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!
Great list, comprehensive and easy to use. Thank you
ReplyDeleteIf one follows the money then you can see Ron Bergeron is the focal point. As he is a majority Broward County landowner, I submit that he has exerted great control over the State of Florida, Broward County and local city governments. Bergeron bought the swamp and sawgrass back when it was pennies on the acre, mined it for limestone that was needed to fill the swamps and build the roadbeds, and formed many corporations that profited from the expansion of Broward County over the years. If you bought a home in SW Ranches or Pembroke Pines or South Florida for that matter-Ron Bergeron made money from that sale. Nothing wrong with capitalism-he led the American dream and became a millionaire. The problem is that the future plans for vacant land-the land with the grass and cows, was unknown to all of us who purchased our homes in the affected area. Real estate agents spoke to us of equestrian parks or a park similar to Mount Trashmore( the county park off of 75 and griffin-a former landfill) for the land. No one came forward to reveal the true plans for the cow pastures--in fact there was a conspiracy to cover up land plans-whether it be a prison, a trash recycling facility, asphalt plants, auto auctions, or bus storage lots. The same guy that sold the land to the developers that built your community, and ran the construction company that built the development, is the central figure in the conspiracy to see that the ICE Prison was to be built. Did you know that under all that grass that the cows graze on...six inches under is land that was de-mucked and filled is land ready to build on. Its not as God made it--thick black muck with grass....its land that was removed of all mud and organic material and then filled with hard rock and limestone. Then on top of the white limestone fill soil was added and was seeded with grass. Add a few cows and the land is now considered "agriculture use" and then the property taxes are a fraction of what they would be if there was no cows and grass. It is a way to scam the Broward County and the Florida of much needed tax revenue. While our taxes are raised thru the roof, the millionaire land owner scams all of us with his cows and grass. Ask the County property appraiser LORI PARRISH why this is? We must focus our investigative efforts on Bergeron. No doubt after all these years and with so much money at stake there has to be questionable transactions, and potentially illegal actions and acts. Whether it be environmental, civil, or even criminal acts-we must expose them. Bergeron has proven he is no friend of the residents of the affected areas, or of the residents of Broward if he has committed tax and land use fraud.
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