Showing posts with label Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark. Show all posts

Friday, September 26, 2014

Some informed commentary, context and important facts that you didn't read about in Susannah Bryan's recent Sun-Sentinel article about Hollywood City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark and some of her critics re the 'million-dollar mistake.' Trust me, you'll thank me later!

Some informed commentary -and important facts- that you didn't read about in the Sun-Sentinel's story titled, "City seeks inquiry - Hollywood manager stands up to critics of 'million-dollar mistake,' says 'I'm not leaving'"
Trust me, you'll thank me later and have more context!
My comments are below the article.

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
City seeks inquiry - Hollywood manager stands up to critics of 'million-dollar mistake,' says 'I'm not leaving'
Susannah Bryan , Staff writer
September 19, 2014

Commissioners were split on whether to fire the city manager, butunanimously agreed to ask the Broward inspector general to investigateCity Hall's "million-dollar mistake."
In violation of city code, Hollywood administrators spent $935,000 on35 temp workers without commission approval over the past two years.The workers were assigned to the police and fire departments,utilities and general administration.
Commissioners rejected City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark's requestearlier this month to approve the spending retroactively.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-09-19/news/fl-million-dollar-mistake-hollywood-fallout-20140918_1_city-manager-hollywood-administrators-commissioners-traci-callari
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In case you faithful readers of the blog had forgotten, this Sun-Sentinel reporter, Susannah Bryan, is the latest of the many Sun-Sentinel reporters I've privately and publicly lambasted for years for their habit of consistently being too lazy and apathetic to mention even .01% of what they observed at Hallandale Beach City Hall. 
That is, WHEN they've deigned to actually show-up! 

To say nothing about all what they willfully ignored outside City Commission Chambers, which is hard to overstate and easy to pinpoint if you've been paying attention.  
Well, in any case, as this article makes clear, it's not like the percentage is much higher when Bryan is covering what goes on a few miles just north of us over at Hollywood City Hall.


In the article above, Bryan completely neglects to mention in print that the opinionated citizen she quotes on this matter, Jeff Brodeuris part of a small hardcore and very opinionated group of largely West Hollywood residents who are forever bitching about how bad they have it compared to other parts of the city.
Forever complaining about how badly Hollywood city employees have had it, and for reasons that are not always publicly stated, really can't stand all the attention (and CRA money spent) on the Hollywood Downtown area.

(First, I should state that I've been as critical as just about anyone re what the CRA was doing downtown years ago. And not just in emails but at public meetings where I said that  I was completely underwhelmed by the public outreach efforts regarding publicizing the public meetings of the new Master Plan for Downtown Hollywood developed by Bernard Zyscovich and his firm, particularly the efforts by the CRA and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the business community as a whole. It was pathetic.
I even told Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark of my misgivings and related to her in a one-on-one meeting how badly I thought this had been botched, when she was the Assistant City Manager.

I mentioned that many of the obvious public places around Young Circle like Publix, Starbuck's and the ArtsPark, places where large number of the neighborhood is everyday, never had a single flyer put up on a bulleting board or front window so that the average Hollywood citizen would know what was taking place in their own neighborhood.
She agreed and resolved to nopt let opportunities like that get watsed agin in the future.

Second, it's not like it was ever going to be easy to fix the decades of lazy thinking about retail vs. residential priorities, to say nothing of the myriad retail mismatches and logistical and aesthetics mistakes in that important area of SE Broward that are still evident.
But the difference between me and Brodeur is that I know from personal experience that that area should turn around economically almost overnight once there's a reliable Tri-Rail Costal train station built nearby that can whisk Hollywood residents points north and south with regularity for work and recreation. 
Yes, Young and Middle-Aged Professionals who don't think simply being able to listen to FM radio while stuck in traffic is that appealing a prospect compared to being able to relax on a train that gets them back and forth much quicker and with less stress -and also listening to the same stationvia whatever electronic device they prefer. )

Since that is in fact the case, it should come as no surprise that Brodeur is also a longtime opponent of not only the Hollywood CRA, both in the abstract as well the reality, but quite naturally, also a
longtime critic of Hollywood City Manger Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark.
Cathy is someone whom most of you already know I've been very publicly supportive of for many years, both in my personal emails and my posts on the blog.
I've personally been an eyewitness to her genuine smarts, savvy and moxie over the years in figuring out how best to improve a, not-incidentally, NOT-so-perfect Hollywood, and make it a better place for everyone, not just well-to-do people living on the beach or near downtown.
I've personally seen how she sweats the small details and has always strived for creating maximum public transparency and public interaction.
I only wish that she was the City Manager of Hallandale Beach -or even better, the County Administrator of Broward County.

Jeff Brodeur's background is something I know for a fact from past experience, mostly from keeping informed and going to hundreds of Hollywood city/civic meetings over the past 11 years.
In fact, I'd know about him even if I hadn't gone to those meetings, from my voluminous email archives of past newspaper and blog articles, which makes that point abundantly clear.

Oh, like say this one from last year, when the Balance Sheet Blog was still up and running:
http://balancesheetblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/balance-sheet-in-the-crosshairs/
He is, in my eyes, the very picture of the sort of person who gives civic activism a bad name.
I don't want to be lumped in with him.

So why doesn't the Sun-Sentinel's Hollywood beat reporter Susannah Bryan know this?
More to the point, WHY doesn't she disclose ANY of this important context to readers so they have more facts to judge what's really going on in ths matter?
Why don't you ask Bryan's bosses at the newspaper?

