Showing posts with label Hallandale Beach Boulevard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hallandale Beach Boulevard. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Csaba Kulin and I re the Long Trail of Broken Promises, Alibis & Excuses from City of Hallandale Beach's elected officials, City Manager Miller and Police Chief Flournoy re self-evident safety problems for residents/visitors along NE 14th Avenue; photos

Looking south on NE 14th Avenue from Atlantic Shores Blvd., Hallandale Beach, FL. March 31, 2014 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Below is an email that was sent this afternoon by my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach & Broward County civic activist Csaba Kulin to Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper and the following: Hallandale Beach Commissioners Anthony A. Sanders, Alexander Lewy and Bill Julian, City Manager Renee Miller, Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy, Assistant City Manager and CRA Director Daniel Rosemond, City Attorney V. Lynn Whitfield, along with dozens of other HB residents, both those living on or near the heavily-traveled NE 14th Avenue corridor who have been under assault since that road first began construction in February of 2013, as well as those who live elsewhere but commiserate because it's a perfect example of finger-pointing in this city by both elected and appointed officials at Hb City Hall.

The construction revolves around some desperately-needed storm water pipes, after the city has has had years and years of flooding, especially in Northeast Hallandale Beach.

Keep in mind as you read this that this small city that's only 4.2 square miles to begin with, has some tangible geographical constraints that make getting around difficult even in the best of times, and especially during the tourist season, which makes the mess that's been taking place along NE 14th Avenue especially problematic: we have both the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway on the city's east side, with 1-95 to the west, plus numerous impassable canals.
This, in a city with ONLY ONE east-west street that runs throughout it -Hallandale Beach Blvd., where traffic goes to die in SE Broward and become part of gridlock history.

This is made worse by the fact that we have less than a handful of two-way north-south streets east of usually gridlocked U.S.-1/Federal Highway, the road that serves as the very spine of the city, interconnecting it to the City of Aventura and Miami-Dade County to the south and the City of Hollywood to the north. 
U.S-1 is one of just two two-way north-south streets that span the length of the city, the other one being State Road A1A/Ocean Drive over on the beach, which again has Hollywood to the north at its intersection with HBB, and the Village of Golden Beach and Miami-Dade County to the south.

-----
April 9, 2014
Mayor Joy Cooper,
I am sorry you had to experience the indignities of obscene language and gestures the same way as the law abiding residents of N.E. 14th Avenue had been subjected to for well over a year.
I asked the City Commission a number of times for help. Mayor, you tried to pacify me with promises, City Manager Miller did the same and Police Chief Flournoy said that as “manpower” allows he will enforce the One Way Street violators.
During the March 17, 2014 City Commission Meeting  I stated that we only saw one time a police officer handing out traffic tickets. You did NOT believe me.
I have proof from our police department that only two tickets were issued during the past four months, both on November 30, 2013.
When I met with Police Chief Flournoy on April 2, 2014 he said that “even those two citations should NOT have been issued”.
Chief Flournoy told me that ’signage and markings on N.E. 14th Avenue are NOT sufficient and the citations would not stand up court’. The Chief said that ‘it is the city’s responsibility to properly mark the street and install proper signage’.
In my opinion it is inexcusable that our city is unable to mark and install signage to make a One Way Street legal. The City placed our residents in danger and created a risk of liability for the City in case of an accident.
Mayor, we like you to tell us when will the City install legal marking and signs so the police can start to enforce the law immediately?
Please do NOT tell us that we have already suffered over a year and we are used to the danger so a few more months do NOT matter.
The residents of 14th Avenue hope to see the legal markings and signage by the April 22, 2014 community meeting to be sponsored by the City. 
The City Commission has two main functions, making policy and oversight of the operation of the City. We hope that in your oversight capacity you investigate who knew what and when in this unfortunate misunderstanding and share it with the residents.
I attached a couple of pictures to illustrate the current situation on NE 14th Avenue.
Sincerely

Csaba Kulin
President, Fairways North, Inc. 

Looking south from 600 NE 14th Avenue.

