Latest news re The Hyde Beach Resort project on Hollywood Beach -the former Beach One Resort- right next to the Hallandale Beach Water Tower on State Road A1A: goes to the Hollywood Planning & Development Board on Thursday February 13th at 6 p.m.

Notice that the artist's rendering of the project above, to the right, which I snapped at Hollywood's Planning Dept. this week -a plan which is completely different in design and scope from the original plan approved by the Hollywood City Comm. for the Beach One Resort, which was truly beautiful- does NOT show the Apogee right next to it 

And also does NOT show the effect of The Related Group's North Beach plans for a building where the old Beachside Cafe was located.

(Which the City of HB had ZERO renderings of at the beach for residents and visitors to see at both its groundbreaking weeks ago or at any point since then, contrary to common sense or any sense of getting the community to buy into it.)

Also NOT shown -the iconic HB Water Tower.

That's THREE neighbors NOT shown in one rendering.

But then the rendering for Apogee wasn't so accurate back in 2012 either, were they?
Just saying.

Below, from February 2012.

February 10, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

My previous blog posts on this very important parcel on A1A are here:

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

October 4, 2008

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

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/naming-names-herald-style-beach-one.html and 

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/re-naming-names-herald-style-beach-one.html

October 18, 2008

Beach One Resort's Approval in Hollywood Provokes Wrath and Harsh Words at Hallandale Beach City Commission
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/beach-one-resorts-approval-in-hollywood.html


October 21, 2008
Cleavage Grows Larger b/w City of Hallandale Beach and Hollywood After Beach One Resort Approved

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/cleavage-grows-larger-bw-city-of.html

December 5, 2008

Sue-happy Hallandale Beach vs. Hollywood re Beach One Resort
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/first-shoes-drop-sue-happy-hallandale.html

JUNE 15, 2012 
Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's old threats & lawsuits re-emerge as Hollywood's Beach One Resort sues over its access to the beach, the latest shoe to drop in The Related Group's Beachwalk project that'd make HB's North Beach a de facto private beach for The Related Group's properties, NOT a public beach for HB residents
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/hallandale-beach-mayor-joy-coopers-old.html

Stop thief, stop! So guess whose campaign website contains 3 of my original blog photos -all taken without permission or paying for them? Bill Julian. Yes, just like Hallandale Beach City Manager Mark Antonio's serial copyright theft of many of my original photos. Antonio will soon learn that stealing just doesn't pay!

Stop thief, stop! So guess whose campaign website contains 3 of my original blog photos -all taken without permission or paying for them? Bill Julian. Yes, just like Hallandale Beach City Manager Mark Antonio's serial copyright theft of many of my original photos. Antonio will soon learn that stealing just doesn't pay!

Yes, it was exactly who you thought would be that incredibly clumsy just 20 weeks before a pivotal city election where voters will have yet another chance to thoroughly reject him, and keep him far away from any important decision-making about this city's future - former Hallandale Beach City Commissioner William "Bill" Julian. 


The very person whom I personally hold most responsible -along with Mayor Joy Cooper- for the sorry state of this city with so much potential, because of their consistent bad judgment, embarrassing decision-making, inattention to detail and complete unwillingness to ever learn from their many mistakes.
In that respect, they are both forever re-inventing the wheel of exasperation.

Circled in orange on this screen capture I made are the three original photos of mine that illegally appeared on Julian's campaign website as of 8 p.m. June 19, 2012.

So, let's take a close look at what Julian and his dim-witted campaign decided to use on their temporary campaign website, things which better completely disappear from there very soon -or else!
And really, Julian's lived here for multiple decades and he doesn't have any good photos of his own that he can use for his own campaign website, even temporarily?
Wow, that's pathetic!

Here are the captions that I've had on these photos since I first took them and uploaded them to my blog, with the occasional updates: 

Hallandale Beach Water Tower on A1A/South Ocean Drive. Located below the Hallandale Beach Water Tower on A1A/South Ocean Drive, on the south side (right) is the "Community Center" that HB City Hall, thru their gross incompetency, had made impossible for HB citizen taxpayers to use now for 41 MONTHS as of January 2011. (And where's the American flag on the Fourth of July weekend? Missing in action as it had been for months!) July 3, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Hmm-m... where have I seen this photo before...

