NOT a mystery who did it, mystery is how incompetent city was for years in spending millions! Draft Audit on Hallandale Beach by Marcum is amazing!

Above, looking northwest across U.S.-1 at the Hallandale Beach City Hall and Police Dept. HQ, 400 S. Federal Highway,Hallandale Beach, Florida. Photo by South Beach Hoosier.

This morning I have something nice and meaty for you all to peruse and chew-over along with your Sunday morning coffee -the much-discussed and jaw-dropping Agreed-Upon Procedures and Draft Audit report for the City of Hallandale Beach performed by Marcum LLP the past year.

Yes, the 'other shoe to drop' that some of us have long been waiting for...

Hallandale AUP DRAFT 8-24-2011.pdf 328K View Download

To call it 'dynamite' is to underestimate how much damage dynamite -in the form of stone-cold facts and observable, objective fact-patterns- can deliver in a city that is only 4.2 square miles to begin with.

Let's just say that the ripple effects can and will be felt far from this ocean-side city tucked-in between Hollywood to the north and Aventura to the south.

Suffice to say that nothing I have read in the report came as any surprise to me and instead, only served to confirm everything I have ever seen and heard in this city with my own eyes and ears the past seven-plus years.

When you know the territory and key players like I do, and place the facts gathered by the auditor as well as those already known by me and many others in this city -ones denied for years by city hall- and place them in their proper light and context -Sunshine- this Draft reads like a bill of indictment against Joy Cooper's record as Hallandale Beach mayor, a longstanding culture of corruption, chronic incompetency and naked crony capitalism the past ten years.

But not, of course, without "Special thanks" to former and current HB City Managers, Mike Good and Mark A. Antonio, who have added their very unique and special talents of apathy, aloofness, obliviousness and lack of attention-to-detail to the mix.

Folks, it's right in front of you like I've always said it was, you merely need to read it for yourselves and let the facts do the talking: the lack of commitment to public transparency and even following their own often flimsy rules and requirements; the shoddy financial controls; the ability of files and documents involving tens and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to just disappear, as if by magic.

Some very serious bad magic.

The next ten days to two weeks on my blog will feature more news and information about other HB residents running for the HB City Commission or for Mayor in 2012 who intend to end the longstanding culture, of corruption and crony capitalism present at Hallandale Beach City Hall, and to make genuine financial accountability, transparency in public policy and accountability to the public -not to mention, bring overdue common sense to bear on the city's chronic problems that are now merely kicked down the road- their starting point for making this community the place it OUGHT to be right now, not the one it is now under people who genuinely couldn't care less about those qualities and traits as they sleepwalk on the job, oblivious to what is all around them.

Code Red! Follow-up to my 'red flags' in Draft audit report, troubles in Hallandale Beach; HB City Manager Mark Antonio: Oblivious or Ignorant?

Above, looking northwest at the Hallandale Beach City Hall and Police Dept. HQ, 400 S. Federal Highway,Hallandale Beach, FL.

On this one block alone, there are several examples of graffiti, much of which has been there for YEARS.

Shh-h-h! Don't wake (tell) HB City Manager Mark Antonio. He doesn't know anything about it, despite working in the building since it was opened over ten years ago. August 7, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

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Code Red! Follow-up to my post re 'red flags' in Draft report -Audit troubles in Hallandale Beach; HB City Manager Mark Antonio: Willfully Oblivious or Ignorant?

Below is an excerpt from an email I sent out Tuesday afternoon to the well-informed citizen taxpayers of Hallandale Beach who strive to be kept abreast of what's really going on in this city, something they don't get from local TV station newscasts or the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel, as they know better than anyone.

Would those entities zero-in on HB City Manager Mark Antonio's glass jaw: his seemingly neverending ignorance of the city he is responsible for managing, a person who, quite literally, CAN'T or WON'T see what is right in front of him?

Nope!

In my email, I didn't use these photos below, which I'm sure if they knew it, would come to the dismay no doubt of HGS, Kadian, Doloe Greys and est, the main graffiti 'authors' you see EVERYWHERE in Hallandale Beach's 4.2 square miles.

It's hard to imagine that they don't laugh everyday as they drive thru town and see their handiwork no matter what part of the city they're in, at HB City Hall and the HB Police Dept.'s laughable half-assed efforts to eliminate it. Meanwhile, the City Manager, Police Chief and Mayor keep their heads buried deep, deep in the sand.

But Hallandale Beach's citizen taxpayers are NOT LAUGHING!

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I've held off writing about the Draft audit report prepared by Marcum Rachlin on my blog until this article came out, which I originally thought was going to be next week.

I did so despite the fact that the Broward Bulldog had used photos I took and have used on my blog without my permission, because the story here about all the troubling 'red flags' in the audit is more important than my personal pique.

