Archive for the ‘City Council’ Category

NORFOLK – - Norfolk City Council Wednesday perpetuated the dependent ’slave mentality’ of the community’s black population.

Because the promoters of Afr’am -  a contrived 27 YO event displaying black behavior in a music and arts setting at Town Park – ignored the signs that declining attendance over the years also meant declining revenues and went in debt.  They looked to the council to pull their butts out of the hole.

Because they signed a contract to hire city employees off duty to provide security, at a higher price than the City Council hired for the non-race oriented HarborFest.  The black organizers whined when they couldn’t meet payroll. They wanted city help because they couldn’t meet their labor contract obligations!

And what was the first thing they did?  Blame the city of Norfolk, not the fact the event is beyond its purpose and usefulness.  Many educated, middle, upper class blacks say they wouldn’t be caught dead at the event.

But the most distressing thing of all, the majority white Norfolk council feeling guilt because the black promoters paid $32/hour for security and the non-race HarborFest only paid $25/hour gave in to the inequity.

The signal they sent was: “Well, you all blacks didn’t know better.  You all blacks didn’t know that a contract is a contract, not to be modified after the fact just because you fail to meet your obligations. And you paid more than the city did (out of your own stupidity) so yes, ‘we’ll ante up a grant for $11,000 to help make up the difference between the two pay scales.”

As dire as the city’s budget was.  As dire as the economic situation is. The City Council shelled out the money of other nonparticipating citizens to bail out this racist event.

Is it any wonder when their children get in trouble or need anything, all they have to do is play the race card to get a pass?

Give us a break! The people of Norfolk would be more than justified in firing all members of council who used their taxes to pay for this ‘black cultural event.’

VIRGINIA BEACH – - Virginia News Source (VNS) has learned that only two members of the city council had enough knowledge to vote against giving Norfolk $250,000 for its light rail study.

Only 2 members had read any of the documents governing the resort city’s obligation to Norfolk’s light rail project.

Councilman Jim Wood, who is also chairman of the Hampton Roads Transit board, had never been able to get a copy of HRT’s original grant application until VNS requested it.

Councilman Bill DeSteph had read that and other documents before the issue was bought before council.

That is unconscionable: Councilman John Uhrin, Mayor Will(ing) Sessoms, Councilwoman Barbara Henley – who admittedly knew nothing about the contents and obligations outlined in the documents – were going to ‘blow $250,000′ tax dollars because Norfolk ‘asked.’ Because Sessoms and City Mgr. Jim Spore wanted them to.

Had they done this they would have been guilty of malfeasance in office – but they were stupidly blissful in trying to help solve Norfolk’s financial problems with our tax dollars.

Wrong grasshoppers! Next election you are going down. Future campaigns won’t be like past campaigns. There’s the Internet. There are citizen activists to challenge your every statement and position.

There’s a ‘New Day Dawning’ in politics here and across the nation.

No longer will your money alone be able to put your sorry asses in office.

Integrity. Responsibility. Honesty. Serving the public first. Transparency. Those are the qualities that most lying, currently serving politicians will have to square off against.

Try putting your records, statements, actions, and lies against that standard now and let us know where you think you stand. We may add out 2-cents worth.

Politicians who stick their heads up in public can expect to be held accountable or embarrassed for their arrogance and stupidity.

In the current flap over the funding of the Norfolk study, only DeSteph and Vice Mayor Louis Jones stood up for the taxpayers.

After meeting with the HRT chief the day before Sessoms was going to try to ram the issue through council, DeSteph and Jones alone got Phil Shucet, HRT’s top exec, to withdraw the request.

Oh, we almost forgot: There was a council transcript quoting the previous manager of the corrupt agency as promising the study would “not cost Virginia Beach” a penny.

Despite all the evidence, the council refused so signal in advance how it’d vote, except for DeSteph, Jones, Wilson, Dyer, and Diezel.

For example Councilwoman Henley, admitting she’d never seen any of the documents, said she hadn’t made up her mind before the request was withdrawn.

But sources tell VNS that she’d do anything City Manager Jim Spore wanted and Spore wanted her vote for giving away the tax dollars.

There is no evidence that anybody other than DeSteph might present information about the documents and there is no evidence that those who hadn’t ‘made up their minds’ wouldn’t have voted for the giveaway in total stupidity.

Only Jones, DeSteph, and VNS, stood in the way.

VIRGINIA BEACH – - It ain’t gonna to be Mayor Will Sessoms:

Who ya  gonna call when you want somebody to save your tax dollars?  Why Vice Mayor Louis Jones and Councilman Bill DeSteph – that’s who.

Jones & DeSteph went head to head Monday with HRT chief Phil Shucet over HRT’s attempt to get Virginia Beach citizens to help fund Norfolk’s light rail study costs.  They saved the taxpayers of Virginia Beach almost $250,000 in 1-brief meeting Monday morning.  They’re the heroes of the day.

