the sarasota phoenix july 2014

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7Traffic Report

Perfect Storm

12

July 2014

10University / I-75Fiscal Conservatives

Whos FinancingThem?

Grassroots

Waechter,Robin-son, Stevenson

Although two time convicted

MAIO'S

SARASOTA

COUNTY CAMPAIGN

follow the money. For example,

just as any of the present Sarasota

County Commissioner, managedby the Waechter/Robinson/Steven-

son trio? What you will find is

Randy Benderson, Pat Neal, Rex

Jensen and Henry Rodriquez cir-

cumventing the local campaign fi-

nance regulations that attempted to

limit special interests buying local

politicians.

For example, Randy Benderson

with a Buffalo, New York address

of 570 Delaware Avenue has fun-

neled 10, $200 contributions into

the Maio campaign. Pat Neal with

a Lakewood Ranch address of

5800 Lakewood Ranch Boulevard

has funneled 14, $200 into the

Maio campaign. Rex Jensen with a

Lakewood Ranch address of 14400

Convenent Way has funneled 9,

$200 contributions in the Maio

campaign and Henry Rodriquez

with four different addresses hasfunneled 4, $200 contributions into

the Maio campaign.

felon Bob Waechter's name doesn'tappear in any campaign finance re-ports found on Sarasota CountyElection Supervisor campaign fi-nance reports, Waechter is nodoubt is involved with political ac-tivity in Sarasota County, which in-cludes the campaign of Al Maio forSarasota County Commissioner.

Waechter's political ties to Maio

become quite apparent when Maiowas questioned by local assistant

States Attorney Brian Iten in the

Waechter election fraud felony

case. For example, Maio admitted

under oath that on numerous occa-

sions, both in telephone conversa-

tions and in private meetings that

he conferred with Waechter con-

cerning his run for Sarasota County

Commissioner.

All these meetings took place be-

fore Waechter was arrested for at-

tempting to destroy the political

career of Maio's County Commis-sion opponent, Lourdes Ramirez.

Maio also admitted being in con-

tact with Waechter, after Waechter

was arrested

There is little doubt that Waechter

feels free to continue his politicalconsultantsactivities in promoting

various local candidates after

receiving a slap on the wrist for ad-mitting to election fraud from a

client of Waechter/Eric Robinson/

Mac Stevenson machine in 2012,

local States Attorney Ed Brodsky.

For example, Waechter mistakenly

called a prominent Democrat in

Northport believing he was leaving

a message for Fred Tower to run

for the Sarasota County Charter

Review Board. Unbeknown toWaechter he left a message for

Tower with a prominent Northport

Democrat. This call was made afterWaechter was convicted of his sec-

ond felony arrest.

Although Maio no doubt will like

to disassociate himself with

Waechter, it is impossible for Maio

to disassociate himself with two

other members of the

Waechter/Robinson/Stevenson

local political machine, who are

Al Maio

Robinson and Stevenson. BothRobinson and Stevenson are paid

political consultants for the Maio

campaign. Robinson has received

10, $350 payments from Maio, 1,

$2,100 payment from Maio and 1,

$1,000 for Maio consulting fees.

Stevenson has received 7, $2,000

payments from Maio.

In addition, Kelly Dowd who is the

daughter of Commissioner Joe

Barbettasbusiness partner and for-

mer political consultant John

Dowd has received 2, $350 pay-ments from Maio, 4, $500 pay-

ments Maio and 5, $1,000 payment

for consulting services for Maio.

(With two months to go in the

campaign, Maio has spent $28,300

for consulting fees).

It does not take a rocket scientist to

see who Maio will be taking orders

from if elected. All one has to do is

These contributors to the Maio

campaign have exhibited a com-

plete shameful disregard of the

general public's desire to limit one,

$400 contributions per entity and

have made a mockery of our local

political system.

If anyone wonders what these con-

tributions buy from local Sarasota

County Commissioner for Bender-son, Neal and Jensen, just take a

look a the massive urban sprawl

being created at the University

Blvd/I-75 Corridor. Once again it

doesn't take a rocket scientist to

understand the sprawl has been

created by major massive urban

style development of Randy Ben-

derson and over 8,000 planned res-

idential development by Neal and

Jensen in Lakewood Ranch.

What is scandalous is that the pres-

ent Sarasota County Commission-

ers whose campaigns weremanaged by the Waechter/Robin-

son/Stevenson trio and financed bythe Benderson, Neal, Jensen Gang

signed off on these developments.

These unchecked developments

will now need over $150 million, if

not more in infrastructure to allevi-ate the traffic nightmare created.

Continued on page 18

THE MEDIA VOICE THAT WRITES WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS THINKING BUT IS TOO AFRAID TO SAY

5 University / I-75InterchangeUrban Sprawl

$200 Million SCAM

I N S I D E

Robert Waechter

14


2/22


THE RANDY BENDERSON

ROWING FACILITY A PRIVATE / PUBLIC

PARTNERSHIP SCAMAs recently as January 2009 when Randy Benderson was awardeda no bid contract to build and manage his rowing facility, an estimate

of only around $2 million was being tossed around to create aPrivate/Public Partnership between Sarasota County and Randy

Benderson to build a rowing facility.

Benderson contributed $1 mil-

lion and the Sarasota Countyowned park was renamed NathanBenderson Park. This was beforeBenderson went wild for rowingand convinced the County Com-missioners and other business lead-ers to go along for the ride.Since the initial $2 million to cre-ate a rowing park, Sarasota Countyhas contributed $19.5 million, inpartnership with the state's $10million. Manatee County has addedabout $500,000. Sarasota Countyalso has recently contracted with

the Benderson controlled SANCAorganization to run the rowing fa-cility at a cost of almost $800,000to Sarasota County through 2018.

This Benderson Corporate Welfare

Scam, which is no other way de-

scribes this so called Private/Public

Partnership, started at a Sarasota

County Commission meeting on

1/24/11. At that meeting, with the

approval of the Sarasota County

Administrator Jim Ley, Sarasota

County officials Dave Bullock &

Jim Harriott came before the Sara-

sota County Commission to dis-cuss a "Private/Public Partnership"

between Sarasota County and

Randy Benderson.

In this so called Private/Public

Partnership, Bullock and Harriott,

no doubt with the approval of Ley,

sought approval of a no bid $19

million agreement with Randy

Benderson for his rowing facility.

An agreement between Sarasota

County and Benderson that County

Commissioner Jon Thaxton stated

in 2011, "had Randy Benderson'sname all over it."

Bullock and Harriott also discussed

how the $17 million North Cattle-

men Road Improvement Project,

will benefit Sarasota County and

the Benderson Park Project.

Neither Bullock nor Harriott men-

tioned how these multimillion dol-

Benderson Row ing Faci l i ty

lar publicly funded projects will

gain $millions$ in financial bene-

fits for Randy Benderson.

COMMISSION APPROVES

BENDERSON SCAMThe presentation by Bullock andHarriott included a PowerPoint

presentation and a contract detail-

ing all aspects of these "sweet-

heart" deals for Benderson. The

County approved contracts had

Benderson giving back little or

nothing to Sarasota in comparisonto what the County gave him.

At the end of the one hour presen-

tation by Bullock and Harriott, the

five County Commissioners ap-

proved the $19 million Benderson

Park Project (Contract No. 2011-

240, which was signed by Com-

missioner Nora Patterson, being

Chairperson of BOC at the time.

The $19 million contract with Ben-

derson among other taxpayers

gifts to the Benderson was $3 mil-

lion to manage the Benderson Park

Project. The fee paid to Benderson

was 16 percent of the county's$19.5 million building budget

about three times as much as a con-

struction manager usually makes

for a project of similar size. In ad-

dition, Benderson was given therights to use the county lake for

storm water/floodplain compensa-

tion, and the right to take the dirt

for his other developments.

Bullock states in his presentation

the reason the no bid contract for

the construction of the rowing fa-

cility occurred was the county andBenderson link already in place.

This project must be done by Ben-

derson as a developer's agreement.

Anyone listening to Bullocks

presentation could hear what he is

telling the BOCC on behalf of Ley-

--"Benderson must do this project".After passage of over nearly $20

million in public funds to increase

the Benderson profit margin at theUniversity/I-75 Interchange, Ben-

derson spokesperson Paul Black-

ketter was quoted in Sarasota

Herald Tribune as stating, "These

decisions by the Commission will

help us tremendously."

BENDERSON COMMITS

TO FINANCING OVER $19

MILLION ROWING FACILITYWhat needs to be remember today,

is the cost of Benderson Rowing

Park and its need for millions more

to complete. Benderson is asking

public officials for millions in ad-

dition and that the agreement

signed by Benderson in 2011 stated

the future financial obligation for

this project is the responsibility of

Benderson. It could cost over $19

million in public money to con-

struct and manage the BendersonRowing Park, and it did.