Broward Bulldog

Audit report shows missing records and disarray in Hallandale Beach’s redevelopment agency

September 27, 2011 at 6:14 am

By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org

Hallandale Beach has failed to properly track city land acquisitions, developer agreements and loans to businesses, according to a draft of an audit obtained by the Broward Bulldog.

Suspecting there were problems, city officials in August 2010 ordered the audit by an outside firm to review management of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), which handles agency-owned property and provides loans to businesses.

Read the rest of the post at

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2011/09/audit-report-shows-missing-records-and-disarray-in-hallandale-beach%E2%80%99s-redevelopment-agency/

That said, you all missed an unbelievable HB City Commission meeting last night, the second and final reading of the city's FY 2011-12 budget.

It featured more lies, half-truths and flat-out mis-statements of fact being, uttered on the dais than you usually hear even at a Miami-Dade County or City of Miami meetings, and having gone to plenty of those over the years...

Though I hadn't planned on speaking, once City Manager Mark Antonio said something I knew from experience was untrue about the city's (non-existent) effort to fight graffiti in the city, I got SO upset that I found myself going up and letting him know in no uncertain terms that I was personally insulted by his willful ignorance of self-evident facts that are all around us.

The facts we see everyday living in this city with so much promise but, which stays at unsatisfactory mediocrity, on purpose, because of who runs things at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

I specifically reminded Antonio -and everyone else in the room and watching on TV- that it was common knowledge that there has been graffiti on every single light pole and county/FDOT sign on U.S.-1, on the west side, from in front of Gulfstream Park Race Track down to the Aventura/County Line, including in front of HB City Hall for YEARS.

Including the Entering Broward County sign and the Lawton Chiles sign.

The "Entering Broward County" sign that's also been at the top of this blog since it was created in 2007. (Except I use the clean graffiti-free one of 2007.) Below, the Lawton Chiles Trail sign.

You encounter them on north-bound U.S.-1/Federal Highway as you leave the City of Aventura and Miami-Dade County and begin your cosmic journey thru Broward County by going past Gulfstream Park Race Track and the Village of Gulfstream Park retail center -and lots and lots of graffiti!

Over two years ago, every single street light pole and sign from the Dade County line north to the S.E. 3rd Street entrance of Gulfstream had graffiti on it, with some having multiple 'tags,' including ones directly across from HB City Hall and the Police Dept. Yes, I still have those photos.

As you may've heard, Broward is NOT the Land of Lincoln. August 14, 2011 photos by South Beach Hoosier

I mean I've posted many photos of it on the blog since starting it and have even included it in emails to some of you.

Until last night, I didn't know a single soul who didn't know all about it.

Now I do: HB City Manager Antonio.

He doesn't see the signs in front of his own building.

Despite having worked at HB City Hall since that building was built, Antonio expressed complete surprise that such a thing was true.

I told him and everyone else that all they had to do was walk out the door -you can hardly miss it.

My friends, it's all still there as of 2:30 p.m. today and I will be posting about a dozen, or so hard-to-miss examples of this on the blog this weekend, including some graffiti, on a HB Police car that acts as a scarecrow off U.S-1 that just sits there week-after-week, month-after-month.

(Yet another example of crony capitalism & favoritism?)

Guess what?

You don't have to be a member of an elite DOJ anti-gang task force to know that when people feel completely free to place graffiti on the side of a city police car, knowing that everyone will see it, you are clearly losing the war, in part, because the leaders of the city: City Manager (Mike Good & Antonio) Mayor Cooper, the former and current Police Chiefs, Magill and Fluornoy, are SO oblivious.

Oblivious being the word I used to describe Antonio to his face last night.

Graffiti welcomes you to historic Old Hallandale Beach City Hall on West Dixie Highway & S.W. 3rd Street, Hallandale Beach, FL. This bit of longstanding graffiti is on the east side of the old HB City Hall, which is next to the current HB Fire/Rescue Dept. HQ. Not that you can find a single directional sign in the entire city telling you where THAT is.

That's how they do it here! August 7, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Taking a peek thru the rusty wrought-iron fence you can catch a glimpse of the Old World Charm that surely must've been old Hallandale Beach City Hall. That computer monitor has been there on the ground for at least four years that I know of. It's broken though, perhaps a casualty of the move to the new building over ten years ago. August 21, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Because if you aren't oblivious, guess what, then you're knowingly lying to the community, and failing to do your job.

Appeasement and willful ignorance like Antonio's is not a public policy that works, and our current unsatisfactory reality proves that more than anything I can say.

It's right there for everyone to see.

