July 3, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights ReservedBelow the Hallandale Beach Water Tower on State Road A1A/Ocean Drive, on the south side (right) is the "Community Center" that HB City Hall, thru their gross incompetency, has made impossible for HB citizen taxpayers to use now for 105 weeks and counting, as of August 22, 2009.
And where's the American flag on the Fourth of July weekend?
Missing in action as it has been for months!
July 3, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights ReservedThis building underneath the city's iconic Water Tower, just steps from both the Atlantic Ocean and State Road A1A, was turned over to the City of Hallandale Beach on August 3rd, 2007, and yet STILL remains OFF-LIMITS to everyday HB citizens, taxpayers and residents, the true "owners" of the building, TWO YEARS later.
There has STILL not been a single public open forum held by the city to gauge how citizens want to utilize it best.
Instead, the building remains a veritable clubhouse for the cronies and pals of HB City Hall's elected officials and employees.July 3, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
Below, a letter of mine that made the rounds on Monday to myriad in-boxes all over Hallandale Beach and media in-boxes all over South Florida.
------------------------------
Monday August 24th, 2009
8:25 p.m.
Fellow Hallandale Beach citizen taxpayers, once again, un-elected Mike Good is making deals and not just spending money poorly, as is his usual wont, but literally giving it away like he's a benevolent free-spending Santa Claus with an unlimited expense account.
And you're paying!
Without the proper amount of HB City Commission input or scrutiny or the public being told about it until after-the-fact.
And to show how serious City Manager Good is about public safety, especially on weekends when most HB residents use their boats -and he's back home with his family in Cooper City- he is proposing to effectively kill the HB Marine Patrol for lack of money, even though
that amount is actually LESS than the amount that he is giving away in his role as Santa Claus.
Giving away city funds to individuals whom the general public not only doesn't know, but who lacked even the common sense, class or gumption to show-up in person at HB City Hall before the City Commission and public to make their case.
Yes, yet another Mike Good back-door deal, to the tune of $25K.
And now, Mayor Joy Cooper, for the first time as as mayor, is asking the public to come to
her house Tuesday night to talk about the city's budget?
Even before you consider the sad-but-inescapable fact that an unelected person like Good and his staff and not the elected (Rubber Stamp) City Commission are driving the whole process, ask yourself this obvious question:
Why is Mayor Cooper inviting the public to come to her house at night, when she's someone who has personally always argued for keeping City Commission meetings in the day, even though common sense informs us that more citizens, taxpayers and residents could attend and participate if all the proceedings were held at night?
(So, having wasted months and months this year, when is the ONE-and-ONLY public budget workshop? During the day, of course.)
The sad but obvious answer is because Mayor Cooper is a thin-skinned hypocrite of the worst sort, which is the sort that NEVER EVER learns from history and experience, and almost always makes bad problems worse because she is unable to admit that she might've been wrong in the first place.
Hubris.
Consider OUR own collective history with her the past few years, where her illogical mis-steps, mis-statements and false assertions could literally fill a book.
(Or a blog!)
Aren't the pages of recent HB history replete with examples upon examples where she's shown that she doesn't care what actual HB citizens and residents think, as long as her close pals, cronies and supporters around the city, county and state -and at the local and state League of Cities- think she's doing a good job.
It's the appearance she's concerned with, not the actual results.
If you don't think her getting her own new office at City Hall for just under $4,000 back in January, when there wasn't anything physically wrong with her old one, wasn't proof, then why don't you ask her some time why she and her cohorts are keeping it a secret?
Her city hall is so incompetent that more than SEVEN MONTHS later, her name STILL does not appear on the building directory when you walk in downstairs.
These are the same geniuses I remind you, who left former State Senator Steve Geller's name on the directory for SEVEN MONTHS after Eleanor Sobel had been elected, and made it her district office, too.
Good luck to the hapless constituent looking for her office.
But to be fair, though it took HB City Hall employees over seven months to actually put Sobel's name on the directory, they did so.
One month before Sobel & Company moved out!
Of course, if Sobel and her staff were actually paying any attention to genuine constituent concerns instead of the frivolous ones she's been consumed with so far -tanning beds, tattoos and Shylock- something they've not seemed esp. keen on doing, it would seem, they'd have noticed it right away, the same way that you and I have, since the public HAS to walk right by it in order to get into the building.
But because the Cooper & Good tag-team don't ever learn from history or pay any attention to what's actually going on around them, there's still nothing on the directory about Joy Cooper new office.
Sh-h-h!!
Top Secret!!
