Observations re Leo Grachow's selection as Hallandale Beach's interim Commissioner: "I thought he was a perfect fit for the job." So says a clearly disconnected-from-reality Comm. Bill Julian, who DIDN'T rate Grachow best, but instead voted BEST the least-qualified of the 3 finalists! Meanwhile, the candidate giving the single-best oral presentation, Chad Lincoln, received a 1 (out of 25) from HB's notoriously thin-skinned Mayor Joy Cooper; voting distribution chart

Above, the May 20th, 2014 voting results of the four members of the Hallandale Beach City Commission for an interim Commissioner to serve the final five months of Comm. Alexander Lewy's term, winnowing a large field of prospective candidates down to eight and then to three. My friend and fellow Hallandale Beach & Broward County activist, Csaba Kulin, one of the eight semi-finalists, created this very helpful chart based on information provided to him afterwards by the City Clerk. Columns 1-4 denote who received votes to make the Top Three and Columns 6-9 indicate the specific number from 1-25 each candidate received.  

Before I step all over my lede below, I should mention that one of the most striking things to happen that evening, something noticed by anyone paying close attention in the room or watching on TV, but as usual, NOT mentioned by Sun-Sentinel reporter Susannah Bryan three days later -as so many salient facts about what really goes on in HB are never acknowledged or mentioned by her in print- was that the individual candidate who the clear consensus of the public in the Commission Chambers felt gave the single-best four-minute oral presentation of the evening, my friend Chad Lincoln, received a measly score of 1 from Mayor Joy Cooper. That is to say, a 1 out of a possible 25 points.

Even if you had never read this pro-reform blog of mine before, or read the rest of this individual blog post, that's really everything you need to know about our thin-skinned, fact-challenged and consistently anti-democratic mayor in a nutshell.

It's been common knowledge for the longest time -in part because I've mentioned it so frequently here after something Mayor Cooper herself said and did- that her biggest fear has long been that the true facts about the state of this city and its longtime mismanagement under her actually get out and penetrate the minds of the people in this state whose opinion she cares about.

That is to say, her pals throughout the area and up in Tallahassee, like the folks at the Florida League of Cities or state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, the latter of whom as I've written here often last year and this year, is always happy to play guard dog for her up in Tallahassee, and help keep the germane facts from getting made public, as Sobel did in running interference for the mayor re the city's completely mismanaged and unethical CRA with the JLAC.

All to prevent an honest audit so that Hallandale Beach residents, taxpayers and small business owners could finally discover where all the tens of millions of CRA dollars went.

So, all this said, smart, articulate and creative straight-talkers like Chad and Csaba were always going to be persona non grata to her no matter what they said or did, despite the fact that they DO know much more about the city and how it's doing than the three candidates who made the final cut. 

Cooper and Julian eliminated the single person most clearly able to articulately challenge and rebut her on the facts and on the policy, with Cooper giving Chad one-tenth of the total that she gave to the person she rated just above him, whom she gave a 10 to.

Yes, the Gospel according to Joy Cooper.

And Comm. Anthony A. Sanders didn't even vote for Grachow to make the Top Three, even while selecting two generally unknown people from Northwest who rarely if ever speak at City Hall during public comments and made blah oral presentations when they had the chance to speak for four minutes that night, so you can see that he has NOT changed a whit since embarrassing himself over his vote to approve the incompatible condo tower at 2000 S. Ocean Drive in April, something that the articulate and affluent voters over on the beach won't be forgetting come November when Sanders is on the ballot.

Now, back to the question of Leo Grachow's selection as Hallandale Beach interim Commissioner: "I thought he was a perfect fit for the job."

So sayeth a clearly disconnected-from-reality Commissioner Bill Julian.

Julian, the HB City Commissioner who was the only one of the four of them voting on Tuesday May 20th, who didn't vote for Etty Sims to be among his Top Three choices of the 8 semi-finalists when he had the chance. Julian was the idiot who rated Sheryl Natelson the highest of the final three -Grachow, Sims, Natelson- despite the fact that she didn't know the answers to most of the questions asked of her, and completely whiffed on all three fact-based questions posed to all the three candidates by Comm. Michele Lazarow, unlike Etty Sims and Leo Grachow.

