Hallandale Beach Blog

Whistleblower's steadfastness, well-timed FOIA requests + WaPo's Lisa Rein = evidence of public safety at risk

2009-11-30T11:38:00.015-05:00

Below is yet another striking example where
FOIA requests and interviews at the right time,

plus some hard, critical questions asked by
someone unwilling to look the other way,
Steve T. Mackey, has lead to evidence of
shortcuts on public safety and plain old
incompetence in a national transportation
plan of consequence, WMATA's proposed
Silver Line.

The eye-opening Lisa Rein article on train
safety referenced below in the WaPo editorial
that ran on Thanksgiving, complete with
diagrams and photos, is at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/21/AR2009112102323.html

Some excellent photos that pinpoint the exact
area under discussion -which is two Metro
stations past where I used to live, and
near a very popular Applebee's in McLean
that my friends and I used to frequent-
are at:
http://www.roadstothefuture.com/WFC_Metro_Station.html

And since it wasn't in the papers down here,
I can tell you that they had a crash there on
Sunday with millions of dollars worth of
damage.

See also:
http://wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1825327 and
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Metro-trains-crash-in-West-Falls-Church-Rail-Yard-8602928.html

And don't overlook the obvious -this is
precisely what a first-class editorial looks like.

Compare and contrast with the shallow LCD
silliness that passes for big-thinking editorials
in South Florida's newspapers, esp. the ones
dealing with immigration policy. Latin America
politics, public corruption or anything having
to do with real estate.
-----------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/25/AR2009112503234.html

Washington Post
Editorial

Supporting evidence
'You don't build bridges without testing.'
Thursday, November 26, 2009

THE MANAGEMENT and contractors involved in building one of the largest public infrastructure projects in the nation -- the $5.2 billion extension of Metro to Dulles International Airport and beyond -- suddenly stand accused of slipshod procedures and casual neglect of critical safety issues.

It's a damning indictment. The senior federal official with direct responsibility for transit has charged the project manager, Washington's airports authority, with submitting an "unresponsive and inadequate" plan to test crucial support structures for a planned bridge that would carry Metro trains over Interstate 66. Other officials with intimate knowledge of the project to build Metro's Silver Line are alarmed that safety tests that should have been obvious and obligatory were neglected or resisted by the contractors, a partnership between civil engineering giants Bechtel and URS. A whistleblower who formerly oversaw construction of the bridge has quit the project. And crucial documents appear to be missing.

These and other serious matters, raised in a report Sunday by The Post's Lisa Rein, have cast a shadow over the 23-mile Silver Line project. They will continue to darken perceptions of it unless they are addressed thoroughly, quickly and with an unstinting focus on safety. To its credit, the airports authority now appears to be doing just that, although it has not laid out its plans in detail.

The root of these concerns is the strength and integrity of a number of existing support structures -- concrete-encased steel pilings driven deep into the ground and each designed to withstand 70 tons -- that are to be used as foundations for the bridge. These foundations, built in 1977 in anticipation of Metro's eventual extension, were all but forgotten until workers came across them two years ago. Project engineers then decided to save money and time by using 11 of them as footings atop which pillars would be built to support the bridge.

It seems plain that the money saved by not having to build these foundations from scratch should be used to test the load-bearing capacity of all the underground pilings -- especially given their age and the apparent disappearance of original construction records. That sort of testing is exactly what Steve T. Mackey, the project's former chief bridge manager, insisted on. Incredibly, Mr. Mackey was overruled by a supervisor, and his attempts to alert the Federal Transit Administration about his concerns were ignored (outrageously) for more than six months; he resigned last year. "I'm old enough to know you don't build bridges without testing," he said.

There are some troubling questions here. One is whether the airports authority, which owns the project and the problem -- and is therefore responsible for a solution -- has the expertise, experience and muscle to manage this project. The authority did little to inspire confidence when, pressed to submit a testing plan by the feds, it merely wrote a cover letter for one submitted by the contractor, known as Dulles Transit Partners. Now the authority says all 11 structures will be tested.

Another question is why Dulles Transit Partners resisted testing every one of the foundations, as appears to have been the case. Was it because of cost, or the risk of disruption to service on the Orange Line or I-66, or because some forms of testing can actually harm the structures?

We make no presumption about the condition of the 11 existing foundations; as far as we know, and based on the limited tests that have been performed, there is no evidence to suggest they are unsafe. We understand that testing all the foundations could temporarily disrupt Orange Line service or require briefly closing part of I-66. It's also possible that tests could trigger cost overruns. What's critical is that the airports authority, as the project manager and owner, comes up with an informed, independent and transparent plan based on the most exacting safety and engineering standards. Nothing short of that will restore the public's confidence in Metro's most ambitious expansion plan to date.

Reader comments at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/21/AR2009112102323_Comments.html

There are a lot of well-educated professionals in
Northern Virginia who believe a tunnel would be
better and cheaper (and faster) for the Tyson's
Corner/Route 7 area than an elevated line,
including many of my friends who have offices
near there.

Their slogan is 'It's not over until it's under."
See http://www.tysonstunnel.org/index2.htm

Exclusive: The 2009 Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys of the Year'

2009-11-29T23:21:00.020-05:00

And the "winners" of the 2009 Hallandale
Beach Blog Turkey of the Year Award are...

Owing to the overwhelming number of worthy
and estimable candidates for Turkey of the Year,
I have been forced to create four categories so
that the various nominees are competing against
like-minded competitors, no matter the levels
of incompetence, laziness, petty malevolence,
general lack of concern for others or general
half-assedness in the performance of their jobs
or in the public service.

One group of nominees is being considered for
their performances in Broward County,
including Hallandale Beach and Hollywood,
yet another for South Florida outside of Broward
County, a third for the Sunshine State, and one
for the 57 States of Barack Obama's America.

Friends, I hardly need tell you that the nominees
were all deserving in their own particular ways,
and it's a damn shame they can't all "win,"
but some hard decisions needed to be rendered
by yours truly, as some nominees just proved
more outrageously egregious than others.

You know what I always say, you have to give
people their due when they go above-and-beyond.

That's why I've spent so much time over at
the Panera Bread on Hallandale Beach Blvd.
the past two weeks, carefully going over these
decisions in between sips of Hazelnut coffee
and bites of Asiago Cheese bagels, deciding
which parties made the cut and which ones
didn't.

Over the next week, here on the blog, I'll list
ALL the nominees in the four categories and what
some of them 'brought to the table' this past year
to make them worthy of my consideration here
-and your attention- since in some cases,
their performances might otherwise be completely
unknown to you.

God forbid that you don't discover what they've
said or done before the year is up.

Plus, I suspect you'll now have a better means
of understanding and appreciating how the
'winners' accomplished their feats.

Trust me, in most cases, you'll be glad to know,
so that you will have a more fully-shaped picture
in your own mind of some of these people,
organizations and institutions.

In each category, when possible, I will attempt
to demonstrate thru photos or video how they
came to make the list.

I should also mention that for reasons that will
be made abundantly clear over the next few weeks
and months, there are certain individuals whose
personal and professional behavior, conduct and
words while performing their duties are so
egregious and harmful to the public good
and contrary to law that I will not mention the
specifics here now, preferring instead to share
them with you in the future after I have completely
finished making my formal written complaints
to the appropriate State and County officials
and law enforcement organizations in Tallahassee
and closer to home.

At that time, you will come to know the true
character or rather the lack of it in certain
people that you think you already know,
and I can tell you with certainty that you will
NOT like what they've been saying and doing
behind your back, in many cases, for years.

So, with all that said, here are the four 'winners'
of the 2009 Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys
of the Year'

a.) The 57 states of Barack Obama:
The Mainstream Media, MSM.

b,) The Sunshine State of Florida:
Florida Secretary of Transportation Stephanie
Kopelousos.

c.) The Hegemonic People's Republic of South
Florida: The Miami Herald

d.) The Corrupt and Crony-driven Duchy
of Broward County: Hallandale Beach DPW
Director John Chidsey.

The John Chidsey experiment in the City
of Hallandale Beach is a complete and utter
failure for the citizen taxpayers, residents
and business owners of this city.
He needs to go -NOW!

Once again, sports reporters eager to avoid angering Tiger Woods and becoming 'Persona non Tiger'

2009-11-28T17:35:00.047-05:00

My comments follow this latest update from TMZ.
-----------
TMZ.com
Tiger Woods Cornered -- Turns Cops Away

Posted Nov 28th 2009 5:09PM by TMZ Staff

http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/28/tiger-woods-elin-nordegren-florida-highway-patrol/

-----------
Well, what do you know?
Maybe ESPN's Sunday morning edition of
The Sports Reporters will actually be
interesting and relevant for the first time in
what seems like ages, as the Usual Suspects
of sports sages weigh-in, gingerly, on what's
happened the past few days on the golf icon
and guaranteed moneymaker named
Tiger Woods.

Personally, though I know it will never
happen, I'd love to hear them be
straight-shooters for a change and publicly
call-out their more spine-less and craven
colleagues in the sports and marketing
industry, esp. at the TV networks, who
walk on eggshells when speaking about
Tiger Woods, someone whom I've yet
to ever hear an original and thoughtful
comment from, just like fellow Nike
spokesperson Michael Jordan,
even though he has the benefit of a
Stanford education.

(Not that a Stanford education really did devout
Oriole fans like me any good in the '90's while
Mike Mussina was pitching for the Orioles,
despite how frequently it got brought-up during
ballgame broadcasts, much to our consternation.

A lot of my friends and I still blame Mussina for
not winning Game 3 of the 1996 ALCS against
the Yankees at Camden Yards -I was there-
blowing a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning, with a
dominating David Wells slated to pitch for the
Orioles the next day, which could've plausibly
created a 3-1 Oriole series lead.

His choking performance prevented the Orioles
from getting to the World Series and beating
the Atlanta Braves, when the O's were clearly
the best-balanced team in baseball that year
-despite being the AL Wild Card team- having
thoroughly annihilated the Braves in Atlanta
during an intra-league weekend series.)

Which is fine, of course, since Woods
doesn't have to be interesting off the course,
or even take a public stand about any issues
he privately cares about, as long as he keeps
winning.
But it would be nice if he would...

How interesting would it be if he declared
publicly in the near-future that, as a matter
of fact, he's greatly troubled by the whole
'immigration reform' racket in this country,
including the basic concepts behind the
so-called "Dream Act."

That he was particularly dismayed at the
overwhelmingly sympathetic and one-sided
way the American news media have
portrayed the debate, having been played,
hook, line and sinker, by someone like
Cheryl Little of the Florida Immigrant
Advocacy Center,
http://www.fiacfla.org/staff.php#1
who seems to promise access to her clients
in exchange for favorable media coverage.

(So where are the on-camera questions
about -or interviews with- the parents
who came here illegally or who knowingly
broke the law and have successfully
avoided deportation for YEARS?
Not on camera, that's for sure because
that'd be off -message, don't ya know.
So who's the most recent example I've
seen of a local Miami TV reporter playing
Cheryl Little's game of Show-and-Tell?
CBS4's David Sutta, who did one on
Nov. 20th after CBS4 did a story the
previous day on the same kids attending
Miami-Dade College.
"Reyes Bros. Freed After Immigration
Struggle."
http://cbs4.com/video/?id=86995@wfor.dayport.com)

If Woods actually said that he thinks this sort
of upside-down proposal penalizes hard-working
foreigners who have followed the proscribed
rules and laws we've insisted they follow, and
patiently bided their time waiting anxiously for
legal admittance, while others have come to
this country either illegally, or intentionally
overstayed their visas, and now want to create
a cause célèbre just because their kids aren't
dopes and actually paid attention in American
schools, just imagine what people would be
saying?

It'll never happen, of course, but...
Personally, I suspect this latest incident in
Orlando, whatever the true facts, will only
show once gain the full extent to which the
news media, in this case, well-known sports
reporters and columnists -like certain
well-known political reporters and
columnists last year were (and remain)
completely in the tank for Obama-
have drunk the Tiger Woods marketing
Kool-Aid, and have deluded themselves
into thinking that , a la O.J., that they
'really know him.'

They don't.
They just think they do.

What those particular reporters fear most
is losing access to him and his tightly-knit
entourage and being put permanently on
his "No comment" list.
That's the same thing as excommunication,
since it will quickly become known throughout
the industry.
And they will be labeled 'Persona non Tiger.'

Hollywood and Hallandale Beach parents aren't feeling love for Notter and Broward Schools; Where's Bob Butterworth?

2009-11-27T13:54:00.027-05:00

My comments follow the article.

------------------
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/fl-school-consolidation-20091126,0,2973432.story

Broward school merger proposal upsets parents, officials in east

By Akilah Johnson and Jennifer Gollan, Sun Sentinel

November 26, 2009

Faced with the possibility that their underenrolled schools may be merged, some parents and officials in the eastern part of the county are warning the Broward School District to tread lightly.

There could be a minor rebellion among students upset over being moved, said Thomas Douglas, president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at Boyd Anderson High School in Lauderdale Lakes.

"There can be some separation anxiety and the implications are some of these young people will decide that it is not even worth attending school," he said. "It is basically a no-win situation."

The district projects as many as 33,000 empty desks in the 2013-14 school year, most in the eastern part of the county. As long as there are empty seats, the state won't allow the district to add classrooms or build new schools in the crowded west.

In response, the district is pushing a plan to measure classroom space by using eight geographic regions rather than individuals schools. The county and its cities must agree to the change. So far, Davie, Dania Beach and Cooper City voted to approve the measure. Lauderdale Lakes and Pompano Beach voted against it.

But that plan doesn't address underenrolled schools, and schools Superintendent James Notter is proposing that some elementary schools be consolidated, others could morph into kindergarten through eighth-grade schools or unused wings may be converted into office space for district administrators.

Notter explained that the district's leases on office space in Sunrise and Fort Lauderdale will soon expire and consolidating some underenrolled campuses helps with both money and boundary issues.

In the coming year, only Pioneer Middle School in Cooper City is scheduled to see significant boundary changes but district maps show scenarios in which thousands of students are moved out of overcrowded western schools into less-crowded schools starting in the 2011-2012 school year.

Hollywood Commissioner Richard Blattner said Notter's recommendation is reasonable. "If it means that older schools are closed and it reduces expenses that taxpayers have, it should be done," he said.

But Kristina Brazil, whose children attend Plantation Middle School, questions its merits.

"So…we move these kids out and put [administrators] in and it's a win, win?" she said. "The stance has been 'what's the most important thing for kids?' That doesn't sound like that's what they're doing."

Notter and School Board Chairwoman Jennifer Gottlieb stressed the board has not approved anything yet.

"There are too many unanswered questions," Gottlieb said this week. "We need to know where the kids are going to go; the impact on communities."

Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper said the proposal to change how class space is measured benefits western communities and the district, which won't have to anger parents by changing boundaries. It does little to address the needs of communities with underenrolled schools, she said.

"If there is crowding in one place in the county and the mechanism is in place to fill those seats through boundary changes, I cannot sit idly by because of the lack of will," Cooper said. "Other cities, particularly those in eastern communities…should be concerned."

Longtime Pompano Beach community activist Ernestine Price vowed to rally against any proposal that might mean eastern schools will close. Price helped found the grassroots group that sued the district in 1995 for neglecting to provide older schools in eastern Broward with the same facilities, programs and quality teachers as newer schools out west.

The thought of consolidating underenrolled schools leaves her resentful and heartbroken, she said. But, it compels her to keep advocating against disparities.

"You have a Broward County School District, and when schools were being opened out west they bused these kids," she fumed. "And now the schools are overcrowded and they don't want to bus anyone to the east. I don't know how anybody can fix their mouth and say that."

Parents and officials in western cities fear that if the proposed change doesn't pass, thousands of students countywide will be moved in a domino effect.

Cooper City Mayor Debby Eisinger has been avid supporter of the proposal and said the intent was never to sacrifice some schools for the benefit of others. The resolution, she acknowledged, may need to be modified to include "some protection for underenrolled schools."

"It should not be an east/west fight," she said. "Let's work together to continue to provide a quality public school education for the children throughout Broward County."

Reader comments at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/fl-school-consolidation-20091126,0,3841345,comment-display-all.story

-----------
Seventy per cent of this article from yesterday is the
same as the Sun-Sentinel article from Saturday
that I sent many of you.

Since I returned to South Florida in mid-October of
2003, Mayor Cooper and the Hallandale Beach City
Commission have never held a single city-wide forum
on the sad state of education in this city, nor has she
has a single meeting of the City Commission that dealt
with it in a serious way.

And in the year since she was elected, we know that
Cooper has also never asked our MIA School Board
member Ann Murray to speak at any city function
to explain what, if anything, she's doing.
Why not?

And lest you forget, Hallandale High School also
serves kids from Hollywood, whose parents surely
must wonder what it takes for HB City Hall to get
off their butt and actually get more involved in changing
the mix of options for kids in the HB/Hollywood area.

To say nothing of the new residents of Hallandale
Beach with kids who are now moving into
developments on A1A like The Beach Club.
Who exactly is looking after their best interests?

People who make the sort of financial investment in
a place like they have will simply not accept half-assed
explanations from elected officials like Cooper and
Murray for why schools are so bad in the area,
and why they seem to have been mere spectators
while it all happened.

So when is Mayor Cooper and the HB City
Commission going to convene a city-wide meeting
on the state of education in this area, one with
Ann Murray present and accounted for,
so that people can have their legitimate concerns
aired and maybe even addressed?

A few months ago, showing what happens when
you have a person in charge who keeps their eyes
and ears open and responds in a constructive and
forthright fashion, Mayor Bober and the Hollywood
City Commission had an interesting meeting that
discussed the pluses and minuses of the city pursuing
an application for a city-run Charter school.

It was very informative and anyone who had an
opinion on the proposal or schools in Hollywood
or Broward in general, got their chance to put in
their two cents and sound-off.

Why is that SO difficult to replicate here in
Hallandale Beach?
Not the Charter School part, simply having the
public meeting?

To me, the one thing that became really apparent
as one parent after another spoke was the full extent
to which the Middle Schools are perceived as a
huge problem for the greater area.

Parents and citizens are VERY disturbed at what
they see and what they hear, and their perceptions
that mediocrity and sub-standard performance is
becoming the accepted norm, no matter what the
Broward School Board and Supt. Notter insists.

There was much discussion of the negative effect
of the Middle Schools in this area on attracting
families to the area, with many Realtors -and
'amateur' real estate experts- speaking to
the fact that they knew or had met people who
had decided to locate elsewhere.

It was also mentioned that as much as people
may prefer not to acknowledge it, many people
already living here were contemplating moving
elsewhere for the very same reasons.

Blame the reality or blame the perception,
but in the end, it's all the same thing if everyone
thinks it's bad.

