HB candidate forum tonight; Yet another bad idea promoted by Mayor Joy Cooper; some odds and ends

Just a reminder that tonight from 7:00-8:30 PM is the first of who knows how many forums and debates for Hallandale Beach candidates eager for your vote.
That gives you plenty of time to get home for the 9 PM debate b/w McCain and Obama.

Tonight's is at the HB Cultural Center, with tonight's event sponsored by the Hallandale Beach Civic Association, titled "Community Forum" to Meet the Candidates for Hallandale Beach City Commissioners."

If I had anything to do with it, this city would be looking at about 4-6 roving forums all over town in the month remaining before Nov. 4th, with plenty of advance promotion, so that HB Citizens could see fliers about it at Publix, Winn-Dixie, Starbucks, et al., DAYS BEFORE the event, so they could then make proper arrangements (re DVR/VCR/TiVo/babysitter) to actually attend themself, instead of relying on their friends and neighbors -and Hallandale Beach Blog- to tell them how it went after the fact, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly."

I'd also make sure that you had either a NAME moderator or someone who is completely unaffected by whomever wins, and someone who really intends to grill the candidates in ways that they deserve and should be prepared to deal with, i.e. no softballs!
In other words, in ways that seem quite common to us on TV shows, films and on C-SPAN, but which never quite take hold firmly here in Hallandale Beach?

Force the candidates to stretch their minds a bit in front of us to get away from trite phrases and rote responses.
Be asked their opinion about specific past HB Commission votes, and future hypothetical events that will be important to the city's future.

Issues like the role of the CRA and what would you look for in a future HB CRA Director?

As to the Master Plan, what parts of the Master Plan did they like and dislike and what areas of it should be implemented first?

(Personally, I'm in favor of actual neighborhoods full of taxpayers getting the benefits first, NOT the area around HB City Hall, for the benefit of City Hall leaders and employees -and their edifice complex- and their pals and cronies.)

Based on the current facts and economic conditions, are you in favor of Forest City's request for millions of dollars for their Village of Gulfstream project across the street from HB City Hall?

Question: Comm. Ross, last year, along with Commissioners William Julian and Francine Schiller, you voted 3-2 to TRIPLE your Commission salary in secret away from public scrutiny.
Is that the kind of logic and common sense we should expect more of from you in the future if you are re-elected, and what does that particular vote show voters about your judgement?

Obviously, we could all think of a few dozen specific questions here, and at Hallandale Beach Blog in the next day or so, trust me, I'll be asking them, since nobody else is.

Speaking of abnormal, in most cities across the country, even small ones in rural communities, the goal of increasing civic participation (and voter turnout) is something that local Chamber of Commerce branches traditionally do in election years, in part because they want smart, motivated and articulate people to join their organization, since no group ever has enough of that particular
demographic. (Hallandale Beach more so!)

Traditionally, CoCs are involved in all sorts of activities that stretch to all areas of the city they serve, and one of the ways they foment positive development is by hosting events where their members and the public can hear elected officials and make their feelings known to those who will do the final deciding.

They host candidate forums and debates, but here in HB, because the financial connection between City Hall and the HB CoC is so tight, to the tune of $50,000, the local CoC shies away from anything that would make Mayor Cooper and City Manager Good angry.

But to their credit, for a change, according to docs I saw, Good and his staff actually proposed paring back the amount of money the HB CoC receives from the city in the new city budget, from
$50K to $40K, but they were over-ruled by the Commission and saw the amount bumped back up to $50K.
Honestly, what does the HB CoC do, exactly?
And why are they run in the strange way they are???

Their website is a joke of a site and does little more than display a directory of its members, and they have so little feel for PR and outreach that don't even have a directional sign/sandwich board on Hallandale Beach Blvd. to show where they are located, a fact I've lamented and mocked many times on my blog.

Before I returned to South Florida from Arlington County, VA, every area I'd lived in for the past 25 years had always had directional signs around town indicating where the local CoC was located.

It was just common sense, plus perpetual advertising.
No brain cells required.

Bit here in HB there is nothing -ZERO.

Personally, I don't think that's by accident, it's just the way the powers-that-be like it.

Rather than play the traditional role of an independent voice in the community with a pro-small business attitude, coupled with a generally conservative-moderate political streak, which doesn't always do or agree with what their own City Hall wants, here, they play the role of puppet.
Or, if you prefer, marionette.

I'd ask the candidates whether they think that in the year 2008, it's appropriate giving that amount of money to an organization that seems so clueless in its basic mission and operation, and never seem to have to publicly account for their backwardness.

They may very well be the only CoC or Bar group in South Florida that doesn't get their meetings mentioned in the FREE listings that the Daily Business Review daily prints.

The DBR runs ads from both the parent organizations of those professional groups, as wellas the various ethnic, age, Gay/Bi subdivisions, et al. You name it, they run it.

What they all share is the common sense to recognize the opportunity for what it is: a chance to attract interest and prospective members. To get some new blood and ideas!
For free!

But the Hallandale Beach CoC can't quite figure that out.
Yet they can get $50k of taxpayer funds to do with whatever they choose to do with it.

Even in a good economy that's a bad investment, but in a bad one, it begs for some clarification and justification.

As it happens, since some of you have asked me lately in person and via email, I have a VERY POOR opinion of the current Sun-Sentinel reporter that has been covering HB of late, Ihosvani Rodriguez.
He has done nothing but compound the bad first impression he made on me in June.

He showed bad judgment by showing up for a very important meeting of THE most important group in all of South Florida, the South Florida Regional Planning Council, http://www.sfrpc.com/ by walking into their Hollywood HQ on Hollywood Blvd. by wearing sandals. (And shorts?)

(Everyone else in the room, were wearing nice suits or power outfits, and even I felt a tad under-dressed in the back of the room for not having worn a tie.)

And into the packed conference for a hearing on the future of the Miami River, which has attracted a few local TV station cameras and reporters, Rodriguez strolls in wearing sports shirt and sandals.

It was pretty clear that I wasn't the only person who thought he must be some heretofore unknown downtown Miami neighborhood activist, there to protest the over-development taking place there, to the detriment of the longstanding marine industries.

To me, Rodriguez is a great example of that kind of lazy writing and mental sloppiness South Florida seems to be swimming in, a topic I've referred to earlier here, and have so often decried on my blog since starting it early last year: he usually leaves out the most important facts and doesn't mention the very incidents which are most crucial to a reader understanding the narrative.

I'll bet if he'd been writing about D-Day, he'd never have mentioned Eisenhower or the crucial role of weather to the success of the operation.

Let me give you a recent example of Rodriguez being Rodriguez -the second HB budget meeting.

I was sitting just a few seats from Rodriguez in the back of the HB Commission Chambers while he was laughing when Comm. Keith London was explaining that he was voting against the budget because he never received documents from City Manager Good's office, ones he'd
specifically requested during the summer.

Then watched in stunned silence as Mayor Cooper got up and fled the dais while Comm. London continued speaking via the speakerphone.

