to do in 2008 with the City of Hallandale Beach's
(COHB) curious purchase of Pastor/Commissioner
Anthony A. Sanders personal property for much more
than its appraised value, as if HB City Hall had more
money than sense. LOL!
Well, history has clearly borne me out on this.
COHB was in a rush to buy this property owned by the
then-Pastor Anthony A. Sanders and his wife, so that
the city could promptly... do nothing with it at all.
Now that they've put HB taxpayers on the hook for it,
one of more than sixty-plus properties that COHB
currently owns, they rent it out at $10 -yes $10-
a month to a group the city wants to co-opt and stay
on friendly terms with for completely political reasons.
But what was the actual rationale for the purchase in
the first place, which was NEVER publicly advertised
on the HB City Commission agenda, but instead,
done under the stealthy rubric "Other," depriving
HB citizen taxpayers of their opportunity to not only
be publicly heard on this unseemly transaction,
but ask for proof of what STILL remains the city's
imaginary action plan?
They have a very vague idea but no actual overall
written plan they can either point taxpayers to,
or are willing to publicly share with them,
IF it even exists on paper.
Meanwhile, COHB's financial situation goes from bad
to worse -see http://changehallandale.com/,
click Budget or Debt - and they STILL can't answer
perfectly reasonable financial questions by residents
about this absurd purchase, despite plenty of time
and resources to do so.
In fact, this specific issue came up again this past week
at a city Quadrant meeting held at the city's Cultural
Center -more on that on Monday, along with video-
and once again, the city's highly-paid staff could NOT
point to something actually either written down
(or approved by the City Commission) that justified
a premium price bring paid for a mediocre piece of
property in 2008.
Like it was a Ken Griffey, Jr. Rookie baseball card
at the pinnacle of the baseball card craze in the early
1990's that disappeared once the actual merchandise
had been sold to the gullible public.
Caveat emptor, mes amis!
For those of you who are late to what Chaz Stevens
has uncovered in his corner of Broward, you can see
what larger point he is proving with 100% accuracy
-and video- along with his latest muckraking adventures,
here, http://www.myactsofsedition.
the Broward Palm Beach NewTimes has written
about quite well, while the Herald and Sun-Sentinel
largely continue to play catch-up.
Video is at:
http://www.myactsofsedition.
In today's Broward Beat, Angelo Castillo writes
about a simple plan that results in Broward citizens
taking back voting from bureaucrats, with the added
dividends of increased participation and depriving
anyone from their 15 Minutes by whining about voting
sites or hours.
I love voting in person, but I'm willing to vote by mail
if it increases actual public participation.
http://www.browardbeat.com/
Personally, I still wish that Castillo would run this Fall
against the longstanding, ethically-challenged and largely
clueless Broward County Commissioner whose district
includes a small part of HB, Diana Wasserman-Rubin,
but for now, he seems to have decided to make his
re-election in Pembroke Pines his first priority, which
occurred this week with him getting 87.64% of vote.
(And what was DWR talking to Comm. Sanders and
some of his acolytes about over at the city's Hepburn
Center on Monday night?
Some well-informed people hereabouts think that she's
actually considering the possibility of supporting the
out-of-scale Diplomat LAC next week at the
County Commission, the 23rd, in exchange for
Sanders vocal support and his acolytes' help,
which likely won't come for free.
But then you already knew that, right?)
Castillo has more practical ideas and common sense
than 99% of the elected officials pols I run into in
Broward and M-D, and would, I think, make a great
county-wide ELECTED Mayor in the future if the
circumstances ever presented themselves, and residents
could ACTUALLY vote for that instead of the Broward
County Commission crowning one of their members.
I feel this way in large part because he is someone who
is not afraid of new ideas as a solution to resolving
longstanding problems.
Problems that have made and will continue to make
Broward less desirable than it could be with the proper
leadership and hard work.
Me, I'm for diversity -I want smart and honest
people with common sense.
If you're hanging around the house for the next few hours,
at 2 p.m., Turner Classic Movies is showing one of
the best political films ever made, All The King's Men,
based on Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
No, not the Sean Penn & Jude Law's recent clone,
which I intentionally skipped, but the powerful original that
was so compelling that it won the Best Picture Oscar for
1949, as well as the Best Actor Oscar for Broderick
Crawford.
Here's the film trailer:
http://www.tcm.com/video/
Thanks for the kind words.
ReplyDeleteI wonder sometimes about Deerfield, nestled in the tippy top of Broward. Seems we have fallen off the radar screen for the Sun-Sentinel, and I long have given up on the Herald...
Let me say this to those unfamiliar with my quiet little shire.
It's a den of corruption. As bad as it gets. Our Grants Department, Housing Authority, and a raft of NGO's...
All under the klieg light inspection of a bad to the bones forensic auditor who rolled into town last week.
I have zero intel to base this next claim, but I expect a boat load of arrests to come from this audit. Public officials, city employees, and private citizens alike.
If I can suggest one thing to those who are reading my comments it's this.
If you want to make a change, you can do it. It ain't easy. It's not for the lazy... But you can affect change.
Expect apathy. Expect animosity. Expect ambivalence.
But change can happen. I am living proof of it. Keep the faith... As I did. Even in the most frustrating of times.
Your kids and their future will thank you for it.