Showing posts with label Charter Review Commission. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charter Review Commission. Show all posts

Friday, January 27, 2017

Saturday's Broward County Charter Review Commission meeting in Hollywood, 10 AM at the Anne Kolb Nature Center. Creation of a county-wide elected mayor among many other topics to be discussed at workshop.

Just found out about this Saturday morning Broward County Charter Review Commission meeting at the Anne Kolb Nature Center in Hollywood earlier this evening.
It will be held at 751 Sheridan Street at 10 AM tomorrow, and will last until 1 PM.




http://www.broward.org/commission/pages/sunshinemeetings.aspx
Saturday, January 28, 2017
10:00 AMAgency: Charter Review Commission, Purpose: Subcommittee Workshop Meeting, Committee: Governance Subcommittee, Location: Anne Kolb Nature Center - 751 Sheridan Street, Hollywood, FL 33019 The Governance Subcommittee will have a workshop meeting from 10:00AM - 1:00PM.

Despite not finding out about this until tonight, I'm going to try to my best to make this meeting, which is not surprising given my many past public -and critical- comments on some of these issues and the often quite inexplicable public votes and performance of the 2008 Broward CRC, which, counter-intuitively, voted AGAINST putting many important public policy issues on the November ballot for the voters of Broward to decide for themselves, one way or the other.

For me and most people I know and trust in Broward County, the most noteworthy of these issues was the creation of a county-wide elected Mayor, which I strongly supported then and support now, for many of the same reasons.
It seems clear to me that the past history and current reality of this county makes this position a requirement if Broward County is ever going to come anywhere close to reaching its true/full potential, as well as give the public of this county someone they can put their trust/faith in, but also hold personally accountable in a way that the county's current power structure does not allow or encourage.
With results that we can see everyday that are less-than-satisfactory for all concerned.

Many, if not most of you, also know that if such a position were to be created anytime in the near-future -whatever that is- I would very much be in favor of former Hollywood Mayor Peter Bober seriously considering a run for that particular office.

As I've stated previously in various forums, tweets and blog posts, as well as emails to some of you, I believe Peter Bober has precisely the right mix of personal and professional qualities, abilities and person-to-person skills that would make him not just a formidable candidate, but also someone who could help give this usually-fragmented and often-parochial county some much-needed unity of purpose, as well as Common Sense leadership and demands for public accountability of the county's bureaucracy.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

re 2012 Hallandale Beach Charter Questions: Vote NO on Questions 1-4 & 6, Vote YES on Question 5, to expand citizen's right to Repeal, Adopt and Expand Ordinances


Above, Hallandale Beach City Hall. Despite what the Broward Supervisor of Elections sign says, the actual Early Voting is taking place behind City Hall at the HB Cultural Center. If you are not the sort of person who has spent much time around HB City Hall before, the number-one thing you're likley to come away thinking is, "Why does such a relatively small city have so many vehicles?" It's even worse when you know the truth, and know how many of the cars are never actually used, which is why you see spider webs near the tires of so many. Then, once you leave, within about five minutes, you'll spot about 6-9 more HB cars on the road, each with one person. It's no way to run a city, that's for sure! October 24, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.  © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
re 2012 Hallandale Beach Charter Questions: Vote NO on Questions 1-4 & 6, Vote YES on Question 5, to expand citizen's right to Repeal, Adopt and Expand Ordinances





The questions are numbered on the city's website, but they are NOT numbered on Broward County's absentee ballot.
Yes, we're surrounded by geniuses!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

No longer a secret in Hallandale Beach: More details on Bill Julian's longstanding anti-democratic tendencies while HB City Commissioner - he wanted to require residency of 3 years in order to run for local office in HB!; The worst enemy of Bill Julian is a smart voter who pays attention and who possesses a good memory; @MayorCooper, @SandersHB, @AlexLewy

The worst enemy of former Hallandale Beach City Comm. William "Bill" Julian -and his illegally parked car above- is a smart voter who pays attention and who possesses a good memory. March 21, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

