My computer server, via AT&T, was down
over the weekend, much to my consternation,
since I had a lot of posts to share, some of
which were of a decidedly time-sensitive
nature.
As a result of my having attended the
well-received GOP event in Hallandale
Beach in June that featured U.S. Senate
candidate Marco Rubio, sponsored by
the Southeast Broward Republican
Club, I received this note last week about
the next meeting scheduled for Tuesday
night on Hollywood Beach, their usual
stomping ground.
Southeast Republican Club
Please visit his website: www.lowryforcongress.com
or email: robert@lowryforcongress.com
Please feel free to pass on our invitation to your friends
and family, all are welcome.
View Larger Map
Take I-95 to Hollywood Blvd., drive East towards
the beach.
Center will be on your left-hand side at
intersection of Azalea Terrace.
Metered parking lot.
See you all then,
Ed Napolitano
(954) 296-0041
-----------------------
Since Mr. Lowery -whom I've never met
and who'll be running next year against
incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz-
is involved in the business of operating ALFs,
I thought some of you planning on attending
this Tuesday might find the following of some
interest, since it relates to ALFs and the
role they play in society.
Last year in one of but many many examples
which showed the inherent foolishness and
logical negative consequences of the Miami
Herald (and Broward editor Patricia Andrews)
deciding not to cover civic affairs in Hallandale
Beach, by not sending a reporter to their City
Commission meetings since June of 2008,
they missed one of the most egregiously
galling performances of any local South Florida
pol of the past six years.
Which is to say, since I returned to the area
from the Washington, D.C,. area.
(And it's not like the City of Miami or the
Miami-Dade County Commission don't
have plenty of members who don't try to
steal the "galling" title thru their sheer
stupidity or audaciousness, like social
butterfly and Miami-Dade commissioner
Jose "Pepe" Diaz, who last November
required that county taxpayers provide
him with security/driver in the form of
a sergeant-at-arms for the VIP-heavy
grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau
Hotel on Miami Beach. where the
Victoria's Secret party and nationally-
televised TV runway show had people
agog.
www.wireimage.com/SearchResults.aspx.?igi=343295&s=Fontainebleau&vwmd=e&sfld=C
Klum, Kurkova, Lima & Kerr!
Now that's an international firm that
no worldwide recession can affect.
Like every straight guy who was there
wasn't already thinking to himself,
at some point, "Wow! There are WAY
too many dudes here already," and
a nobody like Diaz dilutes it even more
by bringing in one more dude -for his
security!
Like anyone who was anyone even
knew who HE was!)
The particular galling performance I'm
thinking of is one that in many parts of
the country would cause the pol who
did it to have a very hard time living it down,
and likely cause not only real harm to
their political careers, but also cause
supporters to re-examine their past
support.
The Herald cut their own throat -and many
potential columns full of found gold for
their columnists- by not covering a story
which was rich with metaphors for how things
truly operate -but mostly, don't- in the city
under Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper
and City Manager Mike Good.
The mayor showed her true colors, and
contempt for state law and sound social
policy when she voted TWICE against
an ALF applicant from HB, despite the fact
that for reasons of public policy, the Florida
Legislature decided many years ago that
as long as ALF applicants met all existing
state, county, and city building rules -and
associated rules for operation- the
applicant shall be approved.
They passed a law where the presumption
is FOR approval and can NOT be denied
for strictly zoning reasons, if the predicate
threshold has been met.
Refusing to approve an application that
otherwise passes all these tests and
standards would open the city up to a
very costly and pointless lawsuit they
could never ever hope to win, something
that was stated many times at both the
PNZ and City Commission meetings,
by both the members and the public,
including myself.
But it didn't matter.
Not for the first time, Mayor Cooper showed
she didn't really care what the state legislature
had already done or what kind of law they'd
passed as a means of ensuring that families
could be kept in relatively close geographical
proximity when one family member required
more professional care.
At two different meetings, she voted against
the applicant, a woman who wanted to have
an Assisted Living Facility run out of her home
in a residential area in order to take care of a
relative of hers.
Some of the neighbors were visibly and vocally
unhappy about the prospect of this, despite
the fact that national and state public policy
actually encourages this by making it illegal
for communities to discriminate against them
in zoning.
