Broward County residents increasingly dismayed by brazenness of Broward County Schools Supt. Robert W. Runcie & Broward School Board's Ann Murray and Rosalind Osgood's actions re bond $$ transparency & oversight; @Florida_Bulldog @Buddynevins

Broward School Board backs Runcie on keeping public off selection committee http://t.co/Nily1agD1i

— Florida Bulldog (@Florida_Bulldog) May 26, 2015

@NirviShah Broward ethics! MT @Buddynevins Broward Co. students 2 get grad. credit 4 working 2 push $800M bond vote http://t.co/Rn0z4kSBFr …

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) July 22, 2014

Florida Bulldog
Broward School Board backs Runcie on keeping public off selection committee
By William Hladky, FloridaBulldog.org
May 26, 2015

In the face of public suspicion, a majority of the Broward School Board last week allowed Superintendent Robert Runcie’s move to exclude the public from sitting on a committee that will select companies to manage $800 million in voter-approved construction projects.

The suspicion: that Runcie and Derek Messier, his chief facilities officer, want to get around contracting reforms imposed after a scandal in order to control who gets the lucrative management
contracts.

The selection committee’s members will be school board employees only.
School officials have said the public will be able to observe the process, but will not participate.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.floridabulldog.org/2015/05/broward-school-board-backs-runcie-on-keeping-public-off-selection-committee/

In many parts of the country, both urban and rural, African-American School Board members often provide a powerful voice for needed reason and basic fairness within the larger community, and frequently, even provide a much-needed moral/ethical backbone and force-multiplier for people and groups who are routinely marginalized by parts of society.
And when they are the superintendents, well...

As we all know, though, in upside-down Broward County, it's Broward taxpayers and citizens in favor of reform and accountability who are consistently marginalized and not just taken advantage of, but played for suckers, by incompetent and corrupt elected officials and agencies. (Over-and-over again.)

But it looks like those particular facts, self-evident to me and so many of you receiving this email, are news to Broward School Board member Rosalind Osgood, someone whom I warned you all about many years ago when she first ran and I discussed her strange notions of conflicts of interest, sense of entitlement and Good Government.

This Florida Bulldog article from earlier this week makes it abundantly clear that Osgood -along with SE Broward's own ethical/moral burden and blemish, Ann Murray- wants to be a voice for keeping the public in the dark as much as possible about how hundreds of millions of dollars are dividied up.
Yes, the better to help her loyal corporate friends!

As this article makes clear, simply by reciting the simple facts and chronology, once again, Broward County's top educators are revealed to be both an outlier to any notions of Best Practices, and an acute embarrassment to the very citizenry they're supposed to represent and the children they are supposed to serve.

It's just as my friend Charlotte Greenbarg and I -and many others- predicted, and told anyone and everyone who'd listen in the months prior to the vote on the Broward School Board bond issue.
The Broward School Board and its smug, unctuous army of highly-paid and self-confident bureaucrats are like the scorpion in the fable of the scorpion and the frog.
They can't help themselves -it's who they are. Surprise!
Except it could not be clearer that it's Broward taxpayers who are being stung!

Some predicates for the above:
MAY 13, 2013
Spring 2013 Observations re Broward School Board: controversial District 1 member Ann Murray gets a challenge from someone who'll go right at her, Felicia Brunson -will a third viable candidate join them by 2014?; Broward School Auditor Patrick Reilly finds more appalling evidence of School system's waste of taxpayer dollars, and as usual, Broward civic activist and Audit Comm. member Charlotte Greenbarg is 100% correct in analyzing the situation and saying it's what we think, too -it's the usual toxic combination of insubordination, entitlement and longstanding incompetency
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/spring-2013-observations-re-broward.html

NOVEMBER 13, 2012
More business-as-usual at Broward School Board is NOT good news for students, parents or taxpayers; Why the need by Broward Schools officials to impose omertà on school volunteers in Broward?; the very curious Hallandale High School roof situation reveals much about School Board's culture; Why is South Florida news media largely ignoring Broward Schools Diversity Comm. and their Audit Comm.?
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/more-business-as-usual-at-broward.html


Dave
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth
https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

