Hallandale Beach City Hall: "FREE AND OPEN TO PUBLIC" What, no cash bar?; The European Club, Gulfstream Point and 2010 budget come under scrutiny

Looking east at the middle of the Village at Gulfstream Park on U.S.1 and SE. 7th Street.
Notice the graffiti on the bottom of the Forest City sign?
It's been there for WEEKS,

A future blog post of mine this week will concern all the graffiti along HB roads that is continually ignored by the city and FDOT, particularly along HBB and on U.S.-1 opposite somnolent HB City Hall. (Shocker!)
Going north from the Aventura line, almost every street light pole has graffiti on it, some more than others.

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

"FREE AND OPEN TO PUBLIC"
What, no cash bar?
HB's Stealthy City Hall Will Pretend to Care
What You Think This Week
Sunday September 13th, 2009
9:15 p.m.

This was actually one of the easiest emails I've written because when HB City Hall makes so many screw-ups in one week, all I have to do is point them out and get out of the way.

Be sure to see the previous email at the bottom to learn more about who's behind Gulfstream Point.

Based on the city's toothless shopping cart ordinance, which continues to be ignored on a daily basis by Code Enforcement, just like they ignore other obvious violations for months and years at a time, in my opinion, that Dept, needs to be privatized toute-de-suite!

All photos below from September 7th, 2009 by South Beach Hoosier
---------------
The first item below was added to the city's website calendar since Wednesday morning, since I
actually copied and pasted the whole calendar then to an email page so I'd have it handy

and searchable.

What does it say that City Manager Good and Mayor Cooper care so little what you think and about your input that they don't even give you one week's notice about this?

Have any of you seen even ONE sign, anywhere in the city promoting Monday's event?
I haven't and neither have you -there aren't any.

Meanwhile, PAL, as usual, has its signs -for this weekend's antique sale at the Cultural Center- on the medians along the major roads, esp. HBB, which NO other group in town can use.
Nope, just PAL

Here's the city's website calendar as of Saturday afternoon:
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/CurrentEvents.aspx?vm=0

Go ahead, John and Jane Q. Citizen, click the
"More Information" link and see what you get.

City Manager/City Commission Forum - Sep. 14
FY 2009-2010 CITY COMMISSION PROPOSED BUDGET

Where:	City Commission Chambers
When:	6:00 P.M.
Cost:	FREE AND OPEN TO PUBLIC
[ More Information ]

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

As you can see, after clicking, you get no
more information than you already had,
below
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/CurrentEvents.aspx?EID=2383

September 12, 2009

News Flash 2010 Census Community Forums Community Resources Customer Satisfaction Survey Directions E-mail Notifications / Notify Me Emergency Management Flood Hazard Prevention Forms Hallandale Beach Happenings Important Water Issues Parking Permits

You are here: Home > Events Calendar We strive to keep you informed of what's happening in the city. There are many ways for you to view events. View by Month by clicking on the "<<" or ">>" buttons on the Monthly Calendar. View by Calendar Type by choosing the calendar you want to view, i.e. "City Council" or "Parks and Recreation". Click on the corresponding hyperlink or select the calendar from the drop down box. Title: City Manager/City Commission Forum Date: September 14, 2009 Description: FY 2009-2010 CITY COMMISSION PROPOSED BUDGET Address: 400 South Federal Hwy City Commission Chambers Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 View Maps: Google | MapQuest | Windows Live | Yahoo! Location: City Commission Chambers Hours: 6:00 P.M. Contact: 954-457-1340 Cost: FREE AND OPEN TO PUBLIC Return to Previous Page | Calendar View

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

City Manager Good's proposed city budget is at:
http://fl-hallandalebeach.civicplus.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1205

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re 9/16/09 HBCC meeting at 7:30 pm re Gulfstream Point (918 S. Federal Hwy.) and Broward County library lease

Doesn't the city or Gulfstream Point have to legally put up public notice signs for this?
There weren't any there as of Thursday.
(There also were no signs outside the library, as other cities would require to be posted on a lease that was ending that was coming before a commission.
Zero!)