As it happens, Jeff Brodeur was also very supportive three years ago of state Sen. Eleanor Sobel's efforts to get a JLAC investigation of Hollywood in late 2011, when Sobel was doing the bidding of the Broward PBA, who had previously endorsed her and spent a LOT of time, money and resources in defeating Tim Ryan and Ken Gottlieb in that very nasty and expensive state Senate race in SE Broward. Though some would say infamous race.

Yes, the same Eleanor Sobel who in her role as Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's bosom pal, has done everything and then some the past two years to prevent state legislators and investigators on the JLAC from investigating what her friend Joy Cooper had actually been doing for years as Chair of the HB CRA, directing where all the HB CRA millions went, with no practical or consistent oversight and accountability from anyone at City Hall -including her.
As the Broward IG's damning 2013 report made clear.

The same Broward PBA  who in 2012 endorsed Traci Callari, the current Hollywood Commissioner who attempted to fire the City Manager this week. 
In the process of pumping and funneling as much money as they could into Callari's 2012 campaign, in order to defeat then-Hollywood Comm. Heidi O'Sheehan, who had been part of the majority of the City Commission for common sense who supported the vote for a public vote on pension costs that were threatening to make the city's future untenable.

An election that the Broward PBA later lost pretty overwhelmingly, despite their deep pockets, media histrionics and dirty tricks.
In doing so, the Broward PBA violated Hollywood's campaign finance rules that had previously been overwhelmingly approved by Hollywood voters as part of a Charter amendment. Why?
(And why was the Broward PBA and the city's later lawsuit against it never ever discussed in print or TV by the South Florida news media?)

So back to the question of why?
So that the Broward PBA could get who they wanted elected, come hell of high water? 
Yes. Traci Callari, whose husband is a Hollywood Police Officer.
All you need is some larger perspective to see how all these things are inter-connected and see how the losers of one issue never quite forget, and are forver trying to get vengeance on the people who bested them however they can, regardless of what the issue is.
So, from this we have learned quite well that the Broward PBA is always spoiling for a fight with anyone brave enough to hold them to account, which is why they have had it in for Beam Furrr, since the former Hollywood City Commissioner -and current Democratic nomineee for Broward County Comm. District 6- was asking questions publicly many years ago about the Police and Fire Pension when others in the community were reluctant to speak up and take sides.

So perhaps the real question for all of us in Hallandale Beach and Hollywood who are civic-minded and in favor of a thorough discussion of the issues this year is this one: Why, after all these years, is
the Sun-Sentinel's very own beat reporter for Hollywood and Hallandale Beach so consistently unable or unwilling to see what I and so many of you can see quite easily?
Good question. 
Why don't you ask Susannah Bryan's bosses at the newspaper?

That mediocrity in effort and results by the Sun-Sentinel is why I and so many of you reading this know in advance why the coming Sun-Sentinel coverage of the Hallandale Beach City Commission races will be so very feeble and pathetic.
Why despite having 45 days, anything they do will appear just days before the election, instead of early enough so that they can be fair, probing and thorough -and actually useful to HB residents.

And we know from painful experiences in the past that this half-assed approach and effort by the Sun-Sentinel only helps the very people who are already in office ruining this city with their consistently sinister/myopic judgment and seemingly neverending unethical behavior, both the electeds and the well-paid bureaucrats who never get held to account for their serial misdeeds and lies to the public at large.

Monday, May 27, 2013

re Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort project - Special City of Hollywood CRA/City Comm. meeting re Margaritaville at 5 pm on Wednesday; re Hollywood's South Park Road Redevelopment (HIAD)


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re Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort project - Special City of Hollywood CRA/City Comm. meeting re Margaritaville at 5 pm on Wednesday; re Hollywood's South Park Road Redevelopment (HIAD)
There is a Special City of Hollywood CRA/City Commission joint meeting re Margaritaville at Hollywood City Hall on Wednesday on May 29th at 5 p.m.
http://agenda.hollywoodfl.org/cache/00001/234/AGEN%2005-29-13%20Joint%20Special.pdf

Last week's community meeting was another masterful production by Hollywood City Manager  Cathy Swanson-Rivenbarkwith more than enough info to fill everyone in on what's what and what's been changed, with a well-produced Power Point presentation that answered and anticipated every conceivable question or concern with facts, not idle speculation or theories.

The City Manager's Office had 4 separate stacks of document handouts in the lobby for the public to grab on their way in, including a copy of new agreement; in total, weighing about 20 oz or so.

There almost might've been too much information to process, something that you could never say was the case in Hallandale Beach. 
Plus, they had a stash of three separate kinds of cookies in the lobby with a TV monitor set up for any possible overflow. Now that's planning.

Well, the cookies were grabbed and eaten, but the TV wasn't needed, as there were probably about 90 people in total inside, with a few empty seats near most of the usual familiar faces.
All but one current Hollywood City Commissioner was present in the chambers along with former Commissioners Fran Russo and Beam Furr.

From my perspective, someone who in the past had been dis-satisfied with various aspects of both Margaritaville's plan as well as the long-ago rejected Hard Rock proposal, it may've been the best single day thus far for the Margaritaville project and Lojeta developer Lon Tabatchnick.

Hollywood CRA Director Jorge Camejo, City Attorney Jeff Sheffel, Planning Dept. head 
Jaye Epstein and the city's hospitality consultant all spoke from dais when CSR wasn't connecting-the-dots down near the lectern with a mixture of both precision and humor.

It was clearly Lon Tabatchnick's best day at Hollywood City Hall in a long time, as he was up on the dais with the others, in a polo shirt instead of a suit, and from where I sat, with my video-camera rolling, he seemed much more relaxed and focused than in the past, and not nearly so anxious as he has sometimes appeared to be, given the investment of time, energy and money he's made.
Perhaps it was a turning point.

