HB candidate forum tonight; Yet another bad idea promoted by Mayor Joy Cooper; some odds and ends

Just a reminder that tonight from 7:00-8:30 PM is the first of who knows how many forums and debates for Hallandale Beach candidates eager for your vote.
That gives you plenty of time to get home for the 9 PM debate b/w McCain and Obama.

Tonight's is at the HB Cultural Center, with tonight's event sponsored by the Hallandale Beach Civic Association, titled "Community Forum" to Meet the Candidates for Hallandale Beach City Commissioners."

If I had anything to do with it, this city would be looking at about 4-6 roving forums all over town in the month remaining before Nov. 4th, with plenty of advance promotion, so that HB Citizens could see fliers about it at Publix, Winn-Dixie, Starbucks, et al., DAYS BEFORE the event, so they could then make proper arrangements (re DVR/VCR/TiVo/babysitter) to actually attend themself, instead of relying on their friends and neighbors -and Hallandale Beach Blog- to tell them how it went after the fact, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly."

I'd also make sure that you had either a NAME moderator or someone who is completely unaffected by whomever wins, and someone who really intends to grill the candidates in ways that they deserve and should be prepared to deal with, i.e. no softballs!
In other words, in ways that seem quite common to us on TV shows, films and on C-SPAN, but which never quite take hold firmly here in Hallandale Beach?

Force the candidates to stretch their minds a bit in front of us to get away from trite phrases and rote responses.
Be asked their opinion about specific past HB Commission votes, and future hypothetical events that will be important to the city's future.

Issues like the role of the CRA and what would you look for in a future HB CRA Director?

As to the Master Plan, what parts of the Master Plan did they like and dislike and what areas of it should be implemented first?

(Personally, I'm in favor of actual neighborhoods full of taxpayers getting the benefits first, NOT the area around HB City Hall, for the benefit of City Hall leaders and employees -and their edifice complex- and their pals and cronies.)

Based on the current facts and economic conditions, are you in favor of Forest City's request for millions of dollars for their Village of Gulfstream project across the street from HB City Hall?

Question: Comm. Ross, last year, along with Commissioners William Julian and Francine Schiller, you voted 3-2 to TRIPLE your Commission salary in secret away from public scrutiny.
Is that the kind of logic and common sense we should expect more of from you in the future if you are re-elected, and what does that particular vote show voters about your judgement?

Obviously, we could all think of a few dozen specific questions here, and at Hallandale Beach Blog in the next day or so, trust me, I'll be asking them, since nobody else is.

Speaking of abnormal, in most cities across the country, even small ones in rural communities, the goal of increasing civic participation (and voter turnout) is something that local Chamber of Commerce branches traditionally do in election years, in part because they want smart, motivated and articulate people to join their organization, since no group ever has enough of that particular
demographic. (Hallandale Beach more so!)

Traditionally, CoCs are involved in all sorts of activities that stretch to all areas of the city they serve, and one of the ways they foment positive development is by hosting events where their members and the public can hear elected officials and make their feelings known to those who will do the final deciding.

They host candidate forums and debates, but here in HB, because the financial connection between City Hall and the HB CoC is so tight, to the tune of $50,000, the local CoC shies away from anything that would make Mayor Cooper and City Manager Good angry.

But to their credit, for a change, according to docs I saw, Good and his staff actually proposed paring back the amount of money the HB CoC receives from the city in the new city budget, from
$50K to $40K, but they were over-ruled by the Commission and saw the amount bumped back up to $50K.
Honestly, what does the HB CoC do, exactly?
And why are they run in the strange way they are???

Their website is a joke of a site and does little more than display a directory of its members, and they have so little feel for PR and outreach that don't even have a directional sign/sandwich board on Hallandale Beach Blvd. to show where they are located, a fact I've lamented and mocked many times on my blog.

Before I returned to South Florida from Arlington County, VA, every area I'd lived in for the past 25 years had always had directional signs around town indicating where the local CoC was located.

It was just common sense, plus perpetual advertising.
No brain cells required.

Bit here in HB there is nothing -ZERO.

Personally, I don't think that's by accident, it's just the way the powers-that-be like it.

Rather than play the traditional role of an independent voice in the community with a pro-small business attitude, coupled with a generally conservative-moderate political streak, which doesn't always do or agree with what their own City Hall wants, here, they play the role of puppet.
Or, if you prefer, marionette.

I'd ask the candidates whether they think that in the year 2008, it's appropriate giving that amount of money to an organization that seems so clueless in its basic mission and operation, and never seem to have to publicly account for their backwardness.

They may very well be the only CoC or Bar group in South Florida that doesn't get their meetings mentioned in the FREE listings that the Daily Business Review daily prints.

The DBR runs ads from both the parent organizations of those professional groups, as wellas the various ethnic, age, Gay/Bi subdivisions, et al. You name it, they run it.

