Unlike Ann Murray & Jennifer Gottlieb, repeat no-shows at contentious Ben Gamla mtg. in HB Tuesday, Michelle Rhee will show up in public

Above, Ann Murray, our completely unreliable elected representative to the Broward School Board.
Her devotion to her constituents -us- like her time priorities, are completely upside-down and unacceptable.
She works for us, not the other way around, yet she seems to be unaware of this particular working arrangement.
Perhaps she needs to be "educated."


To quote the ever-observant Mark Ambinder of The Atlantic Online, below, in his essay on D.C. School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who resigned this week after Mayor Adrian Fenty was defeated in his re-election bid:

"And -- she was accessible. She did not cloister herself, nor did she shy away from town hall meetings. She showed up and made her case. Parents could talk to her, although they might not have liked what she had to say."

Well, at least Ben Gamla founder Peter Deutsch publicly admitted -a few times- to the SRO crowd of about 200-250 people at the HB Cultural Center Tuesday night what we in opposition to his proposed site in a single-family HB neighborhood have long suspected but heretofore been unable to prove.

If the City of hallandale Beach didn't require Deutsch to hold a "Community Meeting," he wouldn't hold one or talk to city residents.

Repeat after me - " He just doesn't care what YOU think."
If by YOU, I mean Hallandale Beach Residents.
I do.

Among the elected No-Shows at this meeting: Broward School Board members Ann Murray of District One, School Board Chair and At-Large member Jennifer Gottlieb, HB mayor Joy Cooper, and HB City Commissioners William "Bill" Julian, Anthony A. Sanders and Keith London.

London at least was next door, across the hallway, holding one of his regularly-scheduled monthly Resident Forum meetings with residents and interested guests, and had the event planned for that date long before Deutsch asked for that date, too.
(His next public meeting is Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the HB Cultural Center.)

London's the only HB commissioner who has regularly-scheduled monthly meetings with HB city residents and outsiders like Greenberg Traurig's Debbie Orshefsky have attended in the past, though her appearances were mostly for recon purposes in support of her client, the incompatible Diplomat LAC proposal which was later voted down by the Broward County
Commission.

And as anyone who has ever attended one knows, Mayor Cooper frequently crashes London's meetings too, -or sends her not-too-clever and transparent spies- when she feels like it, the most recent instance being the one held in mid-Sept. that City Manager Mark Antonio was at for about an hour, listening and answering questions about problems in the city
that the mayor foolishly insists don't exist, despite the fact that they are both numerous and self-evident to anyone paying the slightest attention.

That mid-September meeting was the one where Cooper reacted with a audible gasp when London responded cleverly in response to a resident's query about campaign contributions, as he spoke about the upcoming election, for which he is running for re-election -after Antonio left the room.

Cooper's gasp, which you can hear on the videotape I made of the meeting -which, for the record, are done largely so I don't forget something and don't have to write everything down and can just relax like everyone else- came when he mentioned that another HB city commission candidate, Cooper pet Alexander Lewy, who was sitting in the front row, just five feet away, had received contributions from both Cooper's husband and son-in-law.
About $1,500 between the two of them as I recall it now.

I will try to post that video here soon if I can, since the lighting in the small rooms is not always so great for recording purposes.

I am unable to go to the Broward School Board today for their 1 p.m. Ethics Policy Comm. meeting as I had originally planned, but I am going to find out in the next few days from the Broward Dept. of Elections how long we'd have to wait before, hypothetically, initiating a recall of Ann Murray, our dependably undependable No-Show of a School Board member, who acts like the HB part of her district is terra incognita, despite the fact that she lives in next-door Hollywood.
That's completely unacceptable.

I'll soon be filing a public records request at Broward School Board HQ to get Ann Murray's records and work schedule since getting into office, to see if, as everyone agrees, she has NEVER been at a public HB event that wasn't political or a fundraiser.

Like the meeting we made a point of being at on Tuesday night.

Murray not only couldn't bother, but never even responded to reminder emails sent to her last week about it by both Etty Sims and Csaba Kulin, the latter of whom's letter I ran here a few days ago.
Ann Murray just doesn't get it.

In a few months, we may well need to stage an intervention and help make Ann Murray's public invisibility act a permanent one, so that HB residents have a fully-functioning rep on the Broward School Board who is responsive and forthcoming, NOT impudent and thoroughly anti-social.

------

I subscribe to Marc Ambinder's daily dispatches from The Atlantic Monthly Online in large part because he seems much more prescient than 99% of the political observers around.
I urge you to consider subscribing, too.

I was actually a subscriber to The Atlantic magazine for most of the 15 years I lived in Arlington County, VA, a little over three miles west of Georgetown, and kept the past issues stored in my garage in carefully labeled faux-wood paneled cardboard Banker Boxes.

