Welcome to our Website. Here you may find what you are looking for. The Good, The Bad and maybe The Ugly. The opinions expressed are that of the writers/editors. We encourage responses and questions. This site is not affiliated nor associated with any other group, community, association, etc. with the name of River Bridge. It is an independent informational publication. This website is independent of and in no way affiliated with the River Bridge Property Owners Association, Greenacres, Florida, including but not limited to any contents contained therein.
Greetings and Salutations from the Purple Grotto. From this place words may fly across the internet, not to perish on the waves of sound, not to vary with the writer's hand but fixed in time, having been verified by proof.
Printers Are Educated In The Belief That When Men Differ In Opinion, The Both Sides Ought To Have The Advantage of Being Heard By The Public And That When Truth And Error Have Fair Play, The Former Is Always An Overmatch For The Latter.....Ben Franklin =============================================================================================
ALL INFORMATION REPORTED TO THIS WEB SITE MUST BE IN WRITING AND SIGNED BY THE PERSON(S) GIVING THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE EMAIL ALL RESPONSES TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE. NO VERBAL RESPONSES WILL BE ACKNOWLEDGED. THANK YOU. ============================================================================================= PUBLICATION DATE: AUGUST, 2010: IN THIS ISSUE: POA MEETING (7/25) REVIEW; COMMENTS AND ARTICLE OF INTEREST: VOTE "YES" ON AMENDMENT 4- HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY
The July meeting of the POAwent along smoothly for a little over an hour. Notably, Judy Dugo, a member of the Executive Committee announced her resignation as 2nd vice-president. She then nominated John Banghart , Governor of Caribe Isle to fill the vacancy. Jerry Long made the nomination of Sonny Dreyfus as another possible candidate for the position. Gov. Dreyfus declined. Governor Banghart took his seat on the Executive Board. President Gunsher continued with her comments which included submission of items to be placed on the POA agenda should be submitted to the Executive Board. Also mentioned was the concerns regarding the current towing company.
Our property manager's report included the new entry procedures for River Bridge. This was to be published in the August issue of the River Bridge Review. It has since been published and mailed. He also reported that a new towing company has been selected to tow vehicle from common property. The company is Klassy Chassy. He was asked about requirements for pedestrian and foot traffic coming in to River Bridge and also about providing a water fountain at the tennis court. Also asked were thebentry rules requirements concerning vendors coming into River Bridge.
There was some concern regarding the reports about some teenagers being seen on the roof overlooking the pool area. It was suggesated that more security coverage should be provided by the rover when he or she is on duty during their tours of the community and especially on weekends. Governor Greenstein gave his report on our lakes (also called retention ponds). The present condition of our lakes is caused by dead algea, high temperatures, lack of rain. Our lakes management company is doing all it can to control the situation but doing rain dances is not in the contract. Another problem is that grass clipping that are generated by the landscaping also end up in the lakes. Pesticides and fertilizers do not help the situation. Perhaps we can do more and work with all landscapers in River Bridge to try to keep cuttings from their machinery to be directed away from the lake. There is no bagging of grass cuttings. Our lakes have a questionable history that goesback a few years and the information is documented. If you get an opportunity, ask to see this enlightening information.
Our updated POA Rules and Regulations were on stage in boxes be be given to the governors for distribution to homeowners in each community. HOA presidents were asked to distribute the documents and were requested to get signed confirmation of receipt by each homeowner. Renters would not get these documents. Each community was asked to do this since it would save the cost of mailing the documents to each homeowner. There was a request that perhaps the boxes could be delivered to each president by a member of our maintenance staff. There was no definite answer to this request.
Who let the termites in?? Dry wood termites have been discovered in the performance center and other areas. A contract was given to a pest control company (Above and Beyond) to tent the facility (which was done over the weekend)) to hopefully rid the facilty of these termites. The cost to do this work was estimated at $5485. A motion to approve the contract was made and passed.
