Monday night's HLSCA meeting re the Diplomat Country Club expansion plan/LAC affecting Hollywood & Hallandale Beach

In lieu of my previous plans to bring you word of yet
another email of Mayor Cooper's, full of her typical
intemperate remarks, bad spelling and lighter-than-air
brand of logic, I'm happy to be alerting everyone to
some very interesting news.

Tomorrow evening, Monday the 7th, the Hollywood Lakes
Section Civic Association (HLSCA) aka "The Lakes"
is going to be hosting a SPECIAL MEETING regarding
the Diplomat Golf Course LAC at 7 p.m. on Monday
Dec. 7th at the Hollywood Beach Community Center,
1301 S. Ocean Drive. http://www.hollywoodlakes.com/

It's the building that's next to the county's Hollywood
Reading Room/Library on the east side of the street,
with the message board.

Since I can't recall whether or not the Hollywood Beach
Community Center still has a Coke machine, you might
want to bring along a drink or two from home, just in case.
I will definitely be attending.

They'll be seeing a presentation by the developers of the
Diplomat Golf and Country Club on what so many
of us feel is their absurd and out-of-proportion expansion
plans, made worse by their condescending sense of
entitlement.
As if the ownership group being a union males their
preposterous plans more palatable.

I assume it will again be Greenberg Traurig's Debbie
Orshefsky paired with Suzanne Friedman doing their
roving microphone Q&A thing, but I suppose they also
could also be joined by their transportation consultant,
since traffic is but the most obvious reason to reject
the proposal among many others, like it NOT actually
conforming to the city's adopted Master Plan.

If the HB City Commission is going to ignore its own
Master Plan, its key tool for long-term planning
-as the mayor herself is always reminding us-
particularly, the element about NOT allowing large
out-of-scale structures to be built on secondary roads,
then what was the whole point of the city hiring
EDAW to create one?
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1025

Links for Citywide Master Plan and
Transportation Master Plan
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/index.aspx?NID=601

And when are we going to start seeing some public
discussion about what the individual City Commissioners'
priorities are among the options described by EDAW,
so that we can start seeing actual implementation,
so the plan doesn't become a series of great
recommendations that collect dust on a Hallandale
Beach City Hall shelf?

Instead of wisely spending time doing that this past year
at one or two public informational meetings on the
EDAW proposals themselves, like finally fixing-up
Chaves Lake and making that the sort of positive
resource for the community that all residents think it
ought to be,
http://www.hallandalebeach.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1023
and which nobody is against, what we've gotten
so far is the priority of one unelected man who doesn't
even live here, City Manager Mike Good and his
proposal for a RAC.

That's a proposal that none of the HB citizens I saw
at any of the many meetings I attended over the past
few years on the city's Master Plan ever spoke about.

Trust me, if a city resident had actually stood up at
one of the meetings and said that all these proposals
were nice, but that their personal favorite was a
mechanism for optimizing and concentrating density,
after the audience's laughing died-off,
I'd have written that down and mentioned it
on my blog.
But nobody did.

Mike Good doesn't care about that.
Because he wants it, that's the city's new priority.
But nobody elected him.

You'd think that at a certain point, that would
actually matter, but HB Commissioners Dotty Ross,
William Julian and Anthony A. Sanders seem
perfectly happy to turn their derived legislative power
over to an unelected person and his over-paid staff,
so long as they can still drive around town pretending
that they're the ones with the power.
Pathetic!

Because the Diplomat's proposal has so many
self-evident, long-term negative implications for
the Quality-of-Life for the citizens of both Hollywood
and Hallandale Beach, many people in our community
have made a point of trying to become better-informed
about the true facts of the proposal, and have taken
the time and energy to appear at the often inconvenient
meetings and do some original thinking, and not
merely accept the HB City Hall platitudes
as either factual or the Gospel, as it were.

2009 Diplomat LUPA Staff Report 2009
http://www.hallandalebeach.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1299

2008 Diplomat report prepared for City of Hallandale Beach
byThe Mellgren Planning Group
http://www.hallandalebeach.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=751

If the Diplomat's case was so logical and compelling,
Comm. Keith London would've gotten a second at
the City Commission meeting in November on his
common sense motion to put the Diplomat LAC info
onto the city's website many weeks ago, to allow
everyone time to peruse it and properly digest it.

Then, regardless of what people thought of the issue,
whether pro or con, we'd all be basing our own
opinion on some commonly-agreed upon set
of facts in evidence.

