Keith London reviews the latest ponderous HB Comm. mtg. that started after Noon and went past Midnight, and featured more anti-democratic antics by Comm. Lewy; London's Resident Forum mtg. tonight at 6 p.m.

Above, Hallandale Beach City Hall. March 19, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Having attended the March 7th City Commission meeting that is the subject of this post, or more specifically, sat thru most of the evening portion of it in-person, and having spoken and recorded most but not all of what transpired on my camcorder, I'm in a position to know exactly what happened, and to be fair, there's actually quite a lot more disturbing facts and context Comm. London doesn't even bother to mention below that he could, due to lack of time, but which were, all the same, very distressing to many residents in the room, who were forced to wait far too long to speak on the subject of the Marcum report that shows how oblivious the city has been for years with regard to important public records.


I left to go home after sitting in the Commission Chambers after 4 hours and 45 minutes, around 11:40 p.m., and it still kept going...


As most of you more regular readers know from my dozens of previous posts over the past five years on how Mayor Joy Cooper runs these meetings as presiding officer -one of only two powers that she has that the other four commissioners do not- which is the exact opposite of how smoothly and fairly Mayor Peter Bober runs things in next-door Hollywood, these sorts of never ending meetings in Hallandale Beach are no accident.


They're both part strategy and part unwillingness on the part of the mayor to change her own behavior to move the meetings along, and not talking all the time after every nearly single response.


In Hollywood, Mayor Bober, after any opening remarks of his, then asks the city attorney and city manger if they have anything to share with them and the public, and then asks the city clerk to get things rolling.
AND, he usually speaks AFTER all of his colleagues have had the chance to weigh-in on a subject..


Mayor Cooper speaks first, during and after any speakers, public or from the city, as well as before and after her colleagues, that is, when she is not busy interrupting them.


The meetings should generally never last longer than about three hours, but they are, instead, often epic battles to not fall asleep in the chambers or in front of your computer.


Mayor Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew of Dotty Ross, Antony A. Sanders and Alexander Lewy, all of whom are largely opposed to if not entirely indifferent to proving genuine oversight and transparency of what happens in this city, esp. in regards to financial matters, allow these meetings to go on-and-on because they know that if they can keep people sitting in the audience for hours waiting to speak, or now, waiting at home watching via the city's website -which streams the meetings but displays no basic information about agenda items or subjects- it greatly discourages participation.

At the meeting on March 7th, the subject of Comm. London's comments, as he notes below, it started around 1 p.m. and ended AFTER Midnight.
That's no way to run a meeting and certainly no way to run a city.


There's a reason that the Diplomat LAC (to benefit the owners of the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa and the Diplomat Country Club) was not finally voted upon until 2:43 a.m., just a few days before Christmas in 2009.

That very controversial item, which I strongly opposed and spoke out against at HB City Hall and before the Broward County Commission, and wrote about here at least two dozen times, was later correctly rejected by the County Commission because of its clear-cut incompatibility with the NE Hallandale Beach neighborhood it seeked to force itself onto, next to the Diplomat golf course, by placing numerous giant condo towers next to some pretty pricey single-family homes, some of which would've been placed in almost perpetual shadows after Noon.


A real victory for common sense and an embarrassing public defeat for Cooper, Ross and Sanders, who voted for it at 2:43 a.m., as well as her pals and business cronies in the city, almost all of whom ignored the very negative effect it would have in a city that has gridlock that is greatly disproportionate to its size due to both geography and its physical layout.


Because there is literally so much information I know and have been given by others regarding subjects that were mentioned at least in part at this particular meeting, I will be posting my own comments about some of the things Comm. London describes below, separately in another post over the next few days.


I've edited what Comm. London emailed me on Friday by removing some of his original indents so that more information could appear on each line, take-up less space and largely eliminate any dangling sentences or URLs.

His monthly Resident Forum meeting is tonight from 6-8 p.m. at the HB Cultural Center behind HB City Hall, so come by and check it out and get better informed about what's really going on..

-----

Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 2:50 PM
Subject: Wrap Up of the City of Hallandale Beach City Commission Meeting March 7, 2012
To: klondon@hallandalebeachfl.gov

Everyone,

The following is an update of agenda items discussed at the March 7, 2012 City of Hallandale Beach Commission Meeting.


Highlights of the Meeting

* Mayor Cooper and her surrogate Commissioner Lewy are attempting to change our election rules after I announced to run for Mayor of Hallandale Beach

* Commissioner Lewy wants to change the dates for the Charter referendums from the November general election to the August primaries -disenfranchising independents and democrats

* Commissioner Lewy again prevents questions being asked to staff and debate amongst the commission regarding important issues - yet another blow to representative government

* Six residents waited for more than two hours to voice their unanimous disagreement with shifting liability for decorative signs in GISND

* Mayor Cooper called these six individuals "under minders" because they disagree with her

* Security Alliance LLC has been chosen as the new security company for GISND and TISND - tentative date of commencement is 4-1-2012

* "No Surprises with the audit" said Mayor Cooper, even though there are over 250 exceptions

* Chad Lincoln sums up the "audit" by saying "in Hallandale the exception is the rule"

* Commissioner London made a motion to perform a Management Audit of the Finance and Purchasing Departments of the City - NO SECOND

* Commissioner Lewy states using temporary labor is "unfair labor practices".

REGULAR AGENDA

CITY COMMISSION, CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 07, 2012 1:00 PM & 7:00 PM

http://www.hallandalebeach.org/files/2012-03-07/Agenda%20Outline%20for%20201
2-03-07%2013-00.htm

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. ROLL CALL

3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

4. STUDENT CITIZEN OF THE MONTH AND SCHOOL ACTIVITY UPDATE

5. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION - Items not on the Agenda (To be heard at 1:30 P.M.)

6. PRESENTATIONS

A. Proclamation Proclaiming April 1, 2012 as Parents & Children's Day
(Staff Report ,
Supporting Docs )

B. Proclamation Proclaiming March as Women's History Month (Staff Report
,
Supporting Docs
)

TO BE HEARD AT 8:00 P.M.

