Friday, September 30, 2011

Hallandale Beach Blog's Time Machine visits 1/14/92 and sees what a pathetic hypocrite former Hallandale Beach CM R.J. Intindola is -who needs facts?


The past is prologue -yet again.
Yes, even here in Hallandale Beach.

(FYI: I've deleted a few extraneous "Friends" below from this Facebook post about public policy in Hallandale Beach who didn't actually say anything about the issue so that you can better follow the back-and-forth, NOT to protect the dimwits who seem like they could care less about the actual facts.)


Following this ridiculous pronouncement above by R.J. Intiondola, later, on Wednesday at 11:15a.m. he then goes on to ramble...

Currently, Keith London is seeking through his charter review representative to alter the existing appointment structure of the City Clerk. Currently, the city clerk is appointed by and reports to the City Manager. Keith London believes the City Commission has more expertise at selection, recruitment and managing the position and therefore the elected officials should select and appoint the city clerk. The elected body would therefore supervise the position. He makes this comment without a single day of management, administrative and recruitment experience. This is not unusual for elected officiasl whose ego has blown out of control to believe they are the expert at every and any given subject. Facts are, he has no idea on how to manage an organization.


At 3:34 p.m. Wednesday, Intindola responds peevishly to my friend Michael Butler of Change Hallandale's reasonable question.

It's especially reasonable given that Intindola doesn't live anywhere near here and hasn't attended a 2011 HB CRC meeting in person, like both Comm. London and I have.
Trust me, THAT is one very small list.
London and I were the only ones sitting in the audience at their first meeting.


This comes on top of the central fact that Intindola has no idea what he is talking about, as a simple conversation with the CRC's Chair, Anthony Musto, a former HB City Commissioner himself and current Law School professor would prove.

(Did I mention yet that Musto was Comm. London's appointment?
Meanwhile Comm. Dotty Ross, from the thousands of people in this city whom she could've selected to add their perspective to the group, chose the much-loathed former HB City Commissioner, William "Bill" Julian, to add his longstanding myopia and chronically bad judgment to the mix.
Yes, Julian, a person who along with Mayor Cooper and Comm. Ross and the current and former City Manager, is held personally responsible by a large portion of this city's well-informed populace for why this city is such a mess, and so much LESS than what it ought to be.
And yes, defying logic as he always has, Julian has filed to run for the city commission next year, much to the delight of many friends of mine who anticipate him finally getting the public grilling and buzz-sawing that his ridiculed record deserves, after making this city a perpetual media laughingstock, due in large part to his very own jaw-dropping personal actions, petty and unethical behavior, and penchant for almost always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time while voting also against the larger community's best long-term interests.)



Intindola can't logically explain why the CRC would knowingly vote in favor of an idea they didn't like and knew would make them look ridiculous, or, why, given that, the HB City Commission, who would get it after the CRC to decide whether it goes on the ballot to be voted upon, would then repeat that action and approve it even if they didn't like it.

Intindola can't logically explain his own opinion about London because it completely lacks logic and common sense.
Given what the process is, how exactly does Intindola think that one person, Keith London, can change the form of city government we currently have -for the worse- by himself?
Exactly!


But why let facts get in the way, right?
Mike, he doesn't say anything specifically but all of his actions would leave anyone to that conclusion. He was the commission the higher the city clerk, was to contract out legal services and has made numerous relative other comments degrading the form of government. As part of the profession, I feel compelled to support professionalism in local government and not political hackery.

"As part of the profession, I feel compelled to support professionalism in local government and not political hackery."

So sayeth R.J. Intindola, long-time Georgia resident, former Hallandale Beach City Manager, and self-appointed expert in good government, civics and public administration.

Well, at least the first two are true. Oh, those pesky facts!

R.J. Intindola is nothing but a know-it-all, long-distance serial meddler who writes about things he is neither an expert about nor even an eye witness to.

In short, an embittered and dis-connected man who was thoroughly rejected by his former city last year when he thought he heard them calling out his name.

No, they were NOT.

That sound he heard was just in HIS head.

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel

HALLANDALE STRIP CALLED 'DUMB' ACT
By Sallie James, Staff Writer
January 14, 1992

HALLANDALE -- The bare facts about a stripper's appearance at a bachelor party for a public works superintendent on Monday left city officials rolling their eyes.

''I don't condone it, but I am not going to do anything about it,'' City Manager R.J. Intindola said when told about the party held on city property.

