Emails show the DeSantis administration dangled a big incentive package in front of rifle-maker Remington Firearms. But Remington's top executive worried Florida couldn't train qualified workers.
Good f**king grief, we HAVE to vote these despicable, dangerous fascists out of power. Funny how the party that is so vocally vehement about protecting children’s lives & welfare has state officials who are fighting & bending over backwards to be the one who gets the big gun factory when guns are the leading cause of death for American children
Haha, after reading more of the article I’d like to revise my comment to add that Desantis is also a rube for getting played by Remington and pitted against neighboring state, Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Garcia, for this fun and informative read!
Thank you for writing about Gov. DeSantis, Remington and Richmond Italia. I encourage you to do more reporting on Mr. Italia.
So, for what it's worth, here's a Nextdoor post that went up last night:
Steve Schneider
Hillcrest
·
12 hr ago
· Edited·
Who is Richmond Italia?
Short answer: He was the public face of a limited partnership that purchased the shuttered Sunset Golf Course for at least $2 million.
Italia and his limited partnership, in 2020, then sold the approximately 45 acre parcel to the City of Hollywood for $12 million.
You can learn more about Mr. Italia by typing his name into Google.
You can also go to the Broward County Clerk of Courts website to find a variety of civil cases involving Mr. Italia. In at least one case, the attorney for the plaintiff stated in a court document that the plaintiff couldn't serve Mr. Italia with the lawsuit because they were unable to find him at multiple addresses linked to him.
There also is a wild set of charges made against Mr. Italia at Reddit, an online platform. Concerned, I sent an email tonight to Mr. Italia's Fort Lauderdale attorney. I invited the attorney and Mr. Italia to comment. I also asked the attorney to notify me if they contact Reddit in connection with the allegations made on that online platform.
You can also learn at Google that Richmond Italia was involved with the purchase of the Remington gun manufacturer. It was based in New York State. But an online article reports that Gov. DeSantis tried to lure Remington to Florida with a sweet financial deal. Additional reporting indicates Remington opted instead to relocate to Georgia. Other reporting shows the union was not pleased with the way it asserts Mr. Italia treated Remington employees after purchasing the company.
A public records search indicates that Richmond Italia is a registered Republican living in Fort. Lauderdale.
Here is the link to the Florida Bulldog article, which quoted Mr. Italia extensively about what was then the pending purchase by the City of Hollywood. Richmond Italia made some charges against the city in the article, including the claim that the City of Hollywood damaged the property by illegally directing storm water onto the private land.
Despite lots of business experience in various fields, as well as operating at least two charities now, Mr. Italia professed how naive he was in dealing with our city. He told Florida Bulldog, "“I’m not a developer. I’m a paintball guy."
The Florida Bulldog quoted Mr. Italia about the costs he incurred buying Sunset: "...During that time, my due diligence with the bank ran out so I had to close” on the purchase. The cost: $2 million, plus an additional payment to a leaseholder on the property. Italia said he could not disclose that additional cost because of a confidentiality agreement.
James Panaro
·
Greater Hollywood Hills
·11h
Steve
I know you do your due diligence to the max. What's the back-story among Levy, Callari and their flunkies Karen Caputo and Patricia Antrican, Sunset Golf and the guy who tried to run against Callari for District 3 in 2016 but couldn't qualify, can't recall his name?
1
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·11h
James
thanks for your questions, james.
James Panaro
·
Greater Hollywood Hills
·11h
Steve
Hope you have the answers mo chara.
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·11h
James
Didn't Frank James Johnston consider running against Traci in 2018? And is there a Broward County Court Civil case, sealed, involving Mr. Johnston in 2018?
James Panaro
·
Greater Hollywood Hills
·10h
Steve
That's the guy. Got the year wrong, sorry.
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·10h
James
No worries. You prompted me to do some checking. Thanks.
Randy Abraham
·
Hollywood Lakes
·29m • Edited
I didn’t know the backstory about the city’s purchase of the golf course property from this guy.
