Showing posts with label Carole Pumpian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carole Pumpian. Show all posts

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Part 2 of 2 re The Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach -Initial comments & ruminations on Wednesday night's HB City Comm. meeting; calling out Carole Pumpian, crony capitalism mercenary

The Second Reading re The Beachwalk is Wednesday June 20th at 6:30 p.m.


Having waited an entire week, it's now time to move on to some long overdue public discussion of what I'm calling the "meat-and-potatoes" portion of our discussion of The Beachwalk project at 2400 East Hallandale Beach Blvd., next to the Intracoastal Bridge in Hallandale Beach, along with some related matters which you surely WON'T be seeing raised or discussed elsewhere in this community, especially among the sleepwalking news media.
I call it "meat-and-potatoes" because like that sort of comfort food when it's done right, it should be thoroughly chewed-over and savored -with some time for reflection.


It was hard for me and many other well-informed Hallandale Beach residents attending last Wednesday night's City Commission meeting -or among those watching it online- not to take notice of the fact that corporate PR shill and Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce president Carole Pumpian kept her dubious record intact of supporting every single development project proposed in HB, despite what it's for, despite what it'll looks like, and most importantly, despite what HB neighborhood residents, homeowners and small business owners think or want.


Plain and simple, Carole Pumpian just doesn't care what they -YOU- think.


She's working her agenda, not the community's.


Above, in pink, Carole Pompian sitting in the second row of the three rows of lobbyists and hired hands working for Related to get this over-reaching bad idea passed. June 6, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Pumpian's been very consistent about that if you hadn't noticed, but as you'll soon hear, there's a very good reason for her to be so unconcerned about the genuine public opinion of this ocean side city's 38,000 residents.


No, rather than be concerned with what Hallandale Beach citizens think, Pumpian's more of a fan of the sort of phony and insincere corporate "artificial turf" grass roots efforts that yours truly has seen up-close in many parts of this country over the years.


That includes the orchestrated one involving the controversial out-of-scale proposal from 2009-2010 by the union that owns the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, which wanted to place multiple giant condo towers of over 25-stories in and around the Diplomat Gold Course in NE Hallandale Beach, including one of the city's most affluent streets, which HB residents and homeowners overwhelmingly opposed, an effort my friend Csaba Kulin was among the leaders of throughout.


But Carole Pumpian and the HB Chamber of Commerce of Patricia Genetti and Joe Kessel didn't let the facts or the Hallandale Beach public's clear opposition to the Diplomat's plan get in the way of their vocally championing the proposal at public meeting after public meeting thru the long process, before the Broward County Commission eventually killed it 6-3 about 26 months ago.


http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/04/diplomat_plans_fail_to_win_cou.html


For those of you who don't already know, and I'm sure that the vast majority of you, let me connect-the-dots a bit more on the Chamber and its Executive Director, Patricia Genetti, who runs it on a day-to-day basis.


Genetti had no qualms at all about supporting City Hall's deceptive handling of the issue, which included trying to keep public information about the developer's changes and modifications from the original plan from the public, and not placing it online until little more than 24 hours before the first actual vote that took place in the city, by the HB Planning & Zoning Advisory Board.
With yet another vote the following day by the City Commission.


More importantly to me and many other HB residents who care about transparency in public policy and use of taxpayer dollars, Genetti showed no moral or ethical qualms in vocally attacking HB taxpayers at public meetings who were against the project, even while she NEVER publicly disclosed when she spoke, that the City Commission paid the Chamber $50,000, much of which went for her own salary.


Which is to say that for a number of months, extending over two separate years, concerned HB taxpayers found themselves in the odd position of having their own tax dollars being used against them by someone like Genetti who was happy to bash them and other opponents of the Diplomat's plan like there was no tomorrow, but who lacked the basic integrity to come clean and admit that she was not an objective person. 


Genetti never admitted it in 2009 or 2010, and she's never admitted it in the two years since the Diplomat plan (and its cocky crew) were shot-down overwhelmingly by the Broward County Commission, and used as an example of what residents throughout the county did NOT want to see in the future near their neighborhood.


That ought to give you some sort of insight into the caliber and moral rectitude of some of the people we have in Hallandale Beach who always have their hands out for the taxpayer handout, and who have no qualms about attacking the citizens, taxpayers, homeowners and Mom & Pop shop owners of this community.
http://hallandalebeachchamber.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=53

Earlier I conspicuously used the word "residents" and that wasn't by accident, because there's a good reason that Pumpian is so consistently deaf, dumb and blind to the the genuine feelings and desires of actual Hallandale Beach residents, and why Pumpian is NOT someone whom the most-concerned citizens of this very frustrated town trust.
Far from it.