My July 3rd, 2009 photo of the HB Water Tower as seen on the City of Hallandale Beachs website, via their computer next to the public notice board at HB City Hall. The city's website has contained numerous of my photos for well over a year without ever asking for my permission and without ever paying for them. That's how they do things under the current crew running the city. February 10, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

A FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD DOWN, AND SO DOES LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN BROWARD COUNTY, FL

City of Hallandale Beach Municipal Complex: A fish rots from the head down, and so does local government in Broward County, FL. This monument sign on U.S.-1 and S.E. 5th Street, across from Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino and the Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex, alerts you to your proximity to way from the HB City Hall and Police Department. 

It's a government that by their words and actions has given taxpayers every impression of holding itself apart and above from the citizens it's supposed to serve, often acting like they don't have to follow the laws that govern everyone else in the state of Florida and the U.S., whether of logic and reason, contracts, or, more to the point for this blog, the Florida Statutes on Sunshine Laws and Public Records. 

City employees in Hallandale Beach routinely refuse to answer reasonable questions posed to them by resident taxpayers, and as I have found out myself, often berated you for even having the nerve to ask! Comm. Dotty Ross has a solid record for her put-downs of the public even before they speak. 

As it happens, it's also not a very safe area, despite who's supposed to be there, and in the past few years, the public parking lots have been pitch black for 6-9 months at a time, even next to the Police Dept. HQ. The then-Police Chief just shrugged his shoulders, even at City Comm. meetings. As if they couldn't make a worse first impression, at one point, even the lights on this sign didn't work at night for over FOUR YEARS, either. March 3, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

HALLANDALE BEACH. ACTUALLY, IT'S A CITY OF GROSS INCOMPETENCY, RED-TAPE & MYOPIA

Hallandale Beach, City of Choice. The sign that greets northbound drivers on U.S.-1/South Federal Hwy. as they leave the City of Aventura and Miami-Dade County in the rear window; one of the three main streets into Hallandale Beach. Unfortunately, it's the perfect metaphor for the City of Hallandale Beach and its elected officials and employees: short-sighted and lacking in common sense. This sign was originally placed so far west on the median strip -and practically BEHIND a palm tree- that drivers can't actually read it even if they wanted to. In any case, because of the longtime gross incompetency and negligence of the city, the spotlights that are supposed to illuminate the sign at night HAVEN'T worked since about mid-January of 2004. 

Which is to say, yes, LONGER than the U.S.'s involvement in WW II. 

Welcome to the City of Hallandale Beach! Begin heavy traffic, chronic red tape and mis-adventures in government! Hallandale Beach, FL; Original photo here was taken January 2007; this one taken May 8, 2008; photo by South Beach Hoosier. 

The three palm trees that had been in front of it on the median are gone, so now you can REALLY notice that it DOESN'T work! 

February 2009 update: In order to make room for a left-turning lane at S.E. 5th Street into The Village of Gulfstream retail complex, the 'invisible' sign was removed and placed farther north. As of June 19th, 2012, the lights on this sign STILL don't work! In fact, the light fixtures have been gone for months. Yet another sign of the ruinous reign of Mayor Joy Cooper and City Manager's Mike Good & Mark A. Antonio. No attention to detail!

------

Well, as people are always saying, you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

Not to worry, though, within the next week, I'll get to the self-evident and serial copyright thievery of City Manager Mark A. Antonio at Hallandale Beach City Hall, which goes back more than a year.

These are the 'Mean Streets' I cover. I cover the waterfront... Hallandale Beach, Florida, U.S.A. and the Rubber Stamp Crew that holds it hostage

Aerial views of Hallandale Beach, Florida, U.S.A.

http://youtu.be/vXRFoLZ7oN8

These are the 'Mean Streets' I cover.

"I cover the waterfront..."

And I cover and observe with alarm the sham community meetings fronted by lobbyists and developers, the ungodly long City Commission meetings where logic, reason and common sense are, more times than not, no-shows to proceedings whose results are known before they ever start.

And I cover the graffiti-filled streets and drug-dealing back-alleys, dirty and unattractive public city beaches and pitch-dark public city parks where the first impressions drawn by residents and visitors are decidedly negative -and stay negative because of the apathy and neglect of those in charge at City Hall, who are oblivious and defensive about what is entirely self-evident.

Hallandale Beach has enormous potential, and, literally, an ocean of possibilities because of its great location and weather.

It's a city that ought to be a LOT BETTER place to live in and work in than it is now.

