Showing posts with label Alexander Lewy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alexander Lewy. Show all posts

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Again? Hallandale Beach City Commission grants ANOTHER deferral for Chateau Group LLC's twin 40-story retail/condo project on US-1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd.

All original photos on this page by me, South Beach Hoosier. (c) 2016 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.


UNStudio in The Netherlands and BC Architects are listed as architects of record for the project.

 Today I've got the latest installment of my regular series of blog posts about what's going on in Hallandale Beach with the Chateau Group LLC's Chateau Square project that would erect TWO 40-story buildings with a large retail and hotel complex at the corner of U.S.-1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd., which could actually make the city's notoriously-bad and gridlocked traffic even worse.
Especially during the annual invasion into southeast Broward County by tens of thousands of Canadians from Ontario and Quebec, known around here as "the season," which has just begun, as suddenly, like every year, nearly one-third-to one-fourth of every car you see in Hallandale Beach or Hollywood east of I-95 is from Quebec or Ontario.

On Wednesday night at 6:30 PM, after many months of delays, the Hallandale Beach City Commission was scheduled to debate the matter for the first of two required votes on the project that so many Hallandale Beach residents are gravely concerned about.

 Well, would you believe that last night, at a sparsely-attended public meeting of the 
Hallandale Beach City Commission, they voted to grant yet ANOTHER deferral for 
the Chateau Group LLC's proposed twin 40-story retail/condo project on US-1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd. 

By my count, this is at least the third deferral for this project of its first of two required readings by the HB City Commission.
After all these years of attending meetings at HB City Hall, and the routines that take place before and during the meeting, I should have guessed that something was amiss when I didn't see developer attorney Debbie Orshefsky working the room before the meeting started.
But I was busy talking to people myself, as usual.

No reason was given for the request for the deferral by the developer and no date was given as the next opportunity for Chateau Group LLC to persuade the community and its elected officials why they should change the rules for them in such an egregious way.
I'm already following up on what I'm hearing about the real reason for thems seeking the deferral, but can't share with you what I'm hearing - right now

As many of you know, last night was also longtime Hallandale Beach City Commissioner William "Bill" Julian's last meeting as a HB Commissioner, something that I have wanted to say and write for many, many years.
Rather deliciously, Julian made a motion to delay the swearing-in ceremony for newly-elected Commissioner Anabelle Taub, who convincingly defeated him, until December 7th. But he lost on the motion 4-1, so the big day remains Monday November 28th.

A day to finally breathe the sweet air of freedom that many of us thought -worried-

might never come! The end of the reign of Joy Cooper's Rubber Stamp Crew! :-)















The Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino sign on the south side of Hibiscus Street, across from where the proposed project is situated.

 Even from a cursory look at the photos you can see how completely incompatible two 40-story buildings on that corner would be, and the disastrous effect it would have in a city where Hallandale Beach Blvd. is the ONLY East-West street that runs throughout the city, connecting the beach to I-95.
On a very intensive street that already receives THE lowest possible rating from FDOT.

Here's the Traffic study for the Chateau Square project 

It was NOT available to the public before or during the July 31 HB P&Z Advisory Board meeting, which means the public could NOT ask pointed questions about its finding to the developer, their attorney or traffic consultant during the meeting

 But now, whenever the meeting is finally held, you will have the numbers to use as you wish.
Based on what I heard at the meeting from the traffic consultant, the traffic numbers 
are very troubling and negative for HB residents and businesses who are looking at 
a much worse traffic/gridlock situation than even now, if the city allows something 
to be built as planned in the busiest place in the city -and at twice the current height 
limit.

And to quote myself, "the folks over at Gulfstream Park next door don't like it, either!"

Unless someone on the Hallandale Beach City Commission does something quite unexpected, and actually pushes back against this plan and proposes a reasonable compromise, with meaningful traffic remediation, this impractical plan may well become one of the final albeit GIANT nails in the coffin of this city's Quality of Life, and people's 
ability to move around in this city, which is already very difficult at more times of the day than one would think possible for the number of people living/working in the area.

I don't have to remind you that Mayor Cooper likely sees this project as further 
confirmation of her poorly thought-out ideas about development, where buildings 
and the revenue they generate for the city are more important than people or neighborhoods, which she has demonstrated time-after-time since she has been in office, despite the facts on the ground and the mood of the citizenry.
But when has she really ever listened to anyone else and changed her mind?

