Why is it so hard for Hallandale Beach officials to be honest about public policy with residents, taxpayers and small business owners? City's 2014 Parks Bond issue increasingly looks like a very dubious deal that'll backfire on taxpayers, and more like a ploy by city officials to get good short-term PR while simultaneously allowing them to use voter-approved funds for other purposes, like pet projects of the mayor and city commission, instead of Parks. Aesthetics/maintenance of city's parks have long been an embarrassment to residents! But Mayor Joy Cooper, the City Commission and the current and past 2 City Managers have just looked the other way for YEARS instead of holding people -and themselves- accountable for results, even though compelling proof was just a block away at Peter Bluesten Park

City of Hallandale Beach Monument sign at 400 S. Federal Highway in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall. Yes, the sign's lights STILL DON'T come on at night, and haven't since current HB City Manager Renee C. Miller has been in charge of the day-to-day operations of this city -June of 2012. So, that's about 15 months and counting. And it's just the tip of the iceberg here. July 11, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Well friends, here we are a month later and there's still no official response from responsible officials at the City of Hallandale Beach regarding what I and many other Hallandale Beach residents believe are some highly-questionable decisions being made regarding the city's proposed 2014 Parks Bond issue involving that involves tens of million$ and an effort to finallt try to improve the city's Quality-of-Life.

Among other questions currently lacking an obvious answer is:

a.) Why is the Hallandale Beach Parks Bond vote now scheduled for August instead of November's General Election, when greatest number of HB voters can vote at the same time that they are voting for Governor, other statewide races, state legislative races and two Hallandale Beach City Commission seats -those of Comm. Alexander Lewy's and Comm. Anthony A. Sanders?

b.) Why does the city seem absolutely determined to phrase the Bond question in such a manner that voters will NOT have assurance that all funds voted upon and approved are ONLY spent for city parks maintenance and expansion? Instead, based on what has been heard publicly on this matter, it seems that it will be written so that the City Commission could use any voter-approved Parks Bond revenue for other purposes, instead of only for Parks, like more pet projects of the mayor and the city commission, despite the city's parks long being an open source of embarrassment and frustration to HB residents, esp. those with kids who know what other area cities offer their residents.

As of Noon today, there has been no response from Sarah Shamah, whom HB Parks and Recreation Director Cathie Schanz said I should contact regarding my germane questions about some park issues. (Schanz even cc'd her.)

Not that Director Schanz has tried to answer these questions, either, despite my sending an email reminder to both of them on September 20th, reminding them both that I expected a full response to my handful of very reasonable questions that the city's taxpayers are entitled to know before it's too late.

Since I didn't have any luck hearing from them, why don't you contact them yourself and ask them why they won't answer some simple questions honestly and in a reasonable time frame?

From my perspective, one month seems plenty of time to get around to answering some pretty simple questions.
Here's their contact information:
"Shamah, Sarah" - sshamah@hallandalebeachfl.gov
"Cathie Schanz" - cschanz@hallandalebeachfl.gov

Cathie Schanz, CPRE Director, Parks and Recreation   
Cultural Community Center 
410 SE 3 Street Hallandale Beach, FL  33009 
Phone:  (954) 457-1452   
Hours: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday – Friday

As most of you regular readers of the blog know from my many past posts on the subject of the city's poorly-maintained city parks, while I have been a very strong and vocal supporter of the HB Parks Master Plan  in general, 
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/final-hallandale-beach-parks-rec-master.html
and have attended 95% of all the meetings on it all over this city from the  very beginning -even attending the Parks Advisory mtg. to hear the pitch from the consultants at Bermello Ajamil Partners Inc. before the public officially heard it at a City Commission meeting-
I remain unconvinced that in a city that's only 4.2 square miles in total, that it ought to have two separate swimming pools within two miles of one another, since that makes zero financial sense for this city's already under-the-gun taxpayers, especially since Northwest HB comprises only 13% of the city's population according to the 2010 U.S. Census, and you can catch a city MiniBus for free that takes you from that exact spot to the existing pool in less than 15 minutes.
Fix the existing pool you have and make it better.
But that sort of logic doesn't appeal to City Hall, since this is a city that annually borrows millions of dollars from its Reserve fund simply to pay normal operating expenses instead of cutting costs and expenses.

