As Diana Wasserman-Rubin goes buh-bye, will Angelo Castillo be the ethical White Knight to help slay Broward's corruption dragon?

The political shoe that's been floating out there in
the ether for months finally dropped today -with
a loud thud heard all throughout Broward
County.

With it, an opportunity to make Broward's civic
society and troublesome County government more
accountable and transparent to the beleaguered
taxpayers it purports to serve, will get the fair
chance it's been largely denied of late.

Since I've written about him here any number
of times before, it's not exactly much of a secret
that I'm a fan of Pembroke Pines Commissioner
Angelo Castillo, and have been hoping that,
regardless of what decision DWR made this Spring
about her own political future, he would endeavor
to throw his name into the ring and enter the
District 8 Commission race, a district which
includes a sliver of northwest Hallandale Beach.

Well, now that my hope has actually become
a reality, in the coming days and weeks, I hope
to share with you here some thoughts on which
of the many savvy, common sense ideas of his
I believe can make a positive difference in
resolving Broward's very frayed social and
ethical nerves and short-sighted economic funk.

You can laugh if you like, but I think that the
positive difference that one good man with
foresight, integrity and conviction can make
at a time of great political crisis, will, in the
long run, be proven out when Angelo Castillo
wins.

The Herald posted the story below online after
midnight this morning, the Sun-Sentinel at
3:01 a.m.

Map of Broward County Commission District 8 is here:
http://gis.broward.org/maps/webPDFs/CommissionDistricts/comdist8.pdf

-----

Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/04/1563465/leader-opting-out-of-run-for-reelection.html

County commissioner opting out of run for reelection

By Amy Sherman

April 5, 2010

Broward County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin will announce at the end of Tuesday's commission meeting that she will not seek reelection due to her struggle with Parkinson's disease -- and not because of the investigation by the Broward State Attorney's Office into her business dealings.

Wasserman-Rubin, 63, has been a trailblazer in Broward politics. She was the first Hispanic School Board member elected countywide and, later, the county's first Hispanic mayor. But the Southwest Ranches resident has been the subject of rumors for months that she would step down or not seek reelection due to her health or the investigation that appears to relate to her husband's grant-writing work.

By stepping aside, Wasserman-Rubin will leave her Southwest Broward commission district -- which includes portions of Pembroke Pines and Miramar -- the only one with an open election contest this fall. Pembroke Pines City Commissioner Angelo Castillo, a Democrat, is expected to jump into the race and face Republican Christopher Max Ziadie, a Toys `R' Us manager from Pembroke Pines.

In January, Broward State Attorney's Office spokesman Ron Ishoy revealed that his office was investigating ``the business dealings of Commissioner Wasserman-Rubin and that subpoenas have been issued.''

The subpoenas seek records over a 10-year period involving Richard Rubin, the commissioner's husband. Rubin has done planning or grant-writing work for several Broward cities, though he no longer does work in the county. In 2008, Wasserman-Rubin paid $15,000 civil penalty and restitution for violating state ethics laws after voting for a grant her husband wrote.

She has said she did not know he would earn extra income, and that she routinely supported such projects within her district.

ETHICS REFORM

The news about the current Wasserman-Rubin investigation coincided with renewed interest in Broward ethics reform after the September arrests of County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, School Board member Beverly Gallagher and former Miramar City Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman -- all charged in separate federal corruption probes.

Eggelletion pleaded guilty and was sentenced last month to more than two years in prison, Gallagher pleaded guilty last month and awaits sentencing in June, while Salesman's trial is underway.

Wasserman-Rubin said she had not spoken to prosecutors about their investigation and said her decision to not run for reelection to the $92,000-a-year job was unrelated to that case.

She said she was diagnosed with Parkinson's about six years ago. She shared the news with family members and friends but not publicly because she felt she could still perform her county job.

But Wasserman-Rubin said that as her symptoms became more obvious, she decided it was time to focus on her health. She said her doctor ``felt I would feel better if I didn't have the pressure I had with this particular job.''

NEW ADVOCACY

She said she wants to become an advocate for Parkinson's treatment and research. The disease is a neurodegenerative brain disorder that typically progresses slowly, according to the National Parkinson Foundation.

"There is no advocacy for Parkinson's in Broward,'' said Wasserman-Rubin, who hopes to help establish a place where those with the disease or their caregivers can turn for support.

She said she would fully participate in her job until the November election.

Wasserman-Rubin, who was born in Havana and moved to Florida as a teenager, fell into politics.

When a seat opened up on the South Broward Hospital District board in 1984, then-Pembroke Pines Mayor Charles Flanagan wanted to appoint his lawyer, Jeff Wasserman. But when he heard then-Gov. Bob Graham wanted to appoint a woman, Flanagan asked Wasserman's wife at the time -- Diana -- to apply.

"My first reaction was, `What do I know about healthcare?' '' she told the Miami Herald in 1988. She applied -- and got the spot.

In 1988, Wasserman-Rubin was elected to the School Board. She won a spot on the County Commission in 2000 and was chosen by her peers to serve as the county's first mayor -- a largely ceremonial post -- in 2002. She remains the only Hispanic on the nine-member commission, which includes one other minority: Al Jones, who is black.

