It's this simple in Hallandale Beach: Good vs. Evil. Who you gonna vote for? Might I suggest a vote for Good in the form of Mike Butler, a proven, well-informed civic activist who sweats the details like few people I know? Give Hallandale Beach a chance to finally be rid of the unethical and dysfunctional stench that was Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew during their reign of ruin

It's this simple in Hallandale Beach: Good vs. Evil. Who you gonna vote for? 

Might I suggest a vote for Good in the form of Mike Butler, a proven well-informed civic activist who sweats the details like few people I know?

Give Hallandale Beach a chance to finally be rid of the unethical and dysfunctional stench that was Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew during their reign of ruin

Above, Mike Butler, the face of Good Government in Hallandale Beach -if you vote him into office. Many of you know that back when Michael and I were spending a LOT more time together working on issues and civic engagement, him via Change Hallandale, in the original fight against the incompatible Diplomat LAC plan -that was eventually rejected by the Broward County Commission- I used to tell Mike that I wished he'd run for mayor.

Misanthropic, unethicical imbecile Bill Julian yet again plays his familiar role of The Nice Guy Con Man, making promises he can't possibly keep, in part because he is lying to himself about his own public record. Don't fall for the ruse! 

Bill Julian is a proven bad guy with a grossly misplaced sense of entitlement, and a serial abuser for years of one of society's most basic rules: for YEARS Julian viewed illegally parking in Handicapped Parking and Access spaces as just a perk of his job.

For #HallandaleBeach, the editorial board backs Mike Butler, whose volunteer service demonstrates his commitment to the city and would inform his decisions on the commission. | Editorial #Elections2018 https://t.co/9eUIKa2E5e

— Sun Sentinel Opinion (@SoFlaOpinion) March 9, 2018

The sign of a con man trying to sell failed past and who wants to personally hold on to power and perks -and pretend that he's relevant. But he isn't. Bill Julian is an imbecile slacker with a giant sense of entitlement and once, while voting to raise his own salary when it wasn't on the public agenda, referred to himself and other HB City Commissioners as being largely akin to large Fortune 500 business exceutives. Really! I couldn't make that up!!!  

Misleading campaign sign in Hallandale Beach election states "Reelect Vice Mayor Bill Julian." He is out of office after being defeated in 2016 landslide. @hbbtruth @browardpolitics @NakedPoliticsFL pic.twitter.com/OEkPDjfmrz

— Buddy Nevins (@Buddynevins) February 20, 2018

Almost as misleading as his signs that read "Bring Bill back." Absolutely nobody in #HallandaleBeach, outside of his cult of (feckless) personality, is saying this. He is the personification of everything bad there the past 15 years thru his obliviousness, lack of scruples.

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) February 20, 2018

Below, the issue that Bill Julian keeps hoping the South Florida news media would ignore -and they do. But I didn't.

Above, the May 16, 2008 photo taken by me, South Beach Hoosier, at the city's then-configuration at North Beach park parking lot, showing then-HB CIty Commissioner Bill Julian's city badge while his car was parked in the one-and-only Handicapped parking space, next to a then-existing restaurant. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

Quoting myself from 2016:

I've been very busy over the weekend getting my thoughts together for this particular blog post, and the reason is clear. More than just about any other story I've written about here at Hallandale Beach Blog since I started it in 2007, especially one that's dealt specifically with what was taking place in this part of South Florida, in southeast Broward County, the level of public discussion, rancor and outright revulsion about the egregious stupidity and unethical behavior of Hallandale Beach's very own Simpleton, City Commissioner William "Bill" Julian, has reached a point of "no return."

A point of no return that was never reached by Julian's MANY unethical and foolish words and actions in office of the past ten years, however stupid, sordid and self-serving as they usually were, all of which have been chronicled here with great specificity on the blog, often with self-evident photos to hammer home the facts that Julian, his apologists and Mayor Joy Cooper didn't want to face and deal with in an upfront manner.

Even longtime apologists for this bumbling idiot of a small-town pol, a man who even his small circle of friends have long acknowledged, lacks even the most basic short-term AND long-term vision for this growing ocean-side community that nearly everyone here believes ought to be -and managed- SO MUCH BETTER than it has been and is now, have reached their personal breaking point: a line in the sand!