In a normal American city, his motion would've
been quickly seconded and we'd all have benefited
from the time to analyze the information.

Instead, because we live in Hallandale Beach,
and things at City Hall are routinely done in a
deceptive and stealthy way, Comm. London's
common sense motion died for lack of a second,
and the information that the city ALREADY HAD
was NOT put on the city's website until just
28 hours before the afternoon HB P&Z meeting,

That's not by accident, that's the way that Mayor
Cooper and City Manager Good wanted it.

And because they didn't really care what you thought
or whether or not you had time to read the information,
Commissioners Dotty Ross, William Julian and
Anthony A. Sanders just sat quietly in their seats,
letting the motion die.
Ask yourself why they'd do that.
Correct -because they can

That's why these three individuals are called the
Rubber Stamp Crew

And as for Debbie Orshefsky's Power Point
presentation at both the jam-packed Community
meeting and the overflow HB P&Z meeting
last month NOT having anything written on them
saying specifically how many stories the condo
buildings would be 27-35, well, that's NOT
by accident, either.

Just to give you a head's up, if you live in a condo,
you might want to consider attending the
United Condominium Associations of
Hallandale Beach meeting on Thursday,
Dec. 17th at 7 p.m., at the Mar-Bay Condo/Hotel
ballroom, on the corner of Hallandale Beach
Blvd. and Diplomat Parkway, so that you can
see what's afoot politically.

And finally, congratulations to my friend
Michael Butler of Change Hallandale Beach
http://www.changehallandale.com/
Earlier this morning, his spot-on question about
Hallandale Beach City Hall, and Mayor Cooper
and the Rubber Stamp Crew's lax oversight of
City Manager Mike Good, was included on the
Mail segment of Michael Putney's This Week
in South Florida show on Channel 10.

See the screen-shots I took below.





See also:
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/bestof/2009/award/best-tv-news-anchor-845598/
http://www.justnews.com/station/269244/detail.html
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/michael-putney/
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/search/?keywords=%22Michael+Putney%22&x=21&y=10

Calling Sherlock Holmes! Wikipedia entry for Hallandale Beach no longer mentions Gulfstream Park!

September 7, 2009 photo of Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino
sign on U.S.-1 & S.E. 3rd Street entrance by South Beach Hoosier

Calling Sherlock Holmes!

As if things weren't bad enough over at
Magna's Gulfstream Park Racing
& Casino as I noted on November 1st,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/problems-at-magnas-gulfstream-park-are.html
Wikipedia's entry for Hallandale Beach
now doesn't mention Gulfstream Park
at all.

It also ignores the influence of the Mob
and the rampant public corruption here
during the '40 and 50's, or the illegal
casinos (The Colonial Inn, The Plantation),
or the town's early history of tomato
farming.

Instead, as of 8 p.m. on November 14th,
the first sentence of the second paragraph
now reads: The city is best known as
the home of Mardi Gras Gaming
greyhound racing track, which hosts
the World Classic.

Really?
"Best known?"
Since when?

The hidden-hand of Steve Geller's
longtime pal and campaign/PAC
contributor at The Mardi Gras,
Dan Adkins, or his minions?

The same Dan Adkins whose
Mardi Gras gambling operation
continually refused to cooperate
with the City of Hallandale Beach's
Master Plan consultants, EDAW?
(Which only made the whole effort
to plan the city's controlled growth
more preposterous if they couldn't
get any relevant information or
input from them!)

I honestly don't know.
Perhaps someone should contact them
and ask them that question.
Or, at very least, check out the "recent
edits" section of the entry.

But I do know that Gulfstream Park
used to be mentioned in the entry,
and now, as if someone performed
surgery, it's not.
Therein lies a mystery.
------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallandale

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 Plan, guess 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.

See my Jan. 14th, 2008 blog post on that meeting titled, Come for the Land Speculation, Stay for the Red Tape!  http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/come-for-land-speculation-stay-for-red.html

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 Good, not 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,

http://www.changehallandale.com/ 

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 Post, while 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

http://cbs4.com/local/Beach.Sand.War.2.926160.html)

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 request, after 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.

http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2009-02-18/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202009-02-18.htm

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 Report, Supporting 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

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  
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

City Manager/Staff Time to Complete: 
_________________________
DATE: January 19, 2009     
TO: D. Mike Good, City Manager
FROM: Jennifer Frastai, City Manager Administrator
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
City Manager/Staff Time to Complete: