Last year was the sweeping Miami-Dade Mayoral recall, in 17 weeks comes the house-cleaning at County Hall, but first, here comes the reform cavalry! Change Miami-Dade Now! is now open for business

In case you didn't hear about it or see it...

Anyone who objects to giving Miami-Dade County voters a choice or spreads lies about Norman Braman must have a hidden agenda!It's time for a change!
Alison Austin, Shirley Gibson, Luis Garcia and Alice Pena believe in better oversight, honest government and fiscal accountability.  

Yes, the three basic aspects of local government that Bruno Barreiro, Audrey Edmondson, Barbara Jordan and Dennis Moss have consistently failed to do over the years.


Plus, as you recall from my previous blog posts here involving the M-D County Commission meetings on the involuntary public financing of the new Marlins Stadium and how that was handled, I still haven't forgotten Comm. Dennis Moss' over-the-top insulting attitude and treatment of the hundreds of citizens who turned-out and had to wait for hours and hours in the chambers before the meeting was eventually postponed, with Moss' spite in full-display.


Just one of the many things that happened that day at County Hall that I observed and mentioned here that South Florida's sleep-walking print and TV reporters consciously chose not to mention afterwards, because they like to play nice with the commissioners and their staffs.
Moss, well, I especially want to see him kicked the hell out!


CBS4-TV, Miami

Norman Braman Denies Bullying Voters, “Handpicking” County Commission

By Jim DeFede

May 23, 2012 7:16 PM

Related article at: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/23/norman-braman-denies-bullying-voters-handpicking-county-commission/

Why won't Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper follow the rules and let the people in Golden Isles vote? Some rare logic & reason re the Oct. 19th Golden Isles meeting

Above, October 19, 2010 photograph by South Beach Hoosier of Part C-1, TERM of the "Protective Covenants relating to the residential section of Golden Isles" in Hallandale Beach, FL effective May 26, 1959.

The key area for you to consider is "unless an instrument signed by a majority of the then owners of the lots has been recorded, agreeing to change said covenants in whole or in part."

What could possibly be simpler?
In order to change any aspect of the covenants, you need 51%.

Every homeowner in the Golden Isles section of Hallandale Beach has a copy of these rules.

But certain people living in Golden Isles don't want to follow these rules, and that includes the mayor of this city, Joy Cooper, the current President of the Florida League of Cities, and many of her friends and neighbors.

They want to go around the written rules they had already agreed to. Not surprisingly, a LOT of people don't like that idea one bit, and for good reason.


Below is an email that I wrote and distributed on Wednesday afternoon throughout Hallandale Beach, Broward County, South Florida and beyond to some concerned Floridians, elected officials and news media regarding the very curious and queer SRO public meeting that I attended (and videotaped) on Tuesday night at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

It was one of the oddest public meetings I have attended of the dozens I've gone to throughout South Florida over the past seven years since returning to South Florida after 15 years living and working in the Washington, D.C. area.

In fact, it may be THE oddest, since it was the most obvious failure, though the Miami-Dade County hearing I attended in early 2009 on proposed public financing of a Marlins Stadium had been the leader up 'til now.

That was the public hearing where Chairman Dennis Moss refused to allow the hundreds of citizens in attendance at the M-D Commission Chambers in downtown Miami to watch the City of Miami's public hearing with the Marlins' David Samson -the reason for the long delay where we were, and its eventual postponement -after a few hours of nothing happening- on the large TV screens in the Commission Chambers, even though the staff, commissioners and news media could watch it in their offices or the next door media room.

But for the assembled citizens, Moss delivered an emphatic "No!"

Then Dennis Moss compounded the basic problem by lying to the public (and the hordes of news media) by saying that it wasn't technically possible, even though county employees I spoke to there said it would only take a few seconds to do it.

Plain and simple, Dennis Moss didn't want the South Florida public to know what was going on at that other hearing.

This was the smug, elitist and entitled attitude I saw displayed by Comm. Moss in a taxpayer-funded room in a taxpayer-funded building, where everything you see is something that taxpayers paid for, including the very equipment the M-D commissioners, staff and news media watched the City of Miami meeting on!
A fact that the dutiful South Florida news media conveniently ignored, as usual.

