Csaba Kulin on City of Hallandale Beach's upside-down understanding of FL's Sunshine Laws, their pattern of intimidation re Public Records Requests; the city's abject failure in providing timely info on CRC meetings for the ENTIRETY of its existence -6 months

Csaba Kulin on City of Hallandale Beach's upside-down understanding of FL's Sunshine Laws, their pattern of intimidation re Public Records Requests; the city's abject failure to provide timely info on CRC  meetings for the ENTIRETY of its existence -6 months!

Below is an especially useful email from my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach and Broward activist Csaba Kulin which he first wrote back on September 2, 2011. I had meant to post it here shortly after he originally wrote it, but having failed to do that, in looking at it again, I think it provides a very good window for many of you to better understand the daily frustration felt by Hallandale Beach residents with respect to longstanding problems in how this city is managed -mismanaged- in so many, many areas.

Even ones that you would think would NOT be controversial.

This despite the claims that the city is ship-shape by those running things at HB City Hall, whether elected officials or highly-paid city employees, like some of the Assistant City Managers, who make $200k in salary and benefits, even while taxpayers wonder what they're actually doing to earn it, given that the city remains a morass, with low morale to match.
Yes, Assistant City Managers pulling THAT in a city of under 40,000 residents.

Csaba's email concerns how this small ocean-side city REALLY operates, and frequently attempts to use all manner of  obfuscation and intimidation to prevent citizens and other interested parties from gaining access to information they are legally entitled to, including, as I've demonstrated here a few times in the past thru personal experience, via email responses with City Hall with inflated and absurd costs for actually providing the PUBLIC INFORMATION, in an attempt to dissuade residents from actually filing.

Csaba's email is to the then-extant Hallandale Beach Charter Review Committee, whose meetings he either attended or watched religiously, gets to his troubling concerns with  the process the City of Hallandale Beach uses to dodge legitimate public discussion and force citizens and other interested parties to file Public Records Requests as a means to silence critics, esp. at public meetings, literally trying to starve them for information.

This often happens when elected officials and city employees are discussing a subject and claim NOT to know the answers they clearly do know, but are reluctant to make them public, for whatever reason.

This is made worse, of course, by a corrosive culture at HB City Hall that completely has it upside-down regarding government in the Sunshine, given that elected officials like Comm. Dotty Ross have felt free to chastise members of the public even BEFORE they can walk up to the microphone to ask their questions, in that case, Csaba himself.

More recently, we have the case of Comm. Alexander Lewy, who publicly steamed-up up on the dais during a City Commission meeting when someone spoke up to say that they were STILL waiting for requested answers from the city, and then Lewy showed bad judgment and lack of self-awareness by commenting publicly that he wanted to know why the citizen of his own city wanted it.

Really.


Instead of taking his oversight responsibility seriously, and asking/directing the City Manager to crack the whip and figure out why this continues to be such a problem, Lewy "killed the messenger." 

In that case, it was longtime Halandale Beach resident and civic activist Dr. Judy Selz, one of the most-respected and civic-minded citizens in this community who was outlining her difficulty in gaining information that she had a Constitutional RIGHT to.

See my previous post of on Dr. Selz here, Dr. Judy Selz zeroes-in on wasteful city spending, angering Comm. Lewy; Keith London's take on Hallandale Beach City Comm. meeting of Dec, 7 2011

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/dr-judy-selz-zeroes-in-on-wasteful-city.html

This sad and pathetic moment not only highlighted how very short of the mark Comm. Lewy has been in office for the 15 months since he defeated sitting Comm. William "Bill Julian, coming in second to Comm. Keith London for the two seats that were up in November of 2010 -you regular readers of the blog will recall that I consistently urged you in the strongest terms to NOT trust or believe Lewy back then, lest you be greatly disappointed by what you had wrought, a phony- compared to his grand promises of being a fully-engaged reformer if elected, but also shows one of the great aspects of Florida's Sunshine Laws that make up the state Constitution.

That is, in this state, citizens are NOT required to have to persuade elected officials or city bureaucrats of the importance or significance or reason for their PUBLIC INFORMATION request in order to receive it.

You'd think an elected official like Lewy would know better than that after more than a year in office.