C. Presentation of the Findings of the 2011 Municipal Green Initiatives Survey (Jill Horwitz, Natural Resource Specialist I, Broward

County Natural Resources Planning and Management Division)
(Supporting Docs )

TO BE HEARD AT 1:30 P.M.

7. CONTINUATION OF CITY BUSINESS FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS

8. CONSENT AGENDA

A. Approval of Draft Minutes

1. Regular City Commission Meeting of February 15, 2012
(Supporting Docs http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2012-03-07/Item%208.A.1/index.html)
* Passed 4:1 London

9. CITY BUSINESS

A. Consideration of the Conceptual Design for the Layne Blvd. Sidewalk Improvement Project, Entailing the Marking and Striping of a Bike Lane and Sidewalk Along Layne Boulevard from Hallandale Beach Boulevard to Holiday Drive.

(Staff: Director of DPW,U&E) (See Backup) BP #004/12 (Staff Report
,
Supporting Docs )

* After a Golden Isles community meeting it was decided to try temporary painted stripping instead of building a permanent concrete sidewalk and bike lane

* The striping will commence in the next 30 days and should take 90 days to complete

* This will be piloted for approximately a year to see how the public responds to the new striping and delineation of a side walk and bike lanes

* The following are some of the facts regarding this issue:

o The inside travel lane will increase in width to 12 feet from 10 feet - the bike lane will be 4 feet and the sidewalk will be 6 feet

o The bike lanes and sidewalk will be delineated by striped paint

o There may be some large potted planters installed to help define the areas

o This hopefully will increase the bike safety and pedestrian usage in Golden Isles

* Passed 5:0

B. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Authorizing the City Manager to Apply for Financial Assistance Under the FY-2012 Waterways Assistance Program for The Hallandale Beach City Marina Project, Authorizing the City Manager to Execute the Necessary Documents and Establish Appropriate Accounts to Implement the Project, and Providing and Effective Date.

(Staff: DPW, U&E)(Backup)CAD#031/03 (Staff Report
,
Supporting Docs
)

* Passed 5:0


C. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Authorizing the Award of Bid #FY 2011-2012-009, Temporary Labor Services Option I, Option II, and Option III, to the Lowest Responsive, Responsible Bidder, Hire Quest, LLC d/b/a Trojan Labor, in an Amount Not-to-Exceed $215,000.00 for Leased Labor, Authorizing the City Manager to Execute the Agreement with Hire Quest, LLC d/b/a Trojan Labor; and Providing an Effective Date.

(Staff: Director of DPW, U&E) (See Backup) BP #020/12 (Staff Report
,
Supporting Docs )

* Commissioner Lewy stated that using temporary labor in his opinion was an unfair labor practice.

* Commissioner London asked the following questions:

o How long can an employee be temporary? Answer, the city has had people as long as two years

o Please give an example of this. Answer, retirees who want part time work or for a specialized position

o Why use temporary labor? Answer, when the City requires extra staffing for a project for a specific period of time or requires specific expertise not currently in house - this provides a large savings by not needing to train personnel when outside labor may be contracted with all the training and licensing required to complete projects or tasks.

* Resident Chad Lincoln spoke regarding the advantages of having contracted employees expertise on hand in many disciplines

* See a video of Chad here:

Here, Comm. London refers to a FLIP video that I recorded at the Commission meeting and sent last week to a few dozen citizens, activists and politicians around Hallandale Beach and Broward County, plus a few TV/print reporters and columnists.
That video will be the subject of a separate blog post later this week, due to its great importance.

* Passed 3:2 Lewy and Sanders No - London, Ross, Cooper - Yes


D. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Authorizing the City Manager to Award RFP FY#2011-2012-001 to Security Alliance, LLC, to Provide Security Guard Services for the Golden Isles Safe Neighborhood District and the Three Islands Safe Neighborhood District; Authorizing the City Manager to Execute the Agreement with Security Alliance, LLC, and Providing an Effective Date.

(Staff: Police Chief) (See Backup) CAD #024/93 & CMD #041/92
(Staff Report ,
Supporting Docs )


TO BE HEARD AT 2:30 P.M.

TO BE HEARD IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE GOLDEN ISLES SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD DISCTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA ITEM #3.C.

TO BE HEARD N CONJUNCTION WITH THE THREE ISLANDS SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD DISCTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA ITEM #3.B.

* The new company was chosen in adherence with the new Broward County ethics laws and City of Hallandale Ordinance requiring the City Commission to chose the vendor ranked number one by City staff

* The new company will seek to hire the existing guards if they meet the requirements, pass a drug screening and meet professional standards

* The new contract is expected to commence April 1, 2012

* Passed 5:0


E. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Authorizing the City Manager to Execute an Agreement of Participation with the Golden Isles Safe Neighborhood District to Install Decorative Traffic Signage throughout the Golden Isles Safe Neighborhood District Area; and Providing an Effective Date.

(Staff:Director of DPW,U&E) (See Backup) BP# 012/09 & CMD #041/92
(Staff Report ,
Supporting Docs )

TO BE HEARD IN CONJUNCTION WITH GISND BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING AGEND ITEM #3.D.

* Six residents from the Golden Isles attended the meeting and patiently waited for over two hours to unanimously voice their opinion AGAINST shifting all the liability from Broward County and the City of Hallandale Beach

* Commissioner London stated he, too, would like "pretty/decorative" signs in Golden Isles but was very concerned about the potential ramifications of shifting the legal liability from Broward County to only the residents of Golden Isles

* The shift from Broward County and the City of Hallandale to the Golden Isles residents would be in perpetuity for any and all costs associated with these signs for instance:

o Buying, maintaining, replacing, ordering, paying the city to do any maintenance, defending lawsuits, answering lawsuits, setting up procedures

* Passed 3:2 London and Ross NO


F. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Authorizing the City Manager to Execute the Second Amended and Restated Development Agreement Between RK Hallandale Limited Partnership and 17070 Collins Avenue Shopping Center, Ltd, and the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida; and Providing An Effective Date.

