FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'

Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan
Showing posts with label Diplomat LAC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diplomat LAC. Show all posts

Thursday, October 18, 2018

How do you solve a problem named Mike Satz? Speculation by Buddy Nevins on whether Broward's state's attorney should run for re-election after 42 years in office gives me a chance to piggy-back and raises some questions of my own regarding Satz & Co's underwhelming performance and the state of ethics in Broward County and Hallandale Beach today, as per Joy Cooper

How do you solve a problem named Mike Satz? Speculation by Buddy Nevins on whether Broward's state's attorney should run for re-election after 42 years in office gives me a chance to piggy-back and raises some questions of my own regarding Satz & Co's underwhelming performance and the state of ethics in Broward County and Hallandale Beach today, as per Joy Cooper

 How do you solve a problem named Mike Satz?

Now there's a question...

 As veteran Broward County political observer and Broward Beat blogger Buddy Nevins writes about and speculates about some of the behind-the-scenes moves swirling around whether Broward State Attorney Michael Satz will defy common sense yet again and run for re-election after being in office since 1976, and who might or should run for the office if he doesn't, I hold a mirror up to Satz and his many past failures to act in ways that I believe he should have.

 That includes one huge lingering question that so many people in Hallandale Beach, Hollywood and other parts of South Florida routinely ask me when I'm minding my own business somewhere, regarding the arrest last December by the FBI of then-Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper on multiple felony counts: "Dave, what took Satz so long?" He sat on almost five years of audiotapes of Joy Cooper bragging about her influence to undercover FBI agents posing as real estate interests.






So, continuing on the subject of Satz, per this story and tweet below by blogger Red Broward, i.e. Tom Lauder,
Hallandale Beach Mayor Keith London Pays Disgraced Former County Commissioner With PAC Funded By Developers & Casinos
https://redbroward.com/2018/10/15/londonpac/

 First, I have known and communicated with Tom for many years. I meant to his tweet on Monday afternoon when I first saw it and read the piece.
I even meant to respond to the other day via a tweet storm but got tied up with something else before I really could.
Then, once I started, I didn't have enough time or energy to do it justice the way I wanted to... folks, real tears!
I discovered that my beloved laptop's not working properly so that what I wrote and saved as a file there on Monday night when I got home isn't available for me to write and post here now.
So, that said, I've added a smaller ad hoc version of that response of mine to Tom's story and tweet below my own tweet.

There's more at: https://twitter.com/RedBroward/with_replies

 Tom: I appreciate that you have a very different take than me re Keith London, now Hallandale beach mayor and someone that I have known for roughly 12 years, many of them when he and I spoke or saw one another 3-4 times a week at times when things were going crazy at South Florida's #1 home of chaos, Hallandale beach City hall.

 That's your right, of course, but Keith -whom I haven't spoken to for longer than 45 seconds in more than 5 years, despite so many people even now persisting in thinking that we're somehow tied to the hip like we often seemed to be years ago- has to deal with reality and one of them is that #Gaming and #Gambling interests have ALWAYS mattered in a small city with two separately-operated casinos & race tracks. (The town and this part of Broward was run by Organized Crime just a few decades ago, as any historian can tell you, and as I know you know as well.)

Not to tell you what to think or how to write your posts and tweets but... personally, I think it'd be a good idea to remind your readers when you write about people associated with Hallandale Beach's "gaming interests" who are communicating with or helping Keith with some effort of his, like it's some sort of nefarious plot, you simply need remind them to take a look at a map and see that Gulfstream Park Race track & casino and its Village at Gulfstream are, literally, across the street from Hallandale Beach City Hall.
AND it's still THE largest employer in the city, such as it is.
That explains Gulfstream Park's interest in what goes on across the street.