Coincidentally, there was an interesting photo-filled article in The Daily Mail today on Jimmy Buffet and the Margaritaville empire he and his team have created:

The Daily Mail
Welcome to Margaritaville: How Jimmy Buffett's four-minute song about being drunk and lazy became the most lucrative song in the world and spawned $100MILLION empire 
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 00:44 EST, 27 May 2013 
UPDATED: 00:47 EST, 27 May 2013
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2331498/Welcome-Margaritaville-How-Jimmy-Buffetts-minute-song-drunk-lazy-lucrative-song-world-spawned-100MILLION-empire.html

Channel 10, Miami
Commission to vote on revised Margaritaville agreement 
New agreement adds Starwood Capital to the project  
Published On: May 28 2013 12:54:25 PM EDT
http://www.local10.com/news/commission-to-vote-on-revised-margaritaville-agreement/-/1717324/20327872/-/2pjlhpz/-/index.html

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*Separate issue: 
As I've said previously said to people around town, the place where the City of Hallandale Beach actually thinks it'll be charging its alternative energy vehicles for the foreseeable future is a facility in Hollywood located on Park Road & Pembroke Road -across the street from the Coca-Cola bottling plant and the Orangebrook Golf & Country Clubthat'll be gone as soon as Hollywood can get rid of it, the South Park Road Redevelopment (HIAD)
So what's HB's back-up plan for when this facility disappears?
Good question.

In none of the HB City Commission meetings that I've personally attended or watched online in the past year or so on the subject of the city purchasing alternative energy vehicles, have I once heard former City Manager Mark A. Antonio and current CM  Renee Miller -or any of her three highly-paid assistants- say one word about the future reality of that Park Road site that HB intends on using to refuel its new vehicles.

Each time I hear it brought up I honestly wonder if the highly-paid help at HB City Hall even knows.
And each time, I'm convinced they don't, because they speak in such smug and oblivious tones. 

http://www.hollywoodfl.org/DocumentCenter/View/1962

Tell me, when have you ever seen anything like this level of detail in HB for constructive suggestions for all the various empty lots and city/CRA-owned parcels in HB?

I mentioned this meeting last year on th blog but was unable to attend it:

The Department of Community and Economic Development is holding a public meeting regarding the South Park Road Redevelopment Site, formerly the Hollywood Incinerator Ash Dump, on Monday, October 22, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, Room 219.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for has announced funding availability to carry out cleanup activities at a specific brownfield sites. The City of Hollywood is interested in applying for a grant for the purposes of cleaning up environmental concerns on the South Park Road site.
This public meeting is the first step in moving forward with the potential redevelopment of this site and discussions will include funding availability and process and community support of grant efforts to address existing environmental concerns. Community participation is essential in City projects and your feedback during this public meeting is encouraged.
All interested groups or individuals are invited to attend this public meeting. If you are interested in providing feedback and are unable to attend, you may send your comments via e-mail to dbiederman@hollywoodfl.org. For additional information about this meeting contact the Department of Community and Economic Development at 954.921.327

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Update re Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort; Community Meeting/Q&A at Hollywood City Hall re proposed changes to the project's lease & related documents is Thursday at 6 p.m.; What are Starwood Capital and Lon Tabatchnick/Lojeta up to now?

Received a helpful head's up yesterday from a well-informed and plugged-in reader in next-door Hollywood about a timely update on the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort; with a community meeting/Q&A scheduled for Thursday at 6 pm at Hollywood City Hall regarding the various changes to the project's lease and related documents.

This morning I officially received the news from the City of Hollywood, below:

What are Starwood Capital and Lon Tabatchnick/Lojeta up to now?
Hmm-m...

Seven weeks ago, thanks to The Balance Sheet Blog the conscientious “eyes and ears” of Hollywood, we knew the following: http://balancesheetblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/margaritaville-2/

I attended that semi-contentious meeting at Hollywood City Hall (and recorded it) and I think it's fair to say that even among the Margaritaville supporters in the chambers and within the general public as a whole, there is definitely growing resistance to letting this little melodrama play itself out much longer, as was made clear by the not-so-sanguine comments of Comm. Peter Hernandez towards the end of the meeting.

This was not at all helped by what in my opinion appeared to be the general evasiveness of some of the Starwood Capital team members present in their responses, as they seemed more tight-lipped than you would think they'd be at a public meeting involving something that the Hollywood community is so emotionally and financially invested in -and for good reason, too.

That's especially true given the history of this project and the fact that Starwood Capital and their new pal Lon Tabatchnick were asking for something from Hollywood's elected representatives, NOT giving them something to make the medicine go down faster.

Some of the Starwood Capital folks almost seemed genuinely upset that the City Commission wanted more specific answers from them than they were prepared to give, but then I saw this phenomena all the time on Capitol Hill, too, where well-prepped people hit a wall after a while, and became increasingly disconnected to the larger picture.

Specifically, that happened more frequently than you'd imagine it would at Congressional hearings I attended in the 1990's held by what was then called the House Telecomm. & Finance Subcommittee, under then-Chair John Dingell involving the U.S. financial services industry, some of which were both highly-publicized and highly-controversial.

As of today, I don't know with certainty who'll be speaking on Thursday -besides, likely, Hollywood City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, whom as regular readers of the blog know, I'm a big fan of- but I genuinely hope that we hear the answers directly from Starwood and not from Lon Tabatchnick's attorney, or from a hired-gun PR whiz.
Guess we'll all find out soon enough...

The community meeting is NOT being called "As The World Turns," but you can be excused for thinking that it ought to be after all this time, with yours truly at 99% of those public meetings from the beginning.