Again, to repeat myself, since I returned to South
Florida six years ago from Arlington County, VA,
a place that is, if anything, perhaps, a little TOO
concerned with education, the city has never held
a single meeting on education.

One that, in my opinion, optimally, ought to be held
on a Saturday morning over at the HB Cultural Center
starting around 10:30 a.m., so that kids can be there,
too, with at least one parent or guardian.

You simply won't get the same kind of turnout if you
hold it at night, and we all know that, so how about
some common sense coming into play for a change?

And maybe, for once, the city actually putting up
legible signs advertising the meeting at least ten days
in advance in appropriate places throughout the city,
including near schools, rather than the typical way
that everything gets done here: half-assed.

Just wondering: when are we going to get our chance
to speak to the hydra-headed PR squad selected
by Supt. Notter to reassure Broward taxpayers
and parents that the whole Broward School Board
shouldn't just be blindfolded and tossed overboard?

Or as Michael Mayo wrote in his interesting
Nov. 1st Sun-Sentinel column about FP&L
and Notter both turning to Bob Butterworth
to lend some assistance,
In Sticky Situations, Just Add Mr. Butterworth
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-butterworth-mayocol-b103009,0,2880202.column
a " volunteer three-member panel to explore
the school district's recent troubles."

Since Mayo's column ran three-and-a-half weeks
ago, have you read or seen even one article or
segment on local TV about actual Broward citizens
getting a chance to speak to them, in either private
or public?

I haven't, and I've been actively looking for news
stories spelling out what they were actually doing.

There's been nothing reported for over three weeks
in either the Herald or Sun-Sentinel in the form of
an actual article, and my recollection was that they
were only going to be in operation for 90 days or so.
What gives?

Coming Sunday: The Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys of the Year'

2009-11-26T20:27:00.008-05:00

The turkey balloon at the Publix on Hallandale
Beach Boulevard.
November 24, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Owing to the prospect of so many truly deserving
nominees, I've had to create multiple categories.
It's NOT just the usual suspects!

Now you'll see how my keen powers of observation
will pay dividends.

Now you know what those lists I've been creating
over at Panera Bread the past few weekends were
all about.

Deciding who's been naughty and who's been creepy.

By the way, if you can believe this, owing to their
efforts to cut costs, the corporate honchos at Panera
Bread have decided that they will no longer lay out
a carpet inside the front door on rainy days to prevent
customers from falling on their butts.

That's what it's come to under the first year
of the Obama Economy.
Saving pennies despite the obvious liability angle.

In Which the Florida Panthers Change Their Stripes to Appeal to Moms out in Weston; Lafleur et les Habs

2009-11-26T14:39:00.045-05:00

In Which the Florida Panthers Change Their Stripes
-to appeal to Moms out in Weston

Whose young kids bought this jersey for her because
they got talked into it by the twenty-something guy
who works at the sports store at the Sawgrass Mall,
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/economy/story/1352273.html
who wanted to move some inventory before Christmas,
and saw that the kids were gullible.

So now, for a few months at least, she'll wear it
when she goes to the Mall or picks them up after
practice, just so her kids don't know that she
really doesn't like it.

After all, whoever heard of a cat without whiskers?
http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/florida-panther.html

Then it goes into the closet for a few years!

So, when did Hawaii get an NHL team? LOL!

Just when you thought there was no other way
left for the woe-begone, star-crossed
Florida Panthers to ruin a great sport...
http://panthers.nhl.com/index.html

They show three varieties of the Reebok
third jersey on their website, ranging from
$114-299.
http://shop.nhl.com/family/index.jsp?fbc=1&f=PAD%2FProduct+Type%2FJerseys&categoryId=3253864&fbn=Product+Type|Jerseys&view=all
----------
The Business of Sports blog
http://blogs.trb.com/sports/custom/business/blog/2009/11/florida_panthers_new_jersey_ji.html

Florida Panthers' new jersey; Jimmie Johnson's legend grows;
Ray Lewis' Hurricanes' Fatheads
by Sarah Talalay
November 25, 2009
-----------
Uni Watch blog -
"The Obsessive Study of Athletics Aesthetics"
http://www.uniwatchblog.com/2009/11/23/in-which-the-panthers-change-their-stripes/
In Which the Panthers Change Their Stripes
by Paul Lukas
November 23, 2009
---------------
See also: Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.net
at http://www.sportslogos.net/
A trip down memory lane in a virtual museum
dedicated to the history of sports logos and
sports uniforms.

The Panthers page there is at: http://www.sportslogos.net/team.php?id=13
----------
See also my 2007 post on hockey and growing-up
in North Miami Beach as a fan of the
Montréal Canadiens at my other blog,
South Beach Hoosier.
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/07/john-edwards-model-behavior-on-cover-of.html

If you're not already familiar with it, a really
great hockey blog, with a Montréal Canadiens
orientation is called, not surprisingly,
HabsEyesOnThe Prize.com

It's written with a lot of insight and understanding
in the ways of the Canadiens and their fans,
who while not "long-suffering" like Cubs and
Red Sox fans, still have an obvious anxious gene
that is not found in quite so many of the devout
fans of other sports teams, and NHL teams in
particular.

It's sort of like how Dolphin fans like me felt in
'75 and '76, wondering what had happened to
the methodical planning and execution they'd
become used to, suddenly seeing -more often
than not- other teams doing that, namely
the Steelers and Raiders, and seeing something
unrecognizable in the aqua, orange and white
Dolphins: road losses to the Oilers and late
collapses against so-so teams that you're used
to beating nine times out of ten.

That's when the anxious gene really
kicks in!

The blog also consistently has great photos and
illustrations, and really speaks to someone who
knows the history of the NHL and the Habs
in particular.

http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/

In fact, today's post concerns Number Ten,
25 Years Ago Today: The Surprise Retirement Of Guy Lafleur
http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2009/11/26/1174682/25-years-ago-today-the-surprise

When I close my eyes, just like I can for the
Dolphins and Orioles of that era, I can still
name those players from the late '70's.
Their names, their numbers, their ingrained
habits and quirks and favorite moves on the
ice and the way they played with flair and grace.
Now THAT was a team for the ages.

Je me souviens.

Ilene Lieberman, churlish chronic, self-interested obstructionist to common sense and ethics

2009-11-25T15:10:00.025-05:00

Wednesday November 25th, 2009

Once again, below, clear evidence that Comm. Ilene
Lieberman is playing her by now familiar role.
Not the role of pragmatic idealist, not the role of
reasonable compromise, but the role of obstructionist.

She waited until after the county Charter Review
Commission made their recs last year before deciding
to offer up a measure that the County Auditor
-whom I have no quibble with- ought to be required
to makes financial estimates of the prospective costs
of ballot initiatives and referendums, and that such info
appear on the ballot.

There are lots of well-informed people in Broward
who are in complete agreement with me that
Comm. Lieberman came up with the proposal that
became an ordinance, at least in in part,to sink the
idea of having an independent, advisory MTA in
this area that could start making positive suggestions
based on what the public and transportation-users
think, not what box the county wants to put people in.

And by an advisory MTA, I mean one that was
composed of real taxpayers and which paid
proper heed to citizens, and which was NOT
the puppet play-thing of the County Commission
and their faceless bureaucratic MPO system,
which few citizens know about or understand.

That MPO system, while not without some smart
and well-meaning people, many of whom I've met,
is great in the abstract, but the reality is that it's
also the refuge of many bureaucratic drones who
give taxpayers and bus riders the back of their
hand, like they're laboratory rats.
Employees I'd like to see axed, toute-de-suite.

It's the last refuge of the dim-witted Joy Coopers
of the world, who say that everything should be
done thru MPO as a way of avoiding true
accountability, even while keeping parochial pols
in charge, due in large part to the pervasive influence
of the Broward League of Cities, which is too
great in my opinion.

For simple proof of this, go to the Minutes of the
last public Charter Review Commission meeting,
April 9, 2008, 1 p.m.
http://www.broward.org/charter/pdf/crc_ph_agenda_04092009.pdf

Start at the public comments on page 6 and watch
what happens when Joy Cooper is asked a series
of very reasonable questions by CRC members
Ted Mena and Michael C. Buckner.
It speaks for itself.

In the year 2009, citizens don't want to take a
seat in the back of the bus while imbeciles like
Joy Cooper do the driving -off the cliff.

(The woman who at the formal presentation
and Commission vote on the city's over-due,
over-budget Transportation Master Plan,
at the HB Cultural Center, was too dumb
to ever ask the city's consultants whether
or not the city's own mini-bus drivers were
ever interviewed for input; they weren't.

Right, ignore your own employees who are
best-positioned to speak to traffic issues
and patterns and take the word of consultants
who do their research based on city traffic
patterns during the slowest part of the year.
That's her enlightened management style
which has so coarsened public sentiment
and common sense here.

In case you forgot, that's the meeting that
Comm. Anthony A. Sanders never attended
and subsequently never gave an explanation
for missing.
Yeah, because traffic isn't really much
of a concern here.

About what you'd expect from a city like
Hallandale Beach that is so poorly-run and
with so little apparent awareness of how
very poorly it is regarded in South Florida,
that when it came time to host BCTA chief
Chris Walton for one of his frequent visits
throughout the county, that he was given
the HB Cultural center at the SAME TIME
as a HB City Commission meeting.
Really.
SNAFU!)

As if, somehow, Broward taxpayers would suddenly
forget everything they knew and had experienced in
the recent past and would suddenly accept govt.
estimates on construction costs -and Broward's
in particular as reliable- and use that factoid
as a deciding factor in deciding an issue.

See also:

When that move of Lieberman's later seemed
to be a real impediment when the Broward
County Commission wanted to do something
to help fast-track a new county Courthouse,
in part because that would have to appear
on the ballot if a bond issue, along with that
estimate she insisted upon, Lieberman
appointed herself to the county's Courthouse
Taskforce, and was promptly made Chair,
giving her two chances to bite the apple
and affect this important decision, not just one.
Right, because she has no obvious conflicts.

You read about that decision where in
the South Florida media, exactly?
Right, it never came up.

As to the Ethics Commission. simply do what
Charlotte Greenbarg suggested, as quoted
by Scott Wyman in his very good Sun-Sentinel
article of September 10th:
Broward ethics panel plans sweeping reforms

"My ideal would be something very simple -- don't ask and don't take,"
said Charlotte Greenbarg, president of the Broward Coalition, an
umbrella group representing area homeowner and condo associations.
"They shouldn't ask for anything and they shouldn't take anything.

Who could argue with that?
So easy that even a Broward County
commissioner could remember it,

Lieberman did a poor job as Chair in the view
of many who were closely following the actions
of Taskforce members, many of whom seemed
to have conflicts of interest of the sort that in a
more enlightened community with higher standards,
would cause them to have never passed muster
in the first place.

Not that they were bad people, simply that their
own experience and personal and professional
relationships with certain people was of a sort
that would tend to cause them to not be objective
as to the basic question of whether a new
Courthouse was, in fact, needed.

As opposed to having the existing one modified
and expanded, using some artistic creativity and
making it far safer, more energy-efficient,
technology-based and taxpayer/citizen-friendly,
NOT lawyer/judge-friendly.

Some outside-the-box thinking was required,
but as usual, that kind of thinking was shown
the door.

Quick, name the Taskforce member who was
appointed specifically to represent the average
county taxpayer?
There wasn't one.

As you know from my previous posts,

Lieberman did NOT properly update Taskforce
meeting information on the county website, and
under her leadership, they actually had the gall
to place agendas, past Minutes and other
pertinent material on the county website hours
AFTER their last public meeting, not prior
to that meeting.

So, where did you read about that in the
South Florida media, exactly?
Right, it never came up.

And all of a sudden, word started emerging in
the usual places that the County Commission
was going to try to finesse this project instead,
so that it won't ever have to appear on the ballot
for taxpayers to give their informed consent,
because it's abundantly clear that Broward
taxpayers are NOT in favor of building a new
Broward Courthouse.
Period.

Ilene Lieberman, churlish chronic,
self-interested obstructionist to common sense.
---------
This is part of an email that was forwarded to me.
I've deleted some blank space to make it more
compact.and easier to read:

From: Cepero, Monica
Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 1:13 PM
To: 'Alfreda Coward'; 'Carl Shechter'; 'Comm. Carl Shechter'; 'Felicia M. Brunson'; 'Howard Bakalar'; Jardine, Arlene; 'Julie Lakosky'; 'Kenneth Fink'; Leu, Leah; Cepero, Monica; 'Neal de Jesus'; Robert Wolfe; 'Robin Rorapaugh'; Russo, Jean; Seff, Bradley; Teitler, Robert; 'Washington Collado'; 'William Scherer'
Subject: Broward County Ethics Commission verbatim minutes

Attached are the verbatim minutes from the last Ethics Commission meeting. The summary minutes will be forthcoming next week.

Have a nice weekend,

Monica

Monica M. Cepero

Assistant to the County Administrator

115 South Andrews Avenue, Room 409

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301

Well, it's now 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday Nov. 25th.
the day before Thanksgiving, with county
employees off on Friday.
I just went to the Broward County Ethics Commission
homepage at:
http://www.broward.org/ethicscommission/welcome.htm

As you can see for yourself, the Minutes for the
November 12th Ethics meeting are not there now,
two weeks later.

Trust me, based on what the verbatim Minutes
say, when you actually see the Minutes in print,
you will be very, very angry.
The next meeting of the Broward County Ethics
Commission is Monday December 9th, from
9-11:30 a.m.
---------
Broward Beat

Sources: County Commissioners Trying To Block Ethics Rules
By Buddy Nevins

Some Broward County commissioners are apoplectic over what’s happening at the Ethics Commission.

And it is causing them to act, well, downright unethical.

Some County Commissioners are accused by sources of applying pressure to reign in the ethics group. The group was created by voters to draft new ethics rules for the county.

“We’re having trouble and it’s coming from the Fourth Floor,” said one ethics commission member.

The Fourth Floor of the Government Center is where commissioners are cloistered behind two sets of receptionists.

See the rest of the story at:
http://www.browardbeat.com/sources-county-commissioners-trying-to-block-ethics-rules/

Politics, Ice Coolers and Fighter Jets on the Beach: 2010 Air Lauderdale Beach Fest

2009-11-23T01:10:00.029-05:00

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Broward Politics blog
Air Lauderdale leader proposes political booths, responds to criticisms
by Brittany Wallman
November 17, 2009 06:06 PM

Among the offerings planned at the April 24-25 Air Lauderdale Beach Fest is a political area, where candidates can set up tables to reach out to voters, said Stan Smith of Air Lauderdale.

He noted that 2010 is a big election year, and thought candidates would want to take advantage of the opportunity to reach thousands of South Floridians.

Smith responded a moment ago to early criticisms of his plans to charge a gate fee for the festival area, and to ban coolers in the gated festival area

Read the rest of the post at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/11/air_lauderdale_leader_proposes.html
-----------
The National Mall in Washington, D.C., belongs to all Americans, but for years, despite the fact that many events like the Fourth of July or Memorial Day Concerts/Fireworks were pretty much all-day family events, for which people arrived in the morning with all their stuff, the National Park Service banned coolers within The Mall area and, eventually, the consumption of alcohol as well. http://www.nps.gov/mall/index.htm

Video of The National Mall plan http://www.nps.gov/nationalmallplan/Timelapse.html

There were predictable outcries against the change of policy, especially from suburban families that for years had used the Metro system to get to and from the Mall quickly and cheaply.
With their ice coolers full of sandwiches and cold soft drinks and beer.

These changes produced rather predictable bad results in the view of most Washingtonians, and combined with what most thought were the high prices charged by officially-licensed vendors, only further hastened the ruination of what had been one of the few traditions -besides the Redskins- that united all the myriad racial and cultural demographics of Greater Washington.

I pretty much attended both events every year for over ten years, and for me, they always represented one of the highlights of the year, especially if out-of-town family or friends were attending with me.

Sitting on the lawn off the steps of the west side of the U.S. Capitol, they'd often get a kick out of the fact that there were so many people there they recognized from TV or newspapers, like Senators or Congressmen, or even Hill or media folks whom I knew and had might've mentioned in passing over the telephone at some point, who'd come by and say hello, often with their spouses and kids.

It was very affirming and a reminder that for certain days at least, everyone in Washington, regardless of their political opinions or policy prescriptions, had the same two goals: good weather and a good show!

Given the NPS changes and the impediments placed in their way, rather quickly, less and less people wanted to attend the events in person, and more resorted to simply watching them on PBS, as I do while I'm down here.

Sort of like South Florida's traditional apathetic sports fans.
Except that last time I checked, all the teams in the area still serve alcohol, no?

The $5 for access to a special area discussed above seems reasonable enough, since you don't have to go there if you chose not to, but overall, they only have one year to prove themselves.

Any out-of-the-ordinary screw-ups or rip-offs will kill what some think is a golden goose.

As I've mentioned here before, The Mall is also where my coed Capitol Hill softball team played in the early Nineties, when I was an outfielder for the National Democratic Club's DNG squad, Democrats of a New Generation. http://www.natdemclub.org/

The NDC was located right next to the Democratic National Committee HQ on Ivy Street, where many of us had reason to be fairly often, though it wasn't the safest neighborhood at night.

The NDC is also where I watched the the Dan Quayle-Lloyd Bentsen VP debate in 1988, with a few dozen friends and colleagues who left in a better mood than we arrived with. Though we played all over The Mall, usually, we were fortunate and played on an area either near the Smithsonian Castle or its Carousel, or in the field just south of the West Building of the National Gallery of Art.

Places with lots of people nearby so we could could get in our fair share of people-watching in between innings and at-bats.
And the people-watching was always very good, too.

See also:
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/03/good_national_mall_ideas_from_nps.php
and The National Coalition to Save Our Mall
http://www.savethemall.org/

Exciting match expected today when Terps play Tar Heels for NCAA D1 Field Hockey title

2009-11-22T02:33:00.039-05:00

At Noon on Sunday I'm watching the NCAA
D1 Field Hockey championship match on
CBSC -CBS College Sports, DirecTV 613-
between undefeated, # 1 and defending champion
Maryland and #3 19-2 North Carolina in what
looks to be a really exciting match from Winston-Salem.

http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-fieldh/ncaa-w-fieldh-body.html

http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/2009/ncaa_bracket_DI_field_hockey.html

http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-fieldh/champpage/w-fieldh-div1-index.html

http://wakeforestsports.cstv.com/sports/w-fieldh/spec-rel/09-wake-fieldh-final-four.html

In my opinion, the handful of matches televised
this past season on The BigTen Network were
much better than in the past, though Michigan
State naturally got the lion's share of the games,
befitting their national reputation and consistent
Top 15 ranking.

