Folks, I warned you last year! Above, Alexander Lewy and his campaign sign at the entrance of the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center, i.e. taxpayer property, 2010.
IF it was legal to put campaign signs there on city property, within the Supervisor of Elections' no campaign sign zone, in front of the building where Early Voting and voting takes place, where I vote, isn't it reasonable to assume that at least one of the dozens of other candidates on the ballot last year might've thought to do it, too? But they don't because it's not allowed.
And putting your campaign sign there and on other parts of city hall property, daring someone to complain about it, doesn't make it legal either.
Yet another example of the HB Code Compliance ignoring what's right in front of them -per usual. And Lewy ignoring the rules that everyone else has to abide by.
2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Once again, thru his words & misdeeds, Alexander Lewy is proving that he is EXACTLY who we always thought he was -a career politician in training
We in this ocean-side city between Aventura and Hollywood are merely his humble political stepping stool.
But it seems to me that Alexander Lewy's already stumbling badly from the start...
In the Google Alert I received Monday night, while I was watching the always amusing Castle on TV, I discovered a story in the Miami Herald, below, that I missed seeing, and it mentions Hallandale Beach Commissioner Alexander Lewy.
So imagine my surprise to see him quoted about a story in Tallahassee about bologna... I mean legislation being crafted.
You probably won't be too surprised to discover that once again, Alexander Lewy, the person who in the past:
a.) supported the Diplomat LAC over the community's objections, which is part of why he got campaign money from the Diplomat's law firm,
b.) the person who currently supports the mayor's absurd and un-safe two-way streets proposal for NE 8th & 10th Avenues, even recently telling a resident against it that THEY had "their facts all wrong" but couldn't say why he supported it,
c.) the person who has supported the expansion of the city's Red-Light Camera$ operation, and, d.) the person who has said in the past that he supports the Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter School being placed in that largely single-family NE neighborhood, in this particular instance mentioned in the article, is taking the pro-government, anti-taxpayer/homeowner position. Surprise!!!
The evidence was clear even before last November's election that Lewy just absolutely hates the idea of any government -anywhere- not having the money they want to do whatever the politicians want to do, esp. in Hallandale Beach, whether the taxpayers want it or not, including charitable contributions.
Those financial contributions with taxpayer's funds were the subject of my March 10th post titled, Hallandal
BrowardPalmBeach New Times
Public Records Hallandale Beach Hides Financial Contributions From Public Record
By Stefan Kamph,
Thursday, March 10, 2011 @ 11:21AM
Most people are proud of their charitable donations and don't mind publicizing them a bit.
But the people who run the city government of Hallandale Beach are not most people. All of the donations that a city makes to charity are supposed to be available as public records, including who the checks went to, what accounts they came from, and the amounts of the contributions.
Read the rest of the post at: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.
Today's follow-up -
BrowardPalmBeach New Times
Oops! Redacted Hallandale Beach Transactions Were Taken from Wrong Accounts
By Stefan Kamph,
Tuesday, March 22 2011 @ 12:11PM
Well, that's a relief.
Good to know that the City of Hallandale Beach wasn't covering up some massive intrigue when it covered up charitable contributions in public records with no explanation. No, they were just covering up a good old blunder: taking money from the wrong bank account.
Read the rest of the post at: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2011/03/redacted_hallandale_beach_contributions_explained.php
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/201
House wants voters to decide on property tax cuts
By Mary Ellen Klas, Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
March 21, 2011
A move to give all Florida property owners a deeper property tax cut continued to gather steam in the Florida House Monday as a committee voted to put the measure on the ballot as early as 2012.
The bill, approved by the House Community & Military Affairs Subcommittee, would give commercial property owners and those with investment homes in Florida, a tax break that would match the one residential property owners now have under the Save Our Homes provisions of the state constitution.
If approved by voters, the maximum increase in the assessed value of commercial and non-homestead property would go from 10 to 3 percent. First-time home buyers would get a one-time $200,000 tax credit and all other homeowners would not see their taxes rise unless their property values increased.
The proposal, in effect, would give voters the option of enacting the deep property tax cuts sought by Gov. Rick Scott, who this year called for a $1.4 billion reduction in property taxes. Legislators have said they are unlikely to agree to it because it would require deeper cuts than they are prepared to make in the face of a $3.8 billion budget deficit.