Email Notifications
The City of Hollywood will be holding a Community Meeting to review the proposed changes to the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort Lease and related documents along with a question and answer period on Thursday, May 23rd at 6:00 p.m. at Hollywood City Hall (Room 219).

The Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort is proposed for construction on an approximately 5 acre parcel of city-owned land between Johnson Street and Michigan Street on Hollywood Beach.

The Community Meeting will be followed on Wednesday, May 29th at 5:00 p.m. with a Joint Special City Commission/CRA meeting.  This meeting will also be held at Hollywood City Hall (Room 219). City and CRA Staff will present the proposed changes to the City Commission. Representatives from Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, LLC, including Starwood Capital, will also be in attendance. 

For questions, please contact the Office of the City Manager at 954.921.3201.
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Later...

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Developer tweaks Margaritaville contract with Hollywood
By Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel
5:38 p.m. EDT, May 21, 2013
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/hollywood/fl-margaritaville-hollywood-update-20130521,0,2186680.story

Sunday, September 2, 2012

re Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort - Sara Case of Hollywood's Balance Sheet Blog weighs in on the plausible merits of the City of Hollywood CRA's plan to increase their stake in the Johnson Street project from $10 million to $23 million; Starwood Capital Group jumps on board, but why now?

Above, looking west at Hollywood City Hall, where Tuesday night's very important Hollywood CRA meeting will be held at 6 p.m. September 20, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
re Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort - Sara Case of Hollywood's Balance Sheet Blog weighs in on the plausible merits of the City of Hollywood CRA's plan to increase their stake in the project on Johnson Street from $10 million to $23 million; Starwood Capital jumps on board, but why now?


Over the weekend, well-informed Hollywood civic activist and blogger Sara Case posted some thought from her point-of-view on the city's new proposal to stanch the bleeding in the Johnson Street project known as Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort and mentions why she, rather counter-intuitively, supports it, despite the large number of CRA dollars involved.
I urge you to read it before Tuesday night's meeting, which I will be at.

Balance Sheet Blog
MARGARITAVILLE FINANCING
By Sara Case
September 1, 2012, 4:08 PM 
Hollywood residents in need of tax and fee reductions and City employees in need of salary increases …Time to Pay Attention!
As we all know by now, the Margaritaville project has been unable to secure funding from foreign investors as the original plan required.  So now we have a new proposal in which the CRA is to give the developer $23 million for construction financing.  When I learned of this plan, I initially opposed it as one more boondoggle — a massive developer subsidy like Radius, Hollywood Station, WSG, Great Southern, and Block 55, to name a few.
Read the rest of the post at:

My post on this topic from Friday, August 31st, was titled, Important public forum on the proposed Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort is scheduled for Tuesday Sept. 4th at 6 p.m. Chief among topics will be whether the Hollywood CRA should increase their investment in the Lon Tabatchnick project on Johnson Street and the Broadwalk from $10 million to $23 million

Saturday also brought forth this news, which is interesting in ways that I can't get into the details of now, but which I may be able to get into after Tuesday night, depending upon what gets said.

The Miami Herald
Hollywood’s Margaritaville project gets new funding source
By Carli Teproff
August 31, 2012
Margaritaville — the $130 million beach resort Hollywood city leaders have been dreaming about for years — has a new funding source: Starwood Capital, the investment group which once financed high-end hotels such as the St. Regis, W, Westin and Sheratons around the globe.
“We now have the necessary funds to complete the project,” developer Lon Tabatchnik said Thursday. “This is what we were waiting for.”
Read the rest of the article at:

After reading the above, you're more than reasonable if you ask whether or not anyone from Starwood Capital Group will be making themselves available for some serious questioning by Hollywood taxpayers at Tuesday night's meeting -besides City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, some city staffers and developer Lon Tabatchnick or one of his reps, and, most likely, every single candidate challenging a City Hall incumbent.

Like, well... were they interested in the project much earlier and turn it down because of concerns about some aspect of the overall plan, marketing concept or the strength of the financing, or were they always biding their time in the bushes waiting for Tabatchnick and Company to get desperate enough to finally agree to meet their demands for whatever concession it was they weren't given originally?

It would also be great if someone asked Mr. Tabatchnick, given how over-confident he has appeared to many observers to be, when was the last time that he and his group actually met two of his promises, guarantees or legal deadlines (to the city and its taxpayers) in a row regarding this project?

Isn't that sort of history animating at least some of the opposition in Hollywood to this project getting more CRA funds now?
Yes, it is.

March 21, 2012  CNBC video: Maria Bartiromo interviews Starwood Capital's CEO Barry Sternlicht.
http://www.executiveinterviews.com/delivery/v1/mini/default.asp?order=U14414

http://www.starwoodcapital.com/Overview.aspx



Saturday, March 24, 2012

Request for common sense suggestion​s for the Hallandale Beach City Manager candidates to strongly consider enacting if hired to clean-up the dysfunction at HB City Hall

Below is a slightly expanded version of an email I sent out early  Friday night to a couple of dozen very smart and well-informed folks living in Hallandale Beach, Broward County and points beyond, including some pols you may've heard of...

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March 23rd, 2012

9:45 p.m.

Request for common sense suggestion​s for the Hallandale Beach City Manager candidates to strongly consider enacting if hired to clean-up the dysfunction at HB City Hall

Over the weekend and into next week I'm planning on cobbling together a list of about 12-15 different areas of concerns about the City of Hallandale Beach and the way it works -or more often, doesn't- for the perusal of not only other concerned HB residents like you who are greatly dissatisfied, but who DO NOT KNOW what's really been going on for years like you do, but also for the four HB City Manager finalists selected at Wednesday's City Commission meeting. (See Tonya Alanez's Sun-Sentinel article about that at bottom.)