(Staff Director of Development Services) (See Backup) CAD #016/04
(Supporting Docs )


TO BE HEARD AT 7:15 P.M.

TO BE HEARD IN CONJUNCTION WITH ITEM #12.B.

* Commissioner Lewy made a motion to limit discussion and would not let me do the job I was elected to do and ask questions to City staff

* I cannot and will not vote yes for a project increasing traffic which will impact all residents and businesses in Hallandale

* Commissioner Lewy's new tactic making motions to limit discussion and questions is NOT Democratic

* Passed 4:1 London No


G. Presentation of Independent Accountants' Report on Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures.
(Staff: Director, Finance) (See Backup) CAD #015/10
(Staff Report )


TO BE HEARD AT 7:30 P.M.

TO BE HEARD IN CONJUNCTION WITH HBCRA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING AGENDA ITEM #4.C.

* Commissioner London asked the following questions:

o Was this an audit? Answer NO

o If not an audit, what was this exercise? Answer - "Agreed Upon Procedures"

o Was there any executive summary included with the Agreed Upon Procedures? No - that was not part of what Marcum was contracted or engaged to perform

o Were there formal recommendations included as part of the Agreed Upon Procedures? No

o Was Marcum engaged to look for fraud? No

o Did Marcum look to see if the taxpayer received a reasonable return on their investment? No

o What did Marcum find? The City of Hallandale's written policy/procedures were ignored or broken over 250 times

o What was the outcome of these broken policy/procedures? Answer - the written policies ignored by the city would be re-written on the spot (the exception was now the rule)

o Examples of broken policy/procedures:

* Mike Good forgave a $50,000 loan to a developer for a potential $600 per year savings off an employee rental lease

* City Commission voted yes (4:1 LONDON NO) for a CRA loan of $125,000 to a pornographer with no collateral as required - this loan is now in default

* Approved $150,000 CRA loan when the maximum allowable amount is $100,000

* Purchased three $142,000 condominium units for friends - Former Vice Mayor Julian signed off on one incomplete set of documents- limited documents available for others

* No documents and missing documents in the files for over 10 million dollars in real estate acquisitions

o Commissioner London made a motion to perform a Management Audit of the Finance and Purchasing Departments - NO SECOND

o Commissioner London made a motion to perform a stand alone AUDIT of the CRA - No affirmative vote but consensus is to bring this item back for a future discussion

H. Reconsideration of Charter Review Committee Recommendations -Title of "Mayor-Commissioner." (Mayor Joy F. Cooper)( See Backup) CAD #003/11
(Staff Report ,
Supporting Docs )


10. COMMISSION PLANNING

11. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION - Items not on the Agenda (To be heard at 7:00 P.M.)

* Robert Fisher from Sea Edge Co-op spoke about the red tape his building has experienced to obtain permits for work being performed on their building

* Dr. Judy Selz questioned Commissioner Lewy and wanted to know why he is loose with taxpayer's money with regards to Golden Isles - just because there is money in the account does not necessarily mean it needs to be spent

* Andrew Markoff

* Qunia Gordon spoke about woman's health

* Reginald LaGross spoke with regard to questions he had about his very high water bills

12. PUBLIC HEARINGS (To heard at 7:15 P.M.)

A. An Ordinance of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Approving and Authorizing a Contract with AAAA Crosstown Towing and Recovery, Inc. ("AAAA") for Towing Service. (First Reading) (Staff: Police Chief) (See Backup)

(Staff Report ,
Supporting Docs )

* Passed 5:0


TO BE HEARD AT 7:15 P.M.

B. Application # 72-10-DB by RK Associates Requesting Major Development Review Approval Pursuant to Section 32-782 of the Zoning and Land Development Code in Order to Build a 3,950 Square Feet Freestanding Building and a 538 Square Feet Addition at the RK Diplomat Center Located at 1725 E. Halladale Beach Boulevard. (Staff: Director of Development Services) (See Backup) CAD#016/04

(Staff Report ,
Supporting Docs )

TO BE HEARD IN CONJUNCTION WITH ITEM #9.F.

13. COMMISSIONER COMMUNICATIONS - Items not on the Agenda

A. COMMISSIONER LEWY

B. COMMISSIONER LONDON

C. COMMISSIONER ROSS

D. VICE MAYOR SANDERS

E. MAYOR COOPER - Adjourned the meeting after midnight approximately 11 hours after opening the meeting

14. CITY ATTORNEY COMMUNICATIONS - Items not on the Agenda

15. CITY MANAGER COMMUNICATIONS - Items not on the Agenda

16. ADJOURN


Keith S. London
City Commissioner
Hallandale Beach
954-457-1320 Office
954-494-3182 Cellular

www.KeithLondon.com

http://www.facebook.com/KeithSLondon
 

Doug Hewett named new Hollywood City Manager; Hardly Breaking News: New year of 2012 already showing that the old bad habits of Miami's local TV news operations won't die -apathy!

Looking west at Hollywood City Hall following the Hollywood City Commission meeting that led to the selection of Doug Hewett as the new City Manager. 

January 6, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Continuing their policy of the new economic realism, wherein stories about celebrities, diets and/or plastic surgery for women, toys for affluent people and their over-indulged kids, and crime stories involving women in danger or peril -especially mothers!- are deemed more important than what happens in local government that actually affects everyone -in part because they have lots of South Florida advertisers who want the not-so-educated female demographic for whom that is 'must-see TV'- Miami's local TV news operations threw a collective wet blanket on the big news coming out of Hollywood City Hall late last Friday afternoon.

Hollywood, Florida's 12th-largest city, selected 40-year old Fayetteville, N.C. Assistant City Manager Doug Hewett to be their new City Manager on a 5-2 vote, following hours of presentations by the six final candidates on what their strategy/ideas might be in their first few weeks in the position if they were selected to get the city moving forward.