Spring 2013 Observations re Broward School Board: controversial District 1 member Ann Murray gets a challenge from someone who'll go right at her, Felicia Brunson -will a third viable candidate join them by 2014?; Broward School Auditor Patrick Reilly finds more appalling evidence of School system's waste of taxpayer dollars, and as usual, Broward civic activist and Audit Comm. member Charlotte Greenbarg is 100% correct in analyzing the situation and saying it's what we think, too -it's the usual toxic combination of insubordination, entitlement and longstanding incompetency

Red Broward YouTube Channel video: "Michael Putney: Ann Murray Has To Go" -Veteran Channel 10 reporter and fave of the blog, Michael Putney, their Senior Political Correspondent and longtime host of their popular "This Week in South Florida" Sunday morning public affairs program, chews up and calls-out District 1 Broward School Board member Ann Murray for her unacceptable words and behavior, saying she "has to go." Uploaded March 29, 2011. http://youtu.be/EL0S6YSYi-s

Spring 2013 Observations re Broward School Board: controversial Broward School Board member Ann Murray gets a challenge from someone who will go right at her, Felicia Brunson -will a third candidate join them by 2014?; Broward School Auditor Patrick Reilly finds more appalling evidence of School system's gross waste of taxpayer dollars, and as usual, Broward civic activist and Audit Comm. member Charlotte Greenbarg is 100% correct in analyzing the situation and saying it's what we think, too -it's the usual toxic combination of insubordination, entitlement and longstanding incompetency

Broward Beat
School Board Member Who Used “N” Word Draws Black Opponent
By Buddy Nevins

May 7, 2013

School Board member Ann Murray, who was reprimanded for making a bigoted statement using the “N” word, has picked up a re-election challenge from a black elected official.

Vice Mayor Felicia Brunson of West Park holds her kick off fundraiser tonight.

Read the rest of the post at http://www.browardbeat.com/school-board-member-who-used-n-word-draws-black-opponent/

I mentioned Felicia Brunson's candidacy to unseat southeast Broward incumbent Ann Murray to some of you hereabouts a little over a month ago, via emails or in conversations, when I asked if you'd been contacted yet by Brunson, either by email, phone or direct mail,
since I know that, quite logically, Brunson views Hallandale Beach as prime pouncing territory for her, given Ann Murray's disastrous time in office and complete disregard and contempt for HB and its kids, parents and taxpayers in every way that counts for anything -like actually showing-up at a public event in HB once in a while, besides ones where Supt. Robert W. Runcie is around.

That is, except for Murray's PR stunts like the one last year at the Broward School HQ, where Joy Cooper and Anthony A. Sanders showed-up for a School Board meeting to be thanked by Murray for all the city -them!- do for the kids!

I have that whole thing on videotape and trust me, it's quite a scream watching the three of them -Murray actually left the dais to stand with them- to compete and try to out-do one another in the Flattery Dept.

A scream, that is, except for it being so damn dishonest and despicable, given the true facts-on-the-ground since she has been in office.

My many previous blog posts about Ann Murray are located here:

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Ann%20Murray

I would not be at all surprised if another candidate gets into the District 1 race, and frankly, I hope that one will, esp. if that is someone who's savvy enough to keep publicly hammering home the true facts about what should be happening instead of what is happening with Broward Schools.

Like being able to discipline or fire perpetually insubordinate employees who continually disregard explicit instructions from their bosses -Supt. Robert W. Runcie and the School Board- and in this particular case, have cost Broward taxpayers over a million dollars. 

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Audit: Broward schools paid $1 million for canceled project

By Karen Yi, Sun Sentinel

May 4, 2013

Broward schools paid more than $1 million toward a construction project that had already been terminated by Superintendent Robert Runcie, according to a new audit report that found the payments were for work never completed.

The $4.8 million project to construct maintenance offices in Pembroke Pines was scrapped last January after the work lagged for more than three years, failed to meet state standards and proceeded despite an expired contract, prior audits show.

"Both the board and Superintendent directed that this project stop. In spite of this fact, over $1 million was paid," said audit committee member Charlotte Greenbarg. "We have a situation of gross insubordination on the part of staff members."

Reed the rest of the article at:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/fl-broward-schools-construction-audit-2-20130503,0,1059888.story

The audit report is here: http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/auditdept/facilityreports/2012-13/ac_2013_0502_current_status_fcm_000917_zone_4.pdf

A Broward School Board candidate who will talk-the talk and  walk-the-walk about aggressively work for more public accountability and aggressively ridding the Broward School system and taxpayers of the army of bad, incompetent and insubordinate employees that continue to plague it, whether front line workers, administrators or teachers, is precisely the sort of person that I will happily support and vote for every time.

