Signatures

This is about signing your Posts and Comments. It seems to me that a signed piece carrys' much more weight than a unsigned piece or one that is signed with a pseudonym. As of this date the New York Times editorials are heading for signed publishing. So why not on this blog?

Signing with a pseudonym is tantamount to telling your readers "I am afraid to put my actual name on this piece" or " I am somewhat ashamed of this therefore no signature". Exactly who could you be afraid of or why is not clear. Is it the Boogey man? Nah!

Stating a position and taking ownership of it by signing your actual name adds power to your piece and I recommend it highly.

It is apparently correct and sensible for most of the NYTimes opinion writers, most of the letters to editor writers, including the letters to the editors authors in the CV Recorder use their real names, why not here on this Blog?

Please note from the beginning I and Olga always signed our names to our work, even Dave Israel signs his work, but many if not all of his alcolytes do not.

Gary

Magic Numbers #2

THE MAGIC OF NUMBERS - PART 2

Mr. O’Brien has responded to my earlier posting.  He has referred me to the “UCO BUDGET 4/1/15-3/31/16 AS REVISED” prepared on January 16 of this year.

The magic continues or should I say the sleight of hand.  From the itemized list of General Administration Expenses major changes are as follows:

Utilities – here we can see the “sleight of hand” in that the original $190,000 is now magically reduced to $15,000.  HOWEVER, the reduction has merely been transferred to Security and Irrigation expenses; $124,000 and $44,000 respectively.  Of the remaining $7,000 I will “assume” that $1,400 has been transferred to Laundry expenses thereby eliminating $5,600.  Unless you take the time to look into the detail with a fine tooth comb you might actually think that $175,000 has been cut from the budget entirely; an impossible task.

 

Some expenses have been eliminated and while the total is relatively small, for some reason, it would appear as though UCO will no longer be assessed state or federal corporate income tax; at least as far as the budget is concerned.

Then there is the Road & Walkway Repair Expense - $10,000 - which is now planned to be paid for from the reserve fund.  Bear in mind, before money is expended from Reserve funds, the Delegates should, if only as a courtesy, be asked to approve the expense.

And then there is the belt-tightening aspect.  Reductions - $51,000 in Beautification; $8,000 in Insurance; $8,000 in Accounting Fees and other smaller sums.  Offset somewhat by small increases in Office Supplies, Centenarian Luncheon, and Computer Equipment etc.

Dorothy Tetro

Magic Numbers #1

THE MAGIC OF NUMBERS VIS-À-VIS THE UCO BUDGET Part 1

I am fascinated by numbers and the stories they can tell.  This one, however, puzzles me to no end.

When the UCO Budget was originally presented, the line item titled Administrative Expense was $856,735.  It is important to remember that this was for 15 months.  This would be equivalent to $57,115 per month. 

The first revision brought this figure down to $643,000 for 15 months or $53,583 per month.  A detailed list was provided in the packet distributed at the January meeting of the Delegate Assembly.

The budget prepared on January 15 indicates $381,000 for a 12 month period (April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016) - $31,750 per month.

So – my question is – how can we have in hand a detailed list of items totaling $643,000 distributed early in January 2015 and now in mid-January 2015 the very same line item has been reduced by $262,000 for the year? 

MAGIC?  I doubt it.  So my question is, what items have been deleted or dramatically reduced?  Perhaps it is just that with so very many changes it has just become or will become more difficult to follow the money – to be able to know where it will be spent, during what time period and on what. 

   

Think about that please.  Ask questions and expect answers that you can understand or perhaps I should say that I can understand.

Dorothy Tetro

Messenger Club Meeting 1-27-2015

Video of 1-27-2015 Messenger Club Meeting - Click here

The Budget News Flash

Folks, This is a new posting,  --- a slam dunker. This is not simply a baloney story.  The facts are going to be revealed at a DA meeting. Hold onto your jockey shorts. 

N E W S    F L A S H      N E W S    F L A S H      N  E W S    F L A S H

What has been found is shocking in reference to the newest UCO Budget.

Howard O'Brien, UCO's newest Treasurer, is either not tuned in to how budgets are put together, or he is absolutely dumb, or missing a few shingles.

This discovery is not a maybe, could be, might be, possibly be, --- it's POSITIVE,-- IT IS FACT.

What has come to light and being carefully reviewed cannot simply be revised in the present budget.  The budget is going to need a re-do in its entirety.  This is very serious business.

If the budget passes the way Israel, Black and O'Brien want to present it, UCO will be absolutely/positively eating into the reserves that caused us to wonder if we can survive with limited monies.