The hiring of a young, personable, savvy and very well-regarded public administrator, who over a few shorts days seemed to pick-up on the small nuances of what makes Hollywood and its neighborhoods and its civic activist community unique and very hands-on, after touring the city and talking with many of the city's most well-known involved residents and civic activists, is a move that represents the final piece of a puzzle that many Hollywood taxpayers and observers firmly hope will stabilize what had become a very rocky ship of state of late in 2011 after the dismissal of former City Manager Cameron Benson, with bitter cleavages emerging all over the city between political/neighborhood activists and Fire/Police union members and their enthusiastic/exasperating supporters.

As I've stated in this space previously, many of the latter are still visibly outraged over the results of the September public referendum that forced much-tougher financial terms on their members -roughly a 12% pay cut to prevent actual dismissals of Fire/ Rescue and Police- and as of this writing, there are at least two city commission candidates backed by the unions who've already filed their paperwork to put that lingering animus to work for them as they challenge incumbent commissioners  Heidi O'Sheehan from District 3 and Richard Blattner of District 4.

Owing to election changes necessitated by the successful passage of a charter issue by Hollywood voters, rather than having staggered elections this year, ALL six city commissioners and Mayor Peter Bober are up for re-election this November, with only Comm. Fran Russo publicly announcing that she will be not be seeking re-election in District 5, which consists of most of Hollywood west of the Florida Turnpike.

http://www.hollywoodfl.org/city_commission/hlwd_com.htm

http://www.hollywoodfl.org/EthicsCommittee/DisclosureSearchPage.aspx

http://www.hollywoodfl.org/election/2012/CampaignTreasurersReport.htm

For a few observers in the Hollywood Commission chambers who were really paying attention to the larger public policy picture last Friday -like your humble blogger, for instance- the real news of the day lay more in who was completely missing from the Commission chambers rather than the selection of the certain someone who might soon be calling it home.

That is to say, noticeable by their collective absence.

Indeed, as Sherlock Holmes is forever reminding us, the absence of evidence is, in fact, evidence of a sort.

Showing that the old bad habits of last year that we have remarked upon so many times here on the blog -and in animated conversations and emails with so many of you readers- that have left so many tens of thousands of concerned South Florida residents quite literally appalled at what passes for news coverage at Miami's English and Spanish-speaking TV stations, were, in fact, NOT left behind in the dust-bin of history after all, even while more traditional subjects are shunted aside, Miami's CBS4, NBC6, WSVN-TV 7 & Local 10 News were all no-shows at Hollywood City Hall.

As were their Spanish-speaking colleagues at local TV news outlets at Channels 23, 41 and 51, despite the fact that there are lots of Spanish-speaking residents in Hollywood.

But yours truly videotaped the entire proceedings, as well as Thursday night's public get-together of the six final candidates at Hollywood's Arts & Culture Center on Harrison Street.

I plan on posting the comments that I videotaped last Thursday night by CM-designate Doug Hewett and his presentation of Friday afternoon on my blog and YouTube Channel within the next few days.

I'll need to do some editing first and break up his presentation into 3 or 4 segments, since his presentation was the longest, albeit, also the most interesting one to listen to.

Former McKinney, TX City Manager Frank Ragan received the second-most votes last Friday afternoon and was a very compelling candidate, with lots of tangible qualities and talents that surely would've helped Hollywood, based on his impressive resume and facility for talking about his accomplishments without any un-necessary boasting.

He particularly grabbed the full attention of Hollywood Commissioners Linda Sherwood and Richard Blattner, who voted for him on the first ballot.


Yes, I wish he were already the City Manager in Hallandale Beach, where Mark Antonio will be leaving in June.

Above and below, Frank Ragan addresses the Hollywood City Commission and makes his formal presentation. On the dais, left-to-right, Commissioners Patricia Asseff, Beam Furr, Heidi O'Sheehan, Mayor Peter Bober, Commissioners Richard Blattner, Fran Russo and Linda Sherwood. January 6, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier.

Personally, I wish that Ragan was already in a responsible upper-management position in either Broward County or up in Tallahassee so he could positively effectuate economic development, trade and investment policies, since the record is clear that he has the ability to see opportunities that other smart people in those positions DON'T.

I can't recall the last time I heard someone who worked for Broward or in Tallahassee say something about those subjects that really impressed me in quite the ways that Ragan, a one-time Hoosier, did in his presentation Friday, a fact that seemed to be shared by Comm. O'Sheehan. 

Video of the 2009 Hollywood City Commission voting on $30k deal with State Sen. Eleanor Sobel; Sara Case was talking about budget problems even then!

September 20, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Later than I had originally planned, I now finally have the link to the video from April 1st, 2009 at Hollywood City Hall that was the heart of the $30K deal for State Senator Eleanor Sobel that I have referenced twice within the past week, via a post of my own and one yesterday by Hollywood civic activist Sara Case at The Balance Sheet Blog, in light of her formal request to have the State of Florida perform an audit of the City of Hollywood.

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/pol-who-wanted-and-got-hollywood.html

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/hollywood-civic-activist-sara-cases.html

Me, I find her timing and rationale very, very curious, and that would be true even if I hadn't voted in the 2008 primary for Tim Ryan for State Senate, despite the nasty and untrue TV ads paid for by her shadowy supporters at 527s, and electioneering communication groups

A survey done by VancoreJones Communications in June 2008 described Democratic voters in District 31 as "the most angry, despondent and suspicious group we've ever polled.'' But on the plus side: "Despite being very opinionated they can be easily persuaded.''

Just like other 527's did the bidding of Alexander Lewy last year in Hallandale Beach against Comm. Keith London in Lewy's bid to get elected on his second try for office, where I wrote: "Not out of any great magnanimous desire to help the citizens of this city, mind you, but rather to help himself and take his first step in becoming a career politician."

History has proven me prescient.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/527/committee-to-protect-florida.asp

You may find it worthwhile to know that using Internet Explorer, you can't find the link on the city's website marked "Archived City Commission" meetings, but the video itself seems to ONLY play using Internet Explorer, since it will NOT work using Google Chrome.