Last year's Big Ten tourney in Bloomington
was played under some cold, wet and windy
conditions on the field just off of 17th Street
between Fee Lane and N. Jordan.
The weather sometimes seemed to affect play,
which is always a possibility in early November
in Bloomington.

This year's tourney up in East Lansing,
thankfully, seemed blessed with much nicer
weather that allowed all the teams to flash
their skills.

I was very pleased to see IU make it to
the finals against the Spartans on Nov. 8th,
and to be able to watch the match from
beginning to end.

Though they ultimately lost 3-2 to an
excellent Spartan squad, whom I knew
fairly well from watching their earlier matches
on TV over the past few months,
the closeness of the match and the
gritty spirit and character the Hoosiers
displayed in hanging-tough with a top
national team on the road, clearly
demonstrated to all who are paying
close attention to the sport, that IU's
growing positive national reputation
is well-deserved.

Kudos to Hoosier Head Coach
Amy Robertson and her assistants
for getting the most out of the team
and making it to the NCAA Sweet 16
this year, before losing to a tough
Wake Forest squad, which is always
well-coached and full of very talented
international players.
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/w-fieldh/ind-w-fieldh-body.html

Efforts like those will only increase the
positive word-of-mouth about the
Hoosier's FH program's upward direction
and increase the flow of high-quality
recruits from field hockey hot-spots
on the East Coast and in the Midwest
to Bloomington.

Not that it wouldn't be great to get
some silly-talented girls from
The Netherlands or Great Britain,
though!
http://www.knhb.nl/

Thru fortuitous timing, that same day,
I was also able to watch the ACC
tourney final and watch the Terps
stage an amazing comeback in
overtime against a scrappy and
ultimately somewhat heart-broken
#2 UVA squad at Charlottesville,
one of my favorite places.
http://www.virginiasports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17800&SPID=10593&SPSID=92022

The talented Cavaliers regrouped
and later eliminated Michigan State
from the NCAA tourney 3-2 and
made it to the Final Four where they
lost 3-2 on Friday to UNC .
http://www.ncaa.com/splash/2009fhockeysplash.htmldefault.aspx?id=188

The sheer talent and ability of the
Terps in that game demonstrated
once again that no matter what the
score is, no matter how well you're
playing, you can NEVER EVER
take your foot off the accelerator
when you play Maryland.

They will not quit, no matter how
close to the end of the match it gets.
They are relentless!

The Terps tradition of winning NCAA
titles and playing tough matches even
when they are not at their best, is a
valuable lesson that ought to be more
widely-known and appreciated than it
currently is.
http://www.umterps.com/sports/w-fieldh/archive/090809aab.html
http://www.umterps.com/sports/w-fieldh/md-w-fieldh-body-main.html
http://www.umterps.com/view.gal?id=58544

I like them to win 4-2 over a talented
Tar Heels squad.
http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/w-fieldh/unc-w-fieldh-body.html

The $50k Rothstein 'hot potato' check burning a hole in Steve Geller's CCE, Floridians for a Stronger Tomorrow

2009-11-21T03:47:00.013-05:00

Above, photo I snapped of Steve Geller,

characteristically, deflecting personal responsibility
for the 2008 Primary debacle, despite all the

evidence to the contrary, being interviewed
by CBS4's Michael Williams in front of
Hallandale Beach City Hall, where Geller's
district office was located.

Ignore the info on photo, it was actually
taken on May 7th, 2008.

And why is that City Hall breezeway
ceiling STILL messed-up 18 months later?

Another Mike Good success story!

-----------

Broward Beat

Geller: Take My $50,000, Please!
By Buddy Nevins

Former State Sen. Steve Geller says he has a problem: He can’t figure out who should get $50,000 in tainted money.

The money is from suspected scammer Scott Rothstein. It was earmarked for Geller’s campaign against County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger.

Geller now suspects Rothstein stole the money. He wants to give it back.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.browardbeat.com/geller-take-my-50000-please/

-----------

In case you were curious after reading
Buddy Nevins' story, above, I've
included at the bottom of this post
the list of contributors to this CCE
of Geller's, which used a lot of
its money last year unsuccessfully

to try to get his brother, Joseph,
the former North Bay Village mayor,

elected to Dan Gelber's old
State House seat, when he
ran for the State Senate in
November and won.

Now, of course, having been elected
for four years and equipped with a
fall-back government job with nice benefits
that keeps his seat warm in case he fails,
and able to still charge taxpayers for his
flights home, Gelber is already running
for State Attorney General, which is

something he didn't tell the voters of
Miami Beach and environs when he
was running last year, promising to
use his best judgment on their behalf
in Tallahassee for the next four years
in a higher-profile position.

That is to say, once Gelber dropped
his already announced plans of running
for U.S. Senate, which is yet another
option he didn't care to mention to
voters last year when offering himself up.

At some point, I suspect Gelber's
love affair with himself, like most

examples of stalking, is going to
come to a very sad and predictable end.

If you were me, and a woman you were
very interested in romantically called you
up after you'd spent a fair amount of time
together said that she'd love to see you
again once she got back from a business
trip, you might say fine and that you were
looking forward to her return.

But you might have a change of heart
if she says that her trip is actually a
vacation with her boyfriend to visit
his hometown and spend some

time with his family.

You'd immediately think you needed
to consider other 'candidates,' no?

I would.

Perhaps sensing that voters would
not be interested in him if he already

had his eye elsewhere, as he did,
Gelber never gave South Florida voters

the benefit of having informed consent.

Yet counter-intuitively, Dan Gelber
seems to think that by being so open
about his promiscuous personal
ambition, and clearly not really

wanting to devote the time and
attention to the job he was
elected by voters to a year ago
-which, despite my warnings
to them last year, is abundantly
clear to my friends on Miami
Beach who voted for him-
since he plans on campaigning
for yet another year, he's somehow
free from criticism that he seems
to have a clear history of using
South Florida voters for props
(or pawns) for his personal
ambition, and of not being
honest with them.

But why should being so obvious
be judged a positive character trait

by voters?
Guess what, it's not.

And what has he actually DONE?

Admit it, you probably can't think
of even two things he's noted for.

Some brilliant argument that changed
the tenor of debate for the better

on an important issue in Tallahassee,
or some insightful solution to

a longstanding problem that he's
personally responsible for bringing

to fruition, that was popular with
both Democrats and Republicans.

Where's the defining moment when
he asked his own Dem supporters

to admit that they'd been wrong,
needed to be intellectually honest

and admit it and vote for the right
thing for the greater good?

Guess what, neither can he.
There aren't any.

The kicker is that THAT doesn't
seem to matter, as Gelber slowly
tries to become the latest governor
of this state without having earned

it by doing something previously
of any particular consequence.

That doesn't make him unique,
of course, just more transparent
than most.

Just like Steve Geller,
whom you all know I loathe,
he's personally implicated in
all the myopic bad decisions
of the past few years in

Tallahassee, large and small,
that have crippled this state
and made it a laughingstock
by so many different measurements.

Frankly, if it wasn't for his father,
a very well-respected Miami judge

-who has qualities the younger
Gelber clearly doesn't- most

people, and many in the South
Florida press in particular, would

have long since come to the
general conclusion that Gelber,
despite who his father is,
is clearly no different from the
dozens of other ambitious

yet thoroughly mediocre and
even unethical hacks populating
state, regional and local govt.,
seemingly intent on making things
worse for us, not better.
(Elected versions of Alex Lewy.)

Gelber is just someone from whom
much more was expected but who,
thus far, has produced no tangible results.

Week-after-week, month-after-month,
that solid criticism of him from the
South Florida media never ever comes,
does it?

It's the dog that never barks.
Which doesn't mean it's not a good dog,
just that it's NOT actually a WATCHDOG.

To me, this suggests that more than anyone
else, he's the male counterpart to DWS,
the South Florida media pet/demagogue
-whom I also loathe-, who is never
subjected to any sort of rigorous fact-filled

criticism -ever.
Why not?

Now there's a good question.

I'll be posting some things you may
find of interest on my blog this weekend,
and one of them will be on a force you
may not already be aware of that is
quickly taking over this area and which
the geniuses at HB City Hall and the
HB Police Dept. continue to ignore,

though their handiwork is right in front
of them: HGS.

Keep those initials in mind as you
walk, bike and drive thru SE Broward.

Folks, it's HGS' world, we just live in it.

-----------

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/committees/ComDetail.asp?account=45389

Type:	Committee of Continuous Existence
Status:	Active
Address:	Post Office Box 220015 Hollywood, FL 33022
Phone:	(954)491-1120
Chairperson:	Steven A. Geller 100 West Cypress Creek Road Suite 700 Fort Lauderdale, 33309
Treasurer:	Charles Cassini 12121 NE 16th Avenue North Miami, FL 33161
Registered Agent:	Steve Geller 100 West Cypress Creek Road Suite 700 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309

-----------------

Campaign contributions in chron order

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/TreFin.exe

Floridians for a Stronger Tomorrow

About the Campaign Finance Data Base

Rpt Yr Rpt Type Date           Amount   Contributor Name               Address                                  City State Zip                           Occupation           Typ InKind Desc

------ -------- ---------- ------------ ------------------------------ ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- -------------------- --- ----------------------- 
2007   Q2       06/01/2007        20.00 TEXEIRA NANCY                  1326 NORTH DUVAL ST                      TALLAHASSEE, FL 32303                                         CAS                    

2007   Q3       07/17/2007     2,500.00 TITLE INSURANCE THROUGH LAWYER 6545 CORPORATE CENTRE BLVD               ORLANDO, FL 32302                        INSURANCE            DUE                    
2007   Q3       07/17/2007     2,500.00 FLORIDA ASSOCIATED GENERAL CON PO BOX 10569                             TALLAHASSEE, FL 32302                    BUILDERS             DUE                    

2007   Q3       08/20/2007     2,500.00 LAWYERS ACTION                 1224 GREENSWARD DR.                      TALLAHASSEE, FL 32312                    ATTORNEYS            DUE                    
2007   Q3       09/07/2007     5,000.00 FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSO 300 E BREVARD ST                         TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301                    POLICE UNION         DUE                    

2007   Q3       09/12/2007    10,000.00 PALM BEACH KENNEL CLUB         1111 NORTH CONGRESS AVE.                 WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33404                PARI-MUTUEL          DUE                    
2007   Q4       10/22/2007     8,333.33 HCA EAST FLORIDA DIVISION AND  101 N. MONROE ST., SUITE 801             TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301                    HOSPITAL             DUE                    

2007   Q4       10/22/2007     8,333.33 HCA NORTH FLORIDA DIVISION AND 101 N. MONROE ST., SUITE 801             TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301                    HOSPITAL             DUE                    
2007   Q4       10/22/2007     8,333.34 HCA WEST FLORIDA DIVISION AND  101 N. MONROE ST., SUITE 801             TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301                    HOSPITAL             DUE                    

2007   Q4       10/31/2007    30,000.00 MARDI GRAS GAMING              831 N. FEDERAL HIGHWAY                   HALLANDALE BEACH, FL 33009               PARI-MUTUAL          DUE                    
2008   Q1       02/01/2008       500.00 CHIRO-PAC                      217 N KIRKMAN RD.                        ORLANDO, FL 32811                        CHIROPRACTORS        DUE                    

2008   Q1       02/29/2008     1,000.00 COMMITTEE FOR ACCESSIBLE GOVER 1224 GREENSWARD DR.                      TALLAHASSEE, FL 32312                    POLITICAL COMMITTEE  DUE                    
2008   Q1       02/29/2008    10,000.00 PPI, INC                       1800 SW THIRD ST                         POMPANO BEACH, FL 33069                  PARI-MUTUAL          DUE                    

2008   Q1       03/06/2008     5,000.00 ASURIAN INSURANCE              8880 WARD PARKWAY                        KANSAS CITY, MT 64114                    INSURANCE            DUE                    
2008   Q1       03/06/2008     8,333.34 HCA NORTH FLORIDA GOOD GOVERNM 101 N MONROE ST SUITE 801                TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301                    HOSPITALS            DUE                    

2008   Q1       03/06/2008     8,333.32 HCA WEST GOOD GOVERNMENT ACCOU 101 N MONROE ST SUITE 801                TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301                    HOSPITALS            DUE                    
2008   Q1       03/06/2008     8,333.34 HCA EAST GOOD GOVERNMENT ACCOU 101 N MONROE ST SUITE 801                TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301                    HOSPITALS            DUE                    

2008   Q1       03/06/2008     5,000.00 CALDER RACE COURSE             21001 NW 27TH AVE                        MIAMI GARDENS, FL 33056                  PARI-MUTUEL          DUE                    
2008   Q1       03/17/2008     2,500.00 RON BOOK, PA                   2999 N. E. 191ST ST, PH-6                AVENTURA, FL 33180                       ATTORNEY             DUE                    

2009   Q1       03/31/2009     5,000.00 HARTMAN AND TYNER, INC         PO BOX 2007                              HOLLYWOOD, FL 33022                      PARI-MUTUEL          CHE                    
2009   Q2       06/29/2009    10,000.00 HARTMAN AND TYNER INC          PO BOX 2007                              HOLLYWOOD, FL 33022                      GAMING               CHE                    

2009   Q3       09/29/2009     1,000.00 DAVID R CUTSIN AND ASSOCIATES, 6401 SW 113 PLACE                        MIAMI, FL 33173                          CONSULTING           CHE                    
2009   Q3       09/29/2009    50,000.00 ROTHSTEIN SCOTT                2308 CASTILLA ISLE                       FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33301                LAWYER               CHE                    

2009   Q3       09/30/2009     5,000.00 GREENSPOON MARDER, PA          100 W CYPRESS CREEK ROAD, SUITE 700      FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309                LAW FIRM             CHE                    
                       ------------

                         197,520.00
24 Contribution(s) Selected

Get me a Tesla Roadster, stat! The sexy electric car that turns heads

2009-11-19T15:51:00.039-05:00

Pull quote from below:
"And, man, talk about a babe magnet."

See also: http://www.teslamotors.com/
-------------
Advertising Age

Tesla Motors: an America's Hottest Brands Case Study

By Jean Halliday
November 16, 2009

Unusual in the car business, Tesla Motors does no advertising and has no agency of record. Instead, the private, plug-in electric car outfit in Silicon Valley's San Carlos, has relied on the internet, word-of-mouth and CEO-co-founder Elon Musk. The South African-born entrepreneur is the reluctant face of Tesla. He described himself as "basically an engineer" whose "intrinsic nature is to be introverted."

Mr. Musk is regularly out stumping for his electric cars at conferences, with reporters and at the handful of company-owned dealerships in the U.S. and abroad. He made an appearance this year on David Letterman, who invited him after buying a Tesla Roadster. Tesla's Roadster has gotten visibility from appearing for free in 2008's "Iron Man" movie, BlackBerry ads and a coming California Tourism blitz.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://adage.com/article?article_id=140487

Here's an excerpt of the Churchill Club
interview in April where Musk explains
why fully EV trumps plug-in Hybrids
http://gas2.org/2009/05/10/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-explains-why-fully-electric-cars-trump-plug-in-hybrids-video/
--------------------
Per the article below, Ener1, Inc., which
owns 31% of Th!nk is also based in the
land of the Hoosiers.

http://www.ener1.com/ http://www.think.no/
----------------------
http://www.reuters.com/article/reuterscomService5/idUSTRE5AG5FE20091117

Norway electric carmaker Th!nk picks Indiana for U.S. factory

By Poornima Gupta

November 17, 2009

Grand opening of Crate & Barrel at Village at Gulfstream Park, Hallandale Beach, at 10 a.m.

2009-11-19T04:26:00.082-05:00

Grand opening of Crate & Barrel
at Village at Gulfstream Park
in Hallandale Beach at 10 a.m.,
U.S.-1 and S.E. 5th Street.
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Stores/Store.aspx?storeid=196

For the 15 years that I lived in the
Washington, D.C. area,
the Crate & Barrel on the
Chevy Chase-D.C. border was
one of my favorite stores in the
region, especially during the holidays.

November 17th, 2009
Looking southeast on U.S.-1
from the sidewalk in front of
Hallandale Beach City Hall.
--------------------------------
Photos in chron order, all by
South Beach Hoosier

October 21st, 2009
Looking southeast from U.S-1

October 21st, 2009
Looking southeast from U.S-1,
with Gulfstream Park Race
Track & Casino behind the
retail complex.

October 21st, 2009
Still putting up exterior signs on U.S.-1
side of store
-------------

October 26, 2009
When you're standing outside of the
store, on the north side, you can see
the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa
over in Hollywood Beach
------------
October 27th, 2009
Night-time view from across the
street at the U.S. Post Office
--------------

October 29th, 2009
Adding some exterior touches
---------------

November 2, 2009
When you step out of the
City of Hallandale Beach
Commission Chambers,
you can already see the
Crate & Barrel across
the street.

November 2nd, 2009
The store can say they're located on
600 Silks Run if they want to,
but what you need to know is that
the street in front of the store is
actually U.S.-1 and S.E. 5th Street.
----------------

November 4th, 2009
This is when I first noticed the sign
in the top window announcing they'd
be opening on November 19th.

November 4th, 2009
Exterior lights now coming on at night,
shot from in front of Hallandale Beach
City Hall.
--------------
November 6th, 2009
When I first noticed that the retail
store directly behind Crate & Barrel
was going to be The Container Store.
-----------
November 9th, 2009
Looking southeast at Crate & Barrel
from the public parking lot of Hallandale
Beach City Hall.
------------

November 15th, 2009
-----------

Today, November 19th, 2009
12:30 a.m.

Walked across the street from
Hallandale Beach City Hall after
City Commission meeting on city's
RAC proposal finally ended early
this morning, planning to take
some shots, but I was so tired,
I just snapped this one.
Spoke to some management people
about the store and they are very
optimistic.

Finally a cool place in
Hallandale Beach!

Hannah Giles, America's new sweetheart undercover super-sleuth is back with more news about ACORN

2009-11-17T03:22:00.017-05:00

Yes, Miami's Hannah Giles is back!
Along with James O'Keefe, America's
nerdiest pimp who still keeps it real.

This screenshot I snapped is of Hannah
from the Miami studios of Fox News,
appearing on Sean Hannity's Fox
News Channel TV show last night,
Nov. 16th, with some news about the
Andrew Breitbart 'Big Government'
crew's newest series of ACORN
videotapes, from the West Coast.