Gulfstream Point is the proposed tall, skinny and ugly office project north of the Steak & Shake on U.S.-1 that I first wrote about on August 22nd, that will also include a hotel element.

Yes, TWO hotels within a block of the Aventura border/countyline on what is, essentially, one large block on U.S.-1, just steps from the Hampton Inn.

But the real kicker, of course, is that it's across the street from the southern-most entrance to the
Village at Gulfstream Park, which means it'll be a traffic nighmare for HB and Aventura residents,
since as I can tell you from personal daily experience, there are already so many U-turns and near-collisions
there in that one block stretch as it is, right now.

And at night -shocker!- it's very, very dark owing to the street lights that only work occasionally.

When I spoke to someone at Development Services in person at HB City Hall days the day after my Aug. 22nd email (below), and asked when Gulfstream Point would be coming up before the City Commission for further action,

I was told probably not until the end of the year, and maybe not until early next year.
And here we are three weeks later!

This was printed in the Herald on Sept. 6th.



-------------
re 9/15/09 HBCC meeting at 5:05 pm re city budget
Yes, the map of the city is upside down!
This was printed in the Herald on Sept. 6th.

-------------
re 9/16/09 HBCC meeting at 7:30 p.m. city recycling program, lot maintenance
Once again, the map of the city is upside down!

This concerns the future of ugly and poorly-maintained development lots, such as The European Club.
What an eyesore!

My blog post on this topic Wednesday will have photos and video of what a mess it is similar to the below,
and other examples throughout the city.

This was printed in the Herald on Sept. 6th.
------------------





The empty financial black hole that is The European Club is mocked by the Westin Diplomat and the
Trump Hollywood in the horizon on A1A. Looking NE from the p.o.v. of Hallandale Beach Blvd. and Three Islands



Many of these advertising panels have been on the ground or torn for MONTHS
And the long pipes next to the sidewalk don't add much to the ambiance, either.
It cries out poor management and proper lack of supervision by both the developer and the city.



Once upon a time, what The European Club was supposed to look.



Don't you love their open door policy?
But the gate doors are actually supposed to be locked and secured to prevent vandalism, criminal mischief and, oh right, fires, like to those wooden pallets that have been on the lot for YEARS.





These last two photos highlight the fact that the HB City Commission already passed an ordinance a few years ago regulating shopping carts that quickly became the butt of jokes on the Internet.

This shopping cart on Three Islands, just a few steps from the driveway of a HB Fire Station, has been in the
same exact spot for AT LEAST three weeks.

So tell me, why would you expect the city's ordinance about the maintenance of development lots to be any better enforced if they ALREADY ignore what's right in front of them?
--------------

re 9/16/09 HBCC meeting at 7:30 pm
re Water and Wastewater Impact Fees
This was printed in the Herald on Sept. 6th.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael Butler
Date: Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 2:47 PM
Subject: Re: What and where is
Gulfstream Point Hotel and Offices? Any idea?

David, its a pencil thin highrise, already approved by the city commission.
the platting must be done, or the city could be sued.

On Aug 21, 2009, at 2:39 PM, Hallandale Beach Blog wrote:

I've never heard of it and when I do a Google search, this press release is the only reference to anything with the actual name Gulfstream Point Hotel and Offices.
How in the world can that be?

Is it this property?
www.hallandalebeach.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1113 which is north of the Steak and Shake restaurant on U.S.-1, just north of the countyline?
I was at this HB P&Z meeting in April and because it was a plat, apparently HB's policy is to NOT require a public notice sign for the public to become aware of the change, a public policy that I think ought to be changed to allow for maximum scrutiny.

I even swung by there before the meeting started to see if there were any signs and took photos of the sheer nothingness.

Have you seen this yet?
http://www.thevillageatgulfstreampark.com/images/inserts.pdf
I'm curious whether the traffic numbers cited are accurate.