-----
The self-evident lack of concern the City of Hallandale Beach and the contractor involved in this project have shown for the safety and health for the residents in that area, who've been treated like prisoners in their own neighborhood, is nothing short of shocking, even by this city's infamous low standards.

Over the past year, from my visits to Csaba and Susan's home, I've taken LOTS of photos illustrating the points that he makes so well above, and have accompanied him when, together, we've measured the distance across Atlantic Shores Blvd. and compared it to the much-shorter distance on NE 14th Avenue, since for reasons that defy logic and common sense, Comm. Alexander Lewy is strangely insisting on changing the parking equation on NE 14th Avenue -once the construction is finished- to angled parking, just like on Atlantic Shores Blvd..

This, despite the fact that it was already changed from angled to its heretofore parallel parking-to-the-curb status a number of years ago so that additional numbers of parking spaces could be created for residents and visitors.
Why would Lewy and the city intentionally want to go backwards in time and create more problems?

It's a reasonable question to ask: Why would a HB City Commissioner who is required to resign his post in August (in order to run for the FL House 100 primary) suddenly wants to micromanage parking in this area full of angry residents when he was completely unconcerned 
with the negative effects of this botched construction project, to say nothing of the very self-evident safety points that Csaba has repeatedly made? 
It's very, very curious.

In any case, angled parking on only the east side of 14th Street is FAR TOO SHORT an area to safely maneuver, since the lack of space necessary to properly back-up without being IN the roadallows no margin for error for drivers and those already on the road.
It's obvious the first time you see it -and yet...

I've taken tons of photos of Atlantic Shores Blvd. and NE 14th Avenue proving these points, so...
Looking south on NE 14th Avenue from Atlantic Shores Blvd., Hallandale Beach, FL. March 31, 2014 photos by South Beach Hoosier.





Even today, after over a year of haphazard construction and coating the area and the inside of residents apts. & condos/cars with dirt, and after I myself have nearly been hit about three separate times by cars driving on the sidewalk or driving the wrong way, the City of Hallandale Beach can't explain why there never was a mobile watering system in place that would keep the massive amounts of dust down to a minimum, as is typical of projects this large that involve moving and shifting tons of buried dirt, road and asphalt.

When you add the large number of residents living in the area just feet away, many who suffer from existing health problems, it really makes you wonder why so little intelligent thought was 
given to this project's cumulative effect on them in the first place, and how little attention to detail there is in general at HB City Hall under the current crew, since they had plenty of time to put remedial actions in place.
But they didn't.

As for the HB Police Chief, you can see for yourself by the recitation that Csaba makes above, despite knowing what he did, when he did, and despite the persistent and legitimate public complaints from Csaba on behalf of his own tenants and neighbors along the street apprising him of the problems, along with the pleas of othersChief Flournoy has yet again failed to act and respond in a satisfactory manner for HB residents, and once again failed to give the public the sort of serious response they were entitled to.

Instead, for all practical purposes, Police Chief Flournoy just shrugged his shoulders.
Just more of the same sort of unsatisfactory attitude and results from him we've come to expect over the past few years.
Surprise!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

My own little red-light camera 'rainout' at the Broward County Commision this morning; HB begins phase two of red-light camera money-grab today

Above, the red-light camera warning sign on the north-side of west-bound Hallandale Beach Blvd. at N.W. 9th Terrace on Sunday night, February 27th at 6:40 p.m., a bit past sundown.
The actual red-light camera is farther down the block at N.W. 10th Terrace, but the warning sign is located between two palm trees. The ONLY reason that you even see the sign above is because I'm using my camera's flash, and it's bounced back at me to give me an image.
So, do you sorta notice the overwhelming sense of darkness? Hard to miss, huh?
Yet somehow, the City of Hallandale Beach and FDOT haven't.
Hmm-m...


That black square in the middle, beneath the palm trees, is the city's electronic message board warning drivers that starting today, there's a $158 fine. Those three white spots on the road are reflections of orange safety cones
in front of the message board. The message board that is, itself, actually parked in the right-hand turning lane for about a dozen retail outlets, including an IHOP and Little Caesars's Pizza, which, I don't mind telling you, is a safety hazard at night all its own.