I know with certainty that Comm. London was telling the truth about that because I'd been at the meeting when he first requested those docs, as I sat about four feet behind him -and six feet from Mayor Cooper- upstairs in a City Hall conference room, sitting next to stacks and stacks of chairs in the corner.

That's the meeting where I snapped photos of HB's leaders 'talking the talk but NOT walking the walk' when it comes to the issue of recycling, just minutes after I'd asked City Manger Good why there'd been no recycling bins of any kind on the beach for YEARS.

A fact that I'd mentioned with specificity last November when I spoke for an hour to two of Good's assistants in a City Hall conference room: City Manager Administrator Jennifer Frastai and Manager of Intergovernmental Relations Frank Hileman., who worked for disgraced former Hollywood Congressman Larry Smith, whom I saw in action (grandstanding!) dozens and dozens of times on Capitol Hill, and whom I loathe almost as much as I do current Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

I should've really known better but I thought I'd give it one last chance. Result of meeting: nothing.
It was a complete waste of an hour, and even worse, the last proverbial straw.

Don't make the same mistake I did in thinking that they actually want to help you -they don't.
They only want to "contain" problems. Period.

(I was at North Beach on Saturday afternoon before the U-M/FSU football game and there was not one bin on North Beach that was clearly maked recycling, only one for yard waste.
I snapped photos of it to prove that self-evident fact, as I have many times before in the past five months, with no positive changes evident of the sort that would seem logical.
The whole garbage/recycling situation there at the beach seems totally geared for the utmost ease of the DPW workers and not for beach visitors.
There should be at least 2-3 clearly marked recycling bins there and there aren't.
I will soon be running a photo essay on the bins at the beach that speak volumes!)

I then snapped some photos of HB's very own plastic water bottles in regular garbage bins because the city doesn't have recycling bins accessible at public city functions.

I'll bet that tonight's event at the HB Cultural Center has none near the beverage table

Take a quick trip back thru the recent past on the Hallandale Beach Blog Time Machine
Friday, June 20, 2008 Talking globally, polluting locally in Hallandale Beach

During breaks of that all-day budget meeting, as well as at lunch, after the city employees and the Commission left, I spoke many times to Pastor Anthony Sanders and longtime HB activist Mary Washington among many other residents from around the city who'd made a concerted effort to keep themselves informed as to the facts.

Not present: the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the South Florida Sun Times...

Yeah, imagine that?

No sign at all of Larry Blustein and Company's absurd kiss-ass brand of cronyism and back-scratching. Where was Blustein at?

In my estimation, that recent incident only cemented my opinion of Rodriguez, laughing at the very thing that is SO emblematic of the problems that beset HB City Hall: Mayor Joy Cooper's forcing her will upon the community even when one of its elected officials said publicly that city employees in the City Manager's office hadn't provided promised docs he needed to make a voting decision for almost four months.

Rather than ask who was responsible for producing the docs, Cooper was so aghast at the thought that anyone would publicly question "her employees" that she got up and left the room while Comm. London continued to speak via speakerphone, which is why her chair is empty in the photo I posted.

If you ever see Ihosvani Rodriguez at a meeting, walk up to him and tell him that the city you live in really can't afford his stupid, lazy and poorly-informed brand of writing and mis-representation.
He needs to be a real reporter, not a lazy stenographer.

Oh, by the way, Rodriguez never wrote anything about what he actually witnessed that night at the HB budget meeting -there was NO Sun-Sentinel story in the newspaper or online!
------------------
What's even more laughable than the idea -below- of a bunch of elected officials giving one another awards?
Comm. Dotty Ross receiving one.
An award which HB taxpayers will end up paying the hotel and lodging costs for.

But what is worse is the dopey idea Mayor Cooper has to have city employees host a forum right before Election Day on the importance of city government.
Really.

Of course, it's not really HER idea, it's the idea of her masters at the Broward League of Cities, whom she must obey without question.

Make no mistake about it, THAT is who Mayor Cooper's real core audience is.

And right before the election?

How obvious can you be?

Yet NOTHING about ever scheduling a City Commission meeting or public forum with the head of IT PLUS the company that gets paid over $3,000 a month for the city's dysfunctional and embarrassing website, which often doesn't even mention mention city meetings happening that very day?

That's happened at least 4-6 times where I've noticed it over the past nine months, and I've noted that on my blog.
Doubtless there are many more incidents where I didn't even think to check before attending.
Where's the accountability???

Or, as above with Comm. London's problem, what about all the lies and misinformation continually coming out of Good's office about time lines and promises to share documents, that never happen?

The city's longstanding failure to provide responses in a timely fashion in response to FOIA requests for city docs by HB citizens?

So we now have yet one more example of Joy Cooper has shown that she doesn't know how to stop herself from her self-evident self-promotion, even though she no longer heads the Broward League of Cities.

Instead of having Resident Forums of her own, she wastes time trying to implement the wishes of people who are NOT residents and taxpayers of the city -the League.

She's supposed to serve the city, not her own selfish agenda.

If this foolish meeting gets held, I plan on attending with others and asking questions about these other important matters I raised instead, and ask why the elected City Commission is unable to deal with them in a timely and responsible fashion

And some of us may show up with film cameras to capture the moments for you.

The worst of all is the failure of Cooper, Ross and Julian to schedule a single City Commission meeting where they could publicly discuss/defend their actions regarding the odious criminal acts of HB Police Chief Thomas Magill in trying to frame two innocent HB police officers and have them prosecuted for something THEY DIDN'T DO.

His disgraceful acts and behavior have already cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars, so what has Comm. Dotty Ross said publicly about any of that?
Nothing.

For more on that, see my April 14th post, "Dial M for Magill" -and mendacity! and my January 19th post Hallandale Beach Blog Time Machine: August 2006 and http://www.topix.com/content/trb/2008/01/hallandale-beach-to-pay-to-settle-one-of-two-former-police-officers-lawsuits )

Is there any more important question to a HB Commission candidate than why do you believe this city continues to employ an individual as Police Chief who seems to have routinely lied and
commited criminal fraud in a vendetta, and what do you plan on doing about it?

Or, do you think it will just disappear as an issue if you pretend it will, like Mayor Cooper
and City Manager Good?
-----------------------
09/03/08

8G. CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH
MEMORANDUM
JC08-022

DATE: August 22, 2008
TO: D. Mike Good, City Manager
FROM: Mayor Joy F. Cooper

SUBJECT: Discussion of Observing "Florida City Government Week" in October and Associated Activities

I believe it would benefit the City and residents to observe "Florida City Government Week". This year's Florida City Government Week is October 19, 2008 through October 25, 2008. "Florida City Government Week" is part of an ongoing effort sponsored by the Florida League of Cities to raise public awareness about the services that cities perform and to educate the public on how local government works.

As part of this observance, I recommend that the City's Development Services Department prepare and conduct a public outreach and education workshop to include Code Enforcement, Building Permits and an Introduction to Growth Management.