POSSIBLE CANDIDATES

Wasserman-Rubin's announcement allows other potential candidates enough time to jump in before the official qualifying period in June. The news is expected to lead to a flurry of political activity to fill the seat in a district that leans heavily Democratic and is split among whites, blacks and Hispanics.

Pembroke Pines City Commissioner Angelo Castillo is president of Broward House -- an agency that serves people with HIV and AIDS. Castillo has close relationships with the key voting bloc of Democratic retirees in his city, and was easily reelected in March.

Barbara Sharief, a black woman and owner of a home healthcare business who lost a race against Wasserman-Rubin in 2006 and was elected to the Miramar City Commission last year, has also been mentioned as a potential candidate.

County Commission District 8 includes portions of Weston, Southwest Ranches, Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Pembroke Park, Hallandale Beach and West Park.

-----

Broward Beat
Castillo Running For County Commission
By Buddy Nevins

Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo didn’t wait long – about seven hours to be precise.

Castillo filed to run for the seat being abandoned by Diana Wasserman-Rubin just before 2 p.m. on Monday.

Read the rest of the post at
http://www.browardbeat.com/castillo-running-for-county-commission/

See also:

Wasserman-Rubin Will Quit Commission; Castillo, Others Looking At Race
By Buddy Nevins
April 5, 2010
http://www.browardbeat.com/sources-wasserman-rubin-will-quit-commission/

and

Mayo on the Side blog
Will Geller switch races to replace Wasserman-Rubin?
Posted by Michael Mayo
April 5, 2010
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/mayo/blog/2010/04/will_geller_switch_races_to_re.html

Broward Comm Albert Jones and the future of the incompatible Diplomat LAC -and what does he really know about the lies spread by HB's Anthony Sanders?

Obviously, I've been talking to people all over the
county a lot about the Diplomat LAC proposal,
which, as I constantly remind everyone I speak
to about it, Hallandale Beach City Hall only placed
on the city's website for citizens to read 28 hours
before the first vote in mid-December.

One of the sub-plots that's come up is how this
may affect former Dania mayor and current
interim Broward Commissioner Albert C. Jones'
political future, if any, as he seeks to get elected
to a position he was appointed to by Gov. Crist.

There are some larger issues for people all over
the county to contemplate.

If, by virtue of his YES vote on March 23rd,
he believes that it is perfectly acceptable for
25-30 story residential buildings to be located
adjacent to single-family residential areas,
some only 25 feet away, will he also be voting
this same way for future development applications
in the rest of Broward County, including
the cities of Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines,
Hollywood, Coral Springs, Miramar, Plantation,
Sunrise and Davie, as well as the entirety of the
Broward Commission District he hopes to
represent in the future as an elected
Commissioner?

If not, why then is he forcing Hallandale Beach
and nearby Hollywood citizens to bear this
particular burden when they are opposed to it,
and are already physically hamstrung by not
only having geographical barriers, but also
among the single worst traffic to be currently
found in all of South Florida?

How is it that he imagines having thousands
more residents in that area will not directly
affect the ability of people to evacuate when
the sites in question are ALL mandatory
hurricane evacuation areas?

There are many questions you could ask him,
but this might be the first

Please explain your rationale for your
March 23rd vote and why Broward residents
should not expect you to vote similarly for
future applications if you are elected.
Or, do you plan to make exceptions for other
cities, but not in this particular case with respect
to Hallandale Beach and Hollywood residents?

Another question to ponder is why would
politically-active Broward residents who live
outside of the 9th District currently represented
by Jones, especially in Hollywood or Hallandale
Beach, consider making small campaign
contribution to him if he is a solid vote FOR
developers' out-of-scale plans of a sort that
caused the Broward Planning Council's
professional staff to recommend DENIAL
of the proposal?

Well, they wouldn't if he votes for the Diplomat
on April 27th whereas they might consider it
if he votes against it.
Hmm-m-m...

Then again, if he votes for the Diplomat,
it's highly likely that they and their law firms,
lobbyists and consultants will show him
some love with campaign contributions
while those very same politically-active
residents of the county will contribute to
one of his many opponents.
That's politics: votes matter.

I personally think that April 12th or so is
plenty of time for him to have decided what
he's going to do, one way or the other on
the second go-round with this.

If he appears set on rejecting the community
again, as far as I'm concerned, that's it for
him and I personally plan to go to Plan B
with Comm. Jones.

That's the plan where his opponents
start asking these questions publicly
themselves, and he doesn't get elected.

According to the website of the Broward County
Supervisor of Elections (SOE) Jones still
does NOT appear on the official candidates list.
http://www.browardsoe.org/electioncandidates.aspx?eid=89

That same website notes that as of today,
the registered voters here break down as follows:
Democrat: 544,329
Republican: 243,802
Other: 240,806
Total: 1,028,937

Nobody here but us scorpions:
For what it's worth, if anyone out there was
thinking of whom they could contact on the
Commission to try to prevent this proposal
from going thru, I believe that any time
and energy directed at Ilene Lieberman or
Stacey Ritter is completely wasted.