The stripper danced her way through the conference room of the Department of Public Works at a 4 p.m. party for general superintendent Mike Good , who is getting married, said John Depp, who supervises the department.

Depp helped arrange for the stripper.

The naked truth? Somebody just used bad judgment, said Mayor Arthur ''Sonny'' Rosenberg.

''I don't think whoever hired the dancer should have done it on city property,'' Rosenberg said.

Intindola said it is not the first time strippers have appeared at parties for city employees. In past years, it has happened three or four times, he said.

He joked Monday that the employees should have sent the stripper to City Commission chambers -- adjacent to his office.
Yes, that R.J. Intindola sure is the consumate professional!
LOL!!!


Almost everyone I know who's well-informed about what happens here in HB has whatever opinion of Intindola they have completely independent of anything I've said or written -or will say or write in the future.
Nobody is going to suddenly jump to his side of an argument based on his bitter enmity and lofty opinion of himself.

My understanding -which could be wrong, but I doubt it- is that Intindola was quite angry that nobody in town would publicly back him last year for the CM position when it was clear that Mike Good was being shown the door with a super-golden parachute, despite Good so frequently NOT showing-up for work, showing-up unprepared or dressed inappropriately for meetings with developers who'd flown into town for the meeting, or -and this is what I suspect eventually soured even loyal Good defender Mayor Cooper- Good NOT even being available on the telephone.
Of nobody, including his wife, the former HB Asst. City Manager -who once worked for two cities at the same time, unbeknownst to one of the cities- actually knowing where he was or how to reach him.

If you look at Intindola's Facebook "Friends," you'll see both Alexander Lewy and Broward School Board member Patricia Good, Mike Good's sister-in-law.
Just saying...

A public flogging of a mendacious judge that's well-deserved -St. Pete Times editorial: Arrogant 'Taj Mahal' judge deserves no leniency



A public flogging of a mendacious judge that's well-deserved -St. Pete Times editorial: Arrogant 'Taj Mahal' judge deserves no leniency

Even in Florida, where so many aspects of basic public administration, logical checks-and-balances, separation of powers, transparency, public accountability and public records requests are actively fought by the elected officials and the judiciary -and their crony pals and lobbyists who made it all happen for them- eventually, the last shoe falls.

And this time, it's falling with a thud loud enough to be heard across the Sunshine State, in large part thanks to the tireless efforts of reporter Lucy Morgan of the St. Petersburg Times to connect-the-dots on a story that many others in Florida's news media avoided like a hot potato.

Yes, you mix powerful people with a sense of entitlement, old-fashioned notions of prestige, towering arrogance and abuse of the public's trust, and then throw taxpayers funding of it to solve the problem into the picture and you have a combustible end product that could explode before anything is built.

That's something to keep in mind now in Broward County, where judges, lawyers and the local legal and business establishment, plus their contractor friends and elected officials, all wanted a new County courthouse downtown despite the fact that the public does NOT.
So much so that the Broward County Commission refused to even allow the public to vote on the issue as a referendum.

Below is the editorial I had in an email I sent out yesterday to folks around the state, one that could hardly be more spot-on. Not that you would know about it at all based on how skant coverage this story has been on Miami-area TV newscasts.

It's the logical follow-up to my last post on this subject, from January 9th, titled, Florida CFO Jeff Atwater: 'Taj Mahal' courthouse in Tallahassee 'far worse' than a pricey building. And the judges behind it WON'T talk!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/florida-cfo-jeff-atwater-taj-mahal.html, and my first one on the subject the month before on December 19th, titled, Lucy Morgan in St. Pete Times: Why can't anyone remember how a $50-million courthouse now called the 'Taj Mahal' stayed off the radar and got okayed?

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St. Petersburg Times
A Times Editorial
Arrogant 'Taj Mahal' judge deserves no leniency
In Print: Thursday, September 29, 2011

Paul Hawkes is the arrogant, duplicitous judge on Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee who put construction of a lavish $50 million courthouse for himself and his fellow judges before judicial ethics or integrity. Now, as he answers for his actions before Florida's Judicial Qualifications Commission, Hawkes should forfeit his job. Any sanction short of Hawkes' removal from the bench would be too lenient in light of the stain he has left on the judiciary.