Here's the original email and below that are some reason that i think things are being constructed in such a deliberate fashion that disadvantages Hallandale beach taxpayers and gives the City Commission more money to squander and waste on pet projects that help them politically.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Schanz, Cathie
Date: Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 10:39 AM
Subject: RE: re Hallandale Beach Parks/Rec. and taxpayer dissatisfaction with cost of B.F. James Park DOUBLING and a prospective Parks bond issue that prevents strict accountability of taxpayer dollars
To: "DBS", Parksrecreation
Cc: "Shamah, Sarah"


Hello Mr. Smith,

Thank you for contacting me with your comments and concerns regarding the Parks projects. 

I trust you found last night’s meeting informative.  If you require additional information on the projects, you may wish to contact our Capital Projects Manager, Sarita Shamah, directly.  I have copied her on this email.

All the best,

Cathie Schanz, CPRE
Hallandale Beach Parks and Recreation Director

From: DBS  
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 11:47 AM
To: Schanz, Cathie; Parksrecreation

Subject: re Hallandale Beach Parks/Rec. and taxpayer dissatisfaction with cost of B.F. James Park DOUBLING and a prospective Parks bond issue that prevents strict accountability of taxpayer dollars

----
And yes, after I wrote it and sent it out, on very little sleep, I realized that I'd actually reversed what I'd meant to say about what sort of Bonds that voters should be voting upon. But you get that by now I suspect, so I've left it below as it was when originally written -and very tired.

After the fact-filled Bulldog article that really makes a great predicate for better understanding this whole issue of the city's longstanding habit of purchasing land, then largely neglecting it and then buying yet more land, all with little actual idea of what to do with it, is my original letter to HB Parks Director Schanz. 
The one that led her to emailing me the name of Sarah Shamah, someone whom I'd never heard of, as a person to speak with.
Trust me, you'll be reading that name more in the future here on the blog as we investigate the doubling of costs of the new city park in Northwest HB, something my friend Csaba Kulin has already been hard at work looking at for a while.

Broward Bulldog

Hallandale Beach takes a bath on land deals; properties for redevelopment sit idle for years

By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org

OCTOBER 6, 2011 AT 6:13 AM

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2011/10/hallandale-beach-takes-a-bath-on-land-purchases-properties-for-redevelopment-sit-idle-for-years/

-----

July 29, 2013

Dear Parks Director Schanz:

As the city's public budget meetings begin today, and despite the fact that the HB City Commission participated in a groundbreaking last week at the proposed B.F. James Park, did you know that there is STILL NOTHING on the City of Hallandale Beach's website explaining why the costs of that

particular park have DOUBLED.

No public explanation, no nothing.

From around $2.6 Million to over $5 Million.

This week the taxpayers of this city will expect to hear a serious and detailed explanation for why this park in Northwest Hallandale Beach will now cost TWICE AS MUCH as originally planned, but whose additional cost will now put at serious risk any work anytime soon at dowdy and depressing South Beach Park, the busiest part of the city's public beach

They will also expect a detailed explanation for how it is that despite knowing this fact for some time, you, the City Manager and the City Commission have completely failed to provide ANY sort of public explanation to this city's residents on the city's own website.

An explanation that sounds reasonable and plausible, not just a case of the City Hall being unable to control themselves and deciding to turn the proposed park and pool into a Christmas Tree, with more and more elaborate decorations and ornaments laden on top of it.

If the Hallandale Beach City Commission votes this week 

a.) for General Obligation bonds, wherein monies approved by voters via a referendum can be spent by the HB City Commission on something other than Parks, instead of voting for Revenue Bonds that strictly limit any

voter-approved monies to Parks usage,

and/or,

b.) votes to place this Bond issue on the ballot in August of 2014 when much of the city is still out-of-town for the summer, rather than in November of 2014 during the General Election, when the largest number of Hallandale Beach voters can participate, in conjunction with other concerned Hallandale Beach residents, I will happily lend my enthusiasm to a public effort to initiate a public signature campaign to negate these Commission votes.

