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| WELCOME! An Online Newsletter of Proud Property Owners, dedicated to preserving our property rights and our neighborhood from the arbitrary dictates of others. | Newsletter Contact: TallyMark@Rocketmail.com May 17, 2009 1845: rubber band patented March & April photo theme: Doorways of Lafayette Park! Enjoy the pictures, chosen at random. Our next theme: we're working on it, in between breaking news. |
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Celebrate! National Historic Preservation Month!! We regret the
choice of words in the following proclamation, which expresses historic
preservation as a tool for managing growth, but we do celebrate our
architectural heritage and support National Historic Preservation
Month, as there is always a joy in seeing a neat old building or
neighborhood in good condition, like a whisper from the past.... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Stunning, Newly-Available
Graphic Shows How Little Support Existed For HPO Rezoning  Click here for larger map (X) +++++++++++++++++++++LPNA Registers 540 Residences on Official City of Tallahassee Neighborhood Association Registration Form. Actual Membership is 73! Following is a quote from the published minutes of the LPNA website: (begin quote) "Lafayette Park Neighborhood Association Meeting MinutesMay 20, 2008 .... 1. Treasurers Report Michaela reported to Jim prior to the meeting. 73 households are currently members in LPNA. 47 of those are lifetime memberships and 26 are annual memberships" (end quote) Click to see the LPNA_form_submitted |
PUBLIC RECORDS SEARCH YIELDS DISTURBING EMAIL EXCHANGES BETWEEN CITY OFFICIALS AND HPO APPLICANT/LPNA PRESIDENT ====================== Private meeting, "strategy session" with City Attorney? Was Planning Director's role in ballot disqualification dictated or manipulated by City Legal Office? ========================= Quotes of interest: (links to full emails are at the bottom of this section) Jim Pfost to Jay Townsend, Assistant City Manager: 1/27/2009 (five days before the planning commission meeting): (Begin Quote) "This may be a little late notice to you but at 2:30 PM this
afternoon we Applicants for the HPO are meeting with City Attorney,
Linda Hudson to discuss some issues before this matter goes to the
Planning Commission." (End Quote)
===========================================Jim Pfost to Jay Townsend, Assistant City Manager: 1/28/2009 (four days before the planning commission meeting):
(begin quote) "We were successful in our quest yesterday to have the recent
Planning Department/Commission "survey" aside as flawed. I
received the message below....
"Wayne Tedder and I spoke this morning and he related that
information has come to light which suggests that the survey-certified
letter process was tainted and he would inform the Planning Commission
of this so that he does not feel the results of that survey process can
be relied upon."
We just want to make sure Wayne does not send out any information
to anyone including the City Commissioners other than the fact that the
survey was tainted and will not be considered or used in any form."(end quote-emphasis added)============================================ Jim Pfost to Mayor & City Commissioners 2-14-09:
_____________________________________________(begin quote) "The City Attorney's Office and the Planning Commission attorney have already advised Wayne Tedder that the survey vote is tainted and should not be considered by the Planning Commissioners." (end quote) Here are links to the full text of the two emails quoted above: (underlining and highlighting emphasis within emails added ) email link # 1 email link # 2 Note: We provided an early copy of this story to Wayne Tedder of the TLCPD who forwarded it to the City Attorney's office. If and when we receive comments which clarify the issues we will be adding them to aid in everyone's understanding of what went on in the meeting and in regard to the HPO process in general.