That's something that I know about for a fact because so many friends and acquaintances of mine, as well as more than a few people who by no definition of the word could ever be described as "friendly" towards me in the past -ever- have decided to contact me over the past few days to express their own personal sense of betrayal, anger and befuddlement.

This includes people who have long tolerated Bill Julian's longtime record of foolishness, critically poor and faulty judgment on issues and votes, and his MANY YEARS of being of clearly being largely unprepared to participate effectively and competently at public city meetings in a way that would even come close to what Hallandale Beach's residents and Small Business owners expect, especially for someone who has been in office for so long.
They have all told me -and you today via me on this blog- that they have had "ENOUGH!"
Enough is enough - "Julian needs to go!"

Below are some self-evident facts and well-chosen thoughts of mine about Bill Julian's latest ethics and legal scandal that has ensnared the city.

Longtime residents and businesses in this area have long known that Julian is no stranger to either foolish words or boneheaded actions, which, individually and collectively, have made helped make this ocean-side city a longtime running joke among well-informed and politically-active South Florida residents and members of the local news media.

Bill Julian is no stranger to unethical actions that have cast large doubts on his core competency, ability to process basic information, or use and demonstrate critical judgment.

In short, his basic fitness for office.
The least we should be able to expect from a public official.

The local press corps has told me as much, which explains why so often stories of more than some public interest that happen here that would in ordinary times be covered on local Miami TV newscasts if they happened in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay or Pembroke Pines, but are ignored because they occur here. 

For their part, the reporters take the point of view that things happen in Hallandale Beach -and are not covered adequately- because "that's just Hallandale Beach being Hallandale Beach."

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that sentiment or one similar to it said to me in person or via email or phone call, I'd have quite a tidy sum to invest.

Read the rest of this post at:
August 29, 2016 #SoFL #ethics - Proving that the past is prologue, yet again, here comes ethically-challenged Commissioner Bill Julian to once again personally make Hallandale Beach a laughingstock. But this time, a NATIONAL laughingstock. Surprise! It involves votes on real estate development and favors in return. Here's the latest on the matter, along with a stark reminder of Bill Julian's previous unethical actions
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2016/08/sofl-ethics-proving-that-past-is.html

October 27, 2012 Why would you even consider voting for such a despicable person as Bill Julian for the Hallandale Beach City Commission? Besides Julian's creepy habit while an elected official of illegally parking in Handicapped Parking spaces for YEARS, when you add his truly terrible judgment and penchant for saying and doing the wrong thing, why would you even consider giving him a voice in deciding this city's future?; @SandersHB
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-would-you-even-consider-voting-for.html

October 29, 2010 So very creepy! Why does Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor Bill Julian hate the physically disabled so much? His despicable track record tells the tale!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/so-very-creepy-why-does-hallandale.html

October 31, 2010 Stone-cold fact: Bill Julian, serial scofflaw, for years has parked in handicapped/access parking spaces so he can hang out at a beach bar for hours
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/stone-cold-fact-bill-julian-serial.html

Above and below, photos from last month's candidates forum at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center and moderated by the Sun-Sentinel's myopic Opinion Page editor Rosemary O'Hara, not one of my favorite persons by any stretch of the imagination.
It was SO embarrassing to anyone with even a passing familiarity to the facts and history of this city the past 15 years that I actually chose not to write about what was said and by whom because it could someday coome back to haunt the... guilty.

Joy Cooper's Rubber Stamp anti-reform and transparency forces who dominated Hallandale Beach for well over a decade -Joy Cooper along with her rotating minions Dotty Ross, Bill Julian, Alex Lewy and Anthony Sanders- have long regarded the institution that resulted from Broward County voters's disgust with Broward's well-known pay-to-play political culture, the Office of the Broward Inspector General, as something to be ignored or treated like an unnecessary anachronism. 

Strict honesty and fidelity to the spirit as well as the letter of the law was regarded as ridiculous. There wasn't enough wiggle room for them to cut their deals.