You bet I want to see Dennis Moss recalled by Miami-Dade County voters, with Norman Braman's help and leadership.
I only wish I could legally sign the petition!

As for voter recall in Hallandale Beach, it'll be here sooner than you think...


Tuesday night's meeting in Hallandale Beach was held to discuss some news regarding proposed changes to the status quo in the Golden Isles section of southeast Hallandale Beach, which is a separate taxing district for certain purposes, and which has a security gatehouse at its entrance on Layne Blvd., though anyone can still enter since it's on a public road.

But what Tuesday night's meeting most resembled was a failed pep rally, run by supporters of HB mayor Joy Cooper and her cronies. That's because that's exactly what it was.

My email below appears exactly as sent, minus a few cleaned-up typos and a few things I've completely spelled out in order to make it clearer for blog readers.
-----

Wednesday October 10th, 2010

I commend to you the common sense email, below, from attorney David C. Barnett, a resident of Hallandale Beach who seems able to see what most of the city residents attending last night's meeting at HB City Hall could see with their own eyes: an attempted hijacking of democracy by a small clique under the guise of maintaining high-property values.
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/index.aspx?NID=680

Mayor Joy Cooper and Comm. Keith London, both of whom live in Golden Isles, were precluded from speaking publicly on this issue at last night's meeting -which I videotaped- because it could/will come before the Hallandale Beach City Commission in Dec. or Jan. if approved by the Hallandale Beach Planning & Zoning Board.

Not that this stopped Harry Cooper, the mayor's husband, from speaking and blaming Comm. London, who was responsible for the large turnout of residents last night by informing and educating people about the possible long-term ramifications of what is being proposed, which from Harry Cooper's personal p.o.v., necessarily, makes his wife look bad.
But if that is the reality, and it is, it's true whether he likes it or not.
Having carefully read the documents provided, including the covenants involved, it's pretty clear that there needs to be an election of the homeowners in the Golden Isles taxing district, which will be approved if 51% say yes.
In fact, it says EXACTLY that.
The powers-that-be among the two self-selecting Golden Isles groups that met last night at City Hall are chock-a-block full of Joy Cooper supporters, and don't think they can reach that low threshold -and even said so.

But rather than follow the proscribed rules, and take their chances with an election, they are trying to go thru the backdoor and have the city take care of things, even though that will be an expense that the entire city will be asked to pay for.

Naturally, thanks to the mayor's efforts at mis-direction, the rest of the city doesn't know anything about this, or that they are going to have to pay for the enforcement of these Golden Isles-specific rules that they no longer do, as Mr. Barnett correctly states below, despite how many times Cooper family friend Gerry Natelson calls them the same rules.

As it happens, his daughter, Sheryl Natelson, is on the city's P&Z Board.
(Guess who appointed her?)
She's one of the two geniuses on the city's P&Z board who threatened to have me removed by the Hallandale Beach Police from a public P&Z meeting last year for... taking photos of the Board at a public meeting!

From about 50 feet away.
At a public meeting where I was one of only three citizens present in the entire HB Cultural Center.

Natelson's yet another attorney in HB who doesn't understand or doesn't like the state's Sunshine Laws, just like City Attorney David Jove, who for years has looked the other way at what was going on right in front of him, regardless of how badly it illegally disadvantages the citizen taxpayers of this community, because that's what Mayor Cooper and former
City Manager Mike Good wanted.

I'm hardly sharing Breaking News when I tell you that it's the opinion of the majority of concerned and well-informed people in HB that Jove's number-one priority is keeping his job. Period.
Just saying...
If this situation is going to be handled fairly and legally, the residents of that special taxing district need to have their referendum, plain and simple, and the two Golden Isles groups and Mayor Cooper need to STOP trying to bypass THEIR OWN RULES.
And any pretense at fairness and transparency.
Why won't Mayor Joy Cooper follow the rules and let the people in Golden Isles vote on the matter?
There's your story.
Dave

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Keith London
Date: Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 12:12 PM
Subject: FW: 10/19 Meeting
To: "Commissioner, Hallandale Beach - Keith London" <klondon@hallandalebeachfl.gov>

Everyone,

Please read the attached email from one of your neighbors concerning the meeting last night.

