Wellington Businesses Outraged by Mayor Margolis

  

                                                    September 20, 2012

Mayor Robert Margolis

Village of Wellington

12300 Forest Hill Boulevard

Wellington, Florida 33414

Dear Mayor Margolis:

After the election, several key leaders in our community suggested that the Wellington Chamber of Commerce could play a key role in reaching out in an attempt to heal the wounds created by an extremely divisive election.  An election which left wounded feelings on both sides.

As president of the Chamber, I believed in the prospect of healing the wounds and opening up lines of communication with the newly elected council members.  It was my fervent hope that this was not simply going to be a question of “we won and you lost. Too bad, so sad”.  I was hoping that although the Chamber chose to support other candidates, for the good of the entire community, everyone would “bury the hatchet” and move on toward working together.  To that end, I was authorized by the board of directors of the Wellington Chamber to reach out and start a dialogue with the newly elected members of the council in search of some common ground, and a seat at the table when it came time to making policy decisions which affect the business community and the community as a whole.

To that end I first reached out to Councilman Willhite.  I was pleased when word came back that he agreed to meet with me.  However, instead of a meeting, it was more of a lecture about what the Chamber should and shouldn’t be doing.  He spoke, I listened.  Not much in the way of a dialogue was started there.  When I bump into him at Gabe’s, he still barely makes eye contact with me.

Next I reached out to you.  (It should be noted that while I was reaching out to you, Mr. Greene launched a verbal assault on the Chamber at the end of a council meeting based solely on the information of one disgruntled individual, and we are still waiting for the apology I requested when I addressed the Council several weeks ago.  Needless to say, we have abandoned all hope of opening up any kind of dialogue with Mr. Greene, and hope that in the not too distant future he realizes that being a public servant is not suited to his personality.)

You and I met in the Village Council conference room on August 7, 2012.  We had a very cordial discussion about some of the issues that were presently pending and some of the issues which had already been raised by the Council which I suggested to you was anti-business.  You asked me to see what I could do about toning down the level of our disagreement with the actions and policy decisions of the new majority on the council.  I told you that I would, if the new majority would stop trying to “un-approve” things that had already been approved.  I also talked to you about WinterFest.  The event we have been holding at the Amphitheater for the past two years.  I told you that Vanilla Ice had already confirmed, and I invited you to attend and read “T’was the Night Before Christmas”, as was done by the previous mayor.  Your response was that we should meet again and discuss it at that time.

You and I met again, together with Victor Connor, and the Chamber’s executive director on August 28, 2012.  Mr. Schofield was there, and I recognize that you were somewhat burdened by the flooding issue which resulted from tropical storm Isaac.  We discussed the defeat of the 5.1.15 hearing on Wellington Country Place P.U.D., and that we needed to continue to communicate more in order to foster better relations.  We discussed with you the fact that we needed an answer as to whether or not the Village would be willing to host WinterFest at the Amphitheater once again.  We also discussed our request for the use of the council chambers for a candidates forum we have scheduled for October.  We have confirmations from the candidates for State Attorney, State Senate and State House that they will appear, and we need a place to hold this very important event.  Both you and Mr. Schofield suggested that perhaps the Community Center might we available rather than the council chambers, although our previous two candidate forums were held in the chambers.  We also invited you to give the State of the Village address to our next Chamber luncheon. 

At the end of the meeting, I thought that we had come to some kind of a meeting of the minds regarding our relationship moving forward.  Unfortunately, nothing could have been further from the truth.  I have now come to learn in my dealings with you to not listen to what you say, but watch what you do.  Since August 28^th we have emailed, and requested a response and confirmation from the Village regarding the use of the Amphitheater for WinterFest and any facility for our candidates forum, and thus far have not received the courtesy of a response from you or Mr. Schofield.

Our events require a significant lead time in order to schedule participants, and produce marketing materials in order to generate the crowds that we do.  In the past two years, attendance at WinterFest has been in excess of 5,000 people.  Families come out with their children to see snow, enjoy the arrival of Santa Claus, see some local talent perform, and watch our local resident celebrity Vanilla Ice give a free show to give back to the community.  Unfortunately, due to our inability to get any kind of response from the Village with respect to the approval for this event or the candidates forum event, you have left us with no other choice but to find other local venues that are actually interested in hosting our public holiday and civic minded events.

It is extremely disappointing that we have had to make this decision.  We never expected that the vindictive nature of the new majority on the council would actually spill over into civic events that have become popular with the local community.  These events have nothing to do with politics, or any dispute relating to public policy.  This is exactly the kind of event for which the Amphitheater was designed and built.  Your failure to give us a simple yes or no answer to a very simple question is indicative of the “process over results” mentality that permeates your administration.  Never mind attacking businesses that want to invest huge sums in our community to create a permanent Global Dressage Festival, and attacking small businesses by having restaurants close at 11:00 pm on the weekends, I am 100% convinced that if this new majority was in power during the course of the previous 4 years, there would be no City Hall, Scott’s Place or Amphitheater in which to hold events.  In fact, I am willing to wager that four years from now we will still not see a new community center built because you are incapable of making the decisions necessary to get the job done, as you remain bogged down in process.

It was my goal to find a way to work with you for that would have been in the best interest of our community.  Since you have rebuffed my efforts, I will no longer try.

The Wellington Chamber of Commerce will find other venues for our functions.  We will also continue to watch what you do and report it to our members.  We will shine a light directly at every effort you make to restrict the business community and waste taxpayer dollars litigating with businesses who are just trying to make Wellington the Equestrian Capital of the World.

Sincerely,

          Alexander L. Domb
            President, Wellington Chamber of Commerce