But that said, I also need remind you that I have personally been one of the -if not THE- biggest critics of Gulfstream Park's management and its operations in the city for the entire length of the 11 years that I have had my influential blog that LOTS of well-informed people in South Florida read to get insight and perspective they don't get elsewhere.
It's why so many people call me and write me to tell me something or even argue a point, including TV/print reporters and newspaper columnists, some of whom are outside of South Florida but who have an interest in what goes on in South Florida, good and bad, whether in Miami, Tallahassee or Washington, D.C.
It's why reporters and bloggers and other, like you, tag me in their tweets, because they know I know the score and can usually add something to what's on the table.

 At HB City Commission meetings as well as many public events and especially on my blog, I have openly laughed at and enjoyed publicly poking large holes in Gulfstream's feeble excuses for all sorts of actions they've taken over the years, including their well-known propensity in the past to use ex-mayor Joy Cooper as their personal go-to person to get everything they wanted.
Sometimes, as in 2013, that included quite justified large fines for operating against the city's own code and trying to get away with things simply because of who they are -used to calling the tune.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/gulfstream-park-race-track-casino-will.html

 Cooper, typically, loved to say she'd take care of it and tried to ram waivers of fines down the HB City Commission without any documentation or even any staff prep, and ignore their proscribed government oversight role. Cooper didn't care, but she also didn't get her way because I let the public know what was what. And one TV reporter in particular - Bob Norman of Local10.

 Local10: Mayor wants $52K fine against Gulfstream Park waived
No vote taken on waiving fine at Hallandale Beach budget meeting
By Bob Norman, Reporter, bnorman@Local10.com, and Ben Candea, Senior Web Producer, bcandea@local10.com
Published On: Oct 04 2013 06:13:16 PM EDT   
Updated On: Oct 04 2013 11:51:10 PM EDT
http://www.local10.com/news/mayor-wants-52k-fine-against-gulfstream-park-waived/-/1717324/22282006/-/p0vivbz/-/index.html


My intimate knowledge of the facts and not just the prevailing media or party narrative, along with some demonstrated shrewdness, plus, actual results, are why I've succeeded in getting negative stories about Gulfstream and other parties on local Miami TV newscasts when they've acted in truly egregious ways that shocked any reasonable person's idea of propriety.
In this case, Gulfstream Park was used to carrying a Big Stick -and was not afraid to use it.
But I'm not afraid of bullies.
Guess how that turned out in the end because of me?

 But all of that said -and it's easy to find on my blog's archives- it is demonstrably true that the Diplomat Hotel and its management team and crew of legal and PR mouthpieces also had a TON of influence at HB City Hall and used that influence and leverage routinely to get what THEY wanted, too, even when HB residents made clear that they were against it, including, famously, the 2009 RAC plan that called for multiple condo towers to go up around their golf course north of F-rated Hallandale Beach Blvd. that were all over twenty-five floors and would have ruined many residents quality of life, including people on Diplomat Parkway who paid thru the nose for homes with unobstructed golf course views and who did not want their home in near-perpetual shade.

 Gulfstream has tried to exploit that perception and beat them at their own game. It's that simple.

 So when writing about the amount of campaign funds that Gulfstream Park gave, be sure to mention that while Gulfstream backed both Michele Lazarow and Annabelle Taub-Lima in their pre-acrimony days vs. Diplomat-backed, ethically-flawed ex-HB Comm. William "Bill" Julian, they still got out-spent by the Diplomat and its minions desperate to get Cooper's pawn Julian back on the dais to do her bidding.
Just saying, proper context and perspective have a place in the Keith London pieces you write.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Quick thoughts regarding real estate attorney Alan Koslow's current legal problems -facing federal money-laundering conspiracy charges; paid $8,500 to launder $220,000 in FBI sting?








Though Becker & Poliakoff attorney Alan Koslow is clearly very good at his job, as we in Hallandale Beach and environs have often learned the hard way, as I've often chronicled to my chagrin the past nine years on this blog, I believe Koslow is, perhaps single-handedly, MORE 
responsible than any other single party I can think of -over the past dozen years- for defending and advancing the often parochial and short-term interests of the myriad developers who've proposed the largest number of buildings in Hallandale Beach that were either incompatible to the existing neighborhood, inappropriate under current HB zoning rules or just plain UGLY to look at.
It's actually easier to think of which projects he hasn't been involved with in some capacity or another.