As if the years-and-years of former Hallandale Beach Commissioner William "Bill" Julian's habit of routinely parking in Handicapped/Handicapped Access/NO Parking spaces all over this small but dense city while in office wasn't bad enough, as he set a terrible example of someone successfully being able to use their perceived power as a shield to get and receive special treatment that regular residents of this city couldn't get and wouldn't expect -due to HBPD always looking the other wayor, his infamously trying to triple City Commission salaries over lunch at a City Commission meeting with no TV camera to record his selfish and delusional words and actions for posterity, having claimed in press accounts that he and the rest of the Commission deserved "executive" corporate salaries -for their part-time job- there's yet another particularly galling nugget about Julian's queer and anti-democratic notions of civics and a participatory democracy that far too few people in this community know about.
That is, until now.


Bill Julian's car in 2008 parked in the Handicapped access parking spot  at North Beach, where at at the time there was only one Handicapped spot and one Handicapped Acess spot on surfaced parking, with the fine for illegally using the latter being the same as for the former. March 21, 2008 photos by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
Another day at the beach, another day of entitlement! 
Bill Julian: Red white and blue -and illegally parked! Yet again! 
Yes, Julian really does think he's entitled!
It's a very telling and troubling anecdote that says much about Julian and his strange ideas, notions and alternative universe, a world he probably much prefers to reality, since there, at least, his consistently bad judgment and bad votes on public policy that hurt both individuals and the city collectively, never require him to sincerely apologize or express remorse for all the lasting damage he has done to this community, where he had power far beyond he what he could competently handle, just like Comm. Anthony A. Sanders does now in the opinion of so many of the most-informed people in this city.

quickly referenced this anecdote on Wednesday night, speaking next-to-last among a dozen or so Hallandale Beach citizens who were overwhelmingly against the original motion of Comm. Alexander Lewy, Agenda Item 11 B
B.    AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING CHAPTER 12 "ELECTIONS," SECTION 12-04.  QUALIFICATION OF CANDIDATES TO ESTABLISH CRITERIA AND PROCEDURE FOR CALLING A SPECIAL ELECTION BASED ON THE IRREVOCABLE RESIGNATION OF A COMMISSIONER AND SETTING OF QUALIFYING PERIOD IN CONFORMANCE WITH STATE LAW; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A CODIFICATION CLAUSE; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE; PROVIDING A REPEAL CLAUSE; PROVIDING A CONFLICT CLAUSE; AND FOR ALL OTHER PURPOSES. (FIRST READING) (STAFF: CITY ATTORNEY) (SEE BACKUP) (Staff ReportSupporting Docs)

This one issue brought close to a full room to the City Commission Chambers on the same night as the NFL's 2012 opening-night kickoff, with the Cowboys at Giants game on national TV while we were busy observing our local government chasing its tail and finding out -yet again- that nobody in the city really knows what the city's charter says or means.

After spending most of my three minutes reminding everyone in the room and watching on TV about some true and inconvenient facts surrounding aspects of the HB Charter Review Commission -and yet more broken promises and poor to non-existent oversight by former City Manager Mark. A. Antonio, which I will detail here in a separate post soon- and refuting with facts the predictably disingenuous and dishonest remarks uttered earlier by a few people, including Andrew Markoff, who even on a group he sought to join proved to be an outlier once again, I hurriedly spent the last twenty-five seconds of my three minutes reminding everyone once again of how truly lacking in character and judgment former HB Commissioner and CRC member Julian, was and remains.

Julian, who's running again in November after coming in a well-deserved third in a two-seat race in November of 2010, has seemingly never learned from any of his experiences and dozens and dozens of egregious mistakes while in office for ten years, and his support of Lewy's efforts, detailed by Lewy himself in an email he circulated last week, is entirely in keeping with that dismal track record Julian earned, and which this town bears the scars for.
That dubious track record of ten years is why he came in third, after all -people remembered what he said and did.

Here's the rest of the story that I couldn't fit in and mention on Wednesday night... which I'd originally planned on posting here on Tuesday but was unable to.

