FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'

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Showing posts with label Barbara Sharief. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barbara Sharief. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Some preliminary thoughts about #Broward's 2021 #redistricting process. Final map gets voted on at what's likely to be a very spirited December 7th meeting, where some political careers may well be snuffed out


Some preliminary thoughts about #Broward's 2021 #redistricting process. Final map gets voted on at what's likely to be a very spirited December 7th meeting, where some political careers may well be snuffed out

Even as I was writing my first draft of this post this afternoon, I got word that an additional Broward County redistricting meeting has been scheduled for Saturday October 30, 2021 at 10AM, but it's... virtual. 🙄 Zut alors!

It's the last "public" meeting to comment before the last 4 draft maps are presented to the Broward County Commission for their thumbs up or down, scheduled for December 7th.

20210927_201323.jpg

My experience in the past is that the Sun Sentinel's Lisa Huriash is usually a fair-minded reporter, with a good sense of perspective re how simple or complicated an issue might be and what's necessary to present an accurate account of what's really at stake.
But here, on the issue of Broward reconfiguring its nine Commission districts, noticeably, she has failed badly. 

Also not mentioned is that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be naming two interim Broward County Commissioners next month, as Barbara Sharief and Dale Holness had to resign in order to run in the #FL20 primary election that takes place two weeks from today, on November 2nd.

An election with nearly a dozen candidates where the winner will likely be someone who has failed to get 75%+ of the overall Democratic voters. Most of you longtime readers of the blog know that I hold both of these two Broward Commissioners in very low regard for their serial unethical machinations, serial poor judgment, and propensity for telling self-serving lies and half-truths, and general desire to play #IdentityPolitics at the worst possible times.
You never have to ask whether they are doing something for political reasons: they ARE.

Sharief's District 8 seat is up next November while the Holness' District 9 seat runs thru 2024, so my educated guess is that both seats will be on the ballot in just over a year, one for a full-term, and one to fill out the final two years.
You should start seeing articles next week about who DeSantis might choose and why.

Migration changes face of Broward, bringing new ideas and fresh flavors
By Lisa J. Huriash
October 11, 2021 

There were and are some very obvious and important facts and relationships that, at a minimum, should have been disclosed to readers there, but which, for whatever reason, weren't.

That includes connecting-the-dots on some of the people she quotes who I know with certainty have glaring conflicts of interests as it affects the public and public policy, including on the matter of redistricting, but Huriash stays quiet as a church mouse, which is why I have included the piece by Red 
Broward blogger Tom Lauder that accurately connects-the-dots that Huriash chooses to ignore,

If you can't access the Sun Sentinel article, let me know and I'll try to send a copy to you.

And yes, the Sept. 27 meeting I reference below is the one that was held at the Hollywood Library that I sent some of you an email about last month, before it took place, because there was no info about it anywhere in Hollywood, not even at the library itself, so the librarians knew nothing about it just two days beforehand.
Which is clearly not a good sign of the county's level of engagement on this.

Click screen grab below to enlarge!


























By the way, before the public meeting was held, there was a preview meeting held by the FIU redistricting consultants that was largely composed of area local elected officials, so they'd have a better handle on what the process is supposed to be and the issues involved in creating districts that are roughly equal population-wise, though they're allowed to have up to a 10% variance.
I saw many familiar faces coming out of the room before I and a handful of other Broward citizens went in for the public meeting.


Above, the evening's moderator, FIU professor Dario Moreno, the county's lead consultant on redistricting.

Above, District 6 Broward Commissioner Beam Furr, an official Friend of the Blog. As per usual, we spoke for a bit on some local matters before the meeting started.






Broward Commissioner Steve Geller in center



Because facts matter, and are worth recalling: At least three members of the county commission in the past 20 years not lived in their districts – Ben Graber, Lois Wexler and Stacy Ritter. 

"The law requires your legal residence to be in the district, while apparently your physical body can sleep somewhere else." -Buddy Nevins at Broward Beat, Dec. 4, 2011
https://www.browardbeat.com/state-rep-marty-kiars-future-in-limbo-because-of-redistricting/


Broward Beat
Gerrymander! County Commission Carves Out A Seat For State Rep. Marty Kiar
BY BUDDY NEVINS
December 16, 2011

State Rep. Marty Kiar of Davie is “extremely likely” to run for the Broward County Commission after commissioners on Tuesday gerrymandered District 1 to include Kiar’s home.

The opportunity for Kiar suddenly surfaced late Tuesday when commissioners suddenly placed a tiny sliver of northwest Davie in District 1.  That section just happens to include Kiar’s home.

Districting boundary lines are not drawn by accident at the county commission. Somebody wants Kiar in the race, either the Commissioners Lieberman and Stacy Ritter who redrew the district or those behind the scenes…or both.

Read the rest of the post at
https://www.browardbeat.com/marty-kiar-extremely-likely-to-run-for-county-commission/


A reminder: After resisting getting a Facebook account for... well, years, because I could not be bothered with one with everything else I was already doing, I finally gave in last month and created a new platform for myself at https://www.facebook.com/DavidSmith0215/,
mostly so that I could finally read and comment on what i saw at the Hollywood Residents - Speak Up group page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023412084491625/ which I urge you to join if you are a Hollywood resident not already reading it.

