What exactly is the Broward Planning Council up to now regarding ending a means of public engagement on issues of great public importance?

@beamfurr

What is the reason that #Broward Co. Comm. is "exploring" removing

public's ability to participate + engage w/Broward Planning Council over a county

phone line? How is this a positive thing for residents/public? At 6:02 mark on video of July Broward Planning Council meeting.

https://vimeo.com/showcase/7896825?video=733993207

Today I'm sharing some news with you that I believe is both important AND interesting, which is not always the case. no?

This news is something that I first discovered by accident a few weeks ago while researching another City of Hollywood and Broward County public policy story I'm working on, the details of which will be posted here in the coming weeks for your careful perusal and consideration.

(I mentioned this news publicly for the first time last week on my popular Twitter feed, @hbbtruth. Obviously, I'm always looking for new people like you to begin Following me there on Twitter to keep up with things going on below-the radar and behind-the-scenes that I find out about or want to share before they appear here on my blog in a much-longer format.)

So, right now, for today at least, I'm NOT going to call the cavalry, point fingers, go off on a tangent, or otherwise make allegations that I can not substantiate.

Instead, I'm merely going to point you towards a very revealing Broward government-prepared video that I believe you should take a look at for yourself, where you are free to come to your own conclusions about what it might mean for the public and stakeholders' ability to communicate with government representatives, and make their voices heard on important issues of public concern involving tens of thousands of people, not to mention, their Quality of Life.

From what I have been able to gather, it looks like the professional staff of the Broward Planning Council -headquartered in the Broward County govt. bldg. on Andrews Avenue that also houses the elected Broward County Commission- and perhaps some members of the County Commission are VERY interested in pulling the plug on one of the ways that the general public can communicate with the 20 appointed members of the Broward Planning Council, who are largely elected officials from the thirty-something cities making up Broward County. As we know from experience, there are different rules for real estate developers and their army of lawyers, architects, planners and related helper minions.

 

As many of you longtime readers of this blog know, this appointed group is one that I have spoken to in the past involving very important development issues in Hallandale Beach that were being crammed down the throats of HB residents, taxpayers and stakeholders by the HB City Commission at HB City Hall. It being Hallandale Beach, this was often/usually done with only the mere pretense of public accountability, transparency or fairness that residents could have expected..

 

Shocker! This was done under the same HB mayor who is now ruling the roost there, Joy Cooper, who, somehow, got the great luck to have been given perhaps the dumbest jury in Broward County history a few years ago, who seem to have ignored a mountain of evidence and instead acquit her of multiple criminal charges, after she'd been arrested after being recorded repeatedly trying to get election campaign donations/payoffs from undercover FBI agents posing as real estate developers, in exchange for her help with votes on the dais involving development in the city.

 

As of now, barring any hurricanes in the interim, the next scheduled meeting of the Broward Planning Council is Wednesday September 22nd at 10:00 am in the Broward County Commission chambers. If I get any word, official explanation or not, for what's going on with the plug perhaps being pulled on citizens but not real estate developers, I'll post my update here!

Dave 

David B. Smith  

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ 

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After a drought of water parks -Water, water, everywhere! Water park competition heats up b/w Fort Laudedale Stadium and Dolphins Stadium

After a drought of water parks -Water, water, everywhere!
Water park competition heats up between Fort Lauderdale Stadium to the north and Dolphins Stadium on the Broward and Miami-Dade county line.

Per this interesting Broward Politics blog story by Scott Wyman re Thursday morning's Broward Planning Council meeting -which I will likely be attending- the info below may well interest you, since the area may well go from almost nothing H2O in this market to double our fun with some nearby competition in the future for water park users.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

Fort Lauderdale water park plans could clear hurdle this week

By Scott Wyman

May 25, 2011 09:00 AM

Fort Lauderdale’s proposal to turn its sports stadiums into a major water park resort could clear a major hurdle this week.

The Broward County Planning Council is set to consider whether to sign off on the project and send it to the state for review.

City commissioners are negotiating a deal with Schlitterbahn Development Group for the use of the Lockhart and Fort Lauderdale stadium property for the park.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/05/fort_lauderdale_water_park_pla.html

Previous posts by Scott Wyman on this topic were April 25th

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/04/fort_lauderdale_see_progress_o.html

and on September 13th of last year

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/09/neighborhood_opposition_develo.html

There are a lot of well-informed reader comments there!

