My coda to "Broward cities need tougher ethics laws, not self-serving pols"; Debby Eisinger's curious fact pattern

This is a logical and necessary follow-up to my earlier post of today titled, Broward cities need tougher ethics laws, not self-serving pols like Gary Resnick & Debby Eisinger, whom we need like more bad restaurants, more ruined-views of the beach... -NOT at all!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/broward-cities-need-tougher-ethics-laws.html

I had hoped to incorporate what follows into that last blog post, but for a variety of reasons, came to realize that I'd not be able to do so, so consider this post a bit of a coda to that last post on the question of ethics in Broward County at the municipal level.

Since this blog was first created five years ago this month, I've had certain key anchors or guideposts that have stubbornly remained on it, despite how much space they take up, or how much criticism I have received from others who complained about my keeping them here.

They are there to indicate to first-time readers that this blog, regardless of whatever particular subject matter I'm writing about on that day, or whatever subject may've led the visitor to come here in the first place via a search engine, is committed to certain things.

Stricter, easier to-understand and more-enforceable common sense ethics laws -with teeth!- in state, county and local government is one of those basic elements I support and am personally committed to.

That sentiment is best captured by one anchor in particular that recounts a moment I bore witness to more than three years ago here in Hallandale Beach, and which I re-post here to make the larger point about elected municipal officials aversion to increased public scrutiny and tighter laws that maintain an ethical floor beyond which there is no publicly acceptable conduct and behavior:

"WHY DO THEY NEED THAT IN THE BROWARD COUNTY CHARTER?"

"Laws and Constitutions go for nothing where the general sentiment is corrupt." -New York Times, September 22, 1851

"Why do they need that in the Broward County charter?"-Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper at April 2, 2008 HB City Commission meeting in discussing possible inclusion of Broward County Charter Review Commission's proposal for Ethics Commission to deal with Broward County Commission on November 2008 ballot.

Six YEARS after the county's voters had overwhelmingly passed an amendment to the County charter requiring its adoption, the Broward County Commission had yet to live up to its legal responsibility. That's why!

As problematic as Cooper and her regal and all-too-frequently condescending attitude have been and continue to be for concerned taxpayer citizens in Hallandale Beach, it's not just Joy Cooper, of course, who is the problem in Broward when it comes to notions of public accountability and transparency, it's the veritable phalanx of willing elected officials and their friends, acquaintances and family members who are contractors or lobbyists in Broward, who willingly want to make like Gen. George Patton and drive a tank thru any possible weak spots -loopholes- and keep it open for good, that are the problem.

Another elected municipal official in Broward who, like Joy Cooper, has seemingly had her doubts for years about stricter ethics laws and what the public was entitled to expect from people in authority is someone whom I've written about a number of times here, Cooper City Mayor Debby Eisinger.

Eisinger's very visible antipathy towards stricter ethics laws is NOT just a recent thing, nor is it a function of her and her colleagues in Cooper City having been involved in so many disturbing and ethically-questionable situations over the recent past that have made her fodder for local TV and newspaper reporters, who barely had to say much more than tell the basic facts or roll the hidden camera video, before readers and viewers were recoiling at the thought of what she and her pals were doing.

Most notably, the commission's former habit of routinely getting together for drinks at public establishments in the Cooper City area -before scheduled City Commission meetings.

You don't have to be paranoid to understand that serious questions arise about the very appearance of such get-togethers, much less, if you are a legitimate party with an item on their agenda that night or just a regular concerned citizen wishing to speak about that agenda, who reasonably wonders what might have been discussed about that item away from any public scrutiny, in violation of Sunshine Laws, and without you having any means of rebutting what was said, especially something factually inaccurate or intentionally misleading.

And what about the complete lack of any initial apparent remorse on their part when they were caught in 2006 by Channel 4 News/WFOR-TV, and the video of some members the Commission, including Eisinger and some of her acolytes in a bar, was a CBS4 sensation, one that was both self-evident and a jaw-dropping tale of un-democratic notions of privilege and refusing to follow the existing laws, simple as they were.

For me, this point was brought home thru Eisinger's own choice of words and her arguments as a member of the Broward County Charter Review Commission a few years ago, many of whose meetings I attended in-person, including the final meeting that decided what would and would not appear on the November 2008 ballot.

It should not come as a shock to anyone that despite how much I had followed their activities closely, my mouth was often agape at the things I heard and the condescending points-of-view I heard expressed at those meetings among what were said to be a good cross-section of Broward's leading lights. 
Repeatedly.