THAT AGREEMENTS

BECOME USELESSA week later on 2/1/11 after the

scam was perpetrated on the gen-

eral public, a North Port neighbor-

hood activist, Alice White sent an

email to the five Sarasota County

Commissioners disapproving of the

Sarasota County Commissioner ap-

proval of the $19 million Bender-

son Park Project.

AGREEMENT "STINKS"White stated: Asrecently as Janu-

ary 2009 estimates of only around

$2 million were being tossed

around to create a rowing park.

Benderson agreed to donate half,

$1 million, and the park is renamed

Nathan Benderson Park. But now

that rowing park is a $19.5 million

project and it's awarded to Bender-

son Development. Did I get it

right? Tell me how this doesn't

stink like three-day old garbage.

Over three years later the stenchcontinues to permeate as what can

only be described as one of the

biggest scam perpetrated on the

taxpayer of not only the Sara-

524 Erie Court, Sarasota, Fl. 34237

Publisher, Jon Susce

Editor, Yvette Kimm

Editorial Board Chairman,

Frederick Douglas Williams

Business Manager, Madonna Sullivan

Art & Design, FWF

(941) 953-2720

[email protected]

2 THE SARASOTA PHOENIX
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


3/22


Cathy Antunes

sota/Manatee area, but also the

great majority the State of Florida

taxpayers. An example is the Ben-

derson contribution to this

Public/Partnership of $1 million,while the public's has invested

close to $50 million.

What is scandalous is that Bender-

son is seeking at least another $20

million to finish his rowing facility.

What is equally scandalous is not a

word from local or state officials

on how this rowing facility is going

to make $millions$ for Benderson

and his partners at his nearby Mall,

Taubman Centers.

As Eric Ernst of the Sarasota Her-

ald Tribune recently wrote, "Be-

cause the park sits just south of

Benderson's proposed University

Town Center Mall and not far from

two other Benderson plazas, the

developer stands to profit a great

deal if it is a success.

Benderson and Blackket ter

BENDERSON AND TAUB-MAN MAKE MILLIONSNot only will Benderson and Taub-

man make millions from the thou-

sands of participants and spectators

involved in the rowing park activi-

ties coming from the United States

and the world in 2017, but Bender-

son cronies Pat Neal, Carlos Beruff

and Rex Jensen will make $mil-

lions$ constructing new develop-

ments in close proximity to the

rowing facility and mall.

What makes this Benderson Row-

ing Park such a scam is Bendersoncontributes only $1 million with

Neal, Beruff, Jensen and Taubman

contributing absolutely nothing to

this so called Private/Public Part-

nership. If this is not an example of

multimillion dollar Corporate Wel-

fare, nothing is.

Benderson has pushed through leg-

islation before the Sarasota County

Commission and Florida State

Legislature for millions in public

money and is seeking $millions

more to build a facility that will

bring in $millions in revenue to the

Taubman/Benderson Mall and

other Benderson strip malls, hotels,

restaurants and residential develop-

ment.

$100,000 CONTRIBUTION

EQUALS $10 MILLIONNot only has Benderson bought

and sold every single Sarasota

County Commissioners on the

cheap with documented campaign

contributions to pull off this scam,

Benderson has also contributed

over a $100,000 to Governor Rick

Scott re-election and Scott has re-

ciprocated with signing legislation

giving $10 million in state funding

for the Benderson Rowing Project.

The latest estimate to complete the

Benderson Rowing facility now

tops $52 million. This so called

Public/Private Partnership to finish

construction of the complex is up

from $2 million

Dave Bul lock

$22 MILLION NEEDED TO

FINISH ROWING PARKThat means the rowing park needsroughly $22 million more to finish

construction, on top of the $19.5

million provided by Sarasota

County and $10 million allocated

in previous state funding. One

must remember the $millions$ that

have been invested, except for a 1

million contribution by Benderson,

all the funding has been public

funding.

A new Benderson creation to raise

more millions of dollars to finish

the once $2 million rowing project

was placed with the general public

on 3/19/14. For example, the Sara-

sota County Commission on a 4-0

vote, approved Benderson's re-

quests for additional funds for theRowing facility by entering into an

agreement with the newly formed

Benderson entity called SANCA.This organization is a new Bender-

son creation headed by a Bender-

son flunky, Paul Blackketter.

(By the way, Commissioner Bar-

betta recused himself on this vote,

due to allegations by Adrien Lucas

that an entity owned by Commis-

sioner Barbetta and managed by

his wife received a no bid contract

from Benderson Development for

$20,836).

Paul Blackket ter

BENDERSON'S

SWEETHEART DEALThe SANCA/County agreement

will have Benderson controlled

SANCA and keep all revenue, pro-

ceeds and fees from events at the

park. The county will also reim-

burse up to $788,722 /year for ad-

ministrative, personnel and

operating expenses, and staging

and maintenance until October

2018.

The initial agreement runs through

September 2019. Thereafter, as

long as SANCA meets the terms of

the agreement and chooses to stay,

it will be managing the park for at

least the next 40 years. After 2018,

the county will trim back its sup-

port of SANCA to $250,000 a year

and only pay maintenance and ad-ministrative and operating ex-

penses, according to the

agreement.

Cathy Antunes, who is vice presi-

dent of the Sarasota County Coun-

cil of Neighborhood Associations

(CONA), questioned numerous

terms in the agreement, which has

SANCA keeping all revenues. An-

tunes stated, "The County Com-

mission has saddled the public

with the up-front risks, and is en-

abling SANCA to keep all of the

profits. The County is bankrollingSANCA's operations. Why is the

County bankrolling a private entity

to run a public park and taking no

part of the profits?"

Governor Scot t and Pat Neal at the

Rowing Faci l ty Ground breaking

DETER CALLS IT

CORPORATE WELFARE"It appears that finally local public

officials are becoming aware of

this Benderson Corporate Welfare

Scam. At a recent Tiger Bay meet-

ing, State Sen. Nancy Detert, R-

Venice, told community leaders in

Sarasota that when she secured $5

million for the rowing facility last

year, she did not expect parkboosters to return a year later seek-

ing $11 million more. Detert told

nearly 300 people at a Sarasota

Tiger Bay meeting, "this is just

starting to look like too much cor-

porate welfare to me.

Detert is not alone among lawmak-

ers questioning the growing price

tag, Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota,

said in an interview after the meet-

ing he did not support the push for

$11 million this year because it was

just too much money. "I didn't like

it at all,Pilon said at Michael's

On East. I just can't do it.

It is way past time for the general

public to demand of their elected

public officials an answer to these

questions:

* Why wasn't this ordinal $19 mil-lion contract put out to bid by

Sarasota County officials to deter-

mine if some local, national or in-

ternational entity could have been

more qualified or could have ac-

complished the task with possible

less funding than Benderson?* Why was the only financial obli-gation placed on Benderson by

Sarasota County officials to build

and manage the rowing facility for

only $1 million?

Aerial view of Benderson Park

Why have local and State of

Florida public officials not de-

manded Benderson fulfill his

signed agreement with Sarasota

County in 2011 and be held finan-

cially responsible for all cost over

$19 to construct and manage his

rowing park?

FINISH ROWING PARK OR

COUNTY PUTS OUT R.F.PThere can be no other solution tofinish funding of this rowing facil-

ity other than if Randy Benderson

cannot fulfill his agreement to fi-

nance $40 million to finish project,

put out a Request for Proposal

(RFP) to an entity that can.

THE SARASOTA PHOENIX 3


4/22


TAUBMAN'S

SWEETHEART

DEAL

As recent information concern-ing the $315 million Mall at Uni-versity Town Center becomesknown, it appears that the Partner-ship Taubman Development haswith Benderson Development toconstruct the Mall, cannot not beconsidered anything less than amajor "sweetheart" business trans-action for Taubman.

For example, if Randy Bendersonaccepted the same businessarrangement that was offered toHugh Culverhouse Jr. by Taubmanto build the Mall on his property,the profit sharing in the Taubmanand Benderson Development busi-ness transaction will not be 50/50.

If Benderson accepted the businessdeal Taubman offered to Culver-house, Benderson will receive 20%of the gross net, not the gross rev-enues derived from the Mall atUniversity Town Center. The gross

net will include Taubman's admin-istrative costs, which will total mil-lions of dollars over the years. Inaddition, Benderson gets none ofthe 20% gross net until Taubman'sget reimbursed for their construc-tion costs of the Mall.

According to Culverhouse, the deal

that Benderson accepted from

Taubman was the same financial

deal that Taubman representatives

offer him to partner with Taubman

in construction of the Mall on Cul-

verhouse's property, that is adjacent

to the Central Parkway in Osprey.

Culverhouse turned down the

Taubman offer. Taubman then of-

fered Culverhouse a tender of sole

negotiations rights with him for a

year for $250,000. Culverhousecounter proposed a figure of

$500,000, which Taubman agreed

upon. A bank transfer of $500,000

was place in a Culverhouse ac-

count by Taubman.