Keeping The Atlantic company in the garage archives -with current ones upstairs- were, if I can remember the list: Harper's, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Maxim, The Washington Monthly, Esquire, The New Yorker, National Geographic Traveler, Conde Naste Traveler, Vanity Fair, Variety, Premiere, The Wilson Quarterly and some political, film and marketing trade journals that I received because of either my own personal interests or because some friends were involved with them as writers, editors or management.

Plus, of course, my favorite read, a newspaper, The New York Observer. which I first became familiar with in 1989, when I was up in New York City for my sister's wedding, and I discovered it while taking some personal time away from the family that weekend and walked on The West Side. I was immediately hooked -and still am. http://www.observer.com/

Make of that varied reading mix what you will, since it gives you some sense of my personality and interests, but the best part was that my part of the garage was -generally- like a pretty well-ordered and deep-pocketed law firm's library, with everything in its place.
You know, in case something unfortunate happened to the Newspaper and Current Periodicals Room at Library of Congress, long one of my haunts!

http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/
http://www.loc.gov/index.html

Marc Ambinder is the politics editor of The Atlantic. He has covered Washington for ABC News and the Hotline, and he is chief political consultant to CBS News.
Follow him on Twitter @marcambinder

Bio | All Posts

What's Next for Michelle Rhee?
Posted: 13 Oct 2010 02:01 PM PDT

Michelle Rhee has a plan.

Hours after she stepped out of the maelstrom that is the D.C. public schools system, her patron, Mayor Adrian Fenty, having been bounced out of office, she launched a Twitter feed and a website, teasing would-be followers to find out what she'll be doing next.

Rhee is a Grade-A edu-lebrity, and she's the perfect bureaucrat for the Reality Show age, when personal brands matter as much as ideas. Or when, at the very least, ideas don't succeed unless they've got good brands behind them.

Rhee is well-liked by the major educational philanthropy organizations, and though I Tweeted last night that she's probably headed to the Obama administration or to another school district, she could just as well become the public face of a major, well-funded campaign to promote her ideas about teachers, merit pay, and reform.

Read the rest of Ambinder's spot-on post at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/10/whats-next-for-michelle-rhee/64517/

Uh-oh! Peter Deutsch lets it slip that most of students at proposed Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter in HB will be Sr. High and Jr. High age, NOT les enfants!

Above, Hallandale Beach's invisible representative to the Broward School Board, District One member Ann Murray. http://www.browardschools.com/schoolboard/

Uh-oh!
Peter Deutsch let it slip out this afternoon at the Hallandale Beach Education Advisory Committee monthly meeting that most of the students at his proposed Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter School in Hallandale Beach in 2011 will be Senior High and Jr. High kids, NOT les enfants!

This would seem to cast some serious doubts on their already-submitted traffic and parking studies since, presumably, few of the Elementary School kids would be driving themselves to school.

Not that you can see the plans now on the city's website, since the city refuses to post these public documents there until two days before the HB Planning & Zoning Board meeting, now scheduled for the 27th at 1:30 p.m.

I also heard that the attorney with Deutsch was a real hit with the education advisory board with his very sarcastic put-downs of Hallandale Beach and the schools located here, like we have anything to do with that.

I'm told by someone who was also there that this pompous jerk is Ben Gamla's "parent of the year," so presumably he'll be at the Community meeting tomorrow night and perhaps I will snap his mug for posterity -and the blog.

Speaking of the meeting... the city-required public community meeting on Ben Gamla, hosted by Deutsch, is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center, located behind HB City Hall.

Personally, I'm a longtime supporter of the idea and principle of Charter Schools but I recognize that in this area, the Broward School Board members that represent us, Ann Murray and Jennifer Gottlieb, are NOT going to publicly say anything against them, esp. when someone like Peter Deutsch is connected to them.

For them, that's a loser and a fight they don't need to get into.

As a well-informed friend with a sense of historical perspective reminded me over the weekend:

"The School Board doesn't have much say over charter schools. If they deny the application, the charter school operators go to the state to appeal and usually win. They can speak about the inappropriate placement of a school."

My concern as far as the School Board members go has always been more on their attendance at education-related happenings here in their district from the p.o.v. of their obligations to their own constituency, but even if they show up, and I doubt they will tomorrow night, I'm not expecting Murray or Gottlieb to be anything more than a "potted plant" in the room, to use that Oliver North congressional hearing-generated metaphor.

In my opinion, as far as Murray goes, that would be a nice start after more than two years in her current position -completely invisible in Hallandale Beach.

Towards that end, my friend, Hallandale Beach civic activist Csaba Kulin has sent Murray an email -below- that's much more to the point about HB residents' feelings about her heretofore invisible presence here having been duly noted, and letting her know that part of the reason some people want her to be present is so that she can see how completely one-sided this Peter Deutsch-led meeting will be on Tuesday night.
Just like last year's cringe-worthy fiasco.