Consider this exchange from 2007, direct from the Summary Minutes of Discussion, Broward County Charter Review Commission, Administrative Issues/Governance Subcommittee Meeting of Tuesday, August 15, 2007

http://www.broward.org/Charter/Documents/agsc-082307_final.pdf

pp. 6-7

Ms. Eisinger stated that the format of Strong Mayor or Elected Executive is that that Mayor is in charge.  She stated in certain circumstances it could work well, but she can’t support it because you don’t know who is going to be that Mayor, and it is going to be left up to the Electorate.   

She explained that sometimes the voters don’t always know who is the most qualified. She advised that it becomes a popularity contest and who runs the best campaign, and is not necessarily the most qualified. 

As I've stated here on the blog several times previously -and keeping the info above in mind as yet more of the same from her- it should come as no surprise that when push came to shove on the question of whether or not Broward voters could be treated like adults and decide for themselves whether they wanted to have an elected county-wide mayor of Broward County, not continue the charade of county commissioners voting for one another as mayor for one year, Cooper City Mayor Debby Eisinger voted to deny Broward voters that choice.

How does an elected public official justify voting against elections that allow citizens to determine their own form of govt. structure?

Exactly, but that's just what Debby Eisinger did.

Yes, whether as mayor of Cooper City or as the current President of the Broward League of Cities, Eisinger's demonstrated track record of anti-democratic behavior and votes against increased public accountability is clear for all to see.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

Cooper City Mayor Eisenger to charities: Complain about county ethics law

By Brittany Wallman 

October 10, 2011 02:34 PM

Broward League of Cities President Debby Eisenger sent out an email to non-profit groups in Broward, urging them to complain -- if they so wish-- about the coming new public ethics law.

It was sent to "various non-profits,'' League Executive Director Rhonda Calhoun told her mass e-mail list recipients.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/10/cooper_city_mayor_eisenger_to.html

And as I mentioned in my last post, given the above, and the unanimous vote in October by the Broward County Commission to have these necessary tougher ethical standards hold sway at local city halls, Eisinger actually has the chutzpah to drop this memorable quote in last Saturday's Ariel Barkhurst article:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

County ethics law already changing Broward's city governments

By Ariel Barkhurst, Sun Sentinel

11:11 PM EST, December 31, 2011

www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-ethics-ordinance-in-effect-20111231,0,3978237.story

"I've already seen people backing off from being involved in charity," said Cooper City Mayor Debbie Eisinger.

Yeah, I wonder why? 

Hmm-m... perhaps it has to do with your own orchestrated campaign...

It's like Eisinger, after all that she has done, is in such denial that she can't even admit to herself that she was NOT part of the reform effort to fix the longstanding problems, like my friend, Charlotte Greenbarg, president of the Broward Coalition, Eisinger was part of the crony capitalism crew desperately trying to sabotage the effort to give Broward voters what they have been clamoring for for years.

(But then as the only member of the public in all of Broward to actually attend that first meeting of the IG Task Force last year, that later chose John W. Scott, I'm in a position to know what I'm talking about, which is why I can mention that there were no members of the news media present at that first meeting. Surprise!)  

And lest we forget, when she was on the Charter Review Comm. she actually tried to make the lack of funding for an Inspector General's office the problem.

Take note folks, Debby Eisinger never quits trying to sabotage things for the worse for citizens in Broward County who are interested in genuine transparency, accountability and ethical probity.

And from the looks of things, she shows no evidence of losing that condescending attitude and smirk of hers, either.

Citizen'sFree Speech Quashed By Cooper City, FL Commission

http://youtu.be/_bAjj_RMFRs

Related article:

BrowardPalBeach New Times

Daily Pulp blog 

"All of You Deserve to Be Taken Out Behind the Woodshed and Beat the Living Shit Out Of"

By Bob Norman

September 29 2010 at 6:08 AM

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/09/all_of_you_deserve_to_be_taken.php

-----

There's a treasure trove of Debby Eisinger-related stories in the archives of the  BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes 

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index/?keywords=%22Debby+Eisinger%22&x=14&y=8

Of the many there, I commend to you these two Bob Norman-penned pieces from 2010 in particular:

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2008-05-01/news/muddy-politics/

and http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/09/cooper_city_background_checks.php

Plus, to better understand how insidious the corrupt political culture is here in Broward, take a look at this one on the doings of so-called ethics watchdogs: 

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/07/roy_rogers_rides_again.php

Sad but true.

-----

http://www.browardcoalition.org/

CBS4 News video: Correspondent Carey Codd speaks with Broward's new Inspector General, John W. Scott, on his responsibilities in a county that has seen a tremendous number of corrupt county and municipal elected officials. September 14, 2011. http://broward.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=700

Office of the Broward Inspector General

One North University Drive, Suite 111, Plantation, FL 33324

Tips Hotline at (954) 357-TIPS

http://www.broward.org/InspectorGeneral/Pages/Default.aspx

http://coopercityinsider.blogspot.com/

Unless you have a long extension cord... Electric Cars could be nothing but paperweights in So. Fla. as govt. bureaucracy stalls re-charging stations

CBS4/WFOR-TV video: CBS4's Al Sunshine investigates how "Electric Cars" could be largely useless without high-voltage re-charging stations that even its supporters acknowledge are years away in South Florida.

