Tomas Lopez story results in predictably anemic response by Hallandale Beach City Hall as growing public outrage re harsh treatment of lifeguard Lopez by his company, Jeff Ellis & Associates -an unpersuasive form letter- shows City Hall's longstanding myopia remains. Story has touched a nerve all over the world about moral imperatives and importance of doing the right thing despite strong possible negative consequences. We desperately need to change the culture and personnel at City Hall ASAP!

ABC News video: Correspondent Matt Gutman on Fla. Contractor That Fired Lifeguard For Saving Man Outside Zone Reconsidering. July 5, 2012.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/fired-fla-lifeguard-reinstated/story?id=16716225

Tomas Lopez story results in predictably anemic response by Hallandale Beach City Hall as growing public outrage re harsh treatment of lifeguard Lopez by his company, Jeff Ellis & Associates -an unpersuasive form letter- shows City Hall's longstanding myopia remains. Story has touched a nerve all over the world about moral imperatives and importance of doing the right thing despite strong possible negative consequences. We desperately need to change the culture and personnel at City Hall ASAP!

In short, in the official City of Hallandale Beach response thus far about the incident I discussed here yesterday, that was originally reported by Ihosvani Rodriguez of the South Florida sun-Sentinel, and which blew-up over the Fourth of July holiday to become international news, to the surprise of no one, the city says absolutely nothing about their own longstanding neglect, incompetency and culpability regarding the public beach areas, including the news that I shared with you that the two lifeguard stations on the beach are NOT grounded for lightning strikes, as they are supposed to be.

Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas, and nothing happens. Nobody is fired. Just more mindless bureaucratic apathy and incompetency from the same old crew!

http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/lifeguard-tomas-lopez-helps-save-day-at.html

By the way, if you didn't already know, the lifeguards are supposed to call their own company first in order to dispatch Fire/Rescue to the scene of trouble, despite the fact that HB Fire/Rescue is right next to the iconic Hallandale Beach Water Tower on State Road A1A and Hallandale Beach Blvd., on the border separating HB and Hollywood.  

Hallandale Beach Fire Station 60 is located in the building north of the city's iconic Water Tower on State Road A1A, just south of the Hollywood cityline. May 30, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

When that was done, a lot of the life guards told me at the time that based on their past experience, this policy would inevitably cause casualties.

And I didn't even mention in my email and blog post of yesterday that, as I've noted here previously, for a very long time, the lifeguards lacked a motorized device that would allow the guards to actually respond to people caught in dangerous high wave/strong undertow situations far from shore, which greatly frustrated them and created a lot of anxiety on those sorts of days.

And lest you forget, we had an unusually high number of such days early last year, which was even more troubling when you know the lifeguards lacked the tools they desperately needed.

You'd think the city would've had a back-up plan after the one device they had -to share among the two lifeguard stands- broke.

You'd think that, but you'd be wrong -there was no back-up plan!

Is having Jeff Ellis and Associates' dispatchers calling 911 instead of the lifeguards on the scene part of what should be publicly discussed and re-examined while everyone is looking at what took place at the beach on Monday?

Should help for victims really be delayed from being dispatched solely because of company policy?

In my opinion, this whole topic ought to be the subject of a public meeting held at the city's Cultural Center, say, on a Saturday morning at 10 a.m., AFTER Labor Day when everyone is back in town, so that everyone who is interested can attend and hear what's what from Jeff Ellis, the city and any other people who have some knowledge to share, as well as HB residents?

Earlier today, Hallandale Beach civic activist Etty Sims, always a strong voice for common sense, financial accountability and the entire community's best long-term interests, sent the following email to HB City Hall and its denizens.

Along with her comments were links to just some of the dozen and dozens of news sites around the world that have reported on this troubling incident via a Google Alert on HB, a tool which I also receive and have encouraged you all to get as well if you live here, or one for your own community if you're anywhere else in the world.

Among the hundreds of news organizations and websites that have delved into this story are the BBC and ABC News, the latter of which did a three-minute story on it last night with reporter Matt Gutman during ABC Evening News, which was re-run this morning, the video of which I've posted at the top.

Here's Etty Sims' email:

Good morning city commissioners, mayor and city manager,

So Hallandale Beach is in the news all over the country and not for a good reason.