It seems the proposal for the paintball court and/or RV park might have been a ploy to boost the sales value of his property for short-term gain, by locking in certain development rights by applying for and receiving a permit from the county. He might not ever have been committed to developing the property — just inflating the potential sales price by securing certain development rights.
I remember something similar to this happening in Dania Beach almost 15 years ago, when the county was buying up properties around Griffin Road to make room for airport expansion.
A property owner, an heir to the Spec’s Music record store chain, owned a parcel in that area that already had some commercial zoning on it. He went back to the Dania Beach City Commission and got zoning approval for what amounted to be a convention center hotel, with several hundred hotel rooms, a large meetings space, banquet hall, recreation facilities, etc. But the hotel never got built; the county determined that it would interfere with airport operations and bought him out at an inflated price thanks to the zoning approval he had obtained from the city.
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·10m
Randy
Based on what I'm learning, it's fair to say Richmond Italia is more than a naive businessman and a paintball enthusiast. It's also accurate to note he was busy in 2020 -- Italia was involved with the purchase of the gun-manufacturing part of Remington, in a bankruptcy proceeding; Italia also dealt with a 2020 bankruptcy for his paintball company; and, of course, he sold us Sunset for $12 million that same year. Also, a Florida Bulldog report noted our city raised its bid to $9 million, which it thought was reasonable based on it's research. But we jumped again when Italia said no, which is how we landed on $12 million. So, did we give an additional $3 million to a guy who was struggling financially with his paintball company? Would he have settled for $9 million if we hung tough? Questions only -- we can't really answer them.
All I can is, Desantis was offering chump change for Remington to move to Swamp Country. And all the argle-bargle about a trained workforce in Florida beating down their door was thinly-veiled code for, “thanks for playing, but y’all are a bunch of dumb rednecks.”
Good f**king grief, we HAVE to vote these despicable, dangerous fascists out of power. Funny how the party that is so vocally vehement about protecting children’s lives & welfare has state officials who are fighting & bending over backwards to be the one who gets the big gun factory when guns are the leading cause of death for American children
Haha, after reading more of the article I’d like to revise my comment to add that Desantis is also a rube for getting played by Remington and pitted against neighboring state, Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Garcia, for this fun and informative read!
Thank you for writing about Gov. DeSantis, Remington and Richmond Italia. I encourage you to do more reporting on Mr. Italia.
So, for what it's worth, here's a Nextdoor post that went up last night:
Steve Schneider
Hillcrest
·
12 hr ago
· Edited·
Who is Richmond Italia?
Short answer: He was the public face of a limited partnership that purchased the shuttered Sunset Golf Course for at least $2 million.
Italia and his limited partnership, in 2020, then sold the approximately 45 acre parcel to the City of Hollywood for $12 million.
You can learn more about Mr. Italia by typing his name into Google.
You can also go to the Broward County Clerk of Courts website to find a variety of civil cases involving Mr. Italia. In at least one case, the attorney for the plaintiff stated in a court document that the plaintiff couldn't serve Mr. Italia with the lawsuit because they were unable to find him at multiple addresses linked to him.
There also is a wild set of charges made against Mr. Italia at Reddit, an online platform. Concerned, I sent an email tonight to Mr. Italia's Fort Lauderdale attorney. I invited the attorney and Mr. Italia to comment. I also asked the attorney to notify me if they contact Reddit in connection with the allegations made on that online platform.
You can also learn at Google that Richmond Italia was involved with the purchase of the Remington gun manufacturer. It was based in New York State. But an online article reports that Gov. DeSantis tried to lure Remington to Florida with a sweet financial deal. Additional reporting indicates Remington opted instead to relocate to Georgia. Other reporting shows the union was not pleased with the way it asserts Mr. Italia treated Remington employees after purchasing the company.
A public records search indicates that Richmond Italia is a registered Republican living in Fort. Lauderdale.
Here is the link to the Florida Bulldog article, which quoted Mr. Italia extensively about what was then the pending purchase by the City of Hollywood. Richmond Italia made some charges against the city in the article, including the claim that the City of Hollywood damaged the property by illegally directing storm water onto the private land.