In spite of the fact that the Broward School Board and Supt. Runcie directed the project to stop and nothing more be done, the Deputy for Facilities, Tom Lindner, his staff and the General Counsel ignored the directive and Royal Concrete Concepts was paid more than $1 Million.

See also:

Broward schools facilities chief resigns under pressure
By Scott Travis
December 4, 2012
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-12-04/news/fl-broward-administrator-shakeup-20121204_1_superintendent-robert-runcie-broward-schools-facilities-chief-tom-lindner

Speaking of diversity and backsliding on ethics, Broward County School Board becoming an all-female enclave is NOT good news for concerned taxpayers & parents: expect even more micro-managing and time wasted on trivial matters made melodramatic because these particular people, literally, can't help but pander; Broward Schools Supt. Runcie in Hollywood on Thursday night at the Boulevard Heights Community Center

 

Speaking of diversity, as a result of last Tuesday's election results, the Broward County School Board will now be an all-female enclave: expect even more micro-managing and time wasted on trivial matters made melodramatic because these particular people, literally, can't help but pander; Broward Schools Supt. Robert W. Runcie to be in Hollywood on Thursday night at  Boulevard Heights Community Center

I was going to post this collection of news and tidbits last Friday afternoon but thought better of it since I thought few would see it then, and as you'll see, I'm glad I waited, since in the time since I first typed some of these words last Friday morning, I've already seen others in the community and in the press writing about the composition of the new School Board who, in my opinion, lack appreciation for why having an all-female School Board is not exactly reason for taxpayers or students to celebrate.

Based on my own observations and what others who are much closer to all things education in Broward County have shared with me about some of the people elected, I think Broward taxpayers and parents have good reason to be concerned about backsliding on ethics.

While I could always turn out to be wrong, my overall sense of things is that this new crew might not only be more spiteful than professional at times, and attempt to make far too many issues that come before them personal, but also indulge a bit too much in creating straw men for them to attack when the Board is being properly chastised by the public or the news media, or otherwise held to account for inaction or bad judgment or lack of fidelity to rules and procedures.

I also suspect that there will be more instances than perhaps need be when after talking for hours, Supt. Robert W. Runcie will say that it's time to stop the talking and time for voting and actions.
This particular crew seems destined to try to talk everything to death, as if that wasn't already enough of a problem with the current crew of characters.

As most of you already know by now, here's what happened last Tuesday:
District 4: Abby Freedman defeated Shelly Solomon
District 5: Rosalind Osgood defeated Torey Alston
At-Large District 8: Donna Korn defeated Franklin Sands
At-Large District 9: Robin Bartleman defeated Barbara Houston Wilson
http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/FL/Broward/42272/111826/en/summary.html#

Over the past 2-3 months of observing political campaigning all throughout Hallandale Beach -and Hollywood- such as it was, given that there were never any chance there'd be actual bona fide candidate debates of the sort that everyone here desperately wanted, owing largely to Mayor Joy Cooper, Comm. Anthony A. Sanders and former Comm. Bill Julian desperately NOT wanting to be a part of any event in the city that they could not control, where they'd be forced to answer pointed questions from well-informed citizens, I only once saw a re-elect Robin Bartleman yard sign in a HB resident's front yard.

As it happens, it was located in a front yard in Southwest HB of someone who also had one for do-nothing Comm. Sanders, so you can well imagine what I thought every time I drove past it,
just off of S.W. Third Street -it's not exactly the sort of illustrious company you'd necessarily choose to be associated with.

While I was certainly glad that Bartleman attended the educational forum in HB in June of 2011 on what was REALLY going on at Hallandale High School with respect to what the School Board was doing to remedy longstanding problems that led to a lawsuit that the School Board lost, a forum that my friend, Catherine Kim Owens hosted and superbly moderated, THE first such serious meeting on education in this city during the eight years that I'd lived here up to that point, despite how crucial that subject is in this community for reasons I've previously mentioned here -and yes, Ann Murray was a no-show at that meeting in HB (again) just like Jennifer Gottlieb was!- considering what I'd seen and read about Barteleman's involvement and performance during the disturbing Douglas High School cheerleading coach saga, I'm not sure if her winning was really such a great thing for Broward taxpayers and parents long term.

