The Art Of The Steal

People who don’t still feel Boss Collins’ presence at Stuart City Hall are kidding themselves. What do you think all the hoopla is about having referendums on Haney Creek but especially the Sailfish Ballfield and Guy Davis Park.

For the past 7 years, the ballfields have effectively been under the control of Martin County North Little League (MCNLL) under a Facility User Agreement supposedly for the good of Stuart kids. And that is all for the total sum of $8000 being paid annually by MCNLL to Stuart. Several years ago, the city gave me the figure of $250,000 a year for the upkeep of those fields by taxpayer dollars paid by city residents.

At least for 2019 and I would assume every year thereafter, MCNLL was supposed to provide a roster to the city including names and addresses of participants. I wonder if they ever did and if so, how many Stuart residents were there in the numbers.

The problem as far as MCNLL is concerned is that their contract as a preferred provider can be terminated with 90 days’ notice. That would be devastating for them. But it isn’t only MCNLL that would be devastated by their agreement being terminated. There also are travel baseball leagues which are very lucrative businesses that use those same fields under MCNLL auspices.

Before he left, Boss Collins advanced a proposed charter amendment requiring voter approval before the fields could be sold but also in the language was a proposed ability for the city to sign a lease for the fields with MCNLL or any other entity for up to 10 years. That would solidify a homerun for the people behind MCNLL, in reality the premium travel league that is at the heart of this entire sordid affair.

There is a common thread to the premium baseball leagues and the Ranches project, and it is Stuart resident Tom McNicholas. Collins seems to have sold his soul for a chance to become a county commissioner to a very influential citizen and someone with access to lots of money. Until the Boss made the video telling us how he supported the Ranches, I would have always said that Collins was truly no-growth. It now appears that he is for sale to whomever can pay.

Here is the main point. We don’t need a referendum. After more than 80 years, Sailfish will be going nowhere. The last time development was proposed for those fields hundreds of people showed up in protest. Each of the current commissioners and any of the candidates have sworn that they will never entertain selling those fields to anyone.

Yet by signing the contract with MCNLL, the taxpayers of Stuart are subsidizing kids from the entire county. They are also allowing private businesses, in the form of premium leagues, to charge thousands of dollars to kids for instruction and field time. This is private business using the assets of the city.

If we can wrestle our fields back and then obtain a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), the fields remain as such for a very long time under Florida law. For proof, look no further than Shepard Park as an example.

Right now, the city doesn’t even know how many Stuart kids play in these leagues. Why?

Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric of never can be sold…when you think about it Collins through his Politburo of Little Boss Reed and the Ever-Faithful Giobbi want to overturn the people’ referendum for Haney Creek that was already voted on. Collins’ motto is that if you don’t like the results, you just continue until you get the ones you do. That is the Boss Collins way of bullying people until he wins.

As we are seeing, the guy is unscrupulous. He has no beliefs or morals except the accumulation of power. Boss Collins needs to be stopped.