The formal charges brought in May against Hawkes by a JQC investigative panel describe a man whose ambition has run amok. Allegations include that he blatantly abused his authority to secure money and amenities for the new building, bullied state employees, ordered the destruction of an entire file cabinet of public documents, suggested a furniture vendor underwrite a trip, and even directed a court employee to help his son with legal work.

Concerns over Hawkes' conduct came to light through reporting by St. Petersburg Times senior correspondent Lucy Morgan, who first detailed the outsized role Hawkes played in getting the posh courthouse built even as the grip of a tightening recession meant courts around the state were losing personnel.

It would be a violation of public trust if Hawkes were able to keep his job through a negotiated settlement. Secret negotiations to avoid a trial are under way between lawyers for the JQC and Hawkes. One proposed settlement has already been rejected by the JQC panel, suggesting that Hawkes is looking to get off too easily. If there is no agreement, a trial is likely to begin early next year.

But Hawkes deserves no leniency in return for expediency. He refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing and deflects blame. First, Hawkes provided inaccurate accounts of his actions when testifying in January before a Senate committee. Then, in his formal response to the charges, he pointed a finger of complicity at his fellow appellate court judges, as if they were as much to blame for the ostentatious courthouse. These are not the actions of someone repentant or reformed.

Ultimately the sanctions Hawkes faces will be determined by the Florida Supreme Court, which will review any JQC recommendation but has the final word. Chief Justice Charles Canady, unhappy with Hawkes' conduct and its poor reflection on the judiciary, told Hawkes to resign as chief judge. That same impulse, to protect the integrity of the courts, should inform any settlement deal and require Hawkes' removal from the bench.

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Google Street View of the 1st District Court of Appeal Courthouse at 2000 Drayton Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32399.

Sting sings at sixty -Turns 60 on Sunday, celebrates 25 years as solo artist, and begins 'Back to Bass' North American tour in October


Euronews le mag video: Sting sings at sixty, September 30, 2011.
http://youtu.be/12G__SCf6Ts

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- Hardcover book featuring intimate photos, lyrics and introduction by Sting.

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2CDs with 31 remastered tracks, including several remixes and previously unreleased live versions of "Message In A Bottle," "Demolition Man" and "Heavy Cloud No Rain". Sting: The Best Of 25 Years is out on the 24th October.

Pre-Order your copy now!

Sign up now for exclusive news, competitions and more - CLICK HERE!

On Monday, Sting will be appearing on CBS-TV's "Late Show with David Letterman" as a guest and the musical performer. Don't be too surprised if Sting winds-up performing on NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live" by Thanksgiving, too.

Universal Music UK's blog, Umusic, is a great way to keep up on new and old artists signed to Universal's eight well-known labels -including our old pal, Pixie Lott, of course, on Mercury Records, whose new album comes out in the U.K. on November 7th.
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If you're interested in a knowledgeable contrast to the Obama-besotted American MSM, might I suggest you becoming familiar with Euronews? http://www.euronews.net/

Euronews English-language YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Euronews

Adele - Someone Like You (2011) - "... who would have known how bittersweet this would taste"


Adele Vevo video: Adele - Someone Like You (2011, from her "21" album)
Directed by Jake Nava.

In my case, on a cool January day in 1997, instead of having The Seine and Paris to promenade thru after getting some devastating news regarding a wonderful woman I loved and adored, I had all the miles of I-95 between the historic Brandywine Valley of PA and chaotic Washington, D.C. to think about what could've been, while I made my way home, teary-eyed and defeated.

Fortunately for me on my romantic-but-ultimately-Quixotic quest to try one last time to recreate the great future I so desperately wanted, my best-friend Shannon had agreed weeks before to be my co-pilot and Sancho Panza on the trip.

On the drive back, Shannon's emotional support and cheerfulness, which she always had in abundance, kept me focused on staying on the road and imagining a 'new' future, even while the great future I thought I might really have been on the verge of having for good, the one I had actually had tasted and savored, had just completely vanished into thin air: married and pregnant.
That's all she wrote- and then some.
"... who would have known how bittersweet this would taste."
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In Miami on October 14th - Waterfront Theater at American Airlines Arena.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Public meetings already underway for new Broward Schools Superintendent Robert W. Runcie's contract; I may go to Monday's meeting

Only in Broward: Courthouse security apprehends man with gun at entrance, but judges overreact, want armed cop in EVERY courtroom. In a word: NO!