Honestly, how do you rate the worst-performing candidate of the final three as your highest-scoring, which, in fact, is exactly what Julian did? Well, when you are Bill Julian, it's what we've come to expect and fear -logic and reason as completely alien concepts.

(But I will mention that in the weeks since ranking Mayor Cooper's pal Sheryl Natelson first, Julian has been appointed to his old position of Vice Mayor. Just saying...)

You'd think the Sun-Sentinel reporter who was actually present and saw the whole thing acted out in mind-numbing detail for three-and-a-half hours might have noticed that twisted logic, eh?

Maybe asked Julian directly afterwards how it came to be that the candidate who received the most votes to be in the Top Three, after a very good oral presentation and then nailing the answers in the Q&A, Etty Sims, hadn't even made Julian's list at all.

Maybe ask Sanders why he didn't vote for Grachow to make the Top Three if, as Julian says, "he was perfect for the job."

Or, ask how it is that the ONLY candidate who 3 of the 4 commissioners ranked as among the Top Three, Etty Sims, DIDN'T get the position.

Those are the questions begging to be asked.

But then that would require Susannah Bryan to do some real reporting, wouldn't it, instead of merely engaging in stenography and taking what is handed to her by the city? Yes.

All of this was exactly the sort of result we could have predicted. 

And in the case of myself and some of you out there, DID. 

That given a chance, Bill Julian would find a way to blow a golden opportunity to do the right thing for the community and would, instead, screw things up -yet again.

Predicted that the bad, incompetent, incorrigible and completely disconnected-from-reality 
Bill Julian, the very City Commission candidate who promised the entire city in 2012 that he'd really change his spots, and would, IF given a 2nd chance to serve -after being kicked off by voters in 2010- finally show sound judgement for a change, instead of continually being a laughingstock, 
NEVER left and never ever changed for the better. It's just that some of you desperately wanted to believe he'd really changed. 

Nope.

Cooper, Julian and Sanders are exactly what they look like.

-----

Sun Sentinel
Hallandale Beach's newest commissioner sails through first City Hall meeting
By Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel
7:11 PM EDT, May 23, 2014

HALLANDALE BEACH

Longtime mediator Leo Grachow may have just the right stuff to bring peace to a sometimes testy city commission, some say.

The native New Yorker was chosen from a field of 18 candidates Tuesday and sworn in as a commissioner the very next evening.

After the swearing-in ceremony, Grachow took a seat on the dais for his first meeting as a commissioner.


"It was a long agenda and sometimes that can get contentious," Grachow said. "But it went pretty smooth."

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-commissioner-profile-hallandale-20140523,0,6702072.story

My letter -and invitation- to Broward Inspector General John W. Scott and his team re the longstanding corruption and mismanagement at the City of Hallandale Beach

Below is a copy of the email that I sent on Friday to Broward County Inspector General John W. Scott and his team asking for an opportunity to tell what I know about how things are really done in this mis-managed and unethical town, and inviting him and his team of investigators -and anyone else- to come to the final Town Hall meeting at Hallandale Beach City Hall on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m.

It should be a very interesting night as lots of perplexing questions that City Manager Antonio, Mayor Joy Cooper, Comm. Anthony A. Sanders and other public officials have done their best to avoid will be be asked again before a crowd of concerned citizens. 

 ------

May 18, 2012

John W. Scott

Office of the Inspector General

One North University Drive, Suite 111

Plantation, FL 33324

Dear Mr. Scott:

Please have your staff make arrangements to contact me within the next week so that arrangements can be made for me to speak with them and you in-person regarding the City of Hallandale Beach.

I'd like to discuss what I know and have personally witnessed with regard to multiple instances of broken state laws, corruption, mismanagement, self-evident violations of the State of Florida's Sunshine Laws, and still yet another matter.