Votes that would, necessarily, give Hallandale Beach taxpayers less control, accountability and confidence in the future use of any prospective Park funds, and which would, necessarily, punish Hallandale Beach voters who are NOT present -during the hottest month of the year.

You know, August.

It's the same entire month that the HB City Commission will be taking off in a few days?

I have long publicly supported the improvements of parks and recreational spaces in this city, often finding myself the only person in this entire city who  would publicly declare how poorly they were maintained by DPW, and publicly say how unsafe they were at night, with little concern shown by either the City Manager or Police Chief at the time, to say nothing of the DPW Director, who was unconcerned with park lights that were out for years at a time.

But make no mistake about it, we'll vigorously fight against and vote NO on any Parks Bond issue that is of a General Obligation nature or which is held in August.

We will help educate and encourage other HB taxpayers and small business owners to vote NO as well for reasons of lack of appropriate financial accountability and oversight mechanisms.

Here's how simple the math is.

Using the city's own rules, 25 people with signature sheets each only need to get 4 signatures a day of registered HB voters for three weeks to get the minimum required number of signatures to negate the vote.

But of course we'd have much more time than merely three weeks to get the desired signatures  

And honestly, what HB citizen would be against the idea of making sure that the Bond vote is taken when the largest numbers of voters could participate, in November of 2014, rather than in sweltering August?

And what HB citizens who are in favor of HB Parks improvement and expansion, like me, would be willing to let the present or future City Commission take the money that voters might approve in a Bond issue and use that money instead on their own pet projects or more goodies for the professional staff instead of only to be used for Parks? 

Or towards the construction of more unnecessary city buildings?.

The correct answer is nobody I know in the entire city, except maybe the current HB City Commission itself. And the City Manager and her well-paid staff who don't actually live here.

Remind me again why B.F. James Park will have a brand new pool with bells-and-whistles 1.7 miles from the existing city pool at Peter Bluesten Park, the city's largest park, that's also scheduled to be changed and 

improved in the next few years? (Or at least, so we were told last year.)

The main city pool that in the nine-plus years that I've lived here has NEVER had even one directional sign on U.S.-1, two blocks away from it?

Which is why some people don't even know the city has a pool.

Even people who in the past few years have been elected President of the HB Chamber of Commerce.

And yet despite all these things, HB taxpayers just can't seem to get any straight answers.

A search for docs on B.F. James Park leads us here:

http://fl-hallandalebeach2.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/7190

Take a good look at what it says there.
Or rather what it doesn't.

There was nothing on the city's website prior to last week's groundbreaking about what this park will actually look like when it's finished, though we know what the city said they wanted most on the 2.35 acres in Northwest HB:

http://hallandalebeachfl.gov/documentcenter/view/2725

 Family orient pool  Basketball Courts  Passive Open Space  Pedestrian walkways  Playground  On and off site parking 

That is to say, at

http://www.hallandalebeach.org/Search/Results?searchPhrase=B.F.%20James&page=1&perPage=10

there's nothing that's more recent than 18 months ago -February  10, 2012!

http://hallandalebeachfl.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/2305

Oh, wait, that link to the city's Park Master Plan doesn't show what it will look like either.

Awesome!

It looks like Hallandale Beach and its 4.2 square miles may well soon have two, with the new one located exactly 1.7 miles from the other.

The reality of the matter is that if you want to go swimming in this city it is both cheap and convenient already. 

In fact, you can catch the city's mini-bus at O.B. Johnson Park and be taken to Peter Bluesten Park and the existing swimming pool for free in less than ten minutes.

Here's a Google Map that shows exactly this point..