Only in Broward County: Courthouse security catches man with gun at entrance, but judges overreact oh-so predictably, demanding an armed cop in EVERY courtroom.
As if on cue, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti said he wants $17.2 million for more deputies in courthouses.
In a word: NO!

How can I put this in a way that you will understand -the courthouse security we already have WORKED.

Whether that is because the security that day -Wednesday- was Sherlock Holmes-like or because the person apprehended was stupid enough to put a gun in a gym bag thru a magnetometer at a place that warns you in advance, you be the.. yes, judge.

Here's the line from the Sun-Sentinel article below that tells you everything you need to know:
Though armed deputies roam the courthouses, there are none working in any Broward courtroom unless a judge asks for one or there's a murder trial.
Exactly.
Because an armed deputy is NOT required for every single courtroom.

In any case, what would all these armed cops do on Fridays after lunch?

Hasn't Broward legal blogger JAABLOG already proven time and again that on Fridays, many of the courtrooms in the Main Courthouse in downtown Ft. Lauderdale are empty?
Yes, he has proven it to a fair-thee-well.

Guess they could provide security and walk along the largely tourist-free FTL riverfront and count the number of graffiti 'tags' on the bridge and the poles and the signs...

Is it impossible for even one legitimate Miami-based TV/print reporter in the year 2011 to do a story on the Broward County Courthouse, and for just once, just for the hell of it, actually describe in detail what things are like there on Fridays?

I know that this is expecting a lot since they could NEVER manage to do even ONE story on the financial, historical and political context behind the "fix" that was the Broward County Courthouse Task Force under Chair -and downtown FTL property-owner?- Ilene Lieberman, and the predictable decisions that were made, despite the fact that that story was practically given to them on a silver platter.
And still they blanched...
"It's not a question of 'Do we need a courthouse?' We need it and we need to get it done," said Commissioner Ilene Lieberman who headed the task force.

(See more on that so-called Task Force below, which once included Scott Rothstein.)

It's really NOT that hard to do.
But you have to want to actually do it.
To NOT keep making excuses for avoiding the story and knowing that you will rattle some powerful and well-connected Broward cages in doing so.
To stop procrastinating.
Here in South Florida, the local news media doesn't want to.
Other than Bob Norman.


South Florida Sun-Sentinel
After second gunman this year enters a Broward courthouse, sheriff seeks security funding
By Linda Trischitta and Danielle A. Alvarez, Sun Sentinel
8:48 PM EDT, September 28, 2011

FORT LAUDERDALE

After a second incident this year when an armed man entered a Broward County courthouse, the chief judge and the sheriff called for county funding to increase security.

No one was hurt before Francois V. Brown, 39, of Miramar, was arrested Tuesday at the county's south regional courthouse on Hollywood Boulevard.


On Wednesday, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti said he wants $17.2 million from the Broward County Commission to hire and arm deputies in four Broward courthouses and family court.

Read the rest of the article at:


To quote myself from JAABLOG's February 2, 2010 post titled Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me ...
Posted by JAABLOG at 2/2/2010 9:29 PM

2/3/2010 1:40 AM Hallandale Beach Blog wrote:

First, some facts about Tuesday's vote on financing a new Broward County Courthouse, a story that only the Daily Business Review, JAABLOG and I wrote about. Not asking for plaudits, just noting it for historical context.

For those courthouse denizens who animate this blog with their constant contempt of Broward taxpayers thru your comments here, who think that a new Broward County Courthouse is very important, guess what?

The South Florida news media could hardly care less about you. You barely register on their horizon. You are insignificant.

In the days and weeks before the vote, the two daily South Florida newspapers and the four network TV stations sat on their hands and reported nothing about this issue. Neither the Herald or the Sun-Sentinel have mentioned this subject in print or online since last September, when a Guest Op-Ed purported to have been written by Comm. Stacy Ritter was published in the Sun-Sentinel.

Once again, on something very important, South Florida's news media has shown they were sleeping on the job, and let the people down.

Did you EVER see anything last year on TV about the ties that the members of the Lieberman-led Task Force had to the Broward legal establishment, who desperately want a brand new pony?
Preferably, with a brand-new barn and a lifetime supply of feed. On the taxpayer's dime. Nope. There never was one

Watching the coverage Tuesday night at 11 p.m., actually thinking there'd be some interviews -with somebody!- this point was drive home all over again.