I am sure that you all heard about the incident on the beach.

If you read the comments to the stories on the different news media sites you will see that not only the private company that you, the commission hired to protect our beach goers , BUT the entire city's reputation is beefing affected negatively.

Please let us know what are you going to do about this issue.

if we want to improve our beaches, it is very important that beach goers  not only feel safe on our beach but are actually being protected by someone that cares about people's life and not the bottom line.

Since the lifeguard company's contract is coming  up for renewal, it is a perfect time to look into the different options available.

It is time to bring back the Beach in Hallandale Beach. Please make it a priority and transform the beach to a place that people want to go to. There are too many other options very close by such as Hollywood Beach Broadwalk.

Have a great summer 

Etty Sims

-----

Meanwhile... I continue to receive email from everywhere, including some thoughtful nuanced email from Las Vegas that gets right to the heart of the matter of what happened on Monday

Sarah Elizabeth has left a new comment on your post "Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the ci...":

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: City Manager <CityManager@hallandalebeachfl.gov>
Date: Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 10:46 AM
Subject: RE: Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas...

Thank you for contacting the City of Hallandale Beach regarding the beach incident that occurred on July 2, 2012.  I am in close contact with Jeff Ellis of Jeff Ellis Management who has started a full investigation into the termination of their lifeguard.  The lifeguard is not a City employee, but was employed by Jeff Ellis Management, a private company contracted to provide lifeguard services for two city-owned beaches and the Municipal pool.  Jeff Ellis Management has committed to the City that if the lifeguard was terminated in haste, the company would move expeditiously to reinstate his employment.

It has always been the City’s policy that if there is an actual emergency inside or outside of the protected area, the lifeguard must respond. We do however have to ensure that certain safety protocols are followed to ensure the safety of all visitors to the City of Hallandale Beach.  At this time, the City is awaiting the facts of the termination and the results of our internal inquiry and the Ellis Management investigation.  Once the City has the results of the investigation, we can make an informed determination on the future of the relationship with this management company.

The City Hallandale Beach truly values your concerns and comments on this issue. The safety of our Beach patrons and the manner in which this service is provided is paramount to the City.  We are moving swiftly to address the situation.

Renee C. Crichton

City Manager

City of Hallandale Beach

400 S. Federal Highway

Hallandale Beach, FL 33009

954-457-1300 Phone

954-457-1454 Fax

Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas, and nothing happens. Nobody is fired. Just more mindless bureaucratic apathy and incompetency from the same old crew!

South Beach, Hallandale Beach, Florida. This and all photos below are from May 30, 2012 and were taken by South Beach Hoosier. 

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas, and nothing happens. Nobody is fired. Just more mindless bureaucratic apathy and incompetency from the same old tired crew!

Early this morning in an email to the Sun-Sentinel's Ihosvani Rodriguez, I wrote the following:

I  just needed to clarify something.

In your article, Hallandale Beach lifeguard fired after participating in beach rescue
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/hallandale/fl-hallandale-beach-lifeguards-20120703,0,5326638.story do you mean the lifeguard who saved someone from dying,
Tomas Lopez, left one of the HB lifeguard stands that, contrary to what the city's insurance docs likely claim, are NOT now properly grounded for lightning strikes?

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Something the city already knows about, which is the city's legal responsibility and a HB taxpayer's lawsuit nightmare if someone is injured?
Yeah, sort of like the city still not having fixed or replaced 28 broken lights at Bluesten Park, three blocks from City Hall, for well over nine months and counting... 

Specifically, the lifeguard stand on South Beach that still has graffiti on it and had metal city signs underneath it for 4-5 months because the city's DPW is so poorly managed and bereft of anything resembling a strong work ethic or attention to detail, to remove them and place them in the correct place? 
And which was still under the South Beach lifeguard stand many weeks after I first called DPW on my cell phone in late May while standing next to it, to complain, when these photos were taken?

Those lifeguard stands?

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

You mean THOSE lifeguard stands with metal underneath them just asking to be zapped

by lightning?

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

The beach where not so far away from those old and unsafe lifeguard stands there are faded, 30-year old Broward County signs from when southern Broward County was still using the 305 area code, the Miami Dolphins were still playing in the Orange Bowl, and BEFORE Dan Marino was playing quarterback for the Dolphins?