The second part of this email which is noteworthy is its description of the city's COMPLETE LACK OF EFFORT to keep the promise made by City Manager Mark A, Antonio at the very first CRC meeting -a meeting I personally attended, being one of the two people in the audience in July- to make sure that background information was readily available on the CRC web page on the city's website so that citizens could watch CRC meetings on TV or via streaming and be able to see what was being reviewed and and discussing, so citizens could keep up.

Though Csaba wrote the email in September, it was just as true in October, November and December, since it was NOT until January of this year, weeks after the CRC submitted their final recommendations to the City Commission just days before Christmas, that Hallandale Beach citizens could see any of the information.

Once the CRC no longer existed!

You tell me, what good was it after-the-fact? Exactly.

That's how the public process works here in Hallandale Beach under the current crew at City Hall.

It doesn't, it only pretends to operate in the Sunshine and be competent and efficient.
It's all pretense, a charade.


That's why we need big changes here in Hallandale Beach when election time comes in November, just 33 weeks away.

Trust me, given their disastrous voting records against the best long-term interests of this city's taxpayers, their  complete lack of effort to provide genuine oversight, and consistently oblivious feeling for what's really going on in this city while serving on the HB City Commission, Anthony A. Sanders and William "Bill" Julian, have absolutely failed to earn the trust or respect of the WHOLE community, and do NOT deserve another chance to keep the status quo Rubber Stamp Crew of Joy Cooper in charge, ruining this city's future.
They need to be rejected in November in the strongest possible terms.

----- 

From: Csaba Kulin
Sent: Fri 9/2/2011 12:47 PM
Subject: CRC - Sept. 2, 2011

 Dear Charter Review Committee Members,

After two months of your existence I cannot find any information about your committee on the city's web site so I have to use only the names of the members I had some previous contact with. In my future correspondence if you like me to add the names of the rest of members, delete the name of some of the members or use a different e-mail address, please let me know.

During your last meeting, you mentioned the lack of interest of the residents in the work of the Committee. To some extent you are right but the lack of information available on the city's web site and the summer season can explain some of it. If you add to it the general belief of the residents that your recommendations can be and will be ignored by the City Commission, it is difficult to get real exited. I am an optimist, I will follow your meetings. I hope that you save the more important issues like districting, FOIA, recall any elected official and others for October, when most of our residents return from summer vacation.

During your August 31, 2011 meeting you talked about the City Clerk and his/her responsibility to honor public record requests. In my opinion, timeliness is an issue but there are bigger issues than that. Intimidation and the lack of co-operation are more important.

If I go the City Clerk and I request some information I have good reason to be "public record", the Clerk should have the following options:

*       I should be provided that information as is
*       "Black out" part of the record that is not public record
*       Deny the request with explanation (pending law suit, not in existence etc).

If I am not happy with explanation, I have a right to go to court and sue. As far as I know, in one case (09-22405 (03)) just the opposite happened. HB decided to sue the resident using the resources of the City instead of just "denying" the request. Of course the resident had to use his money to defend himself. The the way I look at it, this intimates me and many other residents.

Lack of co-operation comes in when I request some public record but I do not have the exact name of the items I requested. The City may call it a different name or give an extremely high cost for the request without proper explanation or ways to deduce the costs.

I hope you get a chance to read my e-mail prior to this afternoon's meeting.

Sincerely,

Csaba Kulin

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

Hallandale Beach Municipal Complex, February 13, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Below, excerpts from my email earlier this afternoon to interested parties in Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Broward County and South Florida:


Now they tell us! 
"Ben Gamla, ironically, probably spoke Aramaic." 
Rimshot! - http://instantrimshot.com/


With news that he is now trying to tap the Tampa Bay area for one of his Hebrew Charter schools, the first article mentioned in the Google Alert I received today is especially good at describing Peter Deutsch's mendacity, his verbal sleight-of-hand with facts, and his facility for using an air of presumed authority to get his way if he can't simply bulldoze neighborhood opposition out of the way.


