STOP GROVE BAY

First my Apologies. This is a LONG Letter.

Sometimes a story cannot be told in few words. Please read this entire letter to fully understand the issue of   "Boss Sarnoff"- Influence Peddling and the Three Campaign Checks.  After you have read this Please forward it on to as many people as possible

.Thank you,  Charles Corda

NOTE: If you would like to see the picture of the three checks Please email me directly CRCorda@bellsouth.net I cannot attach the images of the checks here but I will be very happy to email them to you.

Three months ago I stumbled upon a presentation by the developers of the proposed Grove Harbor Project. I came away from that presentation with a very uncomfortable feeling. I assumed, incorrectly, that I would spend a few hours researching the project and once satisfied that nothing was amiss, my life would continue down the gently undulating road I usually travel. In my wildest dreams I could never have imagined how twisted, and tortuous that road was about to become. Like most people I assumed  our elected officials had our best interests at heart. As such, I went about my business paying scant attention to the workings of City Hall.

Yet, as I delved deeper into the Grove Harbor project I began to discover one unsettling fact after another. The more time I spent on it, the more skewed it began to appear. I studied the various codes and master plans that concerned themselves with the Bay front. It appeared to me that this project was in violation of each and every one. I spent countless hours pouring over the Miami Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan, the 2007 Parks and Waterfront Master Plan, The Zoning Code - Miami 21, and of course the Sasaki Plan.

I read and re-read and re-read them all. Then I read them again. 

I was certain I must have been missing something.

How could a project that appeared to violate every applicable plan and code be proposed for this site?

How could  District 2 Commissioner , Marc Sarnoff, be so zealous about promoting this intensive development in light of what I now knew? Commissioner Sarnoff had loudly proclaimed "this development complies with the Sasaki Plan!". I went back to the Sasaki Plan again. I reread it, studied it, put sticky notes on it, yellow lined it, red lined it, , memorized portions of it, absorbed it into my very being.Yet... I could not find anything that seemed to allow or encourage the intensive development that is proposed for this site. Commissioner Sarnoff said the Parking Garage..a mammoth structure more than 350 feet long, was no more than three stories tall.

I am a licensed Architect.I have practiced Architecture for 38 years. I did some very basic calculations. It was physically impossible for this building to be three stories as Sarnoff proclaimed.I checked my numbers again...and again... and again.The result was always the same....6 to 7 stories minimum. A building twice the size of what was being presented.

A building twice the size of what Commissioner Sarnoff was publicly saying it was. How could Commissioner Sarnoff not know what I knew?How could Art Noriega of the MPA not know what I knew?How could the Developer not know what I knew ? How could Architectonica, a renown architectural firm, not know what I knew?


They could all run numbers at least as well as I could.

Something was very wrong here.Literally... the numbers weren't adding up.

It became obvious. It appeared to me that no one involved in and promoting this project wanted the actual size of this building known. I was perplexed...truly and deeply perplexed by this epiphany.I did not want to believe for a minute that our esteemed Commissioner might be lying to us.I tried to find alternative explanations. None would suffice. As incredible as it sounds, the conclusion that we were being deliberately mislead and lied to,  became unavoidable.

What has followed since is even more incredible and as such, equally unavoidable..Once the realization sank in that the Commissioner and his cohorts were deliberately misleading the public about this project I decided it was time for me to act. I started the "Petition to Stop Grove Harbor". That's when things really started to get interesting. As people became aware of the proposed development and signed the "Petition" , Letters and notes began pouring in about the perceived misdeeds of our elected officials - Commissioner Sarnoff in particular.


Letters about Virginia Key. Letters about Watson Island. Letters about The Brickell Trees. Letters about the West Grove Trolley Garage Letters about the Port Tunnel. Letters about Toxic Contamination, "Old Smokey", Blanche Park and Astroturf. Letters about Walmart in Midtown and of course a great many Letters about Grove Harbor.


Each and every letter laid the issues and misdeeds at the doorstep of Commissioner Sarnoff. It became clear in a very short time that a great many people mistrusted the Commissioner and felt that this Grove Harbor Project was just another scam emanating from his office. It also became clear that this ill-conceived development and Commissioner Sarnoff where inseparable. He is the most visible and ardent promoter of this project.This project is his "baby" It would become impossible to speak of this project without speaking of Commissioner Sarnoff at the same time.

