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The Town of Southwest Ranches, Corrections Corporation of American (CCA), and DHS / ICE want to build one of the largest immigration detention centers in the nation within walking distance of thousands of homes; thus, reducing the quality of our life and our community. We do not agree with the federal government privatizing our immigration detention centers throughout the nation when there is clear evidence that privatizing our prisons creates a clear public safety threat. For ICE to continue to privatize these institutions and bring this safety threat through their "secure communities Initiative" to our community is unacceptable. Depriving someone of their liberty is a non-delegable governmental function and privatizing of such a function is infecting our nation like a virus.

The Town of Southwest Ranches has now entered into it's THIRD Fire Contract within the last year now with the Town of Davie, costing taxpayers $120,000 in ramp up fees. They are now closing several roads in western Southwest Ranches charging the tax payers $80,000 for the gates. They have paid an unknown amount of money for lobbying with ICE regarding this prison. They have several lawsuits against the Town, 1- Involving Open Meeting Violations on a November 5th meeting concerning the ICE Detention Center, 2- Open Records Violations, and 3- The Town is putting together a lawsuit to sue Pembroke Pines for breach of contract because the City utilized their exit clause and cancelled for convenience their Fire/EMS contract which included water and sewer at the last minute for the CCA prison. In the contract it states that there should be no third party beneficiaries. CCA would be a third party in this instance.

CCA has also filed suit in Federal court against the City of Pembroke Pines saying they are denying them water however the City had never seen a water application. The City did file for a Declaratory Judgement in State Court but that has been put on hold until the Federal Court hears the suit from CCA.

Is ANYONE CONFUSED as to why the Pembroke Pines/Southwest Ranches Fire Agreement was cancelled? The Town Attorney Keith Poliakoff attempted to "slip" into the agreement a portion that guaranteed water for the prison at CCA's request. This is something that should have been brought up separately. CCA should have brought it forward on their own in a water application. This is sleight of hand that CCA and the Town attempted to do because they were so afraid of CCA being on the Pembroke Pines agenda.

As of June 2012, ICE put out a statement that the site selection was no longer needed due to the fact that the extra bedspace was no longer needed.
READ UPDATE HERE!


Sunday, September 30, 2012

Plat Note Delegation Request Rigged??

More "inaccuracies" discovered at Town Hall...

At the December 15, 2010 meeting under Attorney comments, the Town Attorney Keith Poliakoff brings forward CCA request to increase the plat note on the prison parcel to allow 2200 prisoners from 1500 that the Town Council had originally approved in the 2005 agreement.  This wasn't on the agenda...  the public didn't have any clue it was being brought forward.

More loopholes to allow CCA to keep increasing and increasing the bed count so they get the most amount of profit.  WOW!  Once CCA got that 2005 contract passed, they knew it was just an easy plat note amendment away to keep increasing their profits. We already know from emails sent by Mayor Jeff Nelson that he is keen on getting more and more money for the Town regardless of the ill effects!

Friday, September 28, 2012

Don't forget all of Debbie's Lie's On Election Day!

 
Much to all of our shock and dismay, our Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz supported the Detention Center in our Town, near our homes, schools and our children.  She even put in a "cursory letter of support" for it.  However, this would seem to not be the case since there is a clear history of her supporting this detention center and the private prison system in general.  Let us describe her history with the prison in our Town.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Resident Outrage on the Road Closures in Sun Sentinel


End Southwest Ranches blockade
Congratulations to the town of Southwest Ranches and more specifically the town council. For those of us who live in The Trails and Durango Estates in Pembroke Pines, you have closed off all roads leading to Griffin Road. First there was 199th, 202nd, and 205th Avenues, and now the road that we were taking to get to 208th Lane has been blocked. And just so you know, it has a lock and chain on it so no emergency vehicles can pass through there either.

Please don't tell me this is about anything except the detention center that is at the core of this issue. We all know that the detention center was planned and of course behind everyone's back, even the residents in Southwest Ranches. Had you driven up and down 199, 202, or 205 you would have seen signs that said "No Prison" in both Southwest Ranches and Pembroke Pines. How blind could you have been to the people who put you in office? You really wanted a prison in your backyard, well not really in your backyard, more like a prison that you got all the financial benefits from but in Pembroke Pines.

 To the mayor of Southwest Ranches —- that would be you, Jeff Nelson, the assistant principal at Cypress Bay — can you please tell me what lessons you are teaching your students when you do what you do and close the roads to your neighbors? The words that come to mind are isolationist and separatist. Does the Berlin Wall bring back memories of when you were in school, you know that wall they actually tore down not too many years ago? Shame on you.

Danny Zuccari, Pembroke Pines

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/fl-letters-friday-0907-20120907,0,3481431.story#tugs_story_display

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Who owns Mayor Jeff Nelson??

You can tell alot from campaign reports.  Has anyone ever looked at one?  It basically shows who is supporting a candidate (or their own interests) when they donate to a candidates campaign.  We just had to look at one campaign contribution report to know who is trying to BUY the election in Southwest Ranches.  JEFF NELSON!  He's been a pro-prison advocate not even taking into account the negative impacts it would have on the town nor the financial implications and has this continued mantra with slogans such as "IT'S A DONE DEAL!" and "THEY CAN START BUILDING TOMORROW!"  We all knew better.  No business starts building anything until ALL CONTRACTS ARE SIGNED!   They were merely "pushing dirt."

An interesting tidbit from the last Jeff Nelson mayoral campaign was that he was actually a WALK ON because no one opposed him...  and he has been on the Council a total of 8 and a half years.  Do you believe in term limits?  He obviously doesn't!!  We all know better than to let this reign continue.


When we took a look at Mayor Nelson's campaign reports it was made clear who is pushing their interests.  In typical "Pay to Play" fashion we saw the likes of Leonard Samuels and Sam Poole of Berger Singerman (CCA's lawfirm) as well as other interested parties like Keith Poliakoff his lawfirm Becker & Poliakoff that are so obviously advocating for a lawsuit against Pembroke Pines for the non-existent contract from CCA so they can get more money in FEES.  Then there are the FIVE Bergeron companies listed as giving donations as they were wanting to make sure they get the trash and recycling contracts for the Town. (Sun Bergeron, Bergeron Land Development, Bergeron Sand Rock & Aggregate and Bergeron's Partner Southern Waste Systems) Almost all of the donors are contracts with the town or associates of Becker & Poliakoff and had a grand total of over $15,000.  We found it very interesting that there weren't many donations from THE PEOPLE in Southwest Ranches... We could count them on ONE HAND with one of them being a Becker & Poliakoff partner and founder of Southwest Ranches, Gary Poliakoff.  You can view the actual report for yourself here.

In the end...who do you want running YOUR TOWN?  Becker & Poliakoff, CCA and Bergeron??  Or do you want someone with YOUR interests in mind??  Think about it before you vote!! TAKE BACK OUR TOWN! Jeff Nelson - Campaign Contributions - TR F2-3
TR - Jeff Nelson F3