And everyone knows it.

But Hallandale Beach is also an ocean-side community that for years has been held hostage by the myopic, condescending and completely under-performing Rubber Stamp Crew of Mayor Joy Cooper, with the result that Hallandale Beach City Hall is genuinely afraid of open public debate and the public they purport to represent, as well as the voices of change that seek to hold THEM accountable.

In 48 weeks, the future of this city will be in the hands of Hallandale Beach voters to decide what kind of community this is going to be: more of the tyranny of the status quo, or, transparent, accountable and hard-working representatives who don't sleep-walk and shirk their responsibilities

In short, what kind of Quality-of-Life they and their families and neighbors will enjoy.

You all know what side I'm fighting for.

A classic scene from 1953's "On the Waterfront": Edie and Terry reminisce, verbally spar and connect; Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint make movie magic!

http://youtu.be/dHtJUWO7yeA

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http://mfmediahouse.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/mfmediahouse1

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, my 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

Final Hallandale Beach Parks & Rec. Master Plan meeting with consultants at HB's A1A Community Center on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Above, September 2008 photo of Hallandale Beach Water Tower by South Beach Hoosier.

Above, July 12, 2010 photo of Hallandale Beach Water Tower and A1A Community Center by South Beach Hoosier.

The final Hallandale Beach Parks & Recreation Dept. Master Plan public meeting with the city's consultants, Bermello Ajamil Partners, Inc., is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the A1A Community Center under the iconic Hallandale Beach Water Tower on State Road A1A and East Hallandale Beach Boulevard. When your view looks like this one below the Water Tower, you're in the right place.That's The Beach Club condo towers on the left. July 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

As of now, it's my intention to record the meeting if there's any sort of formal presentation, though there may not be.
I've intentionally waited until this very last meeting with the consultants so that I would not have to go to it already disappointed or resigned to notions of mediocrity.

I spoke to the two principal consultants at the HB Parks & Rec. Advisory Board meeting in early June for just a bit under ten minutes out in the HB Cultural Center hallway, out of earshot of the Advisory Board that was still discussing something inside the room after the consultant's Q&A.

They seemed genuinely open to suggestions and comments and at one point, after they told me about some past clients and a general idea of what they'd done for them, I told them that I'd been looking forward to their outreach for quite some time.

But I also told them that their firm had a lot more work ahead of them than they might've thought, since there are so many people in this city besides myself who have come to the inescapable conclusion that it's in the best interests of the city's taxpayers for the responsibility for the city's public beaches to be wrested away from HB DPW, and given to either Parks & Rec., or have it contracted out completely, so that the public beach can begin to approach the level of fun and aesthetics the community deserves and expects.

The sort of beach some in the community want will be sort of like a South Florida version of...Above, Nikki DeLoach, Brooke Burns and Amanda Righetti from FOX-TV's fantastic and preposterous 2004-'05 program, North Shore.

But for other reasonable residents of this city, a clean, well-maintained beach that shows a little civic pride would be a good first start.

That's especially the case with people who have bought property nearby to really enjoy the beach, yet, paradoxically, are perpetually dumbstruck by how poorly maintained it is, coupled with the general neglect and apathy of the city's leaders to make better use of it as a resource, to say nothing of the Hallandale Beach Police avoiding patrolling the area, something that the local criminal class knows well and exploits.
Above, May 12, 2008 photo of obstructed genus sign at Hallandale Beach's South Beach by South Beach Hoosier. It's even worse now if you can believe it. This sort of apathetic approach to maintenance is a longstanding problem at the beach.Where's the HB version of the proactive steps that Hollywood Mayor Peter Bober is making regarding erosion on Hollywood Beach?

Have you seen how old and graffiti-scarred the South Beach life guard tower is? They've been waiting for a replacement since...

How about a beach that's thoroughly cleaned with the actual sand sifted like it was in Haulover Beach thirty years ago, when my friends and I were going there regularly on weekends and during the summer, and not simply leveled with a rusty pipe with claws that seems straight out of 1930's Russia?

It's a piece of low-tech equipment that is left right on the beach during the day instead of being stored somewhere nearby like would be normal anywhere else.

Here, though, it's all about doing what is easiest for the city employees, which is the situation with recycling bins on the beach also.
Which aren't on the actual beach!