Meanwhile...
Magna Entertainment Creditors Allowed to Sue Chairman
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aDZ9U8v5fDTM

It's mentioned in the last paragraph below.
------------------
http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/55948/

Newswire Today (press release)

2020 Ponce Receives Certificate of Completion

Kendrick Meek's curious out-of-the-blue Saturday morning Town Hall meeting

A last-minute email of mine that went
out across the transom late Friday night
to interested parties across the Sunshine
State concerned whether or not Rep.
Kendrick Meek would actually be making
what amounts to an in-store appearance
at Hallandale Beach City Hall on Saturday
morning, or go the route chosen by
Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

And therein lies the mystery...

This is an edited version of that email.
-----------------------
Friday September 11th, 2009
11:25 p.m.

Last Wednesday afternoon while up at Hollywood
City Hall for their City Commission meeting on the
explosive Police pension issue, I saw the flyer below
on their public notice board near the City Clerk's
office and snapped a shot of it.



Hm-m-m...
So Congressman Meek will hold a Town Hall
meeting pertaining to Health Insurance Reform
at David Park Community Center, 108 N. Park
Road in Hollywood on Saturday the 12th from
9-11 a.m.

Not to discuss the issue of "health care reform" that
everyone originally bought into for reasons of logic,
compassion and economics, but health insurance
reform, the new tact taken by Obama in his effort
to sell a program that doesn't really seem to exist
on paper so much as in the hands and heads of
Senator Max Baucus's Senate Finance Committee
and staffers. http://finance.senate.gov/

(See Proposed Framework for Health Care Reform,
from Sept. 9th
http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb090909.pdf
Also, see various Baucus, Grassley Policy Options
for Financing Comprehensive Health Care Reform
listed at http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/legislation.htm )

So, having been surprised at coming across this
news nine days ago without having read anywhere
else about it, I made a mental note to myself to use
the photo and mention it on the blog as the date
drew near, which was going to be Thursday.

But literally as I was in the middle of writing about it,
with my list of health care articles and links at the ready
to sprinkle here, I decided to take a break and take
a spin over to the Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics
blog to see if there was anything percolating over there.

In retrospect, I'm glad I did because it prevented me
from writing and posting something I'd immediately
have had to pull down and make surgical edits to.

What I saw there shocked me:
Congressman Kendrick Meek plans health
care town hall in Broward

Posted by Anthony Man on September 10, 2009 09:52 AM

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/09/congressman_kendrick_meek_plan.html

My first thought: Isn't that the same time that
he's supposed to be in Hollywood?
And my second was why is it being held there,
in such a small facility?

I immediately started wondering whether Meek
& Co. would pull a phony Town Hall like another
South Florida gerrymandered congressperson
who's never had to run a competitive race for
their seat, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

You'll recall that she recently had a pre-digested
Tele-Town Hall, which has all the civic charm
and spontaneity of a car maintenance manual.
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word...

Then, this morning, the Herald ran a similar
version on page 3B, which is what I had in my
email to you all this morning, at bottom.

This afternoon, I swung by the HB Cultural
Center to find out why this event was being
held Saturday morning in a facility that barely
holds 100 people, when the Cultural Center
behind City Hall can hold many times that
number.

Well, it turns out the HB PAL is having their
abbual antique sale there the whole weekend,
so that's out, unfortunately.

But still rather curious about how the whole
event seemed to spring up overnight, since
neither I nor any of my well-informed friends
had heard anything at all about Meek actually
coming here until Thursday's Sun-Sentinel blog
post, I asked a someone in a position to know
whether or not an effort had been made to have
it in the Cultural Center in the past few weeks,
or, at a future date, when more citizens could
attend.
"No."

You might recall that during the recent
congressional recess of several weeks,
the deadest and warmest weeks of the
year in Washington, trust me, rather
than taking advantage of that time to
cross the countyline and have a health
care meeting at the HB Cultural Center,
Meek was campaigning all over the state
for the U.S. Senate.