At 11:16 p.m. CBS-4's Antonio Mora did a 15-second read without any visuals and said the vote happened "last night," which as we know, is incorrect.
At 11:27 p.m., Local10's Laurie Jennings also did a 15-second read
with archived visuals of yellow tape and leaking ceilings.
There's the press coverage of your shiny new pony.

And why is it that so few usually well-informed people actually know how poorly Lieberman handled the rigged Task Force last year?
I wrote last year on my blog how she and the county administrators didn't follow basic aspects of the state's Sunshine Laws, and instead, tried to fool the public by arranging for the agenda and assorted relevant public docs for the last meeting, which should've been online before the meeting, to be placed online HOURS AFTER the last meeting was already over.

Not that they actually had the final public meeting listed online days before the meeting, since they didn't. Lieberman was the one in charge -the Chair. But the media didn't care -just like now.

Keep up the great work, JAABLOG!

-----------------------------
In case you forget how that vote for taxpayers paying for a new Broward Courthouse went, voting in favor: Ken Keechl, Stacy Ritter, Ilene Lieberman, Al Jones and Diana Wasserman-Rubin.
Voting against: Sue Gunzberger, Lois Wexler and John Rodstrom.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: A Perspectives on Leadership, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; Majority in WSJ reader poll support 2012 run


Reagan Foundation video: A Perspectives on Leadership Forum with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. September 27, 2011, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California.
http://youtu.be/apledlOUVfs

Wall Street Journal
After Christie Speech, the Answer Is Still 'No'
By Jonathan Weisman
September 28, 2011

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivered a muscular plea for national unity in a speech Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan presidential library. Although he and those close to him have said repeatedly he won't run for president, the California appearance nonetheless stoked speculation he would enter the Republican nomination contest.
Read the rest of the article at:

FYI: Wall Street Journal reader's poll as of 2:11 a.m. September 29, 2011
Should New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie run for the Republican presidential nomination?
2108 total votes with 66.4% responding that Gov. Christie should run


Newark Star-Ledger
Gov. Christie speech reactions: Candidates and pundits sound off

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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/

President Reagan Foundation http://www.reaganfoundation.org

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Holding a mirror to R.J. Intindola - May be time soon to publicly open-up on know-it-all ex-HB CM, and reveal 'inconvenient' facts he avoids


Taking a peek thru the rusty wrought-iron fence on S.W. 4th Street, you can catch a glimpse of the Old World Charm that surely must've been old Hallandale Beach City Hall. That computer monitor has been there the ground for at least four years that I know of. It's broken though, perhaps a casualty of the move to the new building over ten years ago. It's only your money! August 21, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

I received this delicious out-of-the-blue tip on Tuesday night about a Facebook posting by former Hallandale Beach City Manager R.J. Intindola.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, Sep 27, 2011
Subject: R.J. Intindola posted on facebook
R.j. Intindola
Keith London, city commissioner for Hallandale Beach, Florida is attempting to hijack the charter review committee. He is a power hungry elected official intent on dwindling down the Council-Manager form of government.


Now I don't do Facebook myself, although there is a widget at the end of each blog post that allows you to post it to your own Facebook page if you want to.

(In case the link above is weak, it's at http://www.facebook.com/people/Rj-Intindola/1435804512 )

Next week it may be time for me to publicly open-up on this guy who had the gall to berate me in emails because I said publicly what anyone paying attention could see -that he was biased.
Biased, that is, in that he thought nearly everything he did was was nearly perfect when he was City Manager of Hallandale Beach.
Hardly.

And by open-up, of course, I mean revealing inconvenient facts he tries to avoid.

You mean R.J. Intindola the know-it-all expert whose brand-new HB City Hall parking lot was a veritable lagoon when it opened, so much so that even the Miami Herald actually did multiple stories about it?
Yes.

The same CM who f-'d up the sale of the old City Hall, a move the city is -typically- STILL paying for public policy-wise, as it wastes away and is a longstanding public nuisance to the neighborhood for over ten years, while generating what exactly?
No jobs, no nothing. Zero.
Yes.

You can see for yourself, even via Google Maps.
The R.J. Intindola that asked to be considered for HB City Manager post-Mike Good last year, and who got very upset that nobody-but-nobody wanted him back?
Yes.

The R.J. Intindola that doesn't even live in Hallandale Beach?
Yes, that R.J. Intindola!