Video of the appearance:
http://www.freedomslighthouse.com/2009/11/sean-hannity-shows-acorn-undercover.html ---------------
Los Angeles Times
Young conservative activist Hannah Giles speaks in Santa Barbara
The 20-year-old who rocked ACORN with a series of secret videos addresses
college students about guerrilla warfare.
By Kate Linthicum
November 15, 2009

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-young-conservatives15-2009nov15,0,1837509.story
-----------
See also http://biggovernment.com/

Unpopular RAC and LAC plans to be discussed Tuesday at P&Z meeting and Comm. Keith London's meeting

2009-11-16T20:04:00.059-05:00

Commission Keith S. London
Resident Forum meeting
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
City of Hallandale Beach Cultural Center,
Room 107

Main topics of discussion:
-City of Hallandale Beach RAC
-Diplomat Properties LP LAC
* There will open discussion on any other
topics of interest as well.

If you can't make it to the important P&Z
meeting Tuesday afternoon, sure to be lively,
be sure to attend Comm. London's meeting
at 6 p.m. to get the post-game analysis and
color commentary from concerned HB
residents who will be there in force.
--------------
These items of concern to residents of both
Hallandale Beach and Hollywood were also
discussed in this space on November 1st:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/unpopular-rac-proposal-and-diplomat.html

Agenda for Tuesday's afternoon's Hallandale
Beach P&Z meeting at 1:30 p.m. at:
http://www.cohb.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1302

Related docs at:
http://www.cohb.org/DocumentCenterii.aspx?FID=140

Diplomat Properties L.P.'s
Local Activity Center (LAC)
i.e. multiple 25-30 story properties located on
Atlantic Shores, N.E. 14th Ave., Diplomat
Parkway, and near The Duo:
http://www.cohb.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1299

Did the Diplomat's transportation consultant
ever actually say what months of the year
his trip count research was conducted?

I'd hate to think they made the same mistake
the city's Transportation Master Plan
consultants apparently made, doing it in the
summer instead of in January, but then why
wouldn't they if they thought nobody was
paying attention at HB City Hall?

It's not like the commissioners other than
London would think to ask.

City of Hallandale Beach
Regional Activity Center (RAC) plan:
http://www.cohb.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1300

This item failed to be passed by the P&Z Board
on October 28, 2009.

On Sunday night, I discovered this color-coded
map of the RAC proposal prepared by Calvin,
Giordano & Associates, Inc., which you
may find of interest.
http://www.cohb.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1294

The first reading and vote of the City of Hallandale
Beach's RAC plan will be at Wednesday's City
Commission, November 18th, at 1:30 p.m. &
7:00 p.m. in the HB Commission Chambers.

Has City Manager Mike Good ever given
a reasonable, written justification for
fast-tracking these proposals?

Per the LAC, I noticed that at p. 30 of 51,
the city persists in thinking that there's
any public or transit community support
for having an FEC train stop at S.E 3rd
Street, and South 1st Avenue.

Why, because it's close to HB City Hall,
the upcoming Village at Gulfstream
and Gulfstream Park itself, including
the track and the casino?

A separate train station three blocks south
of one at Hallandale Beachj Blvd. is a joke,
and none of the serious people at the many
SFECC meetings I've gone to have EVER
seriously believed that was going to happen.

One near The Mardi Gras is more likely
than a second one on 3rd Street, and that
one may be located on the Hollywood side
of Pembroke Road, not HB's side.

I'm pro-transit and even I'd be against
having one at S.E. 3rd Street.
For the city to think they'd have TWO
stations within three blocks is beyond
absurd.

But that's what passes for logic here.

Below, information regarding the Diplomat
proposal that went buh-bye last year after
getting about zero support in the community.
--------------------

CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH

MEMORANDUM

DATE: January 24, 2008

TO: D. Mike Good, City Manager

FROM: Richard D. Cannone, Director, Development Services

SUBJECT: Diplomat Properties: Ordinance of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Approving a Large Scale Change of Land Use from Commercial Recreation, General Commercial and Low Residential to Commercial Recreation and Irregular (11.24 units per net acre) Residential (#34-07-PA) and Ordinance of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, amending the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan, more specifically, to create new provisions for an Irregular Residential (Dashed Line Areas) land use category and amending the provisions for the Commercial Recreation land use category to permit hotel, motel and similar lodging as an ancillary use (#33-07-TC).

PURPOSE:

To consider on First Reading three separate ordinances pertaining to three land use related applications, requested by the Diplomat Country Club. Those requests include the following applications:

Application #34-07-PA for a Future Land Use Plan Map amendment to change the land use designation from General Commercial, Low (7) Residential and Commercial Recreation to Commercial Recreation and Irregular (11.24 units per net acre) (“Dashed-Line Area”).
Application #33-07-TC(A) to amend the text of the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan to allow for dashed-line areas.
Application #33-07-TC(B) to amend the text of the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan to allow hotels, motels and similar lodging as an ancillary use in the Commercial Recreation Future Land Use Plan designation.

BACKGROUND:

The applicant, Diplomat Properties, Limited Partnership has filed the aforementioned applications for the 96.26 gross acres of the Diplomat County Club north of Hallandale Beach Boulevard, south of Atlantic Shores Boulevard, east of NE 14^th Avenue and west of the De Soto Waterway in order to allow 1,050 residential units to be developed within the golf course. In addition, the applicant seeks to clarify language within the Commercial Recreation Land Use category to permit hotel, motel and similar lodging uses as an ancillary use.

The applicant held a community meeting on November 5, 2007 in accordance with City Policy.

DISCUSSION

Attached is the staff report prepared for the Planning and Zoning Board that includes both the policy and technical analysis.

Based upon Staff’s recommendation, the Planning and Zoning Board at the January 23, 2008 meeting recommended the following:

Denial (Vote: 6-1) of Application #34-07-PA for a Future Land Use Plan Map amendment to change the land use designation from General Commercial, Low (7) Residential and Commercial Recreation to Commercial Recreation and Irregular (11.24 units per net acre) (“Dashed-Line Area”).
Denial (Vote: 6-1) of Application #33-07-TC(A) to amend the text of the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan to allow for dashed-line areas.
Approval (Vote: 6-1) of Application #33-07-TC(B) to amend the text of the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan to allow hotels, motels and similar lodging as an ancillary use in the Commercial Recreation Future Land Use Plan designation.

RECOMMENDATION:

Staff recommends the following:

DENIAL of Ordinance of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Approving a Large Scale Change of Land Use from Commercial Recreation, General Commercial and Low Residential to Commercial Recreation and Irregular (11.24 units per net acre) Residential, in order to permit 1,050 residential dwelling units within the existing Diplomat Country Club Property, generally described as a portion of Tract B, Block 1 and a portion of Block 11 and Block 13 of the Diplomat Golf Estates Plat, according to the Plat Thereof, as Recorded In Plat Book 46 at Page 24, of the Public Records of Broward County, Florida (legal description attached).

DENIAL of Ordinance of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, amending the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan, more specifically, to create new provisions for an Irregular Residential (Dashed Line Areas) land use category.

DENIAL of Ordinance of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, amending the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan, more specifically, amending the provisions for the Commercial Recreation land use category to permit hotel, motel and similar lodging as an ancillary use. Staff is not in disagreement with this request but would like to further consider as part of our EAR-based amendments. Accordingly, this request is not necessary and should be denied at this time.

------------
HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA

MEMORANDUM

DATE: January 14, 2008

TO: Planning and Zoning Board

FROM: The Mellgren Planning Group, in capacity of consultant for the City

THRU: Richard D. Cannone, Director of Development Services

SUBJECT: Application #34-07-PA by Diplomat Properties, LLC for a Future Land Use Plan Map Amendment of property within the Diplomat Country Club, and Application #33-07-TC for a Comprehensive Plan Text Amendment

I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

APPLICANT:

Diplomat Properties, LLC, Applicant

Debbie Orshefsky Esquire, Agent

OWNERSHIP:

Diplomat Properties, LLC

LOCATION:

For purposes of this report, the subject properties will be referred to as Parcels A, B and C as described below, and as depicted on the location sketch below:

Parcel A: generally described as a portion of Tract B, Block 1 and a portion of Block 11 of the Diplomat Golf Estates Plat (46-24, BCR) consisting of 5.2393 net acres and 5.5648 gross acres.

Parcel B: Block 13 of the Diplomat Golf Estates Plat (46-24, BCR), consisting of 1.448 net acres and 2.1344 gross acres

Parcel C: generally described as a portion of Block 11 of the Diplomat Golf Estates Plat (46-24, BCR) consisting of 86.7777 net acres and 88.5610 gross acres.

LOCATION MAP

REQUEST:

The Applicant is requesting both a City and County Future Land Use Plan Map Amendment for 96.26 gross acres of the Diplomat County Club north of Hallandale Beach Boulevard, south of Atlantic Shores Boulevard, east of NE 14^th Avenue and west of the De Soto Waterway.

The Applicant is also requesting an amendment to the text of the City Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan.

The applications are as follows:

1. Application #34-07-PA for a Future Land Use Plan Map amendment to change the land use designation of Parcels A, B and C as follows:

a ) Parcel A (5.565 acres): from General Commercial to Dashed Line Area (Irregular 11.24 du/ac).

b) Parcel B (2.134 acres): from Low (7) Residential to Dashed Line Area (Irregular 11.24 du/ac).

c) Parcel C (88.56 acres) from Commercial Recreation to Dashed Line Area (Irregular 11.24 du/ac).

2. Application #33-07-TC(A) to amend the text of the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan to allow for dashed-line areas.

3. Application #33-07-TC(B) to amend the text of the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan to allow hotels, motels and similar lodging as an ancillary use in the Commercial Recreation Future Land Use Plan designation.

PLANNING DISTRICT:

Diplomat/Three Islands

PARCEL SIZE (NET):

Parcel A: 5.239 Acres

Parcel B: 1.448 Acres

Parcel C: 86.777 Acres

Total: 93.464 Acres

EXISTING ZONING:

Parcel A: CR-P, Commercial Recreation (Passive) District

Parcel B: RS-5, Residential Single-Family District

Parcel C: CR-P, Commercial Recreation (Passive) District

EXISTING USE:

Parcel A: southerly extension of Diplomat Golf Course

Parcel B: marina

Parcel C: main portion of Diplomat Golf Course, including the existing country club and a 60-room hotel

PROPOSED USE:

Residential: 1,050 dwelling units

Commercial Recreation: country club and the 349 hotel units.

EXISTING COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATIONS:

Parcel A Parcel B Parcel C

City: General Commercial Low (7)Residential Commercial Recreation

County: Commercial Low (5) Residential Commercial Recreation

SURROUNDING ZONING AND LAND USE PLAN DESIGNATION OF APPLICATION SITE:

LAND USE PLAN ZONING

North: Low-Medium (14) Residential RM-18 District

Commercial Recreation CR-P District

South: General Commercial CCB, City Central Business

Planned Redevelopment Overlay

East: Low (7) Residential RS-5 District

Low-Medium (14) Residential RM-18 District

West: Low-Medium (14) Residential RM-18 District

SURROUNDING LAND USE OF APPLICATION PARCEL

North: Low-rise multiple-family residential, single-family detached residential and northern extension of golf course

South: The Duo high-rise condominium and Diplomat Shopping Center

East: Low-rise multiple-family residential, De Soto Waterway and single-family detached residential

West: Low-rise multiple-family residential along NE 14^th Avenue

II. LAND USE HISTORY

________________________________________________________________

On August 18, 1998, the City Commission approved Application #50-98-DB by Diplomat Properties for Major Development approval of the redevelopment of the Diplomat Country Club including 60 hotel rooms.

III. INTERDEPARTMENTAL REVIEW SUMMARY

________________________________________________________________

Staff conducted an evaluation of the proposed amendment relative to its impact on City and public facilities. The following is a summary of amendment impact. For a detailed analysis, please refer to Exhibit “A” to this report.

Potable water. No available raw water capacity at this time. Staff, in conjunction with the Public Works Department, is preparing a plan for the City’s future water supply. New wells and treatment facilities will be needed, subject to South Florida Water Management District approval, at an estimated cost of $42 million dollars.

Sanitary sewer. There is sufficient capacity to serve the proposed amendment, with a remaining capacity of .240 mgd (enough to accommodate approximately 686 du) under the City’s Large User Agreement with Hollywood.

Public schools. Student impact to the junior high school and high school will be acceptable. The student impact to Hallandale Elementary, which is already overcrowded at 121 percent of its capacity (111 percent when year-round session is factored in), will be 44 additional students.

Transportation. The amendment will not degrade the for area roads with the exception of NE 14^th Avenue, which would be degraded from the current LOS “D” to LOS “F” by 2012, and will be at LOS “F” by 2030 with or without the amendment. Hallandale Beach Boulevard west of Diplomat Parkway is already operating at LOS “F” and will continue to do so.

Parks and recreation. The amendment will generate a need for almost 6 acres of parks and open space, according the City’s adopted LOS Standard of 3 acres per thousand residents. The City has sufficient recreation and open space acreage to accommodate the amendment and the projected population through the short (5 years) and intermediate range (10 years) planning horizons. The City will need to evaluate whether it will be able to meet its adopted Level of Service Standard of 3 acres per 1,000 residents beyond the 10 year horizon, as it is anticipated that the proposed amendment and recently approved developments may increase the projected population in the City beyond what is currently anticipated. Future residents of the proposed amendment site will likely have access to the Diplomat Golf Course, which is a private recreational facility, as well as other on-site facilities possibly shared by the country club, if it is to remain. However, the golf course is not a deed-restricted open space.

Hurricane evacuation LOS and shelter capacity. Broward County Emergency Management Agency has indicated that evacuation Level of Service and shelter capacity will not be diminished below acceptable levels by the amendment.

Affordable housing

The applicant “is prepared to work with the City to provide a financial contribution to the City to be used by the City to construct or have constructed up to 158 (i.e. 15 percent of the proposed 1,050 new residential units) at locations within the City of Hallandale Beach.”

________________________________________________________________

IV. STAFF ANALYSIS OF APPLICATION

________________________________________________________________

A. Application #33-07-TC(A) would amend the text of the Future Land Use Element to allow “dashed-line areas” on the City’s Future Land Use Plan Map. Dashed line areas are planned unit developments or similar large-scale development sites, such as the proposed Diplomat Golf Course redevelopment, that are circumscribed by a dashed line on the Future Land Use Plan Map. Within the property circumscribed by the dashed line on the map, a maximum residential density is indicated. In the case of the subject amendment, that density is 11.24 du/ac (net). The maximum number of dwelling units allowed within the dashed-line area is obtained by multiplying the total acreage by the maximum density, even though most of it is not intended for residential use.

The difference between an amendment site circumscribed by a dashed line and one that is not, is that the dashed-line area allows a developer to shift the residential density within the overall amendment site. For example, the 1,050 dwelling units that would be allowed within the Diplomat Golf Course could be allocated in any combination among the four sites designated for residential use and shown on the map in Exhibit “B”, such that maximum number of units within any of the four residential pods proposed for the amendment site is unlimited, as long as the maximum overall density of 11.24 du/ac (1,050 units) is not exceeded.

Application #33-07-TC(B) would allow hotels, motels and similar lodging in the Commercial Recreation land use plan designation as an ancillary use. This proposed text amendment is consistent with the language in the Commercial Recreation permitted uses section of the Broward County Land Use Plan.

B. Application #34-07-PA to amend the Future Land Use Plan Map would allow 1,050 dwelling units in a location where residential use is not currently permitted, and which is now part of the Diplomat Golf Course and related facilities. The amendment will not eliminate the golf course, and will have minimal impact on the land area currently devoted to golf course use and also designated Commercial Recreation on the Future Land Use Plan Map.

The application proposes four distinct and separate areas within the golf course and marina properties where residential use would be permitted. The four areas total approximately 16 acres out of the entire 93.46-acre amendment site. The dashed-line area allows all of the four sites to be proposed as one unified land use plan amendment, and allows the 1,050 dwelling units and hotel use to be distributed among the four sites in any combination that will comply with the development standards of the City’s Zoning and Land Development Code.

______________________________________________________________

V. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CONSIDERATIONS

________________________________________________________________

Application # 33-07-TC for amendment of the text of the Future Land Use Element is discussed under “Staff Analysis,”

Analysis of Application # 34-07-PA for amendment to the Future Land Use Plan Map requires consideration of several comprehensive planning issues, discussed below.

Amount, location and character of growth

Consideration of the proposed map amendment includes a central policy issue: what is the desired amount, location and character of future growth?

By the year 2015, the official Broward County population projections indicate that the Hallandale Beach population will grow by almost 9,400 people and 2,850 dwelling units. By the year 2030, the projections indicate a total growth of almost 19,700 people and 5,400 dwelling units. The City has already approved several residential development projects that will help the City realize approximately 50 percent of the projected growth, assuming all are constructed. Application # 34-07-PA would add 1,050 units to the City, or approximately 37 percent of the projected number of new dwelling units. The subject amendment would, by itself, account for almost 20 percent of the number of residential units projected to be built by the year 2030, and as a result, would likely increase the City’s population in excess of projections, particularly when combined with other major developments recently approved.

The City is currently undertaking development of a Citywide Master Plan. The purpose of the plan is to determine where future growth should occur, how intense it should be, and what kind of form it should take (ex: low-rise, high-rise, mixed-use, transit-oriented, etc.). It is anticipated that a substantial portion of future growth will be directed to areas in need of redevelopment due to slum and blighting conditions in the form of revitalized neighborhoods with neighborhood commercial centers, and to properties fronting principal arterials such as Hallandale Beach Boulevard and US-1 in the form of mixed commercial/ residential development that would likely be more intense than neighborhood redevelopment.

Neighborhood compatibility

The surrounding area is predominantly characterized by low and mid-rise multiple-family residential buildings as well as several single-family detached residences. The rear yards of seven of the single-family residences border the golf course. On the southern periphery of the golf course is a two-tower high-rise development (The Duo) and a commercial shopping center. The immediate neighborhood consists of properties fronting Atlantic Shores Boulevard between NE 14^th Avenue and Diplomat Parkway, and properties fronting Diplomat Parkway north of E. Hallandale Beach Boulevard to just north of Atlantic Shores Boulevard. The immediate neighborhood is characterized by low and mid-rise multiple-family residential development and single-family detached residences.

The 1,050 proposed residential units and additional hotel rooms would be concentrated on approximately 16 acres of the 93.46 acre site. The applicant has not identified how many units would be constructed within each of the four proposed residential areas in the amendment site. The applicant also has not provided any details as to height and massing, and such details are not required for plan amendment applications.

Given the intensity of development and site configuration, it can be expected that one or more tall high-rise buildings will be constructed. There is potential, therefore, for the scale of potential buildings to be out of proportion with the immediate neighborhood. Additionally, the country club site as a whole has the potential to grow out of scale with the immediate neighborhood if the country club remains, or if the hotel use expands. Approximately 2,500 parking spaces will be required for the residential and hotel uses, which may comprise approximately one million square feet of structured parking area.

Impact on public facilities and services. Impacts on public facilities and services are analyzed under “Interdepartmental Review Summary.”