What they all share is the common sense to recognize the opportunity for what it is: a chance to attract interest and prospective members. To get some new blood and ideas!
For free!

But the Hallandale Beach CoC can't quite figure that out.
Yet they can get $50k of taxpayer funds to do with whatever they choose to do with it.

Even in a good economy that's a bad investment, but in a bad one, it begs for some clarification and justification.

As it happens, since some of you have asked me lately in person and via email, I have a VERY POOR opinion of the current Sun-Sentinel reporter that has been covering HB of late, Ihosvani Rodriguez.
He has done nothing but compound the bad first impression he made on me in June.

He showed bad judgment by showing up for a very important meeting of THE most important group in all of South Florida, the South Florida Regional Planning Council, http://www.sfrpc.com/ by walking into their Hollywood HQ on Hollywood Blvd. by wearing sandals. (And shorts?)

(Everyone else in the room, were wearing nice suits or power outfits, and even I felt a tad under-dressed in the back of the room for not having worn a tie.)

And into the packed conference for a hearing on the future of the Miami River, which has attracted a few local TV station cameras and reporters, Rodriguez strolls in wearing sports shirt and sandals.

It was pretty clear that I wasn't the only person who thought he must be some heretofore unknown downtown Miami neighborhood activist, there to protest the over-development taking place there, to the detriment of the longstanding marine industries.

To me, Rodriguez is a great example of that kind of lazy writing and mental sloppiness South Florida seems to be swimming in, a topic I've referred to earlier here, and have so often decried on my blog since starting it early last year: he usually leaves out the most important facts and doesn't mention the very incidents which are most crucial to a reader understanding the narrative.

I'll bet if he'd been writing about D-Day, he'd never have mentioned Eisenhower or the crucial role of weather to the success of the operation.

Let me give you a recent example of Rodriguez being Rodriguez -the second HB budget meeting.

I was sitting just a few seats from Rodriguez in the back of the HB Commission Chambers while he was laughing when Comm. Keith London was explaining that he was voting against the budget because he never received documents from City Manager Good's office, ones he'd
specifically requested during the summer.

Then watched in stunned silence as Mayor Cooper got up and fled the dais while Comm. London continued speaking via the speakerphone.

I know with certainty that Comm. London was telling the truth about that because I'd been at the meeting when he first requested those docs, as I sat about four feet behind him -and six feet from Mayor Cooper- upstairs in a City Hall conference room, sitting next to stacks and stacks of chairs in the corner.

That's the meeting where I snapped photos of HB's leaders 'talking the talk but NOT walking the walk' when it comes to the issue of recycling, just minutes after I'd asked City Manger Good why there'd been no recycling bins of any kind on the beach for YEARS.

A fact that I'd mentioned with specificity last November when I spoke for an hour to two of Good's assistants in a City Hall conference room: City Manager Administrator Jennifer Frastai and Manager of Intergovernmental Relations Frank Hileman., who worked for disgraced former Hollywood Congressman Larry Smith, whom I saw in action (grandstanding!) dozens and dozens of times on Capitol Hill, and whom I loathe almost as much as I do current Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

I should've really known better but I thought I'd give it one last chance. Result of meeting: nothing.
It was a complete waste of an hour, and even worse, the last proverbial straw.

Don't make the same mistake I did in thinking that they actually want to help you -they don't.
They only want to "contain" problems. Period.

(I was at North Beach on Saturday afternoon before the U-M/FSU football game and there was not one bin on North Beach that was clearly maked recycling, only one for yard waste.
I snapped photos of it to prove that self-evident fact, as I have many times before in the past five months, with no positive changes evident of the sort that would seem logical.
The whole garbage/recycling situation there at the beach seems totally geared for the utmost ease of the DPW workers and not for beach visitors.
There should be at least 2-3 clearly marked recycling bins there and there aren't.
I will soon be running a photo essay on the bins at the beach that speak volumes!)

I then snapped some photos of HB's very own plastic water bottles in regular garbage bins because the city doesn't have recycling bins accessible at public city functions.

I'll bet that tonight's event at the HB Cultural Center has none near the beverage table

Take a quick trip back thru the recent past on the Hallandale Beach Blog Time Machine
Friday, June 20, 2008 Talking globally, polluting locally in Hallandale Beach

During breaks of that all-day budget meeting, as well as at lunch, after the city employees and the Commission left, I spoke many times to Pastor Anthony Sanders and longtime HB activist Mary Washington among many other residents from around the city who'd made a concerted effort to keep themselves informed as to the facts.

Not present: the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the South Florida Sun Times...

Yeah, imagine that?

No sign at all of Larry Blustein and Company's absurd kiss-ass brand of cronyism and back-scratching. Where was Blustein at?