I know that because I have tried and tried over the past few months to see several old Commission meetings that I wanted to reference in blog posts but was unable to.

Above, the webpage using Internet Explorer -list of files is invisible!

Below, the webpage using Google Chrome, a list of files.

Once you get to the blue-highlighted agenda item on the particular Hollywood City Commission meeting you want to view -or even the entire meeting if you choose- the link doesn't work using Google Chrome.

Consider yourself warned!

It's SNAFU!

And there is nothing on the city's website page that tell you that you have to use Internet Explorer to see video of selected agenda items.

A real conundrum that!

I'll be talking to the City Clerk's office about that next week.

April 1, 2009

6. R-2009-072 - Resolution - A Resolution Of The City Commission Of The City Of Hollywood, Florida, Authorizing The Appropriate City Officials To Execute The Attached Agreement Between State Senator Eleanor Sobel, State Representative Elaine Schwartz And The City Of Hollywood For Lease Of City Office Space And To Reallocate Funds For The Renovations For New Offices For Senator Sobel In The Old Library Building.

PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

September 20, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

State Senator Eleanor Sobel receives 5,000 sq. feet of improved office space, inc. electricity and water, for only $750 a month for a period of 40 months -the remaining period of her term at the time in 2009- paying no interest.

State Representative Elaine Schwartz is paying $500 a month in rent, which includes the costs incurred by Hollywood for past improvements from 2006.

Florida House and Senate legal counsel contacted City Attorney Jeffrey Sheffel and said that rules on limitations on member's office account expenditures are such that this matter needed to be done in the form of rent rather than checks for improvements.

Video is 23:47 minutes long

Entire agenda is at: http://www.hollywoodfl.org/Media/Archives/CCM/ccm040109/ccm040109_Indexed.pdf

Video for this item is at http://www.hollywoodfl.org/Media/Archives/CCM/ccm040109/ccm040109_Indexed.pdf

Hollywood civic activist Sara Case's spot-on take on the latest move by Eleanor Sobel, Munilytics, and the need for meaningful audits; Margaritaville

Above, looking west at Hollywood City Hall. September 20, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Hollywood civic activist Sara Case's spot-on take on the latest move by Eleanor Sobel, Munilytics, and the need for meaningful audits; Margaritaville

As a follow-up to my blog post of Monday titled, Pol who wanted -and got- Hollywood taxpayers to pay $30k for her new FL State Senate office in 2009 now asks FL legislature for audit of Hollywood!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/pol-who-wanted-and-got-hollywood.html

I strongly suggest you read Sara's perspective on the rather-sudden concern shown by FL State Sen. Eleanor Sobel -who represents me as well in Tallahassee- on city spending and expenditures at Hollywood City Hall.

Sara also explains what the much-discussed Munilytics report did and DIDN'T say, since there seems to be a great deal of not only genuine confusion by some Hollywood residents about its representations, but also, sadly, some intentional misrepresentation being floated about by supporters of the Hollywood Police, Fire/Rescue Dept. union members who are SORE LOSERS about Hollywood voters rejecting their arguments in last month's referendum on government pensions.

They keep wanting to fight the battle but the war is over -they lost.

I know because many of these same people have written me angry emails, thinking that I'd post whatever they said about the Hollywood CRA and its spending and legality, regardless of what sort of mis-information they attempted to peddle, perhaps assuming that I didn't know the facts.

That was their mistake.

I've been to more Hollywood CRA meetings and workshops than 99.99% of Hollywood residents.

Hell, I not only posted the information about the pre-bid information workshops here on the blog but also posted the city's public notices here so that more residents and concerned people would show-up for the meetings and get educated about what was and was not happening.

I even wrote here about who some of the candidates were to be the new CRA chief under the newly-restructured organizational chart when the Herald, Sun-Sentinel and local TV stations were completely ignoring it.

(In case you didn't know, Jorge Camejo is the CRA Executive Director.)

I not only took notes but videotaped the meetings to make sure that my notes were correct and so that I was ready in case somebody said or did something of note, good or bad, whether Mayor Bober, the City Commissioners, city staff, the public or the competing developers for the six-acre Johnson Street project at Hollywood Beach and The Broadwalk, that was ultimately won by the Jimmy Buffett-themed Margaritaville, despite my own preference for The Hard Rock proposal as a concept and tourism magnet, however imperfect that was.

I didn't stop attending once Margaritaville's won the bid unanimously despite my own reservations about it.

Yet despite this, I received emails from people who clearly DIDN'T do their homework and thought I'd just pass along their nonsense that failed both the common sense and smell test.

Sorry, no sale.

-----

Balance Sheet Blog

STATE SENATOR’S AUDIT

October 4, 2011, 2:33 PM

Filed under: Budget, City Commission

State Senator Sobel – who in 2009 sought and was granted a $30,000 interest-free, non-recourse loan from the City of Hollywood to renovate 5,000 square feet of office space for her use – has suddenly expressed great concern with the City’s finances. She’s requested that the State of Florida audit Hollywood’s finances and her request has been granted.

Read the rest of Sara's post at:

http://balancesheetblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/state-senators-audit/

For more examples of that often-inaccurate, anti-Hollywood CRA mis-information being pushed that I noted above, see some of the reader comments to this article:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Margaritaville resort brings optimism to Hollywood Beach

By Carli Teproff, The Miami Herald

12:00 a.m. EDT, October 5, 2011

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-margaritaville-resort-hollywood-20111005,0,3194149.story

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/04/2437130/future-resort-brings-optimism.html

Eleanor Sobel, Broward pol who wanted -and got- Hollywood taxpayers to pay $30k for her new FL State Senate office in 2009 now asks FL legislature for audit of Hollywood!

Pol who wanted -and got- City of Hollywood taxpayers to pay $30k for her new FL State Senate office in 2009 now asks FL legislature for audit of Hollywood!

Oh, "that's Rich."

No, that's just Eleanor Sobel being Eleanor Sobel!

