- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of South Florida and help keep the future of New Times free.
On June 7, Southwest Ranches Town Attorney Keith Poliakoff sent an email to (now deceased) Town Administrator Charlie Lynn, town staffers, and his consulting and lobbying colleagues. The email urged town leaders to maintain a "cone of silence" about a proposed 1,800-bed immigrant detention center in Southwest Ranches to avoid growing public unrest.
From: Poliakoff, KeithSent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 12:00 PMTo: Charles Lynn; 'Cheryl Williams'; 'Ivy Fivey'Cc: Michele Mellgren (michele@TMPGplanning.com); jeff@TMPGplanning.com; 'Dave Tringo';elizabeth@TMPGplanning.com; 'Willie Nabong'; Franco, OmarSubject: Re: Cone of Silence for CCA FacilityAll:As you know we are in the final months to see if we can land the new Federal Immigration Facility. Florida City is flipping over all stones to try to take the lead, but their strategy with the press is actually backfiring since residents are now comming (sic) out in opposition to the Florida City proposal, which will inevitably cause Homeland Security to shy away from their site since they do not want controversy right now. Further an immigration facility in Dade will not get much fanfare.As you probably have seen we have remained incredibly quiet and have been working diligently with our legislative leaders on this matter without pushing the press angle.As such, I have been fully advised by our DC contacts that we should remain fully quiet on this one and to let our DC Leaders help without sparking a fire that will make it more difficult for them to assist.Accordingly, if you get any calls on this, which you certainly will since the sharks are beginning to circle, I would appreciate it if you could direct anyone to speak to Charlie Lynn. If he gets a ton of calls we will issue a carefully crafted press release, but until then, the less we say the better off we will be.I know Mayor Nelson fielded a few basic questions from the Sentinel, which should release a small story later today.Regards: Keith
Watch Lost in Detention on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.
Stefan Kamph is a New Times staff writer.
The Pulp: Facebook | @thePulpBPB
Stefan Kamph: Story archive | Facebook | @stefankamph
Keep New Times Broward-Palm Beach Free... Since we started New Times Broward-Palm Beach, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of South Florida, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering South Florida with no paywalls.