Please feel free to contact me with any thoughts, comments or responses of your own.

Regards,

Keith

Keith S. London

City Commissioner

Hallandale Beach

954-457-1320 Office

954-494-3182 Cellular

www.KeithLondon.com

-----

The email below was written by David C. Barnett and was addressed to Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper and Commissioner Keith S. London.

Other than my removing their email addresses at the top of the letter, it appears exactly as sent.

-----

Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 8:19 AM
Subject: 10/19 Meeting

Barnett & Lerner, P.A.

Fighting for injured workers

Dear Keith & Joy:

It was a pleasure seeing both of you last night at the Safe Neighborhood and Overlay meeting. As you know, although I am extremely busy with my law practice, once in a while I do find the time to go to a meeting to learn about what is happening in our little town.

I found last nights meeting offensive in that there seems to be an attitude of superiority exhibited by both "voluntary" boards. I thought they were volunteering their time in order to make our neighborhood - Golden Isles - better. Rather, it is apparent there are political and power issues behind everything. With these political and power issues come costs - both hard and soft costs.

At the beginning of the Overlay meeting, Gerry Nadelson started by reminding everyone that we are a volunteer homeowners association with volunteer dues of $20.00. He went on to tell everyone that we need to have this City Overlay done in order to protect the residents of Golden Isles from the threat of litigation. Gerry stated that if we (I guess he means the ENTIRE community of Golden Isles) get sued, our dues would not provide enough money to pay an attorney to defend the lawsuit. I do not know the statistics, but I know that I am not the only attorney living in our neighborhood and I am sure that if there was a threat to Golden Isles, there would be plenty of resident lawyers who would be there to maintain our little waterfront community.

As someone who has been involved politically, on both a state and national level, it scares me to hear the "threat of litigation" as a basis for change. What we found out however, is that in 56 years, there has been maybe one (1) lawsuit. Thus, based on the foregoing, a question needs to be asked - What is the motivating factor for this requested change? The answer, although not disclosed, is very simple to see.

As everything stands now, if we, the residents of Golden Isles, have a problem or a concern over a neighbor regarding deed compliance, it is up to us as individuals or as a community to retain our own lawyer to enforce the restrictions by suing the non-compliant neighbor. Nobody wants to get sued, and quite candidly, over 56 years we have been able to keep Golden Isles residents fairly compliant with deed restriction.

By adopting this Overlay, what will really happen is that the City Attorney will now be the free private "retained" attorney by the activists within our neighborhood without any direct costs to those individual activists. We already have individuals who drive up and down the streets, inspecting everyone's home and invading privacy while others get on their boats and inspect everyone's home from the water. Essentially, we have a group of our own "SS" within our community. These individuals constantly complain, but they will not fund a lawsuit against a non-compliant neighbor either because they cannot afford it or they are concerned about the repercussions that will develop within our neighborhood. To give them access to a "free" attorney with anonymous deed compliant complaints is very scary!

If we adopt this Overlay, our Golden Isles SS group will have unlimited access to the City Attorney, at no expense to themselves individually, but rather to the expense of not only Golden Isles, but also the ENTIRE city of Hallandale Beach. Has this volunteer Overlay Board of nine actually conducted a cost analysis of this Overlay proposal. Do ALL the residents of the CIty of Hallandale - beyond just Golden Isles - know, and are they aware and in agreement, that this Overlay will result in additional costs to the City, which will have to be placed within the City budget. Where is this money going to come from - our taxes! How many more attorney's will the city need to hire in order to be responsive to the demands of the Golden Isles SS group for enforcement litigation? We need to see a true, independent, cost analysis of this Overlay, before we proceed further.