And unfortunately for Hallandale Beach's long-term health and future Quality of Life, Mayor Joy Cooper and Commissioners Bill Julian and Anthony A. Sanders have voted for EVERY one of them, too, even when the majority of HB's citizens were clearly opposed or wanted some reasonable modifications.

Over the years, people I meet and talk to at various public meetings around Broward county have often been confused about which real estate/development attorney was responsible for which specific project or proposal in Hallandale Beach or Hollywood, since there have been so many.
So, to those of you who've already emailed me about this, I don't believe Koslow was involved with the latest round of Diplomat development melodrama, rather it was Debbie Orshefsky. 
Orshefsky left Greenberg & Traurig for Holland & Knight subsequent to the first go-round of Diplomat Golf Course melodrama -i.e. Diplomat LAC- a few years ago that the citizens of HB won, thanks in large part to my good friend and fellow Broward civic activist Csaba Kulin's very dedicated work ethic and tireless efforts to engage and educate the community, using reason, facts and common sense, not half-truths. 

ICYMI on Thursday: My two cents!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Dave 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Why we're FOR Chuck Kulin for Hallandale Beach City Commission Seat 1: On one important issue after another -but esp. development- ineffective, incompetent incumbent Comm. Anthony A. Sanders has consistently disrespected & disappointed HB residents & Small Business owners. Here are the cold hard facts you need to consider -and that Sanders wishes you'd forget!

June 2, 2010 photo of Hallandale Beach City Hall by South Beach Hoosier. 
© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

 Dear Friends:

 For many Hallandale Beach voters, especially those living on the beach in our many large condominium towers, the most-populous part of the city, this may well be the first time that anyone has attempted to connect-the-dots and facts on how someone as ineffective and incompetent as Hallandale Beach Commission Seat 1 incumbent Anthony A. Sanders came to mis-represent you on that five-member panel that makes the public policy and budget decisions that you and your family has to deal with everyday. That's why taking the time to do it right matters.
And that's why I'm doing it right now -while your vote can still make a positive difference to give us all a very different sort of future and a much-better city.

 (If you know someone who doesn't follow what's going on in our city and want themn to make an intelligent choice, please forward this to them BEFORE the election!)

 I'm happy to be writing today as I've got positive and encouraging news to share with you about how well my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach activist Chuck Kulin's campaign is going to bring 
increased levels of financial accountability, common sense and ethical integrity to Hallandale Beach City Hall. As many of you know, due to Chuck's steadfast hard work over the years to help give Hallandale Beach residents and small business owners like you the sort of open and transparent city government we deserved -but were NOT receiving- he recently earned the endorsement of two individuals with well-known track records for demanding genuine accountability and responsiveness from government for all taxpayers: outgoing District 6 Broward County Comm. Sue Gunzburger and Beam Furr, the former Hollywood Comm. and District 6 County Comm. Democratic 
nominee. 
More recently, Chuck earned the endorsement of the pro-business South Broward Board of Realtors.

Those endorsements are positive signs that what he's been saying and doing is resonating with people, and I'm happy to say that he's earned those endorsements based on his solid record of civic activism and refusal to buckle to the powers-that-be at Hallandale Beach City Hall. 
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/04/hallandale_mayor_joy_cooper_budget.php
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/csaba-kulin-and-i-re-long-trail-of.html

 But what's really heartened me over the past few weeks is the very positive reaction that his pro-reform campaign is receiving from so many of you and your neighbors as he makes his way thru the city, walking the precincts and talking about the important financial and policy issues facing our city.
Specifically, discussing in detail what sort of positive changes he and so many of us believe need to be implemented at HB City Hall to create a better Quality-of-Life for residents and a better business environment for Small Businesses.

