The St. John's University School of Law Bankruptcy Blog ( just in case you need it )

American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, St. John's University School of Law

Cool Tool (Palm Bay GIS Mapping)

Is this about QUALITY or QUANTITY?

Federal Economic Stimulus Projects/Programs

Our nation, state and city are experiencing very tough economic times and we are grateful for the opportunity to pursue federal and state stimulus dollars for projects that are designed to jump start the economy, create jobs, reduce operating costs, improve the environment and enhance the quality of life for our community. We are committed to aggressively searching for all appropriate and available grant opportunities that may result in additional federal stimulus dollars to accomplish projects in the City of Palm Bay. More Info

OOPS! Did Someone Forget the "Environmental Impact?"

It's so easy, even a caveman would have remembered.

THE END IS NEAR for the St. Johns River Headwaters - Very Near.

When you hear about the proposed Palm Bay beltway, or St. Johns Heritage Parkway, you’re hearing the ominous sound of the greed-driven demise of the St Johns River headwaters.   PLEASE REFER TO THE INTERACTIVE AERIAL MAP HERE (right click “open in new window”)

 

If Palm Bay and Sebastian have their way,  in the not so distant future you’ll be able to eat at a McDonalds  in what was once the pristine headwaters of the St Johns River.  You’ll be able to build your new home in what was once the habitat of a native otter, and run in to the corner Walgreens, built right in that spot where the gators used to lie in the sun for longer than anyone can remember.  You’ll be able to sit sweltering at a stoplight, glaring at a red-light camera where once you could sit under the trees and appreciate the distant sounds of a songbirds as the sun set over the horizon.  Wow!

 

Just as Mold and fungi spread where conditions are favorable, so carpetbagging developers (like mold and fungi) find conditions extremely favorable to the west of Sebastian and Palm Bay.  West as far as the eye can see.  The only thing in their way is the environment, which apparently is not considered to be much of an obstacle.  Why else would anyone ever consider massively developing this relatively remote and uninhabited area?  NO INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE!

 

With “growth” it’s never about what you think it is.  It’s never about what they’re selling you at the moment.  It’s about getting the most favorable conditions for investors. It's about a great big sucking sound of money leaving the local economy as those investors harvest their returns. Once the public has paid for the new roads and utilities (infrastructure) the "completed" development becomes the jumping off point for even MORE development. That is the track record, it works for them, why should they change now if they don't have to.  Period.

 

There is no demonstrated need for it.  These developers are the same people who brought you the hedge funds.  They use other people’s money. They got you those loans you can’t recover from to buy that house you can’t get anything for.  Their letterhead is new, their front corporations are different, and their eyes are now on mining the bailout/recovery funding.  They now call their schemes “building the economy”,  “creating jobs” and “upgrading the infrastructure”.  As in the past, they will take anybody and anything for all they can,  continuing to grow their “bonuses” with every dollar they bring in and with no intention of ever looking backwards.  You don’t really think they’re investing any of their OWN money into this do you?

 

Dig up the dirt in one place, dump it in another, stick a few baby trees in the ground, unroll some lawns and you have what today goes for “real estate”.  If you buy when there is an economic depression, or in a third world country, you can get it real cheap.  If you give a slice off the top to the local elite, and can convince everyone who controls the area (the chiefs, the tribal councils, the politicians) that your plans will be of great benefit to them, give them a few perks, they will even give you all kinds of exemptions.  “We’ll worry about those things later if they become a problem”.

 

The threats to the Amazon Rainforest are  equally relevant for the St Johns River basin.  Get a good look, because it’s going away if these “leaders” are going to be allowed to continue having their way.  You’ll be offered beads and blankets in exchange for your heritage (yes, when you moved here you assumed a shared responsibility for the future  of this natural environment). 

 

Question is, will you accept or decline.  And whether you live near the headwaters, or as far away as Jacksonville, or even Washington D.C. your children and grandchildren are guaranteed to have to live with  the consequences of your choice.

 

 

 

Winona Laduke, on Sustainability

UCF VIDEO PRESENTATION: Winona LaDuke, director of the Honor the Earth Fund, talks about conservation efforts on her reservation, and the lessons modern society can take from indigenous peoples such as the American Indian...