Florida Jewish Journal
Ben Gamla Schools: Threat to Judaism and the Constitution
By Rabbi Bruce Warshal
1:46 p.m. EST, February 21, 2012
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/opinion/fl-jjps-warshal-0222-20120221,0,6894869.story


It goes without saying that it would've been nice for those of us in Hallandale Beach opposed to Deutsch's proposal on N.E. 8th Street, and in particular, his constant belittling treatment of HB citizens and frequent use of bullying tactics, if there'd been some articulate people in South Florida like this particular author writing in local newspapers last year, who could've verbally supported the NE neighborhood's opposition, instead of keeping quiet like church mice.
Oh well, a victory in hand... 


http://www.browardbulldog.org/2011/05/hallandale-beach-neighbors-fight-plans-for-charter-school-pushed-by-ex-congressman-peter-deutsch/


http://www.browardbulldog.org/2011/07/hallandale-to-vote-on-1-2-million-deutsch-land-deal-purchase-would-quell-upset-neighbors/

Above and below, looking east from in front of 416 N.E. 8th Avenue, the former Hallandale Jewish Center that the city purchased last year from Peter Deutsch; main building above, parking lot below. February 20, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier.

Speaking of that apparent "victory" though, what do we actually have right now, as of February 22nd, after four years of fighting Deutsch?
Correct, the city owns a property on N.E. 8th Avenue in a largely single-family neighborhood, but it's one with an old building on it -and lots and lots of asphalt.
That's it.
But that's NOT at all what the HB community desired for the property long-term, is it?


Not by any stretch, so make sure you take advantage of the opportunity and ask questions 
and state your own personal preference for ensuring that the future of that property, which the city over-paid for, WILL BE a park or recreational space, at tonight's Town Hall meeting at the Hepburn Center on NW 8th Avenue at 6:30 pm, or the one being held at the North Beach Center on A1A next Wednesday night at 6:30 pm.
The sooner that green metamorphosis begins, the better for the kids.
Especially the older kids.


And now on to my main reason for writing you today, rather unexpectedly.


Those of you who recently received a copy of Csaba Kulin's very-informed email about the proposed undemocratic Charter change re the HB City Commission, should re-read it soon, or, if you no longer have it, look for it on my blog tomorrow, where I will post both his first and second email, and some thoughts on what he wrote.
Here's why it's IMPORTANT.


Having previously used undemocratic methods that violate the spirit of the City Commission's own established recommendations for filling the then-upcoming Commission seat vacancy in August of 2008 -the topic of many past blog posts here- without ever allowing the public to speak, Mayor Joy Cooper is going full-bore to do what she can to ensure that her very own Rubber Stamp Crew stays in place, even if that means she has to use extraordinary measures.


She's trying to head off 'the posse,' i.e. an informed, pro-reform HB citizenry that wants big changes and genuine financial accountability at HB City Hall come November 6th.


As most of you know, the HB City Commission recently voted to have this Charter issue appear on the 2012 General Election ballot in November, believing, quite naturally, that having it in August during a party primary would be a very bad idea, besides the simple fact that many Hallandale Beach residents don't come back to the area until around Labor Day, to escape the awful summer heat.
Comm. Keith London even made a point of reminding his colleagues of these self-evident facts in saying why November was the clear preferred time so that the largest number of voters could participate.


Well, this morning I received a copy of an email from Csaba detailing his experiences last night at Comm. Alexander Lewy's meeting over at Brio, the restaurant at Village of Gulfstream Park closest to U.S.-1. 
And it's a revelation in its own small way, which is why I wanted to share it with you ASAP, with Csaba's permission.


It shows that even more than many of you have privately expressed to me in confidence -via phone calls and emails- of your fears that Mayor Cooper is SO anxious to stay in power in November, after ten years as mayor, that she will attempt to split the community if need be, or even act in a clearly undemocratic manner, to get what she wants.


Simply put, Mayor Cooper does NOT want the largest number of eligible and well-informed Hallandale Beach citizens to have a chance to vote AGAINST this bad Charter idea, enthusiastically supported by her and Comm. Lewy. 
Instead, she wants the smallest number of people deciding its fate, and she wants to get her way, even if that means foisting a 100% vote-by-mail referendum that would happen before November.
This, in a city where there has NEVER previously been a 100% vote-by-mail election.