More of what the Rubber Stamp Crew running Hallandale Beach don't see - graffiti on the Mardi Gras casino directional sign on north-bound U.S.-1/Federal Highway, Hallandale Beach, FL. Keep it to yourself, okay? August 21, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

re Draft copy of Marcum Rachlin's audit of the City of Hallandale Beach; the entrenched anti-Sunshine, anti-taxpayer culture at HB City Hall

Above, looking northwest across U.S-1/Federal Highway from the Crate & Barrel store towards the Hallandale Beach City Hall and Police Dept. HQ. September 20, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Below is an email that I sent this afternoon to Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Keith S. London, with cc's to Broward County Commissioners Sue Gunzburger and Barbara Sharief -both of whose districts include Hallandale Beach- County Inspector General John W. Scott and Thomas Donnelly of the Broward State's Attorney Office. I also sent a copy of it to about 50 people in the community with a strong interest in reforming what goes on at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

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Friday September 23rd, 2011

2 p.m.

Dear Comm. London:

Having attended your Tuesday night monthly Resident Forum meeting and heard you describe in broad strokes some of the more egregious problems caught and flagged by the city's contracted Auditor, I had some thoughts to share as well as a request.

These are the audit issues I could remember off the top of my head:

a.) insufficient number of third-party appraisals on city land purchases,

b.) chronic lack of documentation on many items to substantiate what actually happened to the monies,

c.) consistent failure by the city to follow their OWN rules and requirements regarding loan and grant programs, with the city NOT even doing basic credit checks on applicants who

want to walk away with tens of thousands of dollars from taxpayers.

That the City of Hallandale Beach has purchased SO much land is troubling enough, esp. since they have so often overpaid for it. But the fact that they have done so WITHOUT an actual City Commission-approved written strategy or plan that makes sense or shows some awareness of the logical consequences of what they are doing -a plan that taxpayers could read- is very, very troubling indeed, since it makes you wonder why some people's land is bought and others is not, even when the latter's might make more sense to some positive public policy.

To cite but one obvious example of this strange process, consider the land that was purchased by the city for more than it was apparently worth that was owned by present-day Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders and his wife.

That purchase literally seemed to fly thru the city's bureaucracy, because it was, apparently, so key to some grand plan of the city.

Well, what exactly was THAT plan? Why all the urgency? Why the need to over-pay for the property? And now, three years later, the reality for HB taxpayers is that the city rents the property they claimed at the time was so important, to someone for one dollar a month.

One dollar.

Why?

Where is the logic and common sense in any of this, and why WON'T/CAN'T the City Manager, the Mayor or the City Commission logically explain this episode three years after the fact?

What's the plan?

Me, I don't think there is an actual plan.

As you are well aware, I've personally spoken against all of these practices in the past during the public comments portion of HB City Commission meetings, or when an agenda item came up, as have many of the people who showed-up at your meeting Tuesday night.

I know that you must be very frustrated to usually be the only person on the dais who actually asks probing questions about these unsound and improper practices.

To be the only one on the dais who simply wants to see the city follow common sense AND it's own written rules and protocols, and to have them enforced uniformly, regardless of who in the community is seeking approval for an item or request, rather than constantly creating exceptions to the rules.

Year-after-year of this has had the cumulative effect of creating a very strong impression among Hallandale Beach residents and business owners of a system of crony capitalism run amok at HB City Hall -with their tax dollars- with no proper controls or oversight by the HB City Manager or the HB City Commission.

Like many of the other attendees Tuesday night who spoke and other HB citizens I know who have shared their own frustrating experiences with me in the past, I believe that the public's

perception that there's a stealthy, anti-taxpayer culture present at HB City Hall is based on facts, not merely isolated incidents.

It happens far too often to be merely be 'coincidence.'

To me, too many 'coincidences' make a fact-pattern.

That entrenched culture at HB City Hall gives lip service to notions of professionalism, transparency and accountability, yet it's forever making excuses for the consistently high-level of unresponsiveness among HB city employees to the public, including providing public documents to taxpayers like me when specifically requested.

That includes often asking for astronomical charges for public documents -that in other cities are already on their websites for the sake of both transparency and common

sense- with little reasonable explanation or justification for the costs, which makes it seem as if they are only interested in erecting barriers to the public's access to PUBLIC documents, not lowering them.

It's a city government, NOT an espionage agency, but sometimes, you have to wonder.

Given that long history of non-cooperation that I and so many other HB citizens have dealt with first-hand, it's hardly surprising to me to learn that the auditor chides the city for often NOT providing it with specific docs when requested, and doing so very slowly when it does.

No, it comes as no surprise to me.

I would appreciate getting a copy of this Draft Report so that I can read it in more detail, and share some of it with other interested parties I know in the community.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope that you can provide that report to me fairly soon.

I'm available to come by City Hall to pick that up whenever it's convenient for you, so just call and let me know.