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Peter+Bluesten+Park,+501+S.E.+1st+Avenue,+Hallandale+Beach,+FL+33009&daddr=O.+B.+Johnson+Park,+900+N.W.+8th+Avenue,+Hallandale+Beach,+FL+33009&hl=en&sll=25.979959,-80.147796&sspn=0.012037,0.021157&geocode=FTBsjAEd1Ao5-yFxqf7UVASENykt18h6fKzZiDFxqf7UVASENw%3BFR6kjAEdkN84-yEoBldmyFOA5SljsI5NiavZiDEoBldmyFOA5Q&t=h&gl=us&mra=ls&z=15

While I have been a very strong and vocal supporter of the HB Parks Master Plan  in general, 

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/final-hallandale-beach-parks-rec-master.html

and have attended 95% of all the meetings on it all over this city from the very beginning -even attending the Parks Advisory mtg. to hear the pitch from the consultants at Bermello Ajamil Partners Inc. before the public officially heard it at a City Commission meeting- you can't convince me that a city this small having two separate swimming pools within two miles of one another makes financial 

sense for this city's taxpayers.

Especially in a city that borrows money every year from its reserve fund to pay normal operating expenses instead of cutting costs and expenses.

The money used for the second pool would be much-better spent being used to create something in the spaces that the city has already bought and purchased for park land for MILLIONS, esp. on Old Dixie Highway, since at present, all those acres of dirt have had nothing done to them other than, foolishly, a fence

being erected around it in June of 2012, even though nobody was ever there because, oh right, there's nothing there.

So why the fence?

In any case, the city left the gate open -there was NO lock on it!!!

Which is why in no time, people were consistently dumping materials there that became hills, which I have dozens of photos of from the past year.

That area only got cleaned-up LAST MONTH!

It only took a year for the city to get that mess a block from HB City Hall cleaned-up!

Even worse, there is no sign of any kind along Old Dixie Highway indicating WHEN it will be an actual city park after MILLIONS of dollars have already gone out the door.

Where's the specific timetable and benchmarks?

That, Director Schanz, is why a line in the sand is being drawn right now.

--------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Dobens, Peter <pdobens@hallandalebeachfl.gov>
Date: Fri, Jul 26, 2013 at 4:37 PM
Subject: Hallandale Beach Breaks Ground, Begins Work on Two City Parks
To: "Dobens, Peter" <pdobens@hallandalebeachfl.gov>

Hallandale Beach Breaks Ground, Begins Work On Two City Parks B.F. James Park, Joseph Scavo Park

For immediate release                                                                              Contact: Peter F. Dobens, public relations
DATE: Friday, July 26, 2013                                                                               954-457-1493, orpdobens@cohb.org

HALLANDALE BEACH –Construction crews have dug in and started turning soil in the redevelopment of the first two of 10 Hallandale Beach parks slated for reconstruction in the Citywide Parks Master Plan.

Hallandale Beach City Commissioners broke ground on the two projects this week; B.F. James Park, 101 NW 9^th St., on Tuesday, July 23, and Joseph Scavo Park, 900 Three Islands Boulevard, on Wednesday, July 24. Hours later, both parks had construction fences up and crews clearing the way for the new parks. B.F. James Park is expected to open in June 2014. Joseph Scavo Park is planned to open in March 2014.

B.F. James Park, a $5 million project, will include a new swimming pool, basketball courts, exercise area and playground. The park includes lighting and restrooms.

Joseph Scavo Park, undergoing a $2.6 million redesign, will include two dog parks, exercise trail, covered sitting area, basketball court, covered playground and restrooms.

Hallandale Beach earned the “Playful City USA” designation this year and is living up to the moniker. The Citywide Parks Master Plan designed by architects and engineers Bermello Ajamil & Partners, calls for complete makeovers for 10 of the City’s parks over the next few years. Along with B.F. James Park and Joseph Scavo Park, the City is working to secure state, county and City permits to rebuild South Beach Park and North City Beach Park. Both projects are expected to begin as soon as the permits are issued.