The intersection of HBB & 10th Terrace where the red-light camera is located is the last intersection in HB before you get to I-95 two blocks away.
And if you're turning north onto N.E. 10th Terrace, be careful.
It's nearly pitch-black, too!
Has been forever, too, just like so many other streets in this city.

February 27, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Fortuitously for the faux reputation of the thin-skinned denizens of Hallandale Beach City Hall at Broward County's Govt. Center on Andrews Avenue in downtown Fort Lauderdale -esp. the mayor and city manager- but quite unfortunately for both the truth and any sense of proper perspective on how Hallandale Beach has completely botched the red-light camera issue in this city from the beginning, I wasn't able to completely re-arrange my schedule so that I could speak before the Broward County Commission this morning on the red-light camera issue.

Watch the meeting live here: http://broward.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2

No, the insightful and telling anecdotes and photographs of how the city has chosen to make generating revenue, NOT protecting public safety, will have to wait a little longer.

As will excerpts here of my excellent and amusing three-minute speech, complete with props: a bottle of aspirin,
a compact umbrella, a small flashlight and a box of Johnson & Johnson Band-Aids.


My point was that like the red-light cameras, they are resources or tools which when used correctly, can, perhaps, help resolve a problem, but when used inappropriately, at the wrong time, at the wrong place, are not just useless but even counter-productive.


Believe me, I was really looking forward to the initial surprised expressions on the faces of the County Commissioners up on the dais -and the audience behind me- as I spoke from the lectern and opened the plastic bag to reveal my "tools."
And then, watching as they finally "got" the metaphors, and came to appreciate that the city's reason-free use of the cameras at these two locations was NOT at all appropriate if the purpose was to prevent red-light runners -as
they claim.

Seeing that, in this city at least, the whole "safety" thing was a complete ruse.


I had a sense of forboding last night when my computer seemed to be going in super-slow mo as I tried to go through the dozens of photographs and videos I've shot over the past two years of the infamous red-light camera site on U.S.-1, south of Hallandale Beach Blvd., and the one that goes into operation today, which is located at the last intersection before the I-95 entrance and exits, which I visited Sunday night.


It was very, very frustrating to once again be reminded that my computer seems to have a mind of its own, and was choosing last night to engage in a teen tantrum, when what I really needed was for it to work quickly and efficiently.


I'll have to post the photographs of the areas around the red-light cameras in Hallandale Beach, with both night-and-day perspective, later in the week.
Sorry to disappoint.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Great Hallandale Beach 'North Beach' Dedication Debacle of 2011 is Today


Above and below, January 21, 2011 photos by South Beach Hoosier
.



With less than 22 hours to go 'till the The Great Hallandale Beach 'North Beach' Dedication Debacle of 2011...

Yes, m
y new name for the fiasco that's scheduled to go down at 5:30 p.m. on the beach Tuesday under the iconic HB Water Tower is The Great Hallandale Beach 'North Beach' Dedication Debacle of 2011.

January 21, 2011 photos by South Beach Hoosier.

Curious to see what the city was finally doing to promote something that should've taken place in the Fall of 2007, I drove by the North Beach facility on State Road A1A/South Ocean Drive and Hallandale Beach Blvd. on Monday evening around 8 p.m.

There, with the clock ticking, and everyone in the city perfectly aware of how badly this fiasco reflects on the people at HB City Hall, I saw for myself that the city
finally decided to do what it should've done ten days ago -and often has for other MUCH LESS important reasons.


January 24, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Meanwhile, the Golden Isles Tennis Club has had their sandwich board in the highly-visible spot of the median on Hallandale Beach Blvd. and 14th Avenue, near the Publix and the Walgreens, for at least three weeks.

Whom do we all know who plays tennis over there?


January 24, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

When I got there, the first thing I noticed was how ridiculously dark it was over there, as ALL the safety lights were NOT on between the A1A sidewalk and the front of the building, and we all know that there are ZERO turtles in that city water fountain, since until last month, there was no water in it for 16 months.

So unless something changes between now and then, about 15 minutes into Tuesday's 5:30 p.m. dedication, it will be pitch black.
The perfect metaphor for this city in a black hole.