We will be put into the same position that we were when the paving contracts exhausted 5 million dollars of our money.

Delegates must understand that no matter what excuses Israel & O'Brien use, they will not be able to cover up this budget fiasco.  And, that's what it is, another fiasco.

Delegates, --- PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, --- stop them in their tracks, otherwise we are all going to be paying for it dearly in the near future and years thereafter.

PLEASE,  be SENSIBLE.           

EDUARDO

UCO Rag

THE UCO REPORTER IS GUILTY OF INACCURACY, FALSEHOOD, AND OMISSIONS, and should be renamed “THE UCO RAG."

Inaccuracy

Joy vestal states in her opinion column that since Howard O’Brien was elected treasurer by a majority vote of 199 to 99, we should support his efforts. This means that even when we know Howard Obrien is failing us as treasurer, we should do nothing - just suck it up.  The mentality of Joy Vestal is indicative of limited brain power.  She wants us to do nothing while Howard O’Brien makes a mockery of the UCO treasury. – Get another life Joy.

Falsehood

Another asinine opinion in the reporter belongs to Donald Foster AKA Don Ho Ho, the man who steals your Wi-Fi, invades your privacy and is stupid enough to brag about it on David’s blog  - which David posted until it was brought to his attention that Don Ho Ho committed a felony after which David quickly deleted it.  Don states a point of order should only be raised as a motion concerning the rules of a parliamentary procedure.  It seems  Mr. Ho Ho forgot that the person who instigated yelling, POINT OF ORDER, POINT OF ORDER at the delegates' assembly  for no other reason  other than she did not like what the malcontents were saying was Marilyn Gorodetzer one of David’s clacks.  Here, Don Ho Ho blames the malcontents when it was David’s own who started the fiasco of yelling “Point of Order, Point of Order."

Omission

Quote by Dom Guarnagia:  “When we have to pay 15 million to redo the roads,  who knew what the cost, or perhaps the substitute for petroleum-based  asphalt will be in 2030. " Dom’ s statement  is correct, but he neglected  to tell you that when Ed Black coerced the delegates  to approve the second phase of  the roadway project Ed Black  told them they had to approve the project now because the cost of petroleum was going up, and it would cost double to do the roads in a few years.   Of course when Ed Black made this ridiculous statement Dom, Guarnagia said nothing to correct him.

Messenger Club Newspaper

So the last messenger Club meeting was highly successful. The turn out was good, the interest shown by the audience was good and this was inaugural day for the CV Messenger, our Newspaper.

In a effort to counter the discrimination of the Great OZ to quiet the opposition he has disallowed any opposition to his ways by disallowing the use of the Recorder, Channel 63, The Pools, and the rooms at the Club House.

So the birth of this Newspaper was inevitable. It was needed and so it happened.

To read this page right click on it and select "open link in a new window"

This is not Right

The attitude of the present UCO administration is not right. Their propensity to close out the opposition is not in the interest of the Village. The lack of a Village wide discussion hurts all.

It strains credulity to believe that the opposition means no better than to be in charge. It is a truth that the opposition needs a outlet to voice their views. Cutting down on how they do this is taking away their rights. This should not be allowed. The oppositional views are important. They point out areas that need fixing. The silencing of this voice hurts everybody in the Village and must stop.

The denial to use the Club House for informational meetings, use of the pools, Channel 63 and the Village Reporter (Note I say Village,) like it belongs to David Israel exclusively is bad for all of us and certainly bad for business. If you think this attitude does not effect unit sales, think again.  The lack of the use of these facilities to the opposition is counter productive and harms everyone in the village. And, of course, it does not exclusively belong to D.Israel.

This attitude has to change.

The best way to have a attitude change is to Vote him out. One item at a time. Vote NO on the new and revised Budget for starters.

Cronyism Video

Click here for a Video on Cronyism
Crony Chronicles: I Want To Be A Crony

Nuff' said.

The New and Improved Budget

So what is all the hullabaloo about the Budget? The new Treasurer puts it forward and we go out of our minds and turn it down. We may, after careful review turn it down again. We expected the new Treasurer Howard O'Brien to be a stand up guy. To do the right things. We expected him to be a better treasurer than he appears to be.

It appears as if Ed Black and David Israel got to him and put him on notice that he does things their way or the highway.

O'Brien can't seem to answer Delegates questions. Forget about answering fully, but not even close to fully. What is wrong here?