I want to talk to you and your staff about the City of Hallandale Beach's outright copyright theft of some of my intellectual property, which has been going on since last year, a self-evident fact that can be seen by anyone going to the city's official website, where roughly one-third of all the images shown are, in fact, mine, and the city also use other images of mine on official city budget documents.

Someone taking something that belongs to you without your express consent and permission, taking it without paying you for its use, and appropriating it for their own commercial purposes, all of which the City of Hallandale Beach has done, is illegal and punishable by law.

Copyright theft by a municipal government is NOT the highest form of flattery.

Trust me, Mr. Scott, seeing is believing and there's a lot that I can not only tell you, but show you and your staff when you come to Hallandale Beach with open eyes and an open mind. 

I'm formally inviting you and your staff to attend the city's Town Hall meeting next Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. at HB City Hall.

I can absolutely guarantee you and your staff that there, City Manager Mark A. Antonio will once again knowingly and illegally use my copyrighted photo images in his public presentation as he has done at every HB Town Hall meeting since the first one in February, when I told him publicly before other citizens at the Hallandale Beach Community Center that I would simply not accept the city knowingly and illegally using those copyrighted images of mine, which they neither have legal permission to use or have paid to use.

City Manager Mark A. Antonio and his staff's official response to me since then? 

Complete apathetic disdain.

City Manager Antonio, his staff and the rest of Hallandale Beach City Hall have done nothing to rectify the situation, and have instead, continued doing whatever they wanted to do, almost daring someone to stop them.

Mr. Scott, I not only have multiple photos and video of various HB Town Hall meetings around the city showing City Manager Antonio and his staff illegally using my images there -and at other city meetings after I specifically told to desist and do the right thing- I have, literally, hundreds of witnesses, including the HB City Commission itself, as well as the HB Police Chief, the HB Fire Chief and dozens of city Dept. heads, policeman and city employees.

I look forward to hearing from you and sharing what I know about what's been going on for years in this corrupt, unethical and mismanaged city.

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

What I didn't include in that letter to Mr. Scott but could've is that for far too many years under the current mayor and the current and previous city manger, the concerned citizens of this community have had to watch -sometimes, almost helplessly- as the same handful of people at Hallandale Beach City Hall have consistently maligned their own citizens publicly; have actively thwarted citizen's efforts to use the Florida state constitution's Sunshine Laws to access PUBLIC information and actually hold the city and the people who run it publicly accountable for their illogical, illegal and anti-democratic policies and ordinances, and questionable if-not-outright craven crony capitalism.
Spending that seemed to almost intentionally operate in a stealthy fashion with no oversight, no accountability and little-to-no effort to recapture funds.

The result of the latter was that individuals and groups favored by HB City Hall were and are routinely rewarded with grants and loans despite NOT meeting the city's existing lax requirements, as requirements were and are routinely waived as long as there was at least one person in the group requesting funds who was a public supporter of Hallandale Beach City Hall, no matter how preposterous the request or its purpose.

If everyone who is "connected" receives an exception, then what is the purpose of requirements?

For years Hallandale Beach City Hall has actively tried to prevent Hallandale Beach citizens from getting access to public information they were legally entitled to -and have even been personally sued by the city in the process.

For years Hallandale Beach City Hall has purposefully held onto important public information about controversial land development proposals prior to votes by the City Commission, and have NOT made the information public as soon as was reasonable, but rather barely more than 24 hours before a publicly-scheduled vote, yet repeatedly -and rather pathetically- lying to HB citizens complaining about the problem by claiming they'd actually posted it online to the city's website the previous week.

These intentional lies and anti-democratic treatment of its own citizens continued despite the fact that the city's own online time stamps showed precisely when the documents were placed online.

That's the caliber of the people Mr. Scott will be dealing with.

This decision to place the interests of developers and their hired help above those of the public they're supposed to serve, allowed the people who run Hallandale Beach City Hall to keep the developer, attorneys, lobbyists and shills in the community apprised of all aspects of any requested changes, offers, counter-offers and negotiations, while keeping the public completely in the dark until the last possible moment.