Do you want to know who is NOT happy about Chuck Kulin openly discussing those issues, 
especially the nuts-and-bolts details about what's been going wrong in our city for FAR TOO LONG? The person Chuck Kulin is running against - ineffective incumbent Hallandale Beach Comm. Anthony Sanders.  
And it's no wonder that Sanders is not happy, given his consistently unsatisfactory track record in office the last six years on so many important issues that affect all of us on a daily basis. 
Let's take a quick look at that track record of Comm. Sanders on an important issue that concerns everyone in this city, regardless of where you live -development- and specifically examine what Sanders said and did when three controversial development projects came before the five-member HB City Commission.

The first project we'll examine is the Diplomat LAC project, a project that was completely incompatible in every respect to the residential N.E. neighborhood for which it was planned. But the folks in power at Hallandale Beach City Hall loved it like crazy!
In case you forgot or are somewhat hazy on the details, that project would've resulted in 5-7 large condo towers the size of The Duo being constructed on the perimeter of the Diplomat Country Club, making the already-terrible traffic problems we encounter there worse, with resulting ripple-effects throughout the city. 

 Single-family home owners and residents of the 3-4 story condo/apt. complexes on Diplomat Parkway, Atlantic Shores Blvd and N.E. 14th Avenue -along with residents all over the city, including me- were not just shocked that the HB City Commission tried to steamroll public opposition to it, but angry that the city thought it could successfully play hide-and-seek with public documents in order to make it difficult for HB residents like them to get their hands on the up-to-date changes to the plan prior to public meetings, so they could be as well-informed when they spoke at public meetings as the lawyers, consultants and lobbyists working for the developer.

Those same concerned residents repeatedly emailed and telephoned Comm. Sanders, urging him to meet with them in their neighborhood so that he could get a first-hand perspective on how the plan would directly affect them, even to the point of putting some people's backyards in permanent shadows, to say nothing of taking away the very views that had caused many of them to decide to move there in the first place.
But when Sanders had the chance to do the right thing, he didn't care about the concerns of these HB residents -and never responded.


Instead, Sanders voted FOR the incompatible plan, even speaking in favor of it at the Broward County Commission, despite the neighborhood/community's vocal opposition.
On the other hand, my friend Chuck Kulin was not only one of the plan's most-fervent opponents, he helped educate and organize the public opposition against it over several months, consistently speaking against it before the City Commission, County Planning Commission and the County Commission. Eventually, the County Commission had the good sense to vote the plan down, and in doing so, echoed many of the same sensible reasons Chuck had given over the preceding months.

The second controversial development plan where Comm. Sanders' behavior and vote is well worth recalling was the Beachwalk condo/hotel project next to the Intracoastal Bridge. Located on the site of the old Manero's restaurant property, which had sat empty for years, this plan would've required the city to give the developer not only a high number of variances, but also required the city to give the developer critical land it owned as part of the deal.
Just as was the case with the Diplomat RAC plan, Comm. Sanders was NOT at all interested in what HB residents in the S.E. neighborhood thought, even though they'd be the ones living with the consequences of a large tower being constructed and casting its giant shadow over them daily in an area with no road alternatives.

When Chuck and I and many other concerned HB residents publicly urged the City Commission to delay for just one month the first of its two public meetings on the project, so that the majority of residents and property owners along Diana Drive and Layne Blvd. who'd be most-directly affected -and who were mostly out-of-town for the summer- could return to town and have their three minutes to speak their peace publicly, Comm. Sanders said and did nothing to offer them any hope. 
Is it because Sanders simply didn't care about the neighborhood or its residents? 

 See, Latest info & photos re The Related Group's proposed 31-story waterfront Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach; Vote is set for Wednesday night despite the fact that many nearby homeowners are away for the summer and can't participate. It needs to be rejected! Don't give away North Beach!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/latest-info-photos-re-related-groups.html

 When you examine the public records on the city's own website, it's clear that Sanders was a YES vote for the developer from the beginning, and soon after the vote, the developer and his team delivered some nice-sized checks to Sanders' 2012 campaign chest, just after they delivered $20,000 to Mayor Cooper's re-election campaign. 
Is that the reason that no amount of logic or reason -or even appeals to basic fairness- would interfere with Comm. Sanders giving the developer everything they wanted -and at a cheap price, too?