It appears that Taubman then used

this right to negotiate with Culver-

house to build their Mall on Cul-verhouse property into pressuring

Benderson making the same deal

Culverhouse turned down.

BENDERSON BLAMES

CULVERHOUSECulverhouse's property being useas a negotiating tactic by Taubman

strained Benderson's relationship

with Culverhouse, which led to the

Benderson/Henry Rodriquez at-

tempt to squeeze Culverhouse out

of the EEZ Project in Osprey.

CULVERHOUSE TO WARN

BENDERSONCulverhouse's attempted to haveBenderson understand that he was

being manipulated by Taubman. It

was near impossible to build the

Mall on Culverhouse property.

There was no interchange to con-

nect the Mall to the Interstate. In

addition zoning requirements

would bring strong opposition

from environmental and control

growth organizations.

Pressure was placed on Benderson

by Taubman to accept the deal that

Culverhouse turned down. Taub-

man understood Benderson needed

the type of tenants Taubman Inter-

national could entice for the pro-

posed Mall built on Bendersonproperty. Benderson needed the

Mall to anchor his various projects

in the area. For example the 73

acres that the mall was to be built

was the center of a roughly 500-

acre University Town Center

mixed-use Benderson develop-

ment, which straddles the Manatee-

Sarasota county line.

If Taubman doesn't get involved in

the Mall on his property, Bender-

son has no established high end

stores to anchor his 500 acre Uni-

versity Town Center property.

Additional pressure on Benderson

to accept the Taubman sweetheart

deal was that the Mall would be

surrounded by what already is

about 1.5 million square feet of re-

tail with permission for about

400,000 square feet more, 500

hotel rooms and about 1,500 resi-

dential units. Without the Mall as

the anchor, the value of Benderson

properties diminishes considerably.

MAJOR SPRAWL TO BECREATEDThe Taubman/Benderson businesstransaction will be a major source

in creating major sprawl along the

University Boulevard/U.S I-75

Corridor and beyond. The reason

being is that the sprawl produced

by the Mall and existing Benderson

properties, and other proposed

Robert Taubman

Benderson gets noneof the 20% gross net unti lTaubman' s get r eimbursed

for their constructioncosts of the Mal l.

projects along the University

Boulevard/I-75 Corridor will be in-

creased by the construction of ad-

ditional strip malls by Benderson.

The necessity of Benderson build-

ing additional strip malls in order

to be make up for once anticipated

Mall profits. Those profits were

lost, due to Benderson being out

negotiated by Taubman. Benderson

is hoping to increase his profit mar-

gin by individuals shopping in his

existing strip malls and others

along the University Boulevard/In-terstate Corridor, who will be being

drawn in by the Mall.

To alleviate the gridlock that will

occur with the Mall and various

Benderson related projects along

this corridor, the public will pay

$millions$ in infrastructure costs.

PUBLIC FUNDING EN-

HANCES TAUBMAN PROFITTaubman has negotiated a businessdeal with Benderson Development,

which has not only taken advan-tage of Benderson questionable ne-gotiations skills in enhancing their

profit, but also $millions of Sara-

sota County and State of Florida

public funds that will further en-

hance Taubman's profit margins.

Taubman will not to be required to

be held responsible for the $mil-

lions of dollars in public funding

for the infrastructure, which will be

needed to mitigate the traffic issues

caused by the construction of the

Mall and various other projects that

are adjacent to the Mall.

This was made clear in a Taubman

press release which stated, "Park-

ing facilities will be built around

the 73-acre Shopping Centre,

which will require the county

(Sarasota County) to finish its Cat-

tlemen Road extension project to

serve as the main entrance."

There was another press release is-

sued by the Benderson Corpora-

tion, before the awarding of $20

million in public funds to build the

Cattleman Extension that indicated

they anticipated public funding forthe road: "folks won't have to battle

Interstate U.S 75 or a leisurely

Honore Avenue to get from Univer-

sity Park to Fruitville. The Ben-

derson press release failed to

mention the public financed Cattle-

men Extension connectsBenderson

projects on Fruitville Road and

University Boulevard. In addition,

no mention that the road will not

require Benderson or Taubman to

finance the construction of the road.

TAUBMAN WITH BENDER-

SON & U.S CONGRESS-

MAN VERN BUCHANANTaubman will rely on Bendersons

political ties to local, state and na-

tional political officials to persuade

them to fund the millions of dollars

in further infrastructure needs to al-

leviate the traffic issues, which will

be created when the mall and the

Randy Benderson Rowing Park is

completed.

Benderson has already received

over $40 million from Sarasota

County and $10 million from theState of Florida to construct theBenderson rowing facility. The

rowing facility will be buffered by

the Mall, Benderson developments

that will include strip malls, office

space, 1,700 multi-family homes,hotels and other Benderson shop-

ping centers on University Boule-

vard and Fruitville Road.

After Taubman presented a

$10,000 check to a Sarasota

County Education Foundation at

the recent ground breaking of theMall, Sarasota County Commis-

sioner Christine Robinson de-

scribed the Taubman/ Benderson

Partnership: "a visionary public-

private partnership and a legacy

project for Sarasota County."

I wonder if Robinson understands

the details of Taubman's sweetheart

deal with Benderson.



5/22


THE $200 MILLION UNIVERSITY

BLVD/I-75 INTERCHANGE SCAMFlorida, especially Sarasota hasbecome a haven for hustlers likeRandy Benderson, who upon arriv-

ing in Florida rip off the taxpayerswith multimillion dollarscams/projects while making $mil-lions$ in profits for themselves.

If ever there was a clear example of

how Benderson and his fellow as-

sociates, who are Pat Neal, Carlos

Beruff, and Rex Jensen have cor-

rupted the political process in Sara-

sota and Manatee County, it is the

recent revelation that local politi-

cians are promoting a project that

will eventually reach over a 200

million dollars of public money to

alleviate a local traffic nightmare.A hideous traffic nightmare, which

The propos ed Interchange at the intersect ion of Universi ty Parkw ay andI -75 wi l l take over a year to bu i ld and i t is no t c lear who w i l l pay for i t .

original commitment from the

Florida State Legislature to fund

the Interchange.

Neal, who has plans for $millions

in residential development along

the University/I-75 Corridor agreed

with Stueub: "the area can go 20

years without significant road im-

provements to keep traffic flowing."

PRASAD OFFERS SUPPORTIn a dramatic turn of events, given

that just a month ago, the project

was not scheduled for construction

until after 2036. For example, in a

meeting organized by Steube that

included county officials from both

Manatee and Sarasota, FloridaDOT Secretary Ananth Prasad said

has been created by the BendersonGang at the University Boule-

vard/U.S I-75 interchange.

Local politicians in both Sarasota

and Manatee County have turned

their backs on the interests of local

taxpayers in order to accommodate

the interest of those who have

poured thousands of dollars into

getting them elected. Instead of in-

sisting the responsibility for creat-

ing the problems along the

University/I-75 Corridor is Bender-

son and other developerslegal ob-

ligation to pay for transportation

improvement, they are promoting

the public pay for a problem Ben-

derson and others have created.

Their Godfathers (Benderson,

Neal, Beruff and Jensen) are look-

ing for compensation for previous

favors bestowed upon them

Randy Benderson

MOTTO IS: BUILD AND

THE PUBLIC WILL PAYBenderson operates under the Cor-porate Welfare Manifesto which

has two basic tenants. One is,

"build it and they will come" and

"Build it and once they come the

public will pay for the infrastruc-

ture I created." Another part of the

Benderson Corporate Welfare

Manifesto is to finance the cam-

paign of his handpicked politicians

who approve his projects before

the infrastructure is in place and

then vote $millions$ in public

funds to create the infrastructure

needs created by his projects.

The looming construction will dis-

rupt traffic patterns in one of

Southwest Florida's most congested

corridors at a time when a new

shopping mall, international rowing

event and new growth in Lakewood

Ranch will converge to put more

cars on the stressed intersection.

CORPORATE WELFARE

EXEMPLIFIEDMassive infusing of public money toalleviate the problems the Bender-

son, Neal, Beruff, Jensen Gang have

created at the University/I-75 Inter-

change is but another example of

massive corrupt Corporate Welfare

Public/Private Partnerships in the

area. These partnerships are all

with the acquiescence of "Fiscal

Conservative" local politicians.

It did not take a rocket scientist to

see that the Benderson projects ap-

proved over the last few years bySarasota and Manatee County pub-

lic officials were going to cause a

major traffic problem along the

University/I-75 Corridor. Any

time you add infrastructure like the

mall and rowing facility, you are

going to see increases in traffic,

said Sage Kamiya, Manatee

County deputy director of public

works for traffic management.

Some now fear the looming con-

struction will disrupt traffic pat-

terns in one of Southwest Florida'smost congested corridorsand at

a time when a new shopping mall,

an international rowing event and

renewed growth in Lakewood

Ranch will converge to put more

cars on the stressed intersection.

