The discussion will continue, this is merely the introductory session in a long course. All associated with the program are committed to continuing these meetings in order to educate members of the community and to draw the community into the search for solutions. This is a national, if not worldwide, problem. Share links please.

The address to request being put on the mailing list for the “course” is cona.sarasota @ gmail.com — planning for Foreclosure Mess 102 already has begun.

First, the analysis of the repeal of Glass-Steagall is inaccurate. As detailed in Gillian Tett’s Fool’s Gold, JPMorgan developed the original derivatives model in 1997 and began using it for commercial and then mortgage securitization. In an incredible twist of irony, JPM’s risk expert, Krishna Varikooty, cautioned JPM Chase about going too deeply into residential mortgage derivatives because of the inadequate historical performance data. However, other lenders dove heavily into the residential derivatives market.

Contrary to the article’s claim, the derivatives could be done prior to Glass-Steagall repeal. Tett points out that this was possible by using London affiliates, because U.K. law allowed. So the repeal of Glass-Steagall did not make it possible to do derivatives; rather, it simply meant that now they could be done domestically. Without the repeal of Glass-Steagall, undoubtedly U.K. production would have increased to satisfy the demand. So any return of Glass-Steagall must be accompanied by international reform. Otherwise, it is like plugging one hole in a boat that is leaking in many places.

The article is similarly inaccurate that loans prior to 1999 required 20% down. I was personally showing people as far back as ’93 or ’94 that there were at least 25 ways to do 90-100% financing on homes.

The article’s related claim (and I hope that April was misquoted on this) that the ratings agencies rated mortgage securities AAA based on old 80% loan performance data is inaccurate. Yes, performance was a factor, but the overriding consideration was that the pools were covered by insurance. The ratings agencies would give even subprime pools AAA with insurance, as there was no perceived risk. Of course we know now that such insurance coverage was illusory, as it was written with little or no reserve requirements, unlike life insurance. And we have seen what happened to insurers such as AIG.

So it is important to understand that the article position that everything changed in 1999 is incorrect. There were many other factors, including the DotCom bust in 2000, that left investors –especially pension funds- scrambling for yield, creating a massive market for mortgage derivatives. But I maintain that the biggest factor in the mortgage meltdown was that Wall Street was allowed to peddle its garbage without recourse, removing any incentive for quality control in the underlying mortgages.

Bill Matz
William P. Matz, B.S., J.D., LL.M.
Attorney at Law (SBN #99059)
Windsor, CA 95492

8. The Complaint filed in this suit also contains an allegation that Dr. Smith and Ms.
Hoffman made a misrepresentation to the Public Art Committee. Based on my investigation, I believe this allegation to be inaccurate. Any formal settlement agreement will not include an admission that Dr. Smith or Ms. Hoffman made a misrepresentation to the Public Art Committee.
In conclusion, I would like to note further that the portion of the lawsuit directed at Dr.
Smith and Ms. Hoffman individually alleges that they were in fact members of the Steering Committee which met “out of the sunshine.” The Complaint further alleges that Dr. Smith and Ms. Hoffman exchanged emails regarding matters that were to come before the Steering Committee for a vote. However, again, based upon my investigation of the subject matter I have found no persuasive evidence that Dr. Smith and Ms. Hoffman were in fact members of this Steering Committee. Rather, I believe that both Dr. Smith and Ms. Hoffman considered themselves to be and were, in fact, staff support personnel assigned to the Committee and not Committee members. Accordingly, any such emails between them would not have been in violation of the Sunshine law.

A synopsis:

Commissioner Susan Atwell viewed an art project called “Mice on Main”; decided she liked it and wanted a similar project for Sarasota. Instead of working with the Public Arts Commission she worked with Virginia Hoffman and an ad hoc “steering committee” led by Hoffman pushed it through the City Commission.

The Florida Sunshine Law was ignored five times and the offending parties were caught out.

Robert Fournier, city attorney, alerted the City Commission and offered to resolve the problem.

George Haborak and the Citizens for Sunshine sued before he could do so.

Terry Turner was quoted as saying “We all make mistakes. It’s disturbing when we admit a mistake and still get sued.”

Terry Turner then, according to reports, made a motion calling for the city attorney to look at the options to eliminate the Public Arts Committee.

An Analysis of the above:

If Ms. Atwell had worked with the Public Arts Commission, in a proper manner, there might not have been a problem.

If Robert Fournier and/or the City Commission were quicker to act there might not have been a problem.

If Mr. Haborak and The Citizens for Sunshine had simply accepted Mr. Turner’s or the City Commission’s apology there would have been a savings of city monies but:
a). with no monetary cost to the city there would be little reason not to repeat those same types of improper actions in the future for other projects and bills, and
b). The improperly reviewed and possibly ill-conceived arts project would not have been stopped.