Also, the park projects are part of the City’s award winning Community Benefit Plan.  The plan requires contractors to use City residents and City-based subcontractors in any municipal capital project worth more than $1 million. More than 50 percent of the skilled and unskilled laborers and sub-contractors working for the projects’ general contractor, Burkhardt Construction, are Hallandale Beach residents or businesses. The Community Benefit Plan attracted national attention from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Hallandale Beach
“Progress. Innovation. Opportunity”

B.F. James Park Groundbreaking, Construction
Groundbreaking, Tuesday, July 23, 2013	Under construction Friday, July 26, 2013

Joseph Scavo Park Groundbreaking, Construction
Groundbreaking, Wednesday, July 24, 2013	Under construction Friday, July 26, 2013

The content of this e-mail (including any attachments) is strictly confidential and may be commercially sensitive. If you are not, or believe you may not be, the intended recipient, please advise the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any copies.

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re Hallandale Beach's three-day 2013 Budget debacle last week: More thoughts & questions about what you didn't read about it in the Miami Herald and the Sun-Sentinel, as Carli Teproff and Susannah Bryan continue NOT seeing the forest for the trees, or mentioning very important facts and context; If one reporter who perpetually ignores what she sees and doesn't try to find out what's really going on in this city is bad enough, why do we need another? What we need even less than incurious reporters are thin-skinned autocrats on the dais who are afraid to tell the truth and unwilling to admit when they're wrong; @MayorCooper

re Hallandale Beach's three-day 2013 Budget debacle last week: More thoughts & questions about what you didn't read about it in the Miami Herald and the Sun-Sentinel, as Carli Teproff and Susannah Bryan continue NOT seeing the forest for the trees, or mentioning very important facts and context; If one reporter who perpetually ignores what she sees and doesn't try to find out what's really going on in this city is bad enough, why do we need another? What we need even less than incurious reporters are thin-skinned autocrats on the dais who are afraid to tell the truth and unwilling to admit when they're wrong; @MayorCooper

Not that you asked, but the worst of all possible combinations in South Florida is now found in Hallandale Beach: continual government lies & misrepresentation and lazy journalism that doesn't tell the truth or share important context. 

Meanwhile Concerned HB residents like Maggie Ivanovski, Csaba Kulin and Rob Raymond continue to play very important roles in this city even while others in this city who could shirk their civic responsibilities

Despite lots of patience from Hallandale Beach residents waiting for them to actually go out into the community and find out what's really going on, reporters Carli Teproff and Susannah Bryan have shown over time that they aren't interested in asking good-but-pointed questions of powerful people in this city, based on actually knowing something factually that City Hall didn't hand them.

That being so, here are the first few simple questions of more that'll come that you ought to be pondering over the next few weeks as those September city budget meetings approach that Mayor Joy Cooper wants to be a formality, where she has HB citizens playing the role of punching bags.

a.) How much money from the city's Reserve fund has the HB City Commission taken out each year over the past six years, i.e. since 2008, all while Joy Cooper has been mayor?

b.) What's the grand total of that amount from those 6 years? 

c.) How much is in the Reserve now?

d.) Why does the city under Mayor Cooper continue to use Reserve funds every year to pay operational expenses instead of making more strategic cuts in personnel or policies to better reflect the fact that the economy in this city is NOT booming?
The Village at Gulfstream Park is NOT booming, it's actually knocking over already-built buildings -Cadillac Ranch- that probably never should have been put up in the first place.

e.) Why did City Manager Renee C. Miller and CRA Attorney Steven Zelkowitz both say publicly that some CRA docs had already been dealt with promptly and appropriately according to state laws and requirements when the truth may well be that they STILL haven't been? (More on this soon.)

If you really want to get a financial fright, ask HB civic activist Maggie Ivanovski to tell you how much money in salaries and benefits the HB City Manager's office consumes in her proposed budget, while continuing to do such a poor job of actual oversight, yet remaining oblivious to longstanding problems in this city that are right under their nose and which they and Dept. heads have ALREADY been told about many, many times.

Ask HB civic activist Csaba Kulin if it's true that he figured out after going thru the City Manager's proposed budget that the person who will be in charge of the yet-to-be-built
City of HB pool at B.F. James Park will be making a salary of $120,000 a year once it opens next year.
It is true.