What brings this to mind is this blog post today by Steve Bousquet of the St. Petersburg Times:

Legislature OKs audit of city of Hollywood

TALLAHASSEE -- The Legislature on Monday approved a request by Sen. Eleanor Sobel to step in and audit the city of Hollywood's shaky finances. Sobel appeared at a meeting of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee in the Capitol to ask for the audit, citing the city's declaration of a state of "financial urgency," a recent 11 percent property tax increase, lucrative pension and health benefits for city employees and overly optimistic revenue projections.

Read the rest of the post at

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/10/state-approves-audit-of-city-of-hollywood-.html

Plus, at the time, April of 2009, Sobel's name was already STILL on the same building across from Hollywood City Hall -where Rep. Elaine Schwartz's office was/is also located- from when Sobel had used it as her temporary pit-stop of a Broward School Board office when she pretended to care about kids for a few months while waiting for Steve Geller to be term-limited out of the state senate.

I was at the Hollywood City Commission meeting when this self-serving effort got pushed thru -even updating my photos before going inside- and Balance Sheet Blog co-editor Sara Case was the only member of the public with the integrity to publicly say that Hollywood taxpayer funds should NOT be used in this manner, esp. for a woman who could well afford to pay for it herself, or, even rent one of the dozens of empty storefronts in Downtown Hollywood.

I thought Sara was particularly good in zeroing-in on the problems in her comments that day before the City Commission.

I have to admit, though, I was somewhat confounded that Mayor Peter Bober, having brought up some spot-on reasons that I hadn't even thought of to justify voting against it straightaway, or, continue it to the near future, along with some modifications to it and some added clarity on the ethical and financial issues, then voted FOR it.

I found that confusing on his part and some arguments by Comm. Richard Blattner, and I don't think I was alone in the Chambers in that sentiment.

Until it was mentioned at that meeting, in passing, I didn't know anything about Hollywood taxpayers also having spent $20,000 in 2006 on improvements to Rep. Schwartz's office.

Sara's point in her then-editorial about the real answer to the problem being that they leave their government cocoon and rent a downtown storefront is, of course, something that was completely lost on the woman from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Instead, this was a done-deal from the word "go," and it passed despite the gaping holes in logic and questions about propriety and extraneous spending.

R-2009-072 - Resolution - A Resolution Of The City Commission Of The City Of Hollywood, Florida, Authorizing The Appropriate City Officials To Execute The Attached Agreement Between State Senator Eleanor Sobel, State Representative Elaine Schwartz And The City Of Hollywood For Lease Of City Office Space And To Reallocate Funds For The Renovations For New Offices For Senator Sobel In The Old Library Building. PASSED

Good to know that Sen. Sobel is trying to re-pay the PBA members' past help by expressing her new-found concern with extraneous government costs.

But where were those concerns of hers before when it involved her? MIA.

The photos above, all taken by me on September 20th, with the first showing the offices of Rep. Schwartz and Sen. Sobel and the second showing part of the view when you walk out of their office, looking west, at Hollywood City Hall.

In the next few days, once I find those old photos, I'll add them here for an Eleanor Sobel office compare-and-contrast.

Some contemporaneous articles about this story are:

a.)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

Sen. Sobel to taxpayers: Spend $30k cleaning rat-infested space for my office

Posted by Brittany Wallman at 10:57 AM

By Ihosvani Rodriguez, Staff Writer

State Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, wants new office digs in Hollywood, and it will cost city taxpayers about $30,000 for starters.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/04/sen_sobel_to_taxpayers_spend_3.html

b.)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Hollywood to rent office to state Sen. Sobel

By Ihosvani Rodriguez

6:12 PM EDT, April 1, 2009

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/hollywood/sfl-sobel-office-b040209,0,4633755.story

Reader comments at:

http://www.topix.net/forum/city/fort-lauderdale-fl/T7MBKTSCTPCC6IQBT

-----

Balance Sheet Blog is at http://balancesheetblog.wordpress.com/

http://www.hollywoodfl.org/

Dear oblivious Jane Doe, Chip & Andy, defenders of Hollywood union deals that'd cripple city's financial future: You lost, common sense actually won

Above and below, looking east at the City of Hollywood Fire Rescue station #105 on U.S.-1/Federal Highway, one block north of Pembroke Road, one of the ten busiest fire stations in the entire U.S. and which responds to some calls in Hallandale Beach, too. August 30, 2011 photos by South Beach Hoosier

August 30, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

August 30, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Dear oblivious Jane Doe, Chip & Andy, et al, defenders of Hollywood union deals that'd cripple city's financial future: You lost, common sense actually won.

Rather than see the two comments I received today run at the bottom of my Saturday post, where only people who never saw it in the first place would see them, I've chosen instead to put them right out front today where everyone can see them for the nonsense they are.

Let's look at the self-serving comments, shall we?

Which, as was true during the abbreviated referendum 'campaign,' as usual, didn't and don't answer the simple reasonable questions that the residents of Hollywood were entitled to know before they actually voted.

Not the failure of the City of Hollywood to anticipate and deliver straightforward answers to, but rather the side that the 'Jane Does', DWS and labor acolytes of the Hollywood area supported.

The side that lost and which is still bitterly complaining.

Those questions can be boiled down to one: IF X, with X being maintaining current labor deals, then Y, with Y being job cuts and program and service interruptions if not outright elimination,

what will Y be like if the status quo with the city employees was maintained and no changes were made?

The unions could NEVER answer that simple question to enough Hollywood residents' satisfaction.

The very beleaguered people who already knew that their taxes were going to be going up substantially even if the city's position won out this past Tuesday.

How did the unions and their employees ever think they could win if they couldn't answer that simple question?

Exactly.

As stated previously, I'd have been perfectly fine with firing a lot more City of Hollywood employees than even the numbers contemplated by the city if the referendum had lost.

A lot more!

My own personal experience over the past seven years being all over Hollywood is that there are, indeed, far too many city employees who DON'T pull their weight and don't deliver a dollar's worth of service or labor for a dollar's pay.

Just as is even MORE TRUE in the City of Hallandale Beach, starting with the City Manager's Office and DPW.