Shucet withdrew the request deciding to take the funds out of HRT’s own pockets after Jones told him he needed to find the money ‘in house’ instead of looking for it from resort city taxpayers.

While Jones and DeSteph were fighting to prohibit Virginia Beach tax dollars from going to Norfolk’s grossly and criminally mismanaged light rail project, what was Mayor Sessoms doing?

He was trying to break the arms of other members of council to get them to vote to give the money away.  Never once did Sessoms challenge the legality and integrity of the HRT request.

Instead Sessoms was working feverishly trying to force his colleagues to vote approval of the request.  Of Shucet’s turn around after meeting DeSteph & Jones,  Sessoms said, “That to me is HRT building credibility pretty quick.” The resort city’s stupidest mayor, who had been rallying council members to approve the money doesn’t have the ability to be a leader!

DeSteph on the other hand, went after the alleged documents City Manager Jim Spore’s staff said required approval of the payment  to Norfolk.

All DeSteph and Jones found was a 15-page document, negotiated and signed by Spore in 1999, but never approved by city council.  And  even if  it had been legally executed,  it did not require the beach to pay for any Norfolk study.

It limited participating funding to capital ‘acquisitions’ such as …”vehicles, administration and maintenance facilities, bus stop signs, bus shelters, computer systems.”

The project is now sitting on almost $108 MILLION in cost overruns in 1-year.  The original document – HRT’s grant application for light rail – states that any costs over $50 MILLION in federal grants have to be paid by NORFOLK – not Virginia Beach and the other cities.

It cries out for a federal investigation to determine where $108 MILLION – Plus went, where, when, to whom, why, and did it disappear legally or illegally.  Only then can the corrupt, mismanaged agency restore its credibility.  Not from more shenanigans like this in conspiracy with an incompetent mayor who can’t see past his nose.

This has caused some to wonder, whether the project may not force Norfolk into bankruptcy or at least trash its credit rating.

No member of the Virginia Beach city council except Jim Wood, HRT’s chairman, and DeSteph have seen or read the governing documents.

Sessoms was ready, willing and able to give away his city’s tax dollars to a project – way over cost and behind schedule – without EVER SEEING THE DOCUMENTS GOVERNING VIRGINIA BEACH’S RESPONSIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONS,  That should constitute malfeasance and be prosecuted by the Commonwealth’s attorney.

[Just in case:  Did any of you read the preceding paragraph? Read it again.]

In fact, Wood had been unable to obtain a copy of the original grant document himself, even as chairman, because the X-dirtbag HRT administrator REFUSED to give it to him, until it was requested by Virginia News Source.

It is hard to believe that as chairman of the board, you have no control over your employees – except for the fact that X-chief Michael Townes screams “racism” every time he is questioned about something he wants to hide or fails to perform to normal, acceptable, responsible standards.

He had the board scared to death to challenge him one board member told VNS. But now he’s gone.  A new day has dawned, but not without lingering storm clouds that only a federal investigation can drive away.

Townes

Michael Townes was protected in the operation of corrupt Hampton Roads Transit Authority by his black ‘posse’ of supporters who knew of his incompetence.  Knew he was incapable of running HRT and the light rail project.

The posse knew months before the HRT board found out that Townes had overspent his budget by $108 MILLION.  They knew it was behind schedule

They said nothing in circling the light rail project to protect the man because ‘he was a black brother,” inside sources have said.

“…the makeup of the board was heavily in favor of Michael despite the evidence.  I will leave it to you to guess why… facts unimportant to them and they had enough votes to keep him on,” VNS learned.

As we have always said about Townes, he rallies the posse at the least hint of a threat to him or of any criticism of his mis-management style.  The black posse’s role was to support his yelps of ‘racism’ as the excuse to cover his problems and inadequate ability to handle the job.

It wasn’t until after the $108 MILLION overrun was made public and officials began to take heat through the media that they were able to override the black posse who stood with Townes to the end.

Sources told VNS that Norfolk Mayor Fraim, Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms and the city manager of Norfolk threatened to pull the plug on the entire project that the HRT board was able to force Townes out.

Why did he get his ‘black’ parachute of about $180,000 for a year?   Because he had a tightly written clause in his contract.

The HRT board was afraid to fire him because it felt that he would go public with his racism charge and take them to court.

He’d keep ‘good blackmail book’ on what he considered racist slights and the board felt it would cost more to fight him in court for the rights of citizens than it would to pay him off for a year.

Other officials said he should have been fired for malfeasance, misfeasance or investigated for criminal activity.  Under this scenario, the contract and ‘black’ parachute clause would have been null and void.

One official said, for the above reasons, “We were very fortunate to strike the deal we did.”

It was said, “Unfortunately, he had a severance clause that was air tight.  Although it may sink in the throat, sometimes just paying the severance is cheaper than a court case. He will never again have credibility, I fear.”

