Showing posts with label Donald Shockey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Shockey. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Mayor Cooper's Economic Stimulus Plan Starts Close to Home; @MayorCooper

Well I guess it'll come as no surprise to those of you who have come to this space from time to time and become attuned to the strange backward ways of Hallandale Beach, that despite my specifically making a point of publicly requesting it the first week of January of 2008, 57 weeks ago, at the HB City Commission's city-wide public meeting to discuss the city's proposed Master Plan as well as their Transportation Planguess which South Florida city nestled along the FEC tracks won't be hosting a second-round round of SFECC public meetings for its own citizens over the next few weeks?

Shocker!
Hallandale Beach, forever the public policy orphan! 

This, despite my very public conversation via microphone with HB City Manager Mike Good there, wherein he implied his office would "get right on it" since it seemed so obvious.


Last year, when Mayor Joy Cooper was head of the Broward League of Cities, she had no trouble in quickly finding a public space within the city where she and her allies/cronies within Broward County could speak out against the FL Constitutional Amendments, securing Hallandale High one night, and even running ads in the local newspapers, which is actually how I came to first find out about it.
  
(Right, Hallandale High, the F-rated school that somehow never has its poor academic standing brought up publicly at HB City Commission meetings, even when efforts were made recently by Comm. Anthony Sanders to utilize taxpayers funds for FCAT practices and/or workshops for their students -even though some kids there live in Hollywood
Where's the accountability?

How many kids will participate and how much will it cost? That doesn't really seem too much to ask -in advance.)

From accounts of people I know and trust who attended the Broward League of Cities event, they apparently tried to tilt the proceedings so that it would only be people against the Amendments who spoke, but apparently Broward Property Appraiser Lori Parrish showed-up to attempt to balance the equation, somewhat, ruining the League's plans for a one-sided event, which, to my mind, was clearly a press conference masquerading as a "public forum."

But what do Cooper & Company actually do for the citizens she's supposed to be representing?
Well, in the case of the SFECC, nada.
Why?

Perhaps because, right now, in my opinion, SFECC can't immediately help Joy Cooper acquire more power, name recognition or fame, which in my opinion, based on her own actions and words, is what she's all about these days, witness her rather pathetic and clumsy name-dropping of Bill Clinton's name in her recent so-called Sun-Times column.

That's the weekly column that's always chock-full of so many laughable spelling, syntax, and metaphor errors, not to mention, clear mis-statements of fact. In fact recently while drinking some coffee, someone walked up to me and asked me -in all seriousness- if I'd seen her recent absurd reference to the effect of "Yang and Yang."
No doubt she meant ying-and-yang, but how does she not know that, or ever check for spelling mistakes?
I'm a very good speller, but I still usually remember to use Spell-check on my computer before sending something out.

Somehow, coming on the heels of the embarrassing travel expense stories in the Sun-Sentinel by Jennifer Gollan and the Herald's subsequent editorial, Cooper didn't mention the fact that she's spent more than $3,000 for a new office at HB City Hall, even though there was nothing wrong with her old office.
She just wanted a new one. 

That planned one-sided meeting by Cooper & Company at Hallandale High recalls the city's own unintentionally hilarious meeting later against the Amendments at the HB Cultural Center, wherein City Manager Mike Goodnot some independent third-party, conducted the entire meeting, even to the point of using his own property bill as a reason to be against it, though he was not a good example since he'd recently moved within the past few years.

That Mr. Good lives in Cooper City is his choice, of course, but it underscores the fact that far too many other HB City Hall folks in charge live up around there, so see next-to-nothing of the city on weekends, like the sad beach conditions beach-goers encounter, or the complete lack of routine police patrols there.

And -shocker!- the City of Hallandale Beach also didn't invite anyone from the other side of the issue to appear, so residents could make-up their own minds, based on the facts, not the city's mis-information campaign.
As you know well from my past postings here, that's how they do things in this part of Broward County.

For those reasons, I'll instead be attending the SFECC meetings in Hollywood tonight and in Aventura on the 24th.
And this time, I'll remember to bring my camera!!!

If you haven't already done so, I invite you to please take a look at some of the recent changes my friend Michael has made to his Change Hallandale website,

He's gotten a great response since starting it, expanding the base of people who know exactly what's going on in plain sight in Hallandale Beach, and how that compares to other cities in the region.

