Cause and effect or just coincidence? Whatever the case, Saturday's Herald Editorial puts Hallandale Beach City Hall on the grill and fillets them

Above, the Heart of Darkness in Hallandale Beach: Hallandale Beach City Hall. Looks like Monday might indeed be a night to remember for Hallandale Beach's long beleaguered citizen taxpayers, so please try to be there in person at 6 p.m. if at all possible so you can see the spectacle yourself. Everyday in Hallandale Beach this summer, we are seeing more and more proof of the sorts of unhealthy and unacceptable qualities that we do NOT want in either elected officials nor in a new city manger. The outcry and controversy over the absurd proposal to give a $15,ooo bonus to someone for simply doing their job - and, in my opinion, an unsatisfactory job at that in acting City Manager Mark Antonio's case- almost obscures one of the most appalling aspects of daily life in this small ocean-side city with the current Cooper Crew in charge, one that I have yet to hear anyone else remark upon publicly, so I'll go ahead and say it now so that others may consider it. It's actually in the form of a a question. How thoroughly perverse and contemptible is it that the only time anything in this entire city can be done quickly by HB City Hall is when THEY attempt to ramrod something truly appalling thru the City Commission without telling the taxpayers of this city about it, to allow a reasonable amount of time for public discussion? Under Mayor Joy Cooper, we have continually seen this brand of creepy anti-democratic and unethical behavior -nothing less than a power-play to thwart the public's will- over-and-over, esp. up in Room 257. Her continual, self-serving brazenness has almost lost its power to shock us. Almost. Since City Commission meetings were not scheduled for the month of August, why couldn't this matter wait until the first scheduled meeting in September, when many HB residents will have returned? You know why and so do I. In contrast to the rapidity and pace they take when there's something for them, consider yet again that THREE YEARS after the city took title to the so-called A1A Community Center from The Beach Club, just steps from the ocean, it's only been open to the public TWICE, and the bldg. elevator is STILL broken and the second floor STILL isn't finished. Why are the city's repairs(!) taking longer than it originally took to construct the entire building? Now there's a question for the ages that I'd like to hear each and every member of the City Commission answer individually, without anyone whispering in their ears. Above, March 3rd, 2009 photo I shot from A1A/ South Ocean Drive that's been anchored on my blog the past 17 months. August 6, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier. The view of the off-limits Community Center from the beach. August 6, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier Do you have some office chairs you'd like to store in a room with a beach view? In the last few weeks, someone in the city seems to have illegally removed Broward County's official warning sticker placed a long time ago near the building front door advising the public that the elevator is, in fact, broken. It was completely missing Friday afternoon when I was there, and the elevator is STILL NOT working, as there is still an artificially-created wooden wall placed between the first floor and the area adjacent to the elevator, near what appears to be an un-opened box of supplies that actually read "May 2010." August 6, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier Yes, the elevator to nowhere. That County sticker had literally faded under the sun's rays, but that doesn't mean the city can legally remove it and not have it replaced or at least put up a similar notice. Typical! In that case, I guess the County sticker was guilty of being a "naysayer," to use Comm. Dotty Ross' favorite frequent word to describe HB's concerned citizens when they speak the truth at City Commission meetings, to her continuing dismay and consternation. On Monday, I'll be posting to my blog some damning photos and video of the A1A Community Center, as it is now, for you to see for yourselves. I'll also have some other photos of items of interest that ought to be brought up publicly Monday night to remind the City Commission that contrary to the mayor's PR spin, Mark Antonio bears a lot of personal responsibility for why things in this city are as half-assed and poorly-run as they are. All they have to do is open their eyes, since the evidence is all around us, but they greatly prefer the world of fantasy to reality, because in that world, they are entitled to whatever they want, no matter how outrageous or absurd. Consider that when the FL League of Cities has their 2010 convention over at the Westin Diplomat from Aug. 19th-21st, do you really think that Joy Cooper or the HB City Commissioners would publicly admit that for all of their waste of taxpayer dollars on things that she and three-fourths of them agreed to over the past few years, items that were opposed by the overwhelming majority of HB taxpayers actually paying attention, there STILL isn't even ONE directional sign in the entire city indicating where HB City Hall or the HB Police Dept. HQ is located? Not one. http://www.floridaleagueofcities.com/ http://www.floridaleagueofcities.com/Events.aspx?CNID=3164 "This year’s conference will continue our focus on learning, networking and idea-sharing." But apparently, NOT listening to taxpayers. Mark Antonio is also the person who seems perfectly content to allow a very dangerous mindset to remain intact at HB City Hall, one that so many of us have been seeing for years, to our utter disgust. That is the mindset