Article at:

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/11/23/cbs4-investigates-electric-cars-could-be-stalled-by-paperwork/

Unless you have a long extension cord... how Electric Cars could be nothing but large paperweights in South Florida as govt. bureaucracy stalls high-voltage re-charging stations. And should the U.S. government even be in the business of giving grants or loans to some syndicates given how poorly the selection process is in this sort of crony capitalism, given the recent experience with Solyndra?

I'm still waiting for the hard-hitting multi-part investigation by local Miami-area TV stations into how it came to be that in the year 2011, South Florida doesn't have a single successful solar power, wind power or thermal power company down here that employs a reasonable amount of people paying good upper-middle class salaries and that AREN'T dependent on government handouts for its very existence.

Certainly more than even I would have guessed while living up in Washington all those years, the Miami Herald has gone out of its way since I returned to the area in late 2003 -esp. its business reporters!- to avoid publicly asking such basic yet troubling questions of the local business community and its so-called leadership, since if the newspaper was, the answers to those simple questions would be known by the majority of the well-informed populace here.

For those of you reading this who live far from Area Code 305 & 954, the fact that many American states much farther north in latitude are MUCH farther along in developing solar power capabilities than its natural capital, South Florida, should tell you plenty about the inadequate government/venture capital vision, planning and leadership in this part of the Sunshine State.

No, in this area, people with more money than sense still prefer to sink money into real estate and take advantage of out-of-state and foreign buyers.

You know, since they can't sell you swamp land any more.

-----

EPA worksheet: Clean Alternative Fuels: Electric Vehicles

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/fuels/altfuels/420f00034.htm

South Florida Regional Planning Council: http://www.sfrpc.com/

Map of Broward County electric vehicle charging facilities; 14 as of 2011.

http://www.sfrpc.com/fgcccc/ev_stns.jpg

EV Ready Broward: http://www.sfrpc.com/evready.htm

Oops, they did it AGAIN! 25-day old Miami Herald story still #5 Breaking News story on Herald's Broward homepage. Congrats to Jay Ducassi!

Miami Herald vending machine in front of Denny's restaurant, Hallandale Beach, FL.
July 3, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

October 9, 2011 screen grab at 8: 45 p.m. by South Beach Hoosier.

Examine the headline in the lower-left corner above on the Miami Herald's Broward homepage -the fifth of eight headline links: Blackout of Miami Dolphins game averted.

(I have the entire article at bottom.)

October 9, 2011 screen grab at 8: 45 p.m. by South Beach Hoosier.

Blackout of Miami Dolphins game averted

The problem?

It was news on September 15th, not so much 25 days later, and is certainly NOT Breaking News NOW.

Well, at least it wouldn't considered as such at most reputable newspapers in this country, much less, ones of the Herald's purported circulation size.

But once again, the Herald is replicating the very problem I highlighted a few months ago in three separate blog posts.

In May, they notably ran a month-old political story about Donald Trump and had that listed on their Breaking News page FOUR WEEKS later, even after he'd already announced he wouldn't be running for president.

Sometimes, the Herald listed that Trump story as among the top-three Breaking News stories in South Florida.

Really.

See my three blog posts to refresh your memory on that reality check on the Herald's continuing bad judgment in peddling old stories as new or recent ones:

a.) May 16, 2011 Answer: It's about Donald Trump. Question: Why is a month-old story still on Miami Herald's Broward homepage under 'Breaking News'? Blame Jay Ducassi

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/answer-its-about-donald-trump-question.html

b.) May 18, 2011 Donald Trump Redux is further proof of the Miami Herald's gross incompetency and fundamentally-flawed idea of (and coverage of) Broward County in 2011.

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/donald-trump-redux-is-further-proof-of.html

c.) July 21, 2011 Miami Herald grave robbers at it again! Herald's threadbare Broward homepage runs 15-day old story as Breaking News to fill-up space!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/miami-herald-grave-robbers-at-it-again.html

How does something that stupid happen?

And then happen again? And again?

Ask Jay Ducassi, the Herald's Local & State editor.

October 9, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Ducassi's the same person who bears the lion's share of responsibility for turning that section of the Herald into a never-ending series of embarrassment for Broward readers looking for news about the world they live in.

But down at Herald HQ at One Herald Plaza, Broward County is considered terra incognita, forever getting short-shrift, even though it represents 45% of the two-county population.

They don't care.

In most newspapers in this country, no matter small, Sunday's local section is usually full of stories and columns that are supposed to capture your attention and really make you think.