His facts, all independently-sourced, speak volumes, which is why they so confound the folks at HB City Hall.
They can't argue the self-evident facts-on-the-ground in the city, policy or process, so instead, they obfuscate, malign and take umbrage at informed and concerned citizens who refuse to take their word for anything.

This was perfectly evident to everyone during the Public Participation portion of the City
Commission meeting two weeks ago, when someone asked about those very facts.

After hearing Mayor Cooper say in response to a HB citizen, something along the lines of residents needing to speak to the people in charge and the people who knew the answers,
after spotting the city's DPW manager, William M. Brant, sitting in the back of the City Hall Chambers, like he didn't have a care in the world, still peeved at the months of inaction on beach conditions I'd witnessed, I took the opportunity to lambaste him and the Dept, for STILL not having a single blue recycling bin on the beach -much less, an appropriate number in convenient places- more than SIX MONTHS AFTER Mike Good specifically said at the city's Budget meeting in August that it would happen.

Well, I was at North Beach soon afterwards, on Sunday afternoon the 8th, reading the Herald, the NY Times and the NY Postwhile also noticing the very visible beach erosion that had sand disappearing less than a foot from in front of the lone lifeguard stand there.

(It was a two-foot drop, running south towards The Beach Club for just about a block. In case you missed it, see News-4's Michael Williams' excellent report from early February: Hollywood & Ft. Lauderdale Beaches Want Their Sand

And there at the beach, four days after my public comments, showing the city's typical apathy and incompetency, there was still not a single blue recycling bin around that busy part of the beach, despite all the dozens and dozens of such bins the city owns that are in storage.

That's a cold hard self-evident fact that my camera documented with photos that'll appear on my blog soon, with earlier photos I've taken over the past six months of the invisible blue recycling bins.

"No, as a matter of fact, I really don't have to take their word for it, do I?" I said laughingly

After looking at this official response to Hallandale Beach Commissioner Keith London's public records requestafter I asked him about it after the fact, one of the things that really jumped out at me was the fact that, for whatever reason, City Manager Good's office thought to toss Commissioner Anthony Sanders' office costs in here, too, even though that information was NOT specifically requested by Comm. London.

What was requested and NOT provided was any copy of the rationale given by Mayor Cooper on why she needed a new City Hall office, away from her Commission colleagues, when there was apparently nothing physically wrong with her existing one.

From what I gather, after speaking to numerous people, apparently she takes the point of view that the "improvements" are not for her personally, per se, but rather for "the Office of the Mayor."

Except that in the city's charter, under a city manager government, the mayor's role is largely ceremonial, since while she is, in fact, the presiding officer at city commission meetings, she doesn't have veto power.

Question: Why do you think this happened AFTER the election rather than before it?

Well, there's a HB City Commission meeting scheduled for 1:30 and 7 p.m.tomorrow.

Why don't you ask Mayor Cooper that very good question?

based on the agenda, the highlight of the evening portion of the program seems to be another presentation by EDAW's Donald Shockey of the city's Master Plan, so if you've never seen it in person, you ought to show up and see what the city could look like if City Hall was actually working hard for its taxpayers and making things better, not worse.

Though there is little doubt the plan will be approved Wednesday night, it's an open question whether EDAW's hard work on the plan will ever be implemented as designed.

A Resolution Of The City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Adopting the Citywide Master Plan and Implementation Strategy  As Prepared By EDAW, Inc (Staff: Director, Development Services)(See Backup) CAD#018/06 (Staff ReportSupporting Docs)
________________________________________________

COMMISSIONER REQUEST

REQUEST #048/09

DATE: January 5, 2009  
        TO: Bill Brant, Director Public Works
        Jennifer Frastai, City Manager Administrator  
FROM: Commissioner Keith London  
THRU: D. Mike Good, City Manager
Your browser may not support display of this image.
The following information/action was requested by Commissioner Keith London as noted: 
      RE: Commission Office Expenses  
Please provide me with the following information: 
  • Copy of the time sheets for everyone who worked on Mayor Cooper new office space.
  • Wages including benefits for everyone who worked on Mayor Cooper new office space
  • Copy of expense reports for materials to create Mayor Cooper new office space.
  • Copy of receipts of materials
  • Original letter asking for a new office from Mayor Cooper
 Additionally, please include what all commissioners have requested for office improvements                           
________________________________________________ 
      Please take the necessary steps to complete the request and submit a Summary Report to my office no later than January 19, 2009.
_____________________________________ 
DATE: January 13, 2009      
TO: D. Mike Good, City Manager 
FROM: William Brant, P.E., Director, Public Works, Utilities & Engineering  
Your browser may not support display of this image.RE: Above Commission Request
 