I am requesting the support of the City Commission toward scheduling this observance.

09/03/08
---------------------
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/communities/south/story/712703.html

Miami Herald
October 5, 2008
Mayor Bell a finalist for statewide award

Homestead Mayor Lynda Bell is one of five finalists for the Florida League of Cities' Council Member of the Year -- one of 10 awards to be presented next month during the Florida Cities of Excellence Awards program.

Bell, who was a Homestead councilwoman until she won the mayoral race last November, will be competing against Bill Garvie, Fort Walton Beach; Janice Miller, Oldsmar; Dorothy ''Dotty'' Ross, Hallandale Beach; and Sarah ''Sam'' Seevers, Destin.

''No matter who wins, being a finalist is an amazing blessing,'' Bell said.

"I love what I do, and this is just a bonus.''

The League's Council Member of the Year honors a council member or commissioner who displays exceptional civic commitment, leadership, public outreach and service.

In August, former Councilwoman Ruth Campbell asked the council to nominate Councilwoman Judy Waldman for the statewide award.

Instead, the council nominated Bell.

She was first elected to office in November 2003 to a four-year term. Last year, she became the city's first female mayor.

Homestead resident Lois Jones supported Bell's nomination, saying: "Mayor Bell is a breath of fresh air, and we are fortunate to have her as mayor. She has superb communication skills and an innate talent for executive leadership and legislative strategy. . . . Mayor Bell comes to council prepared; she does her homework.''

Bell and other finalists are invited to attend the awards luncheon Nov. 21 in Orlando.

The winner will be announced then.

re Comm. Keith London's sensible lawsuit against the City of Halandale Beach

Today for your consideration I have an excerpted copy of an email that I sent out earlier this afternoon to some people I know in Hallandale Beach and beyond who are greatly interested in the city's future and welfare.
And some of the better reporters and columnists in the state of Florida, not just locals.

To better appreciate what I've written, think back to what I mentioned last month to you all about Ingalls Park, a Hallandale Beach park which has a recycling facility on its northern border, which I used yesterday.
It's just one block south of Hallandale Beach Blvd., one of the three main thoroughfares in the 4.4 square mile city:
August 28th post, Turning lemons into lemonade the Hallandale Beach way: start submarine races...
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/turning-lemons-into-lemonade-hallandale.html
August 7th post, A New Low in HB? Yes! Condescending Deal Results in Sanders Selection as Interim Commissioner,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-low-in-hb-yes-condescending-deal.html

So, when exactly is the public citywide meeting in Hallandale Beach about all the changes coming for the city's recycling program?
There is no meeting.

Sh-h-h-h!!!

Don't say that out loud -or else!

Meanwhile, Operation "Deep Sleep" continues apace.


Recyclables in trunk ready for a run to Ingalls Park,
Sept. 4, 2008; photo by South Beach Hoosier

Ingalls Park, 735 SW 1 Street, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
August 31, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Ingalls Park, 735 SW 1 Street, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009

I've told you in past posts that for months the city's recycling dumpsters located here were missing lids. Then months later, once lids were installed, someone got the genius idea to place square holes in them. Here's the proof.

The lid is exactly as I found it, neatly framing the city sign within the hole,

August 31, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Hallandale Beach Commission Chambers moments before Pastor Anthony Sanders, in front row, was sworn in as a Commissioner.

Sept. 3rd, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

A few minutes later, Comm. Anthony Sanders takes his seat on the dais.

Sept. 3rd, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

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

Since each of you are among the small sub-set of civic-minded and savvy residents of Hallandale Beach who actually have an accurate sense of the behind-the-scenes context and mischief for many of City' Hall's self-serving moves and policies, I wanted to share some news that many of you probably haven't heard about yet.
While I'm the first to say that I don't know ALL the facts of this, I DO have an unusually good insight into the larger issues at play here because of some recent things I've personally observed.

It's an insight into the competing forces to shape Hallandale Beach's future, and the GREAT potential for harm if we allow the current 'status quo' crowd running things, to continue to thwart not only the spirit and letter of the law involving Florida's Sunshine Laws, but also continue to thwart the public's trust and sense of accountability, even when that proves embarrassing to HB City Hall.
Their first response to everything seems to always be protecting or covering-up, rather than a full public disclosure and dealing with the facts at hand.

The deplorable situation with HB Police Chief Thomas Magill is a perfect example.

As many of you know from past conversations with me at myriad city meetings and community events, even before I launched my blogs early last year, in order to be better informed, I had the good sense to have "Hallandale Beach" included among my Google Alerts, since I couldn't very well read everything myself.
This has sometimes proven to be a much more inspired idea than you can imagine, since I see something below the surface.
Such was the case Monday night, when I first learned thru a Google Alert of Comm. Keith London's sensible lawsuit against the City of Halandale Beach.

While I have not spoken to him specifically about the lawsuit, it's clear to me based on past actions and words that at least part of his effort is intended to better identify and carve out an area of permissible public discussion and accountability, so that as an elected official of this city, he can actually respond more intelligently to legitimate questions posed to him by city residents about matters of public interest, in this case, the city's never-ending lawsuit against Waste Management, than simply say, "I can't talk about it or recycling or..."

While he's legitimately precluded from discussing certain matters he's privy to, the idea that if he talks about recycling in general, or responds to resident complaints, like mine, about the city's poor management of the current system, is preposterous.
It's yet another troubling example of the usual pattern of over-reaction, panic and cover-up by Mayor Joy Cooper, City Manager Mike Good and City Attorney David Jove.

Depending on how things shake out with Hurricane Ike this weekend, I'll be writing more on this subject at HBB over the weekend but I did want you to have access to some information so that you know the basics.

Since many of you regularly attended Comm. London's Resident Forums before the summer break, I hardly need remind you how distracting it was for everyone in that small room, to have Mayor Cooper continually insinuate herself into the proceedings by 'crashing' these get-togethers, which, after all, are intended so that HB residents can talk forthrightly and voluntarily about their concerns -to Comm. London and other interested citizens like us.

Especially since so many of those legitimate concerns relate to City Hall's generally unfriendly and un-cooperative approach to public participation and transparency, where common sense and vision are lacking even while shrillness and obfuscation are everywhere.

The fact that Mayor Cooper refuses to host this sort of event herself, though she could, but feels perfectly free to be the 'elephant in the room' at Comm. London's event, and to be so obvious about taking notes of who said what, is troubling on many levels.

More than anything, to me at least, this behavior reveals her well-known thin-skinned ego, continuing inability to take criticism, constructive or otherwise, and seriously consider another person's perspective, even when it's more-experienced or better-informed than hers.

The idea that Mayor Cooper can't stand the idea of Hallandale Beach residents actually meeting independently of her City Hall crowd, with her ability to limit people's comments to three minutes and interrupt/bully them, was brought home to me personally as many of you already know, by her unsolicited post-midnight email to me two weeks ago.

As most of you know, I had expected to post my rejoinder to her email on my blog by now, but will have that up very soon for you to draw your own conclusions.
And I don't think you'll be disappointed.

