I Am Now Worried For Our City, Part 2

By Bill Yanger

(Part 2 of a two part series)

Welcome back.

Micheal Coleman’s email address is “prov1813@xxx.com” (I used x’s instead of the actual ISP simply because it is not my intention to crash his server with emails from the masses and most anyone who has been around Anna Maria has or can get his email if they choose to contact him. And I suspect it will soon be infamous through one records request or another). I don’t think it is a stretch to assume it is a reference to Proverbs 18:13 which tellingly teaches us: “He who answers before listening, that is his folly and his shame.” Now, I’m no biblical scholar but Proverbs is pretty cool, like little fortune cookie phrases with God’s stamp on them. The engraved Great Book my grandma gave me gathers too much dust on the shelf but I must say: Oh thank you Lord! As a commentator, I could not ask for better material, right? Robert Carter, may I suggest this passage to you? Mayor Barford, you? What about the rest of the village mob waving torches and jumping to conclusions about this mess based on nothing more than the words of a multiple felon on the one hand and a reporter who shows up late, leaves early and simply refuses to ask the questions that need to be asked on the other. Yes, there is a reason to be worried.

I ended Part 1 with a few of the questions many of us have been asking. I do not pretend to know the answers and frankly I am more concerned with finding resolution than pointing fingers. But I think in order to resolve a conflict one must understand the motivations of those responsible for creating the conflict. Ultimately, it appears to revolve around money and cash flow, PAR’s ability to generate enough of either and the lengths they will go to make sure that happens.


You will recall that at the end of last year, public records reflect that PAR’s bank took significant steps to protect the $3.5+ million dollars it had loaned PAR thus far. Cross-collateralizing loans, cross-defaulting should any one of the loans fail, assignments of rent and lease income, etc., etc., all creating an apparently precarious line of dominoes. Well, on March 16th, just days after Inmate #15549-075 sent his first public records demand to the City, PAR went back to the well for more money. The bank revisited PAR’s predicament and again reconfigured PAR’s financial straight jacket, retaining the cross-collateralization and cross-default provisions, consolidating other instruments and then, of course, assigning the bank all lease and rent money and any other income streams associated with the PAR properties. And like the cute blonde boy in the 60’s musical Oliver (starring “The Artful Dodger” - how fittingly ironic is that?), apparently all PAR could do was hold out its bowl of gruel and beg “Please sir, can I have some…more?” The bank drizzled a mere $150,000 into PAR’s bowl, a pittance really, considering the magnitude of PAR’s “vision” and the fact that they have, what, six site plans in the pipeline? Pucker time, if you know what I mean.


Yes, pucker time. And with financial pressure apparently mounting, Mr. Coleman did what he apparently had to do. On March 25th, his bank recorded a mortgage for a home equity line of credit on his home at 311 Pine Avenue in the amount of $225,000. Believe me, I am no stranger to borrowing against equity. I did a little too much of it in the 90’s and paid the price. Frankly the how’s and the why’s of Coleman’s decision don’t interest me. I do believe though that it is another indication of the win-at-all-costs mind set of PAR and of Mr. Coleman in particular. For over a year, he and I had an open, friendly dialogue. We agreed on little but we had what I consider to be pleasantly contentious debates on issues of the day. He rarely bent and never admitted failure but the dialogue was open and it was continuous. But that has changed. Micheal has changed.

Different folks handle the weight of pressure differently and financial pressure is possibly the heaviest. So how is PAR dealing with it? Well, Mr. Chiles understandably has a thriving business to run and with three restaurants that’s a lot of plates to keep spinning on their respective sticks. It appears he is engaged and active in PAR related city meetings but it also seems apparent that Mr. Coleman is the front man, the spokesman, the spinner, what have you. Unfortunately, Mr. Coleman has also become the enforcer. Putting his vigilante public records act aside, on one recent occasion he felt it appropriate to verbally berate a respected long-time female owner of a Pine Avenue business in front of another Pine Avenue shop owner. On two other occasions he verbally berated and physically intimated local residents in the City Hall building, the second time to such an extent that the Sheriff was called to investigate the matter. He had a shouting match with another citizen outside of a recent commission meeting and, particularly troubling, he very recently badgered at least one elderly lady, a very active citizen in the community, over her unwillingness to sign the Recall petition. The exchange was upsetting to her, to say the least. Can you say bully? Mr. Coleman, I will say this to you one time only: “No” means “no.” Don’t push it. And Ed, come on, really? Forgive me for invoking the memory of one of Florida’s greatest gentlemen and one of the first politicians I remember planting campaign signs for, but what would Lawton do? I’m worried about all of this, maybe you should be too.


So the dominoes remain precariously in place and one can assume the recent $150,000 infusion helped keep them from toppling. But, as with any business, one assumes the pressure remains to produce cash flow. Builders build but in the end builders have got to sell. And there hasn’t been much selling going on since the election. That could be attributed to PAR’s feel-good kum-bah-yah public philosophy of “develop[ing] an occupancy mix consistent with a true, mixed use, village center” espoused by Coleman back on October 26, 2009, just before he said “Plainly…we won’t sell to any real estate companies” because “frankly, that’s been done.” Right. Great puffery when you’re trying persuade a community to buy into your “walking village” concept. But what a difference six months makes, huh? On March 19th, PAR sold its 317C Unit to Beach to Bay Investments, Inc. Yep, you guessed it: A real estate company. But not just any real estate company. Beach to Bay is owned by Shawn Kaleta. Ask most any real estate agent in Holmes Beach or Bradenton Beach what they think of this Kaleta character and you will likely get an earful. His only known project to date in the City of Anna Maria, two lots on Maple, has been red-flagged and has remained in violation of building regulations for months. Ask Bob Welch. Kaleta hacked down at least five huge old palm trees on the site and has used it as a dumping ground for his other projects on the island. He is disrespectful to nearby residents and believes speed limits are a nuisance even when asked to slow down. What a guy, huh? Granted, next to Inmate #15549-075 Kaleta looks like Billy Graham (with apologies to Mr. Graham) but PAR is beginning to acquire a nice little cabal of sketchy pals.


I need to end this but not without mentioning the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. As many of you know, I spend a great deal of time in Tampa and St. Pete when I am not able to be on the island. I stay attuned to issues and news through various on-line sources, including the Bradenton Herald. On Monday of this week I pulled up Sunday’s editorial dealing with the on-going public records debate here in our city. I read through it and went on to the comments below. I was surprised to find that someone had used my g-mail user name “roraza” (which happens to be the first two letters of my three children’s names) to make a comment. A few comments later my user name “by_by” from this very blog was used to post another comment. The comments were clearly anti-Stoltzfus but more alarming was that at least two of them contained “hate” language referring to “immigrants” and deportation. I reported the improper comments to the Herald staff and they were timely removed. I have no trademark on the use of either pseudonym and I suppose it is first come first served when nabbing a user name on any given website. Without serving a subpoena on the Herald I cannot prove what coward posted the childish desperate gibberish contained in the comments. But read them for yourselves, at least the ones that have not been removed, and I think you can form your own opinion. I am confident I know who the comment author is and I am confident the author knows that I know. And all I can say to him is: I am no longer worried sir, because the truth will win out. But I am sad. Sad for you and for what you are willing to do get what you want. How far will you go and how far will you then fall?

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
-Proverbs 16:18

© 2010 – William L. Yanger