It's not just because of Pumpian's general demeanor, though it's true that it's been said to me by more than a few female residents of HB over the years that Pumpian gives the appearance of a woman constantly trying to connive or worm her way into important matters, and have some sort of connection to every one of these sorts of large construction/development  projects.
Now whether that's because of some basic economic desire on her part to make some money as a PR shill for them or their friends, or, in part, to fill some sort of need to appear to be an important and influential person in this city, I can't say, but it is the perception of a lot more well-informed people than she thinks.


But she's NOT either, of course.
This post of mine today will discuss in some general terms why she and the HB Chamber of Commerce aren't taken seriously by the most well-informed and most-involved citizens of Hallandale Beach.
Do you know what those reasons are or might be?


I'll give you a small hint.
It's one of the same reasons that I so gleefully ripped into her -and her ilk, the Joe Kessels of the world- two years ago at multiple Broward Planning Council and Broward County Commission meetings on the far-too-large Diplomat project they championed against the interests of HB residents who already lived next-door to the Diplomat Golf Course.

Of course it was hard not to be gleeful in picking apart the Kessel Crew's transparent weaknesses in their arguments, which sounded so remarkably similar that you couldn't help but wonder if they'd been written by the same Chamber or Diplomat marketing geniuses we have seen accomplish nothing, even while they rounded-up union supporters who didn't actually live here.

One of those pro-Diplomat supporters on the Chamber was the owner of the faux newspaper that's supported by tax dollars thanks to Mayor Cooper, Craig Farquhar's South Florida Sun-Times, who publicly lied about not having an opinion, when I and others have actually seen a copy of his email to Broward County urging its passage.


Plus, here's the official record that Craig Farquhar, this recipient of HB taxpayer largess that the taxpayers are actually AGAINST, this so-called person with "no position" on this issue is a stone-faced liar: Page 13 of the Broward Planning Council's Minutes of February 25, 2010.
is that enough proff for you that he's a hypocrtite?
Right there under Speakers in support of PH 8, six spaces after Joe Kessel, five spaces before Patricia Genetti.


Yes, of course, Farquahar is a member of the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce!
I told you it was the center for crony capitalism in this town -and he's the proof of that.
He received a $50k CRA loan, only has to repay $25k.
http://www.broward.org/PlanningCouncil/Documents/PlanningCouncilMonthlyMinutes/02252010Minutes.pdf


Newcomers to this blog take notice:
Broward Bulldog
Sweet deal for owners of Hallandale newspaper that features mayor as columnist
By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org 
FEBRUARY 9, 2012 AT 6:11 AM
A weekly newspaper in Hallandale Beach got a $50,000 city “loan” under terms so favorable that half of it – $25,000 – amounted to a taxpayer giveaway because the city did not require it to be repaid...
Read the rest of the story at: 


See for yourself:
http://web.me.com/mike.butler/Change_Hallandale/Updates/Entries/2010/2/26_CIty_Raises_Taxes_while_Wasting_Money_on_Private_Companies_files/SunTimes_PromissoryNote.pdf


Or, see my February 14, 2012 blog post titled, Csaba Kulin on Hallandale Beach's crony capitalism deal with a fake newspaper that stands ethics on its head and takes CRA money in exchange for being a City Hall propaganda machine


Yes, the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce is sort of the ground-zero for the professional crony capitalism crowd of HB, who want to act like insiders and profit off the public's teat, which is something that as we all know so well, Joe Kessel managed to do below-the-radar for years.

See: 
Realtor Being Paid by Hallandale May Have Had Role in Controversial Loan to Pornographer

By Thomas Francis
April 8, 2010 at 4:50 PM


There's a good reason that the Chamber doesn't do the sorts of normal civic events that CoCs do in the rest of the country. 
The sorts of things that people in those towns from coast-to-coast take pretty much for granted as traditions, albeit perhaps hokey ones in the minds of some, like hosting debates for mayor, city commission and local state races,  esp. Breakfast Debates, with money going to charity.

Here, though, the folks who make up the Executive Board of the Chamber know that one way or another, HB City Hall pays the freight around here, so why should they anger Mayor Cooper and actually have a debate giving anyone challenging her and City Hall a chance, and force the mayor and her Rubber Stamp Crew to have to explain and defend the indefensible?