See my post on that subject from October 8th, titled,
Dynamite! Bob Norman adroitly uses facts and context to lower-the-boom on the Broward School Board for their abysmal handling of the purported Douglas H.S. cheerleader coach 'scandal" -and drops School Board member Katie Leach squarely on her head; One month before the election, docs show Donn Korn opponent Franklin Sands funds his race with lots of money from his stepson’s lobbying firm -shocker!; @mattgutmanABC
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/dynamite-bob-norman-adroitly-uses-facts.html

Last Wednesday I received the following message from the City of Hollywood with the subject header: Meet and Greet Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie

City of Hollywood residents and members of the community are invited to meet Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie on Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at the Boulevard Heights Community Center, 6770 Garfield St. in Hollywood. Mr. Runcie will be available to answer questions from the public about local public schools and other education issues. Members of the public who are interested in attending and asking Mr. Runcie a question are encouraged to arrive early to fill out a question card. 

Light refreshments will be provided. 
For more information, contact Donna Green at hollyed1@aol.com.

I've now seen and heard Broward Schools Supt. Robert W. Runcie three times in person since he was hired by the Broward School Board -twice in Hollywood and once in Hallandale Beach.

(Surprise! Not present at that meeting in HB was School Board Chair Ann Murray, who is this area's representative on the Board, but whom as I've mentioned here so many times, has assiduously avoided showing her face in public in Hallandale Beach for well over a year.)

I've personally videotaped Runcie all three times -and have taken plenty of photos, too- though I've chosen not to post them here or on my YouTube Channel.

At this point, I feel fairly confident that I can tell what direction he's going to take a discussion based upon what the question posed to him is.
That's actually part of the problem -how the questions have so often been posed to him.

I don't know who first told told Mr. Runcie that the idea of having Broward taxpayers and parents write questions via index cards -read by someone else- was a great idea, but it's not.
I see it as both patronizing and condescending and it's precisely the sort of awkward attempt at (mis)communication that the Broward Schools needs to get away from -quick.

Mr. Runcie is very articulate and an agile conversationalist who can talk about a host of issues for long period of time if he wanted to.
He does not need -nor do taxpayers want to see- someone there as a handler, largely to translate what are almost always very understandable questions.

If I'm going to show up for something like this, I think I can also pretty well frame a relevant question for him in the hours and days leading up to the meeting. 
Maybe several, and having attended three of these before, I also know what NOT to ask.

For those folks who show up and can't ask a question in the form of a question, it's not my problem.
Everyone there can either laugh at them or ignore it, but I have to say that this notion that so many School employees are necessary to be present at these get-togethers, to form a phalanx of protection, is getting more preposterous with each passing meeting.
One person will do, nicely, thanks!

If you ask me, that same person could/should also pop a videocamera onto a tripod and point and then get out of the way.
That there hasn't been at least one person within the school system who had the common sense to tape the remarks he's made at any of the dozens of places he's been and put them online on a School system website or a YouTube Channel for taxpayers and parents to see, is ridiculous.
Not tape every meeting but at least one of them?

I seem to personally have more of them on DVDs near my computer than the entire Broward School system does.
What gives with all the continued indifference and half-assed effort?
Where are the signs of those positive changes we were promised? 

Some content originally contained in this post has been moved to: 
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/more-business-as-usual-at-broward.html
More business-as-usual at Broward School Board is NOT good news for students, parents or taxpayers; Why the need by Broward Schools officials to impose omertà on school volunteers in Broward?; the very curious Hallandale High School roof situation reveals much about School Board's culture; Why is South Florida news media largely ignoring Broward Schools Diversity Comm. and their Audit Comm.?

Dynamite! Bob Norman adroitly uses facts and context to lower-the-boom on the Broward School Board for their abysmal handling of the purported Douglas H.S. cheerleader coach 'scandal" -and drops School Board member Katie Leach squarely on her head; One month before the election, docs show Donn Korn opponent Franklin Sands funds his race with lots of money from his stepson’s lobbying firm -shocker!; @mattgutmanABC

ABC News Good Morning America video: Florida Cheerleader Coach Fired for Alleged Pay-to-Play Scheme, Cheerleaders, Parents Battle Coach Over Booster Funds.

Reported by Matt Gutman, Originally aired October 5, 2012. 

Wow, what a one-sided report! 