An Opinion By Jan Bergemann President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Published June 10, 2010
The statement by developer Bob Fitzsimmons: "If Amendment 4 passes the mob rules," was definitely the highlight of a discussion that took place in the Rinker Auditorium of the Stetson University in DeLand on Tuesday evening. The statement clearly showed how desperate the opponents of Amendment 4 are -- and how much they fear that Florida's citizens will do the right thing for themselves and VOTE YES ON 4.
It was pretty obvious that Bob Fitzsimmons considers citizens a necessary evil when he needs buyers for his homes, but has otherwise little use for them or their ability to decide what's good for them.
In an arrogant fashion typical of developers, Fitzsimmons more or less declared corruption of elected officials and the well-known "Pay to Play" system to be an urban legend. Amazing, considering that Florida newspapers are full of articles about elected officials taking bribes from developers, filling up jails at taxpayers' expense!
Ryan Houck, the paid mouthpiece for the developers opposing Amendment 4, is officially the Executive Director of "Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Strong Economy" (the name alone gave me a good laugh). Houck had not much more to offer in regard to actual facts. Trying to get his point across, he was using scare tactics backed by so-called reports from dubious consulting firms with more fancy names. And he always repeated the fact that 17 editorials of major Florida newspapers were written in opposition to Amendment 4. So what? Everybody knows who sits on the editorial staff of all the major newspapers. His arguments against Hometown Democracy: Even more people losing their jobs and failure to attract new business. The question: Could we do worse than we do now?
But neither Fitzsimmons nor Houck could convince the estimated 100 attendees with their arguments: Deadly silence after their finishing words. Not one member of the audience even attempted to clap.
And that despite the fact that the deck was stacked from starters against Amendment 4, because there was a third panel member opposing Hometown Democracy: Mike Abels, former DeLand City Manager, a person well aware of all the shenanigans going on behind closed doors when it comes to handing out "favors."
Talking about stacked deck: The open discussion surely lacked substance due to the fact that the audience members were not allowed to ask the questions directly. Questions had to be submitted in writing and -- considering the comments from many audience members after the meeting -- the moderator conveniently lost quite a few "inconvenient" questions. Remark of an audience member: "It seems the ‘awkward’ questions went into the trash can, the ‘convenient’ questions into the microphone."
But the hosts of the forum invited as well two proponents of Amendment 4 on the panel:
Michele Moen, known for her volunteer work for environmental and responsible growth causes, made sure that everybody understood why Florida 's citizens need to vote YESON 4: "Even our elected officials violate our laws and ignore existing guidelines. Florida's citizens have to put a stop to the misuse of power -- and Amendment 4 is the answer."
Henry Lee Morgenstern made the legal points in favor of Hometown Democracy. Morgenstern is a Seville attorney who has written, lectured and litigated extensively on comprehensive planning. His expert opinion was a word of wisdom that made the opposition's arguments look far-fetched. He made sure that the audience clearly understood: "VOTING FOR AMENDMENT 4 IS NOT A VOTE FOR NO GROWTH, IT'S A VOTE FOR INTELLIGENT GROWTH! Plans can be changed, but it has to be for the good of the whole community, not just to make a killing for a developer."
The reason for this expensive campaign and the willingness of the developers to spend so much money on the campaign opposing Amendment 4 is very obvious: It's easier for developers to bribe a few money-hungry politicians than to convince the local population that their plans deserve their support! We have seen only too often money stuffed in a doggie-bag buying the vote of an elected official.
All panel members agreed unanimously that the system is broken and that something needs to be done. But only two of the panel members offered a solution that would fix many of the existing problems: VOTE YES FOR HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY, VOTE YES FOR 4!
If the vote had taken place after the forum, it would have been a great victory for AMENDMENT 4. All panel members were greeted with a polite applause at the beginning of the discussion, but the two finishing presentations by opponents, Ryan Houck and Bob Fitzsimmons, were greeted with dead silence from the audience. Then the finishing arguments from the two proponents, Michele Moen and Henry Lee Morgenstern, were greeted by a thundering applause. I guess only the tricky chairs prevented a standing ovation?
It looks like Florida's citizens are finally willing to stand up and FIGHT AGAINST GROWTH MISMANAGEMENT. It's about time! Let's face it. If we want to save what's left of Florida's natural beauty, our battle cry has to be