Tonight, around 8:15, I walked by HB City Hall
and was surprised to see that a barricade had
already been erected in the parking lot near
the entrance off U.S.-1.



Looking north towards the barricade from
in front of HB City Hall, with U.S.-1 to the right.

This, of course, was the 'one trick pony' they
employed for many years, to no positive effect,
at the city's public beach, as a substitute for
their actually patrolling the beach areas like
other South Florida oceanfront cities do,
esp. on busy three-day holiday weekends like
last weekend.

But in Hallandale Beach, under this particular
mayor, this particular city manager and this
particular police chief, that's not the way they
do things.

Which doubtless explains why there are always
so many dozens of police cars glued to the
HB Police Dept. parking lot that are never seen
on the city's roads.
But then what am I saying, you already know that,
don't you?

As you may recall, the real tip-off to potential
miscreants arriving at North Beach, with mischief
on their mind, that they had no reason to fear the
police were those bowls of cat food and water
that were placed directly in front of either the
police car's tires or underneath the chassis.
Day-after-day, week-after-week.


One of the three empty Hallandale Beach
police cars parked near the public entrance
to HB City Hall tonight.
Can't say for sure if it's one of the many
that's been growing roots over near the
Old Dixie Highway entrance to City Hall
the past few years, that were caked with
months worth of dirt.
It was too dark to tell since the three parking
lot lights closest to the entrance -shocker-
weren't working.
Just like last week and last month and...


The ruse is now in place tonight at HB City
Hall as I write this, and as you can also see,
the Meek folks don't want you taking flash
photographs.
Perhaps he thinks he's Amish


Please don't take photos of the Congressman
in the building that your taxes paid for -he's
now Amish!


Why do I have a bad feeling that many
of the Hallandale Beach 108 will be plants?



Hey, what do you know, the parking lot light
closest to the public entrance of HB City Hall
is STILL out.

And, the very light that's closest to the one
and only HB Police Dept.-controlled security
camera in front of that side of City Hall.

The light that has NOT worked for 18 of the
21 months since the cameras first went up.

The light that HB Police Chief Magill could
apparently care less about seeing fixed,
judging by his pathetic excuses many months
ago when I reminded the whole Commission
during public comments of a night meeting
he was present at, how poorly the City Hall
area has lit at night for years, and if they
doubted it, they could just step outside and
see for themselves.

There are many cities in this country where
my comments would've led to it being fixed
the next day, if out of embarrassment more
than anything.

But not here in HB.

Months later, that light just keeps on snoozing
thru the night.
That's your Hallandale Beach City Hall in action!




Meanwhile, down the street a few blocks,
on the median of U.S.-1 & S.E. 9th Street,
I said hello again to our old friend
-the HB sign.

Moved a few hundred feet north many months
ago because of FDOT road construction, despite
its new location, its light STILL doesn't work,
extending its previous futile record of being out
of commission to well over five years
-longer than the U.S. fought in WWII.

Another Mike Good/Joy Cooper success story.

Now that I've added a big memory card to my
digital camera, I can shoot video and plan on
doing so Saturday morning, to capture whatever
happens, if anything.

I strongly suggest that those of you with an
interest in attending bring along your own
camcorder to record the action,
such as it may be.

See photo at:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/09/no-bullhorns-no-protesters-at-meeks-town-hall-.html
--------------------------
This weekend, I'll be posting something I've already
written about Meek and the candidates who are
seeking to replace him in Congress, and why they've
been so curiously AWOL in Hallandale Beach,
as well as the pages of the Herald and the
Sun-Sentinel, but for now, I just wanted to pass
this along in case you're up to the idea of asking
about arcane provisions of 3200 at 9 am on a
Saturday morning.

I'll be there with my camera and writing pad at the
ready, hoping for either insight or group dynamic
hijinks, but not really expecting to see either.

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

Posted on Fri, Sep. 11, 2009

Meek to hold town hall on Saturday in Hallandale Beach

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek will hold a town hall meeting Saturday in Hallandale Beach to discuss proposals to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.