City of Hallandale Beach City Hall and Police Dept. HQ, September 9, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

(Did you know that despite being about 350% smaller in physical size and population than Hollywood, as recently as two years ago, the City of HB's City Manger's Office was actually spending MORE taxpayers money on its personnel costs than Hollywood was?

Well, if you read this blog or read my friend Michael Butler's Change Hallandale you would, but other than Comm. Keith London, none of the other other four HB commissioners seemed the least bit troubled by this absurd and troubling fact.

Cooper, Ross, Julian & Sanders were their usual Rubber Stamp selves and allowed it to go on and on, with predictable results, and yet they were the very ones who were unwilling to bite the bullet and actually take Mike Good to court last year when he wasn't even coming to City Hall to do his job.

How do you get any more insubordinate than that?

And Julian, typically, as if on cue, foolishly saying and doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, made a motion to end the city manger search even before it could get going in earnest and the public could participate and give their input.

Just another one of the 1,001 reasons that William "Bill" Julian deserves to be kept off the commission dais PERMANENTLY.)

Now, back to the matter at hand.

Even prior to receiving this anonymous comment, I've been shocked at the relative ease with which the Hollywood Police union (Jeff Marano) and the Fire union (Daniel Martinez) were able to skate with South Florida's local media without answering questions in depth about what the logical results would be if their side had won the referendum.

The only time that this was NOT true was when Mayor Peter Bober and Jeff Marano both appeared on Channel 10's This Week in South Florida (TWISF) with host Michael Putney.

You can see that program here: http://www.local10.com/video/26511111/index.html

Jane Doe has left a new comment on your post "Shining a light on a sanctimoni​ous -and anonymous...":

I do not feel your comment on the Hollywood Whistle Blower all that accurate. The person may have used someone else's picture but alot of what was written is accurate.

First off, it's not "someone else's picture" but mine.

Second, someone who purports to be a serious person with something to say doesn't do something as stupid and lazy as pilfer other people's photos on a blog as if they were a catalog to take what they like. Period.

There has been alot of mismanagement in the City of Hollywood and that needs to be brought to people's attention. It is not fair to blame the employees for the problems the city is in. The mayor and commissioners have agreed to union contracts and when the city was in trouble the unions agreed to pay cuts for employees.

No one disputes that there has, indeed, been financial under-performance and very poor choices.

But no matter how many times it is mentioned no matter how many times the numbers come up in a graph or pie chart, you and your cohorts seem to be oblivious to the fact that since Public Safety personnel/pension costs are by far the largest portion of the city's budget, they are the first on the chopping block.

Look at the current budget proposed by the City of Hollywood, below.

http://www.hollywoodfl.org/budget/pdf/FY2012TentativeBudget.pdf

$113,461,70 of the $ 166,274,13 General Fund in the budget is for Public Safety.

Jeff Marano and Daniel Martinez did a piss-poor job of telling Hollywood residents what programs and services would have to reduced, largely be eliminated or zeroed-out in order to continue the fiction that they and you want to believe.

Because they didn't.

The voters made their choice.

The city chose to go way over budget building Arts Park, to agree on a vendor who could not provide a fully functioning WiFi system, gave millions through the CRA to developers who did not build a thing and walked away with the money and now one is suing. They have a downtown CRA that has not accomplished anything yet they keep getting taxpayers dollars while the west end of the city is going down hill. They could have shut down the downtown CRA and saved money but they won't. There has been advice given to the city but the mayor and commissioners have their own agenda. They chose to play bully and tell taxpayers if you do not vote yes for pension reform we will raise your taxes even higher. Now they are cutting pensions while relying on developers to save the city and will continue to give them money the city does not have. Is that the direction you want to see the city go?

I knew about these myriad problems before you did, attended the often-ponderous Hollywood City Commission meetings and knew more about what had and hadn't been discussed than you did.

I am all-too aware of the shortcomings of the City of Hollywood and their employees and elected officials.

I've actually written about them here, remember?

When nobody else was, I complained about what I saw that didn't seem logical or reasonable or make sense and still was done anyway because that's what the city or its condescending employees wanted, even if was wrong.

The City Commission passed the Margaritaville project on Johnson Street and the Broadwalk unanimously, and while I didn't like all aspects of it, I MUCH preferred the Hard Rock proposal because you'd get more buzz and reach a much more diverse demographic who'd spend money.

Margaritaville? I will never go there -it's not at all appealing to me.

And neither will anyone I know who'd come to visit.

I also don't think it will be appealing to out-of-town/foreign visitors who are African-American or Latino.

It's a one-trick pony.

A very tiresome one-trick pony in my opinion.

If the Super Bowl came back to Joe Robbie Stadium, do you think most fans with a choice would prefer staying at The Hard Rock located on the beach, or Margaritaville, where they can never escape that music?

Well, many of the fans of the latter are fishing on Sunday afternoons on their boats, right?

Asked and answered.

But when you finally found out about the decision-making problems in Hollywood, what did you do about them?

Exactly.

Nothing.

The unions were content to let bad decisions be made in Hollywood so long as it didn't affect their Golden Goose.

Conveniently, the so-called "Whistle Blower' blog didn't show-up until last month, and yet still does not disclose who is behind it, just like your comment to me, Jane, Chip & Andy.

That lack of transparency and honesty makes you and them not worth believing, especially when your arguments are so lacking in facts and context.

for whatever reasons, you and your pals continue to NOT understand the purpose and function of a CRA as they operate in Florida.

By now, I think it's because you'd rather not know and would just prefer to have the issue to complain about it.

That's your choice, but as I remarked previously, simply repeating something doesn't make it true, and is unconvincing among people who know the facts.

So very many unpersuasive arguments.

That's why I was not at all surprised the unions lost.

Chip and Andy has left a new comment on your post "Shining a light on a sanctimoni​ous -and anonymous...":

"...There's one over-riding fact: a majority of the Hollywood residents actually voting chose to support the City of Hollywood's P.O.V."

I disagree.