That attitude of hers was present in spades at one Resident Forum in particular, when I brought up my own experience of seeing some self-evident problems with city recycling facilities, among other things, a complete absence of ANY directional signs near them, insufficient number of bins for a citywide facility... and the city's plan to get rid of the facility without any public discussion of the rationale or the alternatives.

As if one cue, Mayor Cooper immediately felt the need to play traffic cop and warn everyone to be careful, as if we didn't all know what she was really doing: trying to head off criticism by waving the lawsuit around like a bloody shirt, a tactic she's employed many times in the past.
As if the negligence and poor planning of the city -again!- was a topic that was permanently verboten.

You'd think that by now she'd have realized that one of the more obvious downsides to her constant efforts at self-promotion, a la Mara Giulianti, is that she now sees ANY criticism of the city as a criticism of her.

So, that said, here's the info below.

I don't suppose it went un-noticed by most of you that absolutely nothing involving Wednesday's HB City Commission meeting, including Pastor Sanders being sworn in, was deemed news worthy enough to be included in the Miami Herald on Thursday.
Didn't think so.

WFOR video re London's lawsuit and Sanders swearing-in

http://cbs4.com/video/?id= 61578@wfor.dayport.com
-------------------------------------------------
London v. City of Hallandale Beach

Plaintiff: Keith London

Defendant: City of Hallandale Beach

Case Number: 0:2008cv61393

Filed: August 29, 2008

Court: Florida Southern District Court

Office: Fort Lauderdale Office [ Court Info ]

County: Broward

Presiding Judge: Judge William J. Zloch

Nature of Suit: Other Statutes - Antitrust

Cause: 28:1331 Federal Question

Jurisdiction: Federal Question

Jury Demanded By: None

---------------------------------------------
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/ 2008/09/03/Citys_trash_talk_ ban_leads_to_lawsuit/UPI- 87361220461711/print/

City's 'trash talk' ban leads to lawsuit
Published: Sept. 3, 2008 at 1:08 PM

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A Florida city commissioner has filed a civil rights suit over a motion he claims goes too far in muzzling discussion about trash collection.

Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Keith London contends the motion passed by the commission in regards to another lawsuit is so vague that commission members could be hauled in front of the Florida Commission on ethics for simply raising the subject of recycling and trash collection.

"I don't even know if just talking to you about my own lawsuit will be used to say I am violating the (motion)," London told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The motion was passed due to settlement talks in a lawsuit between the city and a trash disposal company over alleged overcharging.

The Sun-Sentinel said Wednesday that London said he believes there are other reasons for the motion, particularly the alleged intent to stifle his disagreements with fellow commission members.
----------------------------------------------------------

www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbspeech0903sbsep03,0,1724913.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Suit asks if trash talking can make you an outlaw
Commissioner sues city over his free speech rights
By Ihosvani Rodriguez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 3, 2008

Hallandale Beach

A city commissioner has filed a civil rights suit against his own city claiming his colleagues are preventing him from talking trash — literally.

Commissioner Keith London's federal lawsuit attacks a motion passed in May that prohibits commission members from discussing anything related to a pending lawsuit between the city and Waste Management Inc.

That includes meetings about "waste management, garbage, trash, recycling and related issues," and violators could be reprimanded or brought before the Florida Commission on Ethics.

London claims the commission's mandate is so vague, he wonders if it allows him to discuss who in his household should put out the trash at night.

"I don't even know if just talking to you about my own lawsuit will be used to say I am violating the [motion]," London said Tuesday. He wants a judge to decide and for the city to pay his attorney's fees, nothing more.

City Attorney David Jove declined to comment Tuesday, saying he had not seen the suit London filed Friday.
Hallandale Beach is in talks with Waste Management to settle the 2002 suit that claims the company overcharged the city for dumping garbage into landfills instead of recycling and composting it.

Pushing for the motion in May, City Manager Michael Good complained that someone was leaking confidential information about the lawsuit negotiations.

London, often the lone dissenter on the commission, denied being the source of any leaks. He said the motion was designed to silence his constant opposition.

Reader comments at: http://www.topix.net/forum/source/south-florida-sun-sentinel/TDHA0RU0UL9DSCGO8

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

WFOR Channel 4 videos of "Hallandale"

http://cbs4.com/search/Default.aspx?SearchString=Hallandale&TabId=0

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

Truveo search video across the Web for "Hallandale"

http://www.truveo.com/search.php?query=%22Hallandale%22&uqs

Take special note of

http://www.truveo.com/Unusual-Foreclosure-Eyesore-Battle/id/1255172650

Dude, Where's Julian's Car?

The warning signs in evidence outside of the Aventura Target., just a few blocks south of the Hallandale Beach City Hall.
Who would've ever guessed this was the gold standard?
June 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier


I actually posted some of this last night but pulled the photos later in the evening so that I could make the story complete.
__________________
Before I left the house yesterday for the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center for the Special Joint Meeting of the City of Hollywood & City of Hallandale Beach City Commissions there, I was of a mind to make a prediction to all of you.

It's one that I could've made months ago or even last week, and been all but certain of being proven correct about.

I say this only because it's hard not to notice a curious situational behavior that occurs week-after-week, month-after-month, year-after-year....

And when the person engaging in this odd and noticeable behavior is someone who's always quick to lecture or harangue others about matters of ethics, or even the appearance of impropriety, well, you could say that it really rankles those of us who've been paying close attention for a while.

People like South Beach Hoosier, the one-man band at Hallandale Beach Blog.

Makes you wonder how everyone else in the city could see the same thing and just wink at it,
like it's nothing to take note of, or that nothing can be done.

But that's hard for SBH to do, especially given the particular track record of the person involved
with regard to ethics, appearances and propriety of the person at fault.
http://www.ethics.state.fl.us/opinions/06/CEO%2006-005.htm

The person in question is Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor William Julian, who continually uses
the city-operated security camera system as if it were designed and created for his exclusive use when it comes to the matter of where he parks his car.

Yes, the William Julian who was the instigator of the pay raise grab last year in which he tried to triple the pay of commissioners while away from the public's view.
See my July 31, 2007 post Come for the HB Pay Raise Grab, but Stay for the Fireworks!

That not only violated the spirit and meaning of Florida's Government-in-the-Sunshine Law, but made Hallandale Beach a state and national laughingstock, and the butt of jokes for months afterwards in South Florida about it's lackadaisical stance towards governance and the rule of law.
http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/main/b2f05db987e9d14c85256cc7000b28f6!OpenDocument

(Which, as noted here many times, continued with the odd behavior of Police Chief Thomas Magill trying to railroad two of his own officers, and the other questionable and substandard police policies and procedures which he is largely but not solely responsible for.

That the city's Police Dept. was "Accredited" last year, despite what we now know about its many shortcomings, only speaks to the lackluster levels of investigation that go into determining a police dept.'s level of professionalism.
It takes more than a sticker on a police car to make the Police Dept. professional.