In my estimation, that recent incident only cemented my opinion of Rodriguez, laughing at the very thing that is SO emblematic of the problems that beset HB City Hall: Mayor Joy Cooper's forcing her will upon the community even when one of its elected officials said publicly that city employees in the City Manager's office hadn't provided promised docs he needed to make a voting decision for almost four months.

Rather than ask who was responsible for producing the docs, Cooper was so aghast at the thought that anyone would publicly question "her employees" that she got up and left the room while Comm. London continued to speak via speakerphone, which is why her chair is empty in the photo I posted.

If you ever see Ihosvani Rodriguez at a meeting, walk up to him and tell him that the city you live in really can't afford his stupid, lazy and poorly-informed brand of writing and mis-representation.
He needs to be a real reporter, not a lazy stenographer.

Oh, by the way, Rodriguez never wrote anything about what he actually witnessed that night at the HB budget meeting -there was NO Sun-Sentinel story in the newspaper or online!
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What's even more laughable than the idea -below- of a bunch of elected officials giving one another awards?
Comm. Dotty Ross receiving one.
An award which HB taxpayers will end up paying the hotel and lodging costs for.

But what is worse is the dopey idea Mayor Cooper has to have city employees host a forum right before Election Day on the importance of city government.
Really.

Of course, it's not really HER idea, it's the idea of her masters at the Broward League of Cities, whom she must obey without question.

Make no mistake about it, THAT is who Mayor Cooper's real core audience is.

And right before the election?

How obvious can you be?

Yet NOTHING about ever scheduling a City Commission meeting or public forum with the head of IT PLUS the company that gets paid over $3,000 a month for the city's dysfunctional and embarrassing website, which often doesn't even mention mention city meetings happening that very day?

That's happened at least 4-6 times where I've noticed it over the past nine months, and I've noted that on my blog.
Doubtless there are many more incidents where I didn't even think to check before attending.
Where's the accountability???

Or, as above with Comm. London's problem, what about all the lies and misinformation continually coming out of Good's office about time lines and promises to share documents, that never happen?

The city's longstanding failure to provide responses in a timely fashion in response to FOIA requests for city docs by HB citizens?

So we now have yet one more example of Joy Cooper has shown that she doesn't know how to stop herself from her self-evident self-promotion, even though she no longer heads the Broward League of Cities.

Instead of having Resident Forums of her own, she wastes time trying to implement the wishes of people who are NOT residents and taxpayers of the city -the League.

She's supposed to serve the city, not her own selfish agenda.

If this foolish meeting gets held, I plan on attending with others and asking questions about these other important matters I raised instead, and ask why the elected City Commission is unable to deal with them in a timely and responsible fashion

And some of us may show up with film cameras to capture the moments for you.

The worst of all is the failure of Cooper, Ross and Julian to schedule a single City Commission meeting where they could publicly discuss/defend their actions regarding the odious criminal acts of HB Police Chief Thomas Magill in trying to frame two innocent HB police officers and have them prosecuted for something THEY DIDN'T DO.

His disgraceful acts and behavior have already cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars, so what has Comm. Dotty Ross said publicly about any of that?
Nothing.

For more on that, see my April 14th post, "Dial M for Magill" -and mendacity! and my January 19th post Hallandale Beach Blog Time Machine: August 2006 and http://www.topix.com/content/trb/2008/01/hallandale-beach-to-pay-to-settle-one-of-two-former-police-officers-lawsuits )

Is there any more important question to a HB Commission candidate than why do you believe this city continues to employ an individual as Police Chief who seems to have routinely lied and
commited criminal fraud in a vendetta, and what do you plan on doing about it?

Or, do you think it will just disappear as an issue if you pretend it will, like Mayor Cooper
and City Manager Good?
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09/03/08

8G. CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH
MEMORANDUM
JC08-022

DATE: August 22, 2008
TO: D. Mike Good, City Manager
FROM: Mayor Joy F. Cooper

SUBJECT: Discussion of Observing "Florida City Government Week" in October and Associated Activities

I believe it would benefit the City and residents to observe "Florida City Government Week". This year's Florida City Government Week is October 19, 2008 through October 25, 2008. "Florida City Government Week" is part of an ongoing effort sponsored by the Florida League of Cities to raise public awareness about the services that cities perform and to educate the public on how local government works.

As part of this observance, I recommend that the City's Development Services Department prepare and conduct a public outreach and education workshop to include Code Enforcement, Building Permits and an Introduction to Growth Management.

I am requesting the support of the City Commission toward scheduling this observance.

09/03/08
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/communities/south/story/712703.html

Miami Herald
October 5, 2008
Mayor Bell a finalist for statewide award

Homestead Mayor Lynda Bell is one of five finalists for the Florida League of Cities' Council Member of the Year -- one of 10 awards to be presented next month during the Florida Cities of Excellence Awards program.