With only 14% voter turnout and the 'winning side' winning by a 55/45 split, majority is hardly the way to describe the results.

I know that by the very definition of the word the majority is the winning side of the vote, but with over 80% of the voters deciding to sit this one out, the 'majority' made their voice heard by not saying anything at all.

Honestly, criticizing the results of the vote based on the number of people who voted is the worst of sour grapes since it proves that the Police union and Jeff Marano and the Fire union and Daniel Martinez, were utterly unable to persuade even a small number of people to vote who hadn't planned on voting, even though everyone knew going in that a small percentage would actually turn out.

Personally, I hate apathetic people, which is part of what makes living in South Florida so frustrating to me, even when I was a kid.

Hearing a pathetic excuse like the one above that someone or some group of people "made their voice heard by not saying anything at all" is honey for elected officials, lobbyists and the status quo, all of whom already have too much influence in Broward County and south Florida than they do in most other parts of the country with a higher civic-participation level and different attitude.

That said, here's what I know for a fact: There was a public election held this past Tuesday in the City of Hollywood, and among those legal residents who actually voted, one side got more than the other.

Apparently, it was not your side.

While I usually prefer to have as many legitimate people vote as possible, there's absolutely no evidence that if 25%, 50% or even 100% of the city's residents had participated, the results would have been any different.

If anything, I personally suspect the percentage of voters supporting the city's position on the referendum would have been even larger, since conversations I've had the past few days among people who are registered voters but who blew-off the vote because they were so sure it would pass, 90% of them were for it.

They opted out because their intuition was that it would pass and their vote wouldn't change much; they were right.

The universe of people who think it's more important for City of Hollywood employees to retire with a pension when they are near age 50 or 55, than to have a fairly-normal city offering various programs and services (of varying quality) to city taxpayers is much less than you think.

The unions reached their universe of supporters.

It's just that they are a minority of actual legal voters in the City of Hollywood.

No sale.

That's the end of the issue.

====

http://www.changehallandale.com/

http://www.local10.com/index.html

Shining a light on a sanctimoni​ous -and anonymous- Hollywood blog that seems to exist for the sake of making excuses for taking MORE taxpayers' money

Above, Hollywood City Hall, looking west from the half-circle in front of the Hollywood branch of the Broward County library. June 2, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.


Shining a light on a sanctimoni​ous -and anonymous- Hollywood blog that seems to exist for the sake of making excuses for taking MORE taxpayers' money and giving it to city employees.

First, they've rather amusingly decided to call the blog "City of Hollywood Whistle Blower."
That's ironic for many reasons, not the least of which is that they're nothing of the sort.
They're simply an anonymous vehicle that's busy carrying someone else's water.
No more.
But if you pay attention, they won't 'cop' to it.

Seriously, calling yourself a 'whistle blower' doesn't make you one any more than calling yourself a 'Texan' the day you arrive there does.
Being a real 'whistle blower' is something you have to earn, and sometimes, that means taking your lumps, dealing with adversity and unjust criticism and 'suffering the slings and arrows' of outrageous fortune from people with some power in a position to dish it out.

But the power that a real 'whistle blower' has is their facility with and knowledge of the facts, like I do here in Hallandale Beach, even as Mayor Cooper laughably persists in thinking that she can keep the facts at bay by openly decrying blogs and websites during HB City Commission meetings.

The so-called 'Whistle Blower' blog in Hollywood does NOT have the facts on its side, the losing side, so it engages in personal attacks.

In fact, the person or parties behind that mis-named blog are so grossly unimaginative and LAZY that they have actually stolen a photo that I took of Hollywood City Hall over three years ago, one that I've used many times on my own blog -and the first photo of Hollywood City Hall that appears at Google Images; second one is mine also- without EVER contacting me to ask if they could use it.

And not just using it, but actually placing it at the top of their own blog with nary any embarrassment.
Yes, the very same photo at the top of this post.

Here's what my photo looks like atop their blog.

Now that's really galling -and telling of the sort of characters you're dealing with.

For all their pomposity, verbosity and bombast -really, Founding Fathers' quotes that we've all heard a million times before?- they can't even be bothered to get off their lazy asses and get over to Hollywood City Hall to take even one original photo themselves?

Yes, correct.

It's sort of like the in-plain-sight situation a few months ago that I never mentioned here on the blog where the Broward Bulldog 'borrowed' photos of mine without ever contacting me.

As if their grants from journalism groups and philanthropies was some sort of defense, or a barrier to my complaining about their stealing.

Or mentioning it to a lot of South Florida TV and print reporters.

(Nope, they found out all right.)

So, whom do I complain to about the "Curious Case of the Pilfering Whistle Blower" who offered this very strange and obnoxious take today on the election results.
http://cohblwr.blogspot.com/2011/09/republic-mr-bober.html#comments
I guess the Court of Public Opinion, eh?

But now YOU know.

Additionally, those of you who took the time to actually read the email/blog post that I sent Monday about Tuesday's referendum in Hollywood, contrasting that new blog -which started last month- with the much-respected Balance Sheet Blog,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/on-eve-of-hollywoods-referendum-on-city.html
and who actually read the latter's post about the vote may have noticed the name Brian Joynt appearing several times as a reader commenting on the passing scene.
http://balancesheetblog.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/pension-referendum-sept-13/#comments

In case the name sounds familiar to some of you, it should, and not in a positive way:
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2007-03-22/news/bad-cop-bad-cop/
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2005-06-30/news/hollywood-s-finest/

Saying something over-and-over again doesn't make it true, as Mayor Cooper continues to demonstrate to a fair-thee-well in her own nonsensical pronouncements here in Hallandale Beach, and that's equally true with the results of the Tuesday vote and the comments at the so-called 'Whistle Blower' blog.

There's one over-riding fact: a majority of the Hollywood residents actually voting chose to support the City of Hollywood's P.O.V.

Now, for better or worse, we'll all see what the logical consequences of that decision will be, and whether the Hollywood City Commission -as presently constituted- is capable of exercising the sort of sound financial judgment in the future that it's so often lacked in the recent past.