That's especially the case after many people
from around the county who have dealt with
them in the past, inc. elected officials,
have contacted me and said that after hearing
and reading what's already transpired, they
agree with me that Lieberman and Ritter
literally can't help themselves.

You know, like the scorpion and the frog.
Except in this case, they're both scorpions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog

These two still imagine themselves able to
pick and choose economic winners and losers
throughout the county based on whom they
know or who is involved in a project, i.e.
crony capitalism, the preferred method
employed at Hallandale Beach City Hall
to dispense taxpayer and CRA funds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crony_capitalism

The Rodstrom Factor:
The fact that we never heard any specifics about
why some people in Broward thought Comm.
John Rodstrom would abstain last Tuesday
-just a feeling?- and still can't say, is sufficient
proof to me that Rodstrom is also a lost cause.

Rodstrom is also involved with the Margaritaville
bid in Hollywood's Johnson Street RFP that
I personally find so unattractive and objectionable,
and may will be at Hollywood City Hall on April 7th
at 4 p.m., when the entire City Commission sees
the presentations and formally asks questions for
the first time.
I'll be there also, of course.

To me, for better or worse, the entire fight for
the Diplomat LAC proposal lies with Comm.
Albert C. Jones.
Period.

It would be great if someone could convince
Jones that what is really going on in HB, with
Sanders & Co. seemingly trying to benefit either
financially or professionally -or both- from every
single proposed project in HB, thru so-called
'job programs' -regardless of how many
actual jobs are created, and to the apparent
exclusion of other groups involvement-
is not our opinion, it's a verifiable fact.

But you have to be willing to admit that
seeing is believing.

Some well-informed people throughout the county
tell me that just as is true with Comm. Diana
Wasserman-Rubin, Comm. Jones does NOT
really want to ask too many questions about HB
Comm. Anthony Sanders.

You know, like the entire South Florida news media,
save Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo?

Whether about the curious sale of his family property
to the city for far more than its appraised value
-for purposes that are still not at all clear-
or ask why so many of his associates and pals
seem to be getting sweetheart deals from the city
that seem absurd on their face and unpopular
with taxpayers.

For instance, City Manager Good deciding on
his own, without any input from the elected City
Commission, to give $25,000 to someone for
a summer camp that is not a non-profit.

Something that elected city commissioners only
found out about a week after the fact.

So, does anyone out there have any idea of how
much money in grants or loans that brother-and-sister
act Deborah Brown and John Brown have
separately received from the City of HB over
the past few years?

She's the woman, of course, who got the $25k
last year without the public or elected officials
knowing about it 'till it was too late.
See http://www.corporationwiki.com/Florida/Hallandale-Beach/deborah-brown-P1332185.aspx

Until a few weeks ago, I just assumed that Zamar
was a non-profit, but since it's incorporated,
it's clearly not, so why did they get the money
instead of someone else?
Better yet, if you have nothing to hide, why was
this kept from the public?

The fact that the city's CRA has been used as
an ATM for so long by HB City Hall for their friends,
and more recently, by Sanders' myriad acolytes,
without actually alleviating poverty or blight,
is going to come out sooner rather than later.

Comm. Jones needs to decide if he supports
the empty promises of the Diplomat and their
apologists like Sanders, or concrete results.

It's time for him to be a Profile in Courage
and do the right thing, or seal his fate with
Broward voters. Late this afternoon I was
informed that: Comm. Sanders was STILL
going around town, esp. churches, saying
the Diplomat LAC is good for "their community,"
but people who know the true facts are downright
insulted by the drop-in-the-bucket proposal
for Affordable Housing, and the Diplomat's
clear preference to not have the affordable
housing actually be at their actual site.

Naturally, they want to export it off-site just like
Gulfstream Park, Magna and Forest City did.
So, who profits from this, exactly?

Despite what you may have heard elsewhere.
the Palms Coalition decided not to support
the Diplomat LAC proposal as a group.

I'll bet that even Diana Wasserman-Rubin
knows this, but will she actually show-up at
the NW quadrant meeting on Monday at
6:30 p.m., at the city's Hepburn Center,
to see what the community actually thinks
about this?

It should be interesting to see what sort of
turn-out they get from their paid puppets,
or even whether the South Florida news media,
esp. TV, continues their apparent boycott of
this compelling story.

In fact, perhaps because it is scheduled for NW,
the news media will show-up, albeit, like the
much-needed military support that was too late
getting to Custer.

One thing you can count on though is that
the Diplomat's interests will be employing
a full-court press at this meeting to try to
spin it their way, with the same invisible faces
we never see at City Commission or CRA
meetings suddenly popping-up and telling
us how much they want it.

Some people will always put their own financial
interests ahead of the community's greater good,
and that's exactly what we'll see on Monday night.

I'll tell you who those people are.

Thoughts on the Diplomat LAC proposal, now scheduled for April 27, and the economic threats the Westin Diplomat is now making. How low can they go?