First, for reasons unknown, the folks at the Chamber have a very high opinion of themselves, which is very odd considering how little they have accomplished for the greater good of the community and how truly disconnected they are to the real community activists of this area.


This difference also explains in part why The Related Group chose to meet with them instead of the real activists of this community, and perhaps, even paid for a nice meal in the process while everyone brainstormed.
No doubt that's have been held somewhere at the Village of Gulfstream Park where PR shill and Chamber Director Suzanne Friedman is their paid mouthpiece, and because, of course, that's their hangout and unofficial clubhouse.

To me and many other HB citizens who pay close attention, the Chamber is not unlike a mid-1960's high school clique, right down to their having a couple of uncool kids they like to keep around from time-to-time to toy with, and play the role of court jesters, amusing them.


Here, former HB Commissioner Bill Julian plays that latter role, as he even writes about them and their spouses and their vacation adventures in the faux newspaper that is taxpayer-financed.
Here's the secret they haven't figured out: they're the only ones who think they're cool.


Everyone else who really knows what's really going on here just laughs at these phonies and their pretentious ways.

As for their current elected President, Carole Pumpian, who, supposedly, also redesigned the Chamber of Commerce's dopey website that said nothing before and says little of note now,
and which was often 5-6 months behind with information on their own activities, but which did have a link to her business in Hollywood.
At least they have their priorities, huh?


Did you happen to catch her mention her home address as required when she walked up to the microphone and spoke before the City Commission?


I mention it because she rarely actually goes to public meetings here, which is unusual given her position, but then it's not like the HB Chamber actually polls its own members what they think of something and whether or not they should support or oppose something at City Hall.


But then there's a reason for that.


Try to think of something within the past six years that the HB Chamber opposed that Mayor Cooper supported.
Just one.


Just name one public policy change, one proposed ordinance, one proposed resolution, one...
There isn't one.


No, as a regular attendee at public meetings throughout this city for many years, I can tell you that about the only time you can count on seeing Carole Pumpian around is every 18-24 months or so when there's something involving construction/development.


Then, like the photo above from last Wednesdayshe sits with her bosom buddies up in the front rows of the commission chamber: the real estate developers and their hired guns.


Sometimes, that also includes the lemmings of the do-nothing Chamber of Commerce and their clique/cult of personality where "insider" Joe Kessel plays the role of guy who invented the wheel and who works all the angles.


Often, as we've seen over the years, speaking in favor of unpopular HB City Hall initiatives WITHOUT publicly disclosing who's paying him, like the secret deal he had with City hall itself.


So if you haven't already guessed it by now, folks, Carole Pumpian works in the same city that she lives in, and that city is NOT Hallandale Beach -she lives in Hollywood.

So, to recap, in short, Carole Pumpian doesn't really give a damn about anybody or anything in Hallandale Beach unless she, a client, or the Chamber can somehow make a dime off of it somehow.
She's a mercenary.
Yep, that's about the size of it.

More on Beachwalk in the coming days
-----

Broward Bulldog
Hallandale gives thumbs up to condo king Jorge Perez’s $100 million, high-rise Beachwalk project
By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org
June 7, 2012 AT 12:39 AM,

Miami Herald
Proposed hotel gets tentative approval in Hallandale Beach
Miami developer Jorge Pérez gained preliminary approval from the Hallandale Beach commission to build a more than $90 million project on the Intracoastal Waterway
By Carli Teproff
Posted June 7, 2012

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale considers 31-story hotel/condo
By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel
6:27 p.m. EDT, June 7, 2012



The Second Reading is Wednesday June 20th at 6:30 p.m.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Thinking out-loud about what we really saw at last week's meeting re The Related Group and their Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach; What North Beach may really be like in future if city foolishly makes that a de facto 'Related' boutique beach; What are the ethics of HB CoC's involvement with these development deals?


Greenberg Traurig attorney Debbie Orshefsky at the lectern making the formal Power Point presentation to the Hallandale Beach City Commission last Wednesday night for her client, The Related Group, on behalf of their Beachwalk development project on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, with their army of professional hired hands and lobbyists seated in the first thee rows. June 6, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

I really hadn't planned on adding any more today to what I has posted earlier this afternoon re the Beachwalk project from The Related Group, but... 
I chose to send out an email to the usual concerned folks in South Florida letting them know that since I first sent them that email early Thursday morning which was the template or First Draft of my blog post today, I'd added some factual odds and ends, so I sent them the link to the new-and-improved version here on the blog.