I began to talk to people around town.. "Yes they opposed the project.".." No they would not speak up in opposition"

"Why?" I asked.

The answer invariably whispered in my ear ... 

"Commissioner Sarnoff"

People feel threatened by Sarnoff's power.They believe he could make their lives very difficult...believe he could ruin their businesses. Few people I spoke to had any doubts he would do so if provoked. His name was spoken in hushed tones. The fear of Commissioner Sarnoff is palpable. As our group began to grow, we tried to find a meeting space where we could gather to discuss the Grove Harbor Project. We were denied the use of a number of locations around the Grove commonly used for civic gatherings. We were denied support from the various groups and organizations around town. The reason, once again whispered in hush tones...

"Commissioner Sarnoff"

People were, and remain, afraid of Commissioner Sarnoff...

For weeks we had no place for our group to meet, until we were finally offered an open corner in the Bookstore in the Grove. We tried to get support from the Grove BID.. no chance..controlled by SarnoffThe Sailing Club...Sorry..we can't jeopardize our lease. Shake-A -Leg " Sorry Sarnoff will kill our pending grant..the developer has offered us $30,000 we don't want to lose it. The Grove Chamber..No reaction what so ever from the people who would suffer the most if the Grove Harbor project came to fruition.


The Grove Merchants..Again in whispers ....We don't want Sarnoff to send Code Enforcement.Center Grove Neighbors Association.. No Chance.. "Sue McConnell Works for Sarnoff"The Village Council...Firmly under Sarnoff's control through Michelle Niemeyer and Jessica Lewis who steadfastly denied my request for equal time following Art Noriega's and Enrique Torre's pro Grove Horror presentation.

Even Scotty denied our request to meet at his restaurant. I am told he was threatened with immediate eviction if he worked with us.

Something obviously was happening here...Pretty much everywhere we turned we encountered the same obstacle.FEAR of REPRISAL by Commissioner Sarnoff. FEAR of Commissioner Sarnoff.It was beginning to appear to me that Sarnoff was doing everything possible to bully those who oppose him and thereby suppress their right of free speech and freedom of political choice. His political power is growing by the use of threats, fear and subjugation. It became painfully obvious to me we now had our very own "Boss Sarnoff" If you can't suppress opposition to your schemes with simple bullying you have to at least attempt to buy people off .Take the case of Dr. Robert Malone.

Dr. Malone is currently running for the Fifth District Commission Seat about to be vacated by Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones.Spence-Jones is promoting Keon Hardemon.Sarnoff is actively campaigning and raising money for Richard Dunn.Sarnoff has stated he believes Dunn is the frontrunner. He believes Dunn's antique medical tool selection will give him a guaranteed second vote on the City Commission, further consolidating his control of the City of Miami. 

So why on earth Did Sarnoff attempt to "gift" Dr. Malone $1500 for his campaign?

Was it intended as an inducement for Dr. Malone to leave the race?Was it a paltry bribe to Dr. Malone for his cooperation in some form?What was Sarnoff attempting to buy with this unsolicited "donation"?We may never know what purpose this "gift" was intended to serve.We do know Sarnoff made a BIG mistake when he sent those checks to Dr. Malone.Dr. Malone, a truly honest and very capable person, rightly refused to accept the money from Sarnoff.Dr. Malone has stated he has never done business with, does not know the principles personally, and has no particular reason to be associated with the companies who wrote these checks.Dr. Malone immediately returned the three checks to Sarnoff,  and duly noted same on his report to the Elections Department.Finally someone has stood up to Sarnoff.

It was a bold and brave move on the part of Dr. Malone.

Dr. Malone made it known he would accept no gifts from Sarnoff.Sarnoff would not forgive or forget. He is now quite vocal, persistent and insulting in his attacks on  Dr. Malone.Of those 3 checks refused by Dr. Malone,  the one I find most interesting is from the architectural firm Architectonica, the firm responsible for the design of the Grove Harbor project, of which Sarnoff is the primary promoter. Architectonica is also the firm that has prepared the design and drawings Sarnoff is currently using to promote Regatta Park, on the site of the existing convention center.

NO RFP has been issued for the Regatta Park design.

NO PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT was made for the selection of consultants for the Regatta Park Design.


NO COMPETITIVE BIDS of any kind have been solicited by the City. Sarnoff has simply asked Architectonica for a design. 