Again, I plan on posting most of the particulars of this issue on my blog tomorrow, which will also incorporate and analyze some particularly laughable, galling and condescending statements made by Comm. Lewy as well, so go there mañana and check it out and ponder its deeper significance for us.
It's a lot to take in, I know, but we also all know from personal experience that an educated voter is Joy Cooper's worst fear.


-----
N.B. to readers of the blog:


Rather than my trying to characterize Csaba Kulin's email, since I think it speaks for itself as far as Comm. Lewy and Mayor Cooper's myopia about the public's current mood and what they're willing to tolerate, I decided to simply post his words and let you read it for yourself and draw your own conclusions. 
Keep in mind, too, that Michele Lazarow and Csaba have already filed with the City Clerk to run for the Hallandale Beach City Commission, for what are currently the two seats on the dais with terms ending in November, now belonging to Dotty Ross and Anthony A. Sanders.
Michele and Csaba are pro-reform candidates opposed to the stealthy and incompetent way that Hallandale Beach has been mis-managed for many, many years under Mayor Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew, a motley group which over the years has variously consisted of Ross, Sanders, Alexander Lewy and former commissioner William "Bill" Julian, the latter of whom was defeated for re-election in 2010 and who is running again this year, as is Sanders for re-election. 
  
After the meeting Comm. Lewy approached me with a question. Who am I running against in the election? I responded that "I am not running against anybody, I am running for one of the two seats available in November." He than stated that "we must maintain a minority seat on the dais and it would be good for me if I would run for Ross's seat." I reaffirmed that "I intend to get the most number of votes I can and let the chips fall where ever they will." It was not the answer he wanted or expected.

After that, Comm. Lewy started to talk about the hypothetical "numbered seats" idea of his. He wanted to know if there was if there was "numbered seats" who's seat would I run for." I told him that it will not be an issue in this year's election so any discussion is purely theoretical. He tried to trap me to somehow say something different. 

As we all walk out of Brio, we see Mayor Cooper sitting about 30 feet away. Comm Lewy walked over to her for a 10 minute chat while I am talking to two people from the earlier meeting. After another 5 minutes, Mayor Cooper walk over to us and proceeds to tell us that she "enthusiastically" supports Comm Sanders for the commission. After then she said "I made a big mistake before" but now I support Bill Julian for the commission.

Mayor Cooper continued saying that "she is ready to start a petition drive" to put the "residential districting" on the ballot. No discussion, she walked away. After the she left, I asked the two residents standing there with me if they heard what I heard. They said that they heard the same thing. 

As far as Comm Lewy is concerned, I believe he is fishing for another person to endorse in November. He is not comfortable with Julian. 

The Mayor is clearly forming a "slate" of Sanders and Julian to run with her. It is not surprising to me, or to you, but wanted to share it with you anyway.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

pp. 6-7

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

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

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

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

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

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

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

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

By Brittany Wallman 

October 10, 2011 02:34 PM

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

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

Read the rest of the post at:

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

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

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

County ethics law already changing Broward's city governments

By Ariel Barkhurst, Sun Sentinel

11:11 PM EST, December 31, 2011

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

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

Yeah, I wonder why? 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Citizen'sFree Speech Quashed By Cooper City, FL Commission

http://youtu.be/_bAjj_RMFRs

Related article:

BrowardPalBeach New Times

Daily Pulp blog 

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

By Bob Norman

September 29 2010 at 6:08 AM

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

-----

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sad but true.

-----

http://www.browardcoalition.org/

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

Office of the Broward Inspector General

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

Tips Hotline at (954) 357-TIPS

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

http://coopercityinsider.blogspot.com/

Broward's present/future problems in a nutshell: Not enough leadership, too much Kristin Jacobs-like behavior -Fighting over scraps: a meaningless job

Broward's present/future problems in a nutshell: Not enough leadership, too much Kristin Jacobs-like behavior -Fighting over scraps: a meaningless job that nobody respects.

No, not fighting over important ideas, a principle or even an issue that nobody else is willing to stand up for that demands some public illumination and a degree of long-overdue oversight,

or even fighting for something supported by her campaign donation friends, but rather a fight over a dubious position that nobody outside S. Andrews Avenue knows about, cares about or respects.

You know, just because you buy a $6.99 Captain's hat you come across at Marshall's doesn't make you a real captain or mean that Broward citizens have to salute you.