For more on that, see my April 14th post, "Dial M for Magill" -and mendacity! and my January 19th post Hallandale Beach Blog Time Machine: August 2006 and http://www.topix.com/content/trb/2008/01/hallandale-beach-to-pay-to-settle-one-of-two-former-police-officers-lawsuits )

The first few photos below were taken by South Beach Hoosier on February 29th, 2008 at the all-day City Commission/CRA meeting at the HB Cultural Center, but they could have just as easily been taken at many other meetings and activities held there.

Those include the recent city Hurricane Forum, which, not surprisingly, given the very poor job of promotion the city did, was much smaller than expected, which even the eternally-optimistic South Florida Sun-Times felt at pains to point out, and which Channel Ten's Rob Schmidt said in his report that night.



In each and every one of these situations, rather than using good judgement AND the reserved parking space that he and the other members of the commission have, in his case, right next to Mayor Joy Cooper's spot on the south side of the City Hall, near the sidewalk which connects to the Post Office, Julian consciously chooses to park his car so that it is directly beneath the city's security camera.

There's plenty of parking available and he has a reserved spot, but it's not good enough for him.

Clearly there are special rules in the city for William Julian.

As I've mentioned in this space before, those particular security cameras, like their cousins in the general City Hall area, like the public parking lot to the east of City Hall near his reserved parking space, DON'T have a single warning sign anywhere near them saying something simple like "Security Cameras In Use."

That's the simple but clear warning written on the signs near the cameras in the nearby Aventura Target parking lot, once they were erected.

It's been months since those security cameras were erected on HB city property and yet you'd never spot a single sign, as is common sense and practice in the rest of the country.

And even worse, in a City Hall where so little attention to detail is paid, as I've stated here months ago, the parking lot light closest to the security camera nearest the east-side entrance of City Hall, has been out since before the camera was installed.

So much for follow-through and common sense.

If you're going to put up cameras, how about you actually making sure they get the best possible picture, instead of having them be in the dark?

The view of William Julian's car as you exit via the sidewalk entrance to the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center, taken prior to the lunch break of that day-long meeting.

Front view of Julian car taken during the lunch break.


Here, still on that lunch break, you can more clearly see that Julian's car is parked directly below the city's security camera, which is mounted on the white street light pole.

Is Julian afraid of parking his car in the city parking lot that has dozens of Hallandale Beach Police cars just feet away?

If so, then how should regular Hallandale Beach residents feel about the possibility of crime?


On another day, all the stars are aligned in this photo.
Bravo!

June 5, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

The reserved parking spaces here clearly say Mayor and Vice Mayor.

Across the street is the U.S. Post Office.

So why the confusion?

June 5th, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

On my way over to the public library next door, I see that, as usual, it's just another day of parking in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall for as long as you want, without a care in the world.

Or a worry that a Hallandale Beach policeman might actually give you a warning or a ticket.

But if the city intentionally doesn't put up a sign saying "Tow Away Zone, Emergency Vehicles Only," as would be the case in any other normal city or town, even in South Florida, then everyone gets to pretend that the Fire Trucks and ambulances can just fly or hover over these cars.

And that they won't really be in the way of emergency vehicles.

I've often seen cars parked like this for 3-4 hours even with plenty of parking nearby.

June 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

After mailing something next door at the Post Office, on my over to the Joint City of Hollywood and City of Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting, I notice that some people can park where their assigned spots actually are.

June 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

After the joint city meeting was over and I was walking out...

Guess what I spotted?

June 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

So long 'till next time!

For more, see William Julian

As they say, this is but the tip of the iceberg of the craziness that masquerades as normalcy in Hallandale Beach.

____________________________________________

FYI: The only known public punishment for Messers Julian, Dorothy Ross and Fran Schiller for violating the law was this being posted.

Dorothy Ross is running for re-election to the commission.

www.hallandalebeach.org/DocumentView.asp?DID=359

In the Hallandale Beach workshop on Community Redevelopment ...

For Immediate Release-
Hallandale Beach Commissioner Raise Revoked

Hallandale Beach, FL-In a publicly noticed Special Meeting of the Hallandale Beach City Commission on Community Redevelopment, Housing, and Growth Management held Friday afternoon, Vice Mayor Bill Julian made a motion to revoke the salary increase approved by the Commission earlier in the week. Commissioner Dorothy Ross seconded the motion and the vote carried 5-0.

Julian, who has been a commissioner since 2001 and a resident since 1955 says, “Working for the public of Hallandale Beach is one of the greatest pleasures of my life. Growing up here and being part of evolving process of the city is extremely rewarding. Monetary compensation, although important, is not the primary objective.”

Currently, Commissioners make $20,500 for the year. “I made the decision to increase the commission’s pay based upon the tremendous increase in the Commission’s workload due to the rapid growth of the City. I have spent the majority of my life in the City of Hallandale Beach. In addition to my service as a Commissioner, I have devoted countless hours to this Community as a Board member of the Broward County Historical Commission, the Broward Trust for Historical Preservation, as an advisor to the Hallandale Historic Preservation Board and as well as many other civic service organizations. I truly did not anticipate the reaction of my Community and would never have proposed this action if I had. I would never do anything to harm this City or Community and therefore I felt compelled to ask the Commission today to revoke our prior action.” Vice Mayor William Julian. Julian’s dedication and service to the residents is well known throughout the community. His past record shows extensive service to the military as well with three honorable discharges from the U.S. Air Force.

Mayor Joy Cooper who has commented openly about the raise notes, “I commend my fellow Commissioners and am extremely pleased that through their own introspection they have determined that an increase in Commissioners’ salaries would not be in the best interest of the City or the Community at this time.”

“I would never do anything to harm this City or Community and therefore I felt compelled to ask the Commission today to revoke our prior action”, concludes Vice Mayor William Julian.

With Hallandale Beach's Keystone Kops in charge, when will the Avenaim family finally get justice? And what about longstanding security problems at that building that have been overlooked?

With Hallandale Beach's Keystone Kops in charge, when will the Avenaim family finally get justice?

So, what's going on with Brian Bethell, the man who murdered Albert Avenaim of Aventura in Hallandale Beach -and two other innocent South Florida men- in 2006?
http://cbs4.com/video/?id=13909@wfor.dayport.com

The Brian Bethell who turned 43 recently.

You know, the man who brought two small kids with him and his girlfriend when they decided to go on a shopping spree with the dead men's credit cards at a Coral Springs Wal-Mart, as they had done before?

The man who was caught NOT due to anything in particular the Hallandale Beach Police Dept. had done, but rather because Mr. Avenaim's family had the good sense to take the initiative and put-up fliers at the store about the suspect, along with reward information.
This was why store employees recognized Bethell when he swung back by the store.

CBS-4's excellent reporter Ted Scouten did this report on the reward on March 3, 2006
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/wal-mart-employees-who-led-police-to-killer-get-reward/450206456

Yeah, the Hallandale Beach Police who were so concerned about the safety/conditions of the 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd./Millennium complex for employees and visitors, that they provided evening security -from the comfort of their squad cars- for a few weeks after the murder of Mr. Avenaim.

