Sept. 3rd, 2008 photo by
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Since each of you are among the small sub-set of civic-minded and savvy residents of Hallandale Beach who actually have an accurate sense of the behind-the-scenes context and mischief for many of City' Hall's self-serving moves and policies, I wanted to share some news that many of you probably haven't heard about yet.
While I'm the first to say that I don't know ALL the facts of this, I DO have an unusually good insight into the larger issues at play here because of some recent things I've personally observed.
It's an insight into the competing forces to shape Hallandale Beach's future, and the GREAT potential for harm if we allow the current 'status quo' crowd running things, to continue to thwart not only the spirit and letter of the law involving Florida's Sunshine Laws, but also continue to thwart the public's trust and sense of accountability, even when that proves embarrassing to HB City Hall.
Their first response to everything seems to always be protecting or covering-up, rather than a full public disclosure and dealing with the facts at hand.
The deplorable situation with HB Police Chief Thomas Magill is a perfect example.
As many of you know from past conversations with me at myriad city meetings and community events, even before I launched my blogs early last year, in order to be better informed, I had the good sense to have "Hallandale Beach" included among my Google Alerts, since I couldn't very well read everything myself.
This has sometimes proven to be a much more inspired idea than you can imagine, since I see something below the surface.
Such was the case Monday night, when I first learned thru a Google Alert of Comm. Keith London's sensible lawsuit against the City of Halandale Beach.
While I have not spoken to him specifically about the lawsuit, it's clear to me based on past actions and words that at least part of his effort is intended to better identify and carve out an area of permissible public discussion and accountability, so that as an elected official of this city, he can actually respond more intelligently to legitimate questions posed to him by city residents about matters of public interest, in this case, the city's never-ending lawsuit against Waste Management, than simply say, "I can't talk about it or recycling or..."
While he's legitimately precluded from discussing certain matters he's privy to, the idea that if he talks about recycling in general, or responds to resident complaints, like mine, about the city's poor management of the current system, is preposterous.
It's yet another troubling example of the usual pattern of over-reaction, panic and cover-up by Mayor Joy Cooper, City Manager Mike Good and City Attorney David Jove.
Depending on how things shake out with Hurricane Ike this weekend, I'll be writing more on this subject at HBB over the weekend but I did want you to have access to some information so that you know the basics.
Since many of you regularly attended Comm. London's Resident Forums before the summer break, I hardly need remind you how distracting it was for everyone in that small room, to have Mayor Cooper continually insinuate herself into the proceedings by 'crashing' these get-togethers, which, after all, are intended so that HB residents can talk forthrightly and voluntarily about their concerns -to Comm. London and other interested citizens like us.
Especially since so many of those legitimate concerns relate to City Hall's generally unfriendly and un-cooperative approach to public participation and transparency, where common sense and vision are lacking even while shrillness and obfuscation are everywhere.
The fact that Mayor Cooper refuses to host this sort of event herself, though she could, but feels perfectly free to be the 'elephant in the room' at Comm. London's event, and to be so obvious about taking notes of who said what, is troubling on many levels.
More than anything, to me at least, this behavior reveals her well-known thin-skinned ego, continuing inability to take criticism, constructive or otherwise, and seriously consider another person's perspective, even when it's more-experienced or better-informed than hers.
The idea that Mayor Cooper can't stand the idea of Hallandale Beach residents actually meeting independently of her City Hall crowd, with her ability to limit people's comments to three minutes and interrupt/bully them, was brought home to me personally as many of you already know, by her unsolicited post-midnight email to me two weeks ago.
As most of you know, I had expected to post my rejoinder to her email on my blog by now, but will have that up very soon for you to draw your own conclusions.
And I don't think you'll be disappointed.
That attitude of hers was present in spades at one Resident Forum in particular, when I brought up my own experience of seeing some self-evident problems with city recycling facilities, among other things, a complete absence of ANY directional signs near them, insufficient number of bins for a citywide facility... and the city's plan to get rid of the facility without any public discussion of the rationale or the alternatives.
As if one cue, Mayor Cooper immediately felt the need to play traffic cop and warn everyone to be careful, as if we didn't all know what she was really doing: trying to head off criticism by waving the lawsuit around like a bloody shirt, a tactic she's employed many times in the past.
As if the negligence and poor planning of the city -again!- was a topic that was permanently verboten.
You'd think that by now she'd have realized that one of the more obvious downsides to her constant efforts at self-promotion, a la Mara Giulianti, is that she now sees ANY criticism of the city as a criticism of her.
So, that said, here's the info below.
I don't suppose it went un-noticed by most of you that absolutely nothing involving Wednesday's HB City Commission meeting, including Pastor Sanders being sworn in, was deemed news worthy enough to be included in the Miami Herald on Thursday.
Didn't think so.
WFOR video re London's lawsuit and Sanders swearing-in
Plaintiff: Keith London
Defendant: City of Hallandale Beach
Case Number: 0:2008cv61393
Filed: August 29, 2008
Court: Florida Southern District Court
Office: Fort Lauderdale Office [ Court Info ]
County: Broward
Presiding Judge: Judge William J. Zloch
Nature of Suit: Other Statutes - Antitrust
Cause: 28:1331 Federal Question
Jurisdiction: Federal Question
Jury Demanded By: None
City's 'trash talk' ban leads to lawsuit
Published: Sept. 3, 2008 at 1:08 PM
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A Florida city commissioner has filed a civil rights suit over a motion he claims goes too far in muzzling discussion about trash collection.
Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Keith London contends the motion passed by the commission in regards to another lawsuit is so vague that commission members could be hauled in front of the Florida Commission on ethics for simply raising the subject of recycling and trash collection.
"I don't even know if just talking to you about my own lawsuit will be used to say I am violating the (motion)," London told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
The motion was passed due to settlement talks in a lawsuit between the city and a trash disposal company over alleged overcharging.
The Sun-Sentinel said Wednesday that London said he believes there are other reasons for the motion, particularly the alleged intent to stifle his disagreements with fellow commission members.
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Hallandale Beach
A city commissioner has filed a civil rights suit against his own city claiming his colleagues are preventing him from talking trash — literally.
Commissioner Keith London's federal lawsuit attacks a motion passed in May that prohibits commission members from discussing anything related to a pending lawsuit between the city and Waste Management Inc.
That includes meetings about "waste management, garbage, trash, recycling and related issues," and violators could be reprimanded or brought before the Florida Commission on Ethics.
London claims the commission's mandate is so vague, he wonders if it allows him to discuss who in his household should put out the trash at night.
"I don't even know if just talking to you about my own lawsuit will be used to say I am violating the [motion]," London said Tuesday. He wants a judge to decide and for the city to pay his attorney's fees, nothing more.
City Attorney David Jove declined to comment Tuesday, saying he had not seen the suit London filed Friday.
Hallandale Beach is in talks with Waste Management to settle the 2002 suit that claims the company overcharged the city for dumping garbage into landfills instead of recycling and composting it.
Pushing for the motion in May, City Manager Michael Good complained that someone was leaking confidential information about the lawsuit negotiations.
London, often the lone dissenter on the commission, denied being the source of any leaks. He said the motion was designed to silence his constant opposition.
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