TRAFFIC NIGHTMAREFor example Jensen is developing

Lakewood Ranch South, with

5,000 homes and nearly 400,000square feet of retail and office

space. Lakewood Ranch South is

planned for 5,500 acres near the

same University Blvd/I-75 inter-

change with 5,000 homes and

nearly 400,000 square feet of retail

and office space and

Benderson/Taubman Mall at Uni-

versity Town Center, which prom-

ises to bring more than 100 more

merchants and restaurants starting

in October. In addition the traffic is

expected to get more intense with

more than 40,000 international

tourists coming for the rowing

championships in 2017.

Traff ic snarls on i-75

Originally, there was not be up-

grades until at least 2036, accord-

ing to a long-range plan by a

government board prioritizing

roadway work in the region. The

Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan

Planning Organization has the first

preliminary design work for im-

provements slated for 2031.

Growing traffic snarls, increasingannual accident rates and the fact

that a major new mall near the in-

terchange is opening later this year

combined to make it clear that the

state cannot wait that long, state

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota,

said. "It's a severe problem right

now, and it is only going to get

worse when the mall opens,said

Steube, who was key to getting a

he would he would push to start

construction on an innovative inter-

change at Interstate 75 and Univer-

sity Parkway within a few years.

Prasad said if other projects in the

state's rolling five-year construction

program hit unexpected delays orcannot use their funding, he is

committed to making sure the Uni-

versity Pkwy interchange will be a

top priority to get unused money.

With a new destination mall open-

ing later this year, the growing in-ternational attraction of the

Benderson Rowing Park, and thou-

sands of homes planned for the

area, Prasad said, "all parties in-

volved realized they couldn't afford

to wait to get the project moving."

Ananph PrasadCould it be that the hundreds of

thousands of dollars being pumped

into Governor Rick Scott's re-elec-

tion campaign by Benderson, Neal,

Beuff and Jensen has something to

do with Scott's appointed, Prasad

moving up construction up 20years for the interchange at the

University Blvd./I-75 Corridor?

In addition, Prasad stated that

"since early March, both county

commissions have passed resolu-

tions supporting the project, Prasad

has declared it a top priority and

state lawmakers from this area

Continued on page 6



6/22


Continued from page 5 sections calls for a $25 million over-pass for University Parkway over

Scott is elected Governor ofFlorida will Crist appointee for

implement it does not exist, unlessgeneral public is to appropriate the

have been pushing to advance even

more funding for the work."

DID POLITICS INFLUENCE

PRASD'S DECISION?Once again the thousands of dol-lars Benderson, Neal, Beruff and

Jensen finance local politicians po-

litical campaigns has something todo with them "pushing even morefunding for the interchange at the

University Blvd/I-75 Corridor?

Cattlemen Road, so through traffic

would not be delayed by mall or

rowing center traffic. That intersec-

tion is split between Sarasota and

Manatee. East of I-75, the state said

the Lakewood Ranch intersection

with Market St. would need $6 mil-

lion in improvements.

$Millions in public money have al-

ready been allocated to elevate the

traffic nightmare Benderson has cre-

ated at the University/I-75 Corridor.

Manatee improved the intersection

at Cooper Creek Boulevard, the en-

tryway to a Benderson shopping

mall north of University. Sarasota

County allocated a $17 million ex-

tension of Cattlemen extension.

DOT Secretary be as accommodat-

ing as Scott's DOT Secretary,

Ananth Prasad?

The bottom line in this scam being

perpetrated on the general public in

this area concerning the impending

traffic calamity concerning insuffi-

cient road capacity leading into andout of the mall and other Bender-

son, Neal, Beruff and Jensen devel

opments from the pivotal intersec-

tion continues. A belated fix to this

unbelievable lack of foresight is

being studied, but even if a plan is

approved the over $200 million to

funding of this major Benderson

Corporate Welfare Scam.

Who's responsible for this world-

class blooper? Were the powers-

that-be awake or asleep when they

put the cart before the horse?

When public officials like Steubestates, "The problems with traffic

aren't going to be as severe as peo-

ple think," he must have been

sleeping or else or had his eyes

closed when picking up a campaign

contribution from Benderson at

Randys H.Q on the University

Even with a new interchange, it

would fail without Sarasota and

Manatee counties to first commit

up to $31 million for improve-

ments to University Parkwaysin-

tersection with Cattlemen Road

and at the intersection at Market

Street in Lakewood Ranch.

An additional solution to the inter-

NO RELIEF COMING FROM

TALLAHASSEEUnfortunately, Steube and otherlocal politicians belief that prelimi-

nary work to fix one of the South-

west Florida's most dysfunctional

highway interchanges is on pace to

start this summer, decades ahead of

schedule has had a major setback.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?The question now becomes: Will the

Legislature provide $68 million in

direct funding next year for con-

struction of the interchange project

after declining to fund it this year?

In addition, if Democrat Charlie

Parisi Painting

Residential & Commercial

Inter ior & Exterior

Licenced and Insured

Pressure Cleaning

(941) 355-8795www.parisipainting.com

BENDERSON TO CREATE

ANOTHER TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE

AND URBAN SPRAWL AT

STICKNEY POINT AND U.S 41

RandyBenderson who has cre-ate a traffic nightmare at University

Boulevard and I-75 is in the process

of creating another one on the other

side of town at Stickney Point Road

and U.S 41. Randy Benderso n and Sarasota County Comm issioner, Joe Barbet ta

Point/U.S 41 Corridor will endureendless traffic problems, as he

drives into his home in the gatedOaks Complex in Osprey.

By the way, it is highly unlikely

that the Sarasota County Commis-

sioners who are handpicked and fi-

Benderson operates under themotto of not only build it and they

will come, but build it and the pub-

lic will pay for the roads and other

infrastructure needs, which are cre-

ated by his developments.

For example, the Benderson/Taub-man Mall and the Benderson Row-

ing facility were given Sarasota

County Planning and Commission

approval and then constructed, be-

fore any thought was given to how

they were going to move the traffic

along, already near gridlock at the

University Blvd/I-75 Corridor.

What conveniently has flown under

the radar is that the

Benderson/Sarasota County Com-mission lowered the impact fees

long before the public became aware

of the cost to relieve the traffic

nightmare created by Benderson. Of

course Benderson's partner, the

Michigan and Hong Kong based

Taubman Centers will not be re-quired to pay a penny for the traffic

mess they created.

BENDERSON BROUGHT

BUFFALO URBAN SPRAWL

WITH HIMNow once again Benderson, who re-

cently parachuted into Sarasota from

Buffalo and is turning Sarasota into

what Buffalo looks like, wants Sara-

sota County officials to approveanother traffic nightmare on the

other side of town. Fortunately,

before any approval is given to

Benderson to put another part of

Buffalo in Sarasota, the public

must now demand their Sarasota

County Commissioners ask, who isgoing to pay for infrastructure that

will be needed to accommodate

Benderson developments?

What is disgraceful is that Bender-

son, who lives in the gated Oaks

Complex in Osprey could care less

that those who live in Lakewood

Ranch or for those that live in the

neighborhoods near the Stickney

nanced by the Benderson, Neal,

Beruff, and Jensen Gang are going

to vote against the financial interest

of Randy Benderson. This is why

Benderson and his cronies gave

and continue to give thousands ofdollars in campaign contributions

to the five Sarasota County Com-missioners.

By the way the general public

should understand that the five

County Commissioners campaigns

Benderson and his cronies financed

selected the members of the Sara-

sota County Planning Board who

rubber stamp Benderson residential

and commercial projects.


State Rep. Greg Steube
http://www.parisipainting.com/http://www.parisipainting.com/http://www.parisipainting.com/


7/22


MORE TRAFFIC AND

URBAN SPRAWL

and not essentially in the outskirts

of the county. Essentially, you're

creating a mini-downtown in there

with no real economic engine other

than retail," Patterson said

As reported in the Sarasota Herald

Tribune in approving the Bender-

son New Urbanism proposal:

County officials have said they

have had enough of suburban-styledevelopment where subdivisions

are separated from commercial and

By LAURA DIMOCK

Randy Benderson who has cre-ated a traffic nightmare at the Uni-versity Boulevard/I-75 Corridorsince he arrived in Sarasota fromBuffalo is now incredibly propos-ing more development.

Benderson who is the co-develop-

ers with the Taubman's of thesprawling University Town Center

Mall wants to build more commer-

cial and office spacemore than a

half-million square feet of itat

the heavily traveled crossroads on

the Manatee-Sarasota County line.

The expansion would occur north-

east of the mall near Interstate 75.

If approved, which thereslittle

chance of not being approved by a

Sarasota County Commission, which

Benderson buys cheap through

thousands of dollars in campaign

donations, the added stores and of-fices will mean more cars on al-

ready congested area roads.