And then I thought of some other things I should've added in the first place, so...here's what I just sent out.
Reminder: I'm in favor of the hotel, but NOT the 84 condos there, and I'm strongly against any coupling of this deal with Related or any of their subsidiaries with the use of the public beach, North Beach.

Now excuse me, but I have to run because I have a pending date with an iced coffee in our fair city because it's still brutally hot, even with all the rain.
(It was only about 97 degrees yesterday outside my kitchen window.)

------
On the blog post I just posted online, I added a few more revealing photos and pithy facts since
my email of early Thursday morning.

I spent a few hours on Thursday afternoon in the conference room of the Planning Dept. at Hollywood City Hall looking thru banker boxes of the submitted documents, renderings, surveys and other odds and ends for Beach One Resort and The Apogee, mostly looking at parking info and easements. I'll probably be back there on Monday, too.

I hope to add some of the facts I unearthed to the public conversation early next week, because it's not just a question of access to the public beach -and what kind of beach and under whose de facto control?- but also how many -if any- public parking spaces will be available at next door Beach One Resort hotel or at The Apogee hotel/condo, since if there aren't enough, imagine the resulting chaos if the City of Hallandale Beach goes ahead and makes this colossal blunder by falling for the sweet nothings and siren song of Jorge Perez & Co.

After all, we all know from experience and to our own sorrow how easily duped the HB City Commission is.
How they are almost reflexively unable to ask the sorts of savvy questions that show originality and a degree of familiarity with the submitted documents that most of us would act if we were in their seats, and supposed to be looking at the BIG PICTURE for all of HB's citizens.
But listening to them, you'd think Related was guaranteeing the city $60 million a year for ta proposed restaurant, not $60,000.
That's embarrassing!

Good luck trying to find the respective shade studies that will show what the cumulative effect will be on North Beach after Noon when those two properties -plus The Beach Club- are finally built.

As I stated previously, their attorney, Debbie Orshefsky won't show that to you -even if she had itand while she was willing to show via a rendering what the beach would look like from the ocean when all the properties are present, she never showed an accurate one that was from the perspective of someone actually ON THE BEACH.
Ever been in the bottom of a canyon?

Inline image 1

And did you also notice how few people it showed present on the beach, even though we're
talking about the addition of hundreds and hundreds of hotel rooms and condos? 
I know that I did.

Inline image 1

Notice anything missing in this rendering from last Wednesday, the only one they presented
of the beach from a beach-goer's perspective?
Correct, they "forgot" to actually show the 41-story Beach One Resort property in it, since
it'd clearly be present in this particular shot above if it was done based on actual known facts.

Tell me, do you really think they forgot, or do you think they didn't want HB residents -and the
very incurious HB City Commissioners -to think about it, much less, the adjoining
20-story Apogee condo/hotel, also owned by The Related Group?

I want the beach to change, but for the better for all of us, who finally deserve to have a nice beach after so many years of truly embarrassing third-rate beach conditions and aesthetics, not for the MUCH WORSE, which will surely be its fate if The Related Group gets its hands on it and treats it like a boutique beach in order to market it to prospective buyers of their condos.

I trust that I will see many more of you present in person on Wednesday night than for last week's First Reading, considering it's such a critical moment in this city's future about such an invaluable resource -and there's no conflict with a Heat-Thunder ballgame, either!

Now I have something for all of you to think about over the weekend, given what we've seen for years here about who sits with whom at these meetings re development issues.
Or, more recently, last Wednesday night, when Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce president Carole Pumpian sat in the second row next to Related's PR person and Chamber Board member Suzanne Friedman, and was surrounded by the army of professional hired hands working for Related to get this bad idea passed.


Yes, as usual, Carole Pompian, dressed in pink above, WASN'T sitting with just regular Hallandale Beach citizens. 
Hmm-m... is Pumpian actually working for Related or one of its associated parties to get this passed? 
I can't say with any certainty since, unfortunately, the city's current list of lobbyists hasn't been updated since March 16th.

She certainly hasn't publicly declared that she's lobbying for them at the Commission meetings, but then again, look where she's sitting. 
Everyone else in those three rows is working to pass this very bad idea.

So here's my question: Under the City of Hallandale Beach's rules on lobbying and ethjics, are people receiving a benefit other than money from developers (or their team) who work or speak on behalf of an issue like Beachwalk before the City Commission required to publicly disclose that pertinent fact?