Bell, who was a Homestead councilwoman until she won the mayoral race last November, will be competing against Bill Garvie, Fort Walton Beach; Janice Miller, Oldsmar; Dorothy ''Dotty'' Ross, Hallandale Beach; and Sarah ''Sam'' Seevers, Destin.

''No matter who wins, being a finalist is an amazing blessing,'' Bell said.

"I love what I do, and this is just a bonus.''

The League's Council Member of the Year honors a council member or commissioner who displays exceptional civic commitment, leadership, public outreach and service.

In August, former Councilwoman Ruth Campbell asked the council to nominate Councilwoman Judy Waldman for the statewide award.

Instead, the council nominated Bell.

She was first elected to office in November 2003 to a four-year term. Last year, she became the city's first female mayor.

Homestead resident Lois Jones supported Bell's nomination, saying: "Mayor Bell is a breath of fresh air, and we are fortunate to have her as mayor. She has superb communication skills and an innate talent for executive leadership and legislative strategy. . . . Mayor Bell comes to council prepared; she does her homework.''

Bell and other finalists are invited to attend the awards luncheon Nov. 21 in Orlando.

The winner will be announced then.

Naming Names Herald-style -Beach One Resort Hotel in Hollywood Passes Round One

June 2008 Artist rendering of aerial view of Beach One Resort, Hollywood, FL

Carlos A. Ott, Architect from submitted documents to the City of Hollywood Development Review Board. September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

This was NOT intended to be an accurate representation of all beach properties along that part of State Road A1A, since SIAN is missing from it, but rather an attempt to show what the general area heights were, with the Westin Diplomat a few blocks to the north and the three condo towers of The Beach Club in HB a block to the south.

The newest proposal by Beach One Resort is 130 feet/ten stories shorter than their original one.

Hollywood Beach Eyesore Continues to Grow

The view of the neighborhood nuisance as seen on April 3rd, 2008 at Hallandale Beach Blog.

My frustration with this longstanding situation on State Road A1A, which lasted for years, led me to placing this photo front and center on my blog for quite some time.

While I was obviously pleased to see that a slit-fence was finally installed there a few weeks ago in August, and even more pleased to see the 25-foot mound of dirt removed, frankly, I never really got the reasonable answer I was looking for from the City of Hollywood about why there wasn't one to begin with, and why that property seemed to have special rules that applied to it, despite how self-evident the problem was.

Honestly, could it have been more evident?

A few times, I spotted City of Hollywood building inspectors in front of the Crowne Plaza -before it officially opened- and walked over to inquire if they knew anything about what was going on with all the dirt that had been flying around the neighborhood for at least 18 months.

Sad to say, their customer service skills couldn't have been worse -un-friendly and un-professional.

Dudes, when you park your City of Hollywood car right on the sidewalk, forcing everyone in the neighborhood to actually have to walk out into the street with traffic, the least you could do is keep the bad work attitude to yourself.

For what it's worth, I did manage to snap a few quick photos of these nominees for Hollywood city Employees of the Month with the bad attitudes.

But I decided not to "out" them by posting their photos months ago, though I could've, since I know they'd have claimed they were "misunderstood," always the last refuge for bad govt. employees.

No, actually, I didn't misunderstand, I just wrote down what you said, the day and time, your license plate tag info, and a general description of you.

That way, in the future, if I see you in the Hollywood City Hall Commission chambers, I can stop, pivot, and segue into your actions and call you out in front of your colleagues as a jerk.

Don't thank me, it'll be my pleasure.

In August of 2007, I finally got so frustrated with the situation that I went to Hollywood City Hall myself, and after describing why I was there, I got the opportunity to speak with someone about it in the Planning Dept.

I asked questions about the property and why it seemed so impervious to the usual rules that apply to areas like that prior to construction, since by then, it had been about 10 months without any slit-fencing of any kind, even while the mound of dirt had grown to be at least 25 ft. high, which was not really what the neighbors next door at SIAN and elsewhere signed up for in the way of beach culture.

Despite my various efforts, it would be almost an entire year before the slit-fence was erected.

For the record, as I've written many times here, though this property has been a neighborhood nuisance for both Hollywood and Hallandale Beach residents for quite some time, when Mayor Joy Cooper obliquely referred to it at the joint HB-Hollywood City Commission meeting I attended in June, from my perspective and that of many others, that was THE first time Cooper ever referred to it publicly, despite it having been a self-evident problem since at least November of 2006.

Mayor Peter Bober -whom I'm a supporter of- wasn't elected mayor of Hollywood until March of this year, so honestly, how could it be that Mayors Cooper and Mara Giulianti and City Managers Mike Good and Cameron Benson could all have ignored something that large at one of the busiest intersections in southeast Broward for so long? 
And at the beach, no less!