Thru their words and actions they made clear that they saw rigid adherence to the new ethics rules as problematic because it made it difficult for them to plausibly argue that it lacked “nuance.”

And now, if Hallandale beach voters choose to reject Bill Julian for a third time and make Mike Butler a City Commissioner, they can throw dirt on the political careers of these people who have done so much harm to the city and its future.
Just do it! 

Dave 

HallandaleBeachBlog@gmail.com

Hallandale Beach Blog: 

http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

YouTube 

https://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog 

....

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/ 

Snapchat: SoBeHoosier

Contradictions! If Hallandale Beach's budget can nearly double in 6-8 years under Joy Cooper, with little tangible to show for it for taxpayers, why can't taxpayers at least have city employees who earn their salaries thru diligence, performance and attention to detail -instead of none of those? Like having a safe, well-lit area for Early Voters outside the city's Cultural Center for the first day of an event that's been known for SEVERAL MONTHS?; @MayorCooper

Butler1Mike YouTube Channel video: Hallandale Beach Mayor Cooper contradicts herself, saying that she didn't vote for the city's overly-generous pension plan in 2001 that lasted for many years, but then defends the pension plan that the city had that has (or will) make multi-millionaires out of several employees, including three former City Managers, as entirely appropriate for a city so small. Yes, here as she has so many times over the nine years that she has been mayor, Joy Cooper shows herself to be one enormous ball of contradictions, which is why there is never an intersection of logic and reason and genuine taxpayer accountability in her city. Just her doing whatever she wanted, saying whatever she wanted, and flying by the seat of your pants! Uploaded October 31, 2012. http://youtu.be/xhlnEezjZGU
http://www.youtube.com/user/Butler1Mike


No Broward city let's you down more consistently and more predictably when it comes to attention to detail than...

For those of you who were there last Saturday morning at 6:45 a.m. like me, how awesome was it to see all the hustle-and-bustle and nervous energy of so many voters, candidates and their friends milling around the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center, the only site in the city for Early Voting, and just as about any of us could've predicted, about half of the city's parking lot lights and safety lights around the Center were NOT working.

When it was near pitch-black.

Just like last week, last month and last year.

Just like 2008's Early Voting!

Like it always is!

All October 27, 2012 photos below by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

The light above in the foreground is from my camera's flash, otherwise none of the signs would be legible to you.

Again, without my flash, you'd see no shadowy figure crossing at the designated place. You know, without lights that actually work, those security cameras aren't nearly as effective.
Looks like the lights on the access route from S.E. 3rd Street were out, of course!
Not that the police or the police chief who drive on it constantly ever notice and do something about it. 
Nope!

Yes, you'd never know by the appearance of so very much neglected maintenance that the city's Police Dept. HQ was just steps away, given how very lax the city has been for so many years about basic safety and common sense and liability issues.

"Liability," what's that?

If you're like me, how funny was it to see the myriad candidates and their devoted friends and family members handing-out their campaign palm cards to voters lined-up on a median strip in the parking lot, south of the Cultural Center -and outside of the "no campaigning zone"- waiting patiently for a Broward Supervisor of Elections official to come out and have the first few people come inside to exercise their right to vote, and yet the folks at the end of the line could NOT even read the palm cards they were handed because they were so far from a working light and it was so very dark?

Yes, good times, indeed!

What could be better than lots of senior citizens parking and walking around in poorly-lit parking lots early in the morning? What could possibly go wrong? 

So, do you see all the dozens of Early Voters lined-up at 6:57 a.m.?

Who needs city Dept. heads and employees who actually show a little foresight once in a while, and who earn their salary thru hard work and attention to detail, when you can, instead, have SO MANY of the sort that we seem to have been blessed with here in Hallandale Beach?

Government employees who have a larger sense of entitlement -and a seeming chip-on-their-shoulders- than would seem normal based on the constant sub-par look of the city, both aesthetically and maintenance-wise.

City employees who, for whatever reason, perhaps tradition, think that their performance is NOT Job One, but rather an abstract idea that they never have to actually reach, just pretend to aspire to at Dept. meetings.

