Civics' response in 2004

The following took place in Feb. 2004 when council members took the liberty to bash the Civic Association during a public meeting on Cape TV. This was Civics' response.

Date: February 17, 2004
To: Mayor and City Council CC: Terry Stewart, City Manager, The News-Press Cape Coral Daily Breeze
From: Cape Coral Civic Association Board of Directors
Subject: Abuse of power / wasted taxpayer dollars and the blatant attempt by some council members to malign, slander, discredit and vilify the Cape Coral Civic Association.

There has been a deliberate and vicious attempt by Council members A.J. Boyd, Tim Day and Paul Asfour to vilify Cape Coral’s oldest civic association. Specifically the above mentioned members of city council have misused their public office to air on Cape TV deliberate malicious attacks against the Cape Coral Civic Association. This occurred during the Feb. 2 and Feb. 9 city council meetings.
The assault against the Civic Association was in our opinion, nothing more than public retaliation against Mr. Ed Steinberg’s appearance as an invited guest speaker at the CAC-Minorities meeting on Jan. 29, 2004. Chairman Espendez fully understood prior to inviting Mr. Steinberg to speak that Mr. Steinberg would not be speaking on behalf of Civic Association. A reading of the verbatim minutes from that meeting is very clear where Mr. Steinberg said and we quote; "...tonight I am speaking as a private citizen of this city, a resident who has been here since 1988.” We repeat:
Mr. Steinberg was invited to speak by Mr. Espendez the Chairman of the Minorities Committee. Mr. Steinberg was not speaking as the President of the Cape Coral Civic Association. Mr. Steinberg was not responsible for any advertising or the agenda naming him as President of the Cape Coral Civic Association
We find it most interesting that Mr. Boyd and Mr. Day chose to ignore facts in launching their retaliatory attacks against Mr. Steinberg and Cape Coral Civic Association at the Feb. 2, 2004 city council meeting during council reports. Mr. Boyd, while not mentioning Civic by name, directly referred to Mr. Steinberg’s “group” as a “cult.” Mr. Boyd also mentioned that Mr. Espendez, was being used as a pawn by Mr. Steinberg. Again, for the benefit of Mr. Boyd who chooses to ignore the facts, Mr. Steinberg was asked to speak. So we ask who was being used by whom?
During his report Mr. Day, on no less than three instances associated Mr. Steinberg’s comments with the Civic Association. Even though Mr. Day admitted to ordering the verbatim from the Jan. 29 CAC-Minorities meeting he mislead the public by stating he wasn’t sure if Mr. Steinberg was speaking for Civic. Either that or Mr. Day didn’t read the verbatim minutes that he requested. Mr. Day also moved to sunset the CAC-Minorities Board which was ruled out of order and placed on the agenda for the following meeting.
As a result of the Feb. 2, 2004 council meeting and the comments made that evening by council members, Mr. Steinberg appeared before council during citizens input on Feb. 9, 2004 as the President of the Civic Association to set the record straight. The following are highlights of what Mr. Steinberg said:
“……Mr. Boyd and Mr. Day both went to great lengths to criticize me and the entire Cape Coral Civic Association for comments I made as a guest speaker at the Minorities Advisory Board….. I previously had informed Mr. Espendez that I would speak at the minorities board as a private individual……. they ignored what the verbatim clearly shows…. While I have no problem with your criticism or disagreement with me as an individual for my remarks…… the record clearly shows that the Cape Coral Civic Association bears no responsibility for any remarks I made at the minorities meeting, I believe the Civic Association and its members are due an apology for the personal and disparaging remarks that were made against the organization.”
At the Feb. 9 meeting during the Administrative Discussion on the Minorities Board the request from Civic for an apology was criticized by Mr. Boyd and Mr. Day with exaggerations and fabrications that further compromised the Civic Association. No apology was sought by Mr. Steinberg for his personal remarks. The apology was sought for statements made by council members in the Civic Association.
Mr. Day started a discussion that lasted more than 30 minutes regarding the disposition of the Minorities Board. Yet more than 90% of the time was focused on Mr. Steinberg and the Cape Coral Civic Association. When Mr. Day started the discussion he incorrectly stated; “….remarks made by Mr. Steinberg and the Cape Coral Civic Association.” Mr. Day was wrong for including the Civic Association which made no remarks nor was represented in any way at the Minorities Meeting. Mr. Day should re-read the verbatim he requested. Mr. Day also suggested that Mr. Espendez was being used as a pawn by Mr. Steinberg. Mr. Day was wrong again. Neither Mr.Steinberg or the Civic Association asked Mr. Espendez for an opportunity to speak at the Minorities Meeting.
Mr. Boyd then picked up where Mr. Day left off. Mr. Boyd held up a copy of a newsletter story that included a poster published by the Civic Association. That poster said; “Wanted! For Destruction of Residential Neighborhoods” which is how Civic viewed council’s vote in the associated story. Isn’t it interesting that Mr. Boyd just happened to have with him a copy of the Oct. 2002 Civic newsletter for a discussion item about the Minorities Board? We can only conclude that Mr. Boyd had premeditated intentions to do further damage to the Civic Association with a concocted story about a “Wanted Dead or Alive Poster.” Mr. Boyd is wrong, Civic has never published a “Dead or Alive Poster.” Once again, based on the fact that the Cape Coral Civic Association in no way bears any responsibility for statements made on Jan. 29, we ask why was Civic the focus of the discussion of the Minorities Board?