So, given everything that's happened of late, with the decisive defeats of pro-development Commissioner Bill Julian and Alex Lewy, longstanding members of Mayor Joy Cooper's 
Rubber Stamp Crew, where exactly are her developer friends and their plans for higher 
density projects near the FEC tracks, something that would actually be smart and which I and most other people in the area would support because of the proximity of the future Tri-Rail Coastal train? 
They are MIA, just like last year and the year before that and the year before...

No, unfortunately, it's going to take more than a few positive election results to turn Hallandale Beach around. 
But a good place to start is to kill any thought of making the city's busiest corner the home of two forty-story towers that would literally strangle the ability of residents and visitors alike to navigate their way in and thru the city.

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Monday, November 14, 2016

Controversial Chateau Square project -and its twin 40-story towers at U.S.-1's most-gridlocked intersection- to get first of two votes Wednesday by Hallandale Beach City Commission. Make your voice heard!

All original photos on this page by me, South Beach Hoosier. (c) 2016 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

 This is the latest installment of my regular series of blog posts about what's going on in Hallandale Beach with the Chateau Group LLC's Chateau Square project that would erect TWO 40-story buildings with a large retail and hotel complex to be located at the corner of U.S.-1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd., which could actually make the city's notoriously gridlocked traffic even worse.
On Wednesday night at 6:30 PM, after many months of delays, the Hallandale Beach City Commission will have their first of two votes on the project.
As my blog has shown for nine years now, these are NOT exactly the sort of people you can allow yourself to give the benefit of the doubt, since they have managed so consistently to break nearly every vow and promise they've made about public accountability and public oversight over the past ten-plus years.

Which is to say, that they they are NOT the caliber of people you want deciding whether or not the city should allow TWO 40-story buildings, with a large retail and hotel complex as well- to be located at the SE corner of US-1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd., where so many businesses have come-and-gone and failed over the past 12 years, save The Knife Argentine restaurant, which continues to pack in local consumers and visitors there because they feature great food and customer service -the rarity in HB.

Hard to imagine that something could actually make that area WORSE, but based on what I've seen so far, it looks like this project, if approved, could very well make the city's infamous, gridlocked traffic even worse unless cooler heads and moderation prevail.

 Excerpt from May 26, 2015 South Florida Business Journal article by real estate reporter Brian Bandell
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2015/05/26/plan-for-1-237-units-at-diplomat-and-chateau.html  

 Chateau Group plans mixed-use project
Argentinian developer Chateau Group filed plans for a mixed-use project at 600 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd. called Chateau Square.
Located on the 8-acre site just east of U.S. 1, the project would have 800 residential units, 280 hotel rooms, 166,352 square feet of commercial/retail space and 164,254 square feet of office space.
The property was acquired by 600 Hallandale LLC, an affiliate of Chateau Group, for $24.5 million in 2007. It currently has a retail building dating back to 1984.
The project was presented to the city in January with the following specifications:
http://chateau-square.com/wp-content/uploads/Chateau-Square_-01.2016_Architecture_201602011515020973-3.pdf

The Hallandale Beach Planning & Zoning Advisory Board meeting was held July 27th at Ingalls Park -because the City Commission Chambers were being rehabbed- and I attended it. For three-and-a-half hours...
Given how things are done in Hallandale Beach and its peculiar history with respect to development, it was hardly surprised that anyone leaving at 10 PM, like me, would be UNABLE to comment publicly on the biggest development issue of the year in this town, at a public meeting that had started at 6:30 PM.



All these months later, just as I said at the time to people in the room, I'm still dumbfounded that City of Hallandale Beach Director of Development Services Kevin Klopp allowed the meeting to start without either a TV camera to record the meeting if they could not broadcast it from that location, as they have done previously at other HB P&Z meetings I've attended held outside the HB City Hall Chambers, or, at least having the good sense to publicly explain why he and the city failed to do that, since they could have at least recorded the meeting for play back later on COMCAST for residents to watch or on the city's website for any interested party.

It seems to me that just because it's July doesn't mean the normal rules don't apply 
to transparency and public accountability.