(Personally, I've got plenty of photos of all this chronic HB City Hall incompetence since Election Day, but you may want to snap a shot of your own on Wednesday on your way in.)
But if you think spending tax dollars for a new City Hall office for Joy Cooper when she doesn't really need a new one seems like small potatoes, consider for a moment the logic of ALL FIVE members of the City Commission of a town of under 38,000 going to Orlando on the taxpayers' dime two weeks ago, for the recent League of Cities confab,
There's your HB City Commission at work.
But if you think that's just too 'inside baseball,' let me return to one of my favorite and most obvious examples of the collective longstanding failure of the Cooper, Good & the Rubber Stamp Crew: the so-called "community center" under the HB Water Tower on A1A and Hallandale Beach Blvd..
The one that I've told you about so many times in emails and on my blog -complete with photos- that you and haven't been able to use for over two years now,
To quote myself, imagine what sort of hoops land-locked South Florida cities like Pembroke Pines, Coral Gables, Hialeah or Miramar would jump thru in order to have a nice two-story public building for their residents, just steps from the beach?
That they didn't have to pay for.I have and so have you.
Yet here in Hallandale Beach, under Cooper, Good & the Rubber Stamp Crew, we've had such a PUBLIC building for 105 weeks and counting.
You all know from the dozens and dozens of photos I've taken of it over the two-plus years, there is NOT now nor has there ever been so much as a sign anywhere on the building telling you that it
a.) belongs to the citizens of this city, or,
b.) WHEN it will be open for use by taxpayers like you and I, not just used by the PALs and cronies of Hallandale Beach City Hall, who think they're VIPs..
These are all things that I've told the city manger and his staff, in person, many times over the years, including LAST YEAR'S budget meeting..
Cooper's rank hypocrisy at asking the public to come over to her house Tuesday night, in an obvious PR stunt, when she's the person who has continually sleepwalked for months as other South Florida communities have made good faith efforts to host numerous public budget meetings involving their citizens and residents, knowing full well when the legal deadline is, could hardly be more self-evident.
Instead, Cooper chose to do NOTHING and took the summer off.
Now, with a deadline breathing down upon the city, she wants to invite you over so she can try to finesse you.
Beware, for if you let her, she may try to wave a magic wand over you when you're not paying attention so she can erase your common sense, curiosity and sense of propriety about how things are supposed to be done in a representative democracy that's actually accountable to the people.
Well, you can go to chez Cooper Tuesday night if you wish, but I'd really be remiss if I didn't advise you that I've already seen this movie before, a few times, actually, so let me give this SPOILER ALERT.
The shallow, thin-skinned witch and her coterie of dim-witted flying monkeys holed-up in their redoubt will NEVER ever admit they're wrong, and will only use the time to verbally attack the very people who HAVE actually been paying attention, as they have so many times before.
Yes, attack the very people who have been telling their friends and neighbors the true facts about what Cooper & Co. have been doing at HB City Hall and environs .
Or NOT doing.So, all these various elements, plus the mayor's strange attempt to engage in damage-control,
promise to make Wednesday a day to remember in Hallandale Beach.
Please make plans NOW to be there in person to speak your mind and bear witness to what
happens when the truth finally comes out, as it surely will.
And don't forget to bring as many of your friends as possible, along with your camera
or camcorder, too.
Otherwise, it's verbatim.
And still hard to believe -but all-too-true.