As I wrote at the time:
It was actually quite a heated afternoon,
full of often derisive and sarcastic remarks
by the neighbors directed at the woman
who was trying to look after her older relative
in a way that would keep her comfortable
and as stress-free as possible.
In my opinion, the neighbors seemed not
to have done their homework with regard
to what they could actually do to prevent this
from happening, since the state had already
given their okay on it and there was nothing
that the city could do to prevent it if the the
applicant met all the requirements
Joy Cooper was the only person among the
many members of the Hallandale Beach
Planning & Zoning Board or the pre-Anthony
Sanders City Commission, to vote no.
Speaking of that June 2008 city commission
meeting the Herald covered in the form of
reporter Breanne Gilpatrick, which was a
joint meeting with the City of Hollywood at
the HB Cultural Center, one of the highlights
-or lowlights from my perspective- of that
meeting was Mayor Cooper trying to
persuade the City of Hollywood in joining
them in a lawsuit against the State to fight
the compliance requirements the state passed
regarding outfall waste disposal.
Rather than pony up the city's share of the
money required to help get Broward County
in compliance with the state law, she wanted
to fight the State and have taxpayer dollars
once again flow to some outside counsel
because she can't accept the fact that,
once again, she is on the losing side of
an argument.
So very typical of Joy Cooper's longstanding
poor judgment, thin-skinned ego and utter lack
of leadership or vision for the city's future.
You doubtless won't be surprised to hear
that the City of Hollywood, under Mayor
Peter Bober's leadership, had the good
sense to decide Cooper's offer was one
they wanted no part of, since it's not
productive towards solving the actual problem
-stop polluting the ocean!
http://www.epa.gov/region4/water/uic/downloads/ra/06-ocean.pdf
over the weekend, much to my consternation,
since I had a lot of posts to share, some of
which were of a decidedly time-sensitive
nature.
As a result of my having attended the
well-received GOP event in Hallandale
Beach in June that featured U.S. Senate
candidate Marco Rubio, sponsored by
the Southeast Broward Republican
Club, I received this note last week about
the next meeting scheduled for Tuesday
night on Hollywood Beach, their usual
stomping ground.
Southeast Republican Club
Dear Members and Friends,
We invite you to join us in welcoming our
next guest speaker, Robert Lowery
We invite you to join us in welcoming our
next guest speaker, Robert Lowery
Candidate for US Congress-District-20.Tuesday, August 4th 2009
Check In: 6:30 P.M.
-Meeting Begins: 7 P.M.Hollywood Beach Culture & Community Center
1301 South Ocean Drive/ A1A
Hollywood, FL 33019
Topic of Discussion: Healthcare
Mr. Lowery owns three ALF’s (Assisted Living Facilities)
in Broward and Miami-Dade County. He has many years
of experience in the healthcare industry.
Check In: 6:30 P.M.
-Meeting Begins: 7 P.M.Hollywood Beach Culture & Community Center
1301 South Ocean Drive/ A1A
Hollywood, FL 33019
Topic of Discussion: Healthcare
Mr. Lowery owns three ALF’s (Assisted Living Facilities)
in Broward and Miami-Dade County. He has many years
of experience in the healthcare industry.
Please visit his website: www.lowryforcongress.com
or email: robert@lowryforcongress.com
Please feel free to pass on our invitation to your friends
and family, all are welcome.
View Larger Map
Take I-95 to Hollywood Blvd., drive East towards
the beach.
Drive over Hollywood Blvd. Intracoastal Bridge.
turn right/South.
The Hollywood Beach Culture and Communityturn right/South.
Center will be on your left-hand side at
intersection of Azalea Terrace.
Metered parking lot.
See you all then,
Ed Napolitano
(954) 296-0041
-----------------------
Since Mr. Lowery -whom I've never met
and who'll be running next year against
incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz-
is involved in the business of operating ALFs,
I thought some of you planning on attending
this Tuesday might find the following of some
interest, since it relates to ALFs and the
role they play in society.
Last year in one of but many many examples
which showed the inherent foolishness and
logical negative consequences of the Miami
Herald (and Broward editor Patricia Andrews)
deciding not to cover civic affairs in Hallandale
Beach, by not sending a reporter to their City
Commission meetings since June of 2008,
they missed one of the most egregiously
galling performances of any local South Florida
pol of the past six years.
Which is to say, since I returned to the area
from the Washington, D.C,. area.