A comment about the Public Records Search of city documents: I have spent dozens of hours over several weeks, reading seemingly tons of totally irrelevent, meaningless documents that have little or nothing to do with anything. A lot of email junk, for which I've been invoiced for technology time and staff time. It's truly like looking for a needle in a haystack. I've been continually frustrated by my search results being "edited" by the City Attorney's Office, wherein they pore through what I have asked for and seemingly arbitrarily remove what they deem as "not related", "privileged, redundant and non-responsive items." (Senior Assistant City Attorney Linda Hudson's words) Results that took the city's computer a few moments to sort have been delayed for weeks. In other words, there appears to be too much secrecy about this whole City Attorney's Office, especially in regard to the Lafayette Park HPO debacle... [NOTE: see update note in box above.] I intend to keep at it, and I intend to open up the facts to public inspection. I hope, eventually, there will be the same public outrage that I felt when I first went to the Architectural Review Board meeting on October 1, 2008 to express my indignation that someone other than myself had the unspeakable nerve to apply to rezone my own property behind my back. At that meeting, I encountered a true Kangaroo Court. I was told in no uncertain terms that the honorable members of the ARB do not judge right or wrong, they only process architectural matters, and they proceeded to rezone my property over my objections, relying on an application so filled with empty, meaningless forms, and substitutions for genuine documents that at the time and for months afterwards I could only compare them to the movie-style versions of chicago politics, or worse. Any governmental body that will openly abdicate their humanity to the point of ignoring the difference between right and wrong and bragging about it needs to be permanently eliminated and an entirely new system set up. Fortunately, our City Commissioners, after eight months of pure torture to everyone opposed to the HPO, has put the application "in abeyance". However, it has not yet been formally rejected, withdrawn or removed from future consideration. We all remain at risk. I will continue to persevere in bringing to light as much about what went wrong as possible. We need to know all of the truth. This partisan secrecy within the City Attorney's Office has got to end. reported by Mark S. Daniel |
Our Opinion
These
emails tell a very interesting story:
Apparently a private strategy meeting was held between Senior Assistant City Attorney Linda Hudson and possibly other city attorneys and the HPO applicants, including Jim Pfost, and unknown others. You have to come to your own conclusions on what really happened, and consider the credibility of Mr. Pfost, the individual writing the emails. Many questions arise.... However, as an apparent consequence of this meeting (and prior to the the February 3 Public Planning Commission meeting) all proponents of the HPO were presumably aware, in advance, that the City's Certified-Mail ballot would be killed, and therefore prepared a huge agenda with everyone getting up and speaking.
One of those emails has an extensive list of reasons why the LPNA
in-house "vote" should be considered as the determining vote to
represent the "will of the majority". What is NOT MENTIONED is the
fact, told me by Mr. Jim Pfost, himself,
was that LPNA did not even send ballots to the 30% (+) of property
owners in Lafayette Park who do not reside in their property. Only
homesteaded parcels received the opportunity to vote on the LPNA ballots.
They would also have presumed, correctly, that by relying on the ballot, the very large majority of neighborhood property owners opposing HPO rezoning would not make a significant preparation to defend their position, as they would consider it redundant in light of the overwhelming vote of more than two to one against HPO. Furthermore, the LPNA ballot was NOT a vote to accept HPO rezoning. It was solely a vote to pursue further inquiry into Historical designation of the neighborhood: the plaques, the colorful street signs, etc--NOT rezoning, and NOT acceptance of rezoning...merely further pursuit of the idea--more research, if you will. (note--copies of vote material have been found and will be forthcoming in a future article...) This rigged vote was sold to the city as a genuine ballot with participation by all of the property owners, showing an overwhelming outcome in favor of rezoning--an outright lie. |
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What went wrong with the Historical Preservation Deal? Everything!! Step-by-step Process Review!Anyone who would like to pick one of the following topics, (or more than one) is free to add their two cents' worth of information for consideration in upcoming articles on the topics. Public Domain and private letters, emails, etc are welcome for inclusion to illuminate how a governmental process was taken over and made into a private agenda to control a neighborhood for private purposes. The more input available, the better an article will be...contribute! The Application LPNA (Lafayette Park Neighborhood Association) role --Claims of neighborhood representation ? --Voting irregularities and secrecy? --Neighborhood boundary re-definition? TTHP (Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation) role --Application preparation? --Application forms? --Property surveys? --Applicant legality? Architectural Review Board Review --City Attorney Missteps? --City Attorney Bullying? --Trampling of Owners' Rights? --Lack of Proper Notice/lack of any notice for new applications? --Make up of the Board? --Applicant legality? --Acceptance of Application? --Refusal of Citizen/Owner Input? --New Applicants? PRESTO!? Tallahasse-Leon County Planning Department --Acceptance of defective applications? --Acceptance of altered applications? --Acceptance of LPNA statements without question? --Acceptance of LPNA "vote" as genuine? --Acceptance of ARB actions? --"Open House" discussions and minutes... --Continued acceptance of defective applications? --Certified mailout ballot..and rejection of results? Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Commission --ARB member conflict of interest? --ARB member attempt to eliminate discussion --Public Hearing Feb 3, 2009\ --Public Documents: what was included / what was withheld? --Effect of "last minute" vote disqualification --2nd Public Hearing...what happened & why. Tallahassee City Attorney's Office --Private agenda supersceding public legal process? --List of decisions by Staff attorneys and the consequences on citizens and the process. --Denial of public access to public documents? --Behind-the-scenes manipulation of public officials? --Structure of Responsibility and Consequences City Commission & Mayor's Office & City Manager's Office --Failure to respond to public's communications --Dispersion of public documents to avoid scrutiny? --Public's outrage over non-response? --Finally, a Wake-Up Call and Reaction --Call for Abeyance Current Status: The Future of Historic Preservation --Damaged Forever? --Myers Park's Burden..Legacy of Shame... --What's Next? Current Legal Status. ___________________________________ PUBLIC CALL FOR INFORMATION for FIRST ARTICLEI want to put together an article for this website on the Lafayette Park Neighborhood Association (LPNA) in relation to this HPO application and have some questions that need answers. Perhaps you can help or you can forward this to neighborhood people who have more information than I have.Was the Lafayette Park Neighborhood previously defined to include the north side of Sixth Avenue and both sides of Seventh Avenue? Were there members of the LPNA living along those streets? And, similarly, was Marion Avenue and further east to Magnolia ever considered as part of Lafayette Park Neighborhood, with memberships there?If either of these portions of the neighborhood were included as part of the "official" Lafayette Park Neighborhood at any time in the past, when were they dropped? They are most definitely NOT included in the formal application made to the city for nomination as historical neighborhood. Is there a connection with the vote related to this? Were any persons or property owners in these possibly "banished" zones asked to vote, or sent a vote form, by the LPNA on the HPO?Has the LPNA ever released the actual outcome of the vote to anyone, or does anyone have a copy of it? Does anyone know the true vote--who voted, who received ballots, which way they voted? Why is there so much secrecy over something that was promoted to the City of Tallahassee as a public vote?I appreciate any help anyone can provide. Please encourage anyone wishing to reply to feel free to provide copies of any e-mails or othe records related to this subject. I will be happy with as much personal recollection as anyone is willing to provide. I will provide confidentiality to whomever requests it, if that is what it takes to find out what really has happened, although I would prefer to be able to present what I learned publicly, without any secrecy, as I am looking for truth that can open up what has been secret for too long.Replies from anyone to TallyMark@RocketMail.com will be appreciated. Thanks! Mark Daniel |
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We Have a Say to Help Stop the Flooding--Stormwater Engineers Listen to Residents Concerns. Flooding on McDaniel St., Martin St., Williams St. & Miccosukee Rd. discussed Site Plan Discussion Proposals Presented...(More Info..click here) ..................................................... The attached Legal Notice from the City of Tallahassee was officially published in the Democrat on Sunday, 15 March 2009: ALL PROCEEDINGS ON THE PROPOSED LAFAYETTE PARK HISTORIC DISTRICT NOMINATION HAVE BEEN PUT IN ABEYANCE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE SO THAT CITY AND ARB STAFF CAN DEVELOP NEW PROCEDURES FOR PROCESSING HISTORIC DISTRICT NOMINATIONS. While welcome and encouraging news, this action by the City does not mean that we can relax our vigilance. This process will require our diligent review and monitoring. This great news is the result of the continuing dedicated efforts of everyone in the Lafayette Park neighborhood who have taken a principled stand to protect our collective property rights. ...T. Michael Hines |
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HPO Zoning as a weapon: citizens
against citizens--Read the story of the Myers
Park Student housing "invasion" and the
terrible repercussions for Tallahassee ever since...(Click Here) |
 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Silence is a Vote! Make your objections heard. This isn't over, yet! Help change the law! Speak out - write the City! Click here for the links page. |
We have a significant, but temporary win, over
the City's efforts to take our property rights away. We
have a right to celebrate, and know in our hearts that we
made an effort that counted. It changed the minds of some
of the people who didn't care that we had rights that
were being taken.