From: Diplomat Properties, LP
Sent: Mon, Mar 29, 2010 11:24 am
Subject: Diplomat Returns to Broward County Commission for Final Vote on April 27

The Diplomat LAC will return to the Broward County Commission for a final vote in the next few weeks. This follows a 4-4 tie vote at the public hearing on March 23, with one Commissioner not present. Throughout the public review process, plans have continued to evolve in response to community and public officials' comments. Most recently, the residential buildings planned for parcel B have been reduced to 5 stories. As a supporter, you understand how crucial the residential component is to preserving the golf course. Please help us get this message out. There will be no new hotel without a residential community within the project and there may be no golf course without the LAC. We hope that you will e-mail or call the county commissioners whose no vote indicates that they don't yet appreciate this crucial linkage. Ask that they vote Yes to allow this important project to move forward. (Commissioners Jacobs, Wexler, Gunzburger and Keechl voted no; Commissioner Lieberman was not present.) We appreciate everyone's support and will let you know the new County Commission meeting date as soon as it is confirmed.

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001AOTdCtwnZM-kEPmDeh-ar8VKcVOHca1BcHUREzwyr-E98_8Ipi2GfpQ2T5JkGjKQEb2xnzKyOREwFtCMaB9_V3iwa7S31pUHDORP104kii1pwTUvcjrXi9bKWgPJdfeciXD24y-2tURUVHm94Pjq4u0SwIcO4qj4

I've told you all in previous emails and blog
posts here that the the union that owns the
Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, as well
as the Golf Course, the Plumbers and Pipe
Fitters, as well as hospitality management
company Starwood and the high-paid
lawyers, lobbyists and myriad consultants
they've retained, would engage in serial lies
and misrepresentation in order to get their
way, and they have.
Now, you can see it for yourself, above.

"There will be no new hotel without a
residential community within the project
and there may be no golf course without
the LAC."

Yes, they'll huff and they'll puff and they'll blow
the Diplomat's golf course up if they don't
get their way.
Cue the the Three Pigs!

The next vote on the Diplomat LAC will take
place before the Broward County Commission
on April 27th at 2 p.m., not the 13th as was
stated here earlier.

So when is the South Florida news media
going to cover this story in a way that equates
to its actual importance to the community's
Quality-of-Life?

That's a good question.

After a number of conversations with people
in the area and around the county, I'll have
some thoughts to share in the next two weeks
on how we all think the Diplomat LAC proposal
-which you'll recall that Hallandale Beach
City Hall placed on the city's dreadful website
for citizens to read 28 hours before the first
vote in mid-December- may affect interim
Broward Commissioner Albert C. Jones'
political future, as he seeks to get elected
to a position he was appointed to by
Gov. Charlie Crist.
http://www.broward.org/district9/
http://gis.broward.org/maps/webPDFs/CommissionDistricts/comdist9.pdf

Jones was one of the four votes for the
Diplomat last Tuesday, yet curiously,
as of this afternoon, his name still does
not appear on the posted candidates list
of the SOE.
http://www.browardsoe.org/electioncandidates.aspx?eid=89

So am I the only one who wonders why
are there no news stories about Comm.
Diana Waseerman-Rubin, whose District
actually includes a small part of NW Hallandale
Beach, and how she barely(!) understands
what she is voting on with respect to this
matter, and why is she making no effort
to come to the actual area to see what's
at stake for local residents?

Is it because she thinks Hallandale Beach
City Comm. Anthony Sanders has magical
powers that will ensure a huge turnout for her,
assuming her name is even on the ballot?

I'm sure that Sanders political and campaign
support came up when she met Sanders
(and City Manager Good?) in person at the
city's Hepburn Center two weeks ago today,
but, days later, actually turned-down an
invitation from residents in the affected HB
neighborhood to see it from their ground-level
perspective.

She had no problem in driving east to Hallandale
Beach to meet with Comm. Sanders, but actual
HB residents, well, she made them come to her
office in West Park, one week ago today.

I guess she was afraid that if she really saw
what the residents were up against, it would
make it much harder for her to vote for the
Diplomat and against them, huh?

Better to keep their legitimate concerns as
an abstract idea, instead of real homes where
real people live.

Why isn't that curious choice of her's a
news story that serves as an entree into
the larger Diplomat story?

That's another good question.

Or what about Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper
actually telephoning Diana Wasserman-Rubin
and telling her NOT to listen to the HB residents,
saying that they were naysaying "mavericks."

"Mavericks"?
No, just citizens of a city where the domineering,
thin-skinned mayor brooks no dissent, actively
engaging in participatory democracy despite
her disapproval.

That participatory democracy thing is something
she is, herself, deadly afraid of, which is why
she's okay with a City Hall-paid spy attending
meetings throughout the community for $2-3,000
a month, and reporting back to HB City Hall.

Wow, Joy Cooper speaking poorly about
HB residents behind their back, go figure?

But then if she's willing to call political opponents
of hers "Nazis" on City Hall property, inc. me,
and calling HB Comm. Keith London "a Hitler"
just moments later, it's really not so surprising.

That's how Joy Cooper rolls, as I've only been
saying here for years...