Pieces they've made a concerted effort to publish on Sunday to get the highest number of eyeballs reading them on the most-read newspaper day of the week.

It will come as no surprise to those of you living here that the Herald is NOT one of them, and hasn't been for years.

Guess who's responsible?

Today, with six pages of editorial in section B comprising the Local & State section, there is one story about Broward County issues, news or personalities actually written by Herald reporters or columnists in the newspaper.

One story.

And you know in advance that it isn't columnist Myriam Marquez, because if you had a dollar for all the things that she's written since joining the Herald years ago from the Orlando Sentinel that were of particular interest to Broward readers, you STILL couldn't buy the $5 foot long sub at Subways.

As I've stated previously, Marquez's column should be re-titled "South of the Border" and drop all the pretense that she's a general interest columnist the way we've all come to understand that concept, because what she's largely interested in 99% of the time, is solely what transpires between the Herald HQ on Biscayne Bay, west over to Westchester, Calle Ocho, Doral and Sweetwater, and then south towards Havana and Latin America,

The proof is in the pudding -her own columns.

Seriously, why in the year 2011 does McClatchy Company's Miami Herald STILL NOT have even one Broward-centric columnist?

Or even one smart, locally-based conservative columnist, even if that means hiring someone from out-of-state and and moving them here to be a voice for a perspective that's currently completely lacking?

Or an Education blog that runs real stories and tidbits, not just largely press releases from the School Board...

It's simple -they don't want to.

October 9, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

And this absence of Broward-related stories is far from an infrequent occurrence on Sundays.

Give the devil his due, though, Jay Ducassi is nothing if not consistent.

----

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/15/2409135/sunday-dolphins-blackout-averted.html

Posted on Thursday, 09.15.11

MIAMI DOLPHINS

Blackout of Miami Dolphins game averted

BY CRAIG DAVIS

SUN SENTINEL

It apparently took a cooperative effort between the Miami Dolphins and several sponsors to ensure that the 13-year streak of regular-season games on local television continues Sunday. The game against the Houston Texans will be broadcast throughout South Florida at 4:15 p.m. Sunday on CBS4 in Miami, the station confirmed.

The Dolphins have not made a formal announcement, but season-ticket holders reported receiving an automated phone call from Dolphins CEO Mike Dee stating that sponsors bought up the remaining tickets to avert a blackout. There reportedly were about 10,000 tickets remaining early Thursday.

The NFL's blackout policy, established in 1973, requires games be sold out 72 hours in advance or they are blacked out on stations with signals reaching within 75 miles of the game.

Sunday will mark the 103rd consecutive regular-season game on local television since an Oct. 18, 1998 game against the St. Louis Rams failed to sell out. However, two playoff games were blacked out since then: Jan. 13, 2002 against Baltimore and Dec. 30, 2000 against Indianapolis.

In this part of Broward County, being sandbagged is a good thing! Tropical Storm Bonnie; my Leighton Meester: Bonnie Bedelia analogy is proved!

CBS-4 Miami's Carey Codd was in Hallandale Beach Thursday to examine how the city was preparing for Tropical Storm Bonnie, given the disastrous flooding problems in NE Hallandale Beach and our northern neighbor, Hollywood, the week before Christmas on Thursday December 17th. http://cbs4.com/local/hallandale.beach.rain.2.1819725.html

In Hallandale Beach, the worst areas then and now are those north of East Hallandale Beach Blvd. (HBB) and east of U.S.-1/Federal Highway towards the RK Plaza retail center on N.E. 14th Avenue.

There is still visible damage from the two-foot flooding in December along East HBB which HB City Hall has completely ignored all this time, despite how obvious it is.

First, two retail stores on the north side of the street that suffered damage and which were featured in TV news stories on the flooding at the time have since closed.

(More empty storefronts!
Not that the HB Chamber of Commerce is paying any attention to that sort of thing, since they've got executive board lunches at Gulfstream Park to worry about.)

Second, the bricks on the FDOT-built medians on HBB from roughly NE 8th Avenue to NE 12th Avenue popped-up everywhere so that it's not only unsightly, but unsafe.

Though originally built by FDOT contractors, the city is legally responsible for maintaining the medians in a safe manner, yet the only thing they have done with regard to them since the first day of flooding -besides throwing sand on them, which dissipates with the next rain!- is leaving a single safety barricade there where the median bricks have caved-in, which I've been taking photos of every week since December 18th as I walk by.

There's even a Mini-Stonehenge on the median near N.E. 12th Avenue that I also snap a shot of once in a while, as people show their displeasure with the city's apathy to their responsibility by adding one brick to a pile that was already there.