Before seeing this story tonight, I was going to post this news regarding the July 21st hearing before the Miami-Dade County commissioners on the plan near Dolphins Stadium to my blog on Sunday, after getting a look at the plans on Friday down at the Steve Clark Bldg. and snapping some photos.

But since the hearing on the facility up in Fort Lauderdale is Thursday, rather than wait a few days, I thought you'd all like to know that the market for this sort of enterprise will be very different once the Dolphins get their way with the M-D officials... which I think is a pretty safe bet I'd say, even if it's not a particularly well thought-out plan.

I still plan on making that trip to downtown Miami on Friday and after snapping some photos of some places and people I've been aiming to mention and show here on the blog for a while -inc. some of the American Airlines Arena for some readers overseas- at some point, I'll swing over and snag some photos or artists depictions of the water park from the formal application.

-----

Miami Herald

Plans for water park near Sun Life Stadium making a splash

By Hannah Sampson

August 20, 2010

A new water park with wave pools, slides and a snorkel area is planned just across the street from the current playground of the Marlins and Dolphins.

Miami Dolphins owner and real-estate developer Steve Ross intends to turn a 40-acre parking lot next to Sun Life Stadium into a water attraction pegged to a spring 2012 opening -- just as the Florida Marlins will move from Sun Life to the new baseball stadium in Little Havana, said Dolphins CEO Mike Dee.

"We're looking at any and all ways that we can utilize the stadium and bring economic value. It's both an opportunity and a challenge,'' Dee said.

The water park -- which would include private cabanas and a "swim with the fish'' pool -- would be South Florida's first new major attraction since Jungle Island opened in 2003 on Watson Island. And it will be the region's first water park since Atlantis the Water Kingdom closed almost two decades ago. The water park would occupy 20 acres, with another 20 acres of parking.

The Miami Gardens land designated for the park is owned by Ross, former team owner H. Wayne Huizenga and other team partners. The project, still unnamed, will cost "tens of millions'' and will be privately financed, Dee said.

It will require a zoning change from office use to an "unusual'' designation that must be approved by the Miami-Dade County Commission. The project is meant to offset revenue losses in the summer months that would have normally been busy with baseball. It is the first stage of a new stadium master plan, Dee said. Talks on other plans to improve the stadium are ongoing, he said, though he wouldn't give details.

It is expected to create approximately 600 construction jobs and an additional 400 jobs from the water-park operation and increase tourism stays in the area, according to a company release.

The new park would be a unique attraction in South Florida. While the World Waterpark Association says an estimated 1,000 water parks operate in North America, none have existed in this area since Hollywood's Atlantis closed in 1992. The closest comparable park, Rapids Water Park in Palm Beach County, is slightly larger than the planned new project.

Earlier this year, team officials floated the idea of a hotel tax increase to fund nearly $200 million in stadium upgrades, saying the improvements were necessary to keep the Super Bowl coming back. The campaign was put on hold.

But the addition could also boost the region's chances of hosting the Super Bowl again, said William Talbert III, CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"Certainly we would use any asset, any enhancement to the facility, as part of our bid,'' Talbert said.

Dee called the planned park a "best-in-class, state-of-the-art facility'' that should appeal to tourists: "We're going to market it aggressively.''

So will the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Talbert said. ``It would have an appeal to the family vacationer as something new and exciting.''

Company estimates forecast nearly 700,000 visitors during the first year and and additional $7 million in local, state and federal taxes.

Dreams of grand attractions are not new in South Florida. Huizenga himself had planned in the 1990s to build Blockbuster Park, a baseball stadium, movie studios and entertainment complex. The designated site was in Miramar west of Interstate 75. The plan fell apart when Blockbuster was taken over by Viacom in a merger.

While water parks are not primary draws like Disney or Universal theme parks, they still play a role in tourism, said Abraham Pizam, dean of the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

"It would be an addition to the attractions that are already there,'' he said. ``If people are already there, they can extend their stay for another half a day or day, which is great because everybody wins.''

Water parks have survived despite the recession, with more coming online during the past 5-10 years. More of that business has been indoors or at resorts or municipalities rather than outdoors, said Aleatha Ezra, the association's director of park membership development.

Florida -- specifically, Orlando -- has four of the world's top seven parks in terms of visitors, with a combined total of more than 6.7 million visitors in 2009, according to an attraction attendance report from AECOM and Themed Entertainment Association.