Ask Hallandale Beach businessman Rob Raymond if the so-called "improvements" in front of his very successful medical equipment business and all along N.E. First Avenue/Fashion Row seems like it's worth it, given how much unsafer that road is now, especially at night, and the large number of drivers who have hit the new curbs jutting out towards the now one-lane road since the city opened that area -even before the curbs were painted yellow.

The "improvements" that were supposed to be finished by last year's holiday season of Chanukah and Christmas but which were stopped twice for reasons that were never properly explained to the businesses there. 

Now the curbs jutting out towards the road are various shades of black over yellow from all the drivers who continue to hit them since ALL the street  lighting is on the west side of the street  -away from the curbs and the parking spaces.
(If there aren't photos of this as you read this now, come back within 24 hours and they'll be here.)

The older man who recently banged on Rob's business's front door after driving and hitting a curb, who was slightly injured physically -but apparently, quite shaken-up emotionally, and angry- whom Rob let in and spoke to -and wisely, also photos of the curb- is someone whom Mayor Cooper wants to wish away, because that man's unhappy reality in this city now doesn't fit into her fantasy, where she is admired and respected, not loathed and resented, as is the true state of things in this city among people who pay close attention, which, admittedly, is never a majority in this city.

Given the way that the businesses along N.E. First Avenue/Fashion Row have been repeatedly taken advantage of by both the city and the CRA, very likely, on purpose, a situation made worse by the blatant disrespect that new CRA Director Daniel Rosemond has shown the business community at a meeting I've mentioned previously that the HB Chamber of Commerce and other so-called "business leaders" were no-shows at.

Tell me, why should someone as successful as Rob, someone whose business is so very successful that unlike any other business in this city, people actually fly from around the world to South Florida just to do business with him, keep his business in Hallandale Beach, and not just relocate it up to Hollywood or somewhere else where he won't get the perpetual double-talk and flat-out lies from city and CRA employees like he continually does here?
Good question!

Mayor Cooper and her pro-crony capitalism pals around town and on the City Commission
-Anthony A. Sanders and Alexander Lewy, who want almost all CRA money spent only in Northwest HB, instead of thr entire CRA district- better start thinking about it, too, before Rob and others finally decide they've had enough of the city and CRA's broken promises, red tape and intentional headaches, to say nothing of the years and years of uneven enforcement of laws and rules in this city by City Hall towards both individuals and small businesses.
Just saying...

Read the two very incomplete and superficial accounts of what happened last week at Hallandale Beach City Hall and see if you can notice what important context is missing from the articles that's both very important in a well-run city and that both of these articles fail to mention at all?
Something noteworthy that both Carli Teproff and Susannah Bryan FAIL to disclose to their readers that they really ought to know but don't because... well, that's a good question.
Answer is after the articles.

Miami Herald
Hallandale Beach homeowners will pay a little more in property tax
By Carli Teproff
August 2, 2013

After commissioners made a few cuts to special projects and dipped into the city’s reserves, Hallandale Beach residents will likely see the same tax rate as last year, officials decided this week.

While the commission proposed to keep the tax rate at $5.6833 per $1,000 of assessed property value, taxpayers can still expect to pay slightly more because of rising property values. 

Over a two-day workshop, commissioners agreed they did not want to raise taxes, but with rising costs, needed to draw on their rainy-day fund. The reserve account is now about $22 million, from which the city plans on pulling $3.9 million. 

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/02/3539845/hallandale-beach-homeowners-will.html


South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale using $4 million in reserves to balance next year's budget
By Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel 
5:28 p.m. EDT, August 4, 2013

HALLANDALE BEACH—

Residents won't see a hike in their city tax rate or fire fee next year, city leaders vow.

Instead, City Hall plans to use $4 million in reserves to balance a $56.7 million budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. That would still leave taxpayers with $17.5 million in emergency reserves.