After all, if we've learned anything in nine years of living here, it's that there are absolutely no consequences to employees' continued poor performance or chronic bad attitude or perpetual surliness to taxpayers, the real bosses, of course.

(I sometimes wonder what it's like in the cities where all those City of HB employees live, since so few Dept. heads and regular employees actually live here, otherwise perhaps they'd take more pride in their job. Clearly, not, though.)

Yes, the fact that it's been known for several months now that this location would be the City of Hallandale Beach's ONLY site for Early Voting made it entirely predictable that on the first day, many voters would think they'd beat the rush by showing-up to vote first thing at 7 a.m.

And for those of you reading this far from these shores, yes, even here in sunny South Florida, at this time of the year, it's very dark at 6:45 in the morning.

Of course, most of these voters, unlike most of us who regularly attend civic meetings or City Commission meetings at or around Hallandale Beach City Hall, and thus, who already know how bad things are safety-wise around City Hall and Bluesten Park two blocks away when the sun is NOT out, could't have planned for how very poorly prepared the city was.

I guess it was a good thing, after all, that there were no surprise guests from the Romney-Ryan team showing-up as some had been saying via the grapevine and some emails I received the night before, since even with the TV camera lights, with so many city lights out, it would've been hard to do anything that would've looked good on TV, either LIVE or recorded for airing later in the day.

Yes, I'd gone there early that morning after getting no sleep overnight to lend some encouragement to some friends who are running for office as pro-reform candidates -Keith London for mayor, and Csaba Kulin, Michele Lazarow and Gerald Dean for City Commission- observe a bit and and snap some photos and video of the activities.

But instead, even while doing those things, I walked into what was yet another discouraging reminder of how poorly-run this city has been under Mayor Cooper the past nine years, and how consistently poor performance has no consequences for employees, no matter who they are or how much money they make.

Changing that pernicious culture of entitlement, bad attitudes and sleepwalking performance at HB City Hall, of making sure that Hallandale Beach taxpayers REALLY DO receive a dollar's worth of work and services for a dollar's worth of taxes, and, finally having real consequences for city employees who are NOT performing up to the public's expectations, no matter who they are, is why I'm voting the way I am on Tuesday.

If you live here and really care about what sort of future this city will have, of what kind of quality of life you and your family can enjoy, I strongly suggest you do the same.

Vote London, Kulin, Lazarow & Dean, YES for City Charter Question #5, and NO to all the other HB Charter questions.

It's now five days and counting 'till the day you can finally reclaim your city back from the very people who have taken you and your neighbors for granted, have constantly tried to squelch your rights whenever they could, and who have made an art of wasting your tax dollars in ways that would be laughable if they weren't so painful and expensive.

There are four candidates in this city who have stood-up when it counted -including right now.
You already know their names - I just said them

Not perfect people, of course, but people much like yourself who genuinely care about this city's future, and who fervently believe that this city's residents deserve -at a minimum- to be properly respected once again by a Mayor and City Commission that doesn't continually embarrass them thru their repeated poor judgment and ethical lapses.
Imagine that?

Actually represented by a Mayor and City Commission with some genuine integrity, and represented by people who are properly-prepared for public meetings, and who aren't afraid of the hard work and heavy-lifting that will surely be required to get this city out of its current slide into irrelevancy.

You've said for years that you wanted honest and hard-working people in charge at City Hall who would fight for real reform and financial accountability, and finally clean-up this city's poor image.
Well, now it's up to you to actually show-up and vote for it and the candidates who will make it a reality.

What sort of city do you want to wake-up to next Wednesday morning?
THAT'S the question you as a voter have to answer positively when you get the chance.

http://kulin2012.com/

http://michelelazarow.com/

http://keithlondon.com/

Csaba Kulin's reasonable questions about the Broward IG's inspection, Comm. Sanders' continued stonewalling, Comm. Julian's laughable threats, and their poison-pen cheerleader, Andrew Markoff, who continues to show his naïveté with every comment he makes. They desperately need apologists, and does he ever fill the bill!