This kind of shallow reporting by ABC News reporter Matt Gutman, based in Miami, is exactly what Bob Norman demolishes in his story below. I suspect that most of the accusers who foolishly agreed to be in this video will live to regret having put their fragile egos over the truth, especially the teenage girls, who seem like they need a very hard reality check delivered upon them ASAP, before the poor girls get to college and ruin someone else's lives. 

As for Gutman, someone whom in the past has usually come across to me as a very fair-minded and conscientious reporter -with the exception of the Trayvon Martin case- well, he completely drops the Basket Toss on this one, as it reeks of lazy, incomplete reporting.

Article at: http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-cheerleader-coach-fired-alleged-pay-play-scheme/

Video at: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/cheerleaders-parents-battle-coach-booster-funds-17403650

Dynamite! Bob Norman adroitly uses facts and context to lower-the-boom on the Broward School Board for their abysmal handling of the purported Douglas H.S. cheerleader coach 'scandal" -and drops School Board member Katie Leach squarely on her head; One month before the election, docs show Donn Korn opponent Franklin Sands funds his race with lots of money from his stepson’s lobbying firm -shocker!; @mattgutmanABC

-----
This is a corrected version of my earlier post that transposed some lines in the title and body.

Courtesy of Channel 10's investigative reporter and blogger Bob Norman, some long-neglected facts and context -remember them?- finally showed-up over the weekend on his blog in a controversial story that the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has rather consistently mis-reported, and which the Miami Herald actually ignored for months -shocker!- even as more facts emerged that challenged the South Florida press corps' "Mean Girls" narrative, which had them positively giddy at the possibilities of this story being the 2012 local news story that keeps on giving, even as they failed to report the whole truth. 
Again.

A story that initially seemed more parts Oprah then genuine news, but which now, in hindsight, clearly shows the scary lack of integrity and oversight of the Broward School Board.
It also once again painfully highlights the clear lack of leadership of its Chair Ann Murray, whom we already loathed even before this story showed-up months ago, and proved that -wait for it- yes, we were correct all along about her.
Ann Murray is the worst sort of bad news, the bad news that never ends...

Yes, unrepentant Ann Murray, the woman who was a no-show for Broward Schools Supt. Robert W. Runcie's first appearance in Hallandale Beach, two weeks ago at City Hall, which is both in Murray's district and a short drive from her home in Hollywood.
Just as predicted in this space.

Yes, hard as it is to believe, Murray STILL appears to be afraid of setting foot publicly in Hallandale Beach and taking the chance that she will be asked hard questions by residents and taxpayers -but not print reporters- about her appalling behavior, serial poor judgment and abysmal track record in office, a giant disappointment and embarrassment to so many people I know in southeast Broward County who had put their trust in her.

Too many years in office where she has been anything but the genuine reformer she touted herself as prior to her election, something that regular readers of this blog know all too well, as I've faithfully documented her in the past with both spot-on facts and useful photos that accurately connect-the-dots on Murray's failed tenure..

I may be uploading the video I shot of Supt. Runcie's appearance in Hallandale Beach onto my YouTube Channel within the week, so I'll let you know here when and if I do. 

WPLG-TV/Local 10, Miami, FL

Bob Norman's Blog

The firing of Coach Melissa

By Bob Norman

Published On: Oct 07 2012 10:33:04 AM EDT  

Updated On: Oct 08 2012 11:16:26 AM EDT

Well now it's gone international.

The Daily Mail in London has published a story on what it calls the "'Mean Girls' high school cheerleading coach" of Broward County.

That is, of course, Melissa Prochilo, the now-former cheerleading coach of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Good Morning America had a piece on her Friday morning tossing around allegations of a diabolical-sounding "pay to play scheme" and the old mainstay in this case, bullying.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bobnorman/The-firing-of-Coach-Melissa/-/3223354/16884040/-/8enkprz/-/index.html

Meanwhile, At-Large District 8 Broward School Board member Donna Korn's opponent, former state House Minority Leader Franklin Sands continues to make headlines for dubious and unflattering reasons.

MediaTrackers blog

Broward School Board Candidate Franklin Sands Posts Another Eye-Raising Funding Report

Franklin Sands continues to fund his school board campaign with money from his stepson’s lobbying firm, public records show.