Though some will, apparently, like lobbyist Seth Platt, who Tweeted,

Seth Platt

Grats to John Rodstrom as the New #Broward County Mayor &@Kristin_Jacobs as the New Vice-Mayor

15 Nov

The same prescient Seth Platt the lobbyist who said in 2010, when polls showed Allen West doing well in FL-22, "POLLS DON”T MEAN SQUAT"?

Yes, that one.

Well, for those of us NOT dependent upon the kindness of Broward Commissioners to survive or make a living, this is yet the latest in a series of HBR Case Studies of why, in large part, Broward County government is in the mess and funk it's in.

Yes, the intersection of Dysfunction Junction, just like its colleagues at the Broward School Board.

They're in the same boat, but all paddling in different directions.

So where's the surprise that they're drifting?

Really, all this Sturm und Drang over a position as vice-mayor of Broward County that was not decided by actual Broward voters, but, like the so-called mayor's position -yes, I use lower-case for undemocratic titles- voted upon by less people than who will decide who's homecoming king and queen at any high school any of you can think of?

Decided by less people than the ones who decided who would be in charge of Rush at the Chi Omega house at FSU? (And to be honest, one less important than the latter...)

Just because nine people think something is important does not mean that I and other Broward residents who are paying attention have to agree to the pretense and say that it's important, too.

I reject the premise.

Peruse and decide for yourself - in chronological order:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

Broward's Kristin Jacobs digs in heels for vice mayor post

By Brittany Wallman

November 15, 2011 12:38 PM

Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs is the vice mayor now, and the vote was unanimous., But that eventual result didn't come easily for her.

Jacobs had to fight for that title, even forcing her colleagues one by one to announce whether they supported her bid.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/11/browards_kristin_jacobs_digs_i.html

BrowardBeat

Commissioners Squabble Over Meaningless Job: Vice Mayor

By Buddy Nevins

November 15, 2011

Does Goody Two Shoes, known to most of us as Commissioner Kristin Jacobs, have some mud on her soles after today’s divisive vote on who will be the next Broward Vice Mayor?

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.browardbeat.com/kristin-jacobs-fights-for-meaningless-job-vice-mayor/

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

The ugly fight for the Broward vice mayor title: behind the scenes

By Brittany Wallman

November 16, 2011 11:04 AM

A lot of backroom deal-making, threatening and vote-gathering led up to Tuesday's Broward County Commission vote on who would be vice mayor, observers told me afterwards.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/11/the_fight_for_the_broward_vice.html

Voting for a county-wide Broward Mayor who'll either show vision and leadership -or not- who's voted directly by -and held accountable by- Broward voters, is a long overdue idea and reality that has once again been dismissed by the status quo crowd on S. Andrews Avenue.

Not that it has ever really gotten a fair shake in this county since I returned to South Florida eight years ago, given who comprised the Broward Charter Review Commission.

Lots of apologists for the way things are now, save Ted Mena and Michael Buckner among a few CRC members who deigned to show any foresight and gumption for the public's right to decide those things themselves.

Though I don't know them very well, I'd vote for either one tomorrow for County Mayor before I let Broward's lobbyist crowd foist one of their longtime pals upon us as a stalking horse.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

Broward commish kills countywide mayor proposal, again

By Brittany Wallman November 2, 2011 08:09 AM

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/11/broward_commish_kills_countywi.html

And yet for this dubious position of vice-mayor, to read the accounts, Kristen Jacobs is like a wild hog going after a bone, and woe onto anyone or anything getting in her way.

Go ahead, keep your bone, but don't be surprised when we ask publicly over the next year why of all the things that possibly could've taken the time and energy of nine elected officials, these table scraps are what YOU fought over.

No, we won't be forgetting.

Yes, Broward Comm. Kristin Jacobs, the very same woman whose staff tried to take me to task last year because I wrote on this blog that, in my opinion, she was unfit to be on the Broward County MPO -another mess of a group that gets little public or press attention that I've gone after here on the blog a few times- after she never once attended a single public Transportation forum in Broward of the many I've attended over the years, prior to July, even while hundreds and hundreds of Broward citizens could find the time and energy do so over the same time-frame.