Unfortunately for both common sense and the wallets and purses of HB's residents, taxpayers and business owners, trying and succeeding in in doing something both ridiculous and anti-democratic has a long and undistinguished history at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

After all, who'll ever forget former Comm. Bill Julian famously musing from his seat on the Commission dais on whether he should bring forth his idea for an ordinance of a residency requirement that would mandate that all candidates for city office in Hallandale Beach have lived in this city for THREE YEARS before being eligible to run.
Really.

Showing the sort of very bad judgment that was long Julian's trademark in office for ten long years, Julian had convinced himself that this ordinance of his would ensure that only well-qualified candidates ran for local office here, as if simply living here for a finite period of time and breathing our air made residents either well-informed or articulate about the public policy issues confronting this city.

Showing his well-known parochialism, it never even seemed to have occurred to Julian that
it wasn't HIS job or the City Commission's to decide for all of us who got to run for local office
in this town.

It's called a democracy for a reason, and as long as someone met the reasonable eligibility requirements, that decision to run was solely up to any potential qualified resident, NOT to incumbent politicians who had a vested self-interest in discouraging people from running against them.
Especially well-informed citizens who know the issues better than the Commissioners, their worst fear. 

Julian's idea was so preposterous and so patently unconstitutional, that even bump-on-the-log
then-City Attorney David Jove found himself forced to explain some very basic concepts of 
democracy to Julian on why such a thing would never fly, due to its unreasonable and capricious nature.

It would also subject the city to a barrage of lawsuits the city could never hope to win,
since the ordinance was so clearly unconstitutional on its face.

You'd think that an elected official living in the 21st Century in a modern American city would
have the good sense to implicitly understand this, but once again, Comm. Julian did NOT.

He had to have it explained to him before he pulled his idea off the table.

You won't be surprised to hear that Julian, now a Commission candidate in November, fully
supports what Lewy, Cooper and Sanders were attempting to do to Hallandale Beach's citizen voters at Wednesday night's City Commission meeting.

Yes, it's classic Julian being Julian, always with the bad judgment, in or out of office.

Julian the outlier, always the person who fails to pay attention, fails to grasp the obvious and who consistently put his foot in his mouth and embarrass the citizens of this community.

The worst enemy of Bill Julian is a smart voter who pays attention and who possesses a good memory. 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Csaba Kulin on the reality of Hallandale Beach's population & demographics, and the anti-democratic Charter proposal for 'districting' that insults common sense and mathematics


Csaba Kulin on the reality of Hallandale Beach's population & demographics, and the anti-democratic Charter proposal for 'districting' that insults common sense and mathematics 

Below are two emails from my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach and Broward civic activist Csaba Kulin from the past month. They concern an upcoming Charter issue appearing on the ballot in Hallandale Beach that most well-informed people in this community paying attention quite rightly believe has the potential to make this city's elections even less-democratic and meaningful than they are now. 

And which could actually  decrease overall voter participation while also greatly helping incumbent city commissioners stay in power. 

WTF?

Now you must be asking yourself, who'd knowingly be in favor of doing all these things?
Yes, you already know the answer to that: Mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew of Commissioners Dotty Ross, Anthony A. Sanders and Alexander Lewy.

That it fails the logic and reason test is not surprising, given this crew's past track record,  penchant for mischief and circus antics, but what's surprising is that given the large number of ways that this city's resident taxpayers could actually get genuinely better and more meaningful representation for the entire city on the City Commission, such a ridiculously asinine proposal would be the one approved for the ballot by the Commission.
Surprise!

This while others were not even considered, despite how much more logical, positive and persuasive they are for getting increased citizen/voter participation at HB City Hall and come election time, which this year is November 6th.

Because there is so very much to say on this subject -which, as usual, has been completely ignored by the taxpayer-financed faux newspaper, South Florida Sun-Times- later tonight after the Oscars telecast day or tomorrow, I'll be posting something with my own thoughts on what Csaba has written.