BENDERSON-PROPOSED

TRAFFIC RELIEF ABSURDBut instead of continually widen-ing roads to accommodate traffic,

Benderson is proposing absurd

transportation alternatives into its

grand plan for the area. Benderson

is proposing a trolley system, bicy-

cle lanes and multi-use walking

paths to alleviate the traffic prob-

lems along the Corridor.

It is almost laughable that Bender-

son is proposing that shoppers

from the areas surrounding the

Benderson/ Taubman Mall and

other Benderson strip malls are

going to use trolleys, walking paths

and bicycles to maneuver around

the University Blvd/I-75 Corridor.

It would be a treat to see Bender-

son using a trolley, a bicycle or

walking along the University

Blvd/I-75 Corridor.

ANOTHER MALL ATUNIVERSITY BOULEVARDBenderson's addition of 600,000

square feet of retailcovering

slightly less land than the footprint

of Desoto Square mall in Braden-

tonwould bring the total retail

space around the University Town

Center area to 2.28 million square

feet from 1.68 million. Office

space would jump from 220,000

square feet to 320,000, according

to Benderson's application, submit-

ted to the county last month.

Work on Benderson additional

sprawl would start less than six

months after the 880,000-square-

foot Mall at University Town Cen-

ter opens in October. It is utter

madness, for this carpetbagger

from Buffalo to propose more

sprawl along the University Blvd/I-

75 Corridor when there is no pro-

posal on the table for when and if

the $200 million in public money

becomes available to alleviate the

traffic nightmare Benderson and

his developer cronies at Lakewood

Ranch have created.

MORE SPRAWL

LESS HOUSINGBenderson who in 2007 promised a

New Urbanism concept with 1,746

multifamily homes, which he has

since reneged on, is now proposingmore sprawl in addition to destroy-

ing wetlands in his new proposed

commercial development.

What the general public is unaware

of is that the reason for Bender-

son's proposing more sprawl, as

was pointed on in another article in

this edition of the Sarasota

Phoenix, is that Benderson was

completely and embarrassingly out

negotiated by the Taubman's in hisMall deal with them.

It is reported that Benderson will

not gain any profits from the Mall

until all of Taubman's construction

costs for the Mall are finalized.

Benderson reportedly will receivedany profits until the Taubman's are

reimbursed for their construction

costs. In addition, all of the Taub-

man's administration costs are re-

imbursed from Mall profits.

Benderson's convoluted financial

plan is to have shoppers drawn to

the Mall, also shopping at his strip

malls. The Taubman might find a

problem with that Benderson plan.For example, the Taubman's may

take Benderson to court claiming

Benderson is taking profits away

from the Taubman's at the Mall.

The last thing Benderson needs is

another law suit like the one Hugh

Culverhouse has placed against him.

This latest sprawl proposal by Ben-

derson is but another result of the

Sarasota County Commissioner

voting in 2012 to approve Bender-

sonsrequest to eliminate a smart

growth community housing re-

quirement from its University

Town Center plans.

This new proposal by Benderson

continues to worsen urban sprawl,

alter needs for public infrastruc-

ture, and imposes negative impacts

on neighborhoods surrounding

Benderson's created sprawl.

What is interesting is that before

approving Benderson NewUrban-

ism proposal in 2008, Sarasota

County officials nixed a previous

276-acre project, citing concerns

over traffic and potential harm to

Sarasota retailers.

In the words of County Commis-

sioner Nora Patterson, "This proj-

ect belongs, to me, in a bigger city

industrial areas, leading to sprawl

and a seemingly endless need to

widen roads. The emerging idea is

to build compact communities

where more people live near their

work and where retail and parks

are within walking distance.

This latest proposal by Benderson

and other sprawl projects approved

by the Commission reneged on

their desires to end sprawl and

endless needs to widen roads.

BUFFALO URBAN SPRAWLI hope people realize what RandyBendersonspromises have van-

ished. Sarasota County and Ben-

derson promised new urbanism

with open walking mall, homes,

rental apartments, moderate priced

housing have become empty prom-

ises--and what they received was

what Benderson brought with him

from Buffalo---BUFFALO'S

URBAN SPRAWL.



8/22


GOVERNMENT WASTE:

Gulf Gate Library is nearing completion.

SARASOTA COUNTY$7.7 MILLION

WHITE ELEPHANT

A NEW

ACRONYM INSARASOTA

COUNTY:

SCAMSARASOTA

COMMISSION

ACQUISION

MALFEASANCE

By JULIETTE JONES, PH.D.

Once again itsJuly and almosttime for the Sarasota County Com-missioners to breeze off for theirmonth long August vacation desti-nations of choice. Last year aboutthis time, this County Commissionreturned the verdict to close downWarm Mineral Springs leaving thepeople of North Port, their guests;

By RICHARD SWIER, SR

Sarasota County, FL is replacingits 30-year old Gulf Gate librarywith a new 27,000 square foot fa-cility. According to the SarasotaHerald-Tribune, One of the chal-lenges, the architects and builderslearned, was coming up with a de-sign that kept the much-appreci-ated cozinessof the old librarywhile greatly expanding its sizeand offerings. The designers saidthey are confident they have beenable to achieve that, at least in partby how bookstores like Barnes &Noble and coffee shops like Star-bucks are able to bring cozy tolarge spaces.

But wait, there is a Barnes &

Nobel complete with coffee shop

and NOOK store less than a half of

a mile from this new facility. But it

gets worse.

Within a one mile radius of this

new $7.7 million dollar county li-

brary are two other brand new li-

braries. The Sarasota County

School Board has within the pastyear opened newly built libraries at

Riverview High School and the

Sarasota County Technical Insti-

tute, which has its own cafe. Sara-

sota County has a total on nine

libraries, each of which is within a

short distance of a Sarasota school

district library and multiple pri-

vately owned book stores.

Sarasota County Commissioners

Robinson, Mason and Hines. Com-

missioners Barbetta and Pattersonare not in the photo.

Question: Why cantthe Sarasota

County library system and Sarasota

County School Board get together

and provide library services with-

out such costly duplication?

Both government entities will find

reasons why not. However, for tax-

payers it makes no sense to have

brand new public libraries in such

close proximity to one another, all

paid for by Sarasota County tax-

payers.

According to Jeremy Greenfield

from Forbes in 2013, Hardcover

book sales in the U.S. are up over

10% through the first eight months

of 2013, according to the latest

numbers from the Association of

American Publishers. At the same

time, adult eBook sales are only up

4.8%; all U.S. eBook sales, includ-

ing childrensand religiouseBooks, are down about 5%.So

people are buying more books,

many online. So why spend this

kind of money expanding a librarywith the intent of competing with

public sector entities like Books-A-

Million, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.

Former Florida State Senator Mike

Bennett notes, I fought for years

in the legislature that we should

have every new library request to

be incorporated into the public

school system. Students are com-

fortable going to the school cam-

pus. I believe that if they arecomfortable going there perhaps

they would also go there to study,

check out books, do research, and

have access to computers after

school hours. They have lots of

parking for others to use the facili-

ties. I agree, this is a waste of

money.

Why waste money by building the

Gulf Gate library in such close

proximity to other adult libraries?

Answer: Because the Sarasota

County Commission can, it is gov-ernment and always knows what is

best for us, no matter what the price.

Dr. Rich Swier holds a Doctorate

of Education from the University

of Southern California in Los An-

geles, CA, a Master's Degree in

Management Information Systems

from the George Washington Uni-

versity, Washington, D.C., and a

Bachelor's Degree in Fine Artsfrom Washington University, St.

Louis, MO. Richard is a 23-year

Army veteran who retired as a

Lieutenant Colonel in 1990. Hewas awarded the Legion of Merit

for his years of service. Addition-

ally, he was awarded two Bronze

Stars with V for Heroism in

ground combat, the Presidential

Unit Citation, and the Vietnamese

Cross of Gallantry while serving

with the 101st Airborne Division in

Vietnam.

and tourists from near and far---youknow, folks who actually use or

visit Warm Mineral Springs---without their vacation choice toenjoy. Commissioner ChristineRobinson made herself look espe-cially ridiculous citing that theCounty couldntpossibly allow theplace to stay open with porta-toiletson the site. Oops Ms. Robinson

I guess you didntvisit oftenenough to realize that your formerOperator, Cypress Lending usedporta-toilets for months on end.

Mr. Barbetta and Ms. Robinson

have written to me insisting that

that the original purchase of WMS

property was with the intention of

economic development or as Ms.

Robinson puts it with the intention

to stir economic development by

making this acquisition.

There is no question that WMS is

already an economic engine for

North Port. In fact, has stirred the

economy in North Port for the past

50 years. The property was put

into public ownership with the in-

tention of insuring public access to

the community and to continue un-

interrupted as tourist destination.(A promise which the County has

already broken.) But chiefly to

preserve and protect as an environ-

mentally sensitive PARKLAND.

This property was not purchased

for the Countysprivate developer




9/22


.