Now to Mr. Boyd’s fabricated story. Our newsletter states: “Chatline is a publication of the CC Civic Assoc. solely intended for the enjoyment of its members.” For the benefit of city council we have attached a copy of the story and “poster” in its original form. There are no references to the words “Dead or Alive” anywhere. During his remarks Mr. Boyd also said: “A month after 9-11 Civic put 5 individuals on Dead or Alive Posters….puts five faces during terrorist times.” Mr. Boyd described the poster as a Dead or Alive poster, more than once. Later he soften his words by saying “Dead or Alive style poster.” He also used the “terrorist times” statement more than once in referring to the poster. And while most of us will never forget 9-11 obviously Mr. Boyd has. The 9-11 tragedy Mr. Boyd referenced occurred on September 11, 2001. The poster first appeared in Oct. 2002 and not “a month after 9-11” as Mr. Boyd stated in his fabrication that included his attempts to make Civic appear as “terrorists.” Mr. Boyd went on and on ad-nauseam about the poster, his truck ordinance and an unrelated alleged ethics complaint that he claimed was filed by Mr. Steinberg to which Mr. Steinberg has no knowledge of. Mr. Boyd’s unprofessional public display leads to the question of the abuse of his public office.
Civic also questions Mr. Boyd’s remarks about the KKK and the Black Panthers since most of his discussion was centered around Mr. Steinberg and the Cape Coral Civic Association. How dare Mr. Boyd infer or even remotely suggest that the Civic Association be in that same category!
Mr. Asfour then chimed in with sarcasm in addressing Mr. Steinberg’s heritage. Mr. Asfour questioned what minority status Mr. Steinberg possessed that would allow him to speak at the minorities meeting. We understand that being a senior citizen does place one in a minority classification. But then again that has nothing to do with the Civic Association. Mr. Asfour’s discussion of the war in Iraq and death of the Sarasota child also had nothing to do with the discussion item of the Minorities Board either.
Mr. Day then spoke again on the discussion item of the Minorities Board. Mr. Day again started by talking about “Mr. Steinberg, President of the Civic Association.” Yes Ed Steinberg is the president of the Cape Coral Civic Association. However, the issue you were supposed to be discussing was the Minorities Board. Mr. Steinberg in no way represented the Civic Association when he spoke on Jan. 29. Mr. Day then talked about how citizens should be charged for their letters to the mailbag “say $5-$10” and we would see a lot less letters to the editor. Mr. Day is probably correct. There would be fewer letters. But the same could be said if he were asked to pay for air-time on Cape TV (at taxpayer expense) to put out personal messages that have absolutely nothing to do with city business. Another example was Mr. Day’s comments regarding the mix up between Mr. Stevens and Mr. Davis with no relevance to the minorities board issue. Several other issues were also discussed without absolutely no relevance. However, we agree with Mr. Day’s comments that people sometimes do get the wrong impression based upon what they read in letters to the editor and what they see and hear at city council meetings. This is precisely the point. Certain members of this city council have misused the power of their office to deliberately misinform the public to undermine the reputation of the Cape Coral Civic Association over the past couple of weeks all at taxpayer expense.
We have also attached another newsletter from Chatline Nov. 2002, depicting the same poster. Civic republished the same poster in direct response to Mr. Asfour’s tirade against Civic. Mr. Asfour did this at a city council meeting following the Oct. 2002 newsletter publication. He too abused the power of his office to make negative and condemning statements against the Civic Association at that time. As you can all see, this is not the first time the Civic Association has endured the brunt of criticism from this council.
Civic invites you to read the article “News of a New Coalition….” from the Nov. 2002 publication. The article was written in response to the CCCIA and the Coalition for Better Government Power Point presentation made to some 300 people including the Chamber of Commerce, Council for Progress, news media and City Manager Terry Stewart. We understand this presentation started with a vision of an exploding Hydrogen Bomb and its relationship to certain city council members of who they believe contribute to the destruction of Cape Coral metaphorically speaking. The primary targets in the presentation were Mayor Arnold Kempe and Council members Alex LePera and Richard Stevens. This presentation was never publicly criticized from the city council dais by any of those targeted elected officials. Mr. Boyd, Mr. Day and Mr. Asfour complained bitterly about the Civic Association however, we point out their silence has been deafening regarding the outrageous distasteful power point presentation that we have cited. Obviously the only objection comes when Civic promotes view points on behalf of taxpayers and it’s fully acceptable when the beloved CCCIA, Council for Progress, Coalition for Better Government and the Chamber engage their self-interest promotions.
Mayor Arnold Kempe probably summed it up best when he said that elected officials should not use the power of their office to air personal grievances against any individual. Civic believes each of you as elected representative’s bears a responsibility for keeping less responsible council members in check especially during televised public meetings. In closing we will state once again, the Cape Coral Civic Association in no way was responsible for any statements made at the Minorities Meeting on Jan. 29. As such Civic again asks for a public apology to this organization from Mr. Boyd, Mr. Day and Mr. Asfour.
Respectfully submitted,
Ed Steinberg on Behalf of the Board of Directors
Cape Coral Civic Association