The Budget as published in the Recorder is the Budget as prepared for the January 20 Town Hall Meeting which never happened. The budget has been modified since then, so the published Budget is out of date already. If Israel thinks this meets the requirement that the Budget has to be published for 30 days before a vote. It don"t.

Now for some details. I am not a CPA. I have had some advice from a practicing CPA and this is some of the problems with the new and corrected Budget.

The laundry. 8 New machines were put into the laundry. Their expected life is 9-10 years. Our machines have been going longer that that with out major repair So why is there a line item showing $22,000 expense.

The Reporter shows an increase to $122,000 from a $112,000. One of the problems the reporter has is that it publishes to many copies of the newspaper, way to many. Most Condos throw out close to 1/2 of what is delivered. Whats the cost there? What is happening to the advertising revenue?

The last comment I have to make is that the budget is set up to compare last years budget to this (the new) budget. We see increases and decreases when compared. But I would like to see actual expenses compared to the budget. So I can look and see the expenses from last year as compared to the forcasted (Budgeted) expenses for the coming year. But then again I am not a CPA, so what do I know. I know this, if they want me to pass on this budget they better let me see the numbers clearer. Otherwise I will vote it DOWN!

You, the Delegates, should Vote this new and Improved Budget down until they change the Numbers of the budget to reflect reality and not illusion.

SELFIE, SELFISH, SELF-ABSORBED

All mean the same thing. Lanny Howe complained openly on  David’s blog about how much HE has to pay for HIS Internet because THE MALCONCENTS  fought against a village wide Wi-Fi.  Unfortunately, Mr. Howe has the same attitude of all David Israel’s servants who patronize his ideology; screw the residents, just give ME what I want.  Whereas the so-called malcontents do not think of themselves, they consider the village as a whole. It’s too bad Lanny can’t learn the same lesson. Oh, and by the way, I don’t hear Mr.  Howe complaining about the 5 million plus wasted on the roadway…...  Wake up Lanny.

Cronyism is Bad for everybody except the Cronies.

So who needs Cronyism? Who needs to be surrounded by his Cronies. What happens after Cronyism?

I'll tell you. It leads to Regimes, and then to Dynasties. None of this is Good.

All of this is bad for Century Village and is bad for the Villagers. And it is bad for your Pocket Book.

Cronyism is putting your friends and relatives in jobs. There is no investigation to see if the Volunteer, Crony, has any of the training for the job. Only that he/she is a crony.

That is what we have in Century Village right now. And it is hurting us badly. Look at the Finance Committee what qualifications do the Committee members have for the job that is expected of them? I don't know and neither do you. Where, when is it posted?

What Qualifications does the Members of the Advisory Committee have? What qualifications does the Chair have? Are their qualifications posted publicly? What qualifications do the members of the irrelevant (Israel's word, not mine) Bid Committee have?

Remember the Committees are peopled by the President. They are his Cronies the qualification to do the tasks are not considered. It appears as if the only qualification is to be for David Israel in all cases. Malcontentiousness (made up word, not in the dictionary) is not allowed and need not apply.

cro·ny·ism
derogatory
the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications. Century Village UCO and all the Volunteer Committees.

cro·ny
derogatory
a close friend or companion. Friends who will bend to the will of D.Israel.
"he went gambling with his cronies"

re·gime
a government, especially an authoritarian one.

dy·nas·ty
a line of hereditary rulers of a country.
"the Tang dynasty", The budding Israel dynasty

a succession of people from the same family who play a prominent role in business, politics, or another field.
"the Ford dynasty"

George Bennett post in WPB Post

Posted: 12:00 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015

Here is an article from to-days WPB Post, very apropos to our situation.

Condo endorsement in West Palm Beach race a real talker.

Email

By George Bennett - Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Rival West Palm Beach city commission candidates Katherine Waldron and Cory Neering have advertised a slew of big-name endorsements — including former mayor and current Democratic U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel for Waldron and Palm Beach County MayorPriscilla Taylor for Neering.

But the one generating the most discussion is a purported endorsement of Neering by the Whitehall Condominiums of the Villages of Palm Beach Lakes — where Waldron lives and has been part of a heated dispute with the condo board.

Waldron moved into the Whitehall complex in June and soon became involved with a group of unit owners critical of the board’s management. Two of those owners, Cary Collins and Sean Kupfer, filed a lawsuit Oct. 7 accusing the association and then-presidentVincent Rossi of mismanaging funds and asking a judge to appoint a receiver to temporarily manage affairs.