If you didn't see my blog post on Wednesday on what measures Mayor Joy Cooper is considering in order to get her own way on this Charter matter -despite how self-serving that effort truly is- it's well worth reading and can be seen here:
News re Ben Gamla Charter; Csaba Kulin informs us how Mayor Joy Cooper seeks to divide the community again and make-up new rules for her own benefit

In that future post I'll also take the opportunity to shine some long overdue light and scrutiny on some particularly galling and condescending remarks made by Comm. Alexander Lewy in a recent email of his, an email that posits a parallel-yet-opposite universe.
Unfortunately, Lewy's condescending email completely ignores the sad and unfortunate reality of this universe, where perpetually-oblivious Comm. Anthony A. Sanders has been a DISASTER in office for all Hallandale Beach residents, a disaster that will mark four years come August.

Trust me, no matter how many times you read what Comm. Lewy says, it never ever makes sense.
And if you're someone who actually endeavors to pay attention to what happens in this ocean-side community in SE Broward County, and who actually knows the truth about what goes on here, Lewy's Twilight Zone-like remarks will only make your head hurt!

-----
January 31, 2012
RE: Districting in Hallandale Beach.
Honorable Mayor, Vice Mayor and Members of the City Commission,
During January 17, 2012 City Commission Meeting and several meetings of the Charter Review Committee (CRC) a considerable amount of time was spent on districting versus not districting and if districting, what kind of districting should it be. I believe you have at this time four options in front of you.
1.    The CRC recommendation of a seven member commission, mayor, three at large commissioners and three commissioners elected by districts.
2.    The Mayor suggested that the mayor should be elected at large and one commissioner elected from each of the four districts.
3.    Commissioner Lewy suggested that each chair be given a number and candidates compete for a particular seat number.
4.    Do nothing and stay with the current system.
I believe all versions have the intentions to increase minority representation while remaining fair to the rest of our citizens. The concerns I have is, very little proof, examples and evidence was presented by knowledgeable sources of the unintended consequences of any of the options. Do we increase or decrease minority representation? Do we disenfranchise any other part of the City?  
The CRC did ask the City for the 2010 Census data to be able to evaluate population distribution by Census Tracts. The City did not provide those numbers to the CRC so I had researched it myself. I have attached the data in a spreadsheet for anyone to analyze.  In case you do not have a spread sheet on your computer, I included the data at the bottom of my e-mail.
Please analyze the numbers, keeping in mind that each district must have approximately the same number of residents in it. How you could draw the districts you propose?
I have tried several different combinations of census tracts and I did not find a real good solution. Maybe you will be more successful than I was.
This is an extremely important decision you have to make. It is not something you can reverse on a “three to two vote”. Based on the lack of solid information and the unknown unintended consequences, I would go with the “devil I know versus the devil I do not know”. In other words, I would stay with the current system we had for a long, long time.
I hope this data will help in your deliberations.               
         