where far too many city employees, including Dept. heads and Managers, as well as individuals in the City Manager's office itself, like Jennifer Frastai, seem to believe that there is no punishment for their NOT doing their job competently and professionally. Why do you suppose that is? Perhaps because there is currently zero personal and professional accountability over there, which is one of the reasons why I started my blog in the first place a few years ago, after dutifully going thru the proper channels over there and seeing nothing happen. I knew from my conversations with people I met in the area that I wasn't the only person who saw it and was outraged at the oblivious attitudes there, especially on public safety matters, where i received nothing but lip service. This lack of accountability has been particularly notable over at DPW in the 18 months that John Chidsey has been busy mismanaging it, as one project after another languishes. For instance, to name but one very obvious example, the water fountain directly in front of the A1A Community Center has been broken and without water since LAST August. One entire year! In other cities, if they don't have the part they need, it might be ten days or so, but here, over a year!. August 6, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier The empty water fountain looking towards A1A/South Ocean Drive that nobody at HB City Hall ever notices. August 6, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier Looking at the fountain towards the HB Fire/Rescue Station next door to the off-limits Community Center. And speaking of city employees who don't do their jobs and Dept. heads who could care less, let's not forget that recycling comes under DPW, where Chidsey has been especially ineffective. There are dozens of examples I could cite here -many of you know them by heart, I know- but here's a new one. On Friday, over the entire North Beach area there was but one blue recycling bin visible. And it wasn't really on the beach where it could be used by beach visitors, but between the sidewalk and one of the showers. Why ONE for at least five acres and not near the visitors? That's the way the city employees want it. Because the DPW employees don't care about recycling or doing their job, just what's easiest for them, and for them, hiding the recycling bins or making them impractical to use is their answer for making less work. Below is a photo I snapped in the city's parking garage on Friday after parking the car. Three bins stacked on one another near the entrance. But this is actually an improvement. Two weeks ago, the day of the city's Parks Master Plan meeting at the Community Center, there were three bins stacked on top of one another VERTICALLY. That wasn't by accident, it's the way they fixed them to make sure that nobody used them. And by nobody, I mean the HB taxpayers who already paid for them It's just another example of HB city employees cheating taxpayers of an honest day's work, but then that's hardly unusual when the people at the top are among the worst offenders. In case you didn't see it last week, the excellent Jackie Bueno Sousa column in the Herald that compelled me to invite her to Monday's meeting, complete with reader comments is at: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/03/1760023/if-government-cries-poverty-take.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1 Here's the editorial that appeared in Saturday's Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/07/1765501/local-perspectives.html Miami Herald Editorial August 7, 2010 Local perspectives HALLANDALE BEACH IS MONEY NO OBJECT HERE? You would think city commissioners and Mayor Joy Cooper would know better by now. In 2007 the commission and Mayor Cooper gave themselves a whopping $55,000 pay raise without bothering to notify the public first. As a result, a hailstorm of outrage from local residents rained down on City Hall, and the chastised officials rescinded the raises. But now city officials are up to the same old game: Hastily and secretly spending taxpayers' money like it grows on trees. First, they were so desperate to get rid of former City Manager Mike Good that they agreed to pay him an overly generous severance package worth $366,653 in total. Now, the mayor and commission majority want to reward interim City Manager Mark Antonio with a $15,000 bonus on top of his $145,000 annual salary. And, if it hadn't been for Commissioner Keith London, they would have signed the bonus check without benefit of public notice or input. The talk of a bonus for Mr. Antonio came at the end of long budget workshop session that lasted past midnight last week. Residents had left, and while a video camera was recording the session, the broadcast of the meeting had gone off the air. The commission turned to an evaluation of Mr. Antonio and generally praised his work. That prompted the interim manager to ask for a $25,000 bonus. Mayor Cooper countered with an offer of $10,000. Eventually the $15,000 figure was negotiated. That's when Mr. London blew the whistle for a timeout, saying a vote on the award of the bonus should happen in a public meeting for residents to observe and comment on. So, eager for some reason to ensure that Mr. Antonio gets his bonus sooner rather than later, the commission set a special meeting for 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall for the bonus vote. Mysteriously, they just couldn't wait for the next scheduled commission meeting. Commissioners and Mayor Cooper had better be prepared to justify why Mr. Antonio deserves a bonus simply for doing what he was hired to do. And to explain why they're so willing to be fast and loose with taxpayers' dollars. Reader comments at:

---

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/07/1765501/local-perspectives.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

Date: Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 4:17 PM
Subject: I'm inviting you to see a City Commission that doesn't believe your Wed. column -they're giving a $15,000 bonus to an Interim City Manager for doing nothing

To: Jackie Bueno Sousa
Cc: "Gyllenhaal, Anders", "Schumacher-Matos, Edward",
Thursday August 5th, 2010 4:15 p.m.

Thursday August 5th, 2010
4:15 p.m.

Dear Ms. Sousa:

I'm writing to you today after having considered doing so many times in the
recent past after reading one of your telling, spot-on columns.

The specific reason I'm writing now, though, is your column of yesterday,
If government cries poverty, take a close look

It might surprise you to know that despite the lip service given by many
South Florida public officials to matters of tightening belts and other
budget cliches, there are, in fact, still many more cities in South Florida
that are largely in denial about both the current economy and their
own fiscal responsibilities in that new era requiring tougher choices,
and actually having to say NO occasionally.

In short, the need to spend taxpayer's money wisely in a logical and
responsible fashion with a modicum of oversight, is still a rumor to them,
as they much prefer to remain in 'laisssez les bon temps rouler' mode.

I know this because I live in one of those cities in denial:
Hallandale Beach.

On Monday night, the HB City Commission is preparing to give a
$15,000 bonus to the interim City Manager, Mark Antonio,
who has been a placeholder for barely two months, a few WEEKS
of which he was actually away on vacation, apparently, out-of-the-
country, so I'm told.
Antonio's salary and benefits already total just under $200,000
as an Ass't. City Manager for a city that's 4.2 square miles.

The last CM, Mike Good, an incompetent and unprofessional person
who was living proof of the Peter Principle, was fired by the City
Commission many years after he SHOULD'VE BEEN, on account of,
well, he simply wasn't showing up for work.
At all.

And when Good showed up, he was often late for meetings that
couldn't start until he was present, and I'm not talking about showing up
late as a negotiating tactic with a union.

No, for years he was often completely unavailable by phone to both
the City Commission and his own staff -completely incommunicado.
His wife often claimed not to know where Good was when she was
finally reached.

In fact, as Comm. Keith London noted at the time, Good was even late
for the special City Commission meeting that HE requested to discuss his
over-the-top golden parachute that was larded with things that nobody
in South Florida could get, and that for a city of HB's size, were shameful.
But the City Commission caved-in

Again, in the opinion of myself and many other pro-reform citizens
in HB that want genuine accountability and transparency at City Hall
instead of the stealthy and unethical behavior that's been the M.O.
for years, Good should've been fired for cause years ago, but
Mayor Joy Cooper ignored his longstanding problems because
Good allowed her to do whatever she wanted to, with nary a discouraging
word about her misguided policies or her routinely violating the state's
Sunshine Laws up in Room 247, away from the view of TV cameras.

This unethical and unprofessional behavior was going on for years at
HB City Hall, not that the Herald ever felt the need to see it or share
the news with your readers, since there has only been a Herald reporter
present at an HB City Commission meeting only once since June of 2008,
a complaint of mine and other HB residents that I've discussed frequently
in the past with Mr. Gyllenhaal.

(That reporter was Breanne Gilpatrick and she was only there
because it was a joint City Commission meeting with Hollywood,
her beat at the time.)

It might interest you to know that at the time that Good was fired, the
collective HB City Manager's office salaries were more than that of
next-door Hollywood, despite Hollywood being more than three times
as large in size physically, and three times as large in population.
Really.
And what do we have to show for it?

Giving that much extra money -for what exactly?- to the same person
who just a few months ago, illegally orchestrated an effort to prevent
me from accessing a public city meeting in Room 247 at City Hall,
and then canceled it while I tried to make my way upstairs to be the
only citizen present, is a non-starter.

