local control. He wants the county out of it so he no longer needs to hear from developers about how the greens impede development. Do you think the agency staff will fight this? They want to preserve their jobs and not risk everyone. If you disagree, look at Jaydel Kerr, the head of the wetland program and ask yourself how she is faring in her fight. It is far better to ride out the storm and when someone complains later the staff can say it’s too late and the commissioners decided. It’s their fault. Nothing we can do now. I bet the staff has no fight left in them. Norman knew that too. Again, he is a smart guy. You won’t see him hauled away in hand cuffs. The only alternative is he was ignorant and did not trust his staff. But that gives him too much credit. He could have easily spoke up about the potential future problems but he kept quiet and voted to eliminate the program. Not much cloudy about that. You can be sure he will ride this out quietly and hope it blows over before his next campaign. The public just needs to remember that he is the guy responsible for setting this county back 22 years in the environmental movement. He knew it, but didn’t say a word. He just ran out of the room at the end of the vote. Just know this – it’s a done deal so the only question is, will the voters care and remember who did it. Norman and his gang.
Someone might say – we borrowed this world from our children but I say “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” Acts 2:40 and “they are greedy dogs which can never have enough.” Old Testament Isaiah: Lvi, 11. The commissioners need to understand what they did and that they will be held responsible. Not the Legislature. Norman can’t hide behind the dollars because they don’t add up. I wanted my Chessie to hang out in the wetlands with when I retire in a few years but maybe now I’ll head somewhere with better environmental stewardship – I don’t know - maybe Arkansas.
Taixz Sponsa
June 27th, 2007 at 9:56 am
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/27/Hillsborough/County_wetlands_offic.shtml
June 28th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
I wish someone would suspend me from my six figure job with pay for a couple of weeks. But seriously, didn’t I just read in this same publication a few weeks ago that local developers have created a net gain of 627 acres of wetland since 1985? The platform of the county EPC and its supporters that the elimination of the EPC will result in wanton wetland destruction is pretty out of line with reality. The bottom line is that this agency duplicates functions that are already being covered by the state. Do they generate revenue? They sure do; in the form of fees that are eventually passed down to the average homebuyer. So other than duplicating services, increasing the cost of housing, not actually creating or saving wetlands, what exactly does the county EPC do again? Oh yeah, that’s right, they make false accusations of impropriety against the very people that in a month or so may vote to reinstate them. Smart.