For instance, hypothetically(!), if The Related Group takes a few well-known HB Chamber of Commerce people with connections to the HB City Commission out to lunch or dinner to brainstorm over a strategy to persuade the HB City Commission to approve the plan, and then those same people from the CoC speak in favor of it -or, if Related writes a check out to the HB CoC to thank them after such a 'working meal"ethically, don't the parties who speak need to publicly disclose this arrangement to the Commission, even if they aren't required to register as lobbyists, per se?
Hmm-m...

Well, here's your answer according to the city itself.

Lobbying means communicating directly or indirectly, in person, by telephone, by letter, or by any other form of communication, on behalf of any other with any City Commissioner, any member of any decision-making body under the jurisdiction of the Commission/Board, or any City employee, where the lobbyist seeks to influence a decision to me made by the Commission or Board, a decision to be made any decision-making body under the jurisdiction of the Commission or Board, or a final procurement decision to be made by a City employee.

Lobbyist is defined as any individual who engages in lobbying, as defined above, regardless of whether he or she receives any compensation for such lobbying.

I added that red highlight above for your careful consideration.

I'll be asking for that updated lobbyist list from the HB City Clerk on Monday.

FYI: On Saturday I'll finally be posting "Part 2 of 2 re The Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach -Initial comments & ruminations on Wednesday night's HB City Comm. meeting; calling out Carole Pumpian, crony capitalism mercenary"


Friday, June 8, 2012

Coming here Saturday: Initial thoughts regarding The Related Group's Power Point presentation to the Hallandale Beach City Commission re The Beachwalk project, and selected comments of the public and the City Commission. Also, that long-promised blog post -yes finally!- publicly calling-out tiresome PR shill Carole Pumpian, crony capitalism mercenary. She couldn't care less about HB residents' Quality-of-Life.

Coming here Saturday: Initial thoughts regarding The Related Group's Power Point presentation to the Hallandale Beach City Commission re The Beachwalk project, and selected comments of the public and the City Commission. Also, that long-promised blog post -yes finally!- publicly calling-out tiresome PR shill Carole Pumpian, crony capitalism mercenary. She couldn't care less about HB residents' Quality-of-Life.
Which, of course, makes her not unlike many -if not most- of the other business geniuses on the "Board of Directors" at the cliquish Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce, who in no way actually represent the needs or desires of the majority of Hallandale Beach's residents or business owners, but who, for obvious reasons, are at great pains to hide that fact to the extent possible, lest companies, developers and business groups interested in the city realize that there's no real point in talking to them because they are, in effect, a circular firing squad.
And even worse, a circular firing squad that talks largely amongst themselves, with no genuine support in the community at large after all their years of trying to put their personal and own business interests over the entire community.


With an election in less than five months for three of the five seats on the Hallandale Beach City Commission, and with three identifiably pro-transparency, pro-financial accountability candidates running in November who have seen for themselves over the years what the ardently -dare I say zealous- pro-Joy Cooper, pro-Rubber Stamp Crew Chamber of Commerce honchos have repeatedly said and done to put their own personal business interests over the entire community, me, my intuition tells me that karma is going to be a real bitch.


Yes, the very same Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce group who had a president in the past five years who, at an event at HB City Hall, not only didn't know, but didn't believe me when I said that the city had a municipal swimming pool less than four blocks from City Hall. 
But this being poorly-run Hallandale Beach, of course, there wasn't then -and still isn't- a directional sign located on busy U.S.-1/S. Federal Highway for the swimming pool!


Yes, Related Group, that's the caliber of well-informed geniuses at the Chamber you're using to try to ram this project through, though to be honest, it's more like they're using you.
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.



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Saturday, February 11, 2012

Hallandale Beach residents are eager to speak at Tuesday night's Resident Forum re Mayor Cooper's myopic State of the City speech, and the troubling role of the cliquish, pro-Cooper HB Chamber of Commerce that taxpayers are forced to subsidize

Above, looking west from Hallandale Beach City Hall towards the Hallandale Beach Cultural Community Center, i.e. "the Cultural Center," right before I went inside and voted in the 2012 Florida GOP primary. January 31, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Hallandale Beach residents are eager to speak at Tuesday night's Resident Forum re Mayor Cooper's myopic State of the City speech, and the troubling role of the cliquish, pro-Cooper HB Chamber of Commerce that taxpayers are forced to subsidize

Just over a week ago, I and many other concerned residents and business owners in the greater Hallandale Beach area received an email from my friend and Hallandale Beach City Commissioner, Keith London, reminding us of his upcoming Resident Forum meeting on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in the HB Cultural Center.