(And it's not like the City of Miami or the
Miami-Dade County Commission don't
have plenty of members who don't try to
steal the "galling" title thru their sheer
stupidity or audaciousness, like social
butterfly and Miami-Dade commissioner
Jose "Pepe" Diaz, who last November
required that county taxpayers provide
him with security/driver in the form of
a sergeant-at-arms for the VIP-heavy
grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau
Hotel on Miami Beach. where the
Victoria's Secret party and nationally-
televised TV runway show had people
agog.
www.wireimage.com/SearchResults.aspx.?igi=343295&s=Fontainebleau&vwmd=e&sfld=C
Klum, Kurkova, Lima & Kerr!
Now that's an international firm that
no worldwide recession can affect.
Like every straight guy who was there
wasn't already thinking to himself,
at some point, "Wow! There are WAY
too many dudes here already," and
a nobody like Diaz dilutes it even more
by bringing in one more dude -for his
security!
Like anyone who was anyone even
knew who HE was!)
The particular galling performance I'm
thinking of is one that in many parts of
the country would cause the pol who
did it to have a very hard time living it down,
and likely cause not only real harm to
their political careers, but also cause
supporters to re-examine their past
support.
The Herald cut their own throat -and many
potential columns full of found gold for
their columnists- by not covering a story
which was rich with metaphors for how things
truly operate -but mostly, don't- in the city
under Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper
and City Manager Mike Good.
The mayor showed her true colors, and
contempt for state law and sound social
policy when she voted TWICE against
an ALF applicant from HB, despite the fact
that for reasons of public policy, the Florida
Legislature decided many years ago that
as long as ALF applicants met all existing
state, county, and city building rules -and
associated rules for operation- the
applicant shall be approved.
They passed a law where the presumption
is FOR approval and can NOT be denied
for strictly zoning reasons, if the predicate
threshold has been met.
Refusing to approve an application that
otherwise passes all these tests and
standards would open the city up to a
very costly and pointless lawsuit they
could never ever hope to win, something
that was stated many times at both the
PNZ and City Commission meetings,
by both the members and the public,
including myself.
But it didn't matter.
Not for the first time, Mayor Cooper showed
she didn't really care what the state legislature
had already done or what kind of law they'd
passed as a means of ensuring that families
could be kept in relatively close geographical
proximity when one family member required
more professional care.
At two different meetings, she voted against
the applicant, a woman who wanted to have
an Assisted Living Facility run out of her home
in a residential area in order to take care of a
relative of hers.
Some of the neighbors were visibly and vocally
unhappy about the prospect of this, despite
the fact that national and state public policy
actually encourages this by making it illegal
for communities to discriminate against them
in zoning.
As I wrote at the time:
It was actually quite a heated afternoon,
full of often derisive and sarcastic remarks
by the neighbors directed at the woman
who was trying to look after her older relative
in a way that would keep her comfortable
and as stress-free as possible.
In my opinion, the neighbors seemed not
to have done their homework with regard
to what they could actually do to prevent this
from happening, since the state had already
given their okay on it and there was nothing
that the city could do to prevent it if the the
applicant met all the requirements
Joy Cooper was the only person among the
many members of the Hallandale Beach
Planning & Zoning Board or the pre-Anthony
Sanders City Commission, to vote no.
Speaking of that June 2008 city commission
meeting the Herald covered in the form of
reporter Breanne Gilpatrick, which was a
joint meeting with the City of Hollywood at
the HB Cultural Center, one of the highlights
-or lowlights from my perspective- of that
meeting was Mayor Cooper trying to
persuade the City of Hollywood in joining
them in a lawsuit against the State to fight
the compliance requirements the state passed
regarding outfall waste disposal.
Rather than pony up the city's share of the
money required to help get Broward County
in compliance with the state law, she wanted
to fight the State and have taxpayer dollars
once again flow to some outside counsel
because she can't accept the fact that,
once again, she is on the losing side of
an argument.
So very typical of Joy Cooper's longstanding
poor judgment, thin-skinned ego and utter lack
of leadership or vision for the city's future.
You doubtless won't be surprised to hear
that the City of Hollywood, under Mayor
Peter Bober's leadership, had the good
sense to decide Cooper's offer was one
they wanted no part of, since it's not
productive towards solving the actual problem
-stop polluting the ocean!
http://www.epa.gov/region4/water/uic/downloads/ra/06-ocean.pdf