There's hearing second-hand that something is one-sided, and then there's actually seeing it for yourself.

Like reporters coming to HB City Hall for the first time and seeing what the mayor is really like at a public meeting with their own eyes.

All of a sudden, everything clicks and they see that if anything, what they've read or heard previously hardly begins to describe the absurdity of the situation.

Csaba also asks specific questions about the number of students planned for the size of the property and asks Murray to simply consider how lacking in common sense some of Ben Gamla's plans are.

Kids being forced to eat outside for meals, then what do you do when it rains or there's a strong thunderstorm, bring all the kids in and cancel classes?
Which is it?

There's their great plan to save money, and then there's their plan actually running head-on into a very predictable reality, since there's nothing more predictable in South Florida than thunderstorms.
Except traffic.

But Peter Deutsch doesn't care about any of that, he just cares about the general idea of himself being the White Knight for many Jewish parents throughout the region who are currently dis-satisfied with public schools, for whatever the particular reason, reasonable or otherwise, and the profit he and his partners can make from their discomfort, which is millions.

Deutsch doesn't see why he should care what the neighborhood, city or community thinks because he knows that having gone thru this process before, and gotten his share of bruises, no elected official is going to lift a finger to call him out on his plan's self-evident lack of common sense in shoehorning a school of that size into that small an area in a single-family residential neighborhood.

He's NOT suddenly going to negotiate against himself if he can get everything he wants by playing hardball.

Not that anyone seems to remember, but my biggest problem with Deutsch has always been the central fact that he NEVER approached the HB community and asked what IT wanted to see in this city in the way of educational alternatives. He only offered one flavor.
Oh right, plus his giant sense of entitlement, a holdover from his days in Congress.

Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper has only exacerbated the problem by NEVER having a single forum on education, even though that's clearly one of the key considerations that families moving here think about.
Just ask Broward realtors!

But the mayor acts like that predictable conversation NEVER takes place, and she sees no upside to her challenging someone with influence and powerful friends like Deutsch, so she just acts like there's nothing she can do, unlike the approach taken by people in Coral Gables with regard to charter schools.

Peter Deutsch is merely a saleman trying to peddle his product, and he only wants to sell that one flavor in Hallandale Beach.
He's merely a 7/11 owner, NOT an education trail-blazer.

And if you believe Ben Gamla's own numbers and projections, 10% or less of the students going there would actually be from Hallandale Beach.
That's laughable!

I don't know about you, but that DOESN'T sound to me like my idea of a community school, or
a common sense prescription for what ails this area's educational problems, one of which clearly is "educational White Flight."

I meant what I wrote the other day about the need to push back, and push back HARD at Murray to shake her from her sleepwalking stupor, and, if need be, to make a public example out of her and her completely unacceptable serial apathy and neglect of the HB community, despite her being our elected representative to the Broward County School Board.

If Murray chooses not to attend, despite adequate notice and plenty of first-hand knowledge that there's more than enough reasons for her to be in attendance, I will make sure that there is an empty chair at Tuesday's meeting with her name on it, and, possibly, At-Large member Jennifer Gottlieb's name as well.
They both work for you and me, and they need to actually show up at public meetings in this city about education issues of interest to everyone.
Without having to be reminded over-and-over
Period.

IF they choose not to attend Tuesday night, trust me, it will NOT be a secret throughout Broward County or among the South Florida news media down here that really matter.

Meanwhile, up in Arlington County (VA) where I used to live until returning to South Florida, just like HB, life is far from perfect... as The Arlington Yuppette reports
http://arlingtonyupette.blogspot.com/

Archive of Bob Norman's Daily Pulp columns on Ann Murray:
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index?keywords=%22Ann+Murray%22&x=17&y=15
---------

The email below was sent to Broward School Board member Ann Murray on Saturday October 9th at 10:52 a.m.
As of 8:30 p.m. on Monday October 11th, there had been NO REPLY.
Surprise!

-----

Dear Ms. Murray,

You are our representative on the Broward County School Board and as such you must make every effort to appear and speak about the detrimental effect charter schools have on our regular public schools. We in Hallandale Beach are in danger of closing some our public schools if the Broward Board of Education allows students and money to be syphoned off to pseudo public schools like charter schools.

On a more personal note, we the voters would like to see our elected officials personally appear among us more often than at election time.

On October 12, 2010 at 6:00 PM, at the Hallandale Beach cultural center there will be a community meeting about the Ben Gamla charter school. They would like to convince the residents why it would be beneficial to them, a single family residential neighborhood, to have 600 K to 12 students attend school there coming from all over Broward County.

White the current meeting is about a Hallandale Beach "conditional use permit", we need you to come and explain to our residents the requirements of a 600 student school should have as to cafeteria, recreational area, class room sizes and other amenities concerned. How 1.9 acres of land compares to other similar size school's land area? We are concerned about forcing a 600 student campus into 1.9 acres of land. I am very familiar with what a 600 student school should look like. Football field, tennis courts, outside assembly area just to mention a few, and sufficient separation from the surronding residents to avoid noise and light concerns. That location fails on all of these points.