But if voters approve the measure, economists predict the change will result in $231 million in revenue losses to cities and counties in the first year and as much as $1.2 billion in three years.
“We can’t handle that,’’ said Devin Suggs, lobbyist for the Florida League of Cities. He said that rather than benefit from an upturn in the economy, the proposed amendment would hurt cities and counties because they couldn’t capture any of the growth in property values.
Hallandale Beach city commissioner Alexander Lewy warned that the measure could mean a loss of $900,000 to his city alone — more than the city’s annual fuel bill, more than the city pays for sewer, water and utilities and more than the cost of a new fire truck. “I ask you to please reconsider this because it would really be hurtful to the residents you represent,’’ he said.
Those of you who told me last year that Lewy wasn't "as bad" as I repeatedly documented in emails and blog posts, and said that Lewy was going to make a positive difference, when, EXACTLY, is that going to be happening? A move to give all Florida property owners a deeper property tax cut continued to gather steam in the Florida House Monday as a committee voted to put the measure on the ballot as early as 2012.
The bill, approved by the House Community & Military Affairs Subcommittee, would give commercial property owners and those with investment homes in Florida, a tax break that would match the one residential property owners now have under the Save Our Homes provisions of the state constitution.
If approved by voters, the maximum increase in the assessed value of commercial and non-homestead property would go from 10 to 3 percent. First-time home buyers would get a one-time $200,000 tax credit and all other homeowners would not see their taxes rise unless their property values increased.
The proposal, in effect, would give voters the option of enacting the deep property tax cuts sought by Gov. Rick Scott, who this year called for a $1.4 billion reduction in property taxes. Legislators have said they are unlikely to agree to it because it would require deeper cuts than they are prepared to make in the face of a $3.8 billion budget deficit.
But if voters approve the measure, economists predict the change will result in $231 million in revenue losses to cities and counties in the first year and as much as $1.2 billion in three years.
“We can’t handle that,’’ said Devin Suggs, lobbyist for the Florida League of Cities. He said that rather than benefit from an upturn in the economy, the proposed amendment would hurt cities and counties because they couldn’t capture any of the growth in property values.
Hallandale Beach city commissioner Alexander Lewy warned that the measure could mean a loss of $900,000 to his city alone — more than the city’s annual fuel bill, more than the city pays for sewer, water and utilities and more than the cost of a new fire truck. “I ask you to please reconsider this because it would really be hurtful to the residents you represent,’’ he said.
But Rep. Chris Dorworth, R-Lake Mary, the bill’s sponsor, called that argument a red herring. He said this gives businesses the tax certainty they need to bring jobs to Florida.
The proposed constitutional amendment is similar to a proposed amendment legislators put on the ballot in 2010 to cap increases in the assessed value of non-homestead property at 5 percent a year. That measure was thrown off the ballot by a Tallahassee judge.
Rep. Scott Randolph, a Orlando Democrat, voted against the bill because it locks in the inequities created by the Save Our Homes amendment, which caps increases in property assessment at three percent a year. Now, however, if people’s homes don’t rise in value but are assessed at below market rates, they can be required to pay more taxes. Under Dorworth’s bill, if people’s property values don’t rise their taxes don’t rise.
When, EXACTLY, is Lewy's first unscripted public meeting with the community taking place over at the HB Cultural Center, at his cost, just as London has been doing for years?
Or, is Lewy still waiting for Cooper, Ross & Sanders to FINALLY have their first one after all these years?
When is Lewy going to actually second London's common sense motion to have a community meeting/forum on the two-way street proposal that City Manager Mark Antonio has even admitted in city documents should've already taken place -in the past. That necessary important public meeting which, as of today, is STILL NOT scheduled?
So far, Lewy has played his role perfectly as a member of the Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew, and he has done nothing to alter that public perception since his election five months ago.
He's exactly what we thought he was.
By the way, if you haven't seen it in a while, Bett Willet's blog, Blog by Bett, is quite instructive as her entry from March 9th, about the City of Deerfield Beach, is both informative and humorous (in a sad way), and could just as easily describe the highly questionable work-ethic and sleepwalking antics of the HB City Commission -save Keith London- who swallow what they're given with nary a peep.
http://blogbybett.blogspot.com
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