The third and most-recent controversial development project worth re-examining Comm. Sanders voting record for is the one on the beach located at 2000 S. Ocean Drive, next to Parker Towers and The Hemispheres. Sometimes referred to as the "Regency Spa" project for the site's former use, this unpopular project, with a ridiculous number of variance requests, was voted down twice before the HB Planning & Zoning Advisory Board, with Chuck asking hard-but-fair questions of the developer's team before casting votes against it both times.
But when the plan came before the HB City Commission in May, it was approved on a vote of 3-2, with Sanders providing the deciding vote FOR the developer -and against the best long-term interests of the residents of the neighborhood.

Yes, it was Comm. Sanders who was the final nail in the coffin that made certain that a building that's completely incompatible to the neighborhood will now be there for years to come. Unless something
unexpected happens, it will serve as a daily reminder to our city's residents of the complete folly of ever trusting their city's fate and our collective Quality-of-Life to him.

And now as you can see for yourself when you drive by there, no doubt in part to thank him for his YES vote back in May, the developer on that project has allowed a large Sanders campaign sign to be erected right out front of the property. 
Draw your own conclusions folks.

So with just over 10 days to go, I'm very enthusiastic because when Hallandale Beach voters know the facts and know the issues, they are consistently supporting Chuck Kulin for Seat 1 on the Hallandale Beach City Commission. 
You can not simply ignore the fact that Comm. Sanders has consistently shown bad judgment and disrespect towards HB residents over six long years. 
That sort of consistent behavior in office should NOT be rewarded now with four more years, since we know from experience that would only mean nothing but more grief and regret on one important issue after another.

I'm happy that Chuck's campaign is being so well received but with just under a dozen days of hard work ahead, I don't want any of us to take anything for granted. In order to get Chuck's message out to as many concerned and frustrated Hallandale Beach voters as possible, I'm asking you now directly for your help in any way that you can provide it to him. 
Whether that's helping with phone calls, walking the condos & streets with him, providing talent/resources, or helping the campaign financially with a campaign contribution, I'll be very appreciative of whatever you can do now to help him.


Trust me, I know as well as anyone how many of you want this effort of Chuck's to succeed, so
we can all finally have what we wish we had right now -a more open, responsive and accountable city govt. that provides a better Quality-of-Life we can all take pride in.

If you can support his candidacy, please go to his PayPal account
http://chuckkulin.com/hallandale_beach/index.php/jce/paypal-donate


Or, you can send him a check to:
        Chuck Kulin Campaign
        1835 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd, #130
        Hallandale Beach, FL 33009Cell 954-804-2210 
E-mail ChuckKulin2014@gmail.com

Hallandale Beach, please vote like your family's future depends on it, because it really does!
Vote Chuck Kulin for Seat 1 on Tuesday November 4th.
Dave
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Just Broward County being Broward County when facing their own serial incompetence. A sad, familiar refrain... The sorry state of ethics and Good Government in South Florida where government incompetence and corruption are too frequently the norm; Broward County Courthouse Taskforce

Below are some thoughts by some very concerned Broward County citizens on what's going on up at
Andrews Ave. with the Broward County Commission, with my own comments just below them, which are, in large part, excerpts of an email of my own sent to the writers and the much larger community who receives my emails.