It's another self-evident example of Mayor Joy Cooper and HB DPW head John Chidsey's obliviousness to problems that need concrete solutions that HB residents see left to fester, day- after-day, month-after-month, year-after-year during their completely unsatisfactory reign of ruin.

Early last month, one of the sort of slow-moving thunderstorms we often get here in the summer created a mini-version of the December debacle, even being featured in news stories across the country.

The general sense of outrage and frustration as well as the city's very unfavorable press as one resident after another complained to TV reporters about the city's laggard and incompetent response, led to the city convening a public meeting recently at HB City Hall that was packed with angry residents, mostly from the NE. area.

I was not there the entire time, but from what I heard as well as from what attendees who were there from the beginning told me afterwards and thru anecdote-filled emails later, the rather uncomfortable sense from residents that the city is continually playing catch-up to events like the Keystone Kops, even though there's ample warning about any troublesome upcoming weather from the National Weather Service, NWS., is really starting to get to people in a way that other previous issues didn't.

Local residents may think we're in Hallandale Beach, but to the NWS, we are affectionately known as Latitude 25.98°North, Longitude 80.13°West
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Hallandale&state=FL&site=MFL&lat=25.9856&lon=-80.1417


What REALLY infuriated residents in December and June according to every person I spoke to who was personally affected was the city allowing non-emergency vehicles from outside the area to drive thru the flooded residential streets and create a wake that forced even more water into neighborhood homes and businesses, causing more serious damage.

How did I find out about the meeting at City Hall? Thru a flyer taped to a glass window near an ATM on the north side of the Bank of America branch on N.E. 8th Avenue.
Really. You think I could make that up?

According to Codd, "the City of Hallandale Beach is handing out free sand bags to residents" at the HB Public Works Dept, at 630 NW 2nd Street.

For those of you far from Hallandale Beach and Hollywood, much of which seems to almost be below sea level, this particular area I'm speaking of is less than 1.5 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.

Speaking of Bonnie, Hallandale Beach Blog, who's your favorite Bonnie?
I'm glad you asked me that: Bonnie Bedelia, whom as I've mentioned before, absolutely wowed a much younger me a few years after seeing her in the 1969 NBC-TV drama with Michael Parks, Then Came Bronson, first came out.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063955/

I sometimes think in retrospect that the whole time I was at IU, I was looking for a Bonnie twin. 
And thanks to my friends who were in them, I knew just the sororities which had strong competitors for that crown, esp. Delta Gamma, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta.
Those were always the girls I connected with the most: smart, great personalities, sporty but who loved wearing sports apparel as much as classic clothing and looked great in either.

The talented and oh-so lovely Leighton Meester reminded me of a young Bonnie from the first time I ever saw her in NBC's cute sci-fi show "Surface" five years ago.
Now, every time I see BB I think of LM and vice-versa.

Blake Lively and Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl,

Rolling Stone 1075, March 2009.

As I put it at the time I first ran this photo of the issue I bought last year: You scream, I scream, we all scream for... Gossip Girl. Photo by Terry Richardson.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/8818/52599

Check these videos out and tell me what you think about my analogy, and before you ask, BB was twenty-one years old when she made this film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xe920YgWts





Then Came Bronson (Intro) S1 (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYsztoaU9Ls

"Then Came Bronson" NBC Fall Preview for 1969, narrated by Hugh Downs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW79P5jLoU4&t=9s


Michael Parks as 'Jim Bronson,' a former San Francisco newspaper reporter turned motorcycle-driving vagabond, seeking to make sense of his own life and connect-the-dots in an ever-changing world around him. Shown above in still of video, the delightful Bonnie Bedelia.

http://www.georgeduning.com/soundtracks/Then_Came_Bronson/Then_Came_Bronson.html

http://www.jimbronson.com/

I was originally going to run a couple of pertinent photos to illustrate some of my points, since I've been taking them for reasons such as this, but due to time constraints and a lack of sleep, I'm going to have to come back here later and drop them in to connect-the-dots a bit better, so please come back and check them out when you can.

You won't be disappointed, since as is always the case in Hallandale Beach, seeing is believing.
And sometimes even that is not enough!

Broward School Board prepares for their TV close-up tonight; Does Bob Parks have a good side?; Wither CBS4 News?

Above, the Broward County School Board paid ad that
ran in last weekend's Herald but which did NOT appear
on the Herald's website online ad directory, just like
the ad for last Monday night's meeting at Deerfield Beach
Middle School on school security never appeared, hence
my reliance on this so-so snapshot I took.

I've been sitting on this for an entire week now, waiting
to see something -anything- in the Herald or Sun-
Sentinel about the meeting Monday night, but since
they don't seem inclined on mentioning it, here's the deal.