The people who run HB City Hall have intentionally and physically prevented a Hallandale Beach taxpayer -me- from accessing a publicly-noticed meeting in a room on the second-floor of two-story Hallandale Beach City Hall that I have been to dozens and dozens of times, by suddenly saying that the rules had changed and that I needed to wait for someone at the meeting to come downstairs and escort me up.

Why?

And why was there nothing written about any supposed new rule posted near the lobby desk or near the elevator?

Despite the fact that the meeting was public and the female city employee manning the lobby counter had a key that would've opened the elevator and allowed me to attend the meeting on time, they intentionally forced me to stay in the downstairs City Hall lobby for over 15 minutes while nobody ever came down; the rule didn't exist, they just didn't want citizens to attend.

This we know because when I finally was able to get upstairs, thanks to the efforts of Comm. Keith London, guess what?

Just as the one-and-only HB citizen who'd actually be present at the meeting was about ready to walk into the room full of city employees -me- the meeting was suddenly and mysteriously postponed, while the city employees scurried away,

Then-Assistant City Manager Mark A. Antonio raced into his office to hide and refused to explain to me or Comm. London why the public meeting was abruptly shut-down.

Though to be fair, Antonio did mange to yell in our direction before shutting the door, but it had nothing to do with why he allowed what happened to me to happen.

No, not exactly the way it appears in civics textbooks or the Florida Constitution.

At a publicly-noticed HB Planning & Zoning meeting a few years ago, one that was being televised LIVE throughout the city and City Hall from the HB Cultural Center, before a grand total of citizens at a meeting where about a dozen city officials, employees or representatives sat around a table in the middle of the room, a Hallandale Beach resident was threatened by the head of the Board with eviction from the meeting, and then threatened with arrest for lawfully filming the public proceedings from their seat, about 75 feet away.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, Board member Sheryl Natelson stated that she didn't want to have her comments recorded, and said that she would not speak until the camera was turned off.

As if she was the one who decided what was and was not public at a public meeting.

As more regular readers of the blog would know, that HB citizen attending a public meeting was me, and it was my camera, from 75 feet away, that was recording what was a public representative was saying at a public meeting.

Mr. Scott and his team would be smart to know before he arrives on Wednesday that that's the mentality of the powers-that-be in this city, and that's how they do things here.

Thru obfuscation, intimidation and stealthiness, and even a willingness to threaten to arrest you for doing what you are legally able to do under the Florida state Constitution. 

Wednesday night looks to be quite a night. 

Wednesday afternoon's crucial Hallandale Beach P&Z mtg. re property rights, wherein Mayor Joy Cooper's cronies will try to overturn homeowner's rights

Below is a copy of an important email that went out to the grapevine of concerned citizens and news media interested in what happens in Broward County and environs.

-----

Wednesday afternoon's crucial Hallandale Beach P&Z mtg. re property rights, wherein Mayor Joy Cooper's cronies will try to overturn homeowner's rights

Some of you have no doubt already received this email from Hallandale Beach Comm. Keith London, but on the chance you haven't, I'm forwarding it for you to peruse and become familiar with the facts.

For almost everyone in this city who's genuinely committed to meaningful reform, transparency in fact and not just on paper, and financial accountability at HB City Hall, the thing that's hard to wrap their heads around is why is this happening?

Followed by, why now?

Especially given that this is as about as naked an attempt to take other people's property rights away as you'll ever likely see in South Florida, despite the fact that the contracts involved all say the same thing -people who want to change the rules must get a vote of a majority of the property owners involved.

That's something that Mayor Cooper and her pals and cronies simply don't want to do because they already know they can't use facts or logic in such a campaign, because it's so ludicrous on its face, so instead, they want to change the rules so they can get what THEY want.

Whatever that is, which even now they can't explain with a straight face.

Prior to Joy Cooper eventually being sued about this matter in the future, I hope someone is able to make sure that, to the extent possible, the city's taxpayers can be left off the hook for what she has tried to do personally for years -using city assets and resources to foist this issue and prospective legal bills upon all city residents- so that she can be made to bear the weight of her personal attempts to illegally breach contracts, and suffer the logical consequences.