The emails are in reverse-chron order with some identifiable email info removed, and some blank spacing eliminated, but otherwise identical to how I received it over the weekend.
The comments are pretty self-explanatory and the official govt. response speak volumes.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Charlotte Greenbarg
Date: Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 11:04 AM
Subject: FW: Another arrest: J. Eggelletion from Mae Smith
To: Charlotte Greenbarg

Read the whole list of emails. Interesting. Go Mae!
Charlotte
From: Warence Mae Smtih
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 5:52 PM
To: 'Dave Reierson'; 'Henry, Bertha'; 'Keechl, Ken'; Commissioner Diane Wasserman-Rubin; Commissioner Ilene Lieberman ; Commissioner John Rodstrom ; Commissioner Ken Keechl; Commissioner Kristen Jacobs; Commissioner Lois Wexler; Commissioner Stacey Ritter; Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger
Cc: Michael Mayo
Subject: RE: Another arrest: J. Eggelletion

 To all who have the authority or power to take responsible action:
Commissioner Eggelletion was removed from office in September it appears on the website as if he still represents the district. Why is it taking so long to remove his name off of the website? This is misleading to the residents of District 9. When School Board Commissioner Beverly Gallagher was removed from office; the school board immediately removed her pictures and name from all business of the school board. The school board felt a need take immediate action. Is there a reason for you to be so slow to remove his name?
Today Ex-Commissioner Eggelletion turned himself into the Broward County Jail. The Feds has him on one corner and the State Attorney’s Office finally has him on the other. I don’t think Governor Crist is stupid and I don’t think you are. What are the chances of the Governor Crist re-instating him to office? All material and websites that advertise his name as Commissioner for District 9 should be removed NOW!!!!
Warence “Mae” Smith
President of St. George Civic Association, Inc.
From: Dave Reierson
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 5:15 PM
To: 'Dave Reierson'; 'Henry, Bertha'; 'Keechl, Ken'
Cc: Mae Smith; Michael Mayo
Subject: Another arrest: J. Eggelletion
Commissioner Keechl and Ms. Henry:
The attached story about another arrest of former Comm. Eggelletion further questions your approach about your unwillingness to update your website. Your official website states that he remains a Broward County Commissioner and that he represents District 9. I seems that you put little value in the content of the website, even the home page and somehow this inaccuracy about who holds an elected office is a small issue to the Commission and to the County Administrator.
http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3512&Itemid=1
Dave Reierson
Oakland Park, FL
From: Dave Reierson
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 11:20 PM
To: 'Henry, Bertha'; 'Keechl, Ken'
Subject: RE: J. Eggelletion
Ms. Henry:
I guess that makes sense to you, but certainly not to me. Updating of the web site is dependent on actions of the Governor? There is a vacant spot on the Broward County Board of Commissioners, but you seem to be not willing to acknowledge it on the web site. Apparently the web site is not expected to be current or accurate, even when it addresses a matter as important as our elected officials. Evidently that is also quite acceptable to the other Commissioners. It also seems to me that this update to the website should be quite manageable and a rather simple task. Certainly that is our expectation in the private sector, but in the public sector our expectations are expected to be much lower? This makes me continue to wonder how well the large tasks are being managed.
Dave Reierson
Oakland Park
From: Henry, Bertha
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 7:07 PM
To: Keechl, Ken; 'Dave Reierson'
Subject: RE: J. Eggelletion
Dear Mr. Reierson,
We expect the Governor to make an appointment any day now. Once done, we will update all at once.

From: Keechl, Ken
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 12:47 PM
To: 'Dave Reierson'
Cc: Henry, Bertha
Subject: RE: J. Eggelletion
Dave:
Under the Broward Co. Charter, this decision is that of Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry. I have cc’d her on this email. Ms. Henry, please respond to Mr. Reierson directly.
Thanks for your continued support, Dave.
Ken
Ken Keechl, District 4 Commissioner
Vice Mayor Broward County
From: Dave Reierson
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 11:59 AM
To: Keechl, Ken
Subject: J. Eggelletion
Commissioner Keechl:
I see that J. Eggelletion is still listed as a Commissioner of the Broward County Board of Commissioners. His website states that he represents District 9. Neither is true. Why hasn’t this been corrected?
Dave Reierson
Oakland Park, FL

----------
November 10th, 2009

Up until now I've always avoided forwarding emails to you for all the obvious reasons, but as you can see below, other concerned citizens in Broward are noticing the very same sorts of 'curious' things that we've been noticing and taking note of for quite some time and also asking why? 
Their emails and questions ring familiar to us and resonate deep inside because they contain the same lyrics from that same old sad song of incompetence and misfeasance sung by Broward County administrators and elected officials, starting with Bertha Henry and her assistants.