Eliminating the Public Arts Commission is exactly the opposite of what should happen. Rather its structure should be strengthened so that someone like Ms. Hoffman could not commandeer its direction. If Mr. Turner and Attorney Fournier want to do some elimination work, perhaps they should eliminate Ms. Hoffman’s roll on the Public Arts Commission so that personnel aggrandizement cannot pervert due process.

April Charney has been holding seminars around the country to teach legal professionals about the problem and the emerging case law on the issues of the peculiar mortgage issues that have arisen from the changes in financial practices that led to this mess. Both of the attorneys who will speak at CONA have been in the forefront of the foreclosure mess that affects us all.

• Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
• Food, at least three-day supply of non-perishable food
• Battery-powered/hand crank radio
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Whistle to signal for help
• Dust mask, plastic sheeting, and duct tape to help filter contaminated air and insulate shelter
• Manual can opener
• Local maps
• Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently released its Top Ten Disaster Preparedness List of “must have” items during an emergency. As expected, food and water supplies are considered essential as is a flashlight with extra batteries.

FEMA also recommends a battery operated radio that comes equipped with a manual, hand crank generator — in case electric power fails, it is critically important to have access to news and government bulletins. It could save your life.

Some of the things you can do to prepare for the unexpected, such as assembling a supply kit and developing a family emergency plan, are the same for all types of hazards.

It’s important to remember that each emergency is unique and knowing the actions to take for each threat will impact the specific decisions and preparations you make.

By finding out about these specific threats, you are preparing yourself to react during the catastrophic aftermath of any unforeseen event.

Natural disasters such as flood, fire, earthquake, tornado and hurricane affect hundreds of thousands of people every year.

FEMA says you should know what your risks are and prepare to protect yourself, your family and community. As the old maxim goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Many these steps are relatively simple, such as having and storing an emergency radio.

Recognizing an impending hazard and knowing what to do to protect yourself will help you take effective steps to prepare beforehand and aid recovery after the event.

Another new hazard that can lead to a full scale collapse in communications is terrorism.

Fact sheets on Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and IED attacks offer clear, objective information on these types of attacks and their impact and dangers. Federal officials have warned these threats are real and cannot be ignored.

The Department of Homeland Security provides the coordinated, comprehensive federal response in the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency while working with federal, state, local, and private sector partners to ensure a swift and effective recovery effort.

If there is a power outage during an emergency, your wire line phone, cell phone, wireless device or VoIP service may not work unless you have a back-up power supply.

If you suffer only an electrical power outage, you should still be able to use a traditional wire line (but not cordless) telephone, because electrical and telephone transmissions use different circuits or wires and telephone company facilities have back-up power available.

If you keep the battery on your wireless phone or other device fully charged, these devices should also continue working during a power outage.

Note that because wireless networks may be congested during an emergency, sending a text message may work better than placing a voice call.

Finally, unless you have a battery-operated TV or radio, these devices will not work during a power outage.

Therefore, federal and state agencies all agree that it is essential for each and every household to have a dependable, power-free radio to receive all emergency broadcasts.

Your emergency planning should also address the care of pets, aiding family members with access and functional needs and safely shutting off utilities.

You may also want to inquire about emergency plans at work, daycare and school. If no plans exist, consider volunteering to help create one. Read more about school and workplace plans.

Once you’ve collected this important information, gather your family members and discuss the information to put in the plan. Practice your plan at least twice a year and update it according to any issues that arise.

Not only did the disastrous change of charter language originate with the clerk and pass through the scrutiny of the city attorney, but while watching the tape, I discovered that this change suggested by the clerk was passed by the city commission only after a caution about ramifications of such a change was raised by Terry Turner when he made a motion to leave that original charter language unchanged– that failed to receive a second at the table!

This strengthens my resolve to urge the adoption of a referendum to create a strong auditor for the city that is separate from all other charter officials.

Regarding bonding, if Pam Nadalini were removed from being a charter official, she also would be saved from the problem. I would like to see her retained. I do disagree with removal of the bonding requirement for charter officials and hope that this can be corrected before the election in the Fall. There is a moral element to the difference between ‘bonding’ versus ‘insuring against loss for unethical behavior’. Although I prefer to separate auditor and clerk and retain both among an expansion of the charter officials by adding a professional strong auditor, if Nadalini were moved under the city manager with all of her clerking duties intact, she would only be a department head and, therefore, be free of the bonding issue. I do think that the important freedom of information issues feared by putting the clerk under the city manager would be safeguarded with the presence of an independent and strong auditor who could pursue any allegations of political pressure on the clerk or denials of swift provision of public information imposed by a city manager who might attempt to ‘manage’ against these important activities presently overseen by Nadalini and her staff in an admirable fashion. So moving the clerk position under the manager would resolve that.