I'll likely send it out as an email by mid-week and also post it to the blog for the wider world to read and consider, since given past history here, I have grave doubts about how the city's planned public meet-and-greet for the four candidates at the HB Community Center on Friday night will be stage-managed.

Personally, I'd prefer that NO elected officials or city employees be allowed to attend that event,
since the mayor and commissioners will have already have had plenty of time to ask questions
individually of each candidate by then, plus, will be seeing them again the next day, too.
The public should have as much time to interact with the candidates as possible.

I don't want to talk to one of the candidates about a serious concern with the mayor, one of the
commissioners, or even someone from the City Manager's office hanging around and eavesdropping.

(And can we expect the new City Manager to have the freedom to tell the highly-paid current Asst. City Managers to resign this summer, so that the new CM can hire anyone he or she feels would be better-qualified, and who'd actually respond to citizens instead of actively avoiding giving them honest answers, instead of saying -totally true- "Don't worry"
Hallandale Beach desperately needs someone smart and savvy -and fair- along the lines of the City of Hollywood's Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark )

If you have any good ideas on any subject that you feel are important for others to know about,
whether relating to existing city public policy, city practices -i.e. any of the several bad habits
that never change or die- to add to my initial draft below, most especially if you have any good anecdotes or photos that buttress your particular points, please send 'em to me this weekend.
Or, if you want, I'd be happy to run YOUR list on my blog, too, plus any photos or anything
you want to add.

In some ways, I'd like to think of it as a Visitors Guide to the reality of living in exasperating
HB for someone thinking of moving here that really wants to make a positive difference, but
who also is smart enough to want to know where all the bodies are buried before they sign
onto the dotted line.

-----
My 3/23/12 Draft

Some suggestions for all of the Hallandale Beach City Manager candidates to strongly consider

1.) re New Police Chief, replacing current one who is "retiring" in a few months:

Your new hire should be from outside of South Florida, and definitely NOT someone from within HB's existing ranks, since the new Chief also needs to be someone who actually takes constructive criticism and is willing to change policies and plans that continually prove they DON'T work.
Which means bringing FRESH EYES to the situation!

Someone who is willing to aggressively cut-out the established cliques and sense of favoritism that are so well-known and established here.

Someone willing to assign pro-active foot patrol cops near various traffic choke-points throughout the day, esp. during 'the season.'

Intersections of
a.) State Road A1A & E. Hallandale Beach Blvd.
b.) NE/SE 14th Avenue &E, Hallandale Beach Blvd
c.) E. Hallandale Beach Blvd. & U.S.-1/Federal Highway
d.) W. Hallandale Beach Blvd. & NW/SW 10th Terrace

This is the intersection where Denny's & IHOP are across the street from each other, and the last real intersection going to or from I-95.
In fact, this is such an important intersection in Hallandale Beach -supposedly- that it was the first place the city placed a red-light camera after the state officially allowed them last year.

This, despite the fact that the city was completely unwilling to share with citizens any sort of
chronological traffic incident reports showing whether it was actually the scene of more red-light running than other locales, or at least near the top.

If it's really about safety and NOT money, as I believe it is here in this city and have shared on this blog and with Broward Commissioners Gunzburger and Sharief, wouldn't you put the tools you have where they would do the most good?
And as I have written here many times in the past with photographs showing the reality of the situation, wouldn't you make sure that the red-light warning sign was actually very visible to drivers instead of largely hidden by trees and obscured by other signs?
Yes, if your aim was safety and not revenue.

Considering the millions of tax dollars going to the HB Police Dept. every year, and not so wisely, either, just like in other cities, residents and drivers should know that there are certain roads here during the day where their odds of seeing a real live cop -and not a decoy police car- are pretty good, so they can have a degree of confidence of safety as well as know where the nearest cop is located in case of some emergency.

Unfortunately, too many HB cops are desk cops who never seem to leave the immediate Police HQ and City Hall area during their day shift, a fact that is obvious to anyone looking at the parking lot, where there are so many police cars that never ever move for months on end. Just like the Code Compliance vehice in front of City Hall.

We also need a new police chief who will strike the proper balance and take the long-term approach by enacting new rules strictly regulating the number of hours per week and month that HB cops can do off-duty work.
HB taxpayers are already paying far too much in salaries and benefits -average of about $140,000 a year per officer- to continually have grousing, sleepy, and un-focused cops showing-up on the scene when contacted.

Sleepy cops are a danger to themselves and the community and around here, as most of us know from personal experience, they also tend to be angry and resentful cops, something we already have entirely TOO MANY of!

Per the above comments about the HB Police Dept., consider the following anonymous comments by HB cops at
http://forums.leoaffairs.com/viewtopic.php?f=409&t=98243&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=45
and look up http://forums.leoaffairs.com/search.php and search for "Hallandale"
http://forums.leoaffairs.com/viewtopic.php?f=409&t=98243&p=671414&hilit=Hallandale+Beach#p671414

More to come...
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www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/fl-hallandale-city-manager-finalists-20120322,0,2317946.story

Orlando Sentinel
Hallandale Beach narrows field of city manager candidates
By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel
5:09 PM EDT, March 22, 2012

HALLANDALE BEACH
In their search for a new city manager, commissioners on Wednesday narrowed a field of nine candidates down to four.

They'll make their final pick April 2.

More than 70 applicants applied to replace retiring City Manager Mark Antonio. That pool was initially whittled down to nine finalists, which city commissioners reduced further on Wednesday.