Florida F.A.C.E.OFF. (Fight Against Code Enforcement OFFice)

What You Can Do to Help Eliminate Abusive Code Enforcement

DOWNLOADABLE DESKTOP WALLPAPER 1024x768

 

Weldon's list includes $2.76 million for the St. Johns Heritage Parkway

Officials even changed the name from “Palm Bay Parkway”.

Earmark for Palm Bay parkway no cinch

Posted 3/31/2008 10:03 AM EDT on floridatoday.com

 

Visual Tropical Weather Conditions Monitor

Total Precipitable Water - Global Animated weather

TCPalm Editorials show better grasp of the situation than Brevard Media

THUMBS DOWN: A "no" vote will instruct officials to reduce spending and apply the brakes to the development machine when the next growth spurt comes.

 

Palm Bay approves $1.4 million parkway land buy

160 acres to help create road connecting Brevard near Micco Road to Eau Gallie Blvd. in Melbourne

PALM BAY, done in the spirit of concern for the public welfare

If managing the economy of Brevard County, and in particular Palm Bay, were directed with the spirit of genuine concern for the public welfare it might be managed a little differently than it currently appears to be. 

 

Specifically, two HUGE sectors of governmental responsibility seem to be completely ignored, except as required specifically by the letter of the law. The letter of the law being used almost proudly, as the excuse to ignore them.

 

1.       The true effects of development on the economy.  The science being applied here is arrogantly monolithic: “Development is good because it stimulates the economy, therefore let nothing stand in the way of development.”  Scientifically, that is a completely unsupported theory, the only science here coming from a clique of biased profit-seeking big frogs in a small pond or their clone wanna-be’s. Different things are impacted differently. Some positively, some negatively. Where's the data? What is being sacrificed to gain what?  Consider the drop in home prices as a factor which extends significantly beyond the holdings of this vested power block.  You, as a home owner, have lost 1.7% of the value of your home in the last month. That's a fact.  If your home was worth $100.K that means your economy POOF! Lost $1,700 in value.  Multiply that times the number of homes (let’s say 20,000) that comes to $34,000,000.00 in one month.  So the citizens of Palm Bay lost $34 million dollars last month.  (The actual statistics suggest the probability of  closer to double that amount.) The dominating wisdom we are to unquestioningly accept is that the development of new homes is somehow going to improve our situation.  What is not discussed  is how this could factually come about.  Do you believe that BUILDING MORE HOMES WILL INCREASE THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME OR HELP STABILIZE ITS VALUE?  If you believe that, you might be interested in trading your house for some blankets and beads.  It is time for a conditional moratorium on new construction ( until the FULL economic  impact is scientifically addressed in a credible manner ). It is obvious that to permit building of  more homes in the current financial climate is to deliberately  keep existing home prices down.  Yet do you see your  personal loss offset by anything the City is doing?

2.       The contribution of development to Climate Change and the related impact on the economy and much more.  The science being applied here is less than monolithic.  It is Out-To-Lunch.  It’s crisis management, let’s deal with it when it becomes a problem.  Traffic consumes fuel, consumes our time, generates pollutants, creates heat, and roadways carve up the community endlessly.  Yet streamlining traffic to improve the situation  (new roads, lanes, etc.) becomes compromised immediately by permitting new shopping centers and developments to adhere themselves like parasitic ticks right at the core of those improvements.  The result is that the roads are just as slow as before the improvements, and the initial purpose for spending the taxpayers money has simply been switched to providing cheap and instant accommodation to any developer who wants to build.  The square feet of asphalt just keeps exploding, the runoff just keeps increasing, the water consumption just keeps going up, the amount of sewage just keeps expanding.  The dominant theory seems to be that we can just keep doing this forever and no one can stop us.  But the garbage dumps fill up, the aquifers gets depleted,  the temperature keeps increasing (because of the pavement, roofs,  traffic and the destruction of trees), and the wildlife keeps being driven off.  The noise and light pollution keeps increasing, and  that scenario does not begin to take into account the addition effects of the very real climate change that is affecting us from global sources (more severe hurricanes, sea level increase, changes in rainfall and temperature, etc.).