View Larger Map

501 N.W. 1ST Avenue, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009-3301

Why was it so urgent for the City of Hallandale Beach to quickly purchase this property from Anthony and Jessica Sanders if there was no actual plan in place for what the city would do with it afterwards? A property the city now receives $1 a year in rent? (Yes, one dollar.) How was it that Josh Brown was able to use the address of a non-profit in a city-owned building as his election campaign address? Who let that happen? 

Just some of the questions Hallandale Beach citizens continue to wonder about and want answers to as the Sanders continue to stonewall the Broward Inspector General -and the HB citizens that Comm. Anthony A. Sanders is SWORN to serve. 

Csaba Kulin's reasonable questions about the Broward IG's inspection, Comm. Sanders' continued stonewalling, Comm. Julian's laughable threats, and their poison-pen cheerleader, Andrew Markoff, who continues to show his naïveté with every comment he makes. They desperately need apologists, and does he ever fill the bill!

For the record, I should note that the reasonable comments and questions below from my friend, fellow Hallandale Beach and Broward civic activist and Hallandale Beach City Commission candidate Csaba Kulin, were first posted online at the Broward Bulldog in response to Bill Gjebre's July 5th, 2012 article, Broward IG questions former Hallandale commissioner about CRA deals, newspaper loan
http://www.browardbulldog.org/2012/07/broward-ig-agents-quiz-former-hallandale-commissioner-about-cra-deals-newspaper-loan/


That is to say, before several of Andrew Markoff's subsequent slimy, factually-inaccurate and deliberate race-baiting comments directed towards Csaba and other pro-reform residents of Hallandale Beach who commented there.
People, who, like me and many of you reading this, want genuine transparency with real financial accountability at City Hall.

That is to say, unlike Markoff himself, who's not only happy to continue to sing the praises of the powers-that-be, but also continue kissing the butts of the folks in power now, like Mayor Cooper and Comm. Sanders.


In fact, he's so besotted with some people in town that he's quite literally asking us to completely disregard all the years we've had of seeing Bill Julian consistently make a fool of himself in office, and would somehow have us believe that Julian is now an acceptable candidate for elective office, despite what we have witnessed with our own eyes.


Julian, the antithesis of what any responsible community would want due to his lack of scruples, bad judgment and years on the dais of sheer Elmer Fudd-like befuddlement.

(Julian's years of parking his car illegally in Handicapped and/or Emergency parking spaces where everyone could see it, all over town, doubtless requires a solid few months with a very experienced psychiatrist. But then how would he explain away his own despicable behavior for years? His coping mechanism seems to be pretending that you either don't know or don't see him doing it. Hmm-m... Yes, that's normal!)

Given what they have had to put up with for far too many years, Hallandale Beach citizens have had absolutely enough nonsense and lack of candor from this city's elected officials and highly-paid city employees to last them a lifetime, and they are ready to make that fact known come election day.


While it may be news to the likes of a Markoff or the Miami Herald 's Editorial Board, in the year 2012, Hallandale Beach residents DON'T have to turn a blind-eye to the continuing
incompetence and financial melodrama of and complete lack of candor from perpetually-befuddled Comm. Anthony A. Sanders, just because he is African-American.
No, we don't have to employ double-standards like what Markoff would prefer, we merely need to be consistent about what is or is not acceptable behavior and performance in office.

Which is why we're going to continue to treat Sanders like every other two-bit pol who's quickly found himself in over his head, and who can't justify with a straight face, why anyone not related to him -or named Joy Cooper- would want him on the scene one day longer than necessary, given his sorry and undistinguished track record.


Nobody EVER leaves a HB City Commission meeting muttering to themselves afterward, "I didn't really understand the issue until after Comm. Sanders spoke and explained it."


A clear majority of this city, the very people that Sanders has continually dis-respected for 46 months with his smug attitude and complete indifference to them, have had enough of his behavior and conduct and his unwillingness to tell the truth in a public setting without city employees whispering sweet nothings into his ear.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/ig-investigation-finally-plus-more.html

Like most people with common sense, a majority of HB residents rightly recognize a duck (or rubber stamp) when they see one -or two or three or four- sitting on a long dais at City Hall.
Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...duck!: Ross, Julian, Sanders, Lewy.
They are exactly what they look like, though the local press corps seem to go out of their way not to mention it, which is why we do.