Since the vast majority of the people seeing this post weren't at the last -ONLY!- meeting held at the "Community Center," the A1A Quadrant meeting, you really owe it to yourself to come by and check it out from the inside.

Without giving away too many secrets about my super-powers, I think I can accurately predict what will happen if you do.
You will get angry all over again that it's only the second time the two-story building has been open to HB citizens in 35 months, though VIP friends of City Hall have used it many times before, of course, esp. PAL and the Kessel Crew.

And 35 months later, the second floor STILL isn't fixed and the elevator STILL doesn't work.

And most galling of all, as I've written here several times in the past, there's still nothing on the building saying what it is, when it's open or when a public forum will be held in the city where citizen taxpayers can tell the city's elected officials exactly what they want it to be.
What it shouldn't be is strictly a rental space, as seemed to be the preferred option of former HB City manager Mike Good, yet another reason for me and so many other concerned citizens of this community to be glad he's gone. It should be a positive and dynamic resource, not a storage closet on the beach! 

Now, though, as you can see in my photos below, it's just an airy storage room for stacked-up chairs, albeit in a room that just happens to be steps from the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.Pathetic!Above, July 12, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier looking east from front door of HB A1A Community Center. The Palm trees you see thru the window are on the beach.

Above, July 12, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier looking north from window of HB A1A Community Center, opposite The Beach Club condo towers.

Above, July 12, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier looking west from window of HB A1A Community Center, reflecting the Palm trees behind me and the Atlantic Ocean less than 80 yards behind me. The color teal you see is the bottom of the Water Tower outside the front door.

Now that you have seen a small snapshot of this facility opposite the beach, you can better appreciate why this issue has been driving so many other concerned citizens of HB crazy for years, including me.

A two-story facility with an observation area on the roof that is but a stone's throw from the Atlantic Ocean, one that other towns and cities in South Florida would positively kill to have, which was given to Hallandale Beach for free, and yet under Mayor Joy Cooper and former City Manager Mike Good, for 35 long months, it's been strictly off-limits to its rightful owners, the citizen taxpayers of Hallandale Beach.

A week from Tuesday, August 3rd, will mark exactly THREE YEARS that it has belonged to us. And yet we are on the outside looking in.

If this was happening in Miami Beach or Fort Lauderdale, the South Florida news media would be crawling all over this story, because it is so easy to understand, but because it is here in Hallandale Beach, it is completely ignored, despite my best efforts to get reporters interested.
----
From COHB's website:http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/CurrentEvents.aspx?EID=2793

Title:	Citywide Parks Master Plan Community Meeting - A1A/Beach Corridor
Date:	July 24, 2010
Start Time:	1:00 PM
End Time:	2:00 PM
Description:	The project consists of the development of a Citywide Park Master Plan, including a redesign to the City Parks sites, needs assessment and analysis, capital improvement plan and funding options, with a forward-thinking strategy to support the residents and Community’s needs and programs. The Consultant for this project is Bermello Ajamil Partners, Inc. This will be the first of several meetings facilitated by Bermello Ajamil Partners, Inc. as part of the Parks Master Plan creation process. The Community is encouraged to participate and share their thoughts and ideas. The Community’s input is essential. If you cannot attend one of the listed meetings please visit the City’s website where you can provide your feedback, suggestions and input at www.cohb.org under the Parks Department/Parks Evaluation.
Address:	North Beach Municipal Building 2801 E. Hallandale Beach Boulevard Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
Contact:	(954) 457-1452
Link:	Citywide Parks Master Plan Community Meetings

Happy Holidays from Hallandale Beach: A taste of chutzpah, hypocrisy and incompetency with your eggnog; Joy Cooper's change of heart after getting elected is just another one of those things that makes us all shake our heads

December 25, 2009

Dear faithful readers: 

On this day, as any other, a trip on Hallandale Beach Blog's Time Machine is never for the faint of heart or the intellectually dis-honest.

First, the set-up piece:

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RESIDENTS: KEEP RELIGION OFF DISPLAY - COMMISSION AGREES, CHANGES HOLIDAY PLANS

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Thomas Monnay
October 8, 1997

Arnold Lanner wanted to please Jews and Christians when he persuaded his fellow commissioners to approve funds for a menorah and a Christmas tree for the city's holiday lighting display.

The move, however, has landed the city in church-and-state hot water

Several upset residents, including Alan R. Griffith, a lawyer, have warned officials against using taxpayer's money to erect religious symbols on public property.

The lighting display, the city's fifth in a row, kicks off Nov. 22.

"We hold both the city and its employees responsible for making such an unwise decision accountable," Griffith told commissioners in an Oct. 1 letter. "Please be advised that we take the Constitution very seriously and will, if necessary, seek help of the courts to protect its provisions."

Joy Cooper, an activist who also criticized the proposed use of religious symbols, said she would be willing to sue the city.

"The government has no right to get involved in religion," Cooper said.

She is concerned that city officials might some day add a cross or a nativity scene to the display.

Fearing a nasty court challenge from the residents, commissioners on Tuesday backed down from their plan with a 4-1 vote, leaving Lanner an angry man.

The symbols would have cost the city $3,000.

"I'm very unhappy about it," Lanner said. "I feel it's a holiday that denotes the two major religions [Christianity and Judaism)."

When commissioners unanimously approved Lanner's request in January, they thought the city was "mature" enough to deal with the change. But the public protest continued to mount as the holiday season approached.

City Attorney Dick Kane has told commissioners that it is probably illegal to use tax dollars for such purposes, but Lanner is not so sure.

Lanner said he could not understand why the federal government can spend tax dollars to erect a giant Christmas tree on the White House lawn and Hallandale can not do something similar.

He pointed out that Broward County's main library, a tax-supported facility, also displays a Christmas tree.

"Where do you draw the line," Lanner said. "It's kind of saying Christmas doesn't exist; it's kind of saying Hanukkah doesn't exist."

Commissioner Sonny Rosenberg said many Jewish residents requested that a menorah be part of the holiday display. But the latest uproar made him realize that there are more people who don't want one.

"If it's illegal, I think we ought to obey the law," Rosenberg said. "We don't always [do that), but in this case we will."

Lanner is still not convinced.

"I think we have to be more lenient as far as religion is concerned in the city of Hallandale," Lanner said.

City officials launch the display each year with a lighting ceremony and entertainment in the Diplomat Mall's parking lot. It illuminates Hallandale Beach Boulevard with thousands of colorful lights.

Cooper and Griffith, who have small children, said they love the event. But they want it to remain a holiday display _ not a religious celebration.

"I like it the way it is now," Cooper said. "I don't think it needs to be bigger, I don't think it needs religion in it.

----------
In the City of Hallandale Beach, though there are literally dozens of self-evident public safety and Quality-of-Life issues that city employees really ought to be spending their time on first, something I only mention here constantly, city employees are often dispatched to work on matters that seem to have very little to do with the real priorities of a living, working city.

In my opinion, that's the case with the city's annual holiday lights display on Hallandale Beach Blvd., often BEFORE Election Day in the first week of November, as was the case last year.
Really

Above, South Beach Hoosier photo of holiday light display on HBB, looking southwest from in front of Boston Market, November 6, 2009, a month before the official ceremony.

This attitude by HB City Hall is nothing new, though, as the year of Hurricane Wilma, three years ago, city employees were busy working on putting-up holiday lights in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall (on the U.S.-1 side, due to road construction on HBB) even while there were complaints
about piles of garbage and debris on city streets and curbs all over the city, even right near City Hall, many of which I saw for myself.

In fact, even as I saw the lights go up, the STOP signs in the city's very own parking lot were lying on the ground, where they'd remain for WEEKS.
Why?

Because that's the way they like to do things.
Logic and reason?
Where do you think you are?

Who has time to deal with public safety when there are holiday lights to go up?

In fact, the first day that they city started putting those lights-up three years ago -a three day process as it turned out- I was talking on my cell phone to a Miami Herald reporter about the city's rather dismal cleanup effort compared to next door Aventura and Hollywood as I came across the workers wrapping lights around palm trees.

And what about the Sun-Sentinel article at the top of this post from 12-years ago, that revolved around city residents' concerns about the city placing religious items, to wit, a menorah and a nativity scene, on city property, including "activist" Joy Cooper among others?

When push came to shove, though, what has history shown us has actually happened in the intervening years?

Well, since I've been living here, it seems like every mid-December, I suddenly see a giant menorah emerge out of nowhere, placed near the entrance to the city's beach at State Road A1A and HBB.

It's NOT sponsored by some private group, it's the city's.
(And in any case, it's PUBLIC property.)

No, there's nothing there that says a generic "Happy Holidays" nor are there cheery plastic candy canes, but rather an actual menorah, often propped-up by sand bags as I recall.

Frankly, it looks both sad and pathetic, especially after it's fallen and is just lying there on the ground.

What do you know, here's a photo I snapped of the menorah from last year, Dec. 26th to be exact.

Above,looking east from State Road A1A/S. Ocean Drive sidewalk.  December 26, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

And more recently you ask? Well, how about Dec. 19th, last Saturday?December 19, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

And what about the situation right in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall itself?

Here are some photos I took on of light displays there, one of a menorah and the other of a three-piece silhouette that, to my eyes at least, looks exactly like your standard generic Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus.

Not exactly Sugar Plum fairies or Nut Crackers or reindeer...
Or am I wrong in my description?


Above, December 24, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier looking west at entrance to Hallandale Beach City Hall on U.S.-1 from the sidewalk in front of Village at Gulfstream.


December 22, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Directly in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall.


Dec. 22, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier. Directly in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall.


Dec. 22, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier. Menorah decoration in front of Chabad of South Broward, on HBB, which suffered a lot of flooding damage a week ago.
Nobody cares about this one being here since it's on private property.

Dec. 20, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
The U.S.-1 sign right near the religious displays in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall.
To the right is the near pitch black HB City Hall parking lot, a recurring Guest Star of so many
previous posts here on the blog for obvious safety reasons.

Not that that the city has shown the slightest inkling to resolve the self-evident public safety
problem there they all know about...

That's how they do things in the City of Hallandale Beach under Joy Cooper and Mike Good.

Thanks for taking this trip aboard the Hallandale Beach Blog Time Machine.

What is it with the City of Hallandale Beach and American flags? The city's DPW perpetually seems unable to handle the small things and the big things. It's long past time to outsource some of their responsibilities since they are not performing satisfactory and not meeting taxpayers expectations

Above, another shot of the missing American flag in front of the Hallandale Beach Water Tower and the HB Fire/Rescue Station at the intersection of State Road A1A/South Ocean Drive and Hallandale Beach Blvd. It's next door to the so-called North Beach Community Center that average HB taxpayers haven't been able to access since it was given to them, not the HB City Commission and PAL, on August 3rd, 2007, 28 months ago. The person most-responsible for this: Mayor Joy Cooper.
The same person who won't allow a public meeting about the building's future to be held because her interests are in complete conflict with the community's, who want to actually be able to use their city building steps from the ocean and with a great view of the ocean. 
December 19th, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier. All photos on this page © 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Just the latest in a never-ending series of missing American flags at that site over the years, in this case, missing since August.

Just saying...For those of you who've been paying close attention to what I've written here on the blog over the years to the damage done by the longstanding gross indifference to the importance of first impressions, appearances, aesthetics and public safety by Hallandale Beach City Hall, to say nothing of ethics, laws and proper procedures, the following bit of old news will not surprise you a whit.

You may recall my specifically commenting here five weeks ago on the truly embarrassing situation involving the American flag at the Hallandale Beach City Hall and the HB Fire/Rescue Station on Three Islands, where I even had video.

See my November 16th blog post
Oh, say can you see... Guess which city's flag ignored Fort Hood and Veteran's Day?
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/oh-say-can-you-see-guess-which-citys.html

And that criticism itself only dovetails with the longstanding, year-after-year problems with the
American flag next to the HB Fire/Rescue Station at the intersection of State Road A1A/South  Ocean Drive and Hallandale Beach Blvd., in front of the HB Water Tower, which I've written about after first speaking to people in the city nominally in charge, who did NADA.

As it happens, as of last week, the American flag over on A1A has been missing since August.

Well, that sort of general indifference and turning a blind eye to what's patently obvious has been par for the course under Mayor Joy Cooper and City Manager Mike Good since I returned to the area, as well as under HB Fire Chief Daniel Sullivan & Company, and to prove that point, I include here now some photos that I meant to run on Nov. 16th to show that very fact pattern.

These photos are from Oct. 26th of 2008 and show rather conclusively that the sort of thing that would be completely unacceptable in most American communities, continually flying a badly-damaged American flag for WEEKS above a government building, is just a normal day for officials of the City of Hallandale Beach.

They just shrug their shoulders and move on, pretending they're busy earning their salaries.
They're not, and we know it.

Below, photos taken on October 26, 2008 by South Beach Hoosier.