Do you really have to ask?

Well, at least there's a new sheriff in town in Hollywood who's interested in accountability and transparency, which is more than can be said in Hallandale Beach.

More comments following the Miami Herald article.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/709814.html

HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood high-rise wins key backing

By Breanne Gilpatrick

October 2, 2008

Hollywood city commissioners tentatively approved a key zoning change Wednesday for a proposed 41-story ocean-side hotel set to join other high-end high-rises near the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach border.

Developers for Beach One Resort sought the change to allow them to build a 477-room hotel on the 1.59-acre parcel at the northeast corner of South Ocean Drive and Hallandale Beach Boulevard.

Once completed, the hotel will join Hollywood's Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, the three-tower Beach Club condo complex in Hallandale beach and other high-rises in the area. Commissioners said the project blends well along the southern stretch of Hollywood beach dominated by luxury hotels and condominiums.

''I love this project,'' Commissioner Heidi O'Sheehan said.

"It's beautiful, and I appreciate that you did look to the Diplomat and you did look at what we already have and it complements that area beautifully.''

Original plans called for a 549-foot-tall building with 51 stories.

But developers worked with the city to lower the height by more than 130 feet, bringing the building in line with the other hotels along that portion of Hollywood beach.

Earlier this year, some beach residents told the city's Planning and Zoning Board that they thought developers were trying to build too much on the parcel and worried the 418-foot-tall building would cast a shadow over the beach.

But the reaction Wednesday was largely positive.

''It's perfect for our community,'' Hollywood beach resident Joe Joynt said.

Because the property sits outside the boundaries of Hollywood's Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, any property tax revenue generated by the project would flow into the city's budget.

-----------------------

I will have much more to say about the particulars of this project over the next week, as well as lots of details about that Hollywood City Commission meeting that the local media have failed to report or mention, but I wanted to post this information before any more time slipped by.

I attended the Sept. 11th Development Review Board hearing in Hollywood on the Beach One Resort project and attended this past Wednesday afternoon's Hollywood City Commission meeting on it, the first of their two meetings on the proposed 41-story hotel, which will be just north of the Hallandale Beach Water Tower on State Road A1A and Hallandale Beach Blvd.

This past Tuesday night, I sent out an email to some local South Florida public policy folks of my acquaintance whom I knew had an interest in the project, and what it might represent for Hollywood, asking for as many of them as possible to attend the meeting so they wouldn't be hearing rumors and scuttlebut and could contribute some thoughts.

My thinking all along was that many people initially liked The Radius project on Young Circle, too, but we know what everyone thought once it was actually built, don't we?

Where's that curvilinear aspect to it that would have prevented it from feeling like it's going to topple over on top of you, like a top-heavy model or Playmate, when you walk across the street to the Starbucks.

The curvilinear aspect is something that was added to the WSG project on the southeast corner of Young Circle a few months ago, and is one that will be immediately noticeable about the Beach One Resort, also, something that, if executed properly, will help it become a real iconic property in South Florida.

(As opposed to those South Florida real estate projects elsewhere that bastardize the meaning of the word because their dopey PR folks can't think of another name for ugly and tall, so they call it iconic. As if.)

It holds great promise for being a signature location for Hollywood, a visible landmark for decades to come that shapes visitors first impressions of the city, while also being the embodiment of that ideal that Bernard Zyscovich has spoken about with regard to the area south of Young Circle, i.e. a tangible and visible entryway into the city, to give it a sense of place.

Still, as you can tell from my comments accompanying some photos I've snapped over the past few months of the area, I do have a real fear about the shadows that will be cast upon HB's already tiny beach in the afternoon.

Design, specs, renderings at: http://www.hollywoodfl.org/docdepotcache/00000/812/PO-2008-20.PDF

You can watch a replay of Wednesday's meeting online at: http://www.hollywoodfl.org/city_clerks/meetings_webcast.htm

That's right, you can watch the whole thing, about ninety minutes, complete with graphics on the screen so you can actually follow it at home -unlike the case in Hallandale Beach.

You can even see the running time so you know that when X,Y or Z was said or done, you can tell someone about it and they can find that exact moment.

Imagine that? Graphics and running time and everything.


Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach has COMCAST Channel 78, which might as well be running a test pattern, since it has no information onscreen during HB City Commission telecasts to let you know where they are in the proceedings.