I certainly understand the frustration that Gerry, Joy and Alex may have over the home near the end of Holiday which is falling apart and is a blight on the neighborhood, but the methodology they are bringing forth is very dangerous. Not only will there be real financial costs (City attorney budget will have to go up) associated with the City Overlay, there will be the soft, emotional costs on our neighborhood. Gerry said that we "need" this Overlay as it will increase the "value" of our homes! I heard the same garbage about Gulfstream how our homes would go up in value and the people that promoted it most were actually on the payroll of either Magna, Gulfstream or Forest City, which they never revealed. In any event, values did not go up but rather, we have all experienced about a 40-50% decline in home values (I know the economy has a lot to do with it) This Overlay will NOT increase the value of our homes. I hope that this statement is challenged and I would like to see an impact study supporting such a statement. Rather, I see the value of our homes dropping with this Overlay as the Overlay will pit neighbor against neighbor when the Golden Isles SS overwhelm the City Attorney with anonymous complaints about residents of Golden Isles. Thereafter, the City will be forced to flood the Courthouse with suits filed by the City Attorney against residents of Golden Isles. This is offensive, crazy and shows the lack of insight, common sense and good judgment.

We all moved to Golden Isles because we did not want to live in a structured condo type community. We have had a nice neighborhood for 56 years without the Overlay. I do not see any upside to this proposed Overlay, only problems. This madness has to stop and we need your help to stop it.

Very truly yours,

David C. Barnett, Esquire

Barnett & Lerner, P.A.
2860 Marina Mile Blvd; Suite 105
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33312
954-920-7400
954-920-9492 fax
888-732-7425 US Toll Free
www.injuredoverseas.com

Some straight talk about how Miami-Dade Commissioners use their discretionary funds, and the ethically-curious slippery slope Comm. Sally Heyman increasingly finds herself occupying

First, some necessary predicates to better understand the following blog post.

I think Matthew Haggman is one of the best reporters and most valuable assets of the Miami Herald.
If people like him ever start bailing out, it'll really be all over but the shouting.

I also think Carlos Alvarez as County mayor is a tremendous disappointment to tens of thousands of people, and his pathetic attempt to try to show-up Haggman recently at one of his press conferences only showed how far he's fallen.

He deserves to be recalled from office and just may self-destruct before it's all over.
His political future is in such a death spiral that a black hole would be a relief.

My comments follow the article.
---------------
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/1288062.html

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY

Miami-Dade commissioners sitting on millions in taxpayer funds

Miami-Dade commissioners are in control of $5 million in unspent money, angering groups facing budget cuts and watchdogs who say the kitty should be taken out of politicians' hands.