By Tom Lauder

October 4, 2012 at 16:30

http://florida.mediatrackers.org/2012/10/04/broward-school-board-candidate-franklin-sands-posts-another-eye-raising-funding-report/

MediaTrackers blog

School Board Candidate Rides Campaign Cash Merry-Go-Round

By Tom Lauder

August 10, 2012 at 11:59

http://florida.mediatrackers.org/2012/08/10/school-board-candidate-rides-campaign-cash-merry-go-round/

Broward Schools Supt. Robert W. Runcie to visit Hallandale Beach City Hall Thursday night; Bob Norman on latest news re public corruption at Broward School Board; Does Hallandale High School have a long-term future?

Above and below, July 13, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier, looking south at the Broward County Schools HQ, 600 S.E. Third Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. 
© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

If you have not already seen it, I strongly encourage you to read Channel 10's Bob Norman's latest blog piece regarding  public corruption at the Broward School Board, which concerns Broward County Comm. Lois Wexler's forthright and damning testimony to the statewide Grand Jury.

Report: Lobbyist 'controlled' school board

By Bob Norman

Published On: Sep 26 2012 08:15:08 AM EDT  

Updated On: Sep 26 2012 12:24:48 PM EDT

Below is the recently released report from the grand jury after an interview of Broward County Commissioner Lois Wexler, a former school board member.

In it Wexler describes how lobbyist Neil Sterling "controlled" the school board and how he sold software to the board -- called Riverdeep -- that was faulty and wasted millions of dollars for the district (she says it wasn't, as the report says, "hundreds of millions").

Read the rest of the post at: 

http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bobnorman/Report-Lobbyist-controlled-school-board/-/3223354/16731228/-/h717n/-/index.html

And be sure to read the reader's comments!

Well, it turns out that all the negative things you ever heard about the truly craven nature of former School Board members Bob Parks and Stephanie Kraft are all true -and then some!

The "CCC" referred to in the article that got former School Board counsel Ed Marko so upset directly concerned the Broward County School Board and Hallandale High School and serious allegations of racial discrimination, which later resulted in the Board signing a consent decree.

In related news, Broward Schools Supt. Robert W. Runcie will be at Hallandale Beach City Hall Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss a number of matters.

Above, Supt. Robert Runcie after a public meeting of his Listening Tour at the City of Hollywood's  Fred Lippman Multi-Purpose Center, which was the second time I'd heard him speak in-person, having previously heard him in March at Hollywood Hills High School, also in Hollywood.  

May 14, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

Some well-informed people in this county who follow these things more closely than me seriously wonder if there's a real future for Hallandale High or not, which ought to be a concern of everyone here who wants this city on the countyline to have a higher quality of life.

The one we ought to have now.

It will be very interesting to see whether or not School Board chair Ann Murray, our ethically and morally-challenged representative, actually shows her face publicly after continually refusing to show-up here, year-after-year, including at the impressive education forum put together by my good friend, Catherine Kim Owens, in June of last year, when both Murray and At-Large member Jennifer Gottlieb, both Hollywood residents, refused to make the short drive down the street, even while Board member Robin Bartleman, from Weston, could summon forth the time and energy to actually get here.

I remind you again that in the nearly nine years that I have lived here in Hallandale
Beach, Mayor Joy Cooper and the HB City Commission have never once shown the intelligence or gumption to convene a long-overdue city-wide meeting or forum on education in HB and what was really going on here.

That longstanding failure to be smart and thorough about this city's educational choices and options created a vacuum, one that Peter Deutsch and Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter School thought to exploit, even while they verbally sought to intimidate and bad-mouth the city, the NE 8th Avenue neighborhood and all residents of this city in the process, with nary a word of public criticism about THAT from Joy Cooper, Anthony Sanders or Alexander Lewy.

Just something to think about tomorrow night...

So what's happened since the city over-paid for that property from Peter Deutsch & Co.?

Hallandale city manager calls in special auditor to review property bought from ex-congressman

By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org 

September 18, 2012 AT 6:17 AM

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2012/09/hallandale-city-manager-calls-in-special-auditor-to-review-property-bought-from-ex-congressman/

Correct, nothing positive.

As imperfect as they are, the NFL "replacement" officials are still performing their job much-better than the following people or groups in Florida are performing their's...

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As imperfect as they are, the NFL "replacement" officials are still performing their job much-better than the following people or groups in Florida are performing their's...

