Editor claims his own 'newspaper' is "not a reputable newspaper" but a real estate supplement with [his] news & views attached; so much for truth!

The creeping, under-the-radar menace of faux newspapers has been spotted once again, and this time, by a very reputable source: reliable, take-no-nonsense Arlington Yupette -All About Yuppie Arlington. http://arlingtonyupette.blogspot.com/

Back in Northern Virginia, she is on the case of the curious ethical situation involving Scott McCaffrey, a managing editor of a so-called community paper who doesn't mind practicing cronyism while engaged in... well, apparently, NOT old-fashioned journalism by his own admission, since he is reported to have said on his blog that the Sun Gazette is "not a reputable newspaper" but a real estate supplement with [his] news and views attached.
Well, I guess he would know, wouldn't he?

http://www.sungazette.net/

Too bad he didn't let the readers in the area in on the joke a whole lot earlier than this.

Like say, well, when I lived in Arlington County from 1989-2003, and along with thousands of other discerning residents, couldn't help but wonder why such weird sycophantic things kept appearing in the Sun-Gazette that seemed to have no real basis in fact, but often seemed more like PR copy straight from the entrenched interests in the county, the smallest in the U.S., but one full of smart, affluent and well-educated people who know how to get their voices heard in the one-party state known by some as the People's Republic of Arlington.

Better late than never on the whole truth will set you free thing, I suppose, but that doesn't really change the basic facts of the ethical tangle McCaffrey's in with the local Chamber of Commerce, now does it?
Nope!

Arlington Yupette, the brave blogger whom I've mentioned previously in this space,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Arlington%20Yupette, who holds a mirror to the face of the longstanding back-slapping and red-tape generating bureaucracy of Arlington County government and its sycophants in the community, has the story today: Citizens Demand McCaffrey Resign from Arlington Chamber's BOD
http://arlingtonyupette.blogspot.com/2011/01/citizens-demand-mccaffrey-resign-from.html

I realize that on this story, I'm sorta out of The Loop -or Beltway- but having done a little checking on this today, including making some phone calls to some reporter and producer friends at competing news organizations, where exactly is The Washington Post on this story?

One affecting what the Sun Gazette calls "the most affluent audience in the Washington D.C. metro area."

Just wondering.
I ask because it sounds like real news to me.

Maybe a real news story in the Post's Metro section, not simply posting a pro-Virginia Democratic blog post online: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/politics/blog-network/2010/12/arlington_sun_gazette_now_repr.html

Sadly, having lived in Arlington County for 15 years, until 2003, this attitude of the faux newspaper surprises me not a whit.
This is how cronyism works there -brazenly and with lots of attitude.

Want to muscle Arlington business owners into giving money to your preposterous ego-driven group, well, there's many precedents I can think of for that, but the latest is this from November: County Board Reportedly Helping Fairlington Civic Association Extort Shirlington Restaurant Owners
http://arlingtonyupette.blogspot.com/2010/11/county-board-reportedly-helping.html

I should know, since here in Hallandale Beach, we have a little faux community newspaper of our own, the South Florida Sun-Times, and in their case, the city commission gave them tens of thousands of dollars in CRA funds that are supposed to be used to combat blight within certain clearly-defined geographical areas of the city.

Instead, it keeps a very bad idea afloat -taxpayer-funded "news," where they ONLY write positive "news" about Hallandale Beach City Hall.
Never is heard a discouraging word...

That is, if you call the words they print "news," and not flat-out PR spin, as numerous fact-filled posts here on the blog have proven time and again to a fare-thee-well.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/South%20Florida%20Sun%20Times

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/South%20Florida%20Sun-Times

It's hard to imagine a more ridiculous, self-serving and un-true headline than this one from August 13, 2009 in the faux community newspaper, the South Florida Sun-Times: AHEAD OF THE GAME: Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper continues to do the job residents elected her to do -once again!
.



The faux newspaper that serves as the propaganda arm to Hallandale Beach City Hall and the Joy Cooper regime, the South Florida Sun-Times.

