Bob Ford Needs Some Help
The following excerpt from last Tuesday’s Workshop shows Bob Ford speaking up for building the berm to keep Dunlawton Avenue from flooding. A berm which, by the way, we have already paid to have engineered and permitted and was removed from the project in a backroom deal involving the Mayor, the Quentin Hampton engineers and the Public Utilities engineer. Ford was the only Council member to speak truthfully about the facts surrounding the berm removal and it really makes me wonder what a different direction Council would take if he had some support from the other members.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aua2TBlA8I?rel=0
Right now the rest of Council doesn’t give us much hope for a better future:
- Don “Budget Busting” Burnette has never met a dollar he didn’t want to spend. Famous for phrases like “dream big” and “don’t be constrained by your budget” he’ll spend a lot of words talking an issue to death and then spend a lot of dollars squeezing the budget to death.
- Scott “Rubber Stamp” Stiltner has figured out that putting his seal of approval on whatever “staff recommends” is the easy way out. Never mind that staff has consistently misled Council in the past. Oh well, lots of easy cheerleading and ribbon-cutting work out there, Scott.
- Poor ol’ Drew “Bouncing Ball” Bastian is about as rudderless a ship as you’ll ever see. Never can tell which way he’ll vote, but lately he seems to have bounced into the court of the “Go Along to Get Along” team. (Did he really miss the Workshop to go bowling? Keep it out of the gutters, Drew.)
- Then there’s Mayor “T-fal Al” Green who, just like the nonstick skillets, wipes clean no matter how much dirt he steps in. Our small-town southern version of Boss Tweed, the mayor does not want to be called a politician. Just a good ol’ boy volunteering his time to make Port Orange a better place for his herd.
The only hope seems to be to get Bob Ford some help in the 2016 elections. Otherwise we’ll just have to keep our heads down and our wallets open while Mayor Green and the rest of them lead us to greener pastures next year, and the next year……..
Mike Gardner
618 Ruth St
Port Orange, FL 32127
386-527-1959
manddgardner@cfl.rr.com
T-fal Al reminds me of when Bill Clinton used to be called Teflon Bill for the same reason. Mayor Green Jeans is a lot like Clinton in other ways too. I think Clinton said something like: a lot of people can be sold on tax increases if they think of themselves as investors.
One thing for sure, he knows all about the berm and gave his blessing to whatever really happened. Just like he knows where every shovel of dirt came from in this town and how much was used to bury the bodies.
Ford better watch his back.
Don’t know about him burying bodies…… but I did hear he dug some up. Wonder where them bones went.
I agree with Mike Gardiner. Bob Ford has been twice on the wrong side of issues for me, but overall he fights the old way of doing things in Port Orange which I am all for. Bob used the word “sneaky”. And there it is folks, the word that sums up practically all the mistakes which Sonya Laney admitted has happened in Port Orange. Can a mistake really be “sneaky”? It is a struggle to get transparency here in Port Orange. Special financial interests do not want transparency, they feel more comfortable in the old Port Orange. Did you know the mayor was born in Port Orange? Did you know he does not want you to hear him when he speaks, and that he does not know how to use e mail? See what we up against in Port Orange. Yes, the mayor has said people who want to keep taxes down are not good citizens, and the mayor does not consider himself a politician? See what we are up against here in Port Orange?
Very true, Henry. I have disagreed with Bob Ford on some issues, but he is still by far the most forthright of the group and his core philosophies are mostly right on the money. Just wonder how much more effective he could be with another voice of reason saying the same things. It must get old being only one among five even when you’re right all the time. Much easier to be a “go along to get along.”
Many fingers pointed and accusations against the Mayor in the past two years. Yet nobody has found anything sustainable to call for his resignation or ouster. Even the Council members seem afraid of the man and refuse to post him up.
Thus far, Councilman Stiltner has been a disappointment. Pretty much like Kennedy was except Stiltner is better spoken.
For what good they are doing we might just as well left Kennedy and Pohlman in their seats. Ditto for Mary Martin because Stiltner Bastian and Burnette have been total losses.
Especially Stiltner. I can’t remember the last time a politician abandoned his campaign promises as quick as Stiltner has. Remember his promise to get rid of fluoride in our drinking water. His word has proven top be worthless. Mr ‘no nonsense’ has been replaces with Mr ‘go along to get along’ right on down to convincing a talented young lady to parade around Council chambers in a silly 10 cent crown.
When it comes to voting against the berm Stiltner is going to realize he screwed with the wrong neighborhood.
SHAME ON STILTNER. BASTIAN AND BURNETTE
This council is a let down. I thought Scott Stiltner would be more of a free thinker but I guess I should have know ex cops are anything but free thinkers. They are trained to defer to authority so when “staff recommends” you can see why he just goes with the staff. I actually thought he would stand up for something when I voted for him but I am yet to see him show much courage on any issue. The one item he showed some passion for was his outrage that the county was building bleachers at the football field in NSB and not at SCHS. Not really a city council issue but I guess its good to stand for something regardless of how insignificant an issue.