"They are still good drivers of tourism and, similar to regional theme parks, they have tended to do a little bit better than larger, more extensive destination-oriented ones,'' said Edward Shaw, senior associate with the economics arm of consulting firm AECOM. "The tickets tend to be a little more reasonable for the markets and they're good for staycations and the resident-oriented market.''

The proposed water park will have some features similar to Aquatica, SeaWorld's water park in Orlando, which opened in 2008.

The Neuman Group, the aquatic destination planning and construction firm shoring up the local project, is involved with both. Theme-park operator Palace Entertainment -- which runs Boomers arcades and Sea Life Park in Hawaii, among others -- is also working with the Dolphin venture.

The downturn in the economy could actually be a boost to a new project like the one Ross plans, some experts say.

"It's much cheaper to build anything nowadays than it was two or three years ago,'' said UCF's Pizam. ``People are out of jobs, companies are looking for projects. The cost has been going down, almost spiraling down.''

------

Per the embarrassing butt-kissing comments above of the CEO of the Greater Miami CVB, whom I've ripped before, all I can say is how very preposterous but typical coming from this over-paid sycophant, who supports the idea of M-D taxpayers bankrolling expensive improvements to the stadium -owned by a billionaire!
Read them again:

But the addition could also boost the region's chances of hosting the Super Bowl again, said William Talbert III, CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"Certainly we would use any asset, any enhancement to the facility, as part of our bid,'' Talbert said.

With friends like Gregory M. Dell, concerned citizens of Hallandale Beach don't need enemies in their battle against the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa's ill-conceived plans that threaten the area's Quality of Life

Above, Hollywood attorney Gregory M. Dell's Feb. 9th letter of support for the Diplomat LAC proposal to the Broward County Planning Council.


In previous emails and blog posts, I've written that the owners of the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa -which also includes the Diplomat Country Club- the Plumbers & Pipe Fitters Union, as well as their management company, Starwood, and their high-paid team of lawyers,
lobbyists and consultants would engage in all sorts of lies and misrepresentation, if need be, in order to get their way, and they have.

Now you will see for yourself that this deception also extends to their supporters and apologists in Southeast Broward as well, and I have that proof.

This matters because the vote on the Diplomat LACwill take place before the Broward County Commission this afternoon at 2 p.m., in an effort to break the 4-4 tie in March.
Since I've so often contemplated here why the South Florida news media seems to be going out of their way NOT to cover this story in a way that equates to its actual importance to the greater community's Quality-of-Life, when they'd absolutely be falling over themselves if it was happening in Coral Gables, Cutler Bay or in Weston, I can't help but wonder if perhaps the bit of news I'm sharing today will change equation a bit and make at least some of them a little curious how things
got to this point.
But then again, maybe not.

In previous emails to some people in the community, as well as in blog posts here, I've noted with a fair degree of concern the fact that some local residents with claims of ties to the Hallandale Beach or Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, have claimed they were SO concerned about the economic health of HB, but most of whom you and I have NEVER seen before, not even at Hallandale Beach or Hollywood City Commission or CRA meetings, which I regularly attend.
Even more than reporters.

Frankly, everything else being equal, I don't really mind the people supporting the Diplomat so much as their rather transparent attempts to buffalo us in this process in such a very condescending way, while acting like they were the ones looking at "the big picture."

Yes, "the big picture" that you might otherwise not recognize as your family's daily existence hereabouts and their future.
But the reality is rather different, isn't it?

Actually, we are the ones looking at that "big picture" scenario, while they were the local opportunists and butt-kissers looking at self-enrichment, which is one of the reason that I found it so easy to take some verbal shots at some of them during my public comments before the Broward County Commission, specifically referring to them as "water carriers" for HB City Hall and the Diplomat.
That's what they were, whether wearing Ann Taylor pantsuits or not.

It was their smug attempts to seem intellectually elevated that I found grating, especially since you know these same people would never tolerate multiple 25-30 story condo towers next to their own home in a single-family residential area.