Caraguilo, Barbetta, and B arf ield Paul Caragiulo Chris Brown Susan Chapman

IS CARAGIULO'S

CAMPAIGN IN TROUBLE?

Barfield. Even some of Caragiulo's

supporters are questioning Carag-

iulo's relationship with Barfield.

CARAGIULO'S

FAILED PROPOSALS

As Sarasota City Commis-sioner Paul Caragiulo begins thelast leg of his campaign for Sara-sota County Commissioner, the

once "shoe in" to win, has problems.

LITTLE FUNDS LEFT INCARAGIULO'S CAMPAIGNFirst of all, it is all too apparent

that Caraguilo has little money left

in his campaign to move forward in

the last leg of the campaign, unless

he raises much more money. As of

this date Caragiulo has raised

$46,030 and has expenditures of

$35,735 leaving him at the present

time a little over $10,000 in his

campaign coffers.

One of the troublesome aspects of

his financial reports found in the

Sarasota County Supervisor of

Election office is how Caragiulo

has spent his money and aspects of

how he has raised it.

CARAGUILO'S

COUNSULTANTSFirst of all, Caragiulo has three po-

litical consultants, who are Eric

Robinson, Mac Stevenson and

Kelly Dowd. Caraguilo has paid

his consultants up to this date,

$24,350 of the $35,735 raised.

Stevenson has received $14,000,

Dowd has received $6,000 and

Robinson has received $4,350. Eric

Robinson is the husband of Sara-

sota County Commissioner Chris-

tine Robinson.

In addition, instead of collecting

the necessary signatures needed to

get on the ballot, which Caragiulo

had sufficient time to collect, hav-

ing entered the race for County

Commissioner last October, Carag-iulo spent $4,900 on the filling fee.

Caragiulo no doubt has a problem

gathering signatures to get himself

on the ballot or for issues he sup-

ports. For example, his three cam-

paigns for political office and the

recent "IT'S Time" Elected Mayor

for Sarasota which he headed up,

all failed to get the necessary sig-

natures to get on the ballot.

CARAGIULO'S

CONTRIBUTORSOne disturbing aspects of his cam-

paign finance report is his total dis-

regard for the local campaign

finance regulation to limit one, 200

contribution from one entity con-

tributing to an individual running

for political office in Sarasota.

For example, Caragiulo has re-

ceived 11, $200 contributions from

entities belonging to James Gabbert,who among various business enti-

ties owns large tracts of land east

of I-75 on Fruitville Road that are

prime locations for future re-devel-opment. Caraguilo has also re-ceived 12, $200 contributions from

entities belonging to Chris Brown

James Gabber t

CARAGIULO'S PROBLEM

WITH PATTERSON'S?Brown's involvement with Carag-

iulo raises one of the problems that

Caragiulo's has with his close rela-

tionship with Sarasota County

Commissioner Joe Barbetta. It is

no secret among political observers

that there is no love lost between

Barbetta and Commissioner Nora

Patterson and political influentialSarasota attorney John Patterson.

CARAGUILO'STIES TO BARBETTAIt is also no secret, that Caragiulo

has Barbetta as his political mentor

and is greatly influenced in making

decisions by Barbetta. The political

feud between Barbetta and the Pat-

terson's began when Barbetta ac-

cused Commissioner Patterson of

having an un-due influence on

Sarasota County officials in mak-

ing it difficult for Brown to con-

duct business with his numerous

establishments on Siesta Key.

The feud has intensified and if you

look through Caragiulo list of cam-

paign contribution one see little or

any of the Patterson's numerous

political allies contributing to

Caragiulo's campaign. With Sara-

sota City Commissioner ShannonSnyder in the race, local political

observers will keep an eye on

where Patterson's supporterscam-

paign contribution go, if anywhere.

If John Patterson's recent $200

contribution to Snyder is any type

of indication it appears that Carag-

iulo will not have his depleted

campaign funds be replenished by

those close to the Patterson's.

CARAGIULO'S TIES TO

BARFIELDAnother problem Caragiulo has is

his close relationship with Michael

Barfield, who is one of his major

supporters. Barfield is the local

ACLU president and so called Sun-

shine Law Expert, who Caragiulo

has been using behind the scenes to

make City Hall look chaotic andout of control in order to have his

"IT'S TIME" for an Elected Mayor

referendum get on the ballot.

In addition, Caragiulo has been be-

hind the scenes supporting

Barfield's involvement with Sun-

shine Law violations against Sara-

sota City Commissioner Susan

Chapman, who is an opponent of

his led Elected Mayor Referendum.

Barfield very troublesome criminal

and legal background, which in-

cludes 68 convicted felonies, 3 sen-

tences to Florida State prisons and

Barfield's involvement in numerous

nebulous law suits concerning Sun-

shine Law violations have local po-

litical activists questioning

Caragiulo's involvement with

Another major problem Caragiulo

will have, as he enters the final

stages of his campaign for County

Commissioner, is his recent fail-

ures in getting his proposalspassed. For example, the embar-

rassing defeat of his Elected Mayor

proposal, which could not even get

on the ballot due to the inability of

his and Barbetta's handpicked

"IT'S TIME" organization getting

the necessary signatures to get the

proposal on the ballot.

Kel ly Dowd

The other high profile defeat for a

Caragiulo proposal supported by

his allies at the County Commis-

sion, who are Barbetta and Com-

mission Christine Robinson, is the

defeat of the Marbut Homeless

Shelter being place in the City ofSarasota. A proposal strongly sup-

ported by Caragiulo that would

have placed the chronic substance

abusers, who refuse treatment, in

close proximity of Downtown

Sarasota residents and merchants.

CAN CARAGIULO DELIVER?There is little doubt in the minds of

those who make major contribu-

tions to politicians, tthere are ques-

tions about Caragiulo's political

allies, his troublesome campaign

finance reports and most important,

can he deliver on passing proposals

his contributors want passed. Theirquestion is, can Caragiulo deliver.

The answer to that question with

his record as a Sarasota City Com-

missioner and especially with his

failed Elected Mayor proposal andthe Marbut Homeless Shelter in the

City of Sarasota, the answer is a

definite NO.



10/22


By JON SUSCE

A PERFECT STORM HEADEDWhen the Taubman/Bender-son Mall opens in October a per-fect storm will hit the UniversityBoulevard/I-75 Corridor, but unlikethe perfect storms that eventuallymoves away, the perfect storm atUniversity Blvd/I-75 will continueto cause major problems for an un-determined length of time.

First of all, the traffic is only ex-

pected to get more intense along

the Corridor with more than 40,000

international tourists coming for

the rowing championships, and the

influence of the new destination

mall and some 8,000 more homes

planned for that area.

Stefanos Polyzoides

TRAFFIC PROBLEMSAnyone driving in the vicinity of

University Boulevard and I-75 can

easily observe the traffic is a major

problem today and will only get

worse when the Mall opens up in

October.

It did not take a rocket scientist to

see that Randy Benderson's proj-

ects approved over the last few

years by Sarasota and Manatee

County public officials were going

to cause a major traffic problem

along the University/I-75 Corridor.

Anytime you add infrastructure

like the mall, a rowing facility and

renewed growth in Lakewood

Ranch area you are going to see in-

creases in traffic on the stressed in-

tersection," said Sage Kamiya,

Manatee County's deputy directorof public works for traffic manage-

ment. There is no doubt the loom-

ing construction will disrupt traffic

patterns even more in one ofSouthwest Florida's most con-

gested corridors and millions of

dollars in infrastructure costs will

be needed.

NO PLAN OR FUNDINGUnfortunately, there is no plan to

alleviate the problem and despite

local politicians saying there is

funding to alleviate the problem,

there is no funding plan in place.

There is no public or private fund-

ing in the pipeline to minimize the

serious problems that will effect

University Blvd/I-75 Corridor

come October, as the perfect storm

bears down on the Corridor.

Todd Mathes

The recent "dog and pony" showput on by local state Department of

Transportation (DOT) at the Holi-

day Inn in Lakewood Ranch did lit-

tle or anything to make the general

public aware of the nightmare that

will hit in October. Nor were any

answers to questions to what is

being proposed by local politicians

to alleviate the traffic

nightmare/perfect storm that will

hit in October.

Originally, there was not to be up-

grades until at least 2036, accord-

ing to a long-range plan by a

government board prioritizing

roadway work in the region. The

Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan

Planning Organization had the first

preliminary design work for im-

provements slated for 2031.

POLITICIANS AND OFFI-

CIALS IGNORED FUTURE

TRAFFIC PROBLEMSLocal politicians and various pub-

lic officials were well aware of the

improvement on the infrastructure

was not to begin until 20131, but

ignored the facts as they continuedto approve major commercial and

residential projects along the Corri-

dor.

One of the politicians who had to

know a problem was coming was

Florida State Representative Greg

Steube, who represents the area.