To cite one recent example, Broward County administrators DIDN'T properly keep the public information on their website accurate or up-to-date on their so-called Courthouse Taskforce, under Broward Commissioner Ilene Lieberman as Chair.


(When you're looking for fresh objective eyes on a subject, why was a Broward Commissioner on the Taskforce in the first place, thereby effectively giving her two votes on the matter?
Someone who reportedly owned land in the immediate area?
And then made the Chair?

The entire Courthouse Taskforce had self-evident professional and personal conflicts of interests of the sort that, in a well-run county would've never allowed them to pass muster, since there was nobody on it who was even openly agnostic about needing a new facility, much less, critical of the county's self-serving bias with taxpayers dollars.

But with just a few rare exceptions, seemingly everyone in South Florida media just looked the other way, because the Broward County Commission desperately wants a new Courthouse, and doesn't much care what taxpayers say or think, or what sorts of behind-the-scenes moves they have to finesse in order to get their way.

There's a reason why the Broward County Commissioners don't want to have a public referendum on this issue.

If the media is supposed to be 'watchdogs' for the public, why did South Florida's media 
suddenly go deaf, mute and blind on this issue and never ask tough questions about the 
personnel makeup of this Taskforce, and why did the Editorial Boards of the Herald and Sun-Sentinel just sit on the sidelines and take one for the home team, i.e. The Establishment, and never ask?

Do you know what they call a place where the 'watchdog' doesn't bark?
Of course you do, because you live here, too. They call it our reality -South Florida 2009.)

Under Comm. Lieberman's watch, the Taskforce waited until hours AFTER their last scheduled public meeting before finally putting up the agenda and any and all relevant updated info, docs and renderings, as well as the Minutes of the previous meeting, which was supposed to be online for the
public to examine long BEFORE that meeting ever started.

In a well-run community where there is actual punishment and public rebuke of those who don't play by society's norms and laws, and who continually don't do what they're supposed to do, there's a real tangible downside to those who don't place the info on the county's website WEEKS BEFORE, if not days before, as the County kept trying to peddle their sad-luck mold stories to anyone in the media who'd ask, complete with arranging tours of supposed off-limit areas.

But this isn't a well-run county as we all know, so it WASN'T done.
There was no public accountability.

That's why in the days prior to that final public meeting of Broward's Courthouse Taskforce, I emailed Comm. Sue Gunzburger's office to let her know about this failure by the county to properly keep the public FULLY informed.
Her always-helpful staff forwarded my concerns to the top of the county.

Later, I received what I can only describe as a series of pathetic, self-serving excuses from one of County Administrator Bertha Henry's assistants.

These rather silly and unsatisfactory missives were very similar to the ones I received this past Spring when I grilled them about the fact that ONE YEAR after-the-fact, the relevant information and Minutes from the FINAL public meeting of the county's Charter Review Commission in April of 2008, including the actual arguments for and against individual items being proposed for the Nov. 2008 ballot for county voters, as well as the actual procedural and final votes by the individual committee members, were STILL NOT on the county's website.

So, after posting them every few weeks, what, they just forgot to do it BEFORE the actual election?

Call me old-fashioned, but I happen to believe that Broward County's citizen taxpayers, having already paid for all the costs involved, had an absolute right to actually read that information and
see for themselves why some proposals made the cut and others didn't, and know specifically who said what when.

Maybe they'd have noticed as I did from having actually been there in person, the highly anti-democratic comments and votes taken by the Broward city mayors who were appointed to the CRC,
under Chair Lori C. Moseley of Miramar, all of whom, coincidentally, were women.