They have obliged him.Every Citizen of Miami should be enraged over this subversion of the consultant selection process and this doling out of favors. Every Professional Consultant in this City should be livid that such a prestigious commission has been simply handed to someone by Sarnoff. Power and collusion have their rewards.Regatta Park is a very important and significant project. To simply be handed the project by Commissioner Sarnoff tends to suggest that Sarnoff and Architectonica have a very close relationship. So close in fact that Sarnoff can solicit $500 from Architectonica that then goes to seed Sarnoff's influence peddling schemes. 

Why would three checks be offered to Dr. Malone by Commissioner Sarnoff?

Three checks , from three companies, that have no relationship what so ever with Dr. Malone? Why would Architectonica write Dr. Malone a check for $500 , immediately following Dr. Malone's meeting with Sarnoff? Perhaps Sarnoff ordered them to do it? 

Given the circumstances and the origin of all the checks, it seems pretty likely.This is how influence peddling works.

Sarnoff promotes, Architectonica designs the Grove Harbor Project. They are working together.Sarnoff literally then hands the Regatta Park commission to Architectonica. Architectonica then writes a check to someone they don't know and Sarnoff gives it to that person.No mystery here..Quid pro quo. The only problem in Sarnoff's scheme..Dr. Malone rejects the money.Sarnoff is apparently doling out projects and favors in return for cash contributions while the people of Miami are lied to and abused in the process.


This is how power grows:

Bring your friends to the public trough.
Let them imbibe as much as they can.
When the time comes, they owe you allegiance...and some money for you to spread around town when you ask for it.

The end result of all of this...   Unbeknownst to most of us:

We, the People of Miami, 

are living in:

Legal and public processes' are being subvertedOur Right of Free Speech and the right to assembly are being suppressed .An able candidate for office is under siege for his honesty and integrity.Back room deals are not a thing of the pastRampant abuse of power rules the day.Commissioner Marc Sarnoff is at the center of it all.It is time to take control of our City away from "Boss" Sarnoff!Stop him right now from taking our Bay front and giving it to his friends, the Grove Bay Investment Group, LLC

STOP BOSS SARNOFF

STOP GROVE BAY!

This is our fight. 
Grassroots Politics!

Vote NO on Ballot Measure  # 401

Charles Corda  

STOP GROVE BAY

Proof, by Dick Francis

Proof by Dick Francis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I love Dick Francis' novels. He was the Queen Mother's jockey & became a novelist after he retired. His books all have horses in them in some way or another, but each is set in a different industry, which is well researched. This one is set in the wine industry, which I used to work in myself, so of course it is particularly appealing.

The funny thing is, though, as different as he tries to make his heroes, in the end they all turn out to be the same quiet, unassuming, smart, capable guy who can stand immense amounts of pain. Gee, I wonder why?

I last read it so long ago, I couldn't even begin to say when.

View all my reviews

Proof, by Dick Francis

This is just a photo I couldn't get any other way because it had to be embedded.

This photo of Harmandir Sahib is courtesy of TripAdvisor

You Made a Difference. THANK YOU!

You Made a Difference. THANK YOU!

I Beg You, America Begs You: STEAL THIS VIDEO

The two websites mentioned in this video, 

the sites you could go to to get it if they take it off of YouTube, 
are MIA (Missing in Action)

I Beg You, America Begs You: STEAL THIS VIDEO

Happy Holidays Everybody!

Whether it's Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa or however you celebrate, 
have a wonderful time, be safe and be happy!

Build Your Own Snowflake - wonderfl build flash online

Happy Holidays Everybody!

For my Friends and Fellow-Traders in the Stock Market

Is it just me? I can't be the only one that can see this whole horrifying debt-ceiling brouhaha, stock market insanity is totally artificially induced? Actually, there probably are lots of people talking about it on "them conspiracy-nut" shows. But just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean no one is after you, as they say. I apologize about the length of this rant. Bear with me, I've provide appropriate music for you to listen to while you read.