Steube and other local politicians

knew that growing traffic snarls,

increasing annual accident rates

and the fact that a major new mall

was to open later this year com-

bined to make it clear that the state

cannot wait until 2031.

What Steube, his fellow local

politicians and local public offi-

cials fully understood was that not

only would the Mall cause serious

traffic, but an International rowing

event in 2017 and over 8,000 in

new home construction in the

Lakewood Ranch area seriously

added to the traffic problem.

What was a disservice to the gen-

eral public was that Steube and

other local politicians proposal to

the problem has been too little and

too late.

PRASSAD MAKES

PROJECT A PRIORITYFor example, in a meeting organ-

ized by Steube last March that in-

cluded county officials from both

Manatee and Sarasota, Florida De-

partment of Transportation (DOT)

Secretary, Ananth Prasad stated

public funding would be forthcom-

ing. Prasad said he would move the

project up on his priority list and

work to find funding.

DOT officials stated the Legisla-

ture's proposed budgetset for

adoption in Maywill give them

more than enough money to startthe initial design and engineering

work this summer on improving

the Interstate 75-University Park-

way interchange, a project that has

quickly become one of the region'smost pressing transportation needs.

CAMPAIGN CONTRIBU-

TIONS?Could it be that the hundreds of

thousands of dollars being pumped

into Governor Rick Scott's re-elec-

tion campaign by Benderson, Pat

Neal, Carlos Beruff and Rex

Jensen had something to do with

Scott's appointed, Prasad moving

up construction up 20 years for the

interchange at the University

Blvd./I-75 Corridor? Benderson

has already contributed over

$200,000 to Scott's re-election

campaign.

Benderson buying state politicians

to access traffic more easily to his

Mall is similar to Neal, Beruff and

Jensen buying local politicians

Benderson and Blackket termuch cheaper to move ahead proj-

ects planned in the area, which sur-

rounds the University Blvd/I-75

Corridor.

NO RELIEF COMING

FROM TALLAHASSEEUnfortunately, Steube and otherlocal politicians belief that prelimi-

nary work to fix one of the South-

west Florida's most dysfunctional

highway interchanges is on pace to

start this summer, decades ahead of

schedule has had a major setback.

Florida state legislators officially

approved a state budget in May

that did NOT include $100 million

that was to be reserved for a trans-

portation trust fund to alleviate the

traffic nightmare at the University

Blvd/I-75 Corridor.

Prasad had hoped to put $60 mil-

lion of the $100 million toward

constructing a double diverging di-

amond at the interchange of Inter-

state 75 and University Parkway.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?The question now becomes: Will

the Legislature provide $68 million

in direct funding next year for con-

struction of the interchange project

after declining to fund it this year?

In addition, if Democrat Charlie

Scott is elected Governor of

Florida will Crist appointee for

DOT Secretary be as accommodat-



11/22


FOR UNIVERSITY BLVD/I-75ing to Benderson, as Scott's DOT

Secretary, Ananth Prasad?

By the way, the $68 projected cost

is a joke. For example, a proposed

interchange at Central Sarasota

Parkway ten years ago was an esti-

mated $90 million. That inter-

change south of University

Boulevard was not anywhere near

the cost of a double diverging dia-

mond intersection planned for the

University Boulevard area. In addi-

tion over $50 million is needed for

traffic improvements east and west

of University Boulevard.

BENDERSON MAKES

TRAFFIC WORSEWhat is scandalous is that Bender-son who is a partner with the Taub-

man Centers in the development of

Mall, which is the major reason the

I-75 gridl ockperfect storm will hit in October,

has recently announced plans to

open an additional Mall along the

University Blvd/I-75 Corridor.

For example, Benderson is propos-

ing to build more commercial and

office spacemore than a half-million square feet worth of itat

the heavily traveled crossroads on

the Manatee-Sarasota County line.

Office space would jump from

220,000 square feet to 320,000, ac-

cording to Benderson's application,

submitted to the county last month.

The added stores and offices will

mean more cars on already con-

gested area road. The addition of

600,000 square feet of retail

covering slightly less land than the

footprint of Desoto Square mall in

Bradentonwould bring the total

retail space around the UniversityTown Center area to 2.28 million

square feet from 1.68 million.

What the general public is unaware

of is that the reason for Bender-

son's proposing more sprawl is that

Benderson was completely and

embarrassingly out negotiated by

Taubman in his Mall deal with

them.

Mall until all of Taubman's con-

struction costs for the Mall are fi-

nalized. Benderson reportedly will

profits from the Mall will be lim-

ited until the Taubman's are reim-

bursed for their construction costs.

In addition, all Taubman's adminis-

tration and managerial costs are re-

imbursed from Mall profits.

Ed Vogler

DESOTO MALL MATHESIt is Benderson's convoluted finan-

cial plan to have shoppers drawn to

the Mall to also shop at his various

existing strip malls and his pro-

posed mall, which is as large as the

Desoto Mall in Manatee County.

The Taubman's might find a prob-

lem with that Benderson's plan. For

example, the Taubman's may take

Benderson to court claiming,

among other problems they have

with Benderson, that he is takingprofits away from the Taubman's at

the Mall.

TAUBMAN'S RECENTLY

SELLS SEVEN MALLSThere are other problems with the

perfect storm descending on the

University Blvd/I-75 Corridor. For

example starting January, 2014,

Taubman began negotiating with

Starwood Capital to sell seven

malls and on 6/18/14 the Taub-

man's sold the seven mall for

$1.405 billion, cash $785 million

and assumption of $620 in debt.

The sale includes two centers in

Virginia, two in Michigan, one inCharlotte, North Carolina, one in

Plano, Texas, and The Mall at

Wellington Green in Palm Beach

County.

With the Taubman's recently de-

posing of seven of their malls an

indication that the Taubman's are

giving second thoughts to being in

the Mall Business, especially in

taking a $180 million loss in losing

out a Mall venture in Long Island?

The Taubman's lost the $180 Mil-

lion on a sale on 1/31/14 for $39

million to Simon Company.

Also, with Benderson being unable

to use his political connections to

get state funding to alleviate the

traffic nightmare on the University

Blvd/I-75 Corridor, will Taubman'sdecide to sell their interests in the

Mall or force Benderson in taking

on the fiscal responsibility for the

Benderson plans to build a sec-

ond mal l in the same area!

$320 construction loan on the Uni-

versity Center Mall?

BASS PRO SHOPS BY-

PASS MALLIn addition, is the recent decision

by Bass Pro Shops' to enter the

Sarasota-Bradenton market bypass-

ing Benderson's much ballyhooed

Mall for the for the Fruitville Com-mons retail center, which is one I-

75 exit south of University

Boulevard, due to fears of impend-

ing traffic nightmare to hit the Uni-

versity Blvd/I-75 Corridor in Oct.

What is of importance in what is

going on with this impending traf-

fic nightmare that is to occur at the

University Blvd/I-75 Interchange is

that Randy Benderson has a record

of not to be trusted.

BENDERSON PROPOSED

SMART GROWTHFor example, in 2007, after Ben-

derson was originally turned down

to build his mall at his University

Town Center on University Boule-

vard by Sarasota County officials,

Benderson brought in Stefanos

Polyzoides, a New Urbanism guru

from Los Angeles to redesign the

project. With the help of the Cali-

fornia mixed-use architect, Bender-

son turned the rejected plans for its

University Town Center into a

more integrated combination of

stores, homes and offices.

The project still called for three de-

partment stores, but planners added

"live/work" spaces where shop

owners or employees could live

above their businesses, reduced the

maximum building height to 85feet from 134 feet and cut the size

of the theater almost in half.

The town center was to be dotted

with green landscaping, open space

and a long promenade that ends

Florida State Legislature

with a water feature near the L-

shaped grouping of specialty retail

and department stores. The entire

project would be 1.9 million square

feet, the same size Benderson pro-

posed previously. The mix, though,

was changed slightly. Instead of

1.8 million square feet of traffic-producing retail and 100,000

square feet of office space, the re-

tail part was reduced to 1.66 mil-lion square feet with the rest being

offices.

In addition, Benderson's New Ur-

banism University Town Center in-

cluded 1,746 multifamily homes

and 2 million square feet of com-

mercial space. Twenty-five percent

of the residences must be work-

force housing for people earning

between 80 percent and up to 100

percent of area median income.Translated into dollars, workforce

homes will be priced between

$153,000 up to $192,000.




12/22


SARASOTA'S

"FISCAL CONSERVATIVES"MATT WALSH AND HANK FISHKIND

By JON SUSCE

Take a close look around Sara-sota and you can observe the self-proclaimed "Fiscal Conservatives"are once again in control of the fi-nancial and political power.

If you had been any sort of reason-

able and observant individual, you

could have easily recognized the

bovine offal that was being written

and spoken by economic and polit-

ical leaders a few years that was

often designed to take the spotlight

away from developers and pro-de-velopment governmental insiders,

as the culprits who were responsi-

ble for the bottoming out of the

local and state real estate markets.