As always, if you spot this creeping faux newspaper menace in your own community, here in the U.S, or overseas, let me know about it.

Stop the Diplomat LAC project ad from UCA, United Condominium Association of Hallandale Beach

Above, the Stop the Diplomat LAC project ad
placed by the UCA, United Condominium
Association of Hallandale Beach in the
Feb. 18th edition of the South Florida Sun-Times.

As I've discussed here many times, this unpopular
project is completely incompatible with the current
nearby neighborhoods of Hallandale Beach and
Hollywood.

The Broward Planning Council meets on
Thursday the 25 at Broward Govt. HQ to decide
whether to approve it and send it on to the entire
Broward County Commission for their deciding
vote.

Debbie Orshefsky of Greenberg Traurig
has represented the property owners at the
Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa/Diplomat
Country Club thus far at public meetings and
at the December 16th vote at Hallandale Beach
City Hall, where the Diplomat prevailed 3-2
at 2:30 a.m.

Alan B. Koslow of Becker and Poliakoff is
expected to have a larger public role now that
the unpopular issue is going to the county level.

CBS4, WFOR-TV, in the person of reporter
Carey Codd and his cameraman, were the only
Miami-area TV station to cover the story.
http://cbs4.com/video/?id=88289@wfor.dayport.com

Below, previous ads against the Diplomat project.

An interesting ad I've previously alluded to re the Diplomat Country Club expansion/LAC

At the bottom of this post is the new print ad
that I've alluded to in emails and conversations
with some of you over the past two weeks at
meetings and forums throughout the area.
Want more traffic & condos?

Now you can see it for yourself.

People in Southeast Broward who see the
Diplomat Country Club's LAC exactly for
what it is, a direct threat to the Quality-of-Life
for residents of Hollywood and Hallandale Beach,
have chosen to show some moxie and run it right
in the 'sweet spot' of the HB City Hall faux
newspaper/propaganda sheet, the South
Florida Sun-Times.


The faux newspaper that serves as the propaganda arm to
Hallandale Beach City Hall and the Joy Cooper & Mike Good regime,
the South Florida Sun-Times.

Unless something unexpected happens, though
I've had them for weeks, this weekend I'll be
running on the docs the Sun-Times had to sign
in order to get their $50k sweetheart deal of a
grant and loan from the city's CRA program.

Money that could be better utilized towards
following the original intent of CRA legislation,
than in allowing this cast of characters to decide
which of their myriad cronies should get their
hands on some greenback$, like the preposterous
$90K deal they approved months ago, where,
under the ruse of economic development,
brand-new TV sets were placed in the common
areas of condo buildings on A1A, where individual
condo units cost many hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
Really.

This despite the fact that A1A isn't in the city's
CRA district and the people asking for the money
didn't even own any property in Hallandale Beach,
a requirement that was waived.

So why are funds that are supposed to combat
blight being used for such absurd purposes,
like subsidizing a propaganda sheet that doesn't
even pretend to be genuine newspaper?

Are other South Florida governments engaging
in similar actions, essentially buying positive
news for themself thru their financial arrangements,
with beleaguered taxpayers picking up the check?
Those are both good questions.

Maybe, someday, they'll actually be investigated
and answered by a real South Florida reporter.

But then to get the answers to those sort of
questions, you'd have to start with the basics,
and that would mean asking (and explaining)
as well, why, in the year 2009, isn't there even
ONE directional street sign in the entire city of
Hallandale Beach indicating where HB City Hall is?
Or the HB Police Dept. HQ?
Or the HB Fire/Rescue HQ?

What sort of people make THOSE
sort of conscious decisions?

The answer, as we know all too well,
is one and the same.
The very people who've been running
Hallandale Beach City Hall and made it
both a punch-line and a laughingstock.

The very same ones whom we all know
would like to approve the Diplomat deal,
regardless of the serious negative consequences
to all of us who already live in the area.