--------------------

PO-2008-20 - Ordinance First Reading
An Ordinance Of The City Of Hollywood, Florida, Waiving The 10 Acre Minimum Acreage Requirement For A Planned Development; Changing The Zoning Designation Of The Property Generally Located At 4111 South Ocean Drive From C-1 (Commercial Low Intensity) To PD (Planned Development District);
Allocating Up To 238 Bonus Hotel Density Rooms From The "Hollywood Beach Hotel Room Pool";
Approving The Planned Development (PD) Master Development Plan For The Subject Property
(Hereinafter Known As "Beach One Resort Planned Development Master Plan"); And Amending The City's Zoning Map To Reflect The Change In Zoning Designation. (05-ZJ-21)

September 28, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking east towards the Hallandale Beach Water Tower from Hallandale Beach Blvd.

September 28, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking northwest from Surf Road in Hallandale Beach towards the Beach One Resort lot, whose fence currently is sporting a Dotty Ross for HB City Commission campaign sign, which will no doubt come as news to the owner. In the past two years, that exact spot, just opposite The Beachside Cafe, has had Tim Ryan for State Senate campaign signs and William Julian for HB City Commission campaign signs. Every time I've seen them, I've wondered who thought they could put a campaign sign on someone else's property, since it doesn't belong to The Beachside Cafe or the City of Hallandale Beach.

But that's symptomatic of the attitude and culture here in Hallandale Beach among many local pols and their supporters: to try to get away with things until you get caught and then feign ignorance when you are.

September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking up at the east facade of Hollywood City Hall on my way into the meeting.

September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

A rendering of the Beach One Resort looking south on the beach from north of the property, basically around the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa.

September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

A rendering of the Beach One Resort looking north from State Road A1A.

September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

A rendering depicting the West/A1A and East/beach elevation of the Beach One Resort.

September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

A rendering showing the narrow ship-like appearance of the hotel, with the beach to the right.

September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Looking west towards Hollywood City Hall as I made my way home.

September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking east from the north sidewalk of the Intracoastal Bridge, i.e. State Road 858/Hallandale Beach Blvd., towards the Hallandale Beach Water Tower to the left and the north (1850 S. Ocean) condo tower of The Beach Club to the right.

September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking north onto State Road A1A from the city boundary dividing the City of Hollywood to the north and Hallandale Beach to the south.

You can see the yellow 9/11 Development Review Board meeting sign right next to the bus bench.

As I was leaving the beach area around 6 PM or so, to get back home for the Hurricanes-Gators ballgame, I walked over to it and pushed itdown a bit, but given the heavy winds that day, I had no reason to think the sign would still be there and not on the street somewhere.

Hollywood might want to make a mental note of the simple fact that the beach area is always going to be the windiest place around, so lightweight Notice signs that are planted in the ground, probably should not be used there.

I'm constantly surprised at the number of people in the area who don't realize that the north side of Hallandale Beach Blvd. is, in fact, the entrance to Hollywood.

The sign on the A1A median welcoming you into Hollywood is two blocks north only because that median is the first one on A1A which is wide enough for the sign's placement, since the median on HBB is too narrow.

Much of the confusion no doubt stems from the fact that the city border is farther north on U.S.-1/ Federal Highway, up at Pembroke Road, and many people just assume it's at roughly the same position over on the beach.

That's why even in local sources or on www.flickr.com, you often see incorrect references to the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa and Hallandale Beach.

From the hotel, looking west, the west side of the Intracoastal is HB, but the hotel itself is in the City of Hollywood.

September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking west from Surf Road towards the lot and the sign announcing the Sept. 11th City of Hollywood Development Review Board hearing.

Currently, this is the beach parking lot controlled by what some call the rather 'shady' folks at The Beachside Cafe, which charges $5 to park in this unlit and un-supervised lot full of rocks, gravel and potholes. And did I tell you about all the feral cats?

The cats who used to congregate below the 'scarecrow' Hallandale Beach Police car near the entrance to the parking lot?

Even amongst the dumbest of South Florida's criminals, seeing bowls of cat food and water in front of a Police car's front or back tire, day after day, well, it's a bit of a hint that there are no real cops around.

And there aren't, either!

But that's another familiar refrain and subject I won't get into a tangent on now.

September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking south from Surf Road towards the HB Water Tower and The Beach Club.

September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Hallandale Beach Water Tower.

September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

This image, of course, will all but disappear once the Beach One Resort goes up.

September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Me and my early evening silhouette.

September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

The dividing line beween sunshine and shadows is a very clear one.

Shadows courtesy of The Beach Club.

The long shadows cast by the condos make it much more difficult for the lifeguards to discern swimmers in the water. Just ask them and they'll tell you as much.

September 2, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

The view of the Beach One Resort lot while standing atop that A1A bus bench, minus about 20 feet of dirt.

September 2, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking southeast from the east sidewalk on State Road A1A towards the Hallandale Beach Water Tower, Hallandale Beach Fire/Rescue #600.

I'll have MUCH more soon on that whole crazy area, scene of some shady shenanigans that have taken place there for years, as well as a thorough photographic review of the so-called North Beach Community Center, which has been the subject of many past HBB blog posts.