Speaking of public misrepresentation, consider the curious case of Hollywood attorney Gregory Dell, quoted in the otherwise excellent Daily Business Review article of March 27th, which appeared two days after the 4-4 tie vote. I've highlighted his comments in red.
========
Daily Business Review
http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=61386

Planning & Zoning
Clock ticks for massive development as vote looms

By Luis F. Perez
March 25, 2010

The owners of The Diplomat Golf Resort & Spa are pushing to obtain approval for an ambitious redevelopment of a Hallandale Beach golf course as a critical deadline approaches.

Running the gauntlet of land use and zoning hurdles is never easy, but winning approval of such a huge project could get tougher after November. That’s when Floridians will vote on a constitutional amendment that would allow them to veto any changes to a municipality’s comprehensive land-use plan.

The Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund, which owns the Hallandale Beach resort, wants to build up to 950 residential units, a 500-room hotel, a 48-slip marina and about 3,000 square feet of commercial space and upgrade the golf course.

Diplomat officials proposed changing the land use from commercial and recreational use to a designation called “local activity center,” which would allow a mix of residential, hotel, commercial and recreation uses.

Some in the development community expect Amendment 4, also known as Florida Hometown Democracy, to pass. That would make it much more difficult to change land use and zoning, experts said.

That’s why the Broward County Commission’s failure on Tuesday, by a 4-to-4 vote, to send the development plan to the state’s Department of Community Affairs for review — a necessary step before the final approval — is a big setback for the pension fund.

The commission’s vote raises doubt about whether the 96-acre project can get the needed approvals by the time voters go to the polls in November.

In addition to the land-use issues, the pension fund also needs to find financing for the $500 million project and faces increasing competition from condo projects already in the pipeline.

“They’re trying to rush this stuff through in advance of Amendment 4,” said Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach-based housing analyst.

The consensus among builders is that if Amendment 4 passes, “it’ll put tremendous constraints on large-scale building projects like this,” he said. Builders all over Florida are pushing for approvals now, McCabe said.

Specter of Change

The specter of the change to the state constitution wasn’t raised at the commission meeting. Instead, it was skepticism on the part of Commissioners Lois Wexler and Sue Gunzburger that dominated the discussion.

Wexler questioned developers’ claims the project would add only 180 peak-hour car trips to nearby roads, which are already over capacity.

Gunzburger asked how the developer planned to comply with Hallandale Beach’s affordable-housing provisions, which require a developer to either set aside 15 percent of a project for affordable housing or that it pay into the city’s affordable-housing fund. Diplomat officials agreed to pay into the fund.

Gunzburger wondered how a city with nearly 3,000 condo units already approved but not yet built could absorb even more inventory.

“I don’t see the need for another 950 units,” she said.

Diplomat officials argued that the residential portion of the project is critical to make it work financially. A hotel alone won’t work, they said. Wexler also asked if the property was for sale.

Debbie Orshefsky, a Greenberg Traurig lawyer representing the developer, answered: “It’s not for sale at the present time.”

She then added: “The property is not actively being marketed.”

Earlier, Orshefsky said the entitlements would position the property for when the market rebounds.

She acknowledged that the owner currently doesn’t have financing or investors in place to pay for construction and said the pension fund would most likely need to partner with an experienced builder.

Joining Commissioners Wexler, Gunzburger and Kristin Jacobs in voting against sending the proposed land-use changes to the state was Mayor Ken Keechl.
Commissioners John Rodstrom, Stacy Ritter, Diana Wasserman-Rubin and Albert C. Jones voted in favor. Commissioner Ilene Lieberman was out of town.

The developer, union officials and their supporters that filled the commission chamber were stunned by the vote.

“It’s a procedural nightmare,” Orshefsky said after the vote. “I don’t know what it means. But it’s a procedural nightmare.”

The county commission will hold another public hearing on the project in April. Both the city and county have to vote to send the proposal to Tallahassee for review by the DCA. Another public hearing and a final vote of approval by the city and county commissions are required after the DCA’s input. It’s a process that often takes months.

Long Fight

Opponents and proponents are sure to gear up for yet another battle. It has been going on for years.

In 1997, the Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund bought the resort and spa on Diplomat Parkway, east of Northeast 14th Avenue, north of Hallandale Beach Boulevard and south of Atlantic Shores Boulevard.

It also owns the oceanfront Westin Diplomat hotel several miles away on A1A in Hollywood.

In 2000, the fund refurbished the golf course, added a new club house, tennis center, spa and a 60-room boutique hotel. The cost was about $45 million.

But like many golf courses across South Florida, the one at the resort saw its fortunes decline.