What this community most certainly doesn't need any more of is Markoff's smug elitist liberal sensibilities and double-standards masquerading as fairness.
Especially since Comm. Sanders has had plenty of time to rise or fall based on his own words and actions, and he has been found wanting -in the extreme.


The simple truth is that people like Markoff must attack and besmirch folks like Csaba, Mike Butler, Keith London and myself and others who want a degree of normalcy for this city, and must make up stories and anecdotes about their pique because what are their alternatives, to actually talk about what's happened here with candor?
No. that's the last thing they want - an accurate accounting.

Nope, folks who can't accept that they're on the losing side of history, and defending the indefensible to boot, do NOT want to talk about reality with someone who really knows the facts.


He's free to defend the city's status quo powers-that-be that have created a reality for residents and taxpayers that is so unappealing and unremarkable, since that's his choice, but then choice is something that he would deny others, since if there's nothing else that you should have picked-up on about this Markoff character it's that this arrogant, elitist and self-appointed city Political Commissar, has never learned that no matter what your politics are, you never win by feeling that its your job to hector other people with lives of their own and telling them what THEY ought to be doing in the community.
As if it was up to HIM.


And yet in far too many of his online screeds, somewhere in the text, even when it has nothing to do with anything, Markoff has been ballsy and arrogant enough to take some people to task for NOT doing what he thinks THEY ought to be doing, as if it was up to him to decide, not them.
Can you imagine?


Other than bashing Comm. Keith London, who, like me, tried for a while, perhaps too long, to be friendly and civil to him and educate him a bit about local govt. and politics in Boward, there's nobody that Markoff enjoys bashing online at various places in his simultaneously creepy and patronizing fashion more than yours truly, even though though the truth is that I ought to spend less time on this blog ruminating about this city's present and future. than I do.


But despite what I think I ought to be doing, Markoff he is forever expending time and energy writing a half-dozen or more paragraphs about me and what I ought to be doing, and forever writing snide personal remarks apropos of nothing other than his odd fixation, which, by the way, for the record, is NOT at all flattering.
Trust me, online stalkers aren't funny and I didn't say creepy by accident.

At this point, Markoff's only real value is entirely comic -watching him chase his Tall Tales, while avoiding the truth that threatens to undermine the Alternative Universe he has carefully constructed in his own mind.

So, that said, more than usual, consider the source when you read Markoff's weird, inaccurate and off-putting online comments anywhere, esp. as it relates to me or anyone I know, like Csaba below, who has earned this community's trust and respect the old-fashioned way -from talking-the-talk and walking-the-walk.


His honesty, insight, consistent integrity and tireless work-ethic are exactly what we need on the HB City Commission to clean up the mess we've got now and get this city moving forward -finally!

Above, Hallandale Beach City Hall Complex at night, photo of August 7, 2011 by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
-----

Well there certainly hasn't been a lack of attention paid to what is being written and said here about the current Broward IG investigation of Hallandale Beach.  

It's a shame that so much of what is being written here shows a lack of knowledge of the facts. Where to start?

Andrew Markoff, what is it that you don't quite understand about "No plan"?

Former City Manager Mike Good had no written or approved plan for the purchases of land and homes in Northwest HB. 

None.

If there was a plan, regardless of who devised it, that actually existed, we'd all know about it because there would have been meetings or workshops when it came up.

If there was a plan, Mayor Cooper and Bill Julian would've been taking credit for it for years, and many people in this town whom you are constantly denigrating but whon are performing a real service, as well as myself, would have filed public records requests at City Hall to either see it, or get copies of it to see what it actually says and try to make sense of it. 

And maybe even some TV or newspaper reporters would do so as well.

But nobody has done any of those things over the years for the simple reason that there is NO PLAN.

It's the worst sort of helter-skelter, with no logical ultimate purpose that anyone at City Hall or anywhere else can explain with a straight face.

That's the whole problem!