(See http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/mid-julys-very-odds-and-ends-in.html )

The city took title to it on August 3rd, 2007, but it won't be open to actual Hallandale Beach residents and taxpayers 'till February or March of next year, 18 months later.

Eighteen long months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But not to worry, friends, pals and cronies of the well-connected at Hallandale Beach City Hall have been able to use the building over the past 14 months.

Just not you!

For you, it's closed.

That's life in Hallandale Beach, Florida in the year 2008 under the ruinous reign of Joy Cooper, Dotty Ross, William Julian and City Manager Mike Good.

How many times can I say here that they're a very big part of the problem, not part of any constructive common sense solutions.

Election Day is just 30 days away, so do yourself and the city a big favor and vote NO on Dotty Ross, and cast a vote for reform, accountability and transparency at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

Vote for Arturo O' Neill and Carlos Simmons on November 4th for the Hallandale Beach City Commission.

For more information, see http://www.arturo-oneill.com/ , www.changehallandale.com

Joy_loses_control_-_Clip.mp4 and

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/no-more-joy-cooper/3961248210/?icid=VIDURVNWS05

You'll be glad you did!

A New Low in HB? Yes! Condescending Deal Results in Sanders Selection as Interim Commissioner

The front door to what is supposed to be the Hallandale Beach "community center" on the beach and State Road A1A. But over a year since it passed over from The Beach Club -which I loathe- to the city, there is still not a single sign identifying it as one belonging to the citizens of Hallandale Beach, Florida. August 2, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier


My comments follow the story below, which has grains of truth in it, but not nearly as many as you'd think -or it deserved.



I will have a much longer post here Thursday evening, with the sorts of details you won't hear or see anywhere else.
_____________________________
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbhallandale0807sbaug07,0,5145503.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Francine Schiller resigns
By Ihosvani Rodriguez
August 7, 2008

HALLANDALE BEACH
Two-term City Commissioner Francine Schiller stunned many at City Hall late Wednesday by announcing she was resigning from her seat because of health reasons.


The announcement brought both tears and controversy during the commission meeting.


Schiller, 66, who has been battling a number of health issues for the past four years and who now uses a wheelchair, issued a letter of resignation during Wednesday's meeting, indicating she will step down Aug. 29.


"I just can't physically do it anymore," she said after the meeting.




"If I can't devote 100 percent to the city, I just can't do it."

Schiller, a real estate agent first elected to office in 2001, represents the city at large and would have been up for re-election in November.



The announcement brought tears to some on the dais, including City Manager Mike Good, who publicly read Schiller's resignation letter.

"She has put a lot of heart into this community and I know this is something that is very difficult for her," Good said, pausing briefly to compose himself.

Mayor Joy Cooper and Vice-Mayor Bill Julian also fought back emotions while taking turns thanking Schiller for her years of service.

Schiller said very little publicly during the meeting.


Plans to fill her seat immediately drew controversy.


Cooper nominated city activist Anthony Sanders, a pastor at Higher Vision Ministries in the western areas of Hallandale Beach.



Commissioner Keith London, who participated in the meeting by telephone, sounded appalled by the urgency.


"We just found out about this 10 minutes ago and now we're supposed to appoint somebody without digesting it? I find that inappropriate," London said.

"We need to look out to the community and see what they have to say."



London asked to postpone the appointment but received no support.


Sanders, who could not be reached late Wednesday, will serve out Schiller's term until the November elections.
___________________________________
As it happens, the last person I spoke to after the last Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting prior to last night's meeting, in June, was Pastor Anthony Sanders.



If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have advised him in all good conscience to use his considerable influence and organizing skills -on the outside!- to help cobble together a new city-wide coalition of forces to put on the city commission individuals that will work for everyone's benefit, instead of the entrenched City Hall crew, whose myopic Chicken Little vision and non-existent follow-through on policy and process has proved so unsuccessful and unpopular.

It quite literally scares residents away from attending City Hall events and participating because of their hi jinks and convoluted thinking.

There's a lot of people who want BIG CHANGES!


Instead, though, in my view, perhaps because he's more religious than me, he's chosen to close his eyes and hope for the best, and try to work from within a City Hall hydra that has no rhyme, reason or... demonstrable sense of purpose.


Especially as it involves the city bureaucracy serving residents with the caliber of service they deserve: courteous, efficient and practical.


Consider just the following things off the top of my head:


Look at the photos I've shot and placed on this blog, indicating longstanding, self-evident governance problems.



(Ask yourself how such things can be allowed to continue, year after year, and nobody is ever held accountable.)




Right in front of the city hall complex?

Right on U.S.-1 at the county line?

What an awful way to make a bad first impression, over and over again, and cement its reputation to residents, neighbors and visitors as a city that can't get out of its own way, even when it thinks it knows what it's doing.