Golf Course Costs Increasing

It was originally envisioned to be a high-end resort and golf club sustained by locals and guests from the Westin Diplomat. But that hasn’t happened.

And while the golf course loses customers, its operating costs have continued to increase, officials said.

To preserve the golf course, planning started about four years ago to create a golf course community and destination, Orshefsky said before the meeting.

The first proposal was for 1,600 residential units and a 350-room hotel, Orshefsky said. By the time Diplomat officials submitted their first application in early 2007, they proposed building 1,400 residential units and the hotel, she said.

After months of back and forth with Hallandale Beach officials and residents, Diplomat officials withdrew their application. They refiled with the city in September 2009 after lowering the density and rethinking the design, Orshefsky said.

The wrangling with Hallandale Beach and Hollywood residents and Hallandale Beach city officials continued.

The original proposal was too much, Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper said.

“It didn’t fit our city,” she said.

But after a year and half of back and forth and many changes, city and Diplomat officials developed a plan they could agree on. The Hallandale Beach City Commission voted 3-2 in December to approve the plan.

Cooper and commissioners Dotty Ross and Anthony Sanders supported the measure with Commissioner Keith London and Vice Mayor Bill Julian opposed.

This “will continue to make that a viable, sustainable golf community,” the mayor said.

‘DEVELOPMENT RUN AMOK’

No one is completely happy, including Terry Cantrell, president of Hollywood Lakes Section Civic Association. The association worries mostly about traffic heading north through neighborhood streets.

“Hallandale Beach represents development run amok,” he said.

City officials there “never take into account” the amount of traffic its residents have to deal with, he said. He called the traffic studies the developer conducted “grossly inadequate.”

Luis Paredes, president of the United Condominium Associations of Hallandale Beach, said his group’s main worries are the added traffic and the compatibility of the high-rise project in a low-rise neighborhood.

In e-mail blasts he sent out, he raised issues such as the number of empty condo units currently in Hallandale Beach and the possible sale of the property. He also questioned why the developers were fast-tracking the project.

David Schwartz, a third-generation South Florida hotelier and principal of The Management Consortium, a hotel consultant group, doubts the project will ever get built.

“I can’t see the pipefitters taking on that risky venture,” he said.

Schwartz said he also doesn’t think there will be any buyer for the property in this economy.

Still, the supporters of the project say it’s important for the city’s future success.

“With all due respect, the time has come for Hallandale to shed its reputation as a senior citizen community,” said Gregory Dell, a local resident and lawyer not connected to the project. “In an economy that is suffering, Hallandale needs to seize an opportunity and look to the future growth and reputation of our city. “I fear that if this project is not approved and the Diplomat golf course is forced to shut down, our property values will further decline and our city will have another vacant lot with no development.”

McCabe questioned the Diplomat’s contention that the project is needed to maintain the golf course’s viability.

The project would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, he estimated. And with Amendment 4 looming, getting the rights to build such a large project would dramatically increase the property’s value, he said.

“They really just want to get the entitlement to flip it to someone else,” McCabe said.

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

So, is Gregory Dell really "a local resident and lawyer not connected to the project" or something else entirely?

Well, it's true that he used to live in Hallandale Beach and now lives in Hollywood.
I can't quibble with that, since I have a friend who lives on the street that Dell formerly lived on in Hallandale Beach.
But the part about him not having a dog in the fight is not true.
I have the proof.

This very same Gregory Dell is still listed on golf merchandise manufacturer Haas-Jordan's website as a distributor, using both his (former) home address on Hibiscus Drive in HB, and listing a contact phone number that upon further examination, you discover is actually the very same number used by his attorney wife Kelly's business, also located on Hollywood Blvd., right near Hollywood City Hall.

Well, actually, she's in the same exact building -2404 Hollywood Blvd.

Gregory Dell wasn't just some dis-interested Hollywood attorney who was speaking his mind on some aspect of local public policy.

He is, apparently, someone with at least the appearance of a financial rooting-interest in the Westin Diplomat & Resort, the Union and Starwood getting their way with regard to their high-priced condo towers next to the golf course.
Simple math: Golf merchandise + golf course = $$$

That doesn't make him a bad guy, per se, just someone who seems to be playing fast and loose with the truth when it serves his own economic interests.

You know, just like what everyone complains is the case with Wall Street and Capitol Hill and Tallahassee?

