How The School Board Bought A Swamp And Wasted Your Money
BY BUDDY NEVINS
In the long, scandal-stained history of the School Board, nothing stands out more than the purchase of $4.3 million worth of swamp land in Southwest Ranches.
School Board members want you to believe they were tricked into buying the land by the staff and a corrupt suspended Board member.
Wrong.
The purchase was the responsibility of the whole rotten system. That includes the School Board, who bought the land without a peep of protest even after being told they were buying swamp.
The disastrous deal surfaced once again at the School Board this week.
Here is what The Miami Herald wrote:
“At a meeting to revisit the botched land purchase, board members sounded confused and frustrated about why the land — 30 acres of mostly wetlands in Southwest Ranches — was purchased even after warnings from staff that the land couldn’t support a new high school.
“If you knew we couldn’t build on it, why did it go forward?” board member Robin Bartleman asked.”
Bartleman shouldn’t be so puzzled. She voted for it.
School Board member Stephanie Kraft also tried to remake history, blaming two departed officials for the $4.3 million purchase of wetlands– former Superintendant Frank Till and suspended Board member Bev Gallagher.
Yes, Till and Gallagher promoted the purchase of the swamp for a new high school in southwest Broward.
But it was ratified by several unanimous votes of the School Board from 2003 to 2006.
Here is what happens to your money when it is entrusted to the School Board:
*The school system paid the top price.
The system had four appraisals from $2.7 million to just under $4.3 million. After the broker selling the land complained that the first three appraisals were flawed, school construction chief Mike Garretson “agreed to throw out all but the $4.3 million appraisal.
*In June 2005, the school system learned from its own consultant that the land was swamp.
*November 2005, Garretson and his land purchase director Tom Coates found different land for a high school in Southwest Broward. The land in Pembroke Pines near Sheridan Street and U. S. 27 is far from the students in Weston that need it.
The Pembroke Pines land was the only parcel considered. It was steered to Coates by a broker.
* December 2005, the School Board unanimously purchased the Pembroke Pines land. Again, the School Board paid millions more than the appraisals.
The average of two appraisals concluded the land was worth $23 million. The Board agreed to pay $25 million.
The sellers made a $9 million profit in 15 months.
*February 2006, the School Board went ahead and purchased the Southwest Ranches swamp for $4.3 million.
“Because it’s squishy, there’s not an automatic assumption that you can’t build on it, Garretson said.
*November 2009, staff finally admitted that the land can’t be used for school construction.
Who’s to blame?
Surely, Garretson and Coates. In any other business, a massive mistake like they committed would get them fired.
Not at the School Board, where there is absolutely no accountability for higher ups.
The School Board also has to take the blame for this seamy deal. They are the ones we elect to safeguard our money.
I’m sick of hearing they were misled by the staff. If that is true, fire the staff.
The current School Board members who voted repeatedly to approve the purchases were Ben Williams, Robin Bartleman, Maureen Dinnen, Stephanie Kraft and Bob Parks.
Remember their names when these whiners complain they aren’t getting enough of your money to spend.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:32 am
It is not unreasonable or mean to demand accountability. It is just and it upholds the expectation that those we elect will make decisions that ar sound. There is no excuse for purchasing land that is unbuildable.
Someone there has to be held to account for that inexcusable error. Either the elected officials hold their staff accountable because they were misled or they must be held accountable for knowing better and voting inexcusably. Possibly both.
Under no circumstance can we forget about it and just move on. That would be unaccountable.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
who were the SELLERS of these 2 properties ? I would hope the FBI is including this in their investigation when they arent trying to grandstand in front of the Broward State Attorneys Office’s backyard (which does a FANTASTIC job BTW). The FBI comes down here to basically arrest a bunch of HACKS. It was no super-sleuthing so they shouldnt grandstand til they actually get some real work done !! $2,000 and $15,000 bribes, are you kidding me ?? and at the same time other people are stealing MILLIONS right under our nose.
November 18th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
The investigators know who sold the land, who brokered the land, who was involved every step of the way and to what extent.
All of this will come out soon enough. I suspect Gallagher will cut a plea deal and sing like a canary if she already hasn’t. All that remains will be to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
The school board knew about this and went so far to approve a contract with Zyscovich on February 7, 2006 for the Southwest Ranches site and on the same day approved the purchase of the Pembroke Pines sale. Aye, the rub…the proposal provided by Zyscovich was on the Pembroke Pines site even though it was stated earlier in the board meeting that LLL was being designed by Zyscovich for the Southwest Ranches site.
What does it all mean? It means that the board knew that Zyscovich was not really designing for the Southwest Ranches site that they were approving…and also that they knew that they were going to approve the purchase of the Pembroke Pines site before they even met and publicly discussed the purchase of the Pembroke Pines site. Can you say “Sunshine” violations galore??? Marty, do you care to make an ass out of yourself and deny that now???
Here’s the deal that makes it truly important to follow. The LLL issue had gone away, despite the fact that the auditors had exposed to whole charade. But Maureen Dinnen felt the need to bring it back and clear the air. All she really did was breathe air back into the fraud.
Why was SK (not ScoreKeeper) so bent on discussing the item at the “Workshop”? Well, she wanted to cut Notter away from that batch of bandits to keep him pure. Too late, he was in the know. He has said on many occassions that after the years he has put in, he knows the system.
Wasserman-Rubin, Gallagher and Ira Cor were the players in the SW Ranches deal, but who were the players in the Pembroke Pines deal? Was it SK??? Was it Gottlieb before she even got here??? The group who bought the property and flipped it was CT Investors Group. Who were they??? They were a group of saavy business people who were plugged into the school board and its purchasing process. Why??? Maybe someone should look into the Miami Jewish Federation. That is where Daniel Whitebook and the Scheck family are from and they are the people who bought the land for $16 million and sold it months later for $25 million when it only appraised for $23 million.
There is a Gottlieb connection, but who knows if it is the Broward Gottliebs???
Either way, it is not about the misgivings of Till and Gallagher. It is not that they were doing the right thing…just that there was and is more blame to go around. That is the problem with transparency…when it becomes clear what they are doing…it is like a car wreck…you drive by slow and feel sick when you see the yellow tarp. This is one very big yellow tarp.
More to come.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Garretson and Coates are a disgrace and must be removed. The entire construction office should be eliminated. There are the same number of employees and no construction.
November 21st, 2009 at 3:50 am
This sounds as rotten as the purchased swamp. Hardly a mistake, I would say.
November 24th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Don’t you guys get it? The Board wants to have people like Till, Coates, Garretson, Notter, Marko, etc. to lie to them and to conceal information from them. When the facts are revealed, they play ignorant and innocent. No one has been fired for their actions, only as scapegoats, and then they are paid off. Vote them all out.
October 30th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
It is not unreasonable or mean to demand accountability. It is just and it upholds the expectation that those we elect will make decisions that ar sound. There is no excuse for purchasing land that is unbuildable.
Someone there has to be held to account for that inexcusable error. Either the elected officials hold their staff accountable because they were misled or they must be held accountable for knowing better and voting inexcusably. Possibly both.
Under no circumstance can we forget about it and just move on. That would be unaccountable.