________________________________________________________________

VI. APPLICABLE CODES AND ORDINANCES

________________________________________________________________

The golf course is presently designated Commercial Recreation and is zoned CR-P, Commercial Recreation Passive District. The City’s Comprehensive Plan and the City’s Zoning and Land Development Code presently permits golf courses as a principal use and other uses such as hotels as accessory uses. Section 32-163 of the Zoning and Land Development Code further specifies that accessory uses in CR-P District are limited to the following provided they occupy not more than 15 percent of the total site area. The applicant also has requested a text amendment to allow hotels as an accessory use for the purpose of clarifying the permitted uses in the Commercial Recreation category. Sec. 32-163 is excerpted below.

Sec. 32-163. CR-P commercial recreational (passive) district.

(a) Purpose and intent. The purpose and intent of the CR-P commercial recreational (passive) district is to provide suitable sites for commercial recreational attractions and facilities of a passive nature which require extensive land area and are recognized as being supportive of a tourist-oriented economy in areas consistent with the city's comprehensive land use plan.

(b) Uses permitted. Uses permitted are as follows:

(1) Commercial recreation uses, limited to golf courses.

(2) Accessory uses limited to the following, provided they occupy not more than a cumulative total of 15 percent of total site area:

a. Golf driving ranges.

b. Hotels, motels, restaurants, private clubs and cocktail lounges.

c. Parks, playgrounds and beaches.

d. Swimming pools.

e. Tennis, racquetball and handball courts.

For the purpose of this subsection, a hotel, motel, restaurant, private club, cocktail lounge, golf driving range, swimming pool, tennis, racquetball or handball court, park, playground and beach may be considered an accessory use to the main permitted golf course use, provided that those uses are incidental to and dependent upon the continued existence and operation of the main golf course use, even though uses may be more heavily utilized or realize substantially more income or profit than the main golf course use.

The proposed amendment is consistent with the intent and purpose of the Comprehensive Plan, and would not necessitate a change to Sec. 32-163 of the Zoning and Land Development Code.

COMMUNITY MEETING

The applicant held a community meeting on November 5, 2007 as required by City policy.

VII. REVIEW OF APPLICATION CRITERIA

Article VIII, Section 32-963 specifies the following criteria to be addressed in considering applications for rezoning and land use amendments:

(1) The relationship of the proposed amendment to the purposes and objectives of the City's Comprehensive Land Use Plan, when adopted, with appropriate consideration as to whether or not the proposed changes will further the purpose of this and other codes, regulations, and actions designed to implement said plan.

Not consistent. Staff finds that the proposed land use change is inconsistent with the following Comprehensive Plan policies:

Future Land Use Element

Policy 1.3.4. B: High density residential developments should continue to be located with direct access onto major arteries.

Policy 1.5.3: Maintain a Commercial Recreation Category including Hallandale Beach major commercial recreation facilities, i.e., Gulfstream Race Track, Hollywood Dog Track and Diplomat Golf Course.. …Conversion of these facilities to other uses having increased impacts on public facilities will be contingent upon the new development’s ability to maintain adopted LOS Standards for affected public facilities.

Policy 1.12.2: The Growth Management Department shall evaluate impacts resulting from new developments to ensure that adequate facilities are either in place or planned so that Level of Service standards are not reduced.

Transportation Element

Policy 1.10.1: The City shall maintain its highest intensities of land use along major transportation routes and encourage the clustering of parking area near major routes and transit stops.

(2) The proposed change would or would not be contrary to the established land use pattern.

Not consistent. The average proposed density of the amendment site is 11.24 du/ac. This number is calculated by dividing the number of proposed dwelling units by the acreage of the entire amendment site (93.5 acres). The net density, excluding the golf course parcel to remain, will be approximately 65 du/ac. This number is calculated by dividing the number of proposed dwelling units by the acreage of the four proposed residential pods within the amendment site (approximately 16 acres), as shown on Exhibit “B.” The proposed 65 du/ac net density is substantially higher than both the predominant 18 du/ac land use plan density of adjacent multiple-family properties and 5 du/ac density of adjacent single-family detached residences. The potential height of one or more high-rise buildings would pose a compatibility issue, as the majority of adjacent structures are low-rise in nature.

(3) The proposed change would or would not create an isolated district unrelated to adjacent and nearby districts.

Not consistent. High-rise residential towers are located approximately one-quarter mile to the east across the De Soto Waterway and one-quarter mile to the south. Mid-rise (approximately 6-8 stories) towers are located west of NE 14^th Avenue. There is no precedent, however, for high-rise towers and a density of 65 du/ac (excluding golf course) within the core of the Diplomat Planning District east of NE 14^th Avenue and west of Three Islands Boulevard. Staff finds that building height, location and massing may be equally relevant considerations as density, but cannot be adequately evaluated without the type of information provided during Major Development Review.

(4) The proposed change would or would not alter the population density pattern and thereby have an adverse impact upon public facilities such as school, utilities, and streets.

Not consistent. Impacts to public facilities and services are evaluated under “Interdepartmental Review Summary” and are of concern due to limitations on elementary school capacity, sanitary sewage treatment capacity, local roadway capacity, allowable Biscayne Aquifer withdrawal, lack of Floridian Aquifer wells, and present inability to treat the necessary quantities of brackish Floridian Aquifer water.

(5) Existing district boundaries are illogically drawn in relation to existing conditions on the property proposed for change.

Not consistent. Existing district boundaries are not illogically drawn in relation to existing conditions on the amendment site.

(6) Changed or changing conditions make the passage of the proposed amendment necessary.

Not consistent. The application states that the proposed amendment is necessary to accommodate the City’s future projected population. South Florida has experienced steady construction of residential units over the last two decades, which is projected to continue. However, the location of residential development has shifted from strictly suburban growth in western areas to renewed interest in infill development and residential and mixed-use redevelopment throughout Broward County. For this reason, the City’s population is expected to grow to more than 53,000 residents by the year 2030, and the City has seen a surge in residential projects.

Due to the county-wide change in the spatial pattern of residential growth, the application is correct in stating that conditions have changed. However, the amendment is not necessary to accommodate the City’s projected population. The City’s 2030 population growth is projected to occur gradually over the next 22 years. The amendment, combined with other recently approved and planned residential projects, would achieve nearly 50 percent of that projected growth in just a few years.

Strategic, coordinated and well-planned redevelopment distributed throughout the City—but not necessarily concentrated in very large projects such as the proposed amendment—will ensure the City can accommodate its projected population. Such redevelopment will occur throughout the City, consistent with sustainable development practices, in areas designated for same upon adoption of the Citywide Master Plan and implementing amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and Future Land Use Plan Map. Therefore, at this time, the passing of the proposed amendment is not necessary.

(7) Substantial reasons exist why the property cannot be used in accordance with the adopted land use plan and/or the existing zoning.

Not consistent. The amendment site is a golf course and country club with a hotel and accessory marina. The golf course, spa and country club serve the guests of the Diplomat Hotel on Hollywood Beach, among others. The applicant has not indicated that the land use plan designation impedes the present use of the amendment site, or other permitted passive recreation uses. In fact, the proposed expansion of the hotel on the property from 60 rooms to 349 rooms will be in furtherance of the uses permitted under the current land use plan and zoning classifications.

(8) Whether or not the change is out of scale with the needs of the neighborhood.

Not consistent. The proposed change is substantially out of scale with the needs of the neighborhood.

_______________________________________________________________

VIII. STAFF FINDINGS

_______________________________________________________________

Application #34-07-PA for amendment to the Future Land Use Plan Map and Application #33-07-TC was analyzed with due consideration to several germane planning issues, as follows:

1. Amount, location and character of growth.

a. The proposed amendment alone would account for nearly 20 percent of the City’s projected 2030 population increase, yet is not consistent with the principles for redevelopment upon which the evolving Citywide Master Plan is premised.

b. The proposed amendment is inconsistent with Future Land Use Policy 1.3.4, which recommends that high-density residential development be located with direct access to major arterials.

2. Neighborhood compatibility (see also review criterion 8).

a. The physical compatibility of the proposed amendment with the immediate neighborhood has not been demonstrated.

b. The amendment will have a noticeable traffic impact on neighborhood roads, some of which are projected to be overcapacity even without the amendment.

3. Affordable housing supply.

a. The applicant has indicated a willingness to enhance the City’s affordable housing supply through construction of, or contribution for, off-site housing.

4. Impact on public facilities and services (see also review criterion 4). The amendment will have a substantial impact on potable water, sanitary sewer, transportation and public school facilities.

a. SFWMD has prohibited additional withdrawals from the Biscayne Aquifer, which is the main water supply for all of South Florida. The City must develop new wells to access the Floridian Aquifer in order to supply the potable water needs of new development, and must build capacity for treating the more brackish water of this source. None of the infrastructure is yet in place, and has not been funded, and final water allocation from SFWMD has not been determined as of yet.

b. The amendment will utilize approximately 34 percent of the remaining sewage treatment capacity allocated to the City via the Large User Agreement with Hollywood, leaving only enough capacity to accommodate approximately 686 additional residential units or an equivalent amount of commercial development. Therefore, future diverse residential and/or commercial development may potentially be precluded due to lack of sanitary sewage treatment capacity.

c. The amendment is anticipated to cause a failing level of service on NE 14^th Avenue by 2012. Hallandale Beach Boulevard (west of Diplomat Parkway) and NE 14^th Avenue are projected to operate at LOS F by 2030 with or without the amendment.

d. The amendment will add 44 students to Hallandale Elementary School, which is already overcrowded.

e. City has adequate park acreage to accommodate the proposed amendment at this time, but will need to reevaluate in the coming years whether the acreage will be sufficient beyond the 10-year planning horizon. However, the amendment will create a demand for almost 6 acres of additional parks from the City’s inventory.

f. Adequate solid waste collection and disposal capacity will exist to serve the proposed amendment, and the amendment will have to satisfy the adopted drainage LOS.

g. Adequate hurricane shelter capacity exists, and the amendment is not anticipated to lower the adopted LOS for evacuation.

5. Criteria for review of proposed plan amendments. The amendment application does not satisfy the criteria for consideration of plan amendments.

________________________________________________________________

IX. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS

________________________________________________________________

Based upon the aforementioned findings of facts, staff recommends the following:

Staff recommends that Application #34-07-PA for amendment of the Future Land Use Plan Map be denied.

Accordingly, staff also recommends denial of Application #33-07-TC(A) for amendment of the text of the Future Land Use Element to create dashed-line areas.

Application #33-07-TC(B) for amendment of the Future Land Use Plan text, to allow hotels, motels and similar lodging as an ancillary use in the Commercial Recreation category, is consistent with the intent and purpose of the Commercial Recreation category, and staff recommends approval.

IX. PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD RECOMMENDATION______________

Suggested Motions:

1. I move to deny application #34-07-PA based upon staff recommendation.

2. I move to deny application #33-07-TC for amendment to the text of the Future Land Use Element to create dashed-line areas based upon staff recommendation.

3. I move to approve application #33-07-TC for amendment to the text of the Future Land Use Element to allow hotels, motels and similar lodging ancillary to the primary commercial recreation use based upon staff recommendation.

EXHIBIT “A”

PUBLIC FACILITIES AND SERVICES IMPACT ANALYSIS

Parks and Recreation

Inventory: 165 acres (58 acres of parkland, 107 acres are waterways)
LOS Standard: 3 acres/1,000
2006 LOS (34,622 population): 103.9 acres needed
Additional parks demand generated by the proposed amendment: almost 6 acres
Projected 2030 LOS (54,321 population): 162.93 acres needed (without the amendment)

Potable Water

Average daily demand is 6.54 mgd.
SFWMD intends to limit withdrawal to 6.2 from the Biscayne Aquifer.
Committed demand for approved but unoccupied projects is approximately .50 mgd.
The amendment will create .385 mgd of additional demand, for a total of demand of 1.22 mgd in excess of the amount of water that the City anticipates it will be allowed to withdraw from the Biscayne Aquifer.
Treatment capacity: 8.0 mgd, with a 15 mgd expansion planned.

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) determines how much untreated ground water the City can withdraw from its Biscayne Aquifer wells each year. SFWMD does so through issuance of consumptive use permits, which specify maximum withdrawal on an average and peak daily basis. The permit has expired and is currently under review by SFWMD. As such, the City is operating without a valid permit. The situation is similar across South Florida as the SFWMD and local governments grapple with water supply limitations.

SFWMD has prohibited most cities, including Hallandale Beach, from using the Biscayne Aquifer to meet the water needs of future growth. In fact, SFWMD is requiring a reduction in Biscayne Aquifer withdrawal and requiring potable water suppliers to find and fund alternative water supply sources and treatment.

Hallandale Beach is pursuing the development of wells to tap the deeper and more brackish Floridian Aquifer. The Floridian Aquifer is a more expensive source of water because deeper wells have to be drilled to reach it, and because treating brackish water requires different, and more expensive technology than treating fresh waster from the Biscayne Aquifer. Additionally, the technology used to treat brackish water is less efficient, meaning that for each gallon of post-treatment potable water produced from the Floridian Aquifer, more than one gallon of pretreated raw water is required.

The City Engineer has estimated the cost of pursuing Floridian Aquifer wells to be approximately $42 million dollars. Also, it is not known at this time to what extent the Floridian Aquifer can support the region’s future growth.

Sanitary Sewer

City of Hollywood treats sanitary sewage from Hallandale Beach.
City of Hollywood has a total 48.75 mgd plant capacity and 43.54 mgd flow. No planned expansions at this time.
Hallandale Beach is allocated 7.85 mgd average annual daily flow
Actual average daily demand from Hallandale Beach: 6.798 mgd
Committed flow for approved but unbuilt Hallandale Beach projects: 0.453 mgd
Diplomat amendment project demand: 0.359 mgd
Remaining Capacity : 0.240 mgd (enough for 686 SFR)

Schools

The amendment would impact the following schools as indicated:

Hallandale Elementary School: 44 students (overcrowded at 111% of capacity based upon multi-track year-round calendar)
Gulfstream Middle School: 8 students (under capacity)
Hallandale High School: 12 students (under capacity)

Transportation

Hallandale Beach, like all of eastern Broward County, is located within a Transit-Oriented Concurrency Area. Within this area, developers make one-time payments to Broward County based upon the traffic they would generate, but the money is used to improve and operate mass transit service.

Nonetheless, transportation impact, particularly on collector and local streets is a valid and important consideration when evaluating proposed plan amendments. Accordingly, the applicant submitted a traffic impact yielding the results on the following page.

		2005 LOS	Without Amendment		With Amendment
			2012 LOS	2030 LOS	2012 LOS	2030 LOS
Diplomat Parkway	N. of Amendment	C C	C C	C C	C C	C C
	S. of Amendment
Atlantic Shores Blvd.	E. of Amendment	D D	D D	C C	C C	C C
	W. of Amendment
NE 14^th Avenue	N. of Atlantic Shores Blvd.	C D	D D	F F	F F	F F
	S. of Atlantic Shores Blvd.
E. Hallandale Beach Blvd.	E. of Diplomat Parkway	D F	D F	D F	D F	D F
	West of Diplomat Parkway
W. Hallandale Beach Blvd.	(I-95 to US-1)	E	F	F	F	F

CommercialRecreation

Irregular (11.24du/ac) Residential

Dashed linearea

Oh, say can you see... Guess which city's flag ignored Fort Hood and Veteran's Day?

2009-11-16T08:57:00.022-05:00

For those of you who are new to this
blog or who may occasionally think
I'm too critical of the denizens of
Hallandale Beach City Hall, such as
City Manager Mike Good and his
highly-paid staff, Mayor Joy Cooper,
her dependable Rubber Stamp
Crew of Commissioners William Julian,
Dotty Ross and Anthony A. Sanders,
plus the grab-bag of Dept. directors,
let me return to a central tenet of this
blog.

It should help connect-the-dots
for you.

In my humble opinion, you earn trust
and respect from the community by
consistently showing sound, reasonable
judgment; of being scrupulously fair
in the performance of your duties;
and of being competent, professional
and efficient in carrying-out those
responsibilities, starting with small
easy to resolve problems.

Then, gradually, like a child shedding
their bike's training wheels, you can
begin handling things more complicated.
Like gravity.

But if you chronically keep screwing-up
the smaller matters that are self-evident,
of being un-necessarily egotistical,
adversarial and hyper-sensitive to
any constructive criticism regarding
the safety and Quality-of-Life of the
citizens of this community, I DON'T
have to trust you.

I DON'T have to respect you or have
faith that you can handle more complex
matters simply because you want me
to believe you can.

I don't.

Why should I or anyone else in this
community when you have utterly
failed, by both words and action,
year-after-year, to earn the trust
of the community?

So, that said, you may've heard last
week about the massacre at Fort Hood
as well as being aware that Veteran's Day
was being celebrated on November 11th.
It was "In the news."

Below, how those two separate events,
which required the appropriate but
easily-understood flag etiquette being
employed, were handled by the City
of Hallandale Beach under the current
Cooper & Good regime.

Above, the American flag at Hallandale Beach
City Hall last Monday, November 9th,
when it was supposed to be at half-mast
per the president's direction, in honor of
the Fort Hood victims.

Video from last Monday night showing this
yet again, with attention once again to the
dark conditions of the public parking lot
outside HB City Hall and the HB Police Dept.
HQ.

The Hallandale Beach Fire/Rescue
station on Three Islands Drive
on Wednesday November 11th,
Veteran's Day.

A closer shot of the flag on the Hallandale
Beach Fire/Rescue flagpole.

Even closer.

Yet another one of Hallandale Beach Fire
Chief Daniel Sullivan's screw-ups to
add to the list.

But don't worry, I'm sure he's "handling it."

That's exactly why I'm concerned.

Yet another Hallandale Beach Keystone Cops
success for Mike Good and Daniel Sullivan.

It's one stupid screw-up after another...

Calling Sherlock Holmes! Wikipedia entry for Hallandale Beach no longer mentions Gulfstream Park!

2009-11-15T02:06:00.025-05:00

September 7, 2009 photo of Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino
sign on U.S.-1 & S.E. 3rd Street entrance by South Beach Hoosier

Calling Sherlock Holmes!

As if things weren't bad enough over at
Magna's Gulfstream Park Racing
& Casino as I noted on November 1st,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/problems-at-magnas-gulfstream-park-are.html
Wikipedia's entry for Hallandale Beach
now doesn't mention Gulfstream Park
at all.

It also ignores the influence of the Mob
and the rampant public corruption here
during the '40 and 50's, or the illegal
casinos (The Colonial Inn, The Plantation),
or the town's early history of tomato
farming.

Instead, as of 8 p.m. on November 14th,
the first sentence of the second paragraph
now reads: The city is best known as
the home of Mardi Gras Gaming
greyhound racing track, which hosts
the World Classic.