You need to explain to us why there were no other alternate sites considered for this school? We in Hallandale Beach have a school on the North West side closed. Would that be a better location for Ben Gamla?

So, please before you try to find an excuse to not to appear, recognize that facing the public is a necessary part of public service and accept our invitation.

Csaba Kulin

President, Fairways North, Inc.

Vice President, United Condominium Associations of Hallandale Beach

Timeline for Peter Deutsch & Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter School in Hallandale Beach's 2nd proposed application in 2 years; STILL not on city's website!

I will have more to say about this particular subject in the coming week on my blog, perhaps even with some Guest posts, but for now, here's the Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter School's formal application to the City of Hallandale Beach and a photo of their public notice for the city-required community meeting, now scheduled for Tuesday, October 12th at 6:00 p.m. at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center, located behind HB City Hall.

Former U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, Ben Gamla's founder, will be speaking before the HB Education Advisory Committee monthly meeting the day before, on Monday the 11th, at 4:00 p.m. at Hallandale Elementary School, 900 S.W. 8th St, Hallandale Beach.

If you can manage to do so, please attend that meeting and let your voice be heard.

Most of you already know what I personally think of bully-boy Peter Deutsch and his completely over-the-top scare tactics and threats against the city and community in general, and the single-family neighborhood specifically, but in case you forgot:

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Ben%20Gamla%20Hebrew%20Charter%20School

The next formal step after these two meetings will be the Hallandale Beach Planning & Zoning meeting on Wednesday October 27 at 1:30 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers.

As these meetings have drawn near, many of you have asked me via emails or personal conversations a variation of these three basic questions.

a.) Whether or not I think South Florida's somnolent news media will actually wake-up and cover this controversial story and what transpired last year, now that Peter Deutsch and Co. are eager to get a bite of the apple again, and force themselves into this single-family neighborhood rather than thinking strategically and locating at any of the many sites that are much more compatible with their long-term intentions: growth into a K-12 .

b.) Whether or not I think we should expect an encore performance from the Ben Gamla management, wherein they intentionally created a false pretense in order to motivate their parents from all over Broward to descend on HB meetings, intentionally misinforming the parents so that they appear.

(Lest we remind them, these are meetings for the benefits of residents of Hallandale Beach, NOT one for Ben Gamla parents in Tamarac, Sunrise or Pembroke Pines, and no matter how much they think we will be impressed by their tales of woe about how long it takes them to drop-off or pick-up their kids at Ben Gamla, we still won't care.

When we hear these sort of tales, and we will, it's our obligation to forcibly remind these parents that that they're driving air-conditioned SUV's and Mini-vans, not horse-drawn Conestoga Wagons to California. And besides, that's not our problem, it's their CHOICE.)

c.) Whether or not I think our perpetually-AWOL Broward School Board representative, Ann Murray, will FINALLY get off her butt and STOP hiding, and actually appear at a public meeting in Hallandale Beach where concerned citizens are present and want some honest answers.

(Say, like the meeting scheduled for October 12th, so she can finally see what Peter Deutsch & Co. are really like, meetings that she has previously avoided and hidden under the bed like my sister's dog when there's a thunderstorm. Like she has nothing to do with anything.)

As most of you who come here regularly know, I have NEVER personally seen Murray in HB at a public meetings since she was first appointed to replace Eleanor Sobel, and according to all of you, based on your own answers to my specific questions, NONE OF YOU have EVER seen here, either.

Hmm-m-m... you'd think that the South Florida news media would pick up on that after more than two years.

As you look at the photos below, remember that N.E. 8th Avenue in Hallandale Beach is currently a two-lane, one-way south-bound road, about two blocks east of U.S.-1/South Federal Highway.

-

Above, looking east at the entrance of the Hallandale Jewish Center at 416 N.E. 8th Avenue.

October 3, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Above, looking north on N.E. 8th Avenue from just south of the main building.

October 3, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Above, looking east towards the south end of the Hallandale Jewish Center.

October 3, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

-

Above, looking southeast towards the existing parking lot south of the main building.

October 3, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Above, looking southwest from the main building across N.E. 8th Avenue

October 3, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Above, looking west from the main building across N.E. 8th Avenue.

October 3, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Here are my answers to these three questions:

a.) In the year 2010, given what I've written on my blog many times, there's no point in guessing what the South Florida news media will do, since so many of them do NOT appear at self-evident news events now, even when you tell them about it well in advance.

Events that years ago would've drawn throngs of savvy media types with a nose for news, now draw a few folks, often including me.

My advice: don't hold your breath and don't take it personally.

Just remind yourself: we are currently living thru the nadir of South Florida journalism.