In my opinion, the worst offender of all was Cooper City mayor Debby Eisinger, whose comments and behavior made me think that what she'd really like to be in another life is a despot.
And not a benevolent dictator, either.

 Last year there was a proposal before the CRC to take a resolution to the County Commission to support a process that would lead to a procedure that allowed the public to place legitimate agenda items on the County Commission agenda

With 19 members present, 13 votes were need to pass.
http://www.broward.org/charter/pdf/crc_regular_meetin20040908final.pdf
page 10

It lost 13-5.
Only two women on the CRC voted yes: H.K. "Petey" Kaletta and Burnadette
Norris-Weeks.
Six voted against: Debby Eisinger, Lori Moseley, Patricia Good, Maggie Davidson, Hazelle Rogers, Jodi Jeffreys-Tanner.

Page 20, On the proposal for the creation of an advisory MTA, which I strongly supported and which passed 15-4, voting against were Debby Eisinger, Lori Moseley and Patricia Good

On the proposal that received the lion's share of media attention last year which would allow Broward County citizens to vote in November for or against a County-wide elected mayor, George A. Morgan, Jr. the Exec. Director of The Broward Workshop put it plainly on page 73 in his submitted remarks: "...The voters have a right to decide this important issue... Don't take their right to vote away..."

At page 84, Mr, Morgan speaks in person

On page 127, you can see who voted for and against which led to the motion failing on a 10-9 vote, failing to get the 13 votes.

The women voting to prevent Broward County voters from deciding this issue themselves:
Burnadette Norris-Weeks, Maggie Davidson, Hazelle Rogers, Jody Jeffreys-Tanner
and our ol' pal, Debbie Eisinger.

Cooper City mayor Debbie Eisinger voted against all three, earning her the booby prize.

That Eisinger, Joy Cooper and a few other Broward pols recently endorsed Attorney General candidate Dan Gelber, see Gelber rolls out more Broward endorsements
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/10/gelber_rolls_out_more_broward.html


Posted by Anthony Man on October 7, 2009, it caused me to write a post a few weeks ago
that you'll soon see, tentatively titled without exaggeration, Rogue's Gallery of Broward
Officials Endorses Dan Gelber - Includes Joy Cooper, Naturally.

All of these important matters about the CRC were seemingly only observed by myself, since the Herald and Sun-Sentinel's coverage of that final public meeting was woefully short of what was needed or required.

So as to your question of what sort of people possess the chutzpah to think they can do nothing,
after-the-fact, when it suits them, and think they can get away with it, I'd suggest it's the very same
people who don't do what they're required to do, before-the-fact, when it suits them and they think
they can make it stick.

 The answer, of course, is the Broward County Commission, though sometimes, it's also the Hallandale Beach City Commission for the same exact inexplicable reasons.

 Except when it's not at all inexplicable but patently obvious to both you and me: because they can.

 It's the same reason that the Hallandale Beach City Commission last week refused to agree to Comm. Keith London's common sense plan to post the Diplomat Country Club's very unpopular Local Activity Center (LAC) application on the city's feeble website.

Nobody would even second the motion.
Joy Cooper, William Julian, Dotty Ross and Anthony A. Sanders all just sit there like bumps on a log, as the silence echoed throughout the Commission Chambers.

Why?
Because they don't want you to know!


And trust me, in a few weeks, they'll be criticizing HB citizens from the dais just like Mayor Cooper was doing in earnest last Wednesday morning, over the city's very unpopular RAC plan, saying that people in the community were "uneducated" and were spreading lies, etc.
It was typical Joy Cooper theatre-of-the-absurd.


 Yet they won't post the important yet very unpopular LAC plan on their own website so that people in the community can actually see what the specific details are.
THAT is what passes for normal in corrupt and poorly-run Hallandale Beach, Florida in the year
2009.

If you're interested, you can see some of my own contemporaneous comments about the myriad actions of both the Broward Charter Review Commission and the Courthouse Taskforce by going here,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Charter%20Review%20Commission
and here, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search?q=courthouse
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)