Above, September 2008 photo of Hallandale Beach Water Tower by South Beach Hoosier.
Above, July 12, 2010 photo of Hallandale Beach Water Tower and A1A Community Center by South Beach Hoosier.The final Hallandale Beach Parks & Recreation Dept. Master Plan public meeting with the city's consultants, Bermello Ajamil Partners, Inc., is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the A1A Community Center under the iconic Hallandale Beach Water Tower on State Road A1A and East Hallandale Beach Boulevard. When your view looks like this one below the Water Tower, you're in the right place.
That's The Beach Club condo towers on the left. July 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.As of now, it's my intention to record the meeting if there's any sort of formal presentation, though there may not be.
I've intentionally waited until this very last meeting with the consultants so that I would not have to go to it already disappointed or resigned to notions of mediocrity.
I spoke to the two principal consultants at the HB Parks & Rec. Advisory Board meeting in early June for just a bit under ten minutes out in the HB Cultural Center hallway, out of earshot of the Advisory Board that was still discussing something inside the room after the consultant's Q&A.
They seemed genuinely open to suggestions and comments and at one point, after they told me about some past clients and a general idea of what they'd done for them, I told them that I'd been looking forward to their outreach for quite some time.
But I also told them that their firm had a lot more work ahead of them than they might've thought, since there are so many people in this city besides myself who have come to the inescapable conclusion that it's in the best interests of the city's taxpayers for the responsibility for the city's public beaches to be wrested away from HB DPW, and given to either Parks & Rec., or have it contracted out completely, so that the public beach can begin to approach the level of fun and aesthetics the community deserves and expects.
The sort of beach some in the community want will be sort of like a South Florida version of...
Above, Nikki DeLoach, Brooke Burns and Amanda Righetti from FOX-TV's fantastic and preposterous 2004-'05 program, North Shore.But for other reasonable residents of this city, a clean, well-maintained beach that shows a little civic pride would be a good first start.
That's especially the case with people who have bought property nearby to really enjoy the beach, yet, paradoxically, are perpetually dumbstruck by how poorly maintained it is, coupled with the general neglect and apathy of the city's leaders to make better use of it as a resource, to say nothing of the Hallandale Beach Police avoiding patrolling the area, something that the local criminal class knows well and exploits.
Above, May 12, 2008 photo of obstructed genus sign at Hallandale Beach's South Beach by South Beach Hoosier. It's even worse now if you can believe it. This sort of apathetic approach to maintenance is a longstanding problem at the beach.Where's the HB version of the proactive steps that Hollywood Mayor Peter Bober is making regarding erosion on Hollywood Beach? Have you seen how old and graffiti-scarred the South Beach life guard tower is? They've been waiting for a replacement since...
How about a beach that's thoroughly cleaned with the actual sand sifted like it was in Haulover Beach thirty years ago, when my friends and I were going there regularly on weekends and during the summer, and not simply leveled with a rusty pipe with claws that seems straight out of 1930's Russia?
It's a piece of low-tech equipment that is left right on the beach during the day instead of being stored somewhere nearby like would be normal anywhere else.
Here, though, it's all about doing what is easiest for the city employees, which is the situation with recycling bins on the beach also.
Which aren't on the actual beach!
Since the vast majority of the people seeing this post weren't at the last -ONLY!- meeting held at the "Community Center," the A1A Quadrant meeting, you really owe it to yourself to come by and check it out from the inside.
Without giving away too many secrets about my super-powers, I think I can accurately predict what will happen if you do.
You will get angry all over again that it's only the second time the two-story building has been open to HB citizens in 35 months, though VIP friends of City Hall have used it many times before, of course, esp. PAL and the Kessel Crew.
And 35 months later, the second floor STILL isn't fixed and the elevator STILL doesn't work.
And most galling of all, as I've written here several times in the past, there's still nothing on the building saying what it is, when it's open or when a public forum will be held in the city where citizen taxpayers can tell the city's elected officials exactly what they want it to be.
What it shouldn't be is strictly a rental space, as seemed to be the preferred option of former HB City manager Mike Good, yet another reason for me and so many other concerned citizens of this community to be glad he's gone. It should be a positive and dynamic resource, not a storage closet on the beach!
Now, though, as you can see in my photos below, it's just an airy storage room for stacked-up chairs, albeit in a room that just happens to be steps from the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.Pathetic!
Above, July 12, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier looking east from front door of HB A1A Community Center. The Palm trees you see thru the window are on the beach.
Above, July 12, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier looking north from window of HB A1A Community Center, opposite The Beach Club condo towers.
Above, July 12, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier looking west from window of HB A1A Community Center, reflecting the Palm trees behind me and the Atlantic Ocean less than 80 yards behind me. The color teal you see is the bottom of the Water Tower outside the front door.Now that you have seen a small snapshot of this facility opposite the beach, you can better appreciate why this issue has been driving so many other concerned citizens of HB crazy for years, including me.
A two-story facility with an observation area on the roof that is but a stone's throw from the Atlantic Ocean, one that other towns and cities in South Florida would positively kill to have, which was given to Hallandale Beach for free, and yet under Mayor Joy Cooper and former City Manager Mike Good, for 35 long months, it's been strictly off-limits to its rightful owners, the citizen taxpayers of Hallandale Beach.
A week from Tuesday, August 3rd, will mark exactly THREE YEARS that it has belonged to us. And yet we are on the outside looking in.
If this was happening in Miami Beach or Fort Lauderdale, the South Florida news media would be crawling all over this story, because it is so easy to understand, but because it is here in Hallandale Beach, it is completely ignored, despite my best efforts to get reporters interested.
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From COHB's website:http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/CurrentEvents.aspx?EID=2793
| Title: | Citywide Parks Master Plan Community Meeting - A1A/Beach Corridor |
| Date: | July 24, 2010 |
| Start Time: | 1:00 PM |
| End Time: | 2:00 PM |
| Description: | The project consists of the development of a Citywide Park Master Plan, including a redesign to the City Parks sites, needs assessment and analysis, capital improvement plan and funding options, with a forward-thinking strategy to support the residents and Community’s needs and programs. The Consultant for this project is Bermello Ajamil Partners, Inc. This will be the first of several meetings facilitated by Bermello Ajamil Partners, Inc. as part of the Parks Master Plan creation process. The Community is encouraged to participate and share their thoughts and ideas. The Community’s input is essential. If you cannot attend one of the listed meetings please visit the City’s website where you can provide your feedback, suggestions and input at www.cohb.org under the Parks Department/Parks Evaluation. |
| Address: | North Beach Municipal Building 2801 E. Hallandale Beach Boulevard Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 |
| Contact: | (954) 457-1452 |
| Link: | Citywide Parks Master Plan Community Meetings |
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