Scandals 3B

THE SECOND BIGGEST CON

This is SCANDALS, Part 3B.  It is strongly suggested that you peruse through SCANDALS, Parts 3 and 3A to get a real feel for what this Wi-Fi charade is really about.  Insurance, taxes and maintenance are very real issues, to name a few, and need to be discussed at great length before anything at all is decided. Tap your neighbor on the arm and tell him or her that they’ve got to listen and pay attention, because if this Wi-Fi becomes a reality, we’ll all be stuck with the consequences forever.  And, guaranteed, -- we won’t be very happy campers. 

Take the $5,000,000 paving fiasco, for instance.  You cannot take it all back.  It is history; the biggest con job this Village has ever seen.  This was an over-priced paving job that is supposed to last just about 15 years – or maybe 17 years, if you get the professional opinion of paving gurus.  Because of the numerous faults and defects in the job, we’ll be lucky if we don‘t need major resurfacing in many areas in 5 or 6 years.  Will you accept another con job?  Wave your placard if you’d like to buy a “bucket of steam”, or if they can convince you to buy a “short-circuit.”  Then they can convince you to purchase a “left-handed monkey wrench.” 

President Israel, together with his back-room henchman, Black, is known for his cloud, space-man, spy tactics as well as being able to place a shroud over people and hypnotizing them into doing whatever these ill-natured autocrats force upon them.   DON’T LET IT HAPPEN; DON’T BE HERDED, DON’T BE CONNED!  

Israel needs a legacy.  He has been President just shy of four years and he has none.  He needs this Wi-Fi badly.  It’s his baby.  He has nothing else to present to you in his history to indicate that he has been even a mediocre president.  NOTHING!  The only thing that he can boast about is that he knows how to arm-chair his job and play with his computer to spy on people.   What has he done for Century Village in four years for which he can be remembered?   

The Wi-Fi issues have been spoken and written about numerous times before.  Can you really absorb all of it?  It is like reading 5 chapters of a 20 chapter book.  Israel would like you to skip chapters 6 through 19 and go directly to chapter 20, -- sign right here.  Like the paving job, he doesn’t care what happens after it is a done deal.  These backroom, secret dealings MUST STOP. 

But, there are very real issues that need sensible and professional answers before you “sign here.”  For instance, Israel chose “certain” companies to handle the Century Village project and those companies were too small.  And, that was a statement by a well-respected man in the communications industry, Mr. Lawrence Dambra.  Mr. Dambra, at a scheduled meeting, stated that he would agree to do the necessary research and give to Mr. Israel the names of mid-tier qualified companies.  The companies that Israel had chosen did not meet the specifications that were put forth.  Also, they did not include BROADBAND for now or in the future.  Mr. Dambra put a little salt on Mr. Israel’s tail.   

Bringing it further, Israel presented companies that did not have the equipment to complete the job in a certain period of time as required by the specifications.  Mr. Israel again pouted.  

It gets even more interesting.  Israel was pushing DSL, and that company had an approximate $10,000 error in their proposal.  In addition, DSL was NOT a provider of BROADBAND.  Are you getting a clearer picture now?  

It is not particularly what is said about Wi-Fi systems, but what is NOT SAID.  THIS is the SCANDAL.  There are numerous questions that need to be answered before any proposals can be finalized.  It would seem exceedingly clear that Israel does not want any of these questions to surface and he’s afraid that professional responses could jeopardize his chances for Wi-Fi approval.  Don’t you think that there should be written provisions as to how UCO should be able to nullify the contract agreement for various reasons, in other words, a bail-out clause? 

When “Hi-Fi” was first introduced it was “state-of-the-art.”  You have some bucks and you got it.  A little time goes by, and lo-and-behold, you have “STEREO” to take its place.  Your predecessor becomes obsolete.  Some people in the know will tell you that Wi-Fi is in its’ infancy, and you may want to be a little more patient, because in the not too distant future you’re going to see more sophisticated equipment, lower costs, better services, ease of use, less maintenance, and greatly expanded technology.   