If anything, Monday night should be an opportunity for HB residents to
finally purge themselves of all the angst and anger they've been having
to carry around all this time, and to describe in detail, in front of the entire
community, ALL the longstanding problems that have STILL NOT been
fixed or resolved to anyone's satisfaction by the City Manager's office
over the past few years, despite plenty of notice.

(Ones that are thoroughly examined in detail on my blog, complete
with photos.)

And since you're not in a position to know, it's a City Manager's
office that has included Mark Antonio ALL that time.

I'm contacting you to formally invite you to come up here on Monday night
for a 'fact-finding trip,' so you can see for herself what really happens with
taxpayer's dollars.
You will see that more than is true in most places, in HB, seeing
REALLY is believing.

Then, you can compare HB's version of "pain" to what you wrote about
in your column yesterday.

I'd be happy to talk or meet with you in the days prior to the meeting if
it's your intent on attending, and even have some other pro-reform folks
available to speak to you if you wish, since it's likely to be quite a scene
on Monday night.
This meeting is the proverbial 'last straw."

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

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Keith London
Date: Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 12:32 PM
Subject: Special City Commission Meeting Agenda for the$15,000 bonus for Interim City Manager and a Charter Change August 9, 2010 at 6:00 PM
To: "Commissioner, Hallandale Beach - Keith London" <klondon@hallandalebeachfl.gov>

Everyone,

Please note there is a special City Commission meeting scheduled for Monday, August 9, 2010 at 6:00 PM in city commission chambers.

Attached please find a copy of the Agenda as well as the back-up information.

The first agenda item is a fifteen thousand ($15,000) bonus to Interim City Manager Mark Antonio. This was approved on a 4:1 vote after midnight on Friday, July 30, 2010 during the city's budget workshop. The item was discussed after the Channel 78 broadcast of the meeting had ended.

I suggested to my fellow City Commissioners that this item be discussed only with proper public notice. They unanimously agreed and the issue will now be discussed at this meeting.

The second item for discussion is the hiring of an INTERNAL AUDITOR. There will be a discussion and decision regarding amending the City of Hallandale Beach Charter to allow the City Commission to hire an additional employee. This individual will report directly to the City Commission, just like the City Manager and City Attorney do now.

If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me on my cell phone or by email.

Thank you,

Keith

Keith S. London

City Commissioner

Hallandale Beach

954-457-1320 Office

954-494-3182 Cellular

http://www.keithlondon.com/

Special Meeting August 9 2010.pdf As I'm finishing this post it's less than 36 hours before this "Special" HB City Commission meeting is to start Monday night at 6 p.m. Guess what? Surprise! The city's third-rate website, which city taxpayers have been paying thousands of dollars for every month, STILL doesn't have the public agenda for this meeting available nor the staff document. http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/ But I have it for you above, thanks to Comm. London. What better current example could I come up with for why Hallandale Beach needs big changes? Be sure to also see my friend Michael Butler's comments over at Change Hallandale Beach at http://web.me.com/mike.butler/Change_Hallandale/Welcome.html

In this part of Broward County, being sandbagged is a good thing! Tropical Storm Bonnie; my Leighton Meester: Bonnie Bedelia analogy is proved!

CBS-4 Miami's Carey Codd was in Hallandale Beach Thursday to examine how the city was preparing for Tropical Storm Bonnie, given the disastrous flooding problems in NE Hallandale Beach and our northern neighbor, Hollywood, the week before Christmas on Thursday December 17th. http://cbs4.com/local/hallandale.beach.rain.2.1819725.html

In Hallandale Beach, the worst areas then and now are those north of East Hallandale Beach Blvd. (HBB) and east of U.S.-1/Federal Highway towards the RK Plaza retail center on N.E. 14th Avenue.

There is still visible damage from the two-foot flooding in December along East HBB which HB City Hall has completely ignored all this time, despite how obvious it is.

First, two retail stores on the north side of the street that suffered damage and which were featured in TV news stories on the flooding at the time have since closed.

(More empty storefronts!
Not that the HB Chamber of Commerce is paying any attention to that sort of thing, since they've got executive board lunches at Gulfstream Park to worry about.)

Second, the bricks on the FDOT-built medians on HBB from roughly NE 8th Avenue to NE 12th Avenue popped-up everywhere so that it's not only unsightly, but unsafe.