The Broward School Board is going to finally do what they
should've done last year upon the creation of the so-called
Integrity ethics committee, their feeble attempt to allay
the very real and legitimate fears and concerns of Broward
taxpayers and parents that the whole school system is
in free-fall -which has proven to largely be an
insulting PR fiasco of an effort if you ask me;
have you seen their laughably bad website at
http://browardschoolsintegrity.org/?-
and take my oft-given free advice here over the past
few months.

They are going to air the problems on the School Board
TV station that taxpayers have already paid for, BECON,
starting tonight.

That Integrity website hasn't added anything in ages
and is a perfect example of the mess that rests with
James Notter & Company: the perfect marriage
of myopia and incompetency.

See also:
Back To The Future At The School Board: Parks Wants Marko To Stay
By Buddy Nevins
http://www.browardbeat.com/back-to-the-future-at-the-school-board-parks-wants-marko-to-stay/
And pay attention to what Karnack says in their reader
comment!

Speaking of using TV to illuminate the inner workings
of dysfunctional and ineffectual government that squanders
millions, despite the fact that many Miami TV stations
used the LIVE feed of The Florida Channel
http://www.wfsu.org/tfc/ to show Gov. Charlie Crist's
veto of S.B. 6 this past week, have you ever seen any of
them actually air a single story on efforts in Tallahassee
to cut their funding and make it harder for the public to
keep an eye on things up there?
Didn't think so.
Neither have I.

That's how it goes in Miami these days with the present
cast of media characters, excepting the 'exceptional few.'
They leave all the heavy-lifting to others and then swoop in
afterwards to do the all-too-predictable human interest
angle stories we've all seen a million times before.

It explains so much of what goes on in South Florida, and
why people here are so thoroughly dis-satisfied with current
news media coverage of local, regional and state news, both
print and electronic.

And as I've mentioned a time or two here, that includes
WIOD Radio, too, which is lazy in the extreme and seems
dead-set on reporting old news all day, word-for-word,
from 10 a.m. -6 p.m., despite what new updates I've heard
and seen elsewhere.

It's like they are stuck in a worm-hole, destined to repeat
themselves over-and-over, constantly getting it wrong.
But they don't have Captain Picard or Data to figure
a way out of their dilemma, so the pattern continues,
day-after-day.

The lack of a rhyme or reason to local media is the very
rhyme itself.

Speaking of a bad sense of foreboding about the future
of local news coverage, guess who NEVER mentioned
during their 11 p.m. newscast, the day of Crist's veto,
that President Obama was at Cape Kennedy making
an extremely important speech on NASA's future,
before coming to Miami and spending time Estefans?

I ask because all their Obama coverage was on his trip
here, not his controversial policy pronouncements.

Well, to answer my own question, it was CBS4 News.
They didn't mention it once.
I taped their newscast and double-checked the next morning.
Nope, they didn't.

I'll have more to say about Channel 4 News in a day or two.

-----------
FloridaThinks.com
Budget Cuts Limit TV Eye on Legislature, Mission to Inform
Posted on April 18, 2010, 11:01 pm.
By John Kennedy, Associate Editor

Amid a legislative session marked by leaders touting transparency, the Florida Channel, the eyes and ears on Tallahassee for many Floridians, is on the chopping block — again. The broadcasting service, which covers everything from gavel-to-gavel floor sessions to obscure committee hearings, faces as much as a 10 percent cut in its almost $3 million budget – the third straight year of reductions that have already eliminated one-quarter of its staff.
Read the rest of the post at:
http://floridathinks.com/florida-issues/florida-issues/budget-cuts-limit-tv-eye-on-legislature-mission-to-inform/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FloridaThinks+%28FloridaThinks%3A+The+Forum+for+Civil+Debate%29

Adrienne Roark from CBS4 to KTVT-TV in Dallas, Cesar Aldama from KYW-TV to CBS4 as News Director

Received this depressing bit of news on Wednesday afternoon via email from CBS4, not long after I'd actually left a voicemail message for News Director Adrienne Roark about the latest example of the City of Hallandale Beach's longstanding illegal and unethical (and anti-Sunshine Law) behavior. That was city employees at Hallandale Beach City Hall physically preventing me from attending a publicly-noticed Evaluation meeting about the hiring of a firm to conduct audits, which I wrote about later that day. On Wednesday and Thursday, South Florida TV blog, http://www.sfltv.com/ had this http://www.sfltv.com/2010/03/10/the-cbs4-bosslady-heading-to-dallas/ and http://www.sfltv.com/2010/03/11/former-wsvn-er-cesar-aldama-named-wfor-news-director/ I don't know anything about the new guy coming in from KYW in Philadelphia as News Director, but here's some free advice: the weather does NOT need to be one of the first three segments of every 6 and 11 o'clock newscast, especially in a place like South Florida. If it's true that people are more wired than ever, and they are, chances are that I already know the weather forecast for today and tomorrow. I know it from the 11 p.m. telecast last night or from seeing The Weather Channel before leaving the house in the morning, since I still check it to see what it'll be like in the Greater D.C. area, or from seeing the NOAA website after reading the The Drudge Report before going to sleep last night. Cool it with trying make the weather guy my pal, okay? And what's with Channel 10 NOT running the results on Tuesday night of the Pembroke Pines City Commission election? It's the second-largest city in Broward. You know, where your viewers are? WTF? For more, see my July 12, 2009 post about local TV news coverage, past and present May the good news be yours: Ralph Renick's South Florida TV scene 18 years later; Where's the news in Broward? Or local investigative news anywhere? http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/may-good-news-be-yours-ralph-renicks.html -------- News from CBS4 & My33