But who, when asked, specifically, refused to say whether or not they were off-duty while they were parked in their squad cars, and when asked about all the self-evident missing, broken or obscured parking lot lights near the crime scene, acted like they couldn't quite hear you, even though you were just inches away.

This being HB, the squad cars were up near the Hallandale Beach Blvd. entrance, rather than being near the actual Avenaim murder crime scene.

(Not that their superiors higher up the chain were any more forthcoming with information, as Chief Thomas Magill and Capt. Robert Rodgers both played dumb about that whole
situation after I specifically asked them about it last June.)

Yes, the Hallandale Beach Police whose concern for public safety was such that, according to Capt. Rodgers, they wouldn't specifically ask, encourage or nudge the owners of the complex towards fixing their longstanding safety/lighting problems.

As it happens, those self-evident problems are ones I've discussed at length over the past two years with a few print and TV reporters here in South Florida, and which were NOT addressed by the complex's owners until only 3-4 weeks ago.

Yes, the Hallandale Beach Police Dept. led by the still-serving Chief Thomas Magill, whom as I've chronicled here, is a man who tried to have two innocent Hallandale Beach Police officers criminally prosecuted -for something they didn't do. See http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/dial-m-for-magill-and-mendacity.html

According to a recent check of the rather poky Broward County Clerks Office website,
http://www.clerk-17th-flcourts.org/bccoc2/pubsearch/case_summary.asp?FMCE96017183=CIV&FMCE96017183=CIV&01017198CF10A=CRM&05116917TC30A=CRM&06006136MM10A=CRM&hidCaseNumber=06003321CF10A&06003321CF10A=CRM&06005634CF10A=CRM&06003572CF10A=CRM&06005168CF10A=CRM&CACE01010726=CIV&hidSendingPage=search_results&hidCourtType=CRM&hidGeneralType=CRM&hidS=party_public&SearchT=&mscssid=&user_type=&hidPageName=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clerk-17th-flcourts.org%2Fbccoc2%2Fpubsearch%2Fpublic_search.asp%3F&btnSummary=View+Selected+Case

Brian Bethell will FINALLY go on trial on the 28th of April -a week from tomorrow.

Key Dates - Future Scheduled Events
04/28/2008 JURY TRIAL
Judge: PAUL L BACKMAN

You'd think that as the trial phase was getting closer, you'd see something about it in local media, but I've read nothing in the newspapers, seen nothing on TV, or, shocker, heard nothing about it on radio, in the South Florida of 2008 where a niche apparently exists for Mexican music but not an all-news radio station. Que pasa?

Over the next few days, if everything goes according to schedule, I'll be cobbling together all the things that I already know and have already written about the Millennium situation -and kept in the deep freeze Draft for months- which, along with some photographs I've taken over the years, will buttress my points.
I'll post them to both Hallandale Beach Blog and parent blog, South Beach Hoosier, too.
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/

You can then draw your own conclusions.
________________________________
Speaking of the curious lack of media curiosity down here with regards to the upcoming Bethell murder trial, below you'll find a series of emails and notes which I've put together, which, taken in toto, paints a very accurate but damning portrait of the local news media as they currently
choose to practice their craft.

It also includes a bad memory for yours truly on a summer that might've been spent so much better.
What will soon follow is an excerpted copy of an email that I sent on February 8, 2008 to about a half-dozen or so Local 10 TV reporters, including Roger Lohse.

In case you don't recall the specifics of the news story under discussion below, it was Lohse's Local 10 news report on February 7th concerning the curious circumstances of the July 2007
accidental death of Myron Kafka of Hollywood, in the lobby of Millennium's HQ at 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd. http://www.local10.com/news/13750861/detail.html

Perhaps this might help jog your memory a bit:

excerpted from:
AROUND SOUTH FLORIDA
The Miami Herald
July 24, 2007
Miami Herald Staff Report

HALLANDALE BEACH BODY FOUND TRAPPED BETWEEN ELEVATOR, GATE

An employee at a Hallandale Beach medical office discovered the body of an 81-year-old man early Monday morning, police said. The man, identified as Myron Kafka of Hollywood, was trapped between an elevator and a metal gate. The incident happened inside the Millennium Building, 2500 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd. The 5,000-square-foot structure houses several medical offices, authorities said. Police believe the slender man got caught between the gate and the elevator. He did not appear to be crushed, police said. "We don't know how he died or how long he has been there," said Andrew Casper, a Hallandale Beach police spokesman.
_____________________________________
A later report from AP: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wirestory?id=3412355

Man Dies Trapped Between Elevator, Gate
Elderly Man Dies After Becoming Trapped Between Elevator, Security Gate at Medical Building.
The Associated Press

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.
An elderly man died of a heart attack after he became trapped between an elevator and a security gate in a medical building, authorities said.

The death of Myron Kafka, 81, was considered accidental, Hallandale Beach spokesman Andrew Casper said.
Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper said Tuesday that Kafka had been dead at least two days when staff from the building discovered his body on Monday.
Kafka was trapped in the 14-inch space between the elevator doors and a locked, illegally installed security gate, authorities said. Perper said Kafka may have been there since Friday afternoon, when he was last seen alive. According to the medical examiner's report, Kafka had been at his doctor's office, located in the building.
Officials ordered the gate removed and cited the property for installing it.
_________________________________
Long ignored public safety problems at 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd.; HB Police ignore problem
Friday February 8th, 2008

I would like to speak with you soon -and possibly meet with you if possible- so we can talk about some other serious public safety problems I know about concerning the 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd./Millennium complex, the subject of Roger Lohse's Thursday night report on Local 10's 11 p.m.newscast.

They consist of some first-hand observations I initially noticed in the aftermath of the Feb. 10th, 2006 murder of Albert Avenaim of Aventura, outside of Padrino's Cuban Restaurant, in a particularly senseless death, even by South Florida's grisly standards.
www.local10.com/news/7000578/detail.html
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-36379.html

This Sunday will mark exactly two years since Mr. Avenaim's untimely murder.

What do you suppose has changed about the Millennium complex, safety-wise, in those two intervening years? Nothing.

And if you count the responsible property owners STILL not doing the minimum to do right by the public, and I do, it's actually worse than nothing, it's negligence.

In the days after the murder, I saw some things that just didn't make any common sense, but which, to me, were self-evident signs of negligence -dare I say gross negligence?- by the property owners and management, abetted in part by the City of Hallandale Beach's own incompetence, which, typically, responded with a fig leaf, rather than employing a pro-active
approach that showed some common sense and foresight.

Frankly, I suspect most of what I know to be completely unknown to the various insurance companies that cover the myriad owners/investors of that particular property, since the insurance companies probably assume that there's no way their clients at Millennium would intentionally put people in harm's way, whether employees or patrons of the various business establishments renting space there.

Through photographs I've taken of the property since Mr. Avenaim's murder two years ago, I can show that is NOT the case.