Though originally built by FDOT contractors, the city is legally responsible for maintaining the medians in a safe manner, yet the only thing they have done with regard to them since the first day of flooding -besides throwing sand on them, which dissipates with the next rain!- is leaving a single safety barricade there where the median bricks have caved-in, which I've been taking photos of every week since December 18th as I walk by.

There's even a Mini-Stonehenge on the median near N.E. 12th Avenue that I also snap a shot of once in a while, as people show their displeasure with the city's apathy to their responsibility by adding one brick to a pile that was already there.

It's another self-evident example of Mayor Joy Cooper and HB DPW head John Chidsey's obliviousness to problems that need concrete solutions that HB residents see left to fester, day- after-day, month-after-month, year-after-year during their completely unsatisfactory reign of ruin.

Early last month, one of the sort of slow-moving thunderstorms we often get here in the summer created a mini-version of the December debacle, even being featured in news stories across the country.

The general sense of outrage and frustration as well as the city's very unfavorable press as one resident after another complained to TV reporters about the city's laggard and incompetent response, led to the city convening a public meeting recently at HB City Hall that was packed with angry residents, mostly from the NE. area.

I was not there the entire time, but from what I heard as well as from what attendees who were there from the beginning told me afterwards and thru anecdote-filled emails later, the rather uncomfortable sense from residents that the city is continually playing catch-up to events like the Keystone Kops, even though there's ample warning about any troublesome upcoming weather from the National Weather Service, NWS., is really starting to get to people in a way that other previous issues didn't.

Local residents may think we're in Hallandale Beach, but to the NWS, we are affectionately known as Latitude 25.98°North, Longitude 80.13°West
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Hallandale&state=FL&site=MFL&lat=25.9856&lon=-80.1417


What REALLY infuriated residents in December and June according to every person I spoke to who was personally affected was the city allowing non-emergency vehicles from outside the area to drive thru the flooded residential streets and create a wake that forced even more water into neighborhood homes and businesses, causing more serious damage.

How did I find out about the meeting at City Hall? Thru a flyer taped to a glass window near an ATM on the north side of the Bank of America branch on N.E. 8th Avenue.
Really. You think I could make that up?

According to Codd, "the City of Hallandale Beach is handing out free sand bags to residents" at the HB Public Works Dept, at 630 NW 2nd Street.

For those of you far from Hallandale Beach and Hollywood, much of which seems to almost be below sea level, this particular area I'm speaking of is less than 1.5 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.

Speaking of Bonnie, Hallandale Beach Blog, who's your favorite Bonnie?
I'm glad you asked me that: Bonnie Bedelia, whom as I've mentioned before, absolutely wowed a much younger me a few years after seeing her in the 1969 NBC-TV drama with Michael Parks, Then Came Bronson, first came out.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063955/

I sometimes think in retrospect that the whole time I was at IU, I was looking for a Bonnie twin. 
And thanks to my friends who were in them, I knew just the sororities which had strong competitors for that crown, esp. Delta Gamma, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta.
Those were always the girls I connected with the most: smart, great personalities, sporty but who loved wearing sports apparel as much as classic clothing and looked great in either.

The talented and oh-so lovely Leighton Meester reminded me of a young Bonnie from the first time I ever saw her in NBC's cute sci-fi show "Surface" five years ago.
Now, every time I see BB I think of LM and vice-versa.

Blake Lively and Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl,

Rolling Stone 1075, March 2009.

As I put it at the time I first ran this photo of the issue I bought last year: You scream, I scream, we all scream for... Gossip Girl. Photo by Terry Richardson.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/8818/52599

Check these videos out and tell me what you think about my analogy, and before you ask, BB was twenty-one years old when she made this film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xe920YgWts





Then Came Bronson (Intro) S1 (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYsztoaU9Ls

"Then Came Bronson" NBC Fall Preview for 1969, narrated by Hugh Downs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW79P5jLoU4&t=9s


Michael Parks as 'Jim Bronson,' a former San Francisco newspaper reporter turned motorcycle-driving vagabond, seeking to make sense of his own life and connect-the-dots in an ever-changing world around him. Shown above in still of video, the delightful Bonnie Bedelia.

http://www.georgeduning.com/soundtracks/Then_Came_Bronson/Then_Came_Bronson.html

http://www.jimbronson.com/

I was originally going to run a couple of pertinent photos to illustrate some of my points, since I've been taking them for reasons such as this, but due to time constraints and a lack of sleep, I'm going to have to come back here later and drop them in to connect-the-dots a bit better, so please come back and check them out when you can.