Thanks for the details on the changes, it is top notch reporting! Caution should become the new wisdom about charter language changes and your coverage will assure its presence in future deliberations.

Thanks need to be heaped upon our commissioner, Terry Turner. None of his colleagues have the capacity to make such an analysis, much less have the courage to step into taking a position that is so disheartening that people would be inclined to reject it or deny it. Horrified by the bizarre dysfunction at our commission table, the blatant attempt to drag Sarasota into a corrupt form of government at a time when it has been rejected repeatedly by the citizens by capitalizing on the distress most communities are suffering from the rampant corruption in our federal government and its relationship to banking cartels, the petty bickering in the turf war suffocating our municipal government, and the nasty politics being leveled at the sole member of our elected representatives who consistently strives to find ways to fix some of our most vexing problems – I was beginning to despair of any rational community discussion beyond the rancor created by vaulting political ambitions.

I am delighted be given the opportunity to examine some of the material presented to the coalition. Please follow-up on Commissioner Turner’s pursuit of understanding and solutions.

Regarding the turmoil described as part of this neighborhoods coalition meeting, I question giving credence to what Mr. Susce asserts, but understand the need to inform readers about what transpired in the meeting, therefore, feel that I am better informed. He is a most disruptive and unbalanced man and all in the community know this. The only benefit to providing details of his statements is to discourage those using him for their own purposes. Objective coverage in detail eliminates the benefits of using ‘sound bites’ from Susce’s irrational rantings for those political purposes.

The referendum I refer to as the severance of the auditor and clerk functions was well-intended. The misunderstandings that have arisen from the unconscionable mischaracterization of the intent of the referendum is appalling. Sensational newspaper articles have preferred to gather circulation advantages by abandoning any concern for the welfare of the community. Politicians have perpetuated or created distortions that reveal the ends to which they will travel in order to seize power from a community that has resisted re-instituting corruption into our form of government by the elimination of our commission-manager form, which was devised to overcome the pervasive corruption that had choked municipal governments for decades.

I personally would prefer to keep a clerk among the charter officials, but also believe that we need a strong auditor as a separate charter official as well. Seats for each alongside the commissioners, the city attorney, and the city manager would be my preference. Not being a charter official, there is no need for a seat for a deputy city manager at the table, so it doesn’t even require the expense of redesigning the chambers. Yes, making sure that our clerk functions as it does in most municipalities of our size would entail removal of many management functions that would be better overseen by the professional city manager, but it would create a secure compartmentalization of roles that would benefit the community immensely. A strong auditor has always been missing in the city administration, yet it would scrutinize all of the processes that have become so problematic without professional oversight. If the referendum can not be fixed before the election, I hope that another quickly replaces it that not only has the pension issue corrected, but that resolves the need for a strong auditor in a fashion that is most acceptable to the citizens.

I am so delighted with the professional reporting of the Sarasota News Leader and think you have chosen a most apt name — perhaps others will be inspired to follow your lead.

Translation:
The problem is fixable, “could result” is not must.

The commission has the power to correct their own action that has led to putting the retirees in jeopardy. It may be corrected before the deadline for the final wording of their proposed changes to the charter. Pursuing personal vendettas, however, Caragiulo and Snyder seem bent on raising alarm about the sky falling instead of asking for guidance from their attorney regarding how they best could act to undue their own calamitous action. Now, how can one interpret that behavior? They prefer to set bait for a political battle with hyperbole rather than getting down to resolving the issue. Do they believe that such charades are not transparent to those of us watching?

It is interesting that Valerie Buchand and Michael Barfield, both opposing the referendum without ambitions other than the welfare of the city, concur with all those supporting it – stop the bickering. At least the referendum attempts to formalize a step in that direction through changing the structure and function. I doubt that public pleas shall ever quell the turf wars if the playing field is left in its current state because the recent changes in assignments has made it even easier to begin battles, so I support the referendum.

Further, the revelation of the intent for the proposed changes having been expressed to Billy Robinson while still in office (prior to Nadalini even holding the office) removes forever any personal issue in the proposal. It does raise the question, however, of whether Robinson appraised his own staff of the impending attempt at restructuring, especially Nadalini, the one he influenced the commission to accept as his replacement. Knowing that he was fully aware of the proposed changes while still in office, provides much deeper insight for analysis of his role in what has transpired since he left office. It is not a pretty picture. Surely, however, it provides additional ammunition to justify the proposed changes.

Did not follow him to see which of the theaters he entered… tempting to guess though, huh? Dark Knight, Spider Man, Savages, Untouchables, Ice Age, Safety not guaranteed… who knows?