If anything, a reasonable person might infer from the preponderance of evidence that their inaction fell far below the standard that one reasonably expects, and actually shows a callous disregard for public safety, since it's clear they haven't maintained the property in a safe
manner.

As you may already know, Millennium and their various partners have some rather lofty -I say grandiose- plans to transform that property into a huge office/condo complex showplace, complete with all sorts of amenities for their tenants and the public.

And who's leading that effort?

Well, none other than garrulous State Senator Steve Geller, the FL Senate Democratic leader, and someone I'm very open about regarding as a cancer on Broward County's political system and public policy arena, as my blogs make clear.
Yes, the Steve Geller that has his office located at the HB City Hall.

(Geller is one of the individuals I hold most personally responsible for the State of Florida moving its presidential primary from March to last week, despite the perfectly predicted
downside of losing all Democratic delegates to the Denver DNC this summer.)

How do I know that Geller represents Millennium?

I was one of the select few to attend a sparsely-attended public meeting that Millennium was forced to hold, in December of 2006, in HB's Cultural Center behind their City Hall.

I got there early, expecting some emotional fireworks because of the rather predictable concerns about exacerbating the already bad neighborhood traffic-flow on HBB, the completely out-of-proportion size of the plan, etc., and sat at the table next to Miami Herald reporter Jennifer Lebovich.

Once I got there and had grabbed a donut and some coffee, and returned to the table I had all to myself, my biggest thought while jotting down some thoughts in my legal pad was making sure to leave early enough so that I could get home and not miss a minute of a new episode of LOST.
Really. I'd forgotten to program my VCR.

But then, quite unexpectedly, to my great surprise, in walked Geller and his retinue with trademark showy boisterousness, with him not waiting even two beats before continuing on a rant/harangue disparaging then-Gov.-Elect Crist in tones that would've been loud enough for everyone in the room to hear if the room had been half-full -wishful thinking- say, 150-200 people.

As it was, counting his Millennium crew and the interested public, such as it was, there were no more than 25 people in that room, so his voice was bouncing off the walls.

To be so self-absorbed as to publicly belittle Crist in front of people -and a reporter- before he'd even taken the oath of office, showed me the side of Geller I'd often read and heard about, but never seen in person for myself.

But I recognized the type, since I'd had dealings with Rahm Emanuel in Washington before he was anybody of note, per se, and he already had that insufferable attitude and ego thing down pat.

Geller's whole shtick was so over-the-top as to be farcical, and I debated back and forth in my head at the time whether I ought to dispense with pleasantries and the subject at hand, and simply drop my knowledge of what hasn't transpired at 2500 HBB on Geller and Millennium, in front of reporter Lebovich, once the presentation was over and the Q&A began in earnest.

In the end, I just didn't trust the judgment of the crowd or Lebovich's ability to synthesize the narrative and connect all the dots in a way that would get all the pertinent facts out.

Given my interests and background, and the fact that I've been to dozens of these sorts of development meetings over the years in Northern Virginia and D.C., I thought I had a pretty good idea how the evening would go.

But listening to the sheer obfuscation and mis-direction coming out of Geller's mouth, his Pooh-poohing of the patently obvious worsening traffic problems on HBB if the project was approved, as if he could wave a magic wand over them, rendering them invisible, well, it was all I could do to not ask him straight out if he and his colleagues even recognized the name of Albert Avenaim -and then go on offense.

As to the seriousness of the safety issues, this isn't just a hunch or my opinion, but rather something which I've captured with photographs over the past two years, though to their great shame and discredit, the City of Hallandale Beach's response, nothing, is almost as criminally
negligent. (Even today, weeks after the Boca Mall murders!)

I've spoken with great specificity about it with a number of people, including serious newspaper reporters as well as the Hallandale Beach Police Dept., including Capt Robert Rodgers and Police Chief Thomas Magill.

The city and Police have done nothing, and the problems I know about remain much as they did two years ago: waiting for another innocent victim.

(You'll recall that Mr. Avenaim's murder was solved NOT as a result of anything the HB Police Dept. did specifically, or even BSO, but rather thru the efforts of the alert Wal-Mart employees, after the guilty party, Brian Bethell, tried to use the third of his his victim's credit cards at their Coral Springs location, his second visit there.
You'll also recall he felt so confident, he even brought along his girlfriend and two toddlers,
which, I think, tells you everything you need to know about him.
Unlike the situation with the individual who called police per the shooting of the BSO deputy in Hollywood late last year, after driving the suspect in his car to the Pawn Shop near 441, who received a monetary reward from Crime Stoppers, I believe Channel Ten reported that the Wal-Mart employees who thought something was fishy with Brian Bethell did not get any kind of reward from Crime Stoppers.)
I myself grew-up in North Miami Beach, but spent lots of time in both Hollywood Beach and Hallandale, so I recall what it was like physically before the final capitulation to the condo canyons.

When my family moved to South Florida in the summer of 1968, when I was seven, we stayed at the small hotel next to the iconic HB water tower for 2-3 weeks, until my parents found a suitable apt. in NMB they liked.

Because of that fact, and our regular visits there over the years, I distinctly recall the way the beach in Hallandale looked then, with actual dunes of some height, and whispering pines along them. It was so peaceful and relaxing late in the afternoon.

What's happened to that area of the public beach since then is a disgrace, with the city not even having the common sense to conduct a shadow study before approving The Beach Club project, which happened while I was still in the D.C. area.

In order to keep my sanity, though it's far from the scope I had initially envisioned or hoped for, largely because of time constraints, I actually had to start a blog once I saw how absurd, pathetic and illogical things were done at HB's City Hall, where both "rhyme" and "reason" are unknown quantities.

Honestly, I can't help think that fictional mid-'60's Sparta portrayed in In The Heat of the Night has nothing on Hallandale Beach now in the backwards department.

Though I've lived in lots of different kinds of towns of varying sizes and nature all over the country, I've never heard of a real city where city employees were and are more risk averse to doing their job properly, and management was less reluctant to see to it that they did.
Lax oversight hardly begins to describe it.

Just so you know, that's the bias I bring to this matter.

Not to laugh about it, but I literally saw another prime example just 48 hours ago, right on HBB, where you can see it within spitting distance of the HB Chamber of Commerce.
Hiding in plain sight.
Yes, the forest for the trees.

Please contact me directly when you have some time to talk about the situation.

Sincerely,
DBS
__________________________________________
To give you some better perspective on the above, here's an excerpt from an email I sent on February 21, 2008 and sent to some Local 10 News execs.
More proof that Channel 10 News isn't what it used to be: the latest sad example

To: "Peter Burke" pburke@ibsys.com, "Michelle Solomon" msolomon@ibsys.com

Some constructive criticism, on the chance that it may do some good... but I won't hold my breath.