Sincerely,
Csaba Kulin

Tract
Block
Census
Total
GOLDEN ISLES AND THE BEACH
Group
Block
Residents

SE
Golden Isles
1001
3
1
2,531
6.82%
SE
A1A West side, South End
1001
4
2
2,045
5.51%
SE
A1A East Side
1001
5
2,900
7.81%
SE
A1A West Side, North End
1001
1
4
1,053
2.84%
SE
East of US 1 and South of Hallandale Beach Blvd
1003
3
2
1,017
2.74%
9,546
25.72%
NORTH EAST SECTION
NE
East of Parkview, West of Intercoastal
1001
1
1
2,374
6.40%
NE
East of Three Island Blvd, South of Moffet, West of Parkview
1001
2
2
2,117
5.70%
NE
East of Diplomat Parkway, West of Three Island Blvd
1001
1
4
1,287
3.47%
NE
East of NE 14th Ave, West of Diplomat Parkway, North of HB Blvd
1001
1
3
1,214
3.27%
NE
East of NE 8th Ave, South of Moffit, West of NE 14th, North of 3rd
1002
2
1
2,419
6.52%
NE
East of US 1, West of 8th Ave, South Moffit, North of 3rd Street
1002
2
2
791
2.13%
NE
East of US 1 and North of HB Blvd and West of NE 14th Ave
1002
2
2
1,776
4.79%
NE
North of HB Blvd, West of US 1, East of Dixie
1002
1
1
1,218
3.28%
13,196
35.56%
SOUTH WEST SECTION
SW
South of HB Blvd, West of Dixie, East of NW 6th Ave
1003
1
2,212
5.96%
SW
South of HB Blvd, West of US 1, East of NW 6th Ave
1003
2
1,091
2.94%
SW
South of HB Blnd, East of SW 10th Ave, West of SE 6th Ave
1003
3
1,579
4.25%
SW
West of US 1, East of Dixie, South of SW 10 Street
1003
4
1,171
3.16%
SW
East of US 95, West of  SW 10th Ave, South of HB Blvd
1005
2
2
2,785
7.50%
8,838
23.81%
NORTH WEST SECTION
NW
South of Penbrook, West of Dixie
1004
1
1,006
2.71%
NW
North of HB Blvd, West of Dixie, South of NW 10
1004
2
1,138
3.07%
NW
East of US 95, North of HB Blvd, West of NW 8th Ave
1004
3
2,099
5.66%
NW
South of Penbroke, East of NW 8th Ave,
1004
4
924
2.49%
5,167
13.92%
36,747
99.01%


-----

  

February 6, 2012
RE: Districting in Hallandale Beach.

Dear Friends and Residents of Hallandale Beach;

Every eight years the Hallandale Beach City Commission appoints a citizen-led Charter Review Commission (CRC) to examine the City Charter (their Constitution) and recommend changes to the Charter. The City Commission reviews the recommended changes and proposals they agree with are then placed on the ballot to be voted upon by citizens during a regularly-scheduled election or special referendum. The ones the City Commission does not agree with are ignored. 
Residents have the option of putting any Charter changes that are NOT approved by the City Commission on the ballot by what is now a very cumbersome petition process, one that seems designed to make it very difficult to go around the City Commission.

The CRC under former HB Commissioner Tony Musto’s excellent leadership, recommended five (5) specific issues to be placed on the ballot for consideration, as well as a number of recommendations to consider possibly placing on the ballot. All the recommendations are important, but one stands out in my opinion, as the most important change in the way our City is governed. 

That is the recommendation that we elect our City Commissioners by district. 
The impetus behind districting, according to its supporters, is to institutionalize a City Commission seat to the Northwest quadrant of our City. 
It's a noble idea, but the US Census Bureau’s 2010 data indicates that the NW area currently has only 5,167 residents, less than 14% of the city's total population.
Since the current system consists of four (4) City Commissioners elected “At-Large,” without increasing the number of City Commission seats, each seat would legally need to have 25% of the population within it.

In my opinion, the only way that the NW could have a distinct district of their own would be thru a Charter Question being placed on the ballot asking city voters to approve an increase in number from 4 to eight (8) City Commissioners, with the office of Mayor continuing to be voted upon by the entire city.

I have posted the 2010 Census figures at the bottom of this letter for your examination and to give you the evidence you need to have an informed opinion.   
In the interest of disclosure, these proposals would NOT affect the 2012 election and therefore my own candidacy, since if approved, it would not take effect until 2014.

The CRC recommended one method, Mayor Cooper yet another method of districting, but it looks as Comm. Alexander Lewy’s unsound method is moving forward. 
Comm. Lewy suggests that the City number each “seat” on the commission, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Every two years we would have seat 1 and 2, or 3 and 4 up for election. 
As I understand it, there would be no residency requirement to run for either “seat” and every registered voter may vote for a candidate for each seat.

As I see it, Comm. Lewy’s poorly-conceived idea has some major flaws in it. 
Currently, in each election cycle, the top two candidates are elected to a four year term by the number of votes cast for them. The third, fourth and fifth-place finishers go home to try harder at the next election.

In order to better illustrate the fundamental unfairness of what Comm. Lewy is proposing, let me give you a hypothetical situation. 
You have four candidates, two for seat “1” and two for seat “2”. 
Candidate “A” gets 4,000 votes and Candidate “B” gets 3,800 votes for seat “1”. 
Candidate “C” gets 2,500 votes and Candidate “D” gets 2,000 votes for seat “2”. 