CESAR ALDAMA NAMED NEWS DIRECTOR AT WFOR/CBS4 AND WBFS-TV IN MIAMI Local news veteran Cesar Aldama, who earlier in his career served as Managing Editor at WFOR-TV/CBS4 in Miami, has been named News Director at WFOR and sister station WBFS-TV/Channel 33, it was announced today by Shaun McDonald, President and General Manager of the CBS-owned duopoly. Aldama, whose parents, twin brother and younger sister all live in Miami, is returning to South Florida after having served as Assistant News Director at KYW-TV/CBS3 and WPSG-TV/The CW Philly 57, the CBS-owned stations in Philadelphia, since April 2003. In his new role, Aldama will be responsible for overseeing all news operations at CBS4 and WBFS. He succeeds Adrienne Roark, who today was named News Director at KTVT-TV/CBS11 and KTXA-TV/TXA 21, the CBS-owned stations in Dallas-Fort Worth. Over the course of his 20-year local television news career, Aldama has covered stories around the world in multiple roles - beginning in the field as photo journalist, and in the newsroom as a video editor, on the assignment desk and most recently as a manager. Aldama first joined CBS4 in Miami as Managing Editor in 1999. Before that, he was Managing Editor at WBAL-TV in Baltimore. His experience with Florida stations also includes serving as an Assignment Manager at WKMG-TV in Orlando, and early in his career as a video editor, photographer and Assignment Editor at WSVN-TV in Miami. "We are thrilled to welcome Cesar back to South Florida," said McDonald. "He not only brings a wealth of local news experience, but also the ability to tap into his extensive, first-hand knowledge of this complex and diverse market." "It has been both my personal and professional dream to come back home to the Miami area," Aldama said. "To do so as part of the CBS family is the best of both worlds. I look forward to joining South Florida's best news team as we continue to do what we do best - serve this vital community." Born and raised at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo, Cuba, Aldama is an active member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists. He also serves on the board of the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. McDonald also expressed appreciation for the role Adrienne Roark has played at CBS4 and WBFS. "Adrienne has done an incredible job as our news director for the past three years," he said. "She will be a fantastic news director for our Dallas stations, and I believe I speak for everyone here when I say we wish her the very best." WFOR-TV/CBS4 and WBFS/Channel 33 are part of CBS Television Stations, a division of CBS Corporation. CBS4 is "always on." For local news, sports scores, weather updates, traffic reports, entertainment news and the best video experience available on the web 24 hours a day, go to CBS4.com. Press contact: Lee Zimmerman, Director of Communications, WFOR-TV and WBFS Phone: (305) 639-4426 e-mail: zimmerl@wfor.cbs.com CBS4 & MY33 | 8900 NW 18 Terrace | Miami | FL | 33172

Compare and contrast results of Broward Courthouse vote and New Trier HS building project being defeated by voters; Kudos for JAABLOG

Somewhat sheepish email I had to send out yesterday
afternoon, as I'd originally planned on being up in
Fort Lauderdale for the Commission vote:

February 2nd, 2010
12:45 p.m.

Just called up to Broward Govt. HQ before leaving
to attend and film the public comments portion
of the Broward County Commission meeting on
financing of a proposed Broward Courthouse.

Good thing I made that phone call because they
already voted this morning to approve it, 6-3,
with Commissioners Gunzburger, Rodstrom
and Wexler voting no.

P.S. Just checked JAABLOG before sending this.
http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/
Good thing, too, as he's got more details!

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!
Posted by JAABLOG at 2/2/2010 12:50 PM
The County Commission is building you a new courthouse!
http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2010/02/02/surprise-surprise.aspx#Comment

-----

Wednesday afternoon I wrote this:

Per the news below from Chicago's North Shore,
since I lived in Evanston and Wilmette, and had
lots of close friends at IU from New Trier,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Trier_High_School
I'm thoroughly aware of the educational/aspirational
mindset there, where the well-educated dual income
parents are VERY into the school, and the kids getting
anything and everything that'll help them.