 

It’s apparent that governmental leadership in our corner of the world is lacking some important qualities, and perhaps the only method we can apply to protect our future is to amend some of the LAWS AND CODES OF OUR COUNTY AND CITY to force compliance from the governing bodies.  How? What could possibly succeed?  Maybe this would have some effect:

 

1.       Impose impact fees to new developments calculated in direct proportion to that development’s projected true ten year impact on the community, above and beyond what has historically occured in the area with similar developments.  STOP USING TAXPAYER MONEY TO IMPROVE A LOCATION (ROADS-UTILITIES-SCHOOLS) BEFORE A DEVELOPMENT IS BUILT SO THE DEVELOPER CAN –LIKE A PARASITE- PIGGYBACK ON THE TAXPAYERS FOR FREE.

2.       Establish an independent environmental review agency, not to compete with existing environmental agencies, but with a clear charter to co-ordinate the activities of the multiple agencies and departments currently responsible growth and development, holding them up to a standard of conditions including quality of life and sustainability, which must be addressed before a development can be allowed to proceed.

3.       Mandate that the existing budget exists to provide evenly distributed services to the current residents of Palm Bay. Similar to the business principle "F.I.F.O." or First In First Out. Any appropriation not directly servicing or not evenly servicing the existing residents of Palm Bay must be paid for by the beneficiary of that service.  The citizens of Palm Bay will not be asked to assume responsibility for any bonds or other future forms of indebtedness. 

Palm Bay unemployment (Another 5 Years of GLOOM?)

Metro unemployment database - Enter "FLORIDA" and "Palm Bay" area.

Rising seas, rising trouble, for US Eastern seaboard projected

http://anetstation.com/globalwarming.htm

The New Environmental contamination - (coming soon to a piece of sky near you?)

Are You Being Watched? The blimp flying above your head may be watching your every move.

The Capitalist Manifesto: Greed Is Good (To a point) By Fareed Zakaria |

 NEWSWEEK STORY

New park, boat ramp in Grant costs 0ver $5 mil.

Hazards riddle land for new park, boat ramp

 

South County Boat Ramp Renamed To Christenson’s Landing

 

Brevard budget cuts don't sink planned U.S. 1 boat ramp

 

1st Street Boat Ramp Park

First Street Boat Ramp
4727 1ST St
Grant Valkaria, FL USA 32949

A GAZILLION? FACTOIDS AND STATISTICS ABOUT PALM BAY

http://www.city-data.com/city/Palm-Bay-Florida.html

TrafficLand get access to over 500 Florida DOT traffic cameras

From Traffic Technology Today

Map of the future of Palm Bay? NO INFO ON WHY

MAP LINK

Massive retail, housing and office development in southeast Palm Bay, No info as to WHY

Massive Development Story

SEE ALL PALM BAY FORECLOSURES AT REALTYTRAC

SEE ALL PALM BAY FORCLOSURES

EXPLORE THE PALM BAY CITY WEB SITE (GOOGLE!) to get it all.

SEARCH IMAGES LINK: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=site%3Apalmbayflorida.org&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

 

SEARCH DOCUMENTS LINK: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Apalmbayflorida.org&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw

Local mainstream news for Palm Bay, FL (But there's more)

http://www.topix.com/city/palm-bay-fl

Healthcare Even If You Have No Health-care Insurance

http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov (US HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WEBSITE LINK)

 

Federally-funded health centers care for you, even if you have no health insurance. You pay what you can afford, based on your income. Health centers provide

• checkups when you're well
• treatment when you're sick
• complete care when you're pregnant
• immunizations and checkups for your children
• dental care and prescription drugs for your family
• mental health and substance abuse care if you need it

Health centers are in most cities and many rural areas. Type in your address and click the 'Find Health Centers' button to find health centers near you.

Please contact the health center to schedule an appointment or find out if the health center may provide services even closer to you.

FEMA may put storm victims in foreclosed homes (Ideas whose time have come!)

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bk-fema-foreclosed-houses-060309,0,2947002.story