I think everyone who walked the streets, door to door, from as far back as a couple years ago, everyone who wrote a letter or email, everyone who spoke to someone against this, everyone who filled in their notice forms and sent them in, everyone who voted--we can all hold our fist to our chest and say, "I made a real difference!" I congratulate each one of you, and thank you for helping us all save our property from a terrible process. Savor and enjoy the success! That's what I'm doing. And then, come next week sometime, we have to buckle down and get started on efforts to finish the job. That application is still out there...only "in abeyance", NOT rejected. We have a right to closure on this. We have a right to go on vacation and come back without wondering if someone else came along and rezoned our property while we were away. And we will have to fight for that right. But meanwhile, it's garden time.... Thanks again, everyone, for doing the part you did. We are all the heroes of our own neighborhood! |
Petition presented to
City of Tallahassee! Parchment containing hundreds of
neighborhood resident's names in opposition delivered to
Mayor! Click to view.... _________ Freedom is the hallmark of our great nation. Simply put, with freedom, everything is legal, unless it is declared illegal. And if something is illegal, it is equally illegal for all. The opposite of freedom is totalitarianism. Simply put, with a dictatorship, everything is illegal, unless it is declared legal. And it is only declared legal on a case-by-case basis. Examples include North Korea, Myers Park Neighborhood, and the almost Lafayette Park Historic Preservation Overlay zoning. |
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Historic Preservation and
Overlay Rezoning-- What It's For And What It's All About The City of Tallahassee has a Land Development Code which allows homeowners to apply to designate their home as an historic structure or place, and receive recognition of this designation by placement on the National Historic Register. Coupled with this designation is the option, if chosen and acceptable to a homeowner, to place an "historic preservation overlay" on their property, which adds to the zoning restrictions on their individual property. These restrictions add a mandatory review of any architectural change done to the property (forever) by the Architectural Review Board. This board then has absolute authority over the review of any changes, and is empowered through the city codes to enforce, penalize, fine and fully control any physical changes occurring to whatever portion of a designated historic property is visible from the street. If a homeowner chooses not to accept the option of having the rezoning overlay, they are still able to avail themselves of the advice and resources of the Tallahassee Historic Trust plus some funding grants to maintain and improve their home with genuine historic preservation as a goal. However, there are some permit fee reductions which are not available to registered-only properties. But don't be swayed--the fee savings are nothing compared to the loss of control over your property. You might as well sell your property for only half its value and pretend you got a good deal. The purpose of the rezoning overlay is to make a permanent, and irrevocable surrender of all basic decision rights on what can be done with the visible part of a designated home. This is a very unusual and legally powerful restriction, and was developed primarily as an aid for an owner or a trust to preserve a home from beyond-the-grave, such as in the case of a particularly significant historic structure which has become nationally recognized as a treasure of the nation, and which has received enormous investment and commitment from owners who wish their historic commitment to continue, but have no heirs upon which they can rely. It works best with well-funded endowments, as there are significant costs to following the mandates of a committee made up of public employees who do not have any financial considerations included in their discussions. Perversely, in Tallahassee, where the relative lack of truly historic structures leaves a fairly uninformed, inexperienced public and government, the tying of the normal National Historic Registry with the highly restrictive, expensive and punitive Historic Preservation Overlay (HPO) rezoning has become "normal" because it started out with a few special structures and the method was copied for subsequent nominations. This is a tragedy, as so many non-historic homes are becoming "legal volcanoes": their very existence is threatened by the rezoning, and the owners and community do not understand that a resulting loss of ownership or the non-preservation of such homes is a very real possibility. Problems which threaten such a legally-protected structure include City fines (which become liens), constant intrusion by varying committees into every architectural modification (however small), meddling governed by subjective opinions which change over time, and the natural inertia resulting from bureaucratic interference which slows or stops the all-important timely maintenance necessary to preserve a home from decay. The owners of properties with this protective overlay zoning just have to deal with the added costs, extensive and elaborate paperwork requirements and frustration that goes with doing government work on a private owner's budget. And the permanent loss of marketability and value. There is more, and we'll discuss it in a later article. |
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