Act Now To Save The 2014 Season

We hope everyone has been enjoying this year’s equestrian season. It’s hard to believe there are only two weeks remaining for WEF and that the Global Dressage Festival is well into its final month. 

The brevity of the equestrian season is why one of the Forum’s major goals is to expand the season. 

We had hoped that by season’s end we would be approaching a resolution to the village’s revocation of the approvals of the Equestrian Village equestrian venue. But as it stands now, come May 1 the venue will be shut-down indefinitely until and unless the village decides to allow the covered arena and other facilities to be used by us year-round or the courts take action on the pending litigation. 

There is no reason for optimism that the village will take positive action.  The council majority of Bob Margolis, John Greene and Matt Willhite recently appropriated an additional $400,000 to sustain the lawsuits that will close the venue on May 01. The final legal tab is expected to exceed over a million dollars of taxpayer money.

The council majority will again deprive the community the use of a covered arena this spring and summer and indefinably into the future. They are also depriving charities the use of the venue for the 30 days they were to have it available for events. 

Of great concern is the uncertainty that exists in the international equestrian community regarding next year’s GDF and other activities slated for Equestrian Village. Local trainers, riders, barn owners and others will begin losing money as equestrians worldwide decide not to make Wellington their 2014 winter destination. 

Equestrian Sport Productions is submitting an application this week to the village council to allow the 2014 GDF. But the council majority has been increasingly hostile towards ESP and any of their productions.  We must do something NOW to get the village council to act NOW to allow the 2014 GDF.

We ask you to attend the village council meeting of Tuesday, March 26th at 7:00 in Village Hall to show your support to keep the Equestrian Village venue open and to allow the 2014 GDF! 

We seek the answers to two (2) questions:

1. Can the covered arena be used this spring and summer ?

2. Will the use of the facilities for GDF 2014 be approved ?

Following the meeting we will have a meeting at the Polo West Cantina discuss the Council actions.

Please go to our Facebook page to let us know if you’ll be joining us or send an email to:

equestrianforum@gmail.com  

Editorial Right to Highlight Ethics Issues with Wellington Council

Opinion Submission from Post reader

Your Feb. 25 editorial, “In Wellington, ethics have been put out to pasture,” helped describe the corruption-infested government we have in Wellington. There needs to be an investigation of Mayor Bob Margolis and council members Matt Willhite and John Greene.

These three ran as a slate in Wellington’s election last March. They cynically claimed that they would clean up (nonexistent) corruption. Instead, they introduced corruption on a broad scale.

Your editorial points out just a few disturbing items. Mr. Greene has taken vacations in the Hamptons and lived with Neil Hirsch who, as your editorial points out, has material interests in votes of the village council. Mr. Hirsch, along with Victoria McCullough, who has sued the village, are now Mr. Greene’s employers. And Mr. Greene won’t divulge such basic information as where he lives and works until he is forced to.

Mayor Margolis and Councilor Matt Willhite have solicited cash contributions for so-called “legal defense funds.” Expenditures from these funds are unaccounted for and can be for personal expenses. And let’s not forget, as documented by The Post, that all three were supported by $600,000 from the Jacobs family, which wants to dismantle the equestrian industry. The Jacobs’ goal? They don’t want the public coming around. They want their own private club, not an industry that attracts spectators and creates jobs and tax revenue.

Unfortunately, new Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg actively supported this trio during the Wellington election, so action will likely be needed from the feds or from Tallahassee. Let’s hope the corruption stops before permanent damage is done.

FREDRIC DOBBS

Wellington

- See more at: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/opinion/letters-editorial-right-to-highlight-ethics-issues/nWfSq/#sthash.j5NNHwyX.aIp3hKvL.dpuf

Frustrations Are Real, But 'Deannexation' Not The Solution

By Town-Crier Editor at March 1, 2013 | 12:01 am |Print

The rift between the Wellington Village Council and some parts of the equestrian community continues to widen, and now talk of “deannexation” has entered the conversation. While we understand the frustrations on both sides of the current “equestrian civil war,” removing parts of Wellington’s equestrian area from the community is the wrong course of action.

The “deannexation” idea was discussed at a recent informational meeting hosted by the Equestrian Forum of Wellington, and though it’s not likely this could happen anytime soon — or at all — it’s a sign that the battle has entered a new phase.

Proponents of the idea want to secede, or deannex, parts of the equestrian area from the village and place them under county control — not exactly a step forward in regard to autonomy. Thankfully, the informational meeting brought up many questions about the realities of such a plan, and the points brought up by village staff and council members helped add perspective to the issue. For instance, they would lose the services currently paid for by Wellington, such as enhanced law enforcement. And they would still be under the jurisdiction of the Acme Improvement District, an agency run by the village, and therefore still subject to all of Acme’s storm water drainage rules and regulations.

In addition to services, Wellington has special rules protecting the equestrian area, and leaving the village would mean giving up many of those protections. While the lack of progress on solving the often-bitter disputes is disconcerting, it’s doubtful county government would be better. As we’ve seen time and again through the years, the county does not usually give people what they want. With deannexation, all proponents will be doing is changing one government for another. And in this case, replacing a local government comprising Wellington residents with a board made up of outsiders whose interests lie elsewhere.

There are key disagreements in the direction of Wellington right now, where the equestrian community is polarized between two different philosophies, and we understand that. But breaking up the village by taking large portions of the equestrian area out of the municipality is not a solution. Eventually, all the disagreements that are going on will have either a negotiated solution or a court-mandated solution. The crucial point is that when Wellington gets through this troubling time, the municipality has to remain intact.

It’s important that whatever decisions are made, that they’re based on deliberative, rational calculation, rather than as a reaction to current frustrations. This burn-the-bridges mentality is deeply problematic, and it doesn’t matter from which side it comes. You can’t pull apart the village. The equestrian area is strong because of Wellington, and Wellington is strong because of the equestrian community and the equestrian land. Pull them apart, and neither side is as strong as it was.