During a recent budget workshop, Commissioner Michele Lazarow suggested the city might want to stop relying so heavily on its "rainy day" fund. Last year, the city used $6.5 million in reserves to balance the budget.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-budget-hallandale-forecast-20130801,0,2150121.story

What was conspicuous for NOT being mentioned in either article is

a.) that last Wednesday night, the HB CRA Board cast preliminary vote at their Budget 
meeting requiring that all members, other than "professionals," must live within the

HB CRA district, i.e. west of N.E. 14th Avenue.

Commissioner Alexander Lewy made the motion, seconded by Mayor Joy Cooper, and the third vote was by Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders.

Lewy cast this out-of-the-blue decision as a "philosophical move" with some truly laughable self-justifying comments by Mayor Cooper, already made VERY, VERY ANGRY by some "inconvenient facts" cited at meeting by former HB Commissioner  Keith London, myself and some uncomfortable questions posed by Commissioners Michele Lazarow and Bill Julian, including questions about the transferal of millions of dollars without the CRA Board's knowledge.

It became truly pathetic after the City Clerk explained that the reason the CRA Advisory Board is done the way it is is now is because -wait for it- there was NOT ENOUGH INTEREST by residents living only within CRA district, so volunteers from all parts of city were welcome.

Another vote on this matter is coming in September.

If finalized, this would mean CRA Advisory Board Comm. Chair Leo Grachow, Chad Lincoln and Robert "Bob" Selz would all be kicked-off and replaced.

To me, it was just another transparent attempt by Lewy the Liar to try to curry favor with African-Americans in HB and turn the CRA Advisory Board into yet another rubber stamp group.

Basically, a variation of same reason he wanted the vote for the Parks Bond issue next August when much of city is gone for the summer instead of in November.

Lewy wants to create another reason for as many HB residents as possible to turn out at the polls, so some of them can vote for him in the FL House District 100 race.

b.) the residents of Hallandale Beach were NOT allowed to speak during two of the three meetings that took place last week, and comment after the myriad presentations by the various Dept. heads and city officials, many of whom said things that were simply not true and used numbers that neither add up or make sense given the size of this city.

So why didn't Teproff and Bryan mention that, since the tenor of the conversation of the room would've been quite different if the city's officials and employees knew that they could be corrected and have mistakes pointed-out, and have residents at home watching on TV or via the Internet to know when they were being served up a fresh slice of B.S.?

But then HB citizens weren't allowed to speak at the city's Visioning meeting earlier this year either, and that glaring and galling fact has somehow NEVER been mentioned in the Herald or Sun-Sentinel, though mentioned here on the blog at least twice, below.

MARCH 2, 2013

'Visioning' and Public Participation: Comparing and contrasting Ft. Lauderdale and Hallandale Beach's approach to planning for the future -one is open to constructive criticism & suggestions from its populace, and the other is stealthy and closed-minded. Guess which one I live in?; @MayorCooper]

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/visioning-and-public-participation.html

MARCH 5, 2013

To Hallandale Beach's frustrated and beleaguered taxpayers who've reached their limit after SO MANY YEARS of unsatisfactory performance by city's DPW -esp. re proper maintenance/appearance of public beach and city parks- outsourcing some DPW tasks ought to be on the table for active consideration. So why is City Manager Renee Miller not even going to consider the idea during the next year given DPW's dismal track record?

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/to-hallandale-beachs-frustrated-and.html

Before I give you Teproff and Bryan's office email addresses so that you can ask them those questions yourself if you so choose, here's an email that I sent out last week that gets to the very heart of the matter that both of these reporters completely ignored, to the dismay of anyone paying attention to what happens in this city.

Last Monday, the first day of the city's Budget workshop, the public could only speak before the meeting started, not after anything was actually revealed or described in depth.
Which led to the following email of mine on Tuesday July 30th at 1:09 p.m.

Subject: FYI: Csaba Kulin on Hallandale Beach Mayor Cooper's welcome and ideas on open government

Though I already knew about it from being there in person for the beginning of the first day of Hallandale Beach's Budget Workshop before heading home and then watching the rest of it at home on my computer, and then talking to him about it late last night, the following is an interesting email that my friend and fellow HB civic activist Csaba Kulin sent to a few people within the past hour.