We need to touch upon just a few more matters that are important.  A tower for Wi-Fi is needed, and it would be erected on Century Village property, about two miles from Palm Beach International Airport.  You cannot simply say that you need a tower and put it up.  You need permits, -- a permit from the Turnpike Authority, a permit from the county, another permit from the FAA – a minimum of four permits that would be needed.  This part would be very time consuming, and it is very likely that one or more of these permits would not be granted. 

The Bid Committee, in trying to do a thorough job so that many of the major issues could be addressed and perhaps resolved, was not ready at this time to begin any form of negotiations.   However, Israel demands that we go ahead with this business NOW.  Like a bratty child fist pounding – NOW! 

On the Request for Proposal (RFP) form in the hands of a few of Israel’s “friendly” companies, he lists his name as the Century Village contact.  Is this not perhaps a little too egotistical?  Is this not perhaps being a little TOO friendly?  And, you should know that also listed on the RFP as a contact person is the name of Israel’s back-room henchman, Black.  Can you believe this?  Another paving scam brewing right before your very eyes!  Making Black a contact person is like allowing him to take complete charge of a $5,000,000 paving job, and allowing him to borrow close to a million dollars.  It would appear that Israel is setting up another opportunity to give Black a chance to put forth another “scam-like” proposition.  

Now, the secret spy goes to work.  The meeting conducted by Mr. Lawrence Dambra, the paid professional consultant, was Taped by Black, our channel  63 self-professed guru, and according to a reliable source, resulted in a tape with no audio and one that was too dark to view.  This was a “read-my-lips” tape.  Can you possibly believe this?  Israel and his very inner, inner cohorts conjured up such methods and means to isolate themselves from anything that might show them in a bad light.  They don’t want anybody to see and listen to the expert in Wi-Fi, - Mr. Dambra. 

Let’s use just a little logic here.  Rather than have Israel shove Wi-Fi down our throats, i.e., pay for it forever, whether you like it or not, -- let the individual associations get Wi-Fi for their own individual buildings.  The costs involved are within reason according to reliable sources.  The Associations have a right to their own destinies.  A number of Associations have already gone this route and are well satisfied. 

I am sure that, in the not too distant future, Wi-Fi will become like the introduction of talking movies.  It will get better and better and better.  But right now, -- in dollars, -- we really cannot afford Wi-Fi; the great majority of CV unit owners have no use for it; a great many people can’t afford greater expenses (refer to Demographic Data 2011 and Poverty Guidelines 2013 compiled by The Neilson Company); thousands of snow-birds couldn’t care less about it; many people don’t have computers and those who do, don’t know how to use them; the great worry about security by hackers - and this worry is very real (in his blog, Israel admits that part of the Wi-Fi system – security – cannot be guaranteed) and it goes on and on. 

In recent years, -- this is what Century Village is all about, -- SCANDALS, -- over and over again.  Just how bad can it get?  Manipulation and misuse of funds, stealing, fraudulent dealings; dishonest methods, means and procedures; misrepresentations, deception deliberately practiced in order to secure personal gain; and the attempted ruin of a respectable community.  It goes on and on, and like so many communities it will eventually die when “money” becomes a huge factor to consider and people can no longer afford to live under such adverse conditions.  Enter the undesirables and then there will be a mass exodus from this Village. 

What can you do?  Well, step forward and stop the SCANDALS, -- that’s one of the first things that you can do.  Step forward, -- demand to be heard.  Refuse the “be brief” or the “you’re out of order” admonishments, tell the woman with the gavel to “stuff it.”  Scoff at “we’ll get security in here,” and don’t be intimidated by armed deputies.  Tell the president and his knaves that the words “malcontents” and “dissidents” - words that they use to describe persons who have different views of this governmental dictatorship - are far beneath the recitations that should be used by a president who is supposed to respect his constituents and, in turn, be respected by them . 

The Wi-Fi deal is an ongoing SCANDAL; which has been brewing from the very start.  DON’T ALLOW IT TO BECOME THE SECOND BIGGEST CON TO COME BEFORE YOU!  

EDUARDO