Dell has the appearance of an economic conflict that should've been publicly disclosed to the DBR reporter so that we'd all know that when we read the story.
Just be honest about it, and then we'd weigh his words accordingly.

(For instance, does Dell still have that golf equipment distributorship? Just wondering!)

Mention THAT conflict to the reporter right away instead of leaving it up to yours truly to dig that bit of information up.

Not that it was so hard - I was able to figure this all out in less than 20 minutes after seeing the story.

See for yourself below:

----------------
http://www.haas-jordan.com/UI/DistributorsListing.aspx?cid=200&sid=11

Customer Name: GKO Concepts First Name: Last Name: Gregory Dell Designation: Telephone: (954)9209811 Email: noemail@email.com Country: United States

Address1: 613 Hibiscus Dr. Address2: City: Hallandale Beach State: Florida Zip Code: 33009 PPAI Id:

-------------
When you perform a Google search for the phone number
listed, what do you suppose you get?
This!
http://gotticket.com/firm_profile.htm.

FIRM PROFILE - 1-800-Got-Ticket Law Firm DUI and Traffic Ticket ...

Fax: 954-920-9811. Main Office Address: 2404 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, Fl 33020

Office Locations in Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and throughout Florida ...
gotticket.com/firm_profile.htm - Cached

Well, now you have a much better idea of what we're up against, as we continue play the role of David in that familiar story about the underdog.

We're up against people not content to just use their influence in the community to get their personal opinion out, but also, so it seems, willing to use it to better their own economic circumstances, even if that means being less than truthful when speaking in public.

And as if all that wasn't enough to cause you to question Dell's degree of objectivity when speaking on this issue, there's also the rather curious letter that he conveniently forget to mention to the reporter of the story. 
And it's not just any letter, but rather his own letter of Feb. 9th, addressed to the Broward County Planning Council, the body that heard the issue before it went to the entire County Commission.

A letter that he had already written six weeks before that County Commission meeting.

Sort of curious that an attorney would forget to mention that germane letter or his own past experience as a golf equipment distributor to the Daily Business Review reporter in a story about a golf course and real estate, don't you think?
I guess Gregory Dell is just a very forgetful guy, huh?

Well, I guess at this point, you won't be too surprised to hear that in his letter, at the top, Dell completely neglects the legitimate concerns of HB & Hollywood citizens: the ruinous effect these multiple 25-30 story condo towers would have on the current neighborhood.
Nope, our pal Gregory Dell just skips right past that.

Instead, he says the following, and you'll understand, I think, if I suspect that he said this in a rather superior and condescending way, since that's exactly how it sounds:

The benefits of this project far exceed any potential negatives such as potential traffic concerns, Traffic is a fact of life and if it takes each of us an extra 3-5 minutes to get somewhere, this is not a reason to deny the project...

But if it's not such a big thing, why did Comm. Diana Wasserman-Rubin tell Hallandale Beach residents who live in the neighborhood, who spoke to her in her West Park office the day before the vote, that the current traffic is already so bad that she "avoids thearea if at all possible."

How is it that you imagine having thousands more residents in that area will not directly affect the ability of people to evacuate when the sites in question are ALL mandatory hurricane evacuation areas?

Well, in a few hours, we'll see what narrative of this area carries the day: citizen's Quality-of-Life or incompatible over-development by big money interests.

Shocker! South Florida TV stations ignore Diplomat LAC vote at Broward Planning Council

Miami's lazy, second-rate news media continued their hyper-local march into insipid insignificance today by ignoring some important news you could use about the area's near-future and quality of life, and how realistic and sensible planning rules are no match for high-priced lawyers, lobbyists and companies that will spend mucho dinero in political contributions to get the results they want, regardless of what citizens want.

You don't hire Greenberg Traurig and Becker & Poliakoff because you want subtle, though I did hear someone out in the hall during a break joking that Bernie Freidman and Alan Koslow "were just hired to hold Debbie Orshefsky's purse."
I guess that's what passes for lawyer levity in Broward these days.

But on the positive side, since they didn't cover this story that cried out for some air-time for all sorts of reasons, there'll be time for them to run at least one news story tonight on one of the four English-speaking TV stations about some local Miami woman who claims she's losing weight by doing something other than actually getting control of her own life, giving up her lazy ways or getting off the sofa and getting some real exercise.
Cue CBS4's Lisa Petrillo, reporting LIVE from South Beach!