Really?
"Best known?"
Since when?

The hidden-hand of Steve Geller's
longtime pal and campaign/PAC
contributor at The Mardi Gras,
Dan Adkins, or his minions?

The same Dan Adkins whose
Mardi Gras gambling operation
continually refused to cooperate
with the City of Hallandale Beach's
Master Plan consultants, EDAW?
(Which only made the whole effort
to plan the city's controlled growth
more preposterous if they couldn't
get any relevant information or
input from them!)

I honestly don't know.
Perhaps someone should contact them
and ask them that question.
Or, at very least, check out the "recent
edits" section of the entry.

But I do know that Gulfstream Park
used to be mentioned in the entry,
and now, as if someone performed
surgery, it's not.
Therein lies a mystery.
------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallandale

My oldest military ancestor: Continental Army spy for Gen. Washington

2009-11-11T20:31:00.027-05:00

The oldest military veteran that I've been
able to find in my family thru my up-and-down
genealogy pursuits over the past 25 years,
where I've spent what's seemed like entire
months at both The National Archives
and the Local History and Genealogy
Reading Room of the Library of Congress
is a paternal ancestor who was a spy for
Gen. George Washington in the Continental
Army.

(See http://www.archives.gov/,
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/,
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/,
http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/,
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html ,
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/icuhtml/ )

Over twenty years previously, in 1755,
he'd been an enlisted man under a young
Washington when they marched en masse
from Alexandria to Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh)
with British Gen. Edward Braddock on his
ill-fated expedition to capture that strategic
French fort.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Braddock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braddock_expedition

(One of the Washington, D.C. Metrorail
stations in Old Town Alexandria is actually
called Braddock Road.
http://transit.schuminweb.com/transit/wmata/blue-line.php?station=C12
It's the Metro station that's only a few
hundred feet from the HQ of PBS.
Here in South Florida. as we all know,
they'd name the station after a living politician!)

After the Revolutionary War ended
and my ancestor manged to avoid
being captured and having a British
Army noose wrapped around his neck,
for his efforts, he received some land
way out in the Ohio Territories,
about an hour from current-day
Pittsburgh, .

Which is why my paternal ancestors
and family have lived continuously
in Jefferson County, Ohio, right off
the Ohio River, since before it
became a state.

And me, I was born at the Lackland
Air Force Base hospital in San Antonio,
where my mother worked right next door,
directly under the Base Commander at
Kelly AFB, where my father was in the
Flight Surgeon's Office.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/kelly.htm
http://www.mysanantonio.com/military

They each saw President and
Mrs. Kennedy the day before he was
killed, when Air Force One flew into
Kelly and went thru the official receiving
line.

Our family has a photograph of them
at the base that day that I've never seen
published anywhere else in the myriad
books and film footage of their time in
Texas. One day...

Happy Veteran's Day!

Just Broward County being Broward County when facing their own serial incompetence. A sad, familiar refrain...

2009-11-10T15:34:00.016-05:00

Below are some thoughts by some very concerned
Broward County citizens on what's going on up at
Andrews Ave. with the Broward County Commission,
with my own comments just below them, which are,
in large part, excerpts of an email of my own sent to
the writers and the much larger community who gets
my emails.

The emails are in reverse-chron order with some
identifiable email info removed, and some blank spacing
eliminated, but otherwise identical to how I received it
over the weekend.
The comments are pretty self-explanatory and the
official govt. response speak volumes.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Charlotte Greenbarg
Date: Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 11:04 AM
Subject: FW: Another arrest: J. Eggelletion from Mae Smith
To: Charlotte Greenbarg

Read the whole list of emails. Interesting. Go Mae!

Charlotte

From: Warence Mae Smtih
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 5:52 PM
To: 'Dave Reierson'; 'Henry, Bertha'; 'Keechl, Ken'; Commissioner Diane Wasserman-Rubin; Commissioner Ilene Lieberman ; Commissioner John Rodstrom ; Commissioner Ken Keechl; Commissioner Kristen Jacobs; Commissioner Lois Wexler; Commissioner Stacey Ritter; Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger
Cc: Michael Mayo
Subject: RE: Another arrest: J. Eggelletion

To all who have the authority or power to take responsible action:

Commissioner Eggelletion was removed from office in September it appears on the website as if he still represents the district. Why is it taking so long to remove his name off of the website? This is misleading to the residents of District 9. When School Board Commissioner Beverly Gallagher was removed from office; the school board immediately removed her pictures and name from all business of the school board. The school board felt a need take immediate action. Is there a reason for you to be so slow to remove his name?

Today Ex-Commissioner Eggelletion turned himself into the Broward County Jail. The Feds has him on one corner and the State Attorney’s Office finally has him on the other. I don’t think Governor Crist is stupid and I don’t think you are. What are the chances of the Governor Crist re-instating him to office? All material and websites that advertise his name as Commissioner for District 9 should be removed NOW!!!!

Warence “Mae” Smith

President of St. George Civic Association, Inc.

From: Dave Reierson
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 5:15 PM
To: 'Dave Reierson'; 'Henry, Bertha'; 'Keechl, Ken'
Cc: Mae Smith; Michael Mayo
Subject: Another arrest: J. Eggelletion

Commissioner Keechl and Ms. Henry:

The attached story about another arrest of former Comm. Eggelletion further questions your approach about your unwillingness to update your website. Your official website states that he remains a Broward County Commissioner and that he represents District 9. I seems that you put little value in the content of the website, even the home page and somehow this inaccuracy about who holds an elected office is a small issue to the Commission and to the County Administrator.

http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3512&Itemid=1

Dave Reierson

Oakland Park, FL

From: Dave Reierson
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 11:20 PM
To: 'Henry, Bertha'; 'Keechl, Ken'
Subject: RE: J. Eggelletion

Ms. Henry:

I guess that makes sense to you, but certainly not to me. Updating of the web site is dependent on actions of the Governor? There is a vacant spot on the Broward County Board of Commissioners, but you seem to be not willing to acknowledge it on the web site. Apparently the web site is not expected to be current or accurate, even when it addresses a matter as important as our elected officials. Evidently that is also quite acceptable to the other Commissioners. It also seems to me that this update to the website should be quite manageable and a rather simple task. Certainly that is our expectation in the private sector, but in the public sector our expectations are expected to be much lower? This makes me continue to wonder how well the large tasks are being managed.

Dave Reierson

Oakland Park

From: Henry, Bertha
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 7:07 PM
To: Keechl, Ken; 'Dave Reierson'
Subject: RE: J. Eggelletion

Dear Mr. Reierson,

We expect the Governor to make an appointment any day now. Once done, we will update all at once.

From: Keechl, Ken
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 12:47 PM
To: 'Dave Reierson'
Cc: Henry, Bertha
Subject: RE: J. Eggelletion

Dave:

Under the Broward Co. Charter, this decision is that of Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry. I have cc’d her on this email. Ms. Henry, please respond to Mr. Reierson directly.

Thanks for your continued support, Dave.

Ken

Ken Keechl, District 4 Commissioner

Vice Mayor Broward County

From: Dave Reierson
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 11:59 AM
To: Keechl, Ken
Subject: J. Eggelletion

Commissioner Keechl:

I see that J. Eggelletion is still listed as a Commissioner of the Broward County Board of Commissioners. His website states that he represents District 9. Neither is true. Why hasn’t this been corrected?

Dave Reierson

Oakland Park, FL

----------
November 10th, 2009

Up 'till now, I've always avoided forwarding
emails to you for all the obvious reasons,
but as you can see below, other concerned
citizens in Broward are noticing the very same
sorts of 'curious' things that we've been noticing
and taking note of for quite some time and also
asking why?

Their emails and questions ring familiar to us
and resonate deep inside because they contain
the same lyrics from that same old sad song
of incompetence and misfeasance sung by
Broward County administrators and elected
officials, starting with Bertha Henry and her
assistants.

To cite one recent example, Broward County
administrators DIDN'T properly keep the
public information on their website accurate
or up-to-date on their so-called Courthouse
Taskforce, under Broward Commissioner
Ilene Lieberman as Chair.

(When you're looking for fresh objective
eyes on a subject, why was a Broward
Commissioner on the Taskforce in the
first place, thereby effectively giving her
two votes on the matter?
And made the Chair?

The entire Courthouse Taskforce had
self-evident professional and personal
conflicts of interests of the sort that,
in a well-run county would've never
allowed them to pass muster,
since there was nobody on it who was
even openly agnostic about needing
a new facility, much less, critical of
the county's self-serving bias with
taxpayers dollars.

But with just a few rare exceptions,
seemingly everyone in South Florida
media just looked the other way,
because the Broward County Commission
desperately wants a new Courthouse,
and doesn't much care what taxpayers say
or think, or what sorts of behind-the-scenes
moves they have to finesse in order to get
their way.

There's a reason why the Broward
County Commissioners don't want to
have a public referendum on this issue.

If the media is supposed to be 'watchdogs'
for the public, why did South Florida's media
suddenly go deaf, mute and blind on this issue
and never ask tough questions about the
personnel makeup of this Taskforce,
and why did the Editorial Boards of the
Herald and Sun-Sentinel just sit on the
sidelines and take one for the home team,
i.e. The Establishment, and never ask?

Do you know what they call a place where
the 'watchdog' doesn't bark?
Of course you do, because you live here, too.
They call it our reality -South Florida 2009.)

Under Comm. Lieberman's watch,
the Taskforce waited until hours AFTER
their last scheduled public meeting before
finally putting up the agenda and any and all
relevant updated info, docs and renderings,
as well as the Minutes of the previous meeting,
which was supposed to be online for the
public to examine long BEFORE that meeting
ever started.

In a well-run community where there is actual
punishment and public rebuke of those who
don't play by society's norms and laws, and
who continually don't do what they're supposed
to do, there's a real tangible downside to those
who don't place the info on the county's website
WEEKS BEFORE, if not days before,
as the County kept trying to peddle their
sad-luck mold stories to anyone in the media
who'd ask, complete with arranging tours of
supposed off-limit areas.

But this isn't a well-run county as we all know,
so it WASN'T done.
There was no public accountability.

That's why in the days prior to that final public
meeting of Broward's Courthouse Taskforce,
I emailed Comm. Sue Gunzburger's office
to let her know about this failure by the county
to properly keep the public FULLY informed.
Her always helpful staff forwarded my concerns
to the top of the county.

Later, I received what I can only describe as
a series of pathetic, self-serving excuses from
one of County Administrator Bertha Henry's
assistants.

These rather silly and unsatisfactory missives
were very similar to the ones I received this
past Spring when I grilled them about the fact
that ONE YEAR after-the-fact, the relevant
information and Minutes from the FINAL
public meeting of the county's Charter
Review Commission in April of 2008,
including the actual arguments for and
against individual items being proposed
for the Nov. 2008 ballot for county voters,
as well as the actual procedural and final
votes by the individual committee members,
were STILL NOT on the county's website.

So, after posting them every few weeks,
what, they just forgot to do it BEFORE
the actual election?

Call me old-fashioned, but I happen to
believe that Broward County's citizen
taxpayers, having already paid for all
the costs involved, had an absolute right
to actually read that information and
see for themselves why some proposals
made the cut and others didn't, and know
specifically who said what when.

Maybe they'd have noticed as I did from
having actually been there in person,
the highly anti-democratic comments
and votes taken by the Broward city
mayors who were appointed to the CRC,
under Chair Lori C. Moseley of Miramar,
all of whom, coincidentally, were women.

In my opinion, the worst offender of all
was Cooper City mayor Debby Eisinger,
whose comments and behavior made me
think that what she'd really like to be in
another life is a despot.
And not a benevolent dictator, either.

Last year there was a proposal before the
CRC to take a resolution to the County
Commission to support a process that
would lead to a procedure that allowed
the public to place legitimate agenda items
on the County Commission agenda

With 19 members present, 13 votes were
need to pass.
http://www.broward.org/charter/pdf/crc_regular_meetin20040908final.pdf
page 10

It lost 13-5.
Only two women on the CRC voted yes:
H.K. "Petey" Kaletta and Burnadette
Norris-Weeks.
Six voted against: Debby Eisinger,
Lori Moseley, Patricia Good, Maggie
Davidson, Hazelle Rogers, Jodi
Jeffreys-Tanner.

Page 20, On the proposal for the creation
of an advisory MTA, which I strongly
supported and which passed 15-4,
voting against were Debby Eisinger,
Lori Moseley and Patricia Good

On the proposal that received the lion's share
of media attention last year which would allow
Broward County citizens to vote in November
for or against a County-wide elected mayor,
George A. Morgan, Jr. the Exec. Director
of The Broward Workshop put it plainly
on page 73 in his submitted remarks:
"...The voters have a right to decide this
important issue... Don't take their right
to vote away..."

At page 84, Mr, Morgan speaks in person

On page 127, you can see who voted for
and against which led to the motion failing
on a 10-9 vote, failing to get the 13 votes.

The women voting to prevent Broward County
voters from deciding this issue themselves:
Burnadette Norris-Weeks, Maggie Davidson,
Hazelle Rogers, Jody Jeffreys-Tanner
and our ol' pal, Debbie Eisinger.

Cooper City mayor Debbie Eisinger voted
against all three, earning her the booby prize.

That Eisinger, Joy Cooper and a few other
Broward pols recently endorsed Attorney
General candidate Dan Gelber, see
Gelber rolls out more Broward
endorsements
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/10/gelber_rolls_out_more_broward.html
Posted by Anthony Man on October 7, 2009,
caused me to write a post a few weeks ago
that you'll soon see, tentatively titled without
exaggeration, Rogue's Gallery of Broward
Officials Endorses Dan Gelber - Includes
Joy Cooper, Naturally.

All of these important matters about the CRC
were seemingly only observed by myself,
since the Herald and Sun-Sentinel's coverage
of that final public meeting was woefully
short of what was needed or required.

So as to your question of what sort of people
possess the chutzpah to think they can do nothing,
after-the-fact, when it suits them, and think they
can get away with it, I'd suggest it's the very same
people who don't do what they're required to do,
before-the-fact, when it suits them and they think
they can make it stick.

The answer, of course, is the Broward
County Commission, though sometimes,
it's also the Hallandale Beach City
Commission for the same exact inexplicable
reasons.

Except when it's not at all inexplicable but
patently obvious to both you and me:
because they can.

It's the same reason that the Hallandale Beach
City Commission last week refused to agree
to Comm. Keith London's common sense
plan to post the Diplomat Country Club's
very unpopular Local Activity Center
(LAC) application on the city’s feeble website.

Nobody would even second the motion.
Joy Cooper, William Julian, Dotty Ross
and Anthony A. Sanders all just sit there
like bumps on a log, as the silence echoed
throughout the Commission Chambers.

Why?
Because they don't want you to know!

And trust me, in a few weeks, they'll be
criticizing HB citizens from the dais just like
Mayor Cooper was doing in earnest last
Wednesday morning, over the city's very
unpopular RAC plan, saying that people
in the community were "uneducated"
and were spreading lies, etc.
It was typical Joy Cooper
theatre-of-the-absurd.

Yet they won't post the important yet very
unpopular LAC plan on their own website
so that people in the community can actually
see what the specific details are.
THAT is what passes for normal in corrupt and
poorly-run Hallandale Beach, Florida in the year
2009.

If you're interested, you can see some of my
own contemporaneous comments about the
myriad actions of both the Broward Charter
Review Commission and the Courthouse
Taskforce by going here,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Charter%20Review%20Commission
and here, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search?q=courthouse

Cuba to be focus of Turner Classic Movies Monday night, November 9th

2009-11-09T01:42:00.024-05:00

Cuba to be focus of Turner Classic Movies
Monday night, November 9th.

"Before the revolution it was an exotic travel destination
and our 5-film lineup takes you to another place and time..."

Mystery, melodrama, myths and suspense...

8 p.m. Topaz (1969)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, 142 minutes
A French agent is sent to Cuba to spy for the
CIA.

10:30 p.m. Our Man in Havana (1960)
Directed by Carol Reed, 107 minutes
A salesman in Cuba takes up spying to support
his spendthrift daughter.

12:30 a.m. Cuba (1979)
Directed by Richard Lester, 122 minutes
A British mercenary meets an old love while
training anti-Castro forces in Cuba.

2:45 a.m. Pier 5, Havana (1959)
Directed by Edward L. Cahn, 68 minutes
An American in Cuba tries to thwart a bombing
plot aimed at Castro.

4:00 a.m. We Were Strangers (1949)
Directed by John Huston, 106 minutes
A Cuban American returns to his homeland
during the Revolution and becomes involved
in an assassination attempt.

South Florida media blows easy lay-up on health care reform -what else is new?

2009-11-08T00:32:00.032-05:00

I could've asked this rhetorical question anytime
during the summer or last month or last week,
and the answer would be the same, but here
goes:
Where exactly are the interviews by reporters
from the Miami Herald and South Florida
Sun-Sentinel and Channels 4, 6, 7 or 10
with the various candidates running to replace
Kendrick Meek in Congress on what they
think about the particulars of the current health
care debate and the bill that got passed by the
House late Saturday night, one of whom will
likely get elected?

Well, they are invisible to the naked eye
because they have never taken place.

Instead, South Florida's apathetic media have
taken to drowning us in the smug, snarky and
arrogant comments of South Florida media pet,
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the woman
who wouldn't even meet her own constituents
face-to-face on the issue, preferring to go the
Tele-Town Hall, which is to participatory
democracy what Publix frozen pizza is to
Sicilian Cuisine.

Not that South Florida media even got up
long enough from their summer slumber
to chide her about this, or even commented
on how imperious this made her look.
As if she didn't have that attitude down pat!

Can you guess where DWS was when she
'participated' in the group telephone call
masquerading as constituent work sessions?

Actually, I know, but the real answer is that
sometimes it doesn't matter what you as an
elected official think, what's important is
showing that you care enough to listen
with an open mind.

She couldn't even gather up enough energy
to fake it for an hour or two.
Pathetic!

As we all know by now, DWS is not exactly
known for being one of the great listeners
among South Florida's elected officials,
nor is she someone with a rep for keeping
an open mind.

Her robotic Goldilocks empathy may cheer
some Broward condo commanders who only
want to hear her stay "on message," but it
leaves many moderate Democrats like me
cold.

So returning to media issue avoidance, as is
usually the case when it comes to news,
rather than actually being a tool for well-informed
news junkies in South Florida on this issue,
it's even worse when WIOD gets into the act,
because they play the same damn comments
every thirty minutes for over at least six hours
straight.