January 24, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

I caught the west-bound traffic light on A1A right away and so didn't see whether or not the city actually spelled everything correctly on the board, but I wouldn't count on it.
Could someone please check in the morning?


January 24, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

And did anyone happen to notice what day and time the city's electronic board FINALLY made it over there, since it wasn't there late Friday afternoon?

If so, please share the knowledge in the morning so we all know!



I wonder if anyone from the community will heckle the parties directly responsible for this black eye, like Mayor Joy Cooper, City Manager Mark Antonio or DPW Director John Chidsey, who was hired what seems like years ago specifically to speed-up the process and open the facility?

Didn't happen, did it?


In any case, as usual, there will no doubt be far too many HB police officers present, hanging around with nothing to do, with some no doubt parking their police cars right on the brick sidewalk that surrounds the water fountain that was empty for so very long, another Chidsey success.


They may even leave their emergency lights flashing as they do for the other events I've witnessed over there the past few years that defied description, like the Air Supply concert, where well-known cronies of the City Hall crowd and PAL used the public facility and parked in the city's public garage, while the public was forced to park many blocks away and walk.

Yes, it often seems like the elected officials and employees of this small city forget that they work for the people here, not the other way around, and that it's their thinking -not ours- that needs to Change, as my friend Michael Butler forcefully reminded City Manager Antonio on Wednesday night after city employee Antonio insulted Michael, myself and about two-dozen other HB citizens by patronizingly saying that we needed to change our behavior, not him.

No, we know EXACTLY who needs to change their myopic thinking and their way of doing things, and it's NOT us.

Steps and strategies towards "fixing" that kind of outmoded thinking at Hallandale Beach City Hall is already well under way, and one of them employs a management method that I've mentioned here on the blog before as being one of my personal favorites -
addition-by-subtraction.


Change Hallandale:
http://web.me.com/mike.butler/Change_Hallandale/Updates/Updates.html

Monday, April 7, 2008

Update on "The Hollywood Eyesore" -Molehill to Mountain!

A1A and Hallandale Beach Boulevard
February 16, 2008, prior to 'Love and Jazz' concert
photo by South Beach Hoosier


Looking southeast on A1A at Hallandale Beach's iconic Water Tower in center, and The Related Group's The Beach Club to the right.
Obstructed by the dirt and debris is Hallandale Beach Fire Station #60
April 3, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Well, since we last photographed this problem, it looks like someone has -FINALLY- learned how to make a mountain out of a molehill, since it's grown at least three-fold in the past 12 days.
But someone -can't say who- has chosen to come by since my last post on this and actually cut the grass alongside the sidewalk.

So why wasn't it done before?

Why has this been allowed to be such a civic eyesore for so long on the so-called "Scenic Highway" which is really anything but?

For instance, just last year, the City of Hollywood had "notice" signs about public hearings regarding the site that were on the ground for months after the date.

I called up City Hall to make them aware of it and guess what happened?

The same thing that happened when I brought up the situation to City of Hollywood inspectors, who were across the street at the Hotel, they gave me the ol' Hollywood brush-off they learned under the ancien régime de Mara Giulianti.

Just what I needed, more local employees who don't process or respond well to new information and who didn't want to identify themself.

Damn, wish I'd had my camera with me that day!

Is it really any wonder that so many people in the area dislike the government employees who are supposed to work FOR THEM?
Apropos of the above, I'll have further posts here in the future on observations I made the afternoon of the February 16th's concert, and what I thought were the city's perfectly awful
preparation, resource logistics, and traffic management; past dealings with the City of Hollywood much-vaunted bureaucracy; and the so-called Scenic Highway along A1A in Broward County.

Update on "Car Accident Scene That Refuses to Disappear!"

April 7th update of "The Car Accident Scene That Refuses to Disappear!"

There's still no communication coming my way from the offices of William M. Brant, the new City of Hallandale Beach Director of DPW/Utilities & Engineering, whom I spoke to in person five weeks ago about a number of critical issues facing his agency, but a walk down Hallandale Beach Boulevard early Thursday evening did reveal that most of the larger debris has been cleaned up. Of course, that could simply be a result of the construction work being done nearby.