Then, on Oct. 17, condo regulators in the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation said Rossi was ineligible to serve because he had been tardy paying his quarterly assessment. Rossi, who denies the mismanagement accusations in the Oct. 7 suit, said he paid his dues on time and was victim of an accounting mix-up.

On the day the DBPR letter disqualifying Rossi was issued, Waldron was part of a group of owners who briefly took over the association office after showing up with a locksmith who removed old locks and installed new ones. West Palm Beach police officers were present for the change of locks, though accounts differ on who called them.

Waldron said she participated in the office takeover because she believed she had been appointed to the board by board member Sylvia Kaufman at an emergency meeting Oct. 17. Kaufman’s board membership is in question because she submitted a handwritten resignation letter last March but said the board never accepted it.

Kaufman said she appointed Waldron, Collins and Kupfer to the board because she believed the rest of the board had been removed or suspended and, as the only remaining board member, she had the authority to appoint replacements. Kaufman said she came to this belief after conversations with DBPR and attorney Dane Leitner.

Leitner said Kaufman was mistaken because of “miscommunication” with the DBPR. When the mistake was realized and it was determined that the other board members had not been removed, Waldron and others relinquished control of the office by Oct. 22.

“We entered the office to secure it,” Waldron said Friday. “We only did it when we in our minds were board members.”

The incident led the condo association to file a lawsuit this month that names Waldron and four others as defendants. The suit accuses them of “forcibly” breaking into the office and claims they caused $8,695 in damage to the office and equipment in it.

Waldron disputed the claims and called the litigation a “nuisance suit” aimed to silence critics of the board.

“The police were standing there when the locksmith, who was shown paperwork from the state DBPR, removed and changed the locks. There was absolutely no forcible entry, no ransacking and no destruction of any property at any time. We are property owners protecting our property,” Waldron said.

While the dispute has played out, Neering has advertised a Jan. 5 letter on Whitehall letterhead that states the condo association had “voted unanimously” to endorse him. The letter is signed by the board’s current president, Charles Keeling. But Keeling said last week that there wasn’t a vote by the association and the letter should have stated merely that he and other board members were supporting Neering.

In what could become a crowded 2016 Democratic state House primary, Wellington Councilman Matt Willhite is moving quickly to line up endorsements. Palm Beach County Clerk and ComptrollerSharon Bock, State Attorney Dave Aronberg and state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, are among the Dems who have already weighed in for Willhite more than 18 months before the primary.

Willhite is running for the seat of term-limited House Minority LeaderMark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach. Also running: Tracy Pafford, the wife of the incumbent.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made several trips to Florida last year to help Gov. Rick Scott’s re-election campaign. The pair will be reunited March 6 in Palm Beach when potential presidential candidate Christie keynotes and Scott will be a featured guest at the Palm Beach County GOP’s annual Lincoln Day fundraising dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.

Facism is alive in CV

From Esther's blog. "From the other side." The nail is hit right on it's head. Read on..

THE UNDERLYING ISSUE - FASCISM

     It is one thing to dislike one's opponents. It is one thing to vehemently oppose them in print or screen. But it is another thing to propose, strongly and repeatedly, that your opponents be silenced, be kept quiet, have no right to speak and all under the excuse of disruption.

To read more click here.

Insanity

Here  are copies of Emails from the Sutofsky family and the Great Wizard. The remarks by the President are beyond Paranoia, they are bordering on the insane. Here is a man that sees that "the sky is falling". Woe to us until we get rid of him.

On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 10:47 AM, Gerry and Esther Sutofsky  wrote:

 Have not received any IFIs as of late. Please check into this and let me know if there is a problem. As president of my association , I like to be up to date on UCO matters.
Thank you
Gerry Sutofsky

Now the fool, who thinks he can actually split life long partners asunder or have one partner force the other into doing something, wrote this back:

      Hi Gerry,

Your lovely wife implied, in her BLOG,  that my IFI mailings were being used to steal peoples data.

While this is patently absurd, I felt it best to exclude any possibility of you being exposed to such non-existent risk.

A full apology and retraction (on her BLOG) would be appropriate as curative.

As a curative start lets make them give us a proper budget, this is not it. Vote it down! 

Then lets get rid of this arrogant, pompous bully.

Where is our Money #3

EXACTLY WHERE IS OUR MONEY?

At the last Delegate meeting many questions about the new budget were raised. One of the questions was – and I am the person who posed it – related to the funds WE i.e. UCO has on deposit.