And when you know you're looking at hearing
dreary DWS all afternoon repeating Team
Pelosi's talking points, that's a real tune-out
factor.
Even makes you wonder what Jim Rome
is talking about in The Jungle on WINZ

By the end of four hours, you almost yell
out in Pavlovian anger what's about to be
said, word-for-word.
(This is also known as 'The Susan
MacManus Problem' to me and my
circle of friends on account of her
consistently insipid comments that
are no doubt supposed to sound
high-minded if not droll, but which
are usually neither.)

I did a thorough search of all news stories and
columns in the Herald or Sun-Sentinel for
the entire year to see if they quoted any of the
candidates' position on health care, based on
a few different popular lists of announced
candidates for CD-17, and guess what
turned up?
Nothing.

That's my CD and that's your South
Florida media hard at work.
Or is it hardly working?

I know some of the most well-informed
people in the whole ocean-side duchy of
Hallandale Beach and SE Broward County,
and yet with less than a year to go before
the election, nobody I know has seen
a single one of the roughly a dozen
announced CD-17 candidates in Hallandale
Beach at a non-partisan public event.

Part of the problem of a large part of Hallandale
Beach being in a gerrymandered district
like Kendrick Meek's -see maps
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/maps/111th.cgi?FLH17,
and http://www.nationalatlas.gov/ -of literally
being just a few miles south of FLL Airport,
yet merely being the appendage to a CD
like 17 based in Liberty City, Overtown,
Opa-Locka and Miami Gardens, is that the
candidates based there think they can
ignore you.

But guess what?
Our votes count, too.
And we can vote against candidates just
as easily as we vote for them, too.
With purpose or spite or whatever
particular emotion we feel at the time.

That makes you wonder how close the
fastball questions you ask of the candidates,
in front of the media, ought to come
to their head when you eventually
get the chance, since eventually,
you will.

How badly do you want to show how
unprepared THEY are to represent the
area in Washington?

Do you pepper them with simple questions
they consistently strike-out on, or do you
ask them hypotheticals, and then argue that
their answers actually show there's little
in their background to indicate they have
the chops for the job?

Trust me, Washington doesn't need
more dummies.

Have they ever been to Washington, D.C
before, a la Edward Markey?

Sometimes, a brush-back pitch or two serves
a very useful purpose, especially for people
who've already shown a pronounced tendency
to take you for granted.

I've wondered for months what would happen
to all the political calculations and CW if an
Anglo candidate with some demonstrated
organizational and people skills like a
Kevin Burns got into the race for CD-17?

And what if such a candidate declared
publicly that they'd let the other dozen
candidates ignore Hallandale Beach if
they wanted to, but that they'd actually
visit cities located within the CD,
and NOT take them for granted?
Hmm-m-m...

As they used to say during the beginning
VO narration to MTV's The Real World,
at least the first few season I watched,
I think these candidates who've ignored
voters here are going "to find out what
happens... when people stop being
polite... and start getting real...
The Real World"

The Real World Miami's Flora vs. Mike & Dan @ Yahoo! Video

The Real World: Washington, D.C.
premieres on December 30th.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/06/10/the-real-world-cancun-washington-dc-mtv/

Unconstitutional Power Grab: Hallandale Beach Considers Taxing Political Candidates for Free Speech

2009-11-04T01:09:00.016-05:00

Below, an email sent Tuesday afternoon to
Broward County Comm. Sue Gunzburger's
office, that was cc'd to the Commissioner.

I will be at both the Hallandale Beach and
Hollywood City Commission meetings
Wednesday morning and afternoon respectively,
so perhaps I'll see you there.

Just remember, wheels ARE in motion.
----------------------
November 3rd, 2009

Dear X:

Thanks for taking the time to speak to me
this afternoon on a matter I feel is of great
public interest and concern.

Here's the link to the issue I just spoke to you
about on the telephone that will becoming
before the Hallandale Beach City Commission
Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.,
agenda item 7A.

Description:
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2009-11-04%20City%20Commission/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202009-11-04.htm

City Manager's Office Staff Report:
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2009-11-04%20City%20Commission/staff%20reports/00004815.htm

Supporting Documents
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2009-11-04%20City%20Commission/item%207a/index.html

Completely contrary to both the U.S.
and Florida constitution, as well as past
Supreme Court rulings that political
contributions and paid political advertising
are Free Speech, the City of Hallandale
Beach proposes to create a law completely
out of thin-air that gives them the power
and right to charge political candidates
or issue/referendum groups, a tax or fee
of $200 -down from $500!- for exercising
their constitutional right to post either
political or advocacy signs within the
city limits of Hallandale Beach.

If, having paid all legally-required filing fees,
you are then required to pay a tax or fee
for simply exercising a legally-protected
constitutional right like political speech,
it's not really Free Speech, is it?

In my phone conversation with you,
I explained how preposterous this is
for all sorts of reasons, and I will revisit
those same points and others later this
evening on my blog, reminding you that
I've previously written about this issue,
which the South Florida press has
completely ignored.

At the first reading of this on October 21st,
the City Manager's office removed the
previous version of this proposal that,
equally absurdly and unconstitutionally,
gave the unelected City Manager the right
to place political advertising on city-controlled
property if they chose to, despite the fact
that it's the citizens and taxpayers of
Hallandale Beach whom the land in question
belongs to, not the unelected City Manager,
who in Mike Good's case, doesn't even
live in Hallandale Beach.

I'm sure that they are a perfectly fine employee,
but just for the record, the name of the person
in the Broward Supervisor of Election's
office, Operations Dept. I spoke to earlier,
who didn't seem to quite grasp the larger
principle involved that I was trying to share
with them, via a head's-up -even though
I know quite well that Broward County
doesn't have a regulatory element in this,
per se- before placing my call to you at
Comm. Gunzburger's office, is XXX,
who at least has their name and email
address on the Elections webpage.

Why Dr. Snipes and her office's Legal
Counsel don't have their official email
address listed somewhere on their county
webpage,
http://www.browardsoe.org/default.aspx?s=1
I couldn't begin to tell you, since that is
whom I wanted to contact about this matter
in the first place, but couldn't.

It strikes me that if it's good enough for
the County Administrator and the County
Commissioners to have their email addresses
on the county's website, it really ought to be
good enough for the people running the
county's Elections office as well.

My early Sunday morning, caffeine-filled political cry for a surprise Independent candidate for FL governor

2009-11-02T01:44:00.008-05:00

Received the article below about State Senator
Paula Dockery announcing next week that she's
challenging Bill McCollum for the GOP 2010
gubernatorial nomination via a Google Alert.
I told you Google Alerts were great!

Given the fact that nobody is thrilled with the
announced candidates for next year's gubernatorial
race, including me, might this race for governor
represent the best opportunity ever in modern
Florida history for a savvy, moderate Independent
candidate, along the lines of what's happened
ub the recent past in Connecticut and Minnesota,
to win on a campaign predicated on changing
the dynamic of the culture of parochialism,
corruption and pay-for-play lobbying in Tallahassee
and throughout the state, esp. in Broward County?

Not to mention, the state's general backwardness
and clumsiness in dealing with international business
and trade in a sophisticated manner, despite all
the international trips taken by governors, cabinet
members and county commissioners.

Remind me again, what year did MIA finally
get rental luggage carts?
The first or second Clinton term?

That Florida trails many Northern states in solar
and alternative energy job creation ought to be
embarrassing to the state's so-called leaders,
but seems to bother them not a whit.

But despite everyone perpetually whining about
FP&L, it doesn't really seem to be bothering
Green voters in Florida enough to actually put
their own money where their mouth is to create
actual working alternatives that make sense and
make a profit.

Where are the successful solar and alternative
energy companies in the Sunshine State?

Not anywhere around South Florida, otherwise,
we'd all know the names of them from the local
media constantly lionizing them.

And seriously, what about the state's dated
1940's-era dependence on sales taxes and
real estate to keep the economy going,
rather than having.a broader-based
technology-based economy that wasn't
so sensitive to changes in tourism trends?

What sort of strategy is always hoping that
some out-of-state or foreign entity will just
magically drop-in and spend money, and
will ignore the fact that the state's poor
schools actually repel many decison-makers
from even considering the state in general,
or South Florida in particular?

Those people may come and visit on a trip,
family or business, but actually live here
with their families?
Are you kidding?

What kind of economic plan is hoping?
It sounds like farmers hoping for rain in
Third World countries beset by drought.

Like most of you, I hear media reports
every so often about someone in the state
making general platitudes about changing
that mentality at some CoC speech in
Orlando or Tampa or whatever, but
where's the action?

Where's an actual plan that you can look
at online and judge for yourself?

I'd love to see a governor's race on
important issues like this, but with
the humorless and charisma-challenged
characters we've got so far,
it doesn't look very good,
which is a sad reflection of the talent
in the country's fourth-largest state.

That fact, conversely, helps create
the vacuum for someone who really
will talk intelligently and enthusiastically
about those issues and lays out an
intelligent, sensible plan for making
the necessary changes.

I'm one moderate Democrat who'd
vote for that person, regardless of party.

Right now, my 2010 FL gubernatorial
vote is for None of the Above.
---------
JaxPoliticsOnline.com

Paula Dockery Announcing For Governor Next Week
by Abel Harding
November 1, 2009
http://jaxpoliticsonline.com/2009/10/31/paula-dockery-announcing-for-governor-next-week/

Unpopular RAC proposal and Diplomat Country Club expansion affecting Hollywood and Hallandale Beach

2009-11-01T18:02:00.018-05:00

Darkness on the Edge of Town,
October 30, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Above, the City of Hallandale Beach's pathetic
monument sign on the median of U.S.-1 that
greets north-bound visitors from Aventura
-relocated a bit since Spring- which STILL
doesn't work at night.

What a telling and dreadful first impression
for visitors.

It's been well over FIVE YEARS since there
was a light shining on this particular sign,
which is as simple and stark a reminder of the
longstanding gross incompetence and mismanagement
of the current Cooper & Good regime as you
could find in the city.

(Well, actually it's first by a nose, since tomorrow,
the so-called Community Center under the
A1A Water Tower celebrates 27 MONTHS
of being closed to average HB citizens and taxpayers,
but occasionally open for HB City Hall pals and
cronies, as I've chronicled here many times before.)

To give you some useful context for understanding
this fact, that's LONGER than the U.S.'s involvement
in World War II.

So where's the light? Good question.
Why don't you ask that question of the man
responsible, John Chidsey, the city's DPW
Director since February, and the City Manager's
son-in-law?

Soon, you'll be able to see the video I've shot
the last few months of it looking neglected
and forlorn at night.
------------------------------

Below, some photos I snapped Saturday night around
6:30 p.m., after spending some time writing and
reading at Panera's.

The public notice sign is on the west-side sidewalk
of Diplomat Parkway, just north of Hallandale
Beach Blvd. and adjacent to the Diplomat
Country Club's property.

October 31, 2009 photos by South Beach Hoosier.
-----
Are you going to Monday night's important meeting?

It's very important for HB citizens and others in the
greater community to keep in mind that there are
more than just the residents in the immediate area
of the Diplomat Country Club who will be
adversely affected by this out-of-scale proposal,
now up to bat for the second time, after folding
their tent last year.

Based on the phone calls and emails I've personally
received within the past week, and what I've heard
from others in conversations, I expect that we'll see
quite a lot of Hollywood residents present and
accounted for at the HB Cultural Center to see what
we're all up against.

As it happens, over the past few weeks, the Diplomat's
lawyer/lobbyist on this project, Debbie Orshefsky,
who along with Diplomat Properties LP's Suzanne
Friedman -formerly of Forest City's lobbying efforts
with The Village at Gulfstream- is attempting to get
this passed here, has greatly increased her public profile.

Orshefsky was at the October 14th City Hall-sponsored
'community meeting' at the HB Cultural Center regarding
their controversial and poorly thought-out RAC proposal,
which featured citizen after citizen taking the microphone
in hand and mocking, attacking and vilifying Hallandale
Beach City Hall, and City Manager Mike Good personally,
for, among other things, not being more proactive about
letting the community know exactly what the city was
planning to do.

I plan on posting video of that highly-charged
meeting onto my blog and my YouTube Channel
soon.

Orshefsky was also one of the forty or so people
in the audience attending Wednesday afternoon's
HB P&Z Advisory Board meeting on that subject,
which I recorded.

http://fl-hallandalebeach.civicplus.com/index.aspx?NID=705

The unpopular RAC proposal was rejected on a
3-2 vote, largely on account of the city's continued
inability to definitively answer the most basic
questions about it, as well as their refusal to even
wait just one month to re-present it when they could
answer those questions to the Board's satisfaction,
and could produce more specific, finalized details
of the plan to the public.

What really bothered me, the Board and the
other citizens in the room the most was
City Hall's embarrassing inability to specifically
answer the simple question of why,
if the RAC is such a great idea,
can't it be used to cover the entire city,
except for residential A1A?

You'd think that given what they're proposing,
they'd have all thought about this question
a little bit, but the reasons given for not doing
this were utterly unconvincing.

It reminded me all over again of why I'm so
openly critical of the way things are done at
HB City Hall, after giving people there the
benefit of the doubt for way too long:
poorly-conceived and executed policy
decisions are wrapped in anti-democratic
stealthiness and obfuscation,
an unwillingness to accept any
constructive criticism, and crowned
with petulance and a desperate
self-serving need to cover-up when
found out.

It seems like I heard at least one metaphorical
reference by someone in the Chambers that
afternoon to the effect that HB City Hall is,
essentially, asking the P&Z Board to sign
onto a blank check without asking any
questions.

In response to P&Z Board members' requests
for the city to wait one month and come back
to the P&Z for approval, Richard Cannone,
the Director of the city's Development Services
Dept., who did much of the city's Power Point
presentation -along with a woman from
Calvin-Giordano who's often at Hollywood
City Hall- said that although the plan wouldn't
really get started until 2011 or 2012, after coming
back from Broward County for approval, the city
DIDN'T want to wait even one month.

This very negative response by City Hall seemed
to genuinely surprise some people in the audience,
many of whom I'd never seen before, because it
seemed at odds with both common sense and the
expressed desires of the HB citizens in the room,
who'd come specifically to actually get MORE
INFORMATION.

Rather than being prudent and reasonable and
agreeing to provide more answers to the public
in the future, the city's response was to
pick-up their football and go home.

After everything that's already happened
with this proposal, all very negative,
this move on Wednesday by HB City Hall
really showed a tremendous amount of contempt
and disrespect for the citizens of this community,
and particularly the ones who found time away
from work or their families to show-up in the
middle of the day.

It only proved once again why the HB P&Z
Board meetings should be held in the evening,
when more HB citizens and business owners
can actually attend and participate, as is the
case in Hollywood.

That's how I was able to learn the details last year
about what was going on with the plans for the
Beach One Resort hotel project on A1A and
HBB, before it ever went to the Hollywood
City Commission for two separate meetings,
both of which I also later attended.
You might recall that this is the project for which
HB is foolishly suing the City of Hollywood.

Wednesday's HB P&Z meeting was the first
time that the city has definitively stated for the
record that the RAC's eastern border north
of HBB was the West side of N.E. 8th Avenue,
and did NOT include the area across the street,
adjacent to the Hallandale Jewish Center
that Peter Deutsch desperately wants to make
another campus of his Ben Gamla Charter
Hebrew School empire, for which he and his
financial partners will be paid over $2 million
a year by the Broward County School system
if the HB City Comm. gives him the zoning
variance he needs to build the K-12 project
in that quiet single-family home neighborhood.

Wednesday afternoon was also the first time
that City Hall publicly said that the original area
to be contained within the RAC zone had actually
shrunk, following a meeting they'd had just days
before with residents from NW HB, who were
VERY concerned that too many residential areas
there seemed to have been tossed into the RAC
grab-bag without any serious thought or
consideration, which echoed the complaints
about indifference cited many times by speakers
at that meeting on October 14th.

This admission that changes had been made
to the proposed zone only heightened the
generalized sense of frustration among many
in the room on Wednesday afternoon,
some of whom, no doubt, feel that the zone
should perhaps be further down-sized,
even if they agree with the general idea of it.

That reasonable option seems obvious to you
and I, but not to HB City Hall, since Cannone
said that they are going forward with the
map/zone they already have.

http://fl-hallandalebeach.civicplus.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1224

Yet having declared this in public, I know for
a fact that Cannone will be at the Hepburn Center
again on Monday night at 6 p.m., since civic
activist Mary Washington said as much to me
after Wednesday afternoon's meeting was over.

Talk about sending mixed messages.

But don't call HB City Hall with any ideas
of them sending someone to your neighborhood
group to explain what's going on with this.
That's simply not gonna happen.

It seems to me that in a normal city that's
well-run and that fully understands its
obligations to its citizens to properly explain
its policy proposals, in this instance, it's the
burden of the city to explain or rationalize
why one area is included and another
is excluded, so that residents better
understand the process and the eventual
goal, even if they disagree with it.

You and I don't currently live in such a city.

Of course, some people were angry that the only
way they could even find out whether or not their
home or commercial property was in the RAC
zone was by showing-up and asking.

So now the city's RAC plan which, goes to the
HB City Commission for their Nov. 18th meeting,
which starts in the afternoon, takes a
break, and then concludes in the evening.

Both the unpopular RAC proposal and the
unpopular Diplomat expansion project have
been fast-tracked by HB City Manager
Mike Good for no logical reasons that
can be explained.
Why??

But then that's just the standard M.O.
around here, isn't it?

As always, failing a logical reason that
you can point to based on the evidence
at hand, you have to 'follow the money'
and see who profits from the decision
to push these particular proposals NOW,
exactly a year before next year's election.

-----------------

Published in Miami Herald on 10/25/2009
----------------------
No records found for Suzanne Friedman

http://www.sun-sentinel2.com/lobbyistsbroward/ftLaudlobbyistsbrow_view.php?editid1=639

Lobbyist Name	Orshefsky, Debbie M
Company	Greenberg Traurig
Address	401 East Las Olas Boulevard
City	Fort Lauderdale
Company Phone	(954) 768-8234
Client Name	Diplomat Properties, LP c/o Capital Hotel Manageme
Client Address	584 Cabot Street
Client City	Beverly
Client State	MA
Client ZIP	01915
Client Phone	(978) 522-7009
General Subject	Land Development Approvals
Specific Subject	Land Development Approvals
Registration Date	10/5/2009
Lobbyist Status	Approved
Client Status	Active

Problems at Magna's Gulfstream Park are much bigger than you think!

2009-11-01T01:06:00.038-04:00

My comments, some of which were in cold storage
for months, follow the articles.
---------------------------
www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-gulfstream-murphy-103109,0,6496345.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Gulfstream Park's president quits suddenly

By Nick Sortal

October 31, 2009

Gulfstream Park President Bill Murphy resigned Saturday, according to a company press release.

Murphy could not be reached for comment and no reason was given for his abrupt resignation, which took effect Friday.