Under Comm. Lewy's anti-democratic proposal, Candidate “A” wins with 4,000 votes, of course, yet somehow  Candidate “C” wins with 2,500 votes but Candidate “B” loses with 3,800 votes. 
In my opinion that's totally unfair to Candidate “B” and I think you can see why. 
As has always been the case with an election for two seats, the two top vote-getters should be the actual "winners" in an election in Hallandale Beach.

Comm. Lewy’s very bad idea would literally seek to “divide and conquer” the people of this city.
As always, the best way to make sure that any area of the city is well-represented is to have the highest number of quality candidates running, NOT changing the rules and allowing candidates the ability to to choose an area of the city to represent without them being legally required to live there to qualify.

I strongly believe that every City Commissioner, regardless of where they personally live, must represent, work for and be a strong advocate for the ENTIRE CITY, and not just one part of it to be elected or re-elected. Any candidate for the City Commissioner MUST be acceptable to all areas of the City or he/she will not be elected.

Districting is a major deviation from years of practice in our City. While no one claims that the current system is perfect, the evidence seems clear that there are far too many unknown consequences to the districting idea proposed by Comm. Lewy, and all of them are negative towards actually improving this city.

That is why, given the poor choices we have been given to vote on by the HB City Commission, I recommend that we “go with devil we know, versus the devil we don't know”, and leave well enough alone.
I will vote an emphatic NO on this proposal.

Sincerely,

Csaba Kulin 


           
  Tract
Residents/ Percentage  
                         
GOLDEN ISLES AND THE BEACH
SE
Golden Isles
1001-3-1
2,531
6.82%
SE
A1A West side, South End
1001-4-2
2,045
5.51%
SE
A1A East Side
1001-5
2,900
7.81%
SE
A1A West Side, North End
1001-1-4
1,053
2.84%
SE
East of US 1 and South of Hallandale Beach Blvd
1003-3-2
1,017
2.74%
9,546
25.72%
NORTH EAST SECTION
NE
East of Parkview, West of Intercoastal
1001-1-1
2,374
6.40%
NE
East of Three Island Blvd, South of Moffet, West of Parkview
1001-2-2
2,117
5.70%
NE
East of Diplomat Parkway, West of Three Island Blvd
1001-1-4
1,287
3.47%
NE
East of NE 14th Ave, West of Diplomat Parkway, North of HB Blvd
1001-1-3
1,214
3.27%
NE
East of NE 8th Ave, South of Moffit, West of NE 14th, North of 3rd
1002-2-1
2,419
6.52%
NE
East of US 1, West of 8th Ave, South Moffit, North of 3rd Street
1002-2-2
791
2.13%
NE
East of US 1 and North of HB Blvd and West of NE 14th Ave
1002-2-2
1,776
4.79%
NE
North of HB Blvd, West of US 1, East of Dixie
1002-1-1
1,218
3.28%
13,196
35.56%
SOUTH WEST SECTION
SW
South of HB Blvd, West of Dixie, East of NW 6th Ave
1003-1
2,212
5.96%
SW
South of HB Blvd, West of US 1, East of NW 6th Ave
1003-2
1,091
2.94%
SW
South of HB Blnd, East of SW 10th Ave, West of SE 6th Ave
1003-3
1,579
4.25%
SW
West of US 1, East of Dixie, South of SW 10 Street
1003-4
1,171
3.16%
SW
East of US 95, West of  SW 10th Ave, South of HB Blvd
1005-2-2
2,785
7.50%
8,838
23.81%
NORTH WEST SECTION
NW
South of Penbrook, West of Dixie
1004-1
1,006
2.71%
NW
North of HB Blvd, West of Dixie, South of NW 10
1004-2
1,138
3.07%
NW
East of US 95, North of HB Blvd, West of NW 8th Ave
1004-3
2,099
5.66%
NW
South of Penbroke, East of NW 8th Ave,
1004-4
924
2.49%
5,167
13.92%
36,747
99.01%