You won't be disappointed, since as is always the case in Hallandale Beach, seeing is believing.
And sometimes even that is not enough!

Exclusive: The 2009 Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys of the Year'

And the "winners" of the 2009 Hallandale
Beach Blog Turkey of the Year Award are...

Owing to the overwhelming number of worthy
and estimable candidates for Turkey of the Year,
I have been forced to create four categories so
that the various nominees are competing against
like-minded competitors, no matter the levels
of incompetence, laziness, petty malevolence,
general lack of concern for others or general
half-assedness in the performance of their jobs
or in the public service.

One group of nominees is being considered for
their performances in Broward County,
including Hallandale Beach and Hollywood,
yet another for South Florida outside of Broward
County, a third for the Sunshine State, and one
for the 57 States of Barack Obama's America.



Friends, I hardly need tell you that the nominees
were all deserving in their own particular ways,
and it's a damn shame they can't all "win,"
but some hard decisions needed to be rendered
by yours truly, as some nominees just proved
more outrageously egregious than others.

You know what I always say, you have to give
people their due when they go above-and-beyond.

That's why I've spent so much time over at
the Panera Bread on Hallandale Beach Blvd.
the past two weeks, carefully going over these
decisions in between sips of Hazelnut coffee
and bites of Asiago Cheese bagels, deciding
which parties made the cut and which ones
didn't.

Over the next week, here on the blog, I'll list
ALL the nominees in the four categories and what
some of them 'brought to the table' this past year
to make them worthy of my consideration here
-and your attention- since in some cases,
their performances might otherwise be completely
unknown to you.

God forbid that you don't discover what they've
said or done before the year is up.

Plus, I suspect you'll now have a better means
of understanding and appreciating how the
'winners' accomplished their feats.

Trust me, in most cases, you'll be glad to know,
so that you will have a more fully-shaped picture
in your own mind of some of these people,
organizations and institutions.

In each category, when possible, I will attempt
to demonstrate thru photos or video how they
came to make the list.

I should also mention that for reasons that will
be made abundantly clear over the next few weeks
and months, there are certain individuals whose
personal and professional behavior, conduct and
words while performing their duties are so
egregious and harmful to the public good
and contrary to law that I will not mention the
specifics here now, preferring instead to share
them with you in the future after I have completely
finished making my formal written complaints
to the appropriate State and County officials
and law enforcement organizations in Tallahassee
and closer to home.

At that time, you will come to know the true
character or rather the lack of it in certain
people that you think you already know,
and I can tell you with certainty that you will
NOT like what they've been saying and doing
behind your back, in many cases, for years.

So, with all that said, here are the four 'winners'
of the 2009 Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys
of the Year'

a.) The 57 states of Barack Obama:
The Mainstream Media, MSM.

b,) The Sunshine State of Florida:
Florida Secretary of Transportation Stephanie
Kopelousos.

c.) The Hegemonic People's Republic of South
Florida: The Miami Herald

d.) The Corrupt and Crony-driven Duchy
of Broward County: Hallandale Beach DPW
Director John Chidsey.

The John Chidsey experiment in the City
of Hallandale Beach is a complete and utter
failure for the citizen taxpayers, residents
and business owners of this city.
He needs to go -NOW!

Illusory Hallandale Beach budget cuts equal no fireworks, but we are not fooled by HB City Hall's lies and deceptions

July 4th, 2009

Have been watching and listening all afternoon to some

very interesting and troubling news stories today via

Britain's Channel Four, while trying to get some work

done on some overdue emails and the blogs, before

heading up to Hollywood Beach later for their fireworks,

since Hallandale Beach cut them out this year on

account of costs.

"Costs?"

Right, that poor excuse for HB City Hall's perennial bad

planning and haphazard management that has proven

so ineffectual to anyone paying attention, like citizen

taxpayers, business owners and investors.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6810442169216076633&hl=en

And speaking of looming budget cuts, what tangible,

concrete results do city taxpayers have to show for

the $50,000 that the HB City Commission gave the

Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce, which

effectively buys the silence of those involved from

ever publicly criticizing HB City Hall, and the very

people who run things so poorly?