And then there were ALL those self-congratulatory comments of his last year in the reader comments of the The BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes website when Thomas Francis and Bob Norman wrote the truth about what was happening here, wherein HB political commisar Andrew Markoff -who believes in appeasing Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew- sucked-up to him in his comments like a hungry puppy, swallowing everything whole, while generally denouncing Michael Butler, Keith London and myself in particular -and many of you by proxy- as,
essentially, the anti-Christs of HB.

BrowardNewTimes
Absentee City Manager Getting Golden Parachute
By Thomas Francis
June 10, 2010 at 11:12 AM

Somebody needs to hold a mirror to Intindola and shoot some holes -i.e facts- into his Bunyonesque Tall Tales, and if I have the time next week, I'm going to start that process rolling, along with some comments about the true state of the disastrous HB Charter Review Commission that is, as I stated last week, the proverbial HB dog-chasing-its-tail.

Like Mark Antonio, Intindola's great so long as you take his word for it.
Or don't know the true facts.
Just ask him -he'll tell you how wise he is.
Without you even asking...

For the record, on my blog today, I've gone ahead and expanded that email of yesterday with some photos to indicate the degree of sheer obliviousness of current HB City Manager Mark Antonio to yet another issue that has-and-is going on in the very city he's supposed to be managing.
But which he's completely in the dark about!

These weren't even the most telling photos, either, merely the ones that were easiest to find on my computer early this morning of the dozens and dozens I've recorded over the years when Antonio was Mike Good's highly-paid Asst. City Manager, prior to Comm. Bill Julian's typical ass-backwards sabotaging of the City Manager search last summer that taxpayers were already paying for -BEFORE the public could actually meet the short list of candidates- which resulted in Antonio getting the very job that even Mayor Cooper didn't originally want
him to have..
But do you honestly trust Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew to choose a new City Manager that will be any different in substance or tone?
Even with a city election less than six months later that's highly-likely to sweep-out some of the current Crew of sleepwalkers out the door and bring in pro-reform candidates who believe in actually PERFORMING their duties and providing genuine financial accountability and oversight for the city's beleaguered taxpayers and business owners and making sound public policy?
I don't.

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Code Red! Follow-up to my 'red flags' in Draft audit report, troubles in Hallandale Beach; HB City Manager Mark Antonio: Oblivious or Ignorant?

Above, looking northwest at the Hallandale Beach City Hall and Police Dept. HQ, 400 S. Federal Highway,Hallandale Beach, FL.
On this one block alone, there are several examples of graffiti, much of which has been there for YEARS.
Shh-h-h! Don't wake (tell) HB City Manager Mark Antonio. He doesn't know anything about it, despite working in the building since it was opened over ten years ago. August 7, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier
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Code Red! Follow-up to my post re 'red flags' in Draft report -Audit troubles in Hallandale Beach; HB City Manager Mark Antonio: Willfully Oblivious or Ignorant?

Below is an excerpt from an email I sent out Tuesday afternoon to the well-informed citizen taxpayers of Hallandale Beach who strive to be kept abreast of what's really going on in this city, something they don't get from local TV station newscasts or the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel, as they know better than anyone.

Would those entities zero-in on HB City Manager Mark Antonio's glass jaw: his seemingly neverending ignorance of the city he is responsible for managing, a person who, quite literally, CAN'T or WON'T see what is right in front of him?
Nope!
In my email, I didn't use these photos below, which I'm sure if they knew it, would come to the dismay no doubt of HGS, Kadian, Doloe Greys and est, the main graffiti 'authors' you see EVERYWHERE in Hallandale Beach's 4.2 square miles.
It's hard to imagine that they don't laugh everyday as they drive thru town and see their handiwork no matter what part of the city they're in, at HB City Hall and the HB Police Dept.'s laughable half-assed efforts to eliminate it. Meanwhile, the City Manager, Police Chief and Mayor keep their heads buried deep, deep in the sand.
But Hallandale Beach's citizen taxpayers are NOT LAUGHING!

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I've held off writing about the Draft audit report prepared by Marcum Rachlin on my blog until this article came out, which I originally thought was going to be next week.
I did so despite the fact that the Broward Bulldog had used photos I took and have used on my blog without my permission, because the story here about all the troubling 'red flags' in the audit is more important than my personal pique.

Broward Bulldog
Audit report shows missing records and disarray in Hallandale Beach’s redevelopment agency
September 27, 2011 at 6:14 am
By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org

Hallandale Beach has failed to properly track city land acquisitions, developer agreements and loans to businesses, according to a draft of an audit obtained by the Broward Bulldog.