Period.

b.) Yes, I think the Ben Gamla folks will tell their parents that they will get "points" or credit for showing-up in HB, just like last year.

Why would they change their old tactics since they honestly believe they can mobilize more people from outside of HB than the actual turnout of regular HB citizens?

They believe they can "pack" the meetings and since Peter Deutsch will no doubt utilize his old preposterous one-sided rules, where he always gets the last word and has no time limit on what he says, the very ones that so riled the community last year, why should you expect anything different?

Peter Deutsch has already publicly stated before HB citizens that he will do anything it takes to get what he wants, regardless of what the city's elected officials, the community or the neighborhood wants.

Peter Deutsch honestly doesn't care what you think.

You should take him at his word rather than think you can reason with him.

Bullies like Deutsch will keep doing what they're doing until someone stops them.

One thing is certain, though, and that is that THAT person won't be Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper, who, despite plenty of opportunities in the ten years she's been mayor, has NEVER shown the appropriate amount of leadership on the self-evident and chronic education problems in HB, by convening at least one public meeting/forum on the subject, where everything was on the table.

Cooper STILL won't publicly say what everyone in this city and region knows to be true about the dismal state of education in this city, or the say one thing and do- another behavior of parents east of U.S.-1, especially on the beach, who won't send their own kids to schools in Hallandale Beach because they perceive the quality to be unsatisfactory and or unsafe. Period.

Cooper continues to delude herself into believing this educational cleavage in the city has nothing to do with her or City Hall, but business people and businesses considering moving here think about it, don't they?

You bet they do, which is one of the main reasons they DON'T come here and relocate elsewhere, a microcosm of the larger educational quality problem in Broward County.

Mayor Peter Bober and the Hollywood City Commission finally got so frustrated with the mediocre state of education in Hollywood, esp. at the Middle Schools, and parents complaining about the difficult choices they were facing -stay put or move?- that they took the initiative last year and convened an information-filled meeting on whether to consider creating a city charter school like Pembroke Pines.

I was there for the entire meeting that night, and it was a perfect example of the glaring differences between how city government works there, and almost always fails citizens here, less than three miles away.

And despite my justified criticism of Cooper, the reason isn't just the differences between the two mayors, but the fundamental differences between an informed and engaged City Commission in Hollywood that demands and gets honest answers from city employees, and the lapdog role of the HB Commission, constantly jumping whenever the City Manager said "jump," year-after-year, with the exception of stalwart pro-reform Comm. Keith London.

But London is just one vote, and can't force the Commission to suddenly start showing natural curiosity and thoughtful initiative, or using logic and reason when they are not inclined to.

And THEY are not inclined to!

That's why I call them the Rubber Stamp Crew, after all.

Now I'm not saying that a city charter school would be the answer to all the problems here, but why can't the mayor and city commission even show the good sense to have one public meeting on the subject of education in this city, especially when the problems aren't going to go away?

c.) Ann Murray remains a reclusive ghost to her Hallandale Beach constituents.

Why would you expect that to change now?

I am going to see to it that a letter is sent to Ann Murray formally requesting her appearance at that Tuesday advisory board meeting with Deutsch, and I will print her response here.

If Murray states that she will not attend, I will then make a formal public records request of the Broward School Board asking them to provide me with the names, dates and locations of any place in the city of Hallandale Beach that Ann Murray has appeared in her capacity as a School Board member since she was initially appointed to that position over two years ago.

I think I already know what the answer will be. And if you've been paying close attention, you do, too.

As I finish this post at 11:25 p.m., Tuesday October 5th, 2010, you might be interested in knowing that the formal Ben Gamla application STILL does NOT appear on the city's website, despite the fact that the HB Planning & Zoning Board meeting is in exactly three weeks, October 27th.

Seriously, does Peter Deutsch also get to determine when their application goes on the city's website for the public to see?

It's a public record and was received in June, as you can see for yourself.

That was four months ago.

That's a question I will ask before, during or after Wednesday's Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting to HB City Manager Mark Antonio.

http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2010-10-06/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202010-10-06%2010-00.htm

Stay tuned!

The post-Ed Marko era is in sight for Broward Schools as interviews for finalists for General Counsel slated for Monday

------
If it seems to you like there hasn't been a story in a very, very long time in print or on local TV newscasts about the Broward County School Board's search for a new General Counsel, it's not your imagination.
There haven't been any.

Presumably, that will change after next Monday as the finalists for the position are interviewed at a public meeting at 3 p.m. at the Broward School HQ in downtown Fort Lauderdale, 600 S.E. 3rd Avenue.

Looks like Broward educrats are prepared to FINALLY usher in the post-Ed Marko era. I won't be there, though, as instead I'll be closer to home as part of a far more important matter.