Even on Saturday mornings at the Broward Convention Center.

You won't be surprised to discover that among this interested group of concerned Broward residents, people DID notice who were no-shows, besides anyone from the Miami Herald.

From the looks of things -my own observations and emails from others- Jacobs couldn't even be bothered to show-up and feign interest, even while officials and experts from Tallahassee, Atlanta and Vancouver showed-up at one forum in particular to inform and educate.

They didn't take it well when I told them that the word "transportation" wasn't even on her county bio website at the time, yet she was suddenly on the Board that sets policy.

Now THAT'S Broward County in a snapshot!

I hung up on her office the third time they called me with a bad attitude.

Later she/they sent a letter, one I never opened.

Seriously, how many unimpressive women politicians can one county possibly bear to have at one time.

From north near Palm Beach County to the south near me, just north of the Miami-Dade line, Broward County has some of the most unethical, unsavory, and undemocratic, to say nothing of venal female politicians in the country: this Rogue's gallery includes the duplicitous Joy Cooper, now convicted Sylvia Poitier, anti-democratic Lori Moseley, and Debby Eisinger, the latter of whom voted with members of the majority of the appointed Broward CRC against allowing Broward citizens to vote on whether or not to have an elected Broward County mayor in November of 2008.

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

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

The same woman who fought against tougher ethical standards for Broward municipal officials

It's why she's on that list that goes on and on...

They make me glad that there is some hope out there. that is if by there, you mean NOT here.

I do.

Because of what I've read and seen of her, her unwillingness to play the fool and swallow spin from the wealthy and the well-connected or political parties, her unwillingness to play pretend and accept illusions or fantasy for real solutions to problems, unless something unexpected happens -either to her or to me- if Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs runs for governor of Florida in 2014, I'll support her.

She's a real MAYOR, elected by real VOTERS, winning a run-off 68%-32%, despite being out fund-raised 2-1.

And best of all, Teresa Jacobs has smarts, hubris and moxie, something that can't be said about the majority of the pols in Broward or South Florida.

Just saying...

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For more information on this issue, see"

Broward Charter Review Comm. discussion re county-wide elected mayor and composition of County Commission, April 9, 2008, pp 68-126

http://www.broward.org/Charter/Documents/crc_ph_agenda_04092009.pdf

Hallandale Beach Blog's Time Machine visits 1/14/92 and sees what a pathetic hypocrite former Hallandale Beach CM R.J. Intindola is -who needs facts?

The past is prologue -yet again.

Yes, even here in Hallandale Beach.

(FYI: I've deleted a few extraneous "Friends" below from this Facebook post about public policy in Hallandale Beach who didn't actually say anything about the issue so that you can better follow the back-and-forth, NOT to protect the dimwits who seem like they could care less about the actual facts.)

Following this ridiculous pronouncement above by R.J. Intiondola, later, on Wednesday at 11:15a.m. he then goes on to ramble...

Currently, Keith London is seeking through his charter review representative to alter the existing appointment structure of the City Clerk. Currently, the city clerk is appointed by and reports to the City Manager. Keith London believes the City Commission has more expertise at selection, recruitment and managing the position and therefore the elected officials should select and appoint the city clerk. The elected body would therefore supervise the position. He makes this comment without a single day of management, administrative and recruitment experience. This is not unusual for elected officiasl whose ego has blown out of control to believe they are the expert at every and any given subject. Facts are, he has no idea on how to manage an organization.

At 3:34 p.m. Wednesday, Intindola responds peevishly to my friend Michael Butler of Change Hallandale's reasonable question.

It's especially reasonable given that Intindola doesn't live anywhere near here and hasn't attended a 2011 HB CRC meeting in person, like both Comm. London and I have.

Trust me, THAT is one very small list.

London and I were the only ones sitting in the audience at their first meeting.

This comes on top of the central fact that Intindola has no idea what he is talking about, as a simple conversation with the CRC's Chair, Anthony Musto, a former HB City Commissioner himself and current Law School professor would prove.

(Did I mention yet that Musto was Comm. London's appointment?