----------------
From: Barry Webber
Subject: Hallandale Beach Marine Patrol
To: "Joy Cooper" <JoyCooper@aol.com>, "Bill Julian" <wjulian@hallandalebeachfl.gov
>, "Keith London" <bikerguy69@bellsouth.net>, "Dottie Ross" <dross@hallandalebeachfl.gov>, onevision4life@aol.com
Cc: "Mike Good"Office@hallandalebeachfl.gov>, "Tom Magill" office@hallandalebeachfl.gov>
Date: Thursday, August 20, 2009, 10:06 PM
----- 250 BOAT ACCIDENTS ---------------- 0CITATIONS --------------------------- 18Obviously they are a very active unit and a very important presence on the water in this city.4) Citations issued on the Intracoastal Waterway to enforce state statutes do not provide revenue to the City. The fines that are paid, are paid to the State of Florida. The EMLEG grant program was never set up to provide revenue from citations. It was created to assist law enforcement in providing for the public safety.Finally, the memorandum states that the boat is in need of replacement. Just last year, the Sergeant that is in charge of the Marine Patrol stated at a meeting of the City's Marine Advisory Board that the boat was in good condition and was only in need of cosmetic work. The engines were also operating well for the boats mission. There is no reason to believe that the boat went from good condition to needing replacement in less than one year.The City of Hallandale Beach has a responsibility to protect it's citizens and the boating public traveling through the City. I know that each one of you takes this responsibility very seriously and works hard to protect your residents. I would urge you to fulfill this responsibility and not leave the City's waterways totally unprotected. Please don't leave the waterfront residences of your citizens totally unprotected from water born criminal activity. Please don't throw away over $52,000.00 in this critical budget year and please do not tell your residents that they are not entitled to protection by their police department. The benefits provided by the Marine Patrol are great, the cost is small. I would urge you to provide for the Marine Patrol in the 2009-2010 budget.I would be happy to discuss any of these issues with you. My numbers are listed below.Sincerely,Barry Webber
Michael is the person behind the fact-based website, Change Hallandale Beach
http://changehallandale.com/ and the person who sent me the letter that Mayor Cooper was circulating
From: Michael Butler
once again she's representing the city manager and his staff, not the residents.From: Michael Butler
Date: August 24, 2009 1:43:26 PM EDT
if there have been so many opportunities to discuss the budget, why then does she have to have something at her private home?
why isn't this a public meeting?
why wasn't adequate discussion and time provided by the city at the official budget
workshop?
and if the city commission takes July off, then why wasn't the first budget workshop
scheduled earlier in August instead of the last week?
why is her meeting scheduled in the evening and not during the day like the official
workshops, which should be in the evening as well?
speaking of misleading the residents, why were Good's numbers wrong on the
marine patrol?
if the budget issues is so important, then why has she scheduled this meeting with
ONE DAY'S NOTICE?
NOW she decides the budget is important enough to have a meeting at her private home?
Begin forwarded message:
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I have been writing articles on a weekly basis to keep everyone informed. Regretfully again Commissioner London has been sending out information that is not 1000% factual and are lies about commission actions.
This in not the time for politics it is time for work.
Since the budget is such an important issue in deciding our quality of life have decided to host a meeting at my home to listen to your concerns, questions and ideas.
301 Holiday Drive
from 5:30 to 6:30 PM
Everyone is welcomed this is not a formal meeting of the commission just a open forum
Please let me know if you will be attending so I can plan accordingly.
Budget workshops are scheduled for two days. Not one.
The discussion will be on the "CITY MANAGER'S PROPOSED BUDGET" The commission will work on the budget makes changes. The commission has had the proposed budget transmittal letter since Friday August 7th. This lays out the major changes and proposed cuts. After the commission workshops the budget then is published for full review. The budget then is reviewed at two public hearings in September.The Final Budget will not be adopted until Sept 24th, a month from today.
The tentative tax rate was set on June 17th which is and increase. This something that I have also written about.
The one good thing that he has done is sent out the budget transmittal letter for your review.
There is only ONE budget workshop scheduled for the commissioners and citizens to review the budget in detail, and it occurs on Wednesday August 26th 2009. EVERY other municipality has already had the multiple meetings and budget workshops. While some may imply that previous meetings included budget review discussions, its laughable to assert that a budget was reviewed before it was available. In addition, to date, there have been NO public notices of the budget workshop in either the Miami Herald or the Sun-Sentinel.
Many cities take off in August, we take off in July . The suggestion that there has been any negligence on this matter is mislleading to you the residents and lying. It is also frankly an insult to our staff that has worked tirelessly over the months facing up to 25 layoffs and working to make cuts while preserving basic services .
As always please contact me at anytime with your questions and concerns!
Warm regards! Joy
------------------------------
Caution: facts ahead!
As you read this email from Commissioner Keith London to some of the city's citizens
and residents, keep in mind that the absurd situations he describes, which I've been a
witness to and described here in this space, is what passes for normal at Hallandale
Beach City Hall under Mayor Joy Cooper and City Manager Mike Good.
Wrap up of the City of Hallandale Beach City Commission Agenda for Wednesday, August 19, 2009 1:30 PM Meeting
and residents, keep in mind that the absurd situations he describes, which I've been a
witness to and described here in this space, is what passes for normal at Hallandale
Beach City Hall under Mayor Joy Cooper and City Manager Mike Good.
Wrap up of the City of Hallandale Beach City Commission Agenda for Wednesday, August 19, 2009 1:30 PM Meeting
| London, Keith <KLondon@hallandalebeachfl.gov | Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 8:18 AM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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To: "London, Keith" <KLondon@hallandalebeachfl.gov
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