Cooper will no doubt try to make sure that she has cover and try to have all of us pay for her legal bills to defend her unconscionable actions, as she has done before.

You can stop that from happening by doing something proactive NOW before that version of our future becomes the actual reality we suffer under.

Successfully killing this bad idea Wednesday will serve as a wake-up call to everyone that positive changes are coming to Hallandale Beach City Hall over the next 53 weeks.

I've written some blog posts on the Golden Isles Overlay in the past, so if you're still looking for more info besides what Comm. London has thoughtfully provided below, you may want to peruse this post of mine from July, prior to attending Wednesday afternoon's meeting:

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/is-coup-plot-afoot-in-hallandale-beach.html

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Keith London
Date: Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 12:08 PM
Subject: IMPORTANT REMINDER - Golden Isles Overlay Meeting - Planning and Zoning
To: "London, Keith" <KLondon@hallandalebeachfl.gov>

Everyone,

Please read to the bottom I have added new information!

The Planning and Zoning meeting regarding this topic is this Wednesday, October 26^th at 1:30 PM. Attached is the agenda and all the information to review including a link to the agenda. I have also attached a copy of the letter, from our neighbor Dr. Bob Selz, explaining the intent of the overlay and how deficient and counter-productive this will be for our neighborhood.

The Planning and Zoning meeting is first of three battles for this issue. The Planning and Zoning committee will make a recommendation and it will then go to the City Commission after for a vote.

Your input at all levels is truly important. I know everyone has busy schedules but if you could make the Planning and Zoning Meeting to voice your opinion and needs it is very important. More important, your attendance at the City Commission meeting when this is voted on is imperative. I will provide you with advanced notice for when that meeting is scheduled.

You truly have a vested and important interest in this issue since you are a property owner in Golden Isles.

Remember, this is all being driven by Joy Cooper and a few of her cronies (Alex Berkovich, Jerry Nadelson, Suzanne Friedman and others). Please see the attached documentation with links below to the complete backup showing the people (named above) who can not or will not go and collect the signatures required totaling 50% of the owners of Golden Isles to change the deed restrictions. This is government looking for a solution for a problem that DOES NOT exits. None of us are quite sure of their hidden agenda; yet we do know we all have been living fine with the current deed restrictions for almost 60 years.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or require any additional information.

Thanks!

Keith

Keith S. London

City Commissioner

Hallandale Beach

954-457-1320 Office

954-494-3182 Cellular

www.KeithLondon.com

http://www.facebook.com/KeithSLondon

http://www.hallandalebeach.org/files/PLANNING%20AND%20ZONING%20BOARD%20AGENDAS/2011-10-26/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202011-10-26%2013-30.htm

PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD AGENDA

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011 1:30 PM

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. ROLL CALL

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

A. Approval of Draft Minutes from August 24, 2011 (Supporting Docs)

4. OLD BUSINESS

A. An Ordinance of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, amending Chapter 32, Article III of the City of Hallandale Beach Code of Ordinances, the "Zoning and Land Development Code", by amending Section 32-151, RS-5 Single-Family District and by creating Section 32-181, entitled Golden Isles Neighborhood Overlay District, providing supplemental standards relative to permitted uses, site development standards, signage and notice requirements. Providing for conflicts; providing for severability; providing for an effective date. (City of Hallandale Beach Application # 02-11-TC) (Staff Report, Supporting Docs)

5. NEW BUSINESS

A. Application # 04-10-P by Alan Waserstein Requesting Approval of the "Waserstein Gulfstream Plat" in Accordance with Article II, Division 2 of the Zoning and Land Development Code at the Property Located at 900 South Federal Highway. (Staff Report, Supporting Docs)

B. An Ordinance of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida Amending Chapter 32, the Zoning and Land Development Code, Article IV Division 17, Signs, Relative to Prohibited Signs, Permitted Signs, and Nonconforming Signs, Providing for Conflict, Providing an Effective Date. (City of Hallandale Beach Application # 67-10-TC) (Staff Report, Supporting Docs)