Don't agree with everything there, of course, but it's a much better informed group that a random group of residents, and includes almost daily posts by people I know and trust who want this city to be MUCH-BETTER than it is and has been in recent years. Just like me.

Typically, I comment on both my page and the group page a few times a week, but I'm trying to allow a few days in-between posts, plus, I usually try to mention things that I don't necessarily mention in my popular group emails, here on my blog, or at the very repetitive and often innocuous Hollywood Nextdoor page, so consider checking me out there as well.

Also, if you add my current phone number to your contact list and use WhatsApp, you can even see my occasional commentary on things important and otherwise via the STATUS page, so consider that, too.



https://www.broward.org/Redistricting/Pages/default.aspx

Some other Florida redistricting stories worth catching up on:

Miami Herald
Miami-Dade has - a new redistricting map: Let the fights begin over voting boundaries
Douglas Hanks; Staff Writer
October 3, 2021
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article254682422.html


Understanding the Florida Legislature redistricting effort with former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida, Peggy Quince.
From WEDU-TV, PBS Tampa: Florida This Week, taped Sept. 24, 2021

Florida lawmakers look to avoid running afoul of courts when redrawing districts
'My promise to you is … we will do this right,' one lawmaker said
John Kennedy, Capital Bureau
USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA

POLITICO Florida Playbook: The GOP’s redistricting promises
Tuesday, Sept. 21, 7:02 AM
BY GARY FINEOUT
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/florida-playbook/2021/09/21/the-gops-redistricting-promises-494407

Florida Trend
Senate kicks off redistricting process
Jim Turner | News Service of Florida | 9/21/2021
https://www.floridatrend.com/article/32208/senate-kicks-off-redistricting-process

South Florida Sun Sentinel 

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Monday, August 19, 2019

So THAT just happened... for the worst. Broward County's 325-foot 911 Services radio tower at West Lake Park in #HollywoodFL just got the green light from an independent consultant. So now what? Don't hold your breath, Hollywood!

Today's blog post is the latest update to the neverending story regarding Broward County's longstanding effort to put a 325-foot high 911 emergency services radio tower and antenna in a very popular county park in northern Hollywood off Sheridan Street, West Lake Park. 
Map here: https://goo.gl/maps/mM7qZd1Hz6aBHqx2A

 That plan has been almost universally opposed by the the city's residents and elected officials on largely environmental grounds and financial grounds, though there are clearly many Hollywood homeowners who are opposed to the radio tower being located there for strictly aesthetic reasons, too.
Which is their right, of course.


This blog post will cover what's largely taken place since my last blog post on this issue of May 6th, 2019, The West Lake Park Radio Tower issue is rubbing #HollywoodFL residents the wrong way, esp. people who don't see 325-foot tall radio antennas, even for 911 services, being compatible for a nature park. Especially when there's a better answer available. @SAVEWESTLAKE
https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-west-lake-park-radio-tower-issue-is.html


The map above and the following infromation comes straight from Broward County's website:

Consultant Concludes West Lake Park is Best Site for 911 Tower Site

On June 19, Broward County and the City of Hollywood agreed to hire an independent subject matter expert to evaluate two proposed locations for a new radio tower in east Hollywood. The independent expert released his report earlier today and recommends the West Lake Park location (view site map) in lieu of the CIRC Hotel location. Per the terms of the agreement between the City and County, the independent expert’s decision is binding on both parties. Read Consultant Report.
Broward Comm. Beam Furr, a former City of Hollywood Commissioner -and a friend of yours truly- was very articulate and persuasive in pointing out these environmental and financial facts at a summer County Commission meeting, pointing out that having it placed atop The Circ Hotel at Young Circle on U.S.-1/Federal Highway is better for all Broward taxpayers because
a.) it would cost less, and, 
b.) there would be ZERO possibility of storm surge affecting the antenna tower during or after a hurricane, as would be more likely if it's located at West Lake Park.

 As is commonly known, the whole Broward 911 communications system has been a fiasco for many years, with the murders at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywod International Airport in January of 2017 - I knew someone who flew out of the airport shortly before it took place- and the massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas H.S. having revealed the self-evident dangers of the County Commission being  behind-schedule on updating and improving the 911 system for what seems like forever.
That being the case, actually having the radio antenna located in a site that is both cheaper and safer made a lot of sense to me and most of the people I know, whether they were Hollywood residents like me or not.

 But the rest of the Broward County Commission had little-to-no interest in listening to what Comm. Furr and the residents of Hollywood said, and to me seemed to have largely made their minds made up long before the meeting started, as evidenced by many their overly-dramatic self-serving, self-pitying, sanctimonious and sarcastic comments, especially those coming from Comm. Barbara Sharief and Comm. Michael Udine, the latter of whom I zinged on Twitter in late June, as you can see below.
Their whole Chicken Little "sky-is-falling" mindset was embarrassing, though predictable given where we are.

 This all taking place despite the fact that it's clear to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention that the 911 radio tower antenna tower, no matter where it was located in the greater Hollywood area to cover SE Broward, would NOT be complete until... NEXT YEAR.

 I heard one of the county's own experts say that right in front of me at the June meeting in Hollywood.
But to not real effect apparently.
People who know better still claim it will be done this year.
It's simply a preposterous claim, especially if we get anything close to a minor hurricane before the end of November now that we have moved into the heart of hurricane season, where 85% of them emerge.





Photo from @SAVEWESTLAKE




































 

Dave 

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