I spent some time over the weekend editing
all the photos and hours of video I shot of the
Broward Planning Council meeting of
February, and last Tuesday's Broward County
Commission, so that I can post them online
here and my under-utilized YouTube page
over the next few days,
http://www.youtube.com/user/hallandalebeachblog
so that not only the Hallandale Beach and
Hollywood communities can see what they
missed out on, but greater South Florida as well.

Perhaps they'll even pick-up on the general tenor
of the meetings, as well as the often mis-leading
information offered-up by many of our opponents.

That's especially the case with many local folks,
some of whom claim to have a connection to the
Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who said
they were SO concerned about the economic
health of HB, but most of whom you and I have
NEVER seen before, not even at Hollywood
City Commission or CRA meetings, which I
frequently attend.

I don't really mind the people supporting the
Diplomat so much as their rather transparent
attempts to buffalo us in this process in such a
very condescending way, while acting like
they were the ones looking at "the big picture."

Yes, "the big picture" that you might otherwise
recognize as your family's daily existence
hereabouts and their future.

No, actually, we were the ones doing that "big
picture" scenario, they were the local opportunists
and butt-kissers looking at self-enrichment,
which is one of the reason that I found it so easy
to take some verbal shots at some of them during
my public comments, specifically referring to them
as "water carriers" for HB CIty Hall and the
Diplomat.

That's what they were, Ann Taylor pantsuits
or not.

It was their smug attempts to seem intellectually
elevated that I found grating, especially since
you know they'd never tolerate multiple 25-30
story condo towers next to their own home in
a single family residential area.

Guess what?
A new idea is close to coming to fruition
with regard to this particular underdog effort.
After some preliminary conversations with
some well-informed citizens and civic activists
from both HB, Hollywood and beyond, who,
frankly, have grown tired of these artificial
turf friends of HB's economy speaking on
behalf of their personal greed, wallets and
purses, I've agreed to create a handy roster
here on this humble blog that will allow those
of you following this effort from the comfort
of your own home to know whom some
of the players are.

I'm going to create a list of the local people
who have spoken on behalf of the Diplomat
at government meetings and ridiculed the
legitimate concerns of the affected
neighborhood's citizens.

That list will likely include their name as well
as the name and location of their business,
if any.

If they have a business located in Hollywood,
Hallandale Beach or Aventura, I will endeavor
to take a photograph of that business so that
you all will be able to recognize it and associate
that particular business in your mind with
someone who's perfectly content for your area's
Quality-of-Life to go down the tubes.

In fact, felt so strongly about it that they said so
publicly. That's their choice.

Of course, some of these folks work in enterprises
where they are heavily-dependent on taxpayer
funds for funding.
They sure don't act like it though.

Such an example is the Hallandale Beach Chamber
of Commerce, which last year got a brand new
office at taxpayer-built HB City Hall.
It's that room next to the HB City Commission
Chambers in the breezeway at City Hall.

The group's head Patricia Genetti, whose
organization receives $50,000 of taxpayers
funds this year, much of it going towards her
salary, has been an outspoken proponent of
the Diplomat's case.

Unlike the case in many parts of the country,
where these sorts of govt. financial relationships
require public disclosure whenever compensated
individuals speak before govt. agencies,
Patricia Genetti has chosen to keep quiet about
that $50k of taxpayer loot, as she has spoken
in favor of the Diplomat LAC before the
HB Planning & Zoning meeting in mid-December,
the HB City Commission meeting the very next day,
the Broward County Planning Council meeting in
late Febraury, plus last week's important Broward
County Commission meeting that resulted in a
4-4 tie vote.

That's four separate meetings that I can think of
just off the top of my head, plus Genetti also
spoke at length at the so-called informational
public meeting the Diplomat was required to
hold at the HB Cultural Center last year, where
she also decided to keep mum about the taxpayer
money she gets while speaking against the
interests of the majority of HB's citizen taxpayers.

Some people will find this information valuable
and some will not, just as some may choose
to tell friends and family about it and decide
that they want to boycott those particular
businesses while for others, it has no practical
effect whatsoever.

It's your choice, of course, but now you'll have
the information you need to decide whether
you want to patronize those businesses or
boycott them.

You're welcome.

Bad news for Diana Wasserman-Rubin, no fan of Quality-of-Life in Hallandale Beach & Hollywood: Angelo Castillo may oppose her and he will win

The Broward Beat column by Buddy Nevins that I link
to below just got posted this morning, which explains why
there is only one reader comment there thus far.

Yesterday DWR voted against the thousands of people in
the Hallandale Beach neighborhood -and nearby Hollywood
residents- that are quite literally under-the-gun from the
unpopular and incompatible Diplomat LAC proposal,
as she has cast her lot with HB City Comm. Anthony A. Sanders
instead of the larger number of residents in this area whose
family's Quality-of-Life would be negatively affected by
the multiple condo towers and the increased traffic that
come with them.

She actually told three HB residents who met with her
at her office on Monday afternoon that she personally
avoids coming into that part of HB -i.e east of U.S-1-
because of the traffic nightmare, where we all know
from experience that we NEVER see HB Police
actually on duty to prevent the gridlock that Aventura
prevents by ACTUALLY having a visible presence
on Biscayne Blvd. and giving real tickets to scofflaws
'blocking the box."