The good news is that Drew Bastian can be and should be voted out in the next election…. and I dont think he will have much support from the local unions so it should be an easy seat to win for another candidate. Your stock is dropping Drew…Enron comes to mind
My favorite thing to see from Don Burnett is how he tells you how much he disagrees with something then thinks its ok to turn around and vote for it as long as he prefaces his vote with the phrase ” Im holding my nose” or “Im not happy about it but…” Then goes against everything he just long windedly told you he did not like. What a wind bag.
Bob Ford does need help on Council.
That became evident in his 2010-2012 when the Mayor had his 3 pocket votes in the persons of Burnette Pohlman and Kennedy. Ford was on the losing side of a lot of 4-1 votes,
AND like Gabe Athouse notes Burnette is a complete loss. He is a childish wind bag who put his finger in the air on day 1 and has never looked back in voting his liberal ideology in ways that he perceives will benefit his next election. He can be counted on for zero assistance on anything not benefiting Don.
That changed somewhat during 2012 -2014 when Bastian replaced Pohlman leaving the Mayor with only 2 pocket votes Burnette and Kennedy, AND while we had more 3-2 votes Drew’s ideology remained elusive and his vote unpredictable issue by issue.
That was all supposed to change in 2014 with Stiltner replacing another of the Mayor’s pocket votes Dennis Kennedy. What a disaster, not only will Stiltner not support Ford because it supposedly makes him look subservient he has reduced Drew’s propensity to vote with Ford as well. The Mayor must be smiling all the way to the bank.
Equally sad as those lost Ford leadership votes are the votes that are never had on issues that are never raised because Bob Ford will simply no introduce issues on which he perceives will not be seconded such as charter reform.
I feel confident Bob would tell you that having Port Orange government function competently as currently structured is a crap shoot at best, AND that in the last 3 rolls of the dice Port Orange came up short with Parker, Kisela and Harden. But what of Bastian and Stiltner. Has anyone heard Drew say anything beyond it is the manager’s job to run the City, OR Scott saying he wants to trust the next Manager and give him more authority. Then again why should we expect anything different. These guys spent their entire careers taking orders from manager Ken Parker.
And there it stands with Drew and Scott obstinately refusing to consider Bob’s reasoning and in so doing ensuring that Port Orange government is not availing itself of the greater part of Ford’s intellect.
Yeah I’d saw Bob Ford needs help on Council.
The Mayor covers his tracks very well and the people who have been involved in his scheming all these years are not going to implicate themselves because some of these activities border on illegal and because they all made money. So fellow taxpayers we are basically screwed until his term runs out.
Bob Ford has lost some of his support due to the fact he won’t make a solid decision on anything, just like the rest. He belongs to Ted, Mike and Diane and gets all of his information from them. All anyone’s has to do is watch any meeting from the last 2 years they continue to talk about the same things over and over way not vote and move on. I believe the whole council should be voted out.
Point on “TakebackPO”
Is the intro picture for this blog section of the money changing hands from Ford and Gardner during the last campaign? This issue is such a disgraceful joke for Ford, and it is painful to watch. Sonya Laney was about to hand him his ass in the last election, and she had him scared and confused. Ford was only re-elected because Diane Gardner, Mike Gardner, several other residents on Ruth and Powers, and Ted Noftal, stepped in to save his hyde! They spent countless hours walking all over this city literally begging people to vote for Ford, holding his signs, working election precincts on election day and even working events for him when he was traveling abroad. Make no mistake, they and they alone won his campaign for him, and hey, good for them, because not they own him. They were his entire campaign team. Ford would vote to build a berm, or for that matter a sky scraper observation tower in the middle of Ruth Street if the Gardners asked him to do it.
Ford is not stupid, in fact he is very intelligent. But, he owes them and owes them big! Thus he is willing to sacrifice his good judgement on this matter.
The only ass Mrs Laney was handing anyone during the last election was her own and she was handing that to idiot Mike from the Chamber of Commerce / Family Days. Can you imagine the free rein Green would be enjoying if that harlot had been elected. Ford won the election because he was the better candidate pure and simple.
Yes, “They…”
A lot of us worked hard for Bob Ford during the last campaign because of his record on transparency and accountability in local government and we’ll do it again in 2016 for other candidates with similar records. You, however, sound like a “Low-Blow” Laney supporter–so sorry. Hitting below the belt can only get you so far when the rest of your record consists of “blah, blah, blah……….”
Why doesnt council stand up to the mayor? He talked to Grubbs behind there back and hid the fact from them They should not let him vote on the berm or even let him talk about it. Same goes for those engineers. You cant believe anything the whole bunch of them says by this point