Then on August 15, 2016 the South Florida Business Journal's real estate reporter Brian Bandell wrote the following about the project
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2016/08/15/commission-to-consider-10-major-development.html

 The 8.8-acre site at 600 East Hallandale Beach Blvd. could be approved for 726 high-rise units in two towers, 36 live/work units, 152,792 square feet of office space, 309,000 square feet of gross commercial/retail space and a 280-room hotel. The developer also was to create two openings onto Hallandale Beach Boulevard and one opening on Federal Highway.
The project was designed by UN Studio with BC Architects as the architect of record. The residential buildings would be 40 stories tall. The current zoning code allows for up to 15 stories in that area of the city.
UPDATE: Chateau Group VP of Development Esteban Koffsmon said the county item was deferred because the city most vote on the project before the county. The Hallandale Beach City Commission will vote on the Chateau Square site plan on Aug. 17 on first reading and, if that passes, on second reading in September. Then the plat approval and site plan could go to the county commission.
The city memo notes that only 137,384 square feet of the commercial space would be leasable. The live-work units would wrap around the parking garages. It would have 1,795 parking spaces, instead of the 3,161 normally required for the project of that size, because of a request for parking waivers.
Two media screens would cover the buildings.
Koffsmon said the residential units would be a mix of condos and apartments.
Chateau Group affiliate 600 Hallandale LLC acquired the site for $24.5 million in 2007.





















































The Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino sign on the south side of Hibiscus Street, across from where the proposed project is situated.




UNStudio in The Netherlands and BC Architects are listed as architects of record

Even from a cursory look at the photos you can see how completely incompatible two 40-story buildings on that corner would be, and the disastrous effect it would have in a city where Hallandale Beach Blvd. is the ONLY East-West street that runs throughout the city, connecting the beach to I-95.
On a very intensive street that already receives THE lowest possible rating from FDOT.




Here's the Traffic study for the Chateau Square project 

It was NOT available to the public before or during the July 31 HB P&Z meeting. 

People who wanted to appear at the P&Z meeting in July or the first planned-then-postponed HB City Commission meeting on Chateau Square on August 17th, could have only relied on partially-submitted documents, but without being able to see video, would have no access to the answers given to questions posed to the developer, his attorney and the traffic consultant by the Board during the meeting

Based on what I heard at the meeting from the traffic consultant, the traffic numbers 
are very troubling and negative for HB residents and businesses who are looking at 
a much worse traffic/gridlock situation than even now, if the city allows something 
to be built as planned in the busiest place in the city -and at twice the current height 
limit.

And to quote myself, "the folks over at Gulfstream Park next door don't like it, either!"

Unless someone on the Hallandale Beach City Commission does something quite unexpected, and actually pushes back against this plan and proposes a reasonable compromise, with meaningful traffic remediation, this impractical plan may well become one of the final albeit GIANT nails in the coffin of this city's Quality of Life, and people's 
ability to move around in this city, which is already very difficult at more times of the day than one would think possible for the number of people living/working in the area.

I don't have to remind you that Mayor Cooper likely sees this project as further 
confirmation of her poorly thought-out ideas about development, where buildings 
and the revenue they generate for the city are more important than people or neighborhoods, which she has demonstrated time-after-time since she has been in office, despite the facts on the ground and the mood of the citizenry.
But when has she really ever listened to anyone else and changed her mind?

So, given everything that's happened of late, with the decisive defeats of pro-development Commissioner Bill Julian and Alex Lewy, longstanding members of Mayor Joy Cooper's Rubber Stamp Crew, where exactly are her developer friends and their plans for higher
density projects near the FEC tracks, something that would actually be smart and which I and most other people in the area would support because of the proximity of the future Tri-Rail Coastal train? 
They are MIA, just like last year and the year before that and the year before...

No, unfortunately, it's going to take more than a few positive election results to turn Hallandale Beach around. But a good place to start is to kill any thought of making the city's busiest corner the home of two forty-story towers that strangles the ability of residents and visitors to navigate their way in and thru the city.
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Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Hallandale Beach's bright future depends upon electing Anabelle Taub and Michele Lazarow, defeating unethical Diplomat Country Club lackeys Bill Julian & Alex Lewy, and ending thin-skinned Mayor Joy Cooper's long reign of cronyism, incompetency and anti-democratic behavior

Hallandale Beach's bright future depends upon electing Anabelle Taub and Michele Lazarow, defeating unethical Diplomat Country Club lackeys Bill Julian & Alex Lewy, and ending thin-skinned Mayor Joy Cooper's long reign of cronyism, incompetency and corrupt anti-democratic behavior


@SunSentinel Editorial: "The dirtiest election in Broward County" is in #HallandaleBeach.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-editorial-hallandale-dirtiest-election-20161104-story.html