I mention this as budget meetings draw near because

I'm going to be finding out over the next few weeks thru

some public records requests, phone calls and questions

at hearings and ask for evidence they deserve ANYTHING

in a year of supposed budget cuts that saw fireworks

cut, one of the few things every year that actually lures

usually apathetic HB residents over to the public beach,

except for when friends or family come down to visit

during holidays.

I'll share the results of what I find out with you here on

the blog, because, thus far, in the time that I have been

observing things here in HB, they seem every bit a

laughingstock, literally, a perpetual motion machine.

A perpetual motion machine that bears little resemblance

to the issues and work that other Chamber of Commerces

did in other towns and cities I've lived in, where being a

member doesn't deprive you of your tongue at City Hall,

as seems to be the case here without exception.

From City Hall's bunker perspective, what better and

more emphatic way to attempt to show (deceive) the

city's populace that you're serious about your budget

cuts than lopping off Fourth of July fireworks?

But IF that's so, then explain to me why the city could

and would spend almost $3,700 on a new office for

Mayor Joy Cooper back in January, even though there

was nothing physically wrong with her old one?

She just asked for it and it was done, end of story.

Adios $3,762!

What about the perceptions six months ago?

For details on costs and expenses associated with

Mayor Cooper's new office, see

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/hardly-breaking-news-anthony-sanders.html

IF costs and public perceptions are NOW so suddenly

important, explain to me why, as the Sun-Sentinel's

Jennifer Gollan chronicled, Mayor Cooper made the

conscious decision to stay overnight for a few days at

a downtown Miami hotel of some note and expense,

The Intercontinental, at taxpayers expense, for an

event she was attending.

This despite the fact that according to the city's own

website, she's right next to everything here.

For more on that particular Joy Cooper fiasco, complete

with the original news articles and true facts, see my

January 25th post aptly titled:

My mayor went to the Inaugural but all I got was

the bill and her imperious attitude!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-mayor-went-to-inaugural-but-all-i.html

It includes this truly classic Joy Cooper bluster, after

having had her behavior and attitude publicly exposed.

I repeat it here, word-for-word:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward County officials are traveling on your dime

Conventions are only miles from home, but South Florida

officials bill taxpayers for luxury hotels and chauffeured rides

By Jennifer Gollan

January 11, 2009

Although the national mayors convention was only 34 miles from his home, Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan decided it would be too difficult to commute. So he billed taxpayers $995 to stay five nights in June at the four-star InterContinental Miami hotel.

"I would have to get up at 3 or 4 in the morning to miss the rush-hour traffic," Kaplan said. "It gets to be very time-consuming."
Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper also attended that convention. Instead of making the 20-mile trip, she charged taxpayers $796 for four nights at the hotel.
Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis, with a commute of 25 miles, billed taxpayers $889.48 for four nights.

When asked about it six months later, Ortis said "it doesn't make any sense to stay overnight in Miami," and reimbursed the city for his hotel bill.

Indeed, while not expressly prohibited under their formal policies, Pembroke Pines, Hallandale Beach and Lauderhill generally bar employees from staying overnight in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Cooper, however, declined to repay the city for her stay, saying it was a business-related expense.

"I am not there fluffing my own feathers," she said. "Rather than dragging through traffic it was just easier to stay overnight. ... Why would I reimburse the city for part of my job?"

Honestly, could I make that up?

For the record, here's the exact distance from Hallandale

Beach City Hall to the hotel that Mayor Joy Cooper

couldn't manage:

Driving directions to 100 Chopin Plaza,

Miami, FL 33131

17.7 mi – about 26 mins

400 S Federal Hwy Hallandale, FL 33009

1.	Head east on SE 5th St toward S Federal Hwy/FL-5/US-1		7 ft
2.	Turn right at S Federal Hwy/FL-5/US-1 Continue to follow FL-5/US-1		0.9 mi
3.	Take the exit toward NE 203rd St/FL-854		0.3 mi
4.	Turn right at NE 203rd St/FL-854 Continue to follow FL-854		1.2 mi
5.	Turn left to merge onto I-95 S		14.4 mi
6.	Take exit 2C & 2A on the left towardBiscayne Blvd		0.7 mi
7.	Merge onto SE 3rd St (signs for Biscayne Blvd/SE 3rd St)		0.2 mi
8.	Slight left at S Biscayne Blvd/FL-5/US-1/US-41		233 ft

100 Chopin Plaza, Miami, FL 33131

"Costs" also doesn't explain why -yet again!- the

American flag has been missing from in front of the

Hallandale Beach Fire/Rescue station next to

the public beach on State Road A1A for MONTHS,

as a walk by there yesterday afternoon quickly

confirmed, just like my previous 20 visits before that.