(Just like you, if I had a dollar for every time
I saw an emergency vehicle with a siren wailing
try to head west on Hallandale Beach Blvd.
towards Aventura Hospital while it's
bumper-to-bumper from Three Islands to U.S-1,
I'd be sporting a new car.
So where are those HB cops, anyway?)

But if a vote for the Diplomat helps DWR with keeping
Sanders' Pied Piper support in NW, i.e the promise of
future jobs for NW residents, she was only too happy
to throw you and your family's neighborhood and Q-O-L
overboard, and tell you that's just tough.

That's her choice, of course, and she's welcome to it,
but if she thinks that Anthony Sanders and his
consistently anti-democratic, anti-transparency
voting record, truly abysmal lack of preparation
for city meetings -not even bothering to show-up
for the city's final vote on their big Transportation
Master Plan meeting last year- over-budget and
YEARS overdue, won't be an absolute albatross
around HER neck, she's very much mistaken.

But then isn't this vote of her's only a self-evident sign
of how truly desperate she is that she's stuck with the
equally dis-connected Sanders, who all this time later,
STILL can't tell you to your face what the official
city plan is for the property the city bought from him
and his wife for more than it was appraised at,
with your tax dollars?

Rushed with urgency to buy this one piece of property
as if there were oil deposits underneath and eager
oil execs were jetting in from Houston to sign a deal.
You know, Texas Tea?

A nondescript property which you own that the city
is now renting out for a grand total of -yes- $10 a month.
(And guess who had that deal?)

So what's the long term plan, exactly?
Where's the written strategy?
There isn't one.

Sanders can't tell you any more than Joy Cooper,
Mike Good or Richard Canonne can explain what
the grand plan for the sixty-plus properties that the
city ALREADY owns, that has no apparent rhyme
or reason to it.

And by city, I mean that YOUR tax dollars bought
and own.

Without an actual written plan that everyone in this
city knows about and can read, there is no guideline
or deadline -and ZERO scrutiny and accountability
for Hallandale Beach taxpayers.

That's why it's the way it is -HB City Hall wants it
that way. It's the same reason that HB citizens only
saw the Diplomat's submitted application and docs
to the city placed on the city's website just 28 hours
before the first vote -the P&Z- with Mayor Cooper
and Commissioners Julian, Ross and Sanders
consistently refusing, meeting after meeting, to support
Comm. Keith London's common sense motion to place
them on the website far enough before the vote would
take place, so that everyone could read them and come
to understand what they were proposing and draw
their own conclusions.

That collective refusal to allow you, the citizen taxpayers
of this city, to actually know what was being proposed,
was no accident.

It was entirely intentional, which is why I made a point
of mentioning it yesterday when I spoke before the
Broward County Commission, to explain, in part, why
the majority of well-informed citizens here so
adamantly oppose the Diplomat's over-the-top plans
for numerous condo towers in a residential neighborhood.

The self-evident nature of the city's unfairness to us,
and their completely unprofessional and unethical conduct
-AGAIN!- as if HB City Hall was a silent partner in the
enterprise, trying to FIX things so we'd have little chance
to respond in a reasonable fashion, was galling, and the
local news media's completely ignoring that fact only
made it worse.

That's the price many of us currently pay for living in
a city with a corrupt City Hall at the same time we
have a sleepwalking local news media.

IF he chooses to run, I'll be enthusiastically supporting
Angelo Castillo for the good of both Broward County's
future as well as this city's, which desperately needs all
the help and good, positive ideas it can get.

Smart, savvy and dynamic common sense help that,
in my opinion, it ISN'T currently getting and won't
receive in the future from disconnected and uninformed
Diana Wasserman-Rubin.

It's taking longer than I expected to go thru the hours
of photos and video I shot at yesterday's Broward
County Commission meeting, but I will definitely have
some of the material up by late tonight.

----------
Broward Beat
http://www.browardbeat.com/opponent-closing-in-on-wasserman-rubin/
Opponent Closing In On Wasserman-Rubin
By Buddy Nevins
March 24, 2010

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-wasserman-swamp-school-20100128,0,3130912.story
Wasserman-Rubin's husband played key role in controversial school land deal
By Scott Wyman, Sun Sentinel
January 28, 2010


The pull quote from the article below:
"I seldom get a call from the city," Wasserman-Rubin told those gathered at the
barbershop at 708 Foster Rd.
Just saying...

South Florida Times
July 2007; updated March 17, 2008

http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=290&Itemid=42

Residents outraged over neighborhood neglect

South Florida news media's silence in asking Steve Geller hard questions has never been more noticeable than now

What follows is an email I sent out this afternoon
to numerous South Florida print/TV reporters
and columnists, raising questions that you may
well have been asking yourself.

The part about Steve Geller could've been
asked last month or last year.
Oh, that's right, I did.
Reporters and columnists, not so much.
-------------

Monday March 22nd, 2010
Noon

Many of you have a reputation for being more
than willing to indulge former State Senator
Steve Geller's ego, and to contact him for
almost any reason under the sun if you think
he'll say something pithy that'll make your
audience chortle, even if he really doesn't
know any more about the subject than many
other people you could ask.