By Matthew Haggman and Jack Dolan

October 18th, 2009
As Miami-Dade County fires hundreds of workers and slashes funding for nonprofit groups, county commissioners are sitting on a mountain of cash and are determined not to give it up.
Chairman Dennis Moss controls a stockpile of more than $1 million. Commissioner Sally Heyman has a stash totaling $955,064. Commissioner Jose "Pepe'' Diaz holds $548,651, Commissioner Bruno Barreiro $479,168 and Commissioner Katy Sorenson $353,691.
In all, the 13 commissioners have more than $5 million in unspent cash from last fiscal year at their disposal -- surplus office funds carried over into the new budget year. Some have carried over unspent office funds for years, building the money pile.
All other taxpayer-funded county departments, including the mayor's office, return unspent money to the county general fund to be budgeted the following year. Yet commissioners, who approve every dollar of the county budget, keep the excess while still giving themselves a new, fully-funded budget each year.
The practice has allowed commissioners to amass vast sums that they alone control and can use -- or not -- with few restrictions.
While the $5 million is a fraction of the $444 million budget shortfall the county just faced, it sits untapped at a time when commissioners have implored county administrators to search under every proverbial seat cushion for extra dollars. On Tuesday, for instance, commissioners instructed staffers to find $1.3 million somewhere in county coffers to avoid cutting elderly social service programs.
Yet, during the recent budget debates, commissioners made no mention of the individual pots of taxpayer money they've accumulated.
"I am stunned,'' said Catherine Penrod, CEO of Switchboard of Miami, a suicide prevention nonprofit that, like many agencies, saw its county funding cut 30 percent. "It's hard for me to believe that it is OK to stockpile money like this when there is such a great need out there.''
Social service groups and union leaders say the surplus money should be rolled into the county's general fund and reallocated to community groups struggling to survive the crippling economic downturn, used to save jobs, or to bolster next year's budget. Some suggest it be returned to cash-strapped taxpayers through a small, but symbolic, reduction in the tax rate.
Stan Hills, president of the county firefighters union, looked at the list of commissioners' surpluses and said, "Any money that's available should be used for core services that have been cut. We have response time problems all over the county. I'm sure the police could use the money, too.''
Commissioners show little inclination to part with taxpayer money some regularly call their own. Nor are they willing to let others decide what to do with it -- saying, if anything, the reserves show they have been frugal.
"I will determine how the monies are spent in my budget, not The Miami Herald, not the media,'' said Chairman Moss. His unused fund is the largest, in part because Moss controls more duties as commission chair, including the offices of protocol and media.
"This is the way it's been done historically, the way it's done now, and the way it will be done in the future,'' he said.
Last year, commissioners budgeted themselves $930,000 each -- which is slated to be reduced by 10 percent this year -- to pay the rent and utility bills at their district offices, and to pay salaries for as many as 10 personal staffers. Top aides can earn in excess of $100,000 per year.
By contrast, Florida State Representatives get an annual budget of $29,784 to pay the rent and utilities in their district offices. Each representative is allowed two staffers, who typically earn less than $40,000 and are paid through a state account the elected state leaders don't personally control.
State representatives can't stash away money from the office budget and carry those surpluses over from year to year.
Across Florida, allowing politicians to carry over unspent office funds is unusual, said Dominic Calabro, president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, the Tallahassee-based government watchdog group. Extra public dollars typically revert back to the government treasury, not kept by individual politicians.
"These are not commissioners' personal funds; these funds come out of the sweat of hard-working taxpayers,'' Calabro said.
Miami-Dade Commissioners previously came under fire for granting themselves $727,500 each in discretionary funds to personally dole out to district constituents and businesses, an unusual political payout that helps commissioners curry favor with voters. That money, which is being reduced this year by more than $400,000 per commissioner, is separate from the office accounts.
Under Dade's rules, commissioners are able to distribute their surplus office money to community groups, or even other commissioners who have blown their own budgets.
This past year, for example, Commissioner Natacha Seijas dipped into her surplus to transfer $14,811 to Commissioner Barbara Jordan, who overspent her $930,000 office budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Neither Seijas, who has accumulated $449,257, nor Jordan responded to interview requests.
Such transfers can raise questions about transparency and accountability, said Tony Alfieri, director of the University of Miami's Center for Ethics and Public Service.
When one commissioner bails out a fellow commissioner, said Alfieri, it creates a risk of favor trading with scant public monitoring.
Heyman -- sitting on nearly a million dollars in unspent taxpayer money -- said she saw the current fiscal crisis coming years ago and has been diligently saving her office funds, clipping coupons, paying her office staff less than other commissioners and eschewing fancy caterers at community events she hosts.
"Costco sheet cakes are a hell of a lot cheaper than Publix sheet cakes,'' she told a reporter asking about her surplus.
She said she'll use the money to host charity fundraisers and other community activities she says are not meant to win political favor. "When I'm underwriting a walk for the blind, I don't ask if the blind people live in my district,'' Heyman said.
Barreiro, also carrying over a weighty sum, pitched his actions as a benefit to taxpayers. ``I've been frugal,'' he said. "I'm not one who thinks that all the money that has been budgeted should be spent this year.''
Barreiro added that he would give some of the money to nonprofit social service agencies ``as projects warrant.''
Diaz said now may well be the perfect time to earmark the money.
"I believe it is important to maintain reserves in anticipation of a rainy day and, as you know, right now it is pouring,'' Diaz said. "If there is a proposal regarding the use of these dollars to save jobs or keep programs going, I will review and consider such proposals.''
To which TaxWatch's Calabro responded: "A rainy day fund would be in the treasury, not in their personal patronage pot. Frankly, this is a practice that should be eliminated. It is inappropriate in good times, and clearly out of line now.''

Reader comments: http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/1288062.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

-----------

CBS4's Stephen Stock and the I-Team did several great stories on the questionable spending practices of the Commission and their massive discretionary accounts back in the spring.