The broken window glass and weathered police tape I referred to in my post the other day are a different story altogether. They remain very much present, as a walk by there yesterday afternoon quickly revealed.

Also still present at the scene was the aforementioned liquor bottle that may have had a thing or two to do with a car (possibly) decapitating a tree on the busiest street in the city.
A block from the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce.
From four months ago.


Looking west from 1180 E. Hallandale Beach Boulevard, late in the afternoon.
Safety barricades -sans working lights- lying down on the job -large orange safety cone, too! Late March 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

An analogy does sort of come readily to mind, doesn't it?


Same address at sunset on April 3, 2008
Photo by South Beach Hoosier

Early last Thursday evening, on the way back from Publix, I picked up the small liquor bottle nearby that I'd seen on the ground at the scene for so many months, and placed it on the tree stump -in center, above- so you'd know that I wasn't embellishing here in my description. (There's no need to, the reality is scary enough.)

But quite clearly, I came by the scene a little too late in the day for the lighting conditions to be worthwhile for a good photo.

Of course, if the street lights actually came on when they ought to, and were adequate to the task along that part of HBB, it might've been a little different.

But then the longstanding and horrific street light situation in Hallandale Beach is a whole 'nother conversation altogether, and one I've spoken about at length in prior postings.

The subject of adequate street lighting in the city was one of the last straws that caused me to finally start this blog, after thinking about it for quite some time, and being pestered about it by friends.

Prior Hallandale Beach Blog posts on bad street lighting give much more context than this post and include:

January 22, 2008
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/illusion-of-safety-in-hb-is-not-same.html

January 19, 2008
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/hallandalebeachblog-time-machine-august.html

Thursday, April 3, 2008

The Hollywood Eyesore That Refuses to Leave!

Late March 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Almost 18 months after I first noticed it in November of 2006, this large mound of dirt, debris and garbage on the north side of the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach border, at A1A and Hallandale Beach Blvd., Hollywood's longstanding eyesore continues to taunt and mock anyone who passes it.
Despite some personal visits to Hollywood City Hall to inquire and complain about why it's allowed to just sit there ruining the neighborhood, there it sits, exposing the bureaucratic failure of the city to rectify it.
Where are the plastic slit-fences attached to the fence facing A1A, to keep dirt and debris from flying around the area onto pedestrians and drivers alike?
What do you think is going to happen, it's sitting at THE windiest part of the community?
And the longstanding garbage and overgrown weeds on the sidewalk on A1A is pretty shabby, too!
Welcome to Hollywood's front door on scenic A1A!

Friday, June 1, 2007

East-bound SR858/HBB drawbridge sign at night

Photo taken at 1:00 a.m., Wednesday May 30, 2007

Honestly, how oblivious can the City of Hallandale Beach government and its employees be to their own town, and the way it appears to visitors and tourists?
Well, enough so that you'd think that someone from City Hall in general, and DPW in particular, would've noticed this situation, which has been a problem for months and months and made a phone call...
Or, failing that, that City Commissioner
Francine Schiller would've seen it, since she MUST pass it every time she goes home at night from City Hall. Apparently not.
That's a perfect way to illustrate how a word like oversight has two completely opposing meanings, especially in a town as poorly run as Hallandale Beach.
______________________________
http://www.wordreference.com/

Adapted From: WordNet 2.0 Copyright 2003 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
oversight
A noun
1 oversight,
lapse
a mistake resulting from inattention
Category Tree:
act; human action; human activity
nonaccomplishment; nonachievement
mistake; error; fault
╚oversight,
lapse
2
supervision, supervising, superintendence, oversight
management by overseeing the performance or operation of a person or group
Category Tree:
act; human action; human activity
group action
social control
management; direction
supervision, supervising, superintendence, oversight
invigilation

3 oversight,
inadvertence
an unintentional omission resulting from failure to notice something
Category Tree:
psychological feature
cognition; knowledge; noesis
process; cognitive process; mental process; operation; cognitive operation
basic cognitive process
inattention
disregard; neglect
omission
╚oversight,
inadvertence