Local10 News, Miami
Secret audio implicates Hallandale Beach city attorney in alleged improper conduct
Commissioner Bill Julian can't seem to hang up his phone
By Bob Norman, Investigative Reporter
Posted: 11:58 PM, November 01, 2016
http://www.local10.com/news/bob-norman/secret-audio-implicates-hallandale-beach-city-attorney-in-alleged-improper-conduct







Channel 7 News video: GPS Trackers Secretly Placed on City Commissioner's Car. https://youtu.be/VyKXb4qBLo0
By Brandon Beyer, October 24, 2016
News report at: 
http://wsvn.com/news/local/hallandale-beach-commission-candidates-claim-gps-devices-placed-on-vehicles/

 Corruption in Hallandale Beach: Are GPS Trackers Illegal?
By Brian Silber
http://www.briansilber.com/2016/11/corruption-hallandale-beach-gps-trackers-illegal.html





Hallandale Beach's bright future depends upon electing Anabelle Taub and Michele Lazarow, defeating unethical Diplomat Country Club lackeys Bill Julian & Alex Lewy, and ending thin-skinned Mayor Joy Cooper's long reign of cronyism, incompetency and anti-democratic behavior. 

Destroy Cooper's Rubber Stamp Crew with your vote today!



Dave 
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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Hallandale Beach's latest scandal grows by the day. Fact update, with new info re #HallandaleBeach's corrupt and unethical govt./political sensibility. Long past time for Alex Lewy to answer some hard questions from public & press about what he knows or has any involvement in the electronic surveillance scandal

Hallandale Beach's latest scandal grows by the day. Fact update, with new info re #HallandaleBeach's corrupt and unethical govt./political sensibility. 
Long past time for Alex Lewy to answer some hard questions from public & press about what he knows or has any involvement in the electronic surveillance scandal
This is an important update to my last post, of October 21, 2016, Unethical and corrupt political & govt. culture of Hallandale Beach City Hall being exposed for what it is tonight on Local10 News, via Bob Norman; So what have Alex Lewy and Joy Cooper been commiserating about recently? Their mutual Keith London & Michele Lazarow obsession!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2016/10/unethical-and-corrupt-political-govt.html

 Necessarily, I'll be incorporating much of what I wrote then into this piece so I'm going to try to join them together so that you have a much better understanding of what's been going on in Hallandale Beach for many, many years with the current incompetent Joy Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew holding the reins of power, while the vast majority of South Florida's press corps looked on, drolly, saying and reporting precious-little-to-nothing.

So, I have received quite a lot of responses from my email and blog post of late Friday afternoon, most of it, though not all, positive.



State criminally investigating Hallandale Beach political spying case
Politicians say they discovered illegal tracking devices attached to their cars
By Bob Norman - Investigative Reporter
Posted: 7:00 PM, October 21, 2016
Updated: 7:18 PM, October 21, 2016
http://www.local10.com/news/local-10-investigates/state-criminally-investigating-hallandale-beach-political-spying-case






Plot thickens in hallandale beach political spying case
By Bob Norman - Investigative Reporter
Posted: 5:59 PM, October 24, 2016
First, what I heard from you, and then what I realized I neglected to mention yesterday 
in the email that might've better helped your understanding of the facts. 
To wit, some useful context and nuance.
I was pressed for time as it neared six o'clock but in retrospect, I wish I'd have waited 
that extra minute or two to get it in...

I've edited some of this to make it clearer, since some of you might not be as familiar 
with the pertinent facts as others.

"David, How come you did not mention that as a HB Commissioner, Alex Lewy 
voted for the 2000 S. Ocean Drive project that allowed a 36-story building be built,
practically in the ocean, and much closer to the actual shoreline than other HB 
buildings, thus ignoring not only global warming concerns, but also approving
the variance without the developer meeting the City of Hallandale Beach's OWN 
criteria for going past the Florida Coastal Construction Line, CCL?
The direct result of this move was to BLOCK the views of roughly 250 condominium 
owners to the ocean, even though 95% of the HB residents who actually took the 
time to attend and speak at the HB City Commission meetings on the project clearly
and publicly OPPOSED it?"

Some of you will recall that this was the very same development project that involved 
former HB City Commissioner and state Rep. Joe Gibbons, that I wrote about several 
times via emails, tweets and blog posts, raising questions whether he had, in fact, 
followed the city's rules requiring him to register as a lobbyist on the matter, and the 
potential he had to make up to $200,000 if he succeeded.