(See photo below.)

Yes, yesterday, July 3rd, 2009, which was the 23rd

straight month that the so-called 'community center'

beneath the iconic Hallandale Beach Water Tower

was closed to the regular taxpayers and residents of

Hallandale Beach, with ZERO citywide public meeting

or Forums on it ever having been held over those two

years under Mayor Cooper or City Manager Good.

And there's nothing currently on the horizon, and that's

not by accident, folks.

That's how little they think of you!

See my April 14th post about that, complete

with photos, which I called, and for good reason:

Hallandale Beach -An interpretive house of cards

that falls apart at the slightest touch of rationality

and evidence

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/hallandale-beach-interpretive-house-of.html

Consider whom we have at the helm as city manager

and mayor, Mike Good and Joy Cooper, two people

with, at best, a tenuous grasp of both reality and the

obvious, which the rest of us see very clearly, even

if it's unpleasant, but which they are forever blind to.

Examined thru that prism, it all begins to make a

certain amount of sense in a 'Garbage In, Garbage

Out' city structure, where continued poor performance

and inability to accomplish something on time and

on budget, or demonstarted poor relations with citizens

is no serious barrier to keeping your job, or even

getting a raise.

Seriously, at this point, you think I'm surprised that

they don't have an American flag flying at the entrance

to the public beach for the Fouth of July weekend?

Nope, not me.

They perform predictably and incompetently, just as

I and so many other people in this city interested in

genuine reform and civic improvement could've predicted

days ago.

Oh wait - I DID predict this early Monday evening

over at Starbucks!

More telling and embarrassing photos of the city's dirty

and unkempt public beach will be here over the next

few days.

Looking south on State Road A1A towards the
HB Water Tower and The Beach Club from the
Hollywood side of the cityline.

July 3, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking due east from State Road A1A towards the

HB Water Tower.

July 3, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

So where, exactly, the day before Independence Day,

is the American flag on that city flagpole next to the

public fountain, which has also been empty for weeks?

The same place it's been for MONTHS: Missing in action

What do you know, that's the responsibility of HB's new

DPW Director, John Chidsey, the same fellow who still

hasn't responded to my email of April regarding the Dept.'s

poor performance and the rather self-evident embarrassing

condition of the public beach, that caused even the

Miami New Times to mention it.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/03/1048_condoms_on_the_beach_and.php

Question:

Is it true that less than five months on the job, Chidsey

has already gone on vacation?

Answer: On my way to run an errand this past week,

I ran into someone -a very trustworthy and well-informed

person at HB City Hall, an oxymoron- that Chidsey

wasn't around this past week, but ought to be back on

Monday.

Sure, because why would you want to actually go over

to the public beach you're responsible for, before the

first time so many taxpayers and residents show-up there

for the city's smaller-scale Fourth of July celebration,

and actually walk around a bit and make sure that it

doesn't look like crap? So he didn't.

That's how much he and his father-in-law care for you,

Hallandale Beach.

The day before Independence Day, the public beach

in HB looked no different than it did last week, last month

and last year.

Which means things are definitely getting worse.

The flies were really out in force yesterday at the South

Beach, no doubt because the city STILL uses garbage

cans without lids at the windiest place in the city, which

I noticed as the flies made bombing runs at my bagel

from Panera's.

And, shocker, just like last week and last month and

last year, there were zero light blue recycling bins

up at crowded North Beach.

And in case you were wondering, there were lots of

aluminum cans and garbage all over the supposedly

protected plants, as well as the usual piles of hundreds

of cigarettes that the city never actually cleans up or

sifts, preferring instead to just cover them over with sand.

They don't clean the beach so much as level it!

But there were three empty light blue recycling bins over

on South Beach, lying on their side next to the park-side

of the public restrooms.

Hm-m-m... must be some kind of experiment, huh?

Yes, the John Chidsey Experiment that Isn't working

out for Hallandale Beach taxpayers or beach-goers.