SUMMARY REPORT:  
Staff received request on November 18, 2008, (W/O # WF0031889, WF 0031987) to install window in room 202, move the Mayor's furniture and paint Commissioner Sanders Office. This project was completed by December 31, 2008.  
Staff respectfully request to consider this CR completed and closed. (MM) 

Labor / Wages  
Pedro Perez $35.91 hr  48 hrs $1,724.00 Mayor's Office 
Michael Harris $27.37 hr 24 hrs $560.00 Mayor's Office 
Donald Williams $30.21 hr 7 hrs $211.00 Mayor's Office 

Edward Ryan $30.21 hr 8 hrs $241.00 Sanders Office
Total   87 hrs $2,736.00 

Invoices  
K&K Mirror $360.00
Home Depot $237.40
Sherwin Williams $232.44

Total $829.84 

PROJECT TOTAL $3,565.84 

Staff Researching Request  
Michael Morse $54.16  1.5 hrs  $81.24  
Dean Lettera $59.71  1.5 hrs  $89.56 
Yolanda Benitez $26.07  1 hr  $26.07

Total   4hrs  $196.87
 

PROJECT TOTAL INCLUDING ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF  
84 HOURS $3,762.71 
___________________________________
Department Head Signature       Date
 

Department Director/Staff Time to Complete: 4 hrs
Your browser may not support display of this image.
Your browser may not support display of this image.City Manager/Staff Time to Complete: 
_________________________
DATE: January 19, 2009     
TO: D. Mike Good, City Manager
FROM: Jennifer Frastai, City Manager Administrator
Your browser may not support display of this image.RE: Above Commission Request
SUMMARY REPORT: 
The following is a list of furniture expenses:
Mayor Cooper's:
Conference Table: $968.08
Desk Chair: $333.98
Guest Chair: $230.45
File Cabinet: $423.85
Delivery/Set up/Freight: $205.00

Commissioner Sanders:
Desk Chair: $203.49
Desk Accessories: $242.43
Guest Chair (2): 334.80
_____________________________________
Department Head Signature       Date
Department Director/Staff Time to Complete: 2 hrs
Your browser may not support display of this image.City Manager/Staff Time to Complete: 

Monday, January 14, 2008

Come for the Land Speculation, Stay for the Red Tape!

My comments follow the story.
__________________________________________
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbmasterplan0106sbjan06,0,4867253.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale Beach revisiting its master plan for development
Master plan update includes citizen remarks on traffic, affordable housing

By Jennifer Gollan
January 6, 2008

Hallandale Beach
Deluged by proposals for flashy high-rises and gambling hubs, the city last year called a time out to do some urban planning.

A moratorium on new development has been in place since August. The city has hired a consultant to overhaul its 30-year-old master plan, to outline what should be built over the coming decades, and how.

As part of the planning process, more than 60 residents registered their concerns Saturday about everything from the surfeit of traffic to the dearth of affordable housing during a two-hour meeting at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Community Center.


It was the second of four public meetings intended to gather residents' input before the City Commission votes on the plan in February.

The redrafting of the city's plan is driven by an explosion in planned or possible development, including at Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino and Mardi Gras Racetrack and Gaming Center.

There has been a related flurry of proposals for condo towers and mixed-use projects to replace the barren parking lots, tired storefronts and dilapidated homes that overtook much of the city beginning in the 1970s.

"Now development is coming at us like a 180-mph bullet train," said Hallandale Beach Commissioner Keith London.

Indeed, more than 1 million square feet of new development — proposed before the moratorium took effect — is pending or already under way, said Richard Cannone, the city's director of development services.

"The catalyst for the master plan was the development of the casinos, which led us to make sure we are developing in an organized way," Cannone said.

The plan outlined Saturday envisioned six mini-downtowns with shops, restaurants and housing.

The goal is to create a pedestrian-friendly city with lush parks and a unique identity, said Donald Shockey, project manager for EDAW Inc., a design firm with offices in Miami Beach that is overhauling the city's plan for a $250,000 fee.

"Because of the economy, we want to make sure we have economically feasible redevelopment well into the future," said Mayor Joy Cooper.

To that end, Joe DeFalco, 78, asked city leaders Saturday how Hallandale Beach could afford the ambitious vision given in the master plan.

"Where are you going to get the money to do all of this?" asked DeFalco, who is president of Tower Mobile Home Park.

