ELEPHANT IN A VOLKSWAGEN

Some people will believe anything they are told without question. The last Fairhope City Council meeting is a perfect example, items 5 and 13, smell like a pig pen. It was all smoke and mirrors orchestrated to smell like roses. You can go on the city site, the council agenda, and get details.

http://www.cofairhope.com/home/showdocument?id=17612

5. Ordinance – An Ordinance Directing the Transfer of an Acre of Land to Fairhope Single Tax Corporation and Declaring said property to be Surplus and not needed for Public or Municipal Purposes; Property is for the Tatumville Subdivision.

This is very much like the Publix apartments that they wish to build on the banks of Fly Creek.

The Tatumville gully is the most sensitive of watersheds in Fairhope. In 1994 the watershed flooded the Magnolia Apartments, causing over one million dollars in damage. The homeowners are now being told don’t worry everything is cool because they have an engineering plan that is guaranteed to prevent flooding. Folks if you are paying for the engineering report I assure you that you can “hire” a report that will show water going uphill.

The curious part of this project is that the Single Tax Colony is going to be the developer, which fly’s in the face of what Single Tax stands for. Just like the Fly Creek project, the Tatumville project keeps coming up despite a lack of support. In fact the only people pushing the project are Mr. Lee Turner, President of Single Tax who just happens to be the chair of Fairhope Planning and Zoning, who now is the salesman for the project. Talk about conflict of interest! It get better, the other advocate is Mr Cliff Pittman a member of single tax board and business partner of Councilman Robert Brown, who should recuse himself from any vote in reference to the project.

Mr. Anil Vera, who is a close friend of Mr Turner rents property in the same area. He is a real estate sales person, mostly representing himself, who lives in the fruit and nut section where the Tatumville gully is located. What the hell he has to do with project has yet to be discovered.

Mr. Turner as President of Single Tax has been pushing this project since last year, without any vote from the single tax membership. Turner in his capacity as President has taken on the role of a director of Single Tax, which he is not.

Mr Turner has had the cooperation of some council members who continue to allow him to break with procedure and bring the project up time and time again without any prior approval.

Citizens need be aware of Mr Turner’s magic tricks because if he and his buddies have their way the Tatumville gully project will be another Fly Creek Apartment deal.

To add insult to injury Mr. Turner is now using threats that if the Single Tax does not do the project another developer will. That is total BS, if the project is denied due to concerns of flooding, no developer will be interested in the land because they will be faced with the same issues. Mr. Turner has yet to discuss the project with any of the city’s department heads which should have been the first order of business.

Number 13 on the Agenda is the appointment to the Airport Authority. The council last year fought tooth and nail to prevent the Mayor from appointing anyone and promised next year that she could replace one of the members. Only two council members, Conners and Brown keep their word, the other three again obstructed any appointment from the Mayor, breaking the pledge they made last year.

Remember that you read it on the Ripp Report. The Airport Authority is a self serving board that has some plan for the Airport that yet has come to light, keeping the taxpayers in the dark.

The Airport Authority has been the subject of controversy since the new mayor came on board. They have used every means possible to maintain control of the board while isolating the city from any participation. This is the 1% who are reaping the benefits while the other 99% pay for it.

Here are a few of the articles posted by the Ripp Report in the last year:

Now do not forget the reward that nobody even attempted to claim and that includes the Airport Board, who want you to believe that they know best. They also want the city to butt out of Airport business, while the city keeps paying the mortgage, and the authority holds the title. Just how is that beneficial to the city?

If you believe all the BS from the Fairhope City Council about these two issues then you could not find an elephant in a Volkswagen.