Comm. London also reminded us as well of his longstanding opposition to the taxpayers of this small community being forced to fund the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce.


That's the group that I and many other concerned and well-informed residents here believe is a particularly standoff-ish and cliquish retinue of ardently pro-development, pro-Joy Cooper, pro-HB City Hall partisans who operate in what can charitably be called a moral 'vacuum,' though it may more accurately be called an 'alternative universe.'


In fact, it's in large part because the HB CoC operates in ways that are DIFFERENT than how most city CoCs in the United States manage and comport themselves, as well as how they are funded -and the particular civic activities the HB CoC consciously choose NOT to perform, roles performed by many if not most CoCs in this country- that best explains why so many people in this area DON'T want to join them.


Well-meaning HB citizens and business owners who truly see things as they are, and NOT how the mayor and city hall pretends they are, folks who simply want city govt. costs contained and not continue to balloon, DON'T wish to be tainted by any association with myopic believers in crony capitalism at its worst.


I say that because some of the people who lead the group here, like realtor Joe Kessel, are well-known for not only their parochial and self-serving nature, but equally known for their willingness to try to take advantage of their position within the community to become part of ownership groups that seek HB CRA loans for ill-conceived ideas that local banks won't touch -and for good reason
Again, exactly what Joe Kessel did.


And Kessel did this WHILE already receiving money from the city as a top secret 'consultant' -what I called 'spying'- in a stealthy arrangement that the HB City Commission and the public was intentionally kept in the dark about, but which Mayor Joy Cooper knew all about.
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/04/hallandale_mayor_cooper_kessel_contract.php
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/related/to/Joe+Kessel/


No, the HB CoC doesn't act like the CoC group in next-door Hollywood does, nor like most CoCs in the country that are largely self-sustaining thru not only the membership dues they collect, but also thru activities they conduct throughout the year, whether fairs, festivals and other special events for which there's a small charge for the public to attend, or for businesses to participate, as well as general sponsorship arrangements.


Unfortunately for taxpayers, because most of the concerned people paying close attention to what happens in Hallandale Beach already recognize these self-evident facts, the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce, like the city's faux newspaper, the South Florida Sun Times, both currently exist as little more than one-party propaganda organs for HB mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew, and poorly-functioning PR organs at that.


In the very near future, I'll be posting something else here about the strange role of the HB CoC, and its new president, Carole Pumpian, a woman who has consistently worked AGAINST the long-term best-interests of Hallandale Beach residents 
And for the record, Pumpian doesn't live in Hallandale Beach, either.

I've excerpted Comm. London's email below to give you the pertinent info, but first read
this:
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bob-norman/Mayor-No-charge-for-speech/-/3223354/8578562/-/a3y74x/-/index.html


-----


From: Keith London 
To: klondon@hallandalebeachfl.gov 
Sent: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 8:16 AM
Subject: Your Tax Dollars ($20) at Work Mayor Joy Cooper State of the City Address - Reported by Local 10.com


Everyone,


...Let’s remember this is the same Chamber of Commerce that receives $40,000 - $50,000 every year of your tax dollars from the City of Hallandale Beach in addition to free rent and utilities.


In lieu of paying $20 for information that should be relayed to the residents for free, please attend my FREE “Resident Forum” held the second or third Tuesday of every month at the City of Hallandale Beach Cultural Center .  Free refreshments are offered. 


The items of discussion pertain to current pending issues or anything a resident may want to discuss.  I include significant information and documents to elaborate the points and I always listen to what the residents and taxpayers are saying about the state of Hallandale Beach .
I hope to see you and friend at the next meeting on February 14, 2012 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM to discuss “OUR” city.


Regards,
Keith


Keith S. London
City Commissioner, Hallandale Beach


954-457-1320 Office
954-494-3182 Cellular

From: BFoglia
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 07:55 PM
To: joycooper@aol.com
Subject: RE: Mayor Joy Cooper State of the City Address 
Is this a joke? We have to PAY to listen to your Annual State of the City Address? Shouldn't that speech be given in a public forum? This speech is for ALL the people in your community - The City - , not an elite 'lunch crowd' between 12 & 2. This notice has to be a hoax on Hallandale residents.
Barbara Foglia,
a resident.