Suspecting there were problems, city officials in August 2010 ordered the audit by an outside firm to review management of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), which handles agency-owned property and provides loans to businesses.

Read the rest of the post at

That said, you all missed an unbelievable HB City Commission meeting last night, the second and final reading of the city's FY 2011-12 budget.

It featured more lies, half-truths and flat-out mis-statements of fact being, uttered on the dais than you usually hear even at a Miami-Dade County or City of Miami meetings, and having gone to plenty of those over the years...

Though I hadn't planned on speaking, once City Manager Mark Antonio said something I knew from experience was untrue about the city's (non-existent) effort to fight graffiti in the city, I got SO upset that I found myself going up and letting him know in no uncertain terms that I was personally insulted by his willful ignorance of self-evident facts that are all around us.
The facts we see everyday living in this city with so much promise but, which stays at unsatisfactory mediocrity, on purpose, because of who runs things at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

I specifically reminded Antonio -and everyone else in the room and watching on TV- that it was common knowledge that there has been graffiti on every single light pole and county/FDOT sign on U.S.-1, on the west side, from in front of Gulfstream Park Race Track down to the Aventura/County Line, including in front of HB City Hall for YEARS.
Including the Entering Broward County sign and the Lawton Chiles sign.

The "Entering Broward County" sign that's also been at the top of this blog since it was created in 2007. (Except I use the clean graffiti-free one of 2007.) Below, the Lawton Chiles Trail sign.
You encounter them on north-bound U.S.-1/Federal Highway as you leave the City of Aventura and Miami-Dade County and begin your cosmic journey thru Broward County by going past Gulfstream Park Race Track and the Village of Gulfstream Park retail center -and lots and lots of graffiti!

Over two years ago, every single street light pole and sign from the Dade County line north to the S.E. 3rd Street entrance of Gulfstream had graffiti on it, with some having multiple 'tags,' including ones directly across from HB City Hall and the Police Dept. Yes, I still have those photos.
As you may've heard, Broward is NOT the Land of Lincoln. August 14, 2011 photos by South Beach Hoosier


I mean I've posted many photos of it on the blog since starting it and have even included it in emails to some of you.
Until last night, I didn't know a single soul who didn't know all about it.
Now I do: HB City Manager Antonio.
He doesn't see the signs in front of his own building.

Despite having worked at HB City Hall since that building was built, Antonio expressed complete surprise that such a thing was true.

I told him and everyone else that all they had to do was walk out the door -you can hardly miss it.

My friends, it's all still there as of 2:30 p.m. today and I will be posting about a dozen, or so hard-to-miss examples of this on the blog this weekend, including some graffiti, on a HB Police car that acts as a scarecrow off U.S-1 that just sits there week-after-week, month-after-month.
(Yet another example of crony capitalism & favoritism?)

Guess what?
You don't have to be a member of an elite DOJ anti-gang task force to know that when people feel completely free to place graffiti on the side of a city police car, knowing that everyone will see it, you are clearly losing the war, in part, because the leaders of the city: City Manager (Mike Good & Antonio) Mayor Cooper, the former and current Police Chiefs, Magill and Fluornoy, are SO oblivious.
Oblivious being the word I used to describe Antonio to his face last night.


Graffiti welcomes you to historic Old Hallandale Beach City Hall on West Dixie Highway & S.W. 3rd Street, Hallandale Beach, FL. This bit of longstanding graffiti is on the east side of the old HB City Hall, which is next to the current HB Fire/Rescue Dept. HQ. Not that you can find a single directional sign in the entire city telling you where THAT is.
That's how they do it here! August 7, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Taking a peek thru the rusty wrought-iron fence you can catch a glimpse of the Old World Charm that surely must've been old Hallandale Beach City Hall. That computer monitor has been there on the ground for at least four years that I know of. It's broken though, perhaps a casualty of the move to the new building over ten years ago. August 21, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier


Because if you aren't oblivious, guess what, then you're knowingly lying to the community, and failing to do your job.
Appeasement and willful ignorance like Antonio's is not a public policy that works, and our current unsatisfactory reality proves that more than anything I can say.
It's right there for everyone to see.