The four candidates vying to be Hallandale Beach's next top executive are:

• Corey Alston, South Bay's city manager;

• Renee C. Crichton, Miami Gardens' deputy city manager;

• Alvin B. Jackson Jr., Hallandale Beach's current Community Redevelopment Agency's director;

• Susan A. Stanton, an accountant in Fort Lauderdale's Housing and Community Development Division.

The finalists will tour the city and meet city staff and department heads on March 30. They will also meet the public at a reception at the city's Cultural Community Center, 410 SE Third St.

Beginning at 8:30 a.m. March 31, the candidates will interview one-on-one with commissioners, followed by a 1:30 p.m. group interview in the commission chambers.

The final selection could be made then or at a 6 p.m. April 2 commission meeting.

Antonio, 55, is set to retire June 29 after 25 years with the city. He earned $165,000 a year.

Upon retirement, Antonio says he is looking forward to spending time with his wife and family, traveling and getting into community volunteer work.

Assistant City Manager Antonio assumed the top job after former City Manager Mike Good was fired in June 2010 for chronic absenteeism, an uncommunicative work style and questionable contracts.

The city is now grappling with the results of a recent audit of its Community Redevelopment Agency that found "general disorganization of the city's files and records," including incomplete land acquisition and commercial loan files.

City officials say they have updated policies and rectified problems "to ensure that the mishandling of paperwork doesn't happen again."

Friday, September 2, 2011

Speaking of diversity, will 2012 mark the end of the All-White Hollywood City Commission? And the introduction of more common sense ideas?

Speaking of diversity, will 2012 mark the end of the All-White Hollywood City Commission? And the introduction of some more common sense ideas?

In a city that proudly wears its sometimes competing intentions and aspirations of sophisticated, urban liberal AND upwardly middle-class family-friendly 'beachy' in some pretty obvious ways, whether thru lip service or actual votes for govt. programs borne by all city taxpayers, there's always lots of talk about diversity in and around Hollywood City Hall.
(Personally, I'm a bigger fan of diversity of well-informed, fact-based opinions, but that's just me.)

What there actually HASN'T been, though, since I returned to South Florida from the Washington, D.C. area in late 2003, is any actual diversity on the dais of the City Commission of Broward's fourth-largest city.

Though it has taken some time -longer than I expected- some informed residents of S.E. Broward County that I've spoken to this year are beginning to wonder if 2012 might finally be the end of the All-White Hollywood City Commission.
Wondering if some new faces and new ideas might do wonders to shake things up there, and get the City Commission more tethered to city resident's everyday reality, financial and otherwise, and a lot less worried about the creative pretensions of some.

I'll have more to say about this topic soon, when I discuss what's going on with Hollywood's September 13th referendum that aims to close a $38 million budget gap by giving Hollywood voters the chance to clip the pension wings of the city's Police and Fire Dept. members, and bring them more into line with what is financially reasonable for Hollywood beleaguered taxpayers, some of whom have chosen to leave rather than stay, due to either taxes, schools or crime.

Be sure to take a look at the Balance Sheet Blog if you haven't in the past month to see their take on Hollywood's financial problems. Reporters and columnists read it, why not you?

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hollywood's Wi-Fi promise goes unfulfilled
By Carli Teproff, The Miami Herald
7:37 PM EDT, August 28, 2011

HOLLYWOOD

More than three years ago, the city borrowed $16 million to pay for a wireless communications platform that would give residents free computer network service, as well as automate the water-meter reader system and solar-powered parking meters.

But the system, meant to improve residents' quality of life, isn't completely functional.

"It is definitely not working the way we hoped it would," said Hollywood spokeswoman Raelin Storey.

The idea was simple: install transmitters throughout the city that would allow water meters to be read and sent digitally, and parking meters that would accept credit cards. There would also be a secure network for police, fire and code enforcement officers.

The bonus was a wireless network for residents.

But Johnson Controls, the company hired to handle the project, ran into problems installing enough access points — similar to antennas — throughout the city that would allow the system to work.

Although money for this project didn't come out of the city's general fund, but through separate enterprise funds, residents say the city's failed attempt at creating citywide wireless Internet is yet another example of why the city faces a $38 million budget deficit.

"This is typical Hollywood," said longtime resident Joe Joynt. "We get promised something and we don't get it. They just spend money for no reason."

Some recent projects that have faced criticism include:

• The water tower: Earlier this year the city completed a $680,000 restoration project on the city's water tower. Residents criticized the commission for adding a clock and temperature reader which frequently don't work properly.

• New police cars: Last year, the commission approved spending $655,000 for 26 new police cars. For two months, the vehicles sat in Hollywood's parking lot while the city looked for ways to pay for them.

• New safety complex: In February, the commission approved a $7.9 million safety complex on the beach to serve the new Margaritaville Beach Resort. In July, just months after declaring a fiscal emergency, the commission considered stopping the project, but decided to continue after learning $1.6 million had already been spent on the project.

Storey said Hollywood's deal to bring Wi-Fi to the city has nothing to do with the budget gap.

"Even if we had not done this, our general fund would not be in any better shape than it is currently," she said.

Indeed, none of the projects facing criticism were paid for by money out of the general fund: the water tower was paid for out of the city's Water and Sewer Utility enterprise fund; the police cars came from the central services fund; and the safety complex is being paid for by money from the general obligation bond and the Community Redevelopment Agency.

Storey said Hollywood's budget problems are no different from other cities' across the state and the nation. She blames the recession, the investment market crash and rising pension costs for the budget hole.

"That is something we never anticipated," she said.

When the city signed the contract with Johnson Controls in 2008, the agreement called for the city to see $23 million in savings over 15 years — otherwise the company would make up the difference.