The answer I received, very surreptitiously, was “in BB&T”. Well folks, I sincerely hope that was not quite accurate. UCO funds MUST be invested in secure accounts, the ones we generically know as FDIC insured accounts. Since January of 2014, the FDIC limit per account (or tax ID number) in any one financial institution has been set at $250, 000.

So, again I ask – “where is our money?” I know exactly where the money was on March 1 , 201 4. But now I must say, I have no idea.

Additionally, I believe the residents and owners of Century Village should be advised of the title of each account and how much money is in each account.

During my tenure as Treasurer I prepared and distributed this report monthly and I can assure you the report can be prepared in ten minutes – maybe fifteen.

From the statement we are given it would “appear” that the fund accounting method we had for many years has been disbanded. I think I have a very good idea as to who might be behind this thinking. Putting all the “eggs into one basket” is a very very good way of concealing expenditures.

Let us not forget that I served as UCO Treasurer for over five years in total - under two different administrations. When I was out of office the road re-paving fiasco and the shuffling of money took place.

Perhaps a detailed report relative to UCO bank balances at January 1 , 201 5 will be made available to us at the meeting on January 20th when the new budget will be reviewed in depth.

Dorothy Tetro

Esther Sutofsky January 25,

I am strongly leaning to a state investigation. Israel could not stand against the power and demands of the state for papers and documents. When facing the state he will realize and have to acknowledge the fact that he is a little man of no real importance and the state can roll tight over him without feeling a thing.

SECURITY ?

A 34 year old suburban West Palm Beach man pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing Government secrets while working as a computer systems administrator at a military base in Honduras.

Christopher Glenn stored some of the stolen documents at a residence he leased in CENTURY VILLAGE.

He also pleaded guilty to immigration fraud for obtaining phony documents to allow his I raqi born wife to obtain American citizenship.

He had been expelled from an army base in I raq in 2009 after officials discovered he had hacked into computers as part of a fraudulent scheme estimated at $1 7, 000.00 . No charges were laid in that case.

He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years and a $750.000 fine at sentencing which will take place on April 17.






Ridiculous

I see the need for CV wide WiFi is on the docket again. We, the delegates, voted it down. We said NO to CV wide WiFi. That should of ended it, But NO they are back at it again. What is it about NO they don't understand?

The Great Wizard thinks that only 6 people voted down HIS wifi. That is wrong, we had over 250 delegates at that meeting and more than 1 /2 voted No. That is considerable more than 6 and is definitely a majority of Delegates.

The commenter is ignoring the growing WiFi resistance that is occurring in the Village, Condo by Condo. We don't need Village wide WiFi.

What good does it do to have WiFi on the roads, at the Pier, on the Bocci courts or even on the Tennis courts? His remark about cost is ludicrous. They are trying to increase our costs by $1 million a year for 1 5 years for the roads, and now they want a Village wide WiFi at a cost of what? Another $million per year, for how many years?

This is not even addressing the tower problem or the digging problem to get the signal to all the Villagers. Ridiculous and crazy. Certainly not thought through! Typical.
Come to the Messenger Club Meeting and find out what you can do about this.

Letter to UCO #4

THE CENTURY VILLAGE MESSENGER CLUB

102  WELLINGTON A

WEST PALM BEACH,  FL 33417

United Civic Organization 2101 West Drive

West Palm Beach, FL 33417

Re: Revision of the 2015 UCO Budget

ATT : UCO  Officers,  Executive Committee

Please be advised that at the Century Village Messenger Club meeting on January 14, 2015 we, the undersigned support a motion, made and seconded, wherein, in essence, it states that Edward Grossman, CPA, George Lowenstein, CPA and Dorothy Tetro, former UCO treasurer volunteer to work with Howard O'Brien, current UCO treasurer, in an effort to revise the defeated budget so as to enable the new revised budget to reflect those items which will help to enable UCO to present to the delegates a budget to vote on and pass.

Keep in touch with our Blog  My Village Blogger.blogspot.com     An open forum for everyone to express their opinion, read the latest articles, view informative , topical videos and inform others about concerns  and issues affecting Century Village. We're looking forward to hearing  from you

This motion was drafted and accepted by those attending The Messenger Club on January 14, 2015 to expedite and execute a fair and balanced budget.

Be advised that we are trying to avoid the next budget being voted down as was it at the January Delegate Assembly.

The above letter is signed by 50 residents that attended the January 14 meeting.

We are still waiting for a reply.

Once you permit those who are convinced of their own superior rightness to censor and silence and suppress those who hold contrary opinions,just at that moment the citadel has been surrendered.

- Archibald MacLeish