That neglected public beach?

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Do you mean the beach where the weekend before the city's Parks Master Plan meeting of Monday May 31st re possible changes and improvements to South Beach, the sign with the meeting info came down, and rather than simply re-hammering it into the wooden pole, someone from the city dragged it next to the dumpster and left it there?

Which, of course, meant that anyone who went to the beach that entire weekend or Monday morning who didn't already know about the meeting would have had no idea about it, or what the rendering on the left actually meant?

That neglected public beach?

I spy: the missing meeting sign hidden next to the dumpster! 
© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

The beach with the nearby dumpster without the fence enclosure the city requires of all businesses owners in the city with dumpsters, to hide the dumpster from public view, just like the city has been violating its own ordinances for YEARS at North Beach?

After I saw this for myself the afternoon of the meeting, I actually left the beach and drove over to City Hall and spoke in-person with the new Parks Director at her office to both tell her what I'd seen, but to also offer it up as yet another self-evident example of how things were/are routinely done in this city since I have lived here -with a lack of professionalism and with an almost completely contemptuous disregard for the taxpayers and residents of this city.

Which is to say half-assed! And with no consequences for continued sub-par performance.

But the reality is that in this city, it's DPW who is in charge of the beach, not Parks & Rec.
That's where the blame lies, along with just-departed City Manager Antonio, and the current Mayor and City Commission.

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Could there possibly be any garbage dumpsters in South Florida that are closer to the Atlantic Ocean than these two from the City of Hallandale Beach at North Beach? (The ones you can see because the city doesn't have the required fencing hiding them.) I don't think there are! 

Area to the left is The Apogee condos in Hollywood under construction. 

The public beach where for years, as they do elsewhere, the city just laughs at following its own rules and ordinances, to say nothing of city commissioners ignoring state laws about NOT illegally parking in disabled parking spaces?

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

One of the many photos I snapped over the years of Julian's ID on dashboard while he was parked illegally in disabled or disabled- access parking spaces next to the Beachside Cafe at North Beach.  

(The latter is a common sense state law that for YEARS was routinely abused by former HB Comm. Bill Julian -running again this year- when he drove to the Beachside Cafe, continually parking in what was then THE only disabled parking space nearby, being sure to let everyone know whose car it was, as ID shows.)

Like the public beach -as depicted in photo above- that has dumpsters that have only needed lids that actually fit and cover the garbage since... 

Those public beaches?

The beaches that rightly ought to be taken away from the control of the city's DPW Dept., who have clearly demonstrated over many years that they are clearly NOT interested in giving HB taxpayers the appealing and clean beach they desperately want, and NOT giving them a dollar's worth of service for a dollar's worth of taxes?

The ones whose care should be outsourced to a licensed and experienced contractor to beautify and properly maintain?

Those public beaches?

Oh, okay, now I got it.

I just wanted to make sure that we were talking about the same beaches in HB I know about, and have been closely observing for years as they have fallen into rapid decline due to the city's very own longstanding neglect, apathy and incompetency.

After all, I certainly wouldn't want to jump to any erroneous conclusions.

Kudos to Tomas for keeping his integrity intact and not hesitating from doing the right thing.
I only wish that most of the people at Hallandale Beach City Hall who've been making the big bucks for years were as deserving of the community's trust, respect and admiration as Tomas was by his display of integrity.
But they're not.

No, sadly, my experience is that when they actually do the right thing, it's usually by accident, NOT by design.
And the proof of that is all around us in this city.

Hallandale Beach's Parks & Recreation Master Plan's first two public meetings are Saturday -be there!

As many of you already know, for well more than a year, I've been busy taking photographs and shooting video documenting the longstanding problems I've personally observed with this city's Parks & Recreation Dept., speaking to Hallandale Beach residents who use them for myriad purposes, finding out what they like or don't like, as well as talking to people who DON'T or WON'T use them and find out why that is.
You'd be surprised at what some of those reasons are.