So that said, is there a reason that you and
the rest of the South Florida news media
haven't asked Steve Geller to publicly
declare his own sympathies, one way or
the other, in the fight by Hallandale Beach
citizens -and their allies in Hollywood-
against the incompatible Diplomat LAC
plan scheduled to be voted upon Tuesday
afternoon by the Broward County Commission?

Or to ever mention what other local Broward
pols are saying or doing in relation to the
prospect of four or five 25-story-plus condo
towers being dropped on a residential
neighborhood, largely because the Union
that owns the Diplomat Country Club,
along with their partner Starwood, has done
such a dreadful job of improving and marketing
the expensive golf course, that nobody wants
to play there.

(If they get the approval they seek from the
Broward County Commission, it's clear that
the Plumbers & Pipe Fitters Union will
try to sell it toute-de-suite.)

For instance, sounding-out local pols like
Eleanor Sobel, Joe Gibbons, Jennifer
& Ken Gottlieb, Elaine Schwartz or
Ann Murray or...

In most parts of the country, they'd be part
of the equation, and maybe even vocal leaders
in the fight.
But here, they just sit on the sidelines, as if
local voters in HB and Hollywood don't notice
their MIA status, and won't take it into account
negatively come Election Day.

(They're in for a surprise, as we WILL
take it into account and ask questions
about their silence.)

No, instead, we are met with completely
incurious reporters who don't seem to want
to ask reasonable questions that Southeast
Broward residents want answers to.

It's the biggest issue in this city -besides
reforming a very corrupt HB City Hall-
and yet you all have, individually and
collectively, given Steve Geller a free ride
for months.

You've been completely averse to asking basic
questions of someone who could, theoretically,
actually represent most of this city and
Hollywood if he were to actually somehow defeat
Sue Gunzburger, though I think it's unlikely.

Why?
Why this great reluctance to ask Steve Geller
tough questions?

Is it the possibility of losing access to
a quotable source?

Frankly, that's what most people I know who
are interested in public policy in South Florida
believe.
You know, the ones interested enough to actually
show-up and participate and be quoted by you
or featured in interviews you conduct?

That's also the belief of many Florida reporters
from outside of South Florida.
If you didn't already know, many of them think
Geller plays the South Florida media like
a violin, some more easily than others
-from practice!

And why the great reluctance to ask Geller
to state the specific date by which he will
actually be living in the Commission
District he's running for, while he continues
to live outside of it up in Cooper City?

Geller has been a carpetbagger this entire
campaign, an adjective that you all seem
very reluctant to use for reasons that don't
necessarily speak well for your profession's
integrity.
It's all just so very, very curious.

And what is Broward Commissioner Diana
Wasserman-Rubin going to do on the
Diplomat LAC, since Hallandale Beach is part
of her District, even if the project itself is not?

Will she continue to give the concerned
neighborhood the complete runaround?

DWR had no problem at all in meeting Hallandale
Beach Commissioner Anthony A, Sanders
in person on March 8th at the Hepburn Center
in HB to hear the typically one-sided rhetoric
sans facts that he specializes in.

But when the actual neighborhood directly affected
by the over-the-top project wanted to show her
around and give her some first-hand perspective
and context to better understand their plight
-and more easily imagine a 25-30-story
condo suddenly going up 100 feet from
their kitchen window, and plunging them
into near permanent shade- after initially
agreeing to come, DWR decided the following
day, last Friday, that she didn't want to meet
with them on-site.
Which defeats the purpose of a walking
tour, no?

Instead, she asked them to come to her
West Park office today at 4 p.m., at the
Family Success Center, 4733 SW 18th Street,
one block south of Pembroke Rd.

Those of you who want to break away from
the media herd may want to consider
swinging-by there and see how it's goes,
but at this point, given all her other myriad
problems, DWR seems to just be digging
herself into a deeper hole with HB citizens,
who already thought she was distant and
far-removed from their day-to-day concerns,
which will only be magnified if she votes
for the Diplomat on Tuesday.

After failing to meet residents where
the project is slated to be built.

For the record, besides Sue Gunzburger,
who has been to numerous meetings in both
HB and Hollywood on this issue that I've
attended, NONE of the other Broward
County Commissioners have bothered
to come to the affected area to see what's
in store for these beleaguered residents.

Perhaps the attached Massing Study done
by the Diplomat's consultants will give
you a sense of their future if the Diplomat
gets their way.

Seeing is believing, which perhaps best explains
why DWR chooses not to visit the scene.

She knows that she can't look people in the eye
and say that she likes what the Diplomat
proposes to do to their home, so she forces a
handful of them to have to come to HER office,
where she has home-court advantage, and can
conclude the meeting whenever she wants.

If I were a betting man, as of this afternoon,
I'd say that Diana Wasserman-Rubin will
vote for the Diplomat's project, along with
both Stacey Ritter and Elaine Lieberman,
the latter two forever the developer's friend
and among the biggest individual drags on
Broward getting into the 21st Century thru
their smirky, ham-handed ethical problems.