After getting static from one city agency that told me to make a FOIA request when I asked for some info that had been mentioned at a City Commission meeting the night before, I spoke to two people from the City Manager's office last November, Jennifer Frastai and Franklin Hileman, speaking for a good hour in a small conference room about several self-evident problems around the city that've never gotten resolved.

I gave both of them all my contact info, with multiple emails, and specifically asked that after they followed through and investigated the locations I gave them, to contact me, because they'd see that it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Well, since then, I've seen them at many city functions, but they have NEVER contacted me or spoken to me in the nine months since, despite my being rather easy to get in touch with.

I mean I get email from people all over the country asking me about the various stages of development of certain real estate projects here, so how hard should it be for them to contact me when I go to every City Commission meeting?

Do you think Hollywood or Aventura would tolerate the slackness and lack of attention to detail in their employees that's epidemic here?

Nope!

How is it that a so-called "community center" over on the beach and State Road A1A, just over a year since the city took possession of it, STILL doesn't have any policies guiding its use, and still bears the name of the realty company that used it -a year ago?



(My many photos of this facility taken over the past year will be posted here tomorrow, indicating the physical neglect over the last 12 months, and the city's indifference to residents who pass by it everyday, not knowing it's theirs.)



Want more?



The recycling facility at Ingalls Park has had holes in the dumpster lids for at least the past three months, making putting cardboard in it completely pointless.



That is, now that they have lids again, since they were missing for a few months.



This facility, the city's central recycling facility, has zero directional signs on nearby roads, even on Hallandale Beach Blvd., despite being only a block off that main drag.

Spoke to many other residents outside of HB City Hall Chambers last night about the shameful, under-handed and anti-democratic turn of events, a new low, even for the Joy Cooper crew at HB City Hall.

And trust me, it's one that will definitely tarnish the good reputation of Pastor Anthony Sanders, if comments among HB citizens I spoke to tonight are any guide.

I spoke to Channels 4, 6, 7 and 10, plus some folks at the Herald about the hard-to-believe spectacle I witnessed, with lots of facts and anecdotes, but the tragic drama up in Pembroke Pines was clearly the focus of South Florida's news reporters, so nothing was said on the air last night.

Maybe somebody in South Florida's media will be motivated today to find out why there's such a rush to get someone approved here, even when there's still a few weeks to go before the resignation takes effect.

Of course, the problem is that rather than doing the right thing, Dorothy Ross voted yes after having just uttered the words, "I don't even have his resume."

With her latest example of bad judgment, so goes the benefit of the doubt Ross had with me, hanging on as it was by just a thread.

She made my decision easy: I won't be voting for her in November!

I'll be spending some time at the Starbucks on Hallandale Beach Blvd. around Noon, talking to other HB residents and civic activists who are not at all pleased with what transpired last night.

If you feel likewise, feel free to swing by if you can, or tell others.

Sitting in the audience, watching Mayor Cooper and Comm. Julian grinning from ear-to-ear after their maneuver, I can only imagine how angry Comm. Keith London was, having to listen to the meeting on the telephone, as once again, common sense procedures that were used when he was considered for an interim position on the commission were bypassed, and HB citizens' legitimate concerns were pushed aside so that Joy Cooper can try to score political points.

This time, conveniently, right before an election.

Even at the cost of transparency and accountability from the city's citizens.

Be careful what you wish for, Pastor Sanders!

As you'll understand from reading information I'll have here, while he is on the City Commission, Anthony Sanders will have to recuse himself from any votes involving Forest City agenda items
-like their current request for $$$- since one of his groups gets funds from them.

Description from Nov. 7, 2007 in City of Hallandale Beach documents:
hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/ 2007-11-07/title/supp_docs/documents/doc1.doc

Pastor Anthony Sanders is also a long time resident of the City of Hallandale Beach. He is the CEO of Eagles Wings Development Center and Pastor of Higher Vision Ministries, Inc. Through his non-profit organization, Eagles Wings, his faith based church and his affiliation with Weed and Seed, Pastor Saunders is known for his work in the community. Pastor Saunders helps young people feel a sense of accomplishments, and he works to help the less fortunate in the community.

You can also just do a search on the blog in the upper left corner, using "Sanders"

See also:
http://www.hallandalebeach.org/files/2007-11-07/item%206b/supp_docs/documents/doc8.pdf

Sanders gave invocation before Florida House of Rep. on April 12, 2007
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?PublicationType=Session&DocumentType=Journals&Session=2007&FileName=Bound_House%20Journal%20No.24,%20April%2012,%202007%20(Thursday).pdf

Per the above, more recently, on June 11, 2008, Sanders gave the invocation before the joint City of Hallandale Beach-City of Hollywood City Commission meeting at HB Cultural Center.