See: 

As to the link of Alexander Lewy that I included yesterday that was the original tweet 
that Mayor Joy Cooper was responding to on September 20th when she wrote
can't think without him !! Pitiful

https://twitter.com/AlexLewy/status/779777131199037440
Lewy's twitter feed has been changed to private very recently. I wonder why. 
He was always so keen to tell everyone just what he thought.

Endlessly...
Now when some of you went to Lewy's initial tweet, it showed nothing but the news that his Twitter handle was now PRIVATE, after being public for many years. 
Nothing was ever too personal for him to not share and reveal it.
So what happened?

When Alex Lewy first posted this specific tweet and I first saw it -and Mayor Cooper 
as well- what he had uploaded to his Twitter feed were strange-looking photos of Hallandale Beach City Commissioners Keith London and Michele Lazarow outside of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel building, where they were being interviewed that day as part of the newspaper's candidate vetting process, such as it is.

(Notwithstanding their recent endorsements in Hallandale Beach, 
@SunSentinel To change decorum and direction, choose Anabelle Taub 
and Michele Lazarow in Hallandale Beach http://sunsent.nl/2ePhNdh 
for many years I have been very critical of the Sun-Sentinel's coverage of Hallandale 
Beach and the Editorial Board consistently ignoring controversial issues in HB for many, many years that if they happened almost anywhere else in Broward County, would have likely been the subject of a series of blistering editorials, most especially re the HB CRA scandal and the millions of CRA dollars that went... 
somewhere. 

One of the many reasons for that opinion of mine was that it's clear from people who were physically present in the room during past interviews that that the people on the Editorial Board asking questions, themselves, frequently did NOT know basic 
facts that most HB voters and residents already knew and were considering, or even quite angry about.
Not that the paper wrote about that particular anger or why it existed.

Like, for instance, how many people were running for the seats or why HB voters were recently NOT allowed to vote for a candidate for each open seat, and instead, could only vote for two people, with the candidate coming in third being elected as well. 
Who voted to make it that way for voters? 
Cooper, Lewy & Sanders.

Another reason for that opinion is the case of one person involved in the endorsement process showing overt favoritism for Comm. Sanders in ways that seemed particularly egregious, and the Editorial Board not directly challenging Sanders on any of the MANY controversial and unethical things he has done since being appointed to the Commission in an anti-democratic fashion in August of 2008, rather than the Mayor simply following the city's written rules for filling a Commission vacancy. 
Instead, Cooper demanded a vote many weeks BEFORE it was necessary -or there even, legally, WAS a vacancy- and never allowed the public to speak that night.

The Editorial Board has never asked Comm. Sanders how he could justify voting for every single development project that has come before him at City Hall. 
Not 85% or 90% as might be common in most cities over such a period of time, but 100%. 
Really, 100%? Yes. :-( )

To be honest, my initial thought upon seeing the photos of London and Lazarow were that they looked exactly like photos that a private investigator might take if he was tailing someone for a client.
Which, quite naturally, makes me -and perhaps you as well- wonder who took the photos that Lewy posted publicly in an obvious attempt to infer something sinister, when it also could be seen by most people, much less, people who live in HB and who know them, to be seen as two friends who happen to be candidates, talking outside of a place where they were there to talk about their candidacies with other people who could actually play a role in THEIR futures.
Frankly, it would be weird for them to not be talking, given that they are friends. 

That Lewy was foolish enough to post it should not be surprising to anyone who kept their eyes focused on him and noticed the sorts of curious things that always seemed to be going on around him, including his often-messy personal melodrama that some of you have been privvy to.

There's a sound and compelling reason why I first started calling Alexander Lewy "Lewy the Liar" many years ago on my blog after I saw and experienced first-hand his phony, self-serving nature. In fact, I coined that nickname six years ago this past weekend:

Lewy has clearly thought for quite some time that he could (and perhaps even had) fooled nearly everyone hereabouts, including the press corps, and made his over-weaning personal ambition and personal nastiness fairly well disguised as public service to fool most people, but it hasn't worked for most of the city's well-informed citizenry, including many of you.
Most of you know exactly who and what kind of person Alex Lewy is.

Whether this city's well-informed citizenry actually constitutes a majority of HB voters is the question that will be decided on Election Day.

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