Broward County Legislative Delegation 

Time to end 'free ride' for the Broward Legislative Delegation on Broward taxpayers' back; they should pay ALL costs of an office few citizens know of

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/time-to-end-free-ride-for-broward.html

Broward County School Board, esp. ethically-challenged Chair Ann Murray, who legally represents Hallandale Beach on the Board, and yet has continually demonstrated that she's afraid of meeting with well-informed Hallandale Beach parents and taxpayers in public and the city. Murray also refuses to answer longstanding questions in public about her very questionable judgment and decisions.

Ann Murray -she's a phony, a bigot and a no-show. Consistently. That's what voters have seen of her tenure on Broward School Board so far -she needs to go!; update on projects at Hallandale High School

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/part-1-of-2-ann-murray-shes-phony-bigot.html

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/part-2-of-2-ann-murray-shes-phony-bigot.html

Video of Bob Norman's news report at Channel 10: Montessori school called 'Jen's baby', Report blames former school board member Jen Gottlieb for $25M pushing project through
http://www.local10.com/news/FDLE-report-details-how-Beachside-Montessori-Village-was-built/-/1717324/16694318/-/pfxegl/-/index.html

Broward School's Transportation Dept. and director Chester Tindall 

Video of Bob Norman's news report at Channel 10: School board: Bus drivers wanted
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bobnorman/School-board-Bus-drivers-wanted/-/3223354/16502446/-/6i1o4q/-/index.html

Broward schools paid $800,000 for GPS, but rarely used it

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-09-19/news/fl-broward-bus-gps-update-20120919_1_gps-project-nora-rupert-school-board

Substitute teachers in Miami-Dade and Broward County -As true today as it was over thirty years ago... 

Florida Dept. of Transportation, District 4 
Inattention to detail costs lives, risks lives, and costs money, yet they are chronically tone-deaf to criticism that is not only self-evident to folks paying attention to longstanding problems. 

When was the last time that District 4 Secretary James A. Wolfe subjected himself to intense questioning and follow-up about the dept.'s efforts and policies from the public -in public- instead of merely to industry professionals at closed and often paid events? Or even to reporters who cover transportation? 
Whose name, phone number and email address doesn't appear on District 4's webpage?
http://www.d4fdot.com/index.asp
Why it's the very person in charge -James A. Wolfe. 
It's also not searchable!

Office of Broward State's Attorney Michael Satz

Not enough space on page to delineate the full scope of the problems, suffice to say that 36 years for one person to be in charge of such a responsible position is too much, esp. for someone who has produced such paltry results in the State of Florida's most corrupt county -the worst of 67!

Broward County Democratic Executive Committee and disconnected Chair Mitch Caeser. Lots of people are quoted as having said variations of that as long as nobody cares who gets the credit, a lot of positive things can be accomplished. The problem in Broward County is that Caesar and his cronies DO care who's in charge and who gets the credit. Desperately, desperately care! But what do they have to show for it? He and his pals are the head party boss and cabal of a one-party county that long been the most-corrupt in the state. Which means that he apparently writes a lot of letters requesting clemency for his friends, many of whom he also lobbied while they were elected municipal officials before they were arrested and frog-marched out in handcuffs. 

Florida Democratic Party Alex Sink, Nan Rich and Charlie Crist? The Three Stooges.

Miami Herald's management and editorial staff, esp. those responsible for local news and schools coverage. 

Fact checking the Miami Herald's dubious claims on Education: Over the weekend, I unexpectedly found myself forced to 'school' the Herald's Executive Editor after she bragged about the Herald's coverage of Education. I had to bring up some inconvenient facts rebutting that claim
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/fact-checking-miami-heralds-dubious.html

So when are the Miami Herald and the South Sun-Sentinel going to note the elephant in the room in Hallandale Beach? The ethics of and the complete lack of candor from Hallandale Beach Comm. Anthony A. Sanders & his wife Jessica; Mayor Cooper and Comm. Sanders screw with public's access to HB budget meetings; @MayorCooper, @SandersHB
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/so-when-are-miami-herald-and-south-sun.html

Is there anyone in South Florida media with lower visibility than Miami Herald publisher David Landsberg? What are his specific plans for transforming the newspaper so it doesn't remain
irrelevant to what goes on in South Florida, seemingly always the last to know something or report something?