Former U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter School's founder will be speaking before the Hallandale Beach Education Advisory Committee monthly meeting at the same time, Monday the 11th, at 4:00 p.m. at Hallandale Elementary School, 900 S.W. 8th Street, Hallandale Beach.

http://www.browardschools.com/

See this interesting June 24th, 2009 post by Buddy Nevins at Broward Beat:

Bar Brawl Expected When Lawyers Fight For Ed Marko’s School Board Job http://www.browardbeat.com/school-board-will-discuss-ed-markos-fate-big-money-legal-job-could-open/

I hate to miss a good 'bar brawl,' how about you?

Geography as destiny and column-inches in the South Florida news world of 2010

Geography as destiny and column-inches in the South Florida news world of 2010.
Or, say, did you see WHERE..
But when it happened here, South Florida newspapers completely ignored it.

The following is a corrected version of an email I sent on Friday July 2nd to Douglas C. Lyons , the senior editorial writer and columnist at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Edward Schumacher-Matos, the Ombudsman of the Miami Herald, with a cc to the Herald's Executive Editor Anders Gylenhaal, and bccs to dozens of concerned residents throughout Broward County, including state, county and municipal elected officials and public policy activists.
(See http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/columnists/sfla-opinion-lyons,0,2553034.columnist)

----

Oh, say did you see... these charter school stories in the newspaper, yet curiously, there was never anything about Ben Gamla losing in HB, despite all of former congressman Peter Deutsch's verbal threats against us. Actually, I mean to say did you see WHERE...

The first of three stories is from Thursday, Carli Teproff's thorough follow-up to her May 7th story. She continues to be one of the most-accurate and fair-minded reporters at the Herald.

But tell me, why is it that when former congressman Peter Deutsch and his Ben Gamla group were met with firm resistance from Hallandale Beach citizens who opposed his zealous efforts to shoe-horn a high school into a single-family residential neighborhood, months after Deutsch first threatened them and their city officials at a public meeting in Hallandale Beach, saying quite emphatically that there was "nothing" that they or anyone else could do to prevent him from getting what he wanted, there was nothing about it in either the Herald or Sun-Sentinel?

(Deutsch's first application to the city of HB was for 200 students, but then we were told that was just a "mistake," he was really only going to have 500, yet Broward County Schools says that he can have nearly 900 anyway.
Seriously, after reading Teproff's recent story, does Peter Deutsch honestly seem like the sort of person who will not fight for every single student he can get when he's sees competitor Somerset ready to go to war and sue the City of Coral Gables?

Ben Gamla in HB would've brought in well over $2 million a year for him and his partners, before costs, but then when you force kids to eat outside for lunch, as Deutsch personally reminded everyone he would, in fact, do, when others thought that was just a joke, well, it was hard not to see this enterprise more as a license to print money, with HB as the physical warehouse, than as a sincere effort to help improve the quality and options for Hallandale Beach students and parents.who are literally desperate to have a quality school for ALL Hallandale Beach students and residents to be proud of.

Deutsch wasn't interested in the latter, though, just the former, and continually employed his petulant bully card. Having seen him and his over-the-top bullying ego in action in person many times, yes, we know EXACTLY what he will do!)

As for the Herald and Sun-Sentinel completely ignoring the community successfully rallying to defeat this well-known bully, or the the city's staff recommending rejection because he and his team, despite all their bluster, failed to meet the legal requirements for the zoning variance he sought, over-and-over, and his subsequently pulling of the application... what exactly?

Again, NOTHING in print or in any of your newspaper's blogs.
Not a crumb.
It's like it never actually happened at all.

We all know that actual meaningful news happens even when your company consciously chooses to ignore it, but if you think that your ignoring it does you any favors in the future with the residents of this community, far from it.
But we get it, though.

If a tree falls in HB, the question of whether it really make a sound is moot since it's in HB, right?
But if that same tree were to fall in Pine Crest, South Beach or near Brickell, stop the presses!

Mr. Schumacher-Matos, the Herald's recent track record is quite clear that your editorial team fervently believe that Coral Gables is, inherently, VERY IMPORTANT, while Hallandale Beach and Broward County and what happens to its citizen taxpayers is, inherently, insignificant, and, at best, an annoyance, which I guess is why a Herald reporter has attended exactly one HB City Commission meeting since June of 2008, despite everything that has happened here in the interim, almost all of which has been very. very bad for its beleaguered citizen taxpayers.

And I suppose that also explains why your newspaper completely ignored the successful citizens fight against the Diplomat LAC proposal that may well turn out to be the poster child for Amendment 4 in the weeks leading up to November's election, even while giving coverage to an addition to an apt. complex in Kendall.

I perfectly understand why the affected Kendall community is upset, I really do, but why a news story on the front page of Sunday's local section about 92 units and NOT one about a development of four or five 25-30 story condo towers, a project so large that the Broward County Commission had to vote on it -twice?

