Hallandale Beach CRA accused of misspending $2.1 Million, Broward County Commission takes no action on audit request.
By Bob Norman, Reporter, bnorman@Local10.com, Published On: Jun 04 2013 05:17:10 PM EDT
Updated On: Jun 05 2013 11:02:28 AM EDT
http://www.local10.com/news/hallandale-beach-cra-accused-of-misspending-21m/-/1717324/20421380/-/mcmla1/-/index.html
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#UNC Hallandale Beach CRA accused of misspending $2.1M: A report by the Broward County Office of Inspector G... bit.ly/17YATUG
— trish galla (@GallaTrish) June 4, 2013
State of the South Florida news media in 2013: A non-reporter is seemingly paying more attention to the biggest ethical scandal in Broward County than CBS4, NBC6, 7News and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Surprise!
* To give you an accurate idea of how badly things are botched at Hallandale Beach City Hall and the city's complete lack of any kind of transparency (or remorse to taxpayers) on this matter, the Broward Inspector General's preliminary and final report about the City of Hallandale Beach CRA -characterized by them as "gross mismanagement"- as well as the city's own response to them, have still NEVER appeared on the city's own website.
Not once.
But because of this Broward County Commission meeting that touched on the scandal, the city's response to the preliminary response IS on Broward County's website, but still NOT on the city's. Really.
Who could make this sort of thing up?
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Lobbyist Judy Stern uses texts to thwart Hallandale CRA investigation florida.mediatrackers.org/2013/06/10/hal… @browardpolitics @browardbulldog @buddynevins
— MediaTrackersFL (@MediaTrackersFL) June 10, 2013
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MediaTrackers Florida
Hallandale Beach Mayor and Controversial Lobbyist Thwart Investigation of Financial Mismanagement
By Tom Lauder
10TH JUN 2013 AT 14:20
Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper and controversial lobbyist Judy Stern joined forces to prevent a Broward County Commission investigation of the misappropriation of funds by the Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). Hallandale Beach residents asked the Broward County Commission for assistance after a Broward County Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigation “identified numerous instances of gross mismanagement that stemmed from institutional deficiencies in the establishment, organization and function of the CRA.”
Read the rest of the post at:
I strongly suggest you check back throughout the day for reader comments at the URL!
Having nothing to do with this very meaty post below, I'll soon be doing a public records request for all 2013 correspondence between HB City Hall and lobbyist Judy Stern, since HB City Hall so completely tried to sandbag me on the Stephen Riemer request, taking well over a month to respond after they'd promised a response within five days.
All of this is a result of my trying to connect-the-dots on the fact that real estate developer Riemer has met several times with City Manager Renee Miller and CRA Director Daniel Rosemond without the city publicly disclosing that as required by state law, or the city's own ordinance that requires a public disclosure within 72 hours.
Instead, the Broward city where the buck rests with Renee Miller took almost three months.
Then, they insulted me by asking me to pay $677.18 for copies of completely extraneous documents that I'd specifically said I didn't want, i.e bury me under paperwork.
Trust me, I can spot the rope-a-dope strategy from a mile away, so I didn't fall for it, but this should be a clear sign to all of you reading this that HB City Hall is once again engaging in their longtime practice of trying to frustrate HB citizens and taxpayers making valid public information requests, and choosing to play hardball with public information that should've been properly disclosed and made public MONTHS AGO.
I found this information from this article re a text message from Judy Stern to Broward County Comm. Tim Ryan to be especially amusing:
"Media Trackers Florida obtained text messages sent by Stern to Ryan’s office on the morning of the Commission meeting. Stern blasted whistleblower Keith London for bringing the item before the County Commission. She wrote, “Keith and his blogs are such twists of the truth.”
Amusing since I'd already contacted Comm. Ryan the week before the meeting and had shared more facts with him connecting-the-dots on this HB scandal than he could probably have known existed.
Plus, until Keith London left a message on my voicemail last weekend, a few days before he and Comm. Michele Lazarow spoke to the entire Commission, I hadn't spoken to him or Michele in-person or by phone in well over two months -March 31st.
But when you're Judy Stern, what are a couple more lies and half-truths to tell after a career of them?
That's who she is.
In any case, it's not a half-truth but rather the complete truth that I'm the person who discovered that Dr. Deborah Brown's little HB group was no longer considered a non-profit by the IRS -because they hadn't filing their Form 990's for years- and that COHB officials were clearly
NOT performing even the most cursory due diligence or double-checking of documents.
Which is exactly what I told the Broward Inspector General's office last year.
AFTER posting it here on the blog first.
As if we didn't already know from their not-so-glittering track record, Judy Stern and Joy Cooper's understanding of the word 'truth" is NOT the same as yours and mine.
A distinction for which you and I are clearly very thankful.
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