Sometimes, to an unhealthy degree, since this is the
same school where lots of politically powerful/affluent
parents got their kids into U of I using that special
admission system the Tribune exposed last year.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/08/2-holdout-u-of-i-trustees-could-get-booted.html

Not that you ever read or heard about that education
scandal down here, of course.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_notable_alumni_from_New_Trier_High_School

Listen to Trib reader Stu's simple logic and tell
me it doesn't sound exactly like something that could
be said of the latest Broward Courthouse fiasco,
when common economic sense fell by the way-side
yesterday:

"If the board were to have done long range capital improvement planning, they could could have gone to the voters with an incremental plan, doing one facility or section every few years. Instead the board appears to have this very large and over reaching apetite wanting everything now."

All too predictably, the Broward County Commission
chose to channel David Farragut at precisely the
wrong time as they collectively voted
"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead..."

Since my email yesterday, I added something to
JAABLOG's excellent second commentary about
the Broward Courthouse vote, which I've pasted
at bottom.
There's lots of insight and good info from other
readers, too.

P.S. I'm lovin' it!
McDonald's brings frappes to Chicago area
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-mcdonalds-frappe-0202-,0,5632826.story


Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/new-trier-building-plan-looks-headed-for-defeat.html

New Trier high school building project defeated

By Jeff Long

February 2, 2010

A $174 million building project at New Trier high school appears headed for defeat. The margin was about 63 percent against the project and 37 percent with 97 percent of the vote counted.

Officials called the building project at the Winnetka high school vital to bring the North Shore campus into the 21st century and correct lingering problems, such as having a third of the property inaccessible to disabled students.

But residents opposed to the project said in the weeks leading up to the vote that its scope was too vast, and the price tag too much of a burden in today's economy.

Under the plan, a cafeteria built in 1912 would have been demolished, as would a gym that dates to 1928, a tech arts building constructed in 1931, and a music hall built in 1950. New construction would have included a cafeteria, library, fieldhouse, gym, and 41 classrooms.

Reader comments at:
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/new-trier-building-plan-looks-headed-for-defeat.html#comments

-----------

JAABLOG
Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me ...
Posted by JAABLOG at 2/2/2010 9:29 PM

http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2010/02/02/fool-me-once-shame-on-you-fool-me-twice-shame-on-me-.aspx#Comment

Here's what I wrote there, part of which I posted
here on Monday:

First, some facts about Tuesday's vote on financing
a new Broward County Courthouse, a story that only
the Daily Business Review, JAABLOG and I wrote about.
Not asking for plaudits, just noting it for historical context.

For those courthouse denizens who animate this blog
with their constant contempt of Broward taxpayers thru
your comments here, who think that a new Broward
County Courthouse is very important, guess what?

The South Florida news media could hardly care less
about you. You barely register on their horizon.
You are insignificant.

In the days and weeks before the vote, the two daily
South Florida newspapers and the four network TV
stations sat on their hands and reported nothing
about this issue.

Neither the Herald or the Sun-Sentinel have
mentioned this subject in print or online since
last September, when a Guest Op-Ed purported
to have been written by Comm. Stacy Ritter was
published in the Sun-Sentinel.

Once again, on something very important,
South Florida's news media has shown they were
sleeping on the job, and let the people down.

Did you EVER see anything last year on TV about
the ties that the members of the Lieberman-led
Task Force had to the Broward legal establishment,
who desperately want a brand new pony?
Preferably, with a brand-new barn and a lifetime
supply of feed. On the taxpayer's dime.
Nope.
There never was one,

Watching the coverage Tuesday night at 11 p.m.,
actually thinking there'd be some interviews
-with somebody!- this point was drive home
all over again.

At 11:16 p.m. CBS-4's Antonio Mora did a 15-second
read without any visuals and said the vote happened
"last night," which as we know, is incorrect.
At 11:27 p.m., Local10's Laurie Jennings also did a
15-second read with archived visuals of yellow tape
and leaking ceilings.
There's the press coverage of your shiny new pony.

And why is it that so few usually well-informed
people actually know how poorly Lieberman
handled the rigged Task Force last year?
I wrote last year on my blog how she and the
county administrators didn't follow basic aspects
of the state's Sunshine Laws, and instead,
tried to fool the public by arranging for the agenda
and assorted relevant public docs for the last meeting,
which should've been online before the meeting,
to be placed online HOURS AFTER the last meeting
was already over.

Not that they actually had the final public meeting
listed online days before the meeting, since they didn't.

Lieberman was the one in charge -the Chair.
But the media didn't care -just like now.

Keep up the great work, JAABLOG!

While most of South Florida's media suffers from
Super Bowl Swoon, JAABLOG keeps it real!
Kudos!