|
 |
||
| Home | ||
| Venice Florida! dot com stories archive | ||
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Levine accused of
sabotaging Envision Venice Got a comment? Make it here. RELATED: Would the real facilitator please stand up? The letter states that three people complained about Levine after the April 6 Envision Venice meeting, specifically that he didn't document views that didn't conform with his own. The letter then went on to basically kick Levine out of the process, at least as a facilitator. Problem: Levine wasn't the facilitator at the table on the day in question. According to Levine, city planner Kathy Ebaugh's husband, Paul Ebaugh, was. Levine states he was pre-empted at the last minute, that the process was rushed because a presentation by Planning Commission chair John Osmulski ran long, and that there was no way to get all the statements down because everyone at the table was talking too fast due to the rushed atmosphere (agenda for meeting). Osmulski and Kathy Ebaugh are in charge of all of the Envision Venice meetings and act as presenters and overall guides for the meetings. A public records request has been made for all notes related to the incident by Venice Florida! dot com, and a message has been left with Black asking for a return call. Levine described the meeting as heavily slanted towards growth. "Osmulski gave a speech at the beginning, he promoted growth, stating things like if we don't grow, we die. He took so long speaking that he spent the rest of the meeting going around from table to table telling everyone to hurry up, that they were all behind schedule. "The facilitator is supposed to be taking notes and I was supposed to be a facilitator, but Ebaugh's husband took over and told me to take notes for him. I thought it was odd, but I said 'OK, what the heck.' Then he was all over the place on the formatted questions, plus Osmulski rushing us so everyone was talking at once, and I spent the time trying to keep up. I thought I did a pretty good job, considering. But, it's the facilitator's job to take the notes -- if I did a lousy job doing what Ebaugh's husband was supposed to be doing, it should fall back on him, not me, but I'm the one who got kicked out." According to Levine, the facilitator at each table asks questions from a prepared list, then goes around the table allowing each participant to respond. The facilitator then writes down a synopsis of each answer as the answers are given. The facilitator has the ability to slow down the responses in order to take the time to document the responses properly. Levine claims that by splitting up the job in this instance, the pacing of the questioning went out the window. "I've been the facilitator three times before and never had a problem getting all of the responses down. When you split the job up and I have to act as the recorder, I lose the ability to slow things down so that I can record them properly." Levine also states that he was unaware that there was a perceived problem until he received Slaughter's letter -- Levine stated that he left the Envision Venice meeting in question thinking everything was fine. The first time he was aware of any problem was when he received Slaughter's letter.
What did Black know? However, according to an article published in the Venice Gondolier Sun, Black did have some prior knowledge of the brewing controversy:
Additionally, Stelzer's office reported that they had not received a copy until April 14, only receiving it after informal public records requests were made by both Venice Florida! dot com and the Venice Gondolier Sun. When Levine met with Black on April 13 to discuss the letter, Levine stated that he received another surprised: "Marty said that I had written things that blasted Envision Venice, that I had ridiculed the process. I don't know where he got that idea, because I haven't written anything of the sort. I asked him to show me what I had written and he said he'd heard some things. I asked him who told him I had written such things but he wouldn't answer." Levine stated that up until he received the letter from Slaughter, he publicly had written and stated nothing but praise for the program. Tom Slaughter left for vacation on April 13 and will not be returning until the 19th. As such, Slaughter was unavailable for comment. Kathy Ebaugh refused to comment on- or off-the-record, asking, "Please, don't put me in this position." Ebaugh did acknowledge that her husband had acted as facilitator at the event in question, but would answer no other questions, either about the event in question or about the general processes of Envision Venice.
Off the reservation The Anderson letter caused a flap at city hall as the official version of events was that Anderson had gone off the reservation and had drafted and sent the letter without advanced knowledge or approval from anyone at city hall. An inquiry last month to Marty Black's office by Venice Florida! dot com resulted in a phone message from Black's secretary, stating that Black denied any involvement or prior knowledge: "Anderson did it on his own," was the message that was left on Venice Florida! dot com's answering machine. Levine's take? "They've been hearing no growth, no growth all through this, that the streets are too congested, there's too much development, and it's not the message that they wanted to hear. So to even things out, they add a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce and try to discredit me to boot. Then they send a copy to the Planning Commission. Why? Because this might help discredit me in the appeal over the four story building, which Planning Commission badly wants approved. "The growth machine is scared to death of what the community is saying to them as to what to put into the next comprehensive plan, because that's what this thing is all about. So now they are trying to discredit me and the entire Envision Venice program -- if I sabotaged it, they can discount all the no-growth sentiments. Why would I want to sabotage it? From what I was seeing, the majority of the views were echoing my own sentiments, why would I want to shoot myself in the foot? It doesn't make sense."
Terrible timing This incident with Envision Venice could easily play into Levine's lawsuit, as it could be argued that it is a continuation of exclusionary practices on the part of the city. When asked bout this, Levine stated that he is keeping his attorney apprised of the situation but refused any further comment on this aspect of the Envision Venice matter.
John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times. |
|