6. SCHEDULING NEXT MEETING

A. November 23, 2011

7. OTHER

8. DIRECTOR'S REPORT

9. ADJOURNMENT

Interested parties may appear at the aforesaid time and place and be heard with respect to the above. The agenda and related cases may be inspected as of Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at the Development Services Department, 400 South Federal Highway, Hallandale Beach, Florida during normal business hours, and Monday through Friday.

http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/PLANNING%20AND%20ZONING%20BOARD%20AGENDAS/2011-10-26/Item%204A/index.html

ATTACHMENT 4

1

1 PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD MEETING

2 WEDNESDAY JUNE 22, 2011

3 CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS,

4 HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA

5

6

7 Members Present Attendance

8

9 Michael Butler Y

10 Terri Dillard (Alternate) Y

11 Seymour Fendell Y

12 Sheryl Natelson Y

13 Irwin Schneider N (excused absence)

14 Eudyce Steinberg (Vice-Chair) N (excused absence)

15 Arnold Cooper (Chair) Y

ATTACHMENT 4

3

93 LOCATED AT 1600 E HALLANDALE BEACH BOULEVARD SUBJECT TO

94 CONDITIONS OF STAFF.

95

96 MS. DILLARD SECONDED THE MOTION.

97

98 MOTION CARRIED BY ROLL CALL VOTE (5-0) FOR APPROVAL.

99

100 NEW BUSINESS

101

102 1. An Ordinance of The City of Hallandale Beach Florida, Amending Chapter 32, Article

103 III of The City of Hallandale Beach Code of Ordinances, The "Zoning and Land

104 Development Code", By Amending Section 32-151, RS-5 Residential Single-Family

105 District and Creating Section 32-181, Entitled Golden Isles Neighborhood Overlay

106 District, Providing Supplemental Standards Relative to Permitted Uses, Site

107 Development Standards, Signage and Notice Requirements Within the Golden Isles

108 Overlay District. Providing for Conflicts; Providing for Severability; Providing for an

109 Effective Date (This Ordinance is a result of Application #02-11-TC by the City of

110 Hallandale Beach).

111

112 Ms. Dominguez stated the proposal presented today is relative to the restrictive

113 covenants of the Golden Isles Neighborhood. In 1968, the City approved Ordinance 820

114 which sought to adopt covenants and allow the City to enforce them.

115

116 Ms. Dominguez: explained the City enforced this ordinance for many years. However, in

117 2008, our City Attorney provided a legal opinion which advised that Ordinance 820

118 could not be enforced by the City.

119

120 Ms. Dominguez: subsequently staff was contacted by Golden Isles Homeowner

121 Association to meet with the residents and consider options. October 20, 2010, the

122 Golden Isles Homeowner’s Association voted to request the City to only incorporate the

123 specific regulations in the covenant into an Overlay District.

Alex Berkovich (212 Holiday Drive) stated he is the President for the Golden Isles

248 Homeowner’s Association and he wanted to clarify misleading information that residents

249 have in regards to the present item.

250

251 Mr. Berkovich: stated in 2008, the Homeowner’s Association approached the City in

252 finding out what they could do to salvage or mitigate Ordinance 820.

253

254 Mr. Berkovich: further stated in the past 2or 3 years the residents received survey that

255 would show the City what the residence want and need. He added that basically two

256 things can be done to resolve this problem: either enforce Ordinance 820, or the City

257 overlay district should mimic the deed restrictions.

http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/PLANNING%20AND%20ZONING%20BOARD%20AGENDAS/2011-10-26/Item%204A/index.html

http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/PLANNING%20AND%20ZONING%20BOARD%20AGENDAS/2011-10-26/Item%204A/index.html

Staff and the GIHOA held several meetings with property owners in Golden Isles to discuss the idea of an overlay district.

Keith S. London

City Commissioner

Hallandale Beach

954-457-1320 Office

954-494-3182 Cellular

www.KeithLondon.com

http://www.facebook.com/KeithSLondon

PROPOSED GOLDEN ISLES OVERLAY.PDF 80K View Download