Today I feel like ranting about the stock market, gold, fiat currency, central banks, international conspiracies, The Creature From Jekyll Island, Unequal Protection, and other such delightful topics that could keep a thousand monkeys busy for a thousand years. I have been reading, when I could, over the last couple of weeks, as I've fought to make my daily pittance from the stock market. What used to be interesting, fun, and not terribly time-consuming has turned into an eighteen-hour-a-day nightmare with no end in sight. The guys on the shows on TV have stopped even bothering to put on a coat and tie. It's pushed-up sleeves, 5 o'clock shadows, and open admissions of utter exhaustion.

Every day I watch, read, listen to the pundits expound on such subjects as: Gold is bound to drop terribly. From one such pundit: What good is it, anyway? You can't spend it; after all, it's not money!

They can't be this ignorant right? Nobody could be this ignorant. Gold has been the universal currency that has bought the same number of loaves of bread (or sheep, or cattle) for the same amount of gold since Roman times. And probably long before that. Utah just made it (and silver) legal tender.  With numerous other states following suit. Who paid, pressured, brainwashed this fool into saying such a thing? I think it was on CNBC. (Figures) I would give anything to be able to provide the link...searched my history, even. Needle in a haystack.

And check out this from Donald Trump.

I watch people expound, hold forth, give theories, analyze fundamentals, examine technicals--my thing--as I'm a visual person, although I do my "fundamental" homework too. It's all so much Bull/Bear [take your pick] manure. There is nothing wrong with most of the companies whose stop is falling and rising so precipitously. Their fundamentals, in the most part are fine, as were those of the stock exchange-traded companies in 1929. Terror. It's terror, folks, pure and simple. Well, okay, a huge dollop of greed too.

Lord knows there has been plenty in the past weeks (as our legislators and president have aired our dirty laundry for the world to see) to cause the stock market to plunge despite the excellent  health of the companies involved. But, and here is real, acid test kicker as far as I am concerned. As far as my manipulation theory goes: Can anyone tell me even one single thing that caused things to pick up suddenly at lunchtime Wednesday?  Because for the life of me I sure can't. Not one single positive thing happening in the entire, totally beleaguered, beat-to-death world. Not one. No manna fell from heaven, no one discovered that the holes in the ozone were fixed, or that a no side effects cure had been discovered for cancer. Don't even get me started on that. Or, if you're interested read my article about Essiac--it's a real eye-opener our Big Pharma friends don't want spread around.

Is it some kind of conspiracy of silence that everybody seems to be ignoring this blatantly apparent phenomenon except me? Has the emperor lost his clothes? Am I truly Cassandra, as I've believed all my life? WTF is UP, everybody? Are they/you serious? Or more to the point: Are you blind? Are you living in LaLa Land? Did the stocks just start flying off of the shelves midday on the 10th because Glinda the Good came and waved her magic wand over the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave? Or did the Powers That Be finally (hello, hello, wake up) realize that they had let it go too far and we were for real this time, not a civil-liberty-theft drill, about to tank? Do they think, do you think that because this is the good old US of A it can't happen here? Well, guess what, we're about two paychecks away from it. We're spoiled. And we've got our heads buried in the sand.

It can happen here the first day the trucks don't show up at the supermarkets. Did you know they only keep one day's worth of food on hand? One day's worth of water? This is due to a phenomenon known as "on-demand" shipping. I know a fair amount about this because in the Nineties I was the publisher of a trade journal called The International Journal of Logistics Management that the management of every Multinational Corp in the wold subscribed to. Did you know that even the main branches of most banks have less than $10,000 in cash on hand? According to the manager at my Wachovia main branch, anything much more than that "takes them up to a week to get" It can happen here if half a dozen people, in half a dozen towns decide to go down to a half a dozen banks and draw out their money. It's utterly terrifying to know that's all it could take. FDIC? LMAO

Scenario starting to sound familiar? Well, maybe if you're a student of history or finance. They keep us peons pretty ignorant nowadays. Did you know that we are becoming a Third World country at about the same rate that India is becoming a Middle Class one? WAKE UP PEONS! Oops, I mean PEOPLE. It can happen here. It has happened here before on a grand scale, and ever more often, recently, on a relatively small scale: Earthquakes, Katrina, Andrew and Tsunamis in Hawaii. And as the population pressures increase exponentially, what was a "fun" hurricane party when I was a child is an epic disaster-film subject now. Just insert Bruce Willis. Think about throwing in Global Warming (if your news-provider/church/political affiliation allows you to believe in it.)