Despite protest, Kendall tower OK'd
The Kendall Community Council approved a new apartment building west of the
Palmetto Expressway -- to the dismay of some residents.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/27/1702951/despite-protest-kendall-tower.html

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2010/06/downtown-kendall-plan-and-residents.html

Okay, point taken.
Actions and words, or rather the lack of them, could hardly make this point any more clear.

My fellow concerned HB and Broward residents will know better in the future than to think
that the actual news value of any particular story is based on what's actually happening (or might) and other germane news parameters, not just where it happens.
No, as The Who correctly pointed out, "we won't be fooled again."

I will be happy to post any response you make in the future.

-------
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/01/1709646/charter-school-firm-sues-city.html

Posted on Thursday, 07.01.10

CORAL GABLES

Charter-school firm sues Coral Gables

A dispute between Coral Gables and a charter-school company is headed to court.

By Carli Teproff

A charter-school company sued the city of Coral Gables on Wednesday, demanding that the city approve a new 675-student school in a residential neighborhood.

Somerset Inc., a nonprofit firm that runs charter schools in Miami-Dade and Broward, wants to open a K-8 school on the campus of University Baptist Church, off Segovia Street near the Coral Gables library.

But the site isn't zoned for a full-size school, and the city has only granted approval for 110 students -- the same number as had attended a previously approved preschool on the church grounds.

Now Somerset wants a judge to declare that the school doesn't require city zoning approval. Somerset cites a state law saying that a church can house a charter school ``under their preexisting zoning and land use designations.''

The company says this law trumps city zoning rules, and cites a 2008 Sarasota Circuit Court ruling to that effect.

Somerset wants a Miami-Dade Circuit judge to order Coral Gables to allow the school.

Marcos D. Jiménez, a lawyer for Somerset, said Wednesday that his client had done everything it is supposed to do.

``We have come to a point where we need to invoke the protection of the state statute,'' he said. ``We think it is clear and on point.''

Somerset Academy has until July 26 to show the Miami-Dade school district that it has received city approval for a charter school at the church, 624 Anastasia Ave. The School Board approved the application in November 2008, but the petition did not specify a particular site.

Charter schools charge no tuition and receive taxpayer money to operate, but are run by someone other than the county school board.

`QUALITY OF LIFE'

City Attorney Elizabeth Hernandez said she was still reviewing the complaint Wednesday evening. She said the city is trying to look out for residents' interests.

``We are going to take all the appropriate action to preserve the quality of life including that of single family residential areas,'' Hernandez said.

She added that the city simply wants Somerset to follow the same procedures as everyone else for getting a zoning change.

Neighbors have complained that a charter school would bring too much traffic to a residential street -- an issue that normally would come up when the city commission considers a zoning change.

`SURPRISED'

Tucker Gibbs, who represents The Biltmore Neighborhood Association -- a group formed to fight the school -- said Friday he was ``somewhat surprised they filed a lawsuit.''

``They requested the certificate of use for 110 students,'' he said. ``They got what they supposedly wanted. So why are they suing the city?''

Jiménez called getting the certificate of use for 110 students ``a first step.''

``We can not operate without the larger number of students,'' he said. ``It's not feasible.''

----------

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/28/1704044_new-miami-beach-charter-school.html

Posted on Monday, 06.28.10

MIAMI BEACH

New Miami Beach charter school offers classes in Hebrew

Parents interested in having their children learn Hebrew as part of their schooling attended an open house Sunday for the new Ben Gamla Charter School set to open in August.

By Paradise Afshar

For the upcoming school year Johany Preston is considering an alternative option to a traditional public school for her three boys.

She is flirting with the idea of sending them to the brand new Ben Gamla Charter School in Miami Beach, which when it opens in August will offer a combination English and Hebrew curriculum, only the third school of its kind in South Florida.

``The location and the Hebrew were the main draws,'' said Preston, 44, of North Miami, who was among two dozens parents on Sunday attending an open house at the school at 1211 Marseille Dr. It will welcome students from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Admission to the school is free and open to students residing in the Miami-Dade school district. There is a $100 refundable book deposit.

Preston, who is Jewish, said she feels that the language component is important ``because it's a part of the Jewish culture.''

The Miami Beach campus is the second for the school named after an Israelite high priest -- Yehoshua ben Gamla -- known in the Talmud for his campaign to establish yeshivas throughout Judea.

The school's language curriculum has not been without controversy. When the first Ben Gamla school opened in Hollywood in 2007, the Broward County School Board briefly ordered the charter school suspend its Hebrew classes because the language has too close of a tie to Judaism, raising concerns that the connection could result in a nonsecular school.

Nathan Katz, a religious studies professor at Florida International University, was asked by the school board to review the lesson plans to ensure it was secular and the school was allowed to offer Hebrew classes. Katz said it is within the school's constitutional rights to teach the culture that comes with the language, and that the curriculum doesn't include any religious practice.

``It's like a magnet school where you may have a choice of language like French or German,'' said Katz, who attended Sunday's open house.