Two weeks ago, after watching Roger Lohse's Local10 news report on Feb. 7th on Mr. Kafka's
death alongside the lobby elevator of Millennium LLC's HQ at 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd., a property I'm very familiar with, I tried to alert him and some of your reporters to the fact that I was aware of information that could show that there was a continuing pattern of neglect surrounding the maintenance of the Millennium property, going back to at least the time of the Albert Avenaim murder at Padrino's Cuban Cuisine two years ago -in the very same retail/office complex.

(Why yes, the very same one that State Senator Steve Geller, the FL Senate Democratic leader represents and lobbies on behalf of. Not that your news reports ever mentioned it)
As it happens, February 10th was the second anniversary of Mr. Avenaim's murder.

Sadly for you two, none of the half-dozen news reporters I emailed at Channel 10 bothered to respond to my query, despite my making it very easy for them to reach me and get the information.

I have to tell you, Mr. Burke and Ms. Solomon, even by South Florida's often shallow-end-of-the-pool news standards, that sort of jaded and apathetic response among reporters still surprises.
But it is what it is.

Frankly, the sad truth is that other than Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg, there's no compelling reason to watch your oh-so-predictable newscasts.

Not that you asked, but I've since spoken to a number of other reporters in town, print and electronic, some of whom immediately saw the facts for what they were, and were able to
connect the dots -just as I described them.

They didn't need to be asked twice.

Having photographs to buttress my points surely went a long way towards assuaging any of their doubts, yet strangely, that didn't seem to cut much slack with your own reporters.

By the way, the last time I checked, Brian Bethell, the man who murdered Mr. Avenaim and two other South Florida men two years ago, on his Friday spree killings-cum-Wal-Mart shopping sprees, was scheduled to go on trial in the not-too-distant future at the Main Broward County Courthouse in Ft. Lauderdale, with Judge Paul Backman presiding.

You might want to have someone check that out if you could tear your reporters away from their steady diet of chick lit lite/yenta-oriented botox/diet/fashion/shopping/pseudo-celeb/Idol stories.

In any case, I'll probably be there in court at first to take the measure of the jury and the D.A. to see how it all plays out.

Also, before I close, since your particular company seems to place such a high value on "relevant and engaging content," you should know that the so-called related links on your website's story, below, are nothing but Walgreens cosmetics commercials -not news!And that's been the case for at least two weeks.
So much for any sort of quality control.

Please don't bother responding to this email, your reporters' actions(!) already speak volumes!

DBS, Hallandale Beach, FL
www.SouthBeachHoosier.blogspot.com
www.HallandaleBeachBlog.blogspot.com
Lawsuit Filed After Bizarre Elevator Incident

Lawsuit Filed After Bizarre Elevator Incident. The family of an 81-year-old man whose body was found trapped between a security gate and elevator door at a medical building in Hallandale Beach last year...
Article: http://www.local10.com/news/15251505/detail.html
_________________________________________
Despite my specific admonition not to respond, what do you suppose I received on Feb. 21st?
Yes, an email from Michelle Solomon, someone I'd heretofore never heard of before sending an
email to her about my experiences with the apathetic and not-so-curious Channel 10 reporters.

Subject: RE: More proof that Channel 10 News isn't what it used to be: the latest sad example
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008
From: "Solomon, Michelle" msolomon@ibsys.com

I have sent this to our news director and general manager.

Michelle Solomon Executive Producer Local 10 Interactive www.Local10.com WPLG WPLG-DT Miami-Fort Lauderdale 305-324-2604 Business msolomon@local10.com www.ibsys.com
_________________________________________
And who is Michelle Solomon?
Read this post from a Fort Myers-based blog and judge for yourself.
The title says it all.

Local10.com Miami Steals Blog Content
http://activerain.com/blogsview/292203/Local1-com-Miami-Steals
__________________________________________
Some other facts/bias you should know about in making up your mind about all this.

I also sent a bcc copy of all my correspondence to and from Channel 10 to the head news person for Post-Newsweek, who is at at the ABC O&O in Detroit, WXYZ.
I never heard back from her.

As for Channel 10 itself, I applied and was accepted to be an intern at Channel 10 after my sophomore year at IU, the summer of 1981.
But I got totally screwed out of the great gig by the IU Telecommunications Dept. Chairman.

As it happens, the Chair back then was actually someone who knew me and my personality, since I'd gotten nothing but A's in all my Telecom classes, and was a heavy contributor to debate, especially in classes he taught.

He couldn't quite believe that as a Junior-to-be, I'd already nabbed a sweet gig at the #1 TV news operation in the state of Florida, and a Post-Newsweek station at that.
(This was back when Channel 10 under the late Ann Bishop, regularly whipped every TV station in sight.)

I had some bright ideas about navigating that internship position into something better the following summer with the Post-Newsweek gang up in DC.

I even had some IU friends in the suburban D.C. area, also Telecom students, who said that if things worked out for me with Kate Graham's 15th Street Crew at the Washington Post or over at Newsweek, perhaps I could even live with them over the summer.
Being in D.C. then would've been heaven, plus I'd have been able to get a first-hand view of D.C. years earlier than I actually did, which might've allowed me to be much smarter about some things once I got there, instead of the way things actually went once I got there.

But instead of being happy for me or giving off Good Vibrations, the Chairman said that the dept. rules were that only students who had already completed their Junior year could get internships, or the credit that might go with it.

I was told that the Dept.'s reasoning was that such a rule would prevent younger students from beating Juniors in the Telecom Dept. to the punch and grabbing precious internships.

(Of course, the only other IU Telecom student I knew about in South Florida was Lisa Abrell, someone I spoke to fairly regularly in classes, and when I ran into her on campus.
She was the bright and friendly daughter of WTVJ/Channel 4's Joe Abrell, who had been the station's News Director, Director of Public Affairs and public policy show host (Montage), and still later, served as a Dolphins VP under the Robbie family, being instrumental in the building of Joe Robbie Stadium.
Certainly Lisa had opportunities I could only dream of, and while I understood how the Dept.s policy might make sense for the Indy or Louisville market, even Chicago, because of the sheer number of IU Telecom students, it made less sense when applied to someone like me, about a thousand miles away.)

The fact that the Channel 10 Personnel Director had had good results in the past with IU student interns at other stations she'd been at was a tremendous help to me, but the fact is, we
really hit it off, so she really, really wanted me to work there.

In fact, to show what she was willing to do, after I'd heard the bad news from the Chair, she had me come down to the station so she could call the Chair up on the phone and plead my case, because she could see that I'd be a great addition to 3990 Biscayne Blvd.

But despite the Personnel Director's powers of persuasion, it counted for nothing in the end.

Unfortunately, as was so often the case at IU, rigid adherence to silly and unwieldy rules often counted for more than actual ability and desire.

I could never look at that professor in quite the same way as I had previously, and made a point of telling other Telecom professors about what had happened to me, so they could warn younger students in the Dept. that the Telecom Dept. would NOT have their back.

No internship for South Beach Hoosier at Channel 10 meant suddenly having to scramble at the last minute for summer jobs that would give me the means to pay three times what in-state Hoosiers were paying for classes.