Me, I'm just wondering when the news media
down here will once again have both some bark
and some bite.

-----

Those of you who want to see the Massing Study
I referred to above for yourselves should drop me
an email and I'll send it to you.
Write me at hallandalebeachblog(-at-)gmail.com

Chaz Stevens' latest video is a reality gut-check for Deerfield Beach; Angelo Castillo's idea on improving voting participation in Broward County

Chaz Stevens' latest video is exactly what I wanted
to do in 2008 with the City of Hallandale Beach's
(COHB) curious purchase of Pastor/Commissioner
Anthony A. Sanders personal property for much more
than its appraised value, as if HB City Hall had more
money than sense. LOL!
Well, history has clearly borne me out on this.

COHB was in a rush to buy this property owned by the
then-Pastor Anthony A. Sanders and his wife, so that
the city could promptly... do nothing with it at all.

Now that they've put HB taxpayers on the hook for it,
one of more than sixty-plus properties that COHB
currently owns, they rent it out at $10 -yes $10-
a month to a group the city wants to co-opt and stay
on friendly terms with for completely political reasons.

But what was the actual rationale for the purchase in
the first place, which was NEVER publicly advertised
on the HB City Commission agenda, but instead,
done under the stealthy rubric "Other," depriving
HB citizen taxpayers of their opportunity to not only
be publicly heard on this unseemly transaction,
but ask for proof of what STILL remains the city's
imaginary action plan?

They have a very vague idea but no actual overall
written plan they can either point taxpayers to,
or are willing to publicly share with them,
IF it even exists on paper.

Meanwhile, COHB's financial situation goes from bad
to worse -see http://changehallandale.com/,
click Budget or Debt - and they STILL can't answer
perfectly reasonable financial questions by residents
about this absurd purchase, despite plenty of time
and resources to do so.

In fact, this specific issue came up again this past week
at a city Quadrant meeting held at the city's Cultural
Center -more on that on Monday, along with video-
and once again, the city's highly-paid staff could NOT
point to something actually either written down
(or approved by the City Commission) that justified
a premium price bring paid for a mediocre piece of
property in 2008.

Like it was a Ken Griffey, Jr. Rookie baseball card
at the pinnacle of the baseball card craze in the early
1990's that disappeared once the actual merchandise
had been sold to the gullible public.
Caveat emptor, mes amis!

For those of you who are late to what Chaz Stevens
has uncovered in his corner of Broward, you can see
what larger point he is proving with 100% accuracy
-and video- along with his latest muckraking adventures,
here, http://www.myactsofsedition.com/ some of which
the Broward Palm Beach NewTimes has written
about quite well, while the Herald and Sun-Sentinel
largely continue to play catch-up.



Video is at:
http://www.myactsofsedition.com/my_acts_of_sedition/2010/03/housing-in-deerfield-beach-a-video-montage.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ActsOfSedition-ABlogAboutDeerfieldBeachPolitics+%28Acts+of+Sedition%29

In today's Broward Beat, Angelo Castillo writes
about a simple plan that results in Broward citizens
taking back voting from bureaucrats, with the added
dividends of increased participation and depriving
anyone from their 15 Minutes by whining about voting
sites or hours.

I love voting in person, but I'm willing to vote by mail
if it increases actual public participation.
http://www.browardbeat.com/castillo-expand-voting-by-mail-keep-city-voting-separate/

Personally, I still wish that Castillo would run this Fall
against the longstanding, ethically-challenged and largely
clueless Broward County Commissioner whose district
includes a small part of HB, Diana Wasserman-Rubin,
but for now, he seems to have decided to make his
re-election in Pembroke Pines his first priority, which
occurred this week with him getting 87.64% of vote.

(And what was DWR talking to Comm. Sanders and
some of his acolytes about over at the city's Hepburn
Center on Monday night?
Some well-informed people hereabouts think that she's
actually considering the possibility of supporting the
out-of-scale Diplomat LAC next week at the
County Commission, the 23rd, in exchange for
Sanders vocal support and his acolytes' help,
which likely won't come for free.
But then you already knew that, right?)

Castillo has more practical ideas and common sense
than 99% of the elected officials pols I run into in
Broward and M-D, and would, I think, make a great
county-wide ELECTED Mayor in the future if the
circumstances ever presented themselves, and residents
could ACTUALLY vote for that instead of the Broward
County Commission crowning one of their members.

I feel this way in large part because he is someone who
is not afraid of new ideas as a solution to resolving
longstanding problems.

Problems that have made and will continue to make
Broward less desirable than it could be with the proper
leadership and hard work.

Me, I'm for diversity -I want smart and honest
people with common sense.

If you're hanging around the house for the next few hours,
at 2 p.m., Turner Classic Movies is showing one of
the best political films ever made, All The King's Men,
based on Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_King%27s_Men

No, not the Sean Penn & Jude Law's recent clone,
which I intentionally skipped, but the powerful original that
was so compelling that it won the Best Picture Oscar for
1949, as well as the Best Actor Oscar for Broderick
Crawford.

Here's the film trailer:
http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=159099&titleId=27628