Hollywood took out a $16 million loan in 2008, figuring the money it saved each year by having the system would cover the loan payments.

"At the time it sounded like a great deal for the city," said Commissioner Heidi O'Sheehan. "You never go into a contract hoping it's going to fail."

But Johnson Controls was met with problems. The automated meter reader system would not work because the digital equipment would not transmit through concrete caps. The company then placed the caps with plastic ones, but when it rained the caps floated away, Storey said.

After months of trying different caps and methods, the automated reader system should be online any day, said Storey.

Storey said the parking meters are also working, but with cellular modems instead of wireless, which is being paid for by Johnson Controls.

The Wi-Fi portion, however, will likely not work, said Storey.

There aren't enough public places for access points to be installed without having interference from buildings and other signals, she said.

Johnson Controls could not be reached to comment for this story.

Storey said the city is negotiating with Johnson Controls to get back money for the parts of the system that aren't working.

"If this would have worked as we hoped, we would have been considered ahead of the curve," said Commissioner Beam Furr.

Hollywood is not alone in trying to offer free citywide Internet.

Miami Beach embarked on the journey in 2005, and nearly four years and $5 million later it was complete.

There were some challenges along the way, acknowledged the city's Chief Financial Officer Patricia Walker in an email. But now, Walker said, the system is very successful, with more than 158,000 subscribed users.

Hollywood residents wish that the city came through with its promise.

"This is just a grand fiasco," said Charlotte Greenbarg. "It's sad. Really, really sad."

But Storey said residents have to understand the city is getting its money back and the point of the project was to have an automated meter reader system, which will work.

"It is disappointing to say the least that it hasn't worked," Storey said. "But people shouldn't be left with the impression that $16 million is down the drain."
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While you were away this summer...


South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Developer sues Hollywood for $1.3 million after not repaying $3.5 million loan
By Megan O'Matz, Sun Sentinel
1:19 PM EDT, August 13, 2011

HOLLYWOOD

A developer who borrowed $3.5 million from the city and never repaid it is suing the town for $1.35 million — a move seen by many as unspeakably outrageous.

"There are a lot of people out there that have a lot of chutzpah," said City Commissioner Fran Russo, who vowed not to give developer Gary Posner "5 cents."

Technically, the suit, like most of its kind, is about contract language and legal definitions.

But the simple filing of it — asking for another million-plus after what the city views as defaulting on a taxpayer-financed loan for three times that — raises questions for many.

"Galling," is how Terry Cantrell, president of the Hollywood Lakes Civic Association, describes the suit.

The city and Posner disagree on whether he still owes $3.5 million. The city says he does. He says the land was sold to another firm that was supposed to repay the loan, but didn't.

Hollywood, in an effort to stimulate development, released that company from the debt. But it contends Posner is still on the hook.

Louis Arslanian, the attorney who has filed the suit on behalf of Posner, recognizes the public relations problem the claim for $1.35 million presents. "It kind of makes me look like a really bad guy," he said. "I am so not a bad guy."

The lawsuit, against the city's Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), is expected to be tried soon before a Broward County jury.

The agreed-to facts are these: Between 2004 and 2005, Posner's company, HART District Ltd., borrowed $3.5 million from the CRA to purchase and improve a drab corner, including the landmark Bread Building, at South 17th Avenue and Harrison Street, off Young Circle.

The plan called for a performing arts theater, condominiums, shops, offices and a school.

None of that materialized except for the charter school, the Hollywood Academy of Arts and Science. It takes up four floors of the Home Tower, a previously existing office and residential high-rise.

In addition to the $3.5 million loan, the redevelopment authority gave HART District more than $1.6 million in "incentives" through 2008 to start and run the school.

The payments were required under the city's agreement with the company.

But in 2009, after the HART District defaulted on its loan payments and the redevelopment project collapsed, the city refused to pay an additional $270,000 a year for the charter school through 2013.

The Community Redevelopment Agency contended Posner's company breached the contract by failing to meet school enrollment targets and not providing audited statements of how it spent the incentive money.

HART District sued. It wants the city to pay $270,000 a year for the five years from 2009 through 2013, or $1.35 million in all.

The city agency countersued.

"We are asking to have the $3.5 million repaid. That is our suit," Hollywood City Attorney Jeffrey Sheffel said.

Posner's camp is arguing that he is no longer duty-bound to pay back the $3.5 million. "The HART District doesn't owe any money anymore," Arslanian said.

That's because in 2007, HART District sold the development project to WSG Development Co. of Miami Beach, which under terms of the purchase agreed to assume the debt for the $3.5 million CRA loan.

But in August 2008, the CRA released WSG from the obligation.

In return, the developer agreed to downsize the proposed residential tower, from 420 units to 390, to placate residents upset over its scale.

City officials say HART District, however, is still on the hook for the money it borrowed from the city. "HART was never released from the debt," Sheffel said.

HART District disputes that, arguing in court papers that the "CRA has completely eliminated the debt."

Today, with $3.5 million in taxpayer funds still unreimbursed, Hollywood's municipal finances are in disarray and the HART District parcel, known as Block 58, is an eyesore. Because of the economic downturn, WSG hasn't built anything. Last year, the company's lender foreclosed on the property.

Construction barriers block off a stretch of sidewalk. The Bread Building is locked tight, with vacant storefronts. A hulking and largely unused parking garage sits next to a vast lot with sparse patches of grass.

Said Cantrell: "That block is representative of the city's failed efforts at downtown redevelopment."

Meanwhile, Posner's suit is pending. It was on Judge Mily Rodriguez-Powell's calendar for trial in early June but was postponed and must be rescheduled.