 I've let myself digress into the physical. Lets get ethereal. Let's talk about the cloud. Do you know where your money is tonight? Assuming you even have any, in this, the wealthiest nation on earth. Or are you living that fat-cat, it-can't-happen-here, head-wherever, existence I've mentioned? On credit cards and mortgages, perhaps? (Slap, Stop digressing Q) Your money isn't even in a "computer," per se, anymore, much less the bank, and that was scary enough. Now it's somewhere in what I used to call the ether and is now referred to as the cloud. Everything is there. Our whole lives are there, or soon will be. Unless you have large tax debts or a criminal record, you'd better pray the power doesn't go off. But to get back to our money, (no your money--I've already taken care of mine) my God, we can't simply consume and consume and consume, and print more and more and more money and make and export nothing (oops, I was forgetting weapons and young healthy Americans), The main thing we export is debt that is going to allow the people, whom we so ridiculously fear might take us over militarily, simply to collect on their debts and "buy" us. Actually, they're already well on they're way.

So yes, if you're a trader, for God's sake, by all means, trade each day as though it may be your last, because it may. Personally, I'm currently terrified because I got trapped into holding something over the weekend. Quelle horreur! Even if you're not a trader, get you head out of "wherever."

Before the Great Depression my grandfather got a bad feeling and took all of his money out of the bank and hid it in the engine of his car (and several other creative places). Damned good thing. My family had money when everybody else was starving. As you know, the Great Depression was caused by nothing more than panic, no crops failed, no industries were destroyed overnight. And here and now: Pay attention, this is important! A powerful group of "somebodies" has stepped up in the last couple of days to try to stem the panic. Pray that they are successful. I don't like that they exist in the first place, but thank God for them in this moment. I include this famous video of Jim Cramer "fessing up" to point out how easy it is for even one person to affect the movement of the stock market.

Jim Cramer on How Hedge Funds Manipulate the Stock Market Vidéo Enfin-Libre---- sélectionnée dans Actualité

But what you need to do:

Make a plan, do your research. What might you need for how long? Will you need to protect yourself? Have a problem with supplies of food? energy? fuel? Have you become part of the urban-gardening or sustainable-living movement? Who do you think is going to feed you like some baby bird with it's beak open if the trucks stop delivering the food to the grocery stores?

And bury a jar of gold under a rosebush in your backyard. I don't care what that Central Bank/fiat currency mouthpiece was trying to say  about how worthless it is. If the world goes to hell in a handbasket, you'll be surprised how far the universal currency will get you.

And speaking of the universal currency, I just got through watching an interview with one of my favorite young technical traders. He's the Chief Strategic Officer of an analysis website called T3Live.com. Rumpled, sweaty, unshaven, as promised. And he's an Iron Man Triathlete. Think how the rest of us must  feel.

For my Friends and Fellow-Traders in the Stock Market

A Nice Brain Entrainment Piece

I have been using brain entrainment CDs since the 90s. Often with light glasses that intensify the effect on your brain by delivering not only the tones to your ears, but sending a message through your optic nerves as well.  Brainwave Entrainment can be a very powerful form of meditation, and can actually form new neural pathways in your brain and help to synchronize the two hemispheres of your brain.

In 2005 or 2006 (I really can't remember) I began making brain entrainment recordings to use with my clients in my alternative medicine practice. This little piece not one of mine, and is on a wavelength that makes it good for reading or studying or just relaxing, as it doesn't put your brain in a very deep state (Delta or even lower), but rather a theta state that is good for the purposes I mentioned, reading, studying--which it enhances, or just relaxing.

Brain wave entrainment is a very old technology. In fact some forms of it existed long before technology, in shamanic drumming and other meditational and hypnotic practices. Perhaps at some point I will delve more deeply into the history of it and how it works, but for now, this is just for your enjoyment. You can click on the link for a wiki that goes into great detail on how it works and it's history. It is absolutely critical to listen to it with the best possible head phones available to you, as the two tones must go separately into each ear to be effective. Enjoy!

A Nice Brain Entrainment Piece

Just a Quickie

To say that I discovered some comments on long-ago posts that I never knew were there, and have now rigged-up, and tested a system of getting them more reliably (as I don't monitor them, but let people post at will). So to anyone who left a comment a year ago, thank you. :) I was particularly appreciative of the comment by the seviceman on my article "Gratitude, or a Quick Thanks."

Just a Quickie