Yes, five-and-a-half hours after their meeting started -late, of course- in a rambling and poorly-run advisory meeting, the Broward Planning Council voted against the explicit recommendation of their own professional staff this afternoon to deny the Diplomat LAC and instead passed it by more than a 2-1 vote, with only a handful of votes against.

All the predictable pols on the Planning Council were for it as we knew going in -plus some I didn't expect to be for it- preferring to kick the can further down the road than stop it dead in the tracks.

Many of the Planning Council members sounded exactly like the Diplomat employees and union members who were bussed in to the event, mouthing the same bland and cliched banalities on the dais, ones that Hallandale Beach residents have been hearing for so many months out of local pals of HB City Hall like Hallandale Beach CRA loan recipient Joe Kessel, longtime Joy Cooper family friend Gerry Natelson and the terribly annoying HB Chamber of Commerce mouthpiece, Patricia Genetti, who has thoroughly proven herself over two years to be no friend of Hallandale Beach's citizen taxpayers.
Boy are they ever a smug and tiresome lot!

Today, with Joy Cooper and Anthony A. Sanders both out-of-town, with William Julian up on the Council dais, and Keith London in the audience with HB residents and speaking against its approval, Dotty Ross was the only HB Commission member with no real excuse for missing this key meeting. But miss it she did.
Surprise!

I'd tell you the actual final vote tally here but since the Chair of the Planning Council never actually said it... I'm not going to mention his name.

I guess somewhere along the line in my 15 years in and around Capitol Hill, I got so used to U.S. House and Senate Committee roll calls, where common sense procedures are used and the Committee clerk actually calls the roll and then announces the final result of the vote immediately afterwards, rather than someone on a dais with an open microphone just blurting out "it passed," as happened today, I got fooled into thinking that everyone knew how to manage a proper roll call.
Based on what I saw today, clearly they don't.

I was not real impressed with very much of what I witnessed today in downtown Fort Lauderdale, whether it was the self-impressed union bosses in suits constantly getting-up and annoying others by walking the aisles like they were House Whips on the Floor of the House, telling their Members what to do, the numerous annoying female professionals in the chambers who kept talking on their cell phones even while the public was speaking down at the lectern, or folks you've never heard of walking around like they were waiting for someone to recognize them.

Sorry, dude, I don't follow Cooper City or Coconut Creek politics or wherever it is you're from, so I have no idea who you are, so could you please stop standing in the aisle so obliviously, and getting in the sight-lines of all the people who actually came to watch the meeting and not you?
Muchas gracias!

Wow, there were so many annoying people at this ponderous meeting!
Dear readers, you just have no idea!

And returning to the poor flow of the meeting in general, allowing Diplomat attorney Debbie Orshefsky to just go on-and-on to a fair-thee-well, congratulating her client over-and-over, and constantly repeating her pat phrases that I and many others have heard dozens of times by now -like something being "her favorite part"- in a meeting that didn't even get to the Diplomat LAC issue until 11:55 a.m., was downright brutal.

Trust me, being on the aisle seat on the last row in the chambers allowed me the opportunity to notice that this death-march of a meeting directly led to many people leaving the chambers for lunch -and never returning.
The fact that I had to continually move my camera tri-pod from beside my seat every time someone from my row got up to leave was the first tip-off.

In that sense, the Planning Council meeting was the exact opposite of the very well-run and very well-attended Citizen Budget Workshop I witnessed in Hollywood on Tuesday night, where, yes, there was a Steve Geller sighting in the lobby after I got in and had found a place to park -a block away- but I chose not to snap a photo.

And not that you asked, but if you didn't like Broward County Commissioner Stacey Ritter going into today's meeting, finding it embarrassing that someone as thoroughly mediocre, self-important and bereft of practical, original ideas as her could really have so much influence in this area, you left the meeting today shaking your head about this county's future, knowing that she will not leave the stage until she is dragged off.

Hollywood's brutally-honest financial meeting was as professional a meeting as any I've witnessed in my six years back here, and a real credit to City Manager Cameron Benson and his myriad Dept. heads.
It was a real model for how all cities in South Florida ought to run meetings.

In Hallandale Beach, though, it's but a distant dream.

More details on both of these meetings tomorrow, I've got some Olympics to catch up on.