Heather Rubin, a first grade teacher, said Ben Gamla students are held to the same Florida public school standards. The majority of the curriculum is taught in English.

``I don't speak Hebrew,'' Rubin said, adding that another teacher comes into the class to teach students the language. ``But I do think it's great to have to learn a second language. It's amazing to see the kids who come here who speak a second language at home, come here and learn a third language.''

But the main goal of the school is to provide a comforting learning environment, she said. Principal Ari Haddad describes the school as a hybrid between public and private schools. Haddad said the new school is being well-received.

``So far everyone has been great. I had one of the neighbors come to me today and say, `You will do great things here,' and I think we will.'' he said.

Currently, there are 930 students enrolled in the Ben Gamla Charter School in Hollywood. The new Miami Beach campus is expected to add 190 new students.

For more information about the Ben Gamla Charter School, call 305-469-9331.

----------

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/07/1618532/charter-school-proposed-at-gables.html

Posted on Fri, May. 07, 2010

Charter school proposed at Coral Gables church meets resistance from city

BY CARLI TEPROFF
The Miami Herald

University Baptist Church in Coral Gables, pictured here on Thursday, May 6, 2010, is trying to gain approval to open a charter school on their current grounds that would serve over 600 students beginning in August of this year and has met opposition from neighbors that surround the church in the mainly residential neighborhood. Allison Diaz /

Academica, the company hoping to open a charter school at University Baptist Church, pictured here, went before the Coral Gables Development Review Committee on Friday. (Miami Herald file photo)

For Academica to open a charter school with more than 600 students at University Baptist Church, it will have to address parking, traffic and zoning concerns, Coral Gables' Development Review Committee said Friday.

Members of the city's police, fire, building and zoning, architecture, public works and parking departments queried Academica on a wide of range of issues pertaining to the proposed school at the church, 624 Anastasia Ave.

Company officials have said the pre-K through eighth grade school would open in August, although the city maintains the school needs to secure city approval before opening.

Friday's meeting was the first gathering before a city board. The company has maintained it can open the school at the church without city approval because of a state charter school law. In July, the Miami-Dade School Board approved Academica's application to open a school, dubbed Somerset Academy, although no location was specified.

City Attorney Elizabeth Hernandez has said in order to open up a school with more than 110 students -- which is what the property is zoned for -- the city would have to approve zoning and land use changes.

A group of residents who live nearby have formed a neighborhood association to prevent the charter school from opening with more than 110 students.

Attorney Tucker Gibbs, who is representing the group, said the main concern is the added traffic on the residential streets.

``The DRC brought to light a lot of issues that surround the proposal,'' Gibbs said after the meeting. ``The land use does not allow a school there.''

Academia officials have said they're aware of the neighbors' concerns and will try to work with them.

``The school certainly wants to be a good neighbor,'' said Rolando Llanes, the project's architect.

On Friday the city's Development Review Committee -- which is made up of representatives from each department -- went through the committee's concerns before a standing-room only crowd.

Among the concerns raised Friday:

• The number of students. The charter calls for 675 students; the company has said the proposed school can accommodate 735 students.

The committee said the company needs to clarify the exact number of students who will attend the school.

• Coral Gables Police Sgt. Jesse Medina cited added traffic at dismissal time.

Llanes said the plan was to have three dismissal times, 30 minutes apart, to help ease traffic. He noted a maximum of 31 cars could be in the pick-up and drop-off lanes.

``The responsibility will be on the parents,'' Llanes said.

• Parking. Currently, there are 93 spaces used by the church and its preschool, whose enrollment is capped at 110 students and 18 staff members, as per a 1977 commission mandate.

``One of my main concerns is parking,'' said Sebrina Brown, the city's currency administrator.

The architectural firm working with Academia -- Civica Architects -- said there was ample parking. In a packet submitted to the city, the firm said 58 spaces would be required for a 735-student school. It based that calculation on a state school code requiring one space per staff and one visitor space for every 100 students. That is the minimum parking requirement.

Using that methodology, the firm said it needed 58 spaces, 35 more than UBC now has with its 93 parking spaces.

``We have surplus of parking,'' Llanes said.

Jeanne Ann Rigl, who lives close to the church, came to Friday's meeting to speak to the committee.

While the committee meeting was open to the public, community members could not speak because it was not an open forum.

``We were disappointed no one could speak,'' Rigl said.

The company said it will work with the DRC.

Meanwhile, more than 900 parents have written letters of interest to the school, school officials said, and a parent board has been formed. The company operates several other charter schools in South Florida under the name of Somerset Academy.

Gina Delarosa, who lives in the Gables and has two sons, said she came to the meeting to hear more about the school. She said the city would benefit from a charter school.

``I feel like it's going to be a long process,'' she said.

Coral Gables City Hall, 405 Biltmore Way, 33134