Take a close look around today and

you can observe the same economic

and political powers that created

the Great Recession in Sarasota are

again preaching their CorporateWelfare Scams. Once again, Matt

Walsh and his Sarasota Observer is

the mouthpiece of those who put us

in near economic disaster. Walsh

once again is promoting the politi-cians that continue to promote a

Fiscal Conservatives that is nothing

more than Corporate Welfare.

Who are these folks? First of all,

there is the mouthpiece of self-pro-

claimed fiscal conservatives, The

Sarasota Observer. For years, while

their developer cronies have been

ripping off public money and land

to increase profits, mostly via egre-

giously low impact fees, the paper

hasn't uttered a word. The housing

market came crashing down and putSarasota at what can only be described

by anyone who took a basic high

school economic course as 'on the

brink of a financial disaster. Mean-

while, the newspapers attempted to

blame the folks that said years ago

that the Emperor had no clothes.

Example: An editorial in The Sara-

sota Observer back in June of 2008

stated this about Bill Earl and his

group, Citizens for SensibleGrowth: "If given their way, they

would ruin the economy and throw

thousands out of work or stop an-other Michigander from fleeing

that states wrecked economy."

WALSH IGNORED EARLY

WARNINGS OF COMING

FINANCIAL DEVASTATIONInstead of attempting to absurdly

blame others for their corporate

Matt Walsh

welfare scams, these "fiscal conser-

vatives" refused to acknowledge

the incredible economic devasta-

tion that they were solely responsi-

ble for creating. For example,

Walsh and those who made Walsh

a rich man publishing his social

and economic babble continued to

ignore individual's like Professor

Robert Shiller, economic academic

at Yale University and co-founder

of the index of the Standard &

Poors/Case. The Shiller index of

house prices, and an economic aca-

demic at Yale University, stated nomatter how you look at the data, its

obvious that the state of the single

family housing market was grim."

Meanwhile, the newspapers are at-

tempting to blame the folks that

said years ago that the Emperor

had no clothes.

But instead of getting out of the

way, they published those ridicu-

lous, inane, and foolish manifestos

appearing in the Observer and

called their opponents "Socialists."

HANK FISHKINDS

"GOLDEN WORDS"As a financial disaster was de-

scending upon Florida, the Sara-

sota Observer is featuring their

mouthpiece, Hank Fishkind, on the

cover of their edition of Gulf CoastBusiness Review. Walsh described

Fishkind, "as Florida's pre-eminent

economist" and, according to the

Observer, "his word is golden."

Just for non-laughs, here were

some of the golden words ofFishkind, who Walsh described as

Florida's pre-eminent economist:

(note carefully the dates):

07/12/06: "We are moving from an

extraordinary real estate market to

a normal market... Southwest

Florida's housing market has been

'on top' for so long that a decrease

will seem unusually slow... Funda-

mentally, this is a great housing

market. (Naples News, 07/12/06)

Hank Fishkind

11/07/06 -- "With the drop in de-mand, prices have stopped rising,

but they have not fallen nor are

they likely to do so. Now that de-

mand has stabilized there is no rea-

son for prices to fall for

Single-family homes (Fishkind

press release / WMFE radio script)

07/26/07 Dire warnings and nega-

tive news about the housing market

are overblown and, outside of

Miamiscondominium market, we

have hit bottom months ago.

(Fishkind on WMFE radio, via nu-

merous real estate blogs)For those failed predictions and

other hallucinatory assessments by

Fishkind, The Observer, in an arti-

cle written by Matt Walsh, recently

rated Fishkind as a '10' on the cred-

ibility scale. I wonder what Walsh

thinks of assessments lower than 10?

FISKHKIND'S "FISCAL

CONSERVATIVE"

SOLUTIONSWhat are some of economic

changes Fishkind (who, according

to Walsh, is economic adviser to

the biggest corporate clients inFlorida), would make in Florida?

Here are some of the changes rec-

ommended by the guru of the local

fiscal conservatives:"

1)unlimited gas tax2)increase of 5 cents in sales tax3)impose sales tax on gas4)gas indexed to inflation5)toll roads6)K-12 public education fundedwith states sales tax

MORE FISHKIND

PREDICTIONS IN 2006In a Fort Myers News-Press articleon 1/6/06 the newspaper noted that

Fishkind recanted his bogus opti-mistic predictions of the past.

However, like a Jehovah's Witness

repeatedly setting upcoming dates

for the Second Coming, Fishkind is

still at it. The paper reports that

Fishkind is incredibly predicting

that the upcoming January election

will definitely turn things around

for the real estate market in

Florida: "If the market is de-

pressed and there are homes for

sale and nobody's buying them,

you can't simply expect that offer-

ing more homes for sale will make

a difference," said veteran Florida

economist Hank Fishkind.

Fishkind predicted in August of

2006 the real estate market had al-

ready bottomed out and was show-

ing signs of a turnaround. He

revised a few months later whenhis prediction in light of the sub-

prime mortgage lending crisis, he

predicted the turnaround would

begin later that year.

If you keep predicting the same

thing over and over and over again,

at some point in time you will get

lucky, the predicted event will hap-

pen, and thus you are a genius.

That would have appeared to have

be Fishkind's and Walsh's modus

operandi here. Unfortunately for

Fishkind, Walsh and those who

created the financial meltdowntheir predictions were as erroneous

as they are predicting today.

WALSH AND FISHKIND

PROMOTE ECONOMIC

IDIOCYOther than for the sake of blind op-

timism or blind luck at hitting the

target, we should believe Fishkind

this time.....ummm, why, exactly?

Walsh and Fishkind's don't pro-

mote fiscal conservatism, they pro-

mote economic idiocy.

By the way, does anyone have any

doubt why Fishkind is economic

adviser to the biggest corporate

clients in Florida? Does anyone

wonder why there is no mention of

impact fees on developers and onlysales and gas taxes that effect

working folks more discrimina-

tory? Could it be why Fishman

words are considered "Golden" by

the so called fiscal conservatives?

WALSH REFUSES TO

SINGLE OUT CULPRITSIN FINANCIAL DISASTERHere are some of the other com-

ments that fiscal conservative

Walsh refused to single out as cul-

prits in the financial disaster that

hit Sarasota:



13/22




14/22


WHOS FINANCING

LOCAL FISCAL

CONSERVATIVES?By JON SUSCE

Who are these local "FiscalConservative" politicians who arebeing manipulate by the BendersonGang with thousands of dollars incampaign contributions? THESARASOTA PHOENIX has on nu-merous occasions suggested, fol-low the money to determine whoare financed by the BendersonGang. What is found at the Sara-sota County Supervisor of Electionsite is the following:

Rex Jensen gave Commissioner

Carolyn Mason, ten $200 contribu-

tions; Commissioner Nora Patter-

son, seven $200 contributions;

Commissioner Christine Robinson,

ten $200 contributions; Commis-

sioner Charles Hines, ten $ 200

contributions. All of these contri-

butions with the same 14400

Covenant Way, Lakewood Ranchaddress.

Rex Jensen

Pat Neal gave Commissioner Car-

olyn Mason, ten $200 contribu-tions; Commissioner Nora

Patterson, ten $200 contributions;

Commissioner Joe Barbetta, nine-

teen $200 contributions; Commis-

sioner Christine Robinson,

fourteen $200 contributions; Com-

missioner Charles Hines, seven

$200 contributions. All these with

the same address of 8210 Lake-

wood Ranch Blvd., Lakewood

Ranch.

Carlos Beruff gave Commissioner

Carolyn Mason, twenty four $200

contributions; Commissioner Nora

Patterson, thirteen $200 contribu-

tions; Commissioner Joe Barbetta,

five $200 contributions; Commis-sioner Christine Robinson, twenty

two $200 contributions. All these

with the same address of 2212 58th

Avenue East, Bradenton.

Henry Rodriquez gave Commis-

sioner Carolyn Mason, six $200

contributions; Commissioner Nora

Patterson, five $200 contributions;

Betsy Benac

Commissioner Joe Barbetta, five

$200 contributions; CommissionerChristine Robinson, five $200 con-

tributions. All these entities at vari-

ous Rodriquez residences and

offices.

Randy Benderson gave Commis-

sioner Carolyn Mason, six $200

contributions; Commissioner Joe

Barbette, nineteen $200 contribu-

tions; Commissioner Christine

Robinson, five $200 contributions.

Commissioner Charles Hines 49,$200 contributions. All these with

the same address of 7978 Cooper

Creek, Sarasota and Buffalo ad-dresses.

Though local campaign finance

laws limit donors to $200 per can-

didate, Neal, Benderson, Beruff,

Jensen and individuals affiliated

with them, as shown above, have

the sarasota phoenix july 2014

Documents

themaio campaign

maio admittedunder oath

maio consulting fees

sarasota countycommissioner

sarasota phoenix

fore waechter

campaign finance reports

waechters political