As the best investigations tend to do, they raised even more questions about the the royal bubble that the Commissioners have created around themselves, and the shallow, self-serving nature of their responses to

honest questions and criticisms.

http://cbs4.com/iteam/investigation.carry.over.2.954322.html
http://cbs4.com/iteam/commission.mudget.broward.2.957878.html
http://cbs4.com/iteam/iteam.tax.spending.2.955862.html
http://cbs4.com/iteam/miami.dade.commission.2.907201.html

http://cbs4.com/iteam

Given that the Herald and the TV station are supposed to be "news partners,' you'd think they'd have figured out a way to mention this past fact-finding, or at least have links to those I-Team reports on the Herald's website for this particular article.
But they don't.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but as I told a Channel 4 exec in February when I was down at the station, in my opinion, it's NOT really a team if they refuse to ever give you credit for the hard work you've already
done.
This is precisely the sort of important story that the newspaper and station ought to be collaborating on if they were a real team, in order to bring enough resources -and pressure- to bear on the M-D
county commissioners. http://www.miamidade.gov/commiss/

But instead, the Herald acts like they're the only ones prospecting in that particularly rich vein of the mine, and yet bring nothing new to this story.

Well, other than the insolent attitude of the commissioners finally emerging in print in ways that are far different from what they were when they were being interviewed on camera by Channel 4.
Imagine that!
 
Based on what I've written before in my blog on in emails to some of you, the fact that, as proven yet again in this article, Chairman Donald Moss is an insufferable horse's ass with no concept of public good or perception is NOT exactly Breaking News to me, even if it may be to you.

He personally, and his ilk, are precisely one of the reasons why life in South Florida is the way it is -and so much less than it ought to be.

I've generally been ambivalent-to-supportive of Sally Heyman, but if I were her, I might start re-thinking my role of playing the great public curmudgeon, the ethical moralizer of everyone else's actions and motives, all
while sitting on nearly a million dollars of taxpayers funds you're personally using as a political slush fund to engender political support and positive PR spin,
http://www.miamidade.gov/district04/home.asp

There are a lot of rich and successful people living in District 4, stretching as it does from just south of me in Aventura to Miami Beach, people who ARE pro-reform and have both the means and the issues to
politically decapitate Sally Heyman in an election campaign, if they were so motivated.
Up 'till now they haven't been.

They have the collective ability to put money into a savvy and well-choreographed media political campaign the likes of which this area has seldom seen before, including a pro-reform TV campaign that highlights
with great clarity and specificity the disparity between what Heyman publicly says and what she actually does.

And uses that as a springboard for county-wide ballot issues that can go right at the heart of the bureaucratic beast.

Right now, they can't do anything directly, per se, about the glut of Barbara Jordans, Dorrin Rolles and Natacha Seijas littering the South Florida landscape like glossy nighclub cards on Miami Beach sidewalks,
but they can make an example of the person on the commission who is supposed to be representing them in an ethical and scrupulous fashion.
And they can enjoy themselves while doing so.

Trust me, just because the Beth Reinhards of the world don't have the sense to see the larger picture, or to contact some of these people I'm talking about, to sound them out, is of no real consequence.
Frankly, given her reportorial style, she likely wouldn't know until someone else tells her, after-the-fact, perhaps thru a PR release, which, sadly, seems to be how far too much gets into both the Herald and Sun-Sentinel these days.

That they don't care what Reinhard thinks -and neither should you, if you really want to know the truth- should cheer you up straight-away.

Sally Heyman's past hard work and good intentions will count for very little when and IF she is increasingly perceived as someone who has made the fatal political mistake of taking things for granted and overstaying her welcome.

So much so, that she became part of the larger problem and not part of the solution.
Given the great resources available and perfectly capable of sending her packing, toute-de-suite, Heyman's rather smarmy self-justifying comments here can only be interpreted one way.

Christmas just came early for those who believe Miami-Dade County can and ought to be more than just a self-serve ATM for second-rate politicos eager to create slush funds out of taxpayers funds.

And Sally Heyman has just presented them with yet another gift-wrapped issue to tie around her neck like an anchor.

For those interested in real reform and accountability, not just pretend reform, Heyman's growing track record of hypocrisy here is the gift that keeps on giving.