Murphy joined the Hallandale Beach horse track and casino in June 2006 as a vice president in charge of racing. Gulfstream's parent company, Magna Entertainment Corp., promoted him to president and general manager in January 2007.

Just prior to his promotion, Gulfstream Park added slot machines and in February, 2010, it plans to open a $1.2 billion mall with restaurants, nightclubs and stores, including a Crate and Barrel and a Pottery Barn.

The casino's slots revenues run third behind the Isle Casino & Racing in Pompano Beach and Mardi Gras Gaming & Racetrack in Hallandale Beach. But Murphy, who in an interview last month called himself "more of a horse guy than a casino guy," pointed out that neither of those racinos have the racing revenues Gulfstream does. Four of the past seven Kentucky Derby winners raced at Gulfstream.

State figures also show Gulfstream is the only of the three with an increase in slot revenues this year; they're up 5 percent.

Magna, however, declared bankruptcy in March and is selling off pieces of the company, including a horse track last month. Experts had suggested Gulfstream would not be for sale but a recent Wall Street Journal article suggested creditors are pushing for Gulfstream to be auctioned off in February.

In 2007, Gulfstream got into trouble with the state after it was discovered that employees had stolen hundreds of thousands from machines using free-play cards. There also were delays in building The Village at Gulfstream, which was supposed to open two years ago.

The state this past August said it would fine Gulfstream $800,000 in the theft, citing poor oversight. But Gulfstream is arguing that the state, which screens the hires, cleared two perpetrators who had criminal histories.

In the news release, Murphy thanked Magna for "the opportunity, and honor, of working with an incredible staff and with the greatest horsemen and jockeys in the world."

Nick Sortal can be reached at nsortal@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4725.

Reader comments:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-gulfstream-murphy-103109,0,1013215,comment-display-all.story

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.magna15oct15,0,3187143.story

Baltimore Sun
Tracks to go on block
Bankruptcy judge OKs auction of Pimlico, Laurel early next year
By Hannah Cho

October 15, 2009

WILMINGTON, Del. - A federal bankruptcy judge approved Wednesday a plan to auction
Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park early next year, over objections from the tracks' former owners, who opposed the speed of the sale.

Meanwhile, two potential Maryland buyers - developers David S. Cordish and Carl Verstandig - reiterated their interest in bidding on the tracks and the Preakness Stakes.

Magna Entertainment Corp., the Canadian firm that owns the racetracks and the Preakness Stakes and filed for bankruptcy protection in March, said the auction should be held quickly because Maryland law gives the state 60 days to review a deal and the right to match any bid.

The sale procedures also would require potential buyers to keep the Preakness, the middle leg of racing's Triple Crown, in Maryland, satisfying concerns of the state and others in the horse industry who had feared losing the state's single largest sporting event.

But Benjamin Feder, a lawyer representing Joseph De Francis and other former owners, argued that the sale procedures do not consider the group's rights to slots and other alternative gambling at the racetracks, particularly at Laurel Park. When the former owners sold their controlling interest in the Maryland Jockey Club, the umbrella organization for the two tracks, they entered into a deal with Magna to split the proceeds from any alternative gambling development.

Feder also revealed in court that De Francis and other former owners have engaged in talks with Magna about the Jockey Club assets.

De Francis said the group has submitted several proposals on "how they might recapitalize the Maryland assets and allow them to emerge from bankruptcy."

Asked whether any of the plans include the group buying back the tracks, De Francis said he could not discuss the details.

"We continue to be very disappointed that the Maryland assets are in bankruptcy and very interested in any plan that might bring them out of bankruptcy and restore them to viability," he said.

Magna, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, withdrew a proposal to auction the Maryland tracks last spring, in part because of objections by the state. That plan did not take into account the state's "right of first refusal" for the Preakness, which has a "chilling effect" on Magna's sale efforts, according to court papers filed by the company last week.

To ensure that the Preakness would stay in Baltimore, Maryland lawmakers passed a law this year granting the state the right to seize the event under eminent domain.

After the hearing before Judge Mary F. Walrath in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware, Gregory Cross, a Venable LLP bankruptcy attorney retained by the state of Maryland, said, "We have agreement that the Preakness will remain in the state, the state's matching right to the Preakness is taken into account in the sale, and the state will be afforded the opportunity to review all prospective purchasers in advance.

"We didn't have any of that in the spring. Our position has significantly improved. Most importantly, the Preakness is staying in the state," Cross said.

The auction procedure for the tracks has several steps.

Potential bidders have until Nov. 2 to submit proposals to Magna. They must provide a 10 percent deposit, as well as evidence that they have the money to complete the deal.

On Nov. 9, Magna is to give the court a lead, or "stalking horse," bid for the Maryland assets. The state is to receive the names of the other bidders on Dec. 7, but they won't be released to the public.

The auction of the Maryland assets is to be held on Jan. 8.

Besides reviewing bids, the state has preserved its right to request that it be allowed to match the winning bid from the auction.

Cordish, whose Cordish Cos. is being considered for Anne Arundel County's sole license to operate slot machines, said this week that the company is "very excited about the prospect of buying the tracks and the Preakness."

The Anne Arundel County Council has not approved a zoning change needed for the Cordish slots project to proceed. Cordish said his proposal for a casino at Arundel Mills will not change.

"We will be sending over $60 million a year to the tracks from slots revenues at [Arundel] Mills," he said. "It makes sense for us to own the tracks. We will have the resources to revitalize the horse industry in Maryland and return it to its former glory."

Verstandig, whose America's Realty LLC in Pikesville often invests in distressed urban shopping centers, said he and a partner with experience in horse racing would upgrade the two racetracks and attract other entertainment venues. They also would build office and retail space on land around the tracks.

"Since they came into play again, we want to try again," he said.
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Auction timeline

Nov. 2: Bids due.

Nov. 9: Magna will provide to the court a lead, or "stalking horse," bid for the Maryland assets.

Dec. 7: The state will be given names of other bidders.

Jan. 8: Auction

Reader comments:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.magna15oct15,0,7207072,comment-display-all.story
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The following are selected excerpts from an
email that I sent around South Florida and
points north on the evening of October 27th,
2009.

It was sent to people I know and trust, certain
elected officials throughout the region and state,
and certain savvy members of the news media,
all of whom have an interest to some degree
or another in whether or not Gulfstream Park
Race Track and the upcoming Village at
Gulfstream retail center -scheduled to open
at the beginning of February- will be run
in a smart and dynamic way, or whether they
will continue to flounder in all sorts of embarrassing
and self-evident ways, as has been the case since
I returned to South Florida six years ago.

Anne Arundel County, described above in the
Baltimore Sun article, is home to Annapolis,
where the state capitol and state legislature are
located, along with the U.S. Naval Academy
and a few well-regarded liberal arts schools,
so it's very upscale with small enclaves of rural
chic on the water and elsewhere.

Think J.G. Hook preppy chic on the Harbor.
Because of its ideal location, it's equally popular
with folks from both the Baltimore area and
the greater Washington area.
In an average year, I'd probably go up there
from Arlington County maybe 6-8 times with
friends.

To my mind, there's no real counterpart to it in
Florida as a whole, which is a shame, because
the historical charm is a real draw and doesn't
seem bogus and contrived the way so many
things down here do.

Despite all the tourists, you can still feel the
authenticity of history there, and for someone
like me with my particular interests, that's
very appealing.

Meanwhile, over at Gulfstream Park,
another Magna property, the same old
incompetence continues, with little apparent
regard for appearance, customer safety or
appeal, with visible trash in the same place
as it was last week and the week before that...

Last night, as has been the case more often than
you'd think possible for a business that's in the
entertainment business and wants you to come
onto their property, ALL the access, auxiliary
and parking lot lights from the entrances on both
U.S.-1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd., to far onto
the main area, were out.
All of them.

Pitch black!
At 7:55 p.m., when sundown is around
6:45 p.m.!

And they wonder why things are the way
they are?

Below, just a few photos from among the hundreds
I've talen over the past few years showing what's
really been going on at the place that ought to be
a real magnet for fun and amusement for the region,
and a local source of pride, but which instead is
an often dreary, myopic and poorly-managed
mess of an operation that can't seem to get out
of its own way.

In the near-future, you'll see even more confounding
and jaw-dropping photos in this space highlighting
often self-evident problems, but for now, here's a
quick bite to whet your appetite and open your
eyes a bit wider.

All photos below by South Beach Hoosier.

Above, the newly-built median entrance off U.S.-1
that does absolutely nothing to fix the longstanding
drainage (read flooding) problem there that goes
back many years and years...

Standing water often remains there for quite some
time, which doesn't exactly create an inviting
atmosphere for customers who have plenty of
entertainment options.

Seriously, why has that not ever been
properly fixed?

Above, the bottom portion of the Gulfstream Park
sign on the Northwest corner of the property, facing
south-bound traffic on U.S.-1/South Federal Highway.

Located on Hibiscus (i.e S.E. 2nd Street) just off of
U.S.-1 -and near the Forest City office trailer-
the sign used to be internally illuminated, but then
became external early this year, with a view of the
main buildings peeking thru at the bottom.

That sign hasn't been illuminated at night,
internally or externally, since around
Thanksgiving or so!

Nothing shows the lack of respect for potential
customers and the lack of first-class public relations
like half-assed negligence that never ends.

In fact, one of the two spotlights on the ground
in front of the sign that could be used to actually
shine a light on the situation has been missing for
many. many months.

As you can see for yourself, they don't even bother
trying to keep up appearances there.

That's a VERY bad sign for customers looking to
spend their money somewhere that's properly run

For the better part of the first six months of this
year, while the track was open, the track had rental
message boards plopped quite unattractively on the
median of south-bound U.S.-1, desperate to remind
people passing by that the place was actually open.

Naturally, this being South Florida, the sign was in
English, French and Spanish, but I never really quite
understood how it was that Gulfstream was able
to legally keep those signs on public property for
months on end.

It made the whole area look blighted!

Above, as if their very own promotional sign not working
for about a year isn't bad enough, it doesn't really help that
they also allowed vines and vegetation to grow eight-feet
high and higher, and start taking over the damn sign.

It doesn't just look like nobody cares cares,
when you're standing there, it feels like nobody cares.

It's not Wrigley Field chic, it's just unsightly.
Month-after-month-after-month.

Above, looking south from the Hallandale Beach Blvd.
entrance to the facility towards the pitch-black conditions
on the access road and the fairly-new employee dorms.

In case you didn't know, the dorms are right in the way
of extending S.E .2nd Street to 14th Avenue, a plan the
city has been considering since the early 1970's to
unclog the unbearable traffic conditions of HBB.

The road is necessary for some of the planned
development projects on HBB, like Oasis, in order
to prevent the current traffic saturation from getting
even worse for longer periods of time than currently.

Question: Why did the Hallandale Beach P&Z
Advisory Board and the HB City Commission
both vote to give Gulfstream Park the okay to
build the two separate dorm buildings there a few
years ago if they ALREADY KNEW that the
specific area was absolutely crucial to the city's
ever being liveable in the future?

Four people involved in that asinine decision are
still wrecking havic at HB City Hall:
Mayor Joy Cooper and Commissioners Dotty
Ross and William Julian.

The next time you see one of them, why don't you
ask them to answer the simple question of Why?,
and to explain to you why they refuse to give HB
City Manager Mike Good specific guidelines and
deadlines in negotiating with Gulfstream and Magna,
instead of simply letting him do whatever he wants,
with absolutely no oversight ro speak of, and with
hundreds of thousands of dollars to play with?

What some in this city call 'rogue negotiations.'

You'll be reading and seeing a lot more on
the topic of the extension of S.E. 2nd here
in the coming weeks and months.
Lots and lots of photos!

Reminder: The only reason you actually
see the road in the photo above is the
flash from my camera.

Above, one of the unlit auxiliary lights near
the dorm.

Above, from the same exact location as the previous
photo looking north towards HBB after a car has
passed in the dark of night.

Above, the unlit double-lights near the interior
of the public parking lot.

Oh well, at least the illuminated signs for
Crate & Barrel on U.S.-1 are working
at The Village at Gulfstream, three
months before the retail complex opens.

All the shots above are from Tuesday
October 27th.

It's fair to say that the series of posts I'll be
writing here about Gulfstream Park and
The Village at Gulfstream over the next
few weeks and months will include more
than their share of ripping and constructive
criticism, based on self-evident facts that
I've personally observed over the past
few years.

Part of that is a natural byproduct of what
I and many others in the community have
perceived as Gulfstream's very dismissive
know-it-all attitude towards those who
aren't already part of their co-opted little
family in Hallandale Beach and this part
of South Florida.

I suspect that many, if not most of you,
will come to learn a lot of things you never
knew or noticed before about them and their
myriad operations, including a few interesting
history lessons about how rocky things have
been in the past between the race track and
the city since it was first built.

But I'll also have some very good practical
and well-thought out suggestions for making
things much more interesting and fun over
there, because quite frankly, interesting and
fun is NOT at all what it is now, or has been
in the recent past.

Some of my suggestions may even strike you
as inspired, but many will seem like common
sense and may even be ones that you've
thought about yourself over the years.

I make the suggestions because I want it to be
better than it is now, or seems to aspire to be.
But it won't always be pretty, of that I have
no doubt.

And when I say that I've taken hundreds of
photos, I'm not joking.

I have plenty already to prove my central points.

Sunday's CBS4 I-Team Special at 6:30 p.m.

2009-10-30T18:14:00.027-04:00

Sunday's CBS4 I-Team Special at 6:30 p.m.,
right before CBS News 60 Minutes.

On Sunday's show, correspondent Scott Pelley
tours the Sanofi Pasteur plant in Swiftwater, Pa.,
the only one in America making the H1N1
flu vaccine.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/video/?pid=NFDTH07Oqk2qQkXtPVFH7EJ3FM4AMxtZ

Reminder: Dolphins at Jets kick-off on Channel 4
Sunday is 1 p.m.

News from CBS4 & My33

Quick Links

http://cbs4.com/iteam

CBS4 SPOTLIGHTS I-TEAM INVESTIGATIONS;
Half Hour Special Includes Three New Stories

Miami, Florida... The CBS4 I-Team has been responsible for bringing South Florida viewers ground-breaking investigations that have uncovered a number of frauds, scandals, scams and hidden dangers that were adverse to the public interest. On November 1 at 6:30 PM, CBS4 will present a half-hour special, ""The I-Team Investigates: A CBS4 News Special," featuring four new I-Team investigations. The program will be anchored by CBS4's Antonio Mora and feature I-Team reporters Michele Gillen, Jim DeFede and Stephen Stock.

The segments:

Trucking danger investigation - Michele Gillen takes viewers into the world of 18 wheelers where an I-Team investigation finds drivers are driving with little sleep, broken brakes, and while talking on cell phones... and killing alarming numbers of Floridians in the process. Gillen shows how fines for violating the sleep policy have not changed since the Eisenhower administration. Given today's difficult economy, insiders tell us that companies are pushing their drivers to work illegal hours, carry illegal loads, and drive broken trucks... and they are doing it because they need the money.

Marlins construction - From the moment construction began on the new Florida Marlins Stadium, nearby canals, water pumps and even the Miami River became contaminated with a milky substance that engineers have traced back to the dewatering operation at the old Orange Bowl site. For weeks city engineers blasted Hunt-Moss, the main contractor for the stadium, with emails demanding they take steps to control the contamination. Jim DeFede reports.

Medicare Fraud - Medicare Fraud results in $60 billion that's stolen from the pockets of tax payers every year nationwide. And South Florida is at the center of it all. The government reports that more than $4 billion dollars in Medicare Fraud has been scammed by South Florida companies in the last four years... and that roughly $2 Billion in false claims have been stolen by a group of companies established in about a ten block area in Miami alone... what federal investigators call the epicenter of Medicare fraud in the United States. Working in conjunction with CBS' 60 Minutes, the CBS4 I-Team spent the last six months penetrating the underworld of this Medicare fraud problem. Stephen Stock talks to those who actually committed the fraud and see how it works firsthand.

WFOR and WBFS/My 33 are part of CBS Television Stations, a division of CBS Corporation.

CBS4 is "always on." For local news, sports scores, weather updates, traffic reports, entertainment news and the best video experience available on the web 24 hours a day, go to CBS4.com.

-----------------------------
http://cbs4.com/iteam

Hallandale Beach Blog

Whistleblower's steadfastness, well-timed FOIA requests + WaPo's Lisa Rein = evidence of public safety at risk

Exclusive: The 2009 Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys of the Year'

Once again, sports reporters eager to avoid angering Tiger Woods and becoming 'Persona non Tiger'

Hollywood and Hallandale Beach parents aren't feeling love for Notter and Broward Schools; Where's Bob Butterworth?

Coming Sunday: The Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys of the Year'

In Which the Florida Panthers Change Their Stripes to Appeal to Moms out in Weston; Lafleur et les Habs

Ilene Lieberman, churlish chronic, self-interested obstructionist to common sense and ethics

Politics, Ice Coolers and Fighter Jets on the Beach: 2010 Air Lauderdale Beach Fest

Exciting match expected today when Terps play Tar Heels for NCAA D1 Field Hockey title

The $50k Rothstein 'hot potato' check burning a hole in Steve Geller's CCE, Floridians for a Stronger Tomorrow

Floridians for a Stronger TomorrowAbout the Campaign Finance Data Base

Get me a Tesla Roadster, stat! The sexy electric car that turns heads

Tesla Motors: an America's Hottest Brands Case Study

By Poornima Gupta

Grand opening of Crate & Barrel at Village at Gulfstream Park, Hallandale Beach, at 10 a.m.

Hannah Giles, America's new sweetheart undercover super-sleuth is back with more news about ACORN

Unpopular RAC and LAC plans to be discussed Tuesday at P&Z meeting and Comm. Keith London's meeting

Oh, say can you see... Guess which city's flag ignored Fort Hood and Veteran's Day?

Calling Sherlock Holmes! Wikipedia entry for Hallandale Beach no longer mentions Gulfstream Park!

My oldest military ancestor: Continental Army spy for Gen. Washington

Just Broward County being Broward County when facing their own serial incompetence. A sad, familiar refrain...

Cuba to be focus of Turner Classic Movies Monday night, November 9th

South Florida media blows easy lay-up on health care reform -what else is new?

Unconstitutional Power Grab: Hallandale Beach Considers Taxing Political Candidates for Free Speech

My early Sunday morning, caffeine-filled political cry for a surprise Independent candidate for FL governor

Unpopular RAC proposal and Diplomat Country Club expansion affecting Hollywood and Hallandale Beach

Problems at Magna's Gulfstream Park are much bigger than you think!

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Gulfstream Park's president quits suddenly

Sunday's CBS4 I-Team Special at 6:30 p.m.

Floridians for a Stronger Tomorrow

About the Campaign Finance Data Base