It's very revealing, but not so about him, so much, though it is revealing of his dedication to this community, despite how much it takes him for granted, but also about the toxic civic discourse that takes place daily in the city with Joy Cooper as mayor.

Not that her frightful behavior and contempt towards citizens is Breaking News, per se, but it's good to be reminded from time-to-time of what we are actually up against.

Not just a woman possessed of truly bad judgment, and illogical and almost frightening thinking on public policy, but someone genuinely anti-democratic in every way that really matters to citizens and genuinely mean-spirited  to boot.

That's who we have as mayor of this town.

it's time for some of you who've been sitting on the sidelines to open your eyes and stop pretending otherwise.

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Dear Friends,

I traveled 1200 miles, paid for my own airplane ticket, read a 900 page budget book, created charts, spread sheets and notes to be in Hallandale Beach and to be prepared for the budget workshop. I intended to attend all three days of the workshop as I have done previous years. I dare to say that it is a lot more than 99.9% of our other residents are willing to do. So what do I get in return? Insults and some more insults from Mayor Cooper.

When I walked in the Commission Chambers I walked over to the dais to say “good afternoon” to VM Lewy and Commissioner Sanders. As soon as I got to the dais VM Lewy asked me about a letter I sent to JLAC recently. We had a civilized discussion about the reason behind my action. In the middle of that discussion Mayor Cooper arrived at the dais. She immediately started in a loud and agitated voice to berate me. She asked me “why do you bring up this matter again?” she told me that I am “sore loser”, referring to the fact that I lost in the last election, and other unkind, insulting comments.

I responded to her that I did not bring up anything, VM Lewy asked me a question. To VM Lewy credit, he backed me up by saying to the Mayor that “I asked Mr. Kulin a question, he did not bring it up”. I was taken aback by her angry and disrespectful manner but I did not respond in kind.

The situation did not better after the Mayor stated that “I will not allow any more public comments tonight. The public will have a chance to speak again at the time of voting on the completed budget” I assume in September. That was a direct insult to the two or three residents in the Chambers. What are the residents? Potted flowers or someone to be seen but not heard. So I left the meeting. I see NO reason to expose myself to such insults even if I lost an election.

Many times an informed resident sitting in the room can point out certain facts commissioner may have overlooked in the “heat of the battle”. How could that not help to come up with a better solution? Besides that, the Commission is talking about our money.

I am writing to you because I want to memorialize for the future this incident. I hope you see the wrong in Mayor Cooper’s behavior and if you do, you may consider urging your Commissioners to change the rules so each resident may comment on every item on the Agenda. There is not room full of people willing to speak on every item. Most of the time you can count the residents in the Chamber on one hand.   

In light of this kind of treatment I will need to reconsider how much time and effort I should spend in the future to have a better and more efficient city government. 

Sincerely,

Csaba Kulin

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Later that day I sent the following update at 6:45 p.m. 

Update: Adamant about not allowing the public of this city to speak for even a few minutes at Hallandale Beach's Budget Workshop that will already likely run 6-7 hours today -and still ongoing as I write this- except before the meetings start and any info is mentioned by the Dept. heads, Mayor Joy Cooper was defeated 4-1 on a motion to overrule her by the other HB Commissioners.

Csaba, Maggie and myself have already raised some legitimate questions and concerns about the City Manager's proposed city budget, and we know you have questions, too.

Come on down and watch a taste of some real participatory democracy in action, albeit small steps, but all very much against the mayor's wishes.

One small step at a time...

But the next day, it was gone.

Look at all you would not have known if you depended solely on the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

cteproff@MiamiHerald.com
sbryan@tribune.com or 954-356-4554

It could hardly be more clear that the current beat reporters assigned to this city, who are very infrequent as it is since their papers also have them cover Hollywood, which has its meetings on the same days, do NOT have what it takes to give residents of this city the information they want in a timely and informative fashion. 

The newspapers need to find someone else who does.

Just saying...