Russo, the city commissioner, said she can't fathom how Posner can go forward with the suit. "He owes us money that he doesn't want to pay, and he wants us to give him money for that charter school. … just hope he doesn't win."

If Posner does win, Arslanian said, the lawsuit proceeds may be used to pay a $476,400 judgment against HART District in a separate, drawn-out legal saga involving the Home Tower building that houses the charter school.

"Another whole mess of a situation," Arslanian said.
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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hollywood gives initial OK to putting pension reform on ballot
Police and firefighters protest agreement
By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel
8:11 PM EDT, July 18, 2011

Hollywood City commissioners tentatively agreed Monday to let voters decide whether to reform employee pensions as part of an effort to close a $38 million budget gap.

After the unanimous votes — one pertaining to each of the city's three unions — a deep, loud chorus of "Shame, shame, shame on you," rang out from police and firefighters who had packed into City Hall.

Vice Mayor Patricia Assef said the city's state of financial urgency has forced some difficult and unpopular decisions. "Nobody wants to do this, but it's either this or how are we going to pay them?" she said.

The proposed pension changes are specific to each union, but each would increase retirement ages, eliminate cost of living adjustments, and alter the formulas that calculate pensions. For example, under the current plan, a general employee hired in 1996 who retires in 2021 would have received an annual pension of $45,000. Under the new plan, that employee would get $34,500 a year.

The reform would also eliminate the DROP plan — or Deferred Retirement Option Program — which allows long-time employees to defer retirement for a set period and "bank" retirement benefits they can later take in a lump sum.

"This is not reform of the pension, this is gutting of the pension," said Michael Braverman, attorney for the Police Benevolent Association.

Because the unions have not agreed to the changes, the city by law must put it to voters. So on Monday commissioners gave initial approval to spending $400,000 to put the item on a Sept. 13 ballot. If voters approve, that would allow the changes to go into effect Oct. 1, the beginning of the new budget year.

A final commission vote on the matter has not yet been scheduled in the hopes that the sides can come to an agreement.

Matthew Lalla, director of the Finance and Information Technology Department, projected pension reform would save the city $8.5 million. "That's a pretty substantial piece and we're definitely counting on it," he said.

Earlier this summer, commissioners laid off 16 city employees, slashed pay for most city workers by 7.5 percent, and cut salaries for police and firefighters by 12.5 percent.

If pension reform is not achieved, said interim City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, the city would have to cut employee pay by an additional 25 percent, lay off 150 employees, cut and privatize services.

Ralph Dierks, of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said he believes commissioners are using financial urgency as a tool.

"I think the city commission and management is being driven by the ability to use financial urgency to make gains against the employees that they would never achieve through negotiations," he said.

Dan Martinez, president of Hollywood Professional Firefighters Local 13-75, said, "It needs to be negotiated amicably. It shouldn't be thrust into the public's hands to make this decision."

Painful as it is, mending the city's budget is critical, Mayor Peter Bober said.

"We're dealing with people's livelihoods, so I totally understand the anger and frustration,'' Bober said. "But I have to close a $38 million gap and there is no easy or pleasant way to do it."

Aug. 12 is the latest commissioners could cancel the election and not have to pay the total $400,000, though there would still be some costs for sending out absentee ballots, posting legal notices and training poll workers, said Mary Cooney, director of public services at the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office.

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hollywood delays vote on erasing Holocaust education group's $1.7 million debt
By Megan O'Matz, Sun Sentinel
July 18, 2011

HOLLYWOOD — — Faced with a chorus of disapproval from residents, city commissioners couldn't bring themselves Monday to agree to write off a $1.7 million debt owed by a group that hopes to open a Holocaust museum in the heart of downtown.

Instead, they postponed the issue until October to give staff time to find a more palatable way to help the Holocaust Education & Documentation Center, which has collected the oral histories of 2,400 survivors of Nazi genocide.

"At least they didn't deny [assistance]," said Aron Halpern, a Holocaust survivor who lives in Hollywood.

The center bought its building at 2031 Harrison Street from the city's Community Redevelopment Agency in 2004, and was lent the purchase price by the CRA, but has yet to repay a cent. Now, it's asking the city to be released from its obligation, saying unexpectedly costly renovations have hampered its plans to open a gallery on the first floor that would draw tourists and much needed business to the area.

It's a tough time for such a request. The city is facing a $38 million shortfall in its operating budget in 2012. City redevelopment money comes from a different pot, but the distinction was lost on residents and business people who jammed the meeting room Monday.

"To give away money in such dire times makes absolutely no sense," said resident Charlotte Greenbarg.

Commissioner Fran Russo said she could not support forgiving the obligation when "we have foreclosures by the minute in the city of Hollywood."

Commissioner Heidi O'Sheehan expressed the hope that the promised museum would open, but said she was disappointed in private meetings with the center's leaders that they were unwilling to pay back any amount, "not one penny."

Without the loan forgiveness, the center could be forced to sell the building and move elsewhere, warned attorney Jonathan Jaffe, who is assisting the center in its negotiations with the CRA.

In its lobbying efforts, the center turned to former mayor Mara Giulianti, now an unpaid board member for the Holocaust center. She interrupted a vacation in Maine last week to return to Hollywood to champion the project and has emailed officials and staff about it.

The prospect of Hollywood losing yet another asset — on downtrodden Harrison Street especially — did not sit well with Commissioner Beam Furr, who led the charge to delay the vote.

Hollywood, he said, needs "destination power" — more reasons for people to visit.
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Meanwhile, once upon a time, in 2005...

The Florida Masochist blog
Something fishy in Hollywood Florida?
July 10, 2005

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