What's going on at the Miami Herald? More than a year after the last one fled, the Herald still lacks an Ombudsman -and shows no sign of getting one- to represent readers deep concerns about bias, misrepresentation and flackery on behalf of South Florida's powerful & privileged at the Herald. And that's just one of many unresolved problems there...
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/whats-going-on-at-miami-herald-more.html

For another consistently lousy year of journalism at the Miami Herald, esp. covering Broward County, more lumps of coal in the Christmas stocking of One Herald Plaza -Part 1
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/for-another-consistently-lousy-year-of.html

South Florida Sun-Sentinel's management and editorial staff, particularly those directly responsible for unsatisfactory local news and school coverage, esp. the editors, reporters and columnists who have shown over the years that they are nothing more than lapdogs for Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

OMG! Really, another interview with predictable Debbie Wasserman-Schultz on Channel 10's TWISF tomorrow? Why? Will there be any mention of the Sun-Sentinel STILL ignoring the Glenn Thrush book's depiction of DWS's unpopularity at Obama HQ in Chicago?; Sun-Sentinel has completely morphed into the Snooze-Sentinel! It's now more of an idea of a newspaper, and a bad one at that, rather than a newspaper you actually look forward to reading

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/omg-really-another-interview-with.html

And did I mention that their Broward Politics blog hasn't added anything to their YouTube Channel in over 16 months? http://www.youtube.com/user/BrowardPolitics/
Way to stay current!

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, President Mike Dee and General Manager Jeff Ireland 
In other parts of the country, though not here, it's not unusual to hear people say "To whom much is given, much is expected."
With respect to the Dolphins, not so much. #EpicFail

Above,  501 N.W. 1st Avenue, which in Hallandale Beach polite society and public policy circles is considered THE most egregious example of dozens of exasperating and highly-questionable examples of dubious government spending and crony capitalism that've taken place on Mayor Joy Cooper's watch, and one of the most dubious of any in Broward County, which is REALLY saying something. It's the infamous former property owned by HB Comm. Anthony A. Sanders that has seen so many tens of thousands of Hallandale Beach taxpayer dollars and CRA dollars poured into it. For what, THIS? photo by South Beach Hoosier © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Myopic and inattentive City of Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper and the three members of her Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew on the City Commission, who thru their continued negligence and actual unwillingness to perform basic oversight functions and be strictly accountable to, and honest with, taxpayers, have made what should be one of the nicest parts of Broward County into something that is NOT.

See numerous stories proving this at  http://www.browardbulldog.org/?s=hallandale

The city's budget has nearly doubled the past 6 years and what is there to show for it? What is the tangible thing that taxpayers can look at or feel? And the same is true with the money that the city has wasted from the CRA thru grants and loans to their pals thru crony capitalism.
Karma has big plans for them!

Myopic City of Hallandale Beach Police Chief Dwayne Fluornoy and his top-heavy dept. with enough psychological and relationship problems to keep Freud and Jung busy for a year. That they also are guilty of speeding in inappropriate places around town and are routinely inattentive to basic self-evident safety problems all around the city, esp. on the city's main three roads, makes it all the worse. 
Some Cops Given A Pass If Caught By Red Light Cameras
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/04/22/some-cops-given-a-pass-if-caught-by-red-light-cameras/

Their complete abdication to Mayor Cooper on the red-light camera issue was proof positive to many people who formerly gave them the benefit of the doubt that the Police Dept. is now hopelessly and morally compromised. The next police chief needs to come from outside of the Dept., preferably, from far away! 
There are still far too too many mediocre cops in this city with chippy attitudes.

Pampered City of Hallandale Beach Fire Dept. Daniel Sullivan and the dept. that regularly uses a fire truck to buy groceries at Publix and seems a little too chippy. 
Oh, and they also don't cite businesses for violations of fire safety regs that are pro-City Hall or give money to PAL.

City of Hallandale Beach DPW Director Hector Castro and his lazy and unprofessional staff, who for years have made this city a mess for the eye to behold and given new meaning to the word underwhelming, especially with their horrific care of the city's public beaches.
That's why, if you didn't already know, why embarrassed HB residents refuse to take visiting family and friends to HB's beach on holidays and go instead up to nearby Hollywood Beach,  which is why that beach is SO crowded then.

Hundreds and hundreds of embarrassed Hallandale Beach residents and their guests, spending money there instead of their own city.
Another Joy Cooper success story.