Despite lots of business experience in various fields, as well as operating at least two charities now, Mr. Italia professed how naive he was in dealing with our city. He told Florida Bulldog, "“I’m not a developer. I’m a paintball guy."
https://www.floridabulldog.org/2020/02/hollywood-final-push-to-buy-ex-golf-course-owner-plans-rv-park/
9
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·11h
The Florida Bulldog quoted Mr. Italia about the costs he incurred buying Sunset: "...During that time, my due diligence with the bank ran out so I had to close” on the purchase. The cost: $2 million, plus an additional payment to a leaseholder on the property. Italia said he could not disclose that additional cost because of a confidentiality agreement.
James Panaro
·
Greater Hollywood Hills
·11h
Steve
I know you do your due diligence to the max. What's the back-story among Levy, Callari and their flunkies Karen Caputo and Patricia Antrican, Sunset Golf and the guy who tried to run against Callari for District 3 in 2016 but couldn't qualify, can't recall his name?
1
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·11h
James
thanks for your questions, james.
James Panaro
·
Greater Hollywood Hills
·11h
Steve
Hope you have the answers mo chara.
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·11h
James
Didn't Frank James Johnston consider running against Traci in 2018? And is there a Broward County Court Civil case, sealed, involving Mr. Johnston in 2018?
James Panaro
·
Greater Hollywood Hills
·10h
Steve
That's the guy. Got the year wrong, sorry.
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·10h
James
No worries. You prompted me to do some checking. Thanks.
Randy Abraham
·
Hollywood Lakes
·29m • Edited
I didn’t know the backstory about the city’s purchase of the golf course property from this guy.
It seems the proposal for the paintball court and/or RV park might have been a ploy to boost the sales value of his property for short-term gain, by locking in certain development rights by applying for and receiving a permit from the county. He might not ever have been committed to developing the property — just inflating the potential sales price by securing certain development rights.
I remember something similar to this happening in Dania Beach almost 15 years ago, when the county was buying up properties around Griffin Road to make room for airport expansion.
A property owner, an heir to the Spec’s Music record store chain, owned a parcel in that area that already had some commercial zoning on it. He went back to the Dania Beach City Commission and got zoning approval for what amounted to be a convention center hotel, with several hundred hotel rooms, a large meetings space, banquet hall, recreation facilities, etc. But the hotel never got built; the county determined that it would interfere with airport operations and bought him out at an inflated price thanks to the zoning approval he had obtained from the city.
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·10m
Randy
Based on what I'm learning, it's fair to say Richmond Italia is more than a naive businessman and a paintball enthusiast. It's also accurate to note he was busy in 2020 -- Italia was involved with the purchase of the gun-manufacturing part of Remington, in a bankruptcy proceeding; Italia also dealt with a 2020 bankruptcy for his paintball company; and, of course, he sold us Sunset for $12 million that same year. Also, a Florida Bulldog report noted our city raised its bid to $9 million, which it thought was reasonable based on it's research. But we jumped again when Italia said no, which is how we landed on $12 million. So, did we give an additional $3 million to a guy who was struggling financially with his paintball company? Would he have settled for $9 million if we hung tough? Questions only -- we can't really answer them.
Steve Schneider
Author
·
Hillcrest
·Now
Randy
Also, there's a great piece in Time about how Remington/Italia pitted New York against Georgia. https://time.com/6206785/gunmakers-remington-ilion-firearms-economy/ There's also a detailed Substack article on how Gov. DeSantis tried to bring Italia's Remington to the Sunshine State. https://jasongarcia.substack.com/p/ron-desantis-tried-to-give-25-million
All I can is, Desantis was offering chump change for Remington to move to Swamp Country. And all the argle-bargle about a trained workforce in Florida beating down their door was thinly-veiled code for, “thanks for playing, but y’all are a bunch of dumb rednecks.”
They are correct, Florida does not have the people it takes to make Remington a successful factory. Much better off in Ga.