I've also frequently spoken to the contracted-lifeguards from Jeff Ellis & Associates at the public beach about:

a.) the many, many complaints they hear from HB residents and visitors alike about the dirty, unattractive and poorly-maintained conditions of the beach, both North and South -the responsibility of DPW Director John Chidsey- as well as the

b.) longstanding public safety problems that the Police Dept. has ignored for years, thru their infrequent presence, and

c.) The Beachside Cafe NOT fulfilling their obligations to the city's residents under their signed lease, which ought to be opened-up to new bidders.
I've got a copy of that contract, so I know exactly what I'm talking about and I can tell you, some of those terms have NOT been honored for years.

In most cases, though, the things I heard about were problems or situations I already knew about or been told about by other HB residents, but every so often, the lifeguards would have something new to add that I hadn't observed or heard elsewhere.
Which, of course, is why I always asked them, no?

For instance, the city NOT having a suitable back-up plan in place when a boat they use to get to swimmers in bad surf conditions, like rip tides, was damaged, and supposedly being repaired.

So, for weeks during the summer, the lifeguards DIDN'T have a resource they needed to keep swimmers safe.
So tell me, why did the city play with the safety of this city's residents and not have a plan?
Who wants to answer that question?

I'll be at the 1 p.m. meeting tomorrow on the beach, although without my foam board with photos and info re longstanding problems at the city's Parks and Public Beach, and the DPW and City Manager's Office ignoring both the problems themselves, and the city employees' very poor work ethic and failure to report the problems up the chain of command.

That foam board I've mentioned previously to some of you via emails, will be in evidence at the O.B. Johnson meeting in NW next Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., and I encourage you to do the same thing.

The extant flimsy excuse for a primer on the Parks Master Plan is at:
http://fl-hallandalebeach.civicplus.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1722

It's an appallingly short five pages and almost entirely devoid of text and also does not identify possible funding sources.

Hallandale Beach Parks & Rec. Master Plan -Southeast Quadrant
Saturday, March 12th, 10:00 a.m.,
Bluesten Park
501 S.E.1st Avenue

Hallandale Beach Parks & Rec. Master Plan -Northeast/Beach Quadrant
Saturday, March 12th, 1:00 p.m.,
North Beach Community Center
2813 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Latest Poll Info from Rasmussen Reports on Govt. Spending Echoes South Florida Voters' Sentiment

Excerpts from an email that I sent out Friday to some of the

concerned citizens and elected officials of this city and region,

and the South Florida press.

-------------------------------------------

April 28, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Just received some very interesting info this morning

from Rasmussen Reports via their free daily updates,

something you might want to consider getting as well.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/

The article, below, on voter sentiment regarding govt.

spending was just released at 10:30 a.m. this morning,

and is exactly in line with everything I hear from public

policy types and politically-involved citizens at events

I attend throughout South Florida, yet other than with

the recent case with BSO, the Broward Sheriff's Office,

which has gotten a lot of media attention, where exactly

are the meaningful yet intelligent cuts in govt. spending

that you can point to that ought to have been forthcoming?

77% See Politicians Unwillingness to Cut Government

Spending as Bigger Problem Than Voter Resistance to

Tax Hikes

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics2/77_see_politicians_unwillingness_to_cut_government_spending_as_bigger_problem_than_voter_resistance_to_tax_hikes

Where are the media reports showing examples of local govt.

getting smarter and slimmer thru technology, that were all

the rage just a few years ago?

The manana bureaucracy I encounter in South Florida on a

daily basis seems as dysfunctional and non-responsive as ever,

with our own city of Hallandale Beach being Ground Zero

for dysfunctional govt. for reasons that we all can recite.

April 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

April 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Perfect example of govt. dysfunction: Last August

at the city's public budget meeting at HB City Hall, I specifically

challenged HB City Manager Mike Good and his staff to explain

the logic of the city persisting for years in using garbage cans

without lids at THE windiest place in the whole city

-the public beach.

(It's not like that last fact is 'Breaking News'.)

His response: lots of talk. no action, just like his

promise moments later to place blue recycling

bins on the beach itself.

The logical results are self-evident to anyone, above,

a photo from a Saturday last month around 3 p.m. or so.

Nine long months later, the city still uses the same exact

garbage receptacles, sans lids, which is part of why the

beach is SO dumpy and unattractive, and there are

still no blue recycling bins on the public beach,

where beach-goers actually are, to make encourage it,

not make it impossible.