There was no written policy, there was no oversight and accountability, just reckless spending by the City Commission because they decided they wanted to buy something.

This is why your strange constant defense of the urgent purchase of Comm. Sanders property makes no sense to anyone who was paying attention to things in 2008.

Since there was no plan to use that land for some larger purpose that the commission was in favor of, such as assembling smaller parcels together to either build something themselves for the community, or even to assemble the parcels for the purpose of selling it in total to some company or developer to make it possible for them to construct something that was needed or wanted, with the city banking that money, there was no logical reason to rush the purchase, much less, make the purchase.

No reason at all.

All these years later, the city taxpayers gets a dollar or so a year in rent for that property from a non-profit that has also received lots of money from the city.

So where's the rationale, why was it purchased when it had no purpose, and why doesn't the city sell it to someone who will build something there that will create jobs and pay taxes?

Also, why is it that in all the places you leave your comments, you have refused to acknowledge your own connection to one of the groups that is under investigation by the IG, the Palm Community Action Coalition? 

What exactly is it that do you do for them, and what is their actual purpose, since the documents on the city website are very vague.

I would love to see a public list of members of the Board for this group, that includes its boss, Jessica Sanders, so if I see one of them around town I could ask what they actually do for the money, and why it's such a big secret?

Also, why is it that this group, of all the so-called non-profit groups in town, the newest one, the one with the commissioner's wife in charge, is the only one in the city that gets office space and use of city personnel and resources at the Hepburn Center? 

Why? 

Now onto Bill Julian, who was so quick to attack me for making the following reasonable comments in a previous Bulldog article, happy to intentionally mischaracterize what was actually said between us at City Hall following a meeting, in order to make himself look good here.

The Broward County Inspector General should move as soon as possible to either indict or clear those people that proposed or voted for these giveaways. Mayor Cooper, Commissioner Sanders and former Vice Mayor Julian are on the November ballot and they MAY be a target of the investigation.

Julian then says: Casba, I have asked you if you would run your campaign as a gentleman, and it looks like you will not, as expected. Since you have no records of any service in Hallandale , I guess sending out e-mails is your plan to be a commissioner. The voters are much smarter than you would believe, and they will know the truth, about you soon enough.I have a ten year record of service to the people of Hallandale, and that is known to all residents as I have lived here for over 57 years.

I will be calling the IG. and volunteer to answer any questions they might have.

Well, Mr. Julian finally wants the same thing I was asking for since this investigation was made public -clarity and honest answers from people who know them. 

He now says he wants his name cleared ASAP. 

His attempts to turn my comments back on me have only served to show who's really going to “campaign as a gentleman.”

He can't even tell the truth when there's nothing to gain from lying.

While it's a good thing he volunteered to talk to the IG, the truth is that since he's running for office, he didn't really have much choice, did he? 

In a word, no.

Now, everyone else at City Hall should follow Julian’s example and talk to the IG and completely disregard Markoff's advice, apparently based on watching so much TV, but ignoring reality and appearances.

I for one am looking forward to Comm. Sanders and his wife finally telling everyone their side of the story, but it's not unreasonable to ask why such a simple thing has taken  almost four years? Especially if you did nothing wrong.

More than anything it shows the complete lack of candor and leveling with taxpayers that Comm. Sanders has been known for ever since the mayor put him on the commission in 2008 with Julian's help, since he repeatedly refused to meet with residents of NE before the vote on the Diplomat project.

I guess he couldn't be bothered.

In my 30 years of working for the Cleveland Archdiocese, my boss, the Bishop, would never have allowed me to wear two hats in any sort of business situation. 

I had a choice, one or the other, and like all bosses, if I didn't do that, there be problems for me.

That's why I'd like to hear how it is that the ministry of Pastor Sanders and the official duties of HB City Comm. Sanders can be reconciled now or in the future, without him making a choice, one or the other?

And like many people in this community, I wonder why he and his wife seem so oblivious to the appearance of all these things over the past four years, and are only now willing to say anything, or why she can't get a job that doesn't involve receiving money from the city directly or indirectly. It all seems very curious and more drama than we need with all the problems this city has.