More of what the Rubber Stamp Crew running Hallandale Beach don't see - graffiti on the Mardi Gras casino directional sign on north-bound U.S.-1/Federal Highway, Hallandale Beach, FL. Keep it to yourself, okay? August 21, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Prologue to Hallandale Beach City Comm.'s meeting re FY 2011-12 budget; HB Charter Review Comm. is dog-chasing-its-tail at its worst: SNAFU

Below is an email I wrote early Monday morning to my common sense friend and fellow concerned Hallandale Beach activist Csaba Kulin, with bcc's to the usual collection of about 75 or so well-informed people and news media in Hallandale Beach and Broward County, with not a single fan of Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper among them.
As you know, they're mutually exclusive -well-informed Hallandale Beach citizen taxpayers and supporters of Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew of Ross, Sanders & Lewy.

It largely concerns what passes for normal in Hallandale Beach -SNAFU- some preliminary thoughts of mine on the city's political near-future, and a link to a very useful article on Florida's Sunshine Laws and attorney-client exemptions to it.

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Dear Csaba:

Re your question about Hallandale Beach City Commission's Monday night meeting re, the city's FY 2011-12 budget NOT being on city's website with the appropriate required, agenda info -less than 24 hours before the meeting- see the article below that was, written by Comm. London's appointment to the HB City Attorney Selection Committee.
It's after your original email.

This is the ad the city ran in the Miami Herald a week ago:

HBCC, 2011-09-26, budget 11658641.jpg

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Mark Goldstein is a partner in the Miami law firm of Wolfe & Goldstein, P.A. He practices in the field of local government litigation. Prior to entering private practice Mr. Goldstein served as the city attorney of the City of Hallandale Beach from 2000-2003, and as a senior assistant city attorney for the City of Miami Beach. He received his B.A. from Yeshiva University in New York City and his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law.

In case you forgot, the other members of the HB City Attorney Selection Committee are, hard as it is to believe, Commissioner Lewy – Rachel Alters, Esquire, Commissioner Ross – Bill Julian, Vice-Mayor Sanders – Murvin Wright, Mayor Cooper – Eudyce Steinberg.

Yes, despite everything that he personally did for years to make this city a perennial, laughingstock, and being kicked-out of office last year, Bill Julian is on both this AND the Charter Review Comm., who, as you and I have been discussing for weeks, despite being half-way thru their life cycle, has yet to place a single bit of the information that has been presented to them, the past few months on the city's website, despite City Manager Mark Antonio's specific promise to the community at the very first meeting back in July -where Keith London and I were the only members of the public in the room- that HB taxpayers would be able to see the information and actually be able to follow along.

*Blog readers, see for yourself how pathetic this is:

(That was also my LAST meeting of theirs! They should've taken my suggestion, of meetings every other Saturday 10 a.m.-Noon if they wanted people to, show up in the summer.)

That the CRC foolishly refuses to read your informed letters into the record, even, when you are the ONLY person who has written them, speaks volumes about what a typical HB farce it is.
Some good people got suckered into that.

As you and I and so many others in the city who are interested in reform and genuine financial accountability at HB City Hall have informally discussed for months, I definitely believe that a voter-initiated, signature campaign effort to get pro-reform, pro-taxpayer issues directly before the voters via referendum in the spring -before everyone leaves for the summer- perhaps in conjunction with the recall effort previously discussed by various people -thereby bypassing the Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew on the HB City Commission- makes more and more sense, given how the current dog-chasing-its tail CRC operation in HB is going.

I checked the webpage on the city's website at 1:30 a.m. Monday morning, and you, are 100% correct, Csaba.,

The legally-required required information is NOT there.
Surprise!

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From: Csaba Kulin
Date: Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 10:58 PM
Subject: Agenda for 9/26/2011 CC Meeting.
To: Mark Antonio , Cc: Mayor Joy Cooper , Commissioner Alexander Lewy , Commissioner Keith London ,

Dear Mr. Antonio.
In preparation for tomorrow's CC meeting I was going to read the Agenda and look at the supporting documents. Below is the message I found on my computer when I tried to look at it.
Is it legal to conduct a meeting without proper notification of the public of the Agenda? Please check with your City Attorney?
While you are looking at the City's web site, please look at the sorry state of the Charter Review Commission web site also.
The IS department is asking for about a half a million dollars next year. Do you think we should expect a bit better service?

Sincerely,
Csaba Kulin

We're sorry, but there is not a web page matching your entry.
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Florida Bar Journal
April, 2004,
Shade meetings: overview, pitfalls, and recommended changes
by Mark Goldstein