See http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/03/1048_condoms_on_the_beach_and.php

and http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/welcome-to-hallandale-beach-where-old.html

Here in Hallandale Beach, fellow citizens and residents

appealing improperly-cited code violations from the

city still get a very rude, lethargic and combative response

from City Hall when availing themselves of their rights

under the state's Sunshine Laws to get public records

they need to successfully appeal.

Hallandale Beach police officers get approval to drive their

police cars even farther into the far western Broward suburbs

to get home -at Hallandale Beach taxpayer's expense.

Yet the public beach here that is so terribly maintained is

NEVER patrolled by these same HB police officers in ways

that are even remotely comparable to our neighbors,

especially on three-day holiday weekends like this one.

Everyone who ever goes to the beach knows this is true,

it's "common knowledge," but HB City Manager Mike

Good and Mayor Joy Cooper and their Rubber Stamp

Crew just shrug their shoulders, like they have no real power

to change that policy, or create a new positive dynamic.

That's just another reason why they are each so personally

contemptible -their sheer laziness and apathy.

April 28, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Above, hen coming home to roost in Hallandale Beach

about wasteful govt. spending and utter lack of competency?

The contractor lifeguards are literally overwhelmed on

these sorts of weekends, yet the HB Police will NEVER

be seen on or near the beach except in the case of an

actual emergency, despite how large the crowds will get,

the amount of illegal/underage drinking taking place

in public, etc.

I'll be there late Sunday morning before returning home

for the Indy 500 telecast and will record the scene with

some photos before I leave, which you'll see soon.

Prediction: it will be just like last year's Memorial Day

Weekend... and the year before that and the year before....

To me, it'll be very interesting to see whether or not

-or to what extent- South Florida pols and those

in Tallahassee are able to resist this popular citizen

sentiment that this Rasmussen Report pinpoints,

the one that for some citizens, found catharsis thru

the recent Tea Party movement that the Miami

Herald and Beth Reinhard ignored for months

while other media round the country covered it

like a real story.

And what effect, if any, that sentiment will have on

South Florida pols in the next 16 months before the

Nov. 2010 election.

Will they accept the new economic/spending paradigm,

or will some, like the tone-deaf Broward School Board

and its administrators, with their fatal obsession with

large pots of construction money and lobbyists' money

and largesse, for a dysfunctional system that is actually

losing students and their tax-paying parents in droves,

persist in their old parochial views, and keep calling this

a temporary hiccup, eager to go back to their prior

ruinous spending behavior?

Channel 4's Jim DeFede has some thoughts on

South Florida's bureaucracy and fixes his gaze south on

Miami-Dade County and the very unhelpful 311 "Help Line"

that M-D taxpayers are paying for, but being poorly-served

by:

DeFede: Why I Hate Miami-Dade 311

http://cbs4.com/defedecolumn/defede.column.commentary.2.1017487.html

Have a safe Memorial Day holiday and remember what

and whom we honor this weekend!

Just as an FYI, my earliest ancestor who fought for this

country once marched from Alexandria, VA with

Capt. George Washington and other colonists as part

of General Braddock's long march to the French-controlled

Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh.

Years later, under very different circumstances,

he served as a Revolutionary War spy for General

George Washington against the British Army

he'd once fought alongside.

After the war, for his brave efforts, he received

a large parcel of land north of Steubenville, Ohio

-where the first Federal Land Grant office

was later located- which is why my ancestors

were among the very first citizens of Ohio,

having crossed the Ohio River and relocated from Washington Township, PA, south of Pittsburgh, even before Ohio became a state in 1803.

-----------------------

For more info on recent developments with BSO

and their budget battles with the County Commission,

please see WFOR's Ted Scouten's report from Monday

Details Emerge About BSO Layoffs

http://cbs4.com/local/BSO.Layoffs.firings.2.1013261.html

and some other recent BSO stories at

http://cbs4.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchString=Lamberti&TabId=0

Also take a look at these two Scott Wyman blog posts from

Friday's Sun-Sentinel Broward Politics blog:

County savings targeted in fight over budget deficit

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/05/county_savings_targeted_in_fig.html

Sheriff could lose control of the jail in budget battle

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/05/sheriff_could_lose_control_of.html