While no one disputes his value in turning HRT into a professionally managed agency, X-VDOT chief Phil Shucet took Townes’ job at $336,000 a year, adding to the already costly venture.

Here we are paying an incompetent $180,000 to get out, Shucet $336,000 to come in, and the project is sitting on a $108 MILLION cost overrun.  If this is good government policy, we’d hate to see what bad government would cost and bring us!

The original documents whereby HRT applied for and got grants of $25 and $50 MILLION, respectively from the state and federal government – leaves Norfolk responsible for all cost overruns:  One reason why it is trying to suck Virginia Beach into to project – to help minimize its loss exposure due to the mismanagement of the corrupt agency.

The original documents whereby HRT applied for and got grants of $25 and $50 MILLION, respectively, from the state and federal government – leaves Norfolk responsible for all cost overruns:  One reason why it is trying to suck Virginia Beach into to project – to help minimize its loss exposure due to the mismanagement of the corrupt agency.

Crying ‘racist’ is a familiar tactic.

Townes yelled like a harpooned sea lion in Nov. 2002, after VNS reported he’d spent $50,000 in tax funds to provide free bus rides to the polls for a transportation referendum.  (See:  http://www.veritas-solus.com/VNS/Archive/axtax_hrt.htm )

He plastered the buses with illegal campaign signs promoting the referendum which would have resulted in a 22% tax hike.

Most of HRT’s ridership is black, but Townes joined Norfolk councilman Randy (I should have had an abortion instead of giving birth to Light Rail) Wright.

VNS reported that normally politicians, primarily Democrats, give blacks a half pint of whiskey and a $5 bill to sell their votes.

Townes didn’t confront VNS personally (in fact no HRT employee would speak for the record), but he called a now-deceased, but at the time rabid black legislator to attack VNS as being racist.

But after it was pointed out that the VNS editor had worked for a congressman and knew of what he spoke, the vocal squealers shut up.  Didn’t want to expose many of the political control tactics they used to control lesser educated black voters.

VIRGINIA BEACH – - Bill Fleming, self-employed and in the Democrat Party, is facing the biggest uphill battle of his career:  An run for the 8th District Senate seat against Jeffrey McWaters,  elected last weekend as the GOP standard bearer.

Fleming has only until January 12 to marshal a campaign against overwhelming odds of money and organization.  McWaters is still officially reporting about $165,000 in campaign funds received in his campaign against fellow GOPer, Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson.

However, insiders have speculated that when the final tally is in, it would run $500,000 to $800,000 from his special interest friends among a political machine that Mayor Will Sessoms’ hardcore of supporters are trying to build around him.

In an appearance before the Saturday Democrat breakfast of about 65 – 23 Princess Anne High School students, Fleming admitted his entry was a last minute move as he denied being ‘extreme,’ but admitted being an otherwise conservative candidate. Read the rest of this entry »

$1 MILLION Note

TIDEWATER (August 10, 2009) – - The City of Norfolk filed suit Monday to take possession of the Dominion Tower office complex on the downtown waterfront – not for redevelopment (the redevelopment authority is almost broke), but for a brazen new economic venture with Virginia Beach through its powers of eminent domain.

$500,000 Bill

Norfolk Mayor (also Virginia Beach’s new vice mayor) Paul Fraim and Virginia Beach Mayor (and Norfolk’s new vice mayor) Will Sessoms said the complex is needed for headquarters for the formation of the Tidewater Reserve Bank (TRB), a regional version of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Noting that growing citizen anti-tax, anti-government discontent is threatening everything from Sessom’s buddy, Obama’s euthanasia medical program to members of Congress in Town Hall meetings, they devised the plan, the explained, to better circumvent any citizen participation in their spending decisions.

“We have each reached spending crises in our two cities that are going to require large cash infusions to sustain projects for our special interest developer friends than can no longer be met by normal taxing means.”

“Why, not,” a reporter interrupted. “Because,” Fraim said, “it appears the citizens’ interests don’t jibe with what Will and I believe should be the direction the cities must move and the projects we think we need. Please hold all other questions until our presentation is finished.” “What about the Velcro Farm Project, will TRB fund more Velcro growing in the Pungo Green Line district?” “Questions are over ’til we finish.” Read the rest of this entry »

Council Crack Heads?

Or is proposed $28 MILLION animal shelter a political payoff?

Or is the city just remorseful over being named one of the nation’s most ‘Family Hostile’ cities and wants to make it up by putting animals in buildings that cost more than most homes in the city on a square foot cost basis.

Anyway you cipher, council members approving such an expenditure should be hung.

Do you know what this is saying? $28 MILLION divided by proposed size of 54,709 square feet = almost $512 per square feet. We bet Will Sessoms (Norfolk Vice Mayor) didn’t pay that much for his home. Read the rest of this entry »