"It's not going to be a boondoggle program," said Shockey, "it's going to be done in a phased, measured way."

Jennifer Gollan can be reached at jgollan@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7920.
Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
_____________________________________

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbdig01027sbjan02,0,2312417.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale Beach: Master plan concepts to be presented at public forum
January 2, 2008

A public forum on the citywide master plan is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Cultural Community Center, 410 SE Third St.

Initial master plan concepts will be presented and comments from the public received. Residents, businesses and other interested parties are encouraged to attend.
Call 954-457-1381.

Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
_______________________________________
Come for the Land Speculation, Stay for the Red Tape!

On the chance that you didn't see the actual print edition of this last Sunday, it had a very different sort of headline: "Hallandale prepares for building blitz"

Wish the Sun-Sentinel reporter had been at the first public unveiling last month, the day after Christmas, when there were more citizens in attendance.

I'll be posting my comments soon on the Hallandale Beach Master Plan itself, which I picked up a printed copy of recently and have been reading in dribs and drabs to refresh my thoughts on the meeting I attended on December 26th.

HB Masterplan Workshop 5503 KB, Last Uploaded: 12/26/2007
http://www.hallandalebeach.org/DocumentView.asp?DID=456

I should say here, though, that while I might disagree with some aspects of it, given the reality of the demographics and personalities here, the presentation itself by Donald Shockey was very impressive in its overall scope, as was his ease with dispensing pertinent facts.

Equally importantly to me was EDAW's true understanding of the myriad underlying problems of the city, and their realization that there's no magic bullet.

Also, contrary to the impression that may've been created by the reporter here, and very much for the better, EDAW, Inc. is an international firm whose closest office is located on Miami Beach, NOT a local firm in Miami Beach with no sense of what's going on outside of South Florida.

I spent quite some time prior to the first public forum looking at their website, then did a Google search to see the sort of plans the firm has produced for past clients, and what the public reaction in those cities were, and suggest you do the same.

(They also did the downtown Master Plan for Boynton Beach
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpschool0107pnjan07,0,5528328.story )

Barbara Faga, EDAW's executive vice president, works out of the Atlanta and Miami Beach offices, and started a blog after writing a book on the intersection of design, development and public policy, http://barbarafaga.com/book/buy.aspx which is quite interesting called designing public consensus.

She even writes about the problems in her own neighborhood in Atlanta associated with unelected neighborhood association officials in a very illuminating fashion.
See http://www.edaw.com/whoWeAre/principals/principal.aspx?key=8931
and http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/

Referenced blog post re Atlanta is at:
http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=42

For what it's worth, Design Intelligence named her "one of the top 15 women who are changing the world of architecture."

IF only we could put Ms. Faga in charge of building and implementing a new Marlins ballpark near Chez Huizenga and the Metro that'll be operating near there in 2012.
A beautiful and uniquely Miami stadium, funded largely by a new consortium of far-sighted Marlin owners with a love for architecture, design and South Florida, instead of the current Loria & Co. brain trust, which seems fixated on paying for as much of it as possible with the public's wallet. In what could only be called one of THE worst possible locations, far from its fans.
She could be a Janet Marie Smith for South Florida's baseball fans!

See Ballpark: Camden Yards and the Building of an American Dream by Peter Richmond
See http://www.amazon.com/Ballpark-Camden-Yards-Building-American/dp/0684800489

Here are some links to some local South Florida projects that EDAW is involved with.
They might help you come to some conclusions on thoughts of your own about what, if anything, is missing from the current plans for Hallandale Beach that EDAW submitted to the city, and what needs to be considered or modified.

EDAW Miami Beach office: http://www.edaw.com/whoWeAre/offices/office.aspx?id=66456

Flamingo/Lummus Neighborhood Urban Design and Streetscape Improvements
(for The Related Group)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?back=y&office=66456

One Miami Riverwalk (for The Related Group)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?idx=1&projId=66658467726976686982765048485548534952485051575250&office=66456

Oceanfront Neighborhood Urban Design and Streetscapes (for City of Miami Beach)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?idx=2&projId=6578686982837978745048485248564957485752505251&office=66456

Biscayne National Park Ethnographic Overview and Assessment (for NPS)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?idx=3&projId=6578686982837978745048485348554949485048484957&office=66456

St. Joe West (for St. Joe Land Company)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?idx=4&projId=6578686982837978745048485248555051485250555254&office=66456