Meanwhile Comm. Dotty Ross, from the thousands of people in this city whom she could've selected to add their perspective to the group, chose the much-loathed former HB City Commissioner, William "Bill" Julian, to add his longstanding myopia and chronically bad judgment to the mix.

Yes, Julian, a person who along with Mayor Cooper and Comm. Ross and the current and former City Manager, is held personally responsible by a large portion of this city's well-informed populace for why this city is such a mess, and so much LESS than what it ought to be.

And yes, defying logic as he always has, Julian has filed to run for the city commission next year, much to the delight of many friends of mine who anticipate him finally getting the public grilling and buzz-sawing that his ridiculed record deserves, after making this city a perpetual media laughingstock, due in large part to his very own jaw-dropping personal actions, petty and unethical behavior, and penchant for almost always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time while voting also against the larger community's best long-term interests.)

Intindola can't logically explain why the CRC would knowingly vote in favor of an idea they didn't like and knew would make them look ridiculous, or, why, given that, the HB City Commission, who would get it after the CRC to decide whether it goes on the ballot to be voted upon, would then repeat that action and approve it even if they didn't like it.

Intindola can't logically explain his own opinion about London because it completely lacks logic and common sense.

Given what the process is, how exactly does Intindola think that one person, Keith London, can change the form of city government we currently have -for the worse- by himself?

Exactly!

But why let facts get in the way, right?

Mike, he doesn't say anything specifically but all of his actions would leave anyone to that conclusion. He was the commission the higher the city clerk, was to contract out legal services and has made numerous relative other comments degrading the form of government. As part of the profession, I feel compelled to support professionalism in local government and not political hackery.

"As part of the profession, I feel compelled to support professionalism in local government and not political hackery."

So sayeth R.J. Intindola, long-time Georgia resident, former Hallandale Beach City Manager, and self-appointed expert in good government, civics and public administration.

Well, at least the first two are true. Oh, those pesky facts!

R.J. Intindola is nothing but a know-it-all, long-distance serial meddler who writes about things he is neither an expert about nor even an eye witness to.

In short, an embittered and dis-connected man who was thoroughly rejected by his former city last year when he thought he heard them calling out his name.

No, they were NOT.

That sound he heard was just in HIS head.

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel

HALLANDALE STRIP CALLED 'DUMB' ACT

By Sallie James, Staff Writer

January 14, 1992

HALLANDALE -- The bare facts about a stripper's appearance at a bachelor party for a public works superintendent on Monday left city officials rolling their eyes.

''I don't condone it, but I am not going to do anything about it,'' City Manager R.J. Intindola said when told about the party held on city property.

The stripper danced her way through the conference room of the Department of Public Works at a 4 p.m. party for general superintendent Mike Good , who is getting married, said John Depp, who supervises the department.

Depp helped arrange for the stripper.

The naked truth? Somebody just used bad judgment, said Mayor Arthur ''Sonny'' Rosenberg.

''I don't think whoever hired the dancer should have done it on city property,'' Rosenberg said.

Intindola said it is not the first time strippers have appeared at parties for city employees. In past years, it has happened three or four times, he said.

He joked Monday that the employees should have sent the stripper to City Commission chambers -- adjacent to his office.

Yes, that R.J. Intindola sure is the consumate professional!

LOL!!!

Almost everyone I know who's well-informed about what happens here in HB has whatever opinion of Intindola they have completely independent of anything I've said or written -or will say or write in the future.

Nobody is going to suddenly jump to his side of an argument based on his bitter enmity and lofty opinion of himself.

My understanding -which could be wrong, but I doubt it- is that Intindola was quite angry that nobody in town would publicly back him last year for the CM position when it was clear that Mike Good was being shown the door with a super-golden parachute, despite Good so frequently NOT showing-up for work, showing-up unprepared or dressed inappropriately for meetings with developers who'd flown into town for the meeting, or -and this is what I suspect eventually soured even loyal Good defender Mayor Cooper- Good NOT even being available on the telephone.
Of nobody, including his wife, the former HB Asst. City Manager -who once worked for two cities at the same time, unbeknownst to one of the cities- actually knowing where he was or how to reach him.

If you look at Intindola's Facebook "Friends," you'll see both Alexander Lewy and Broward School Board member Patricia Good, Mike Good's sister-in-law.

Just saying...