Meek, D-Miami, represents part of South Broward. He is also running for his party's nomination for the U.S. Senate next year.

The event will begin at 9 a.m. in the City Commission Chambers, 400 S. Federal Hwy., Hallandale Beach.

Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. Space is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis, Meek's office said.

-- SUN SENTINEL

Third world commuter conditions, and it's NOT South Florida but Berlin. Wie gehts?

Maybe it's because I lived for so long in
communities like Chicago and Washington, D.C.,
where taking a commuter train was both
de rigeur and common sense, but after
reading the story below about the truly
exasperating and economically brutal
transportation situation in Berlin,
all I could think of was how badly this
situation would've been portrayed on
CNN or more importantly,
CNN International, right before the
height of the South Florida tourist season
for Europeans, if this had happened here
involving an intact and thriving FEC
Corridor commuter train system along
U.S-1 that was logically connected to
both Tri-Rail and the Miami-Dade
Metro system to create the smartest
possible options for people and businesses
in South Florida.

A system that quickly and effortlessly
moved residents and tourists around
the area from airports to seaports to
hotels, museums to nightclubs to theaters
to sports arenas, from work to home and
more.

My educated guess is that it would also
show, once again, that if South Florida
didn't have bad luck/negative stories
shown on CNN, they'd have no stories
at all.

Instead, though I'm a news junkie,
I've yet to see a single TV news story
about this situation in Berlin on any
of the American cablenets, or even
on Channel Four in Britain,
which I watch just about every day
via the Internet.

Have you?
----------
Spiegel Online
'THIRD WORLD' CONDITIONS
Commuter Chaos in Berlin until December

Berlin has had to take two-thirds of its commuter trains out of service due to safety issues.It has resulted in angry locals, crowded platforms, confused tourists, near accidents, amulti-million-euro bill and political fallout. And it's going to go on until the end of the year.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,638049,00.html

See also:
TIME
Train Chaos Brings Berlin to a Standstill
By Tristana Moore in Berlin, Germany
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1912399,00.html

Early morning fire at Hallandale Beach trailer park rocks U.S.-1 area

Thursday April 9th, 2009

2:15 a.m.

A series of loud explosions rocked the area immediately west of the Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and and the under-construction Village at Gulfstream retail complex in Hallandale Beach early this morning.

A series of separate loud explosions sounding like fireworks were heard between 1:15 and 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning, as the result of a fire at a trailer park located at 720 S. Federal Highway, just south of the main Hallandale Beach Post Office, and two blocks south of Hallandale Beach City Hall.

One trailer and an adjacent car were all but destroyed as Hallandale Beach Fire/Rescue dispatched what seemed like at least half of the HB Fire Dept., plus at least one responding Broward Sheriff fire engine, to the area to prevent the fire from quickly spreading to the dozens of adjacent trailers, which are home to many retired Senior Citizens and seasonal French-Canadian residents, all of whom, were quite literally shaken out of their beds.

Photo shot from about 40 yards away before the first HB fire truck arrived.

After the fire had largely been eliminated, the destroyed trailer quickly began

to spew out white smoke insread of black smoke and embers.

Above, additional fire engines and ambulances on U.S.-1 at 2 a.m.

Because I'd taken a lot of photos earlier in the day that I handn't

downloaded yet, the only video I could shoot before my camera

batteries went dead were this one of the Fire/Rescue vehicles on

U.S.-1, and one of the HB ladder truck hose that poured a tremendous

amount of water on the burning trailer.

So guess which video wouldn't download properly here

-the latter, the best one!

Hallandale Beach Fails Public & Public Safety -Again!

March 25, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Above, my place of solace, reading and contemplation at North Beach, Hallandale Beach, FL.
Sadly, the city of Hallandale Beach does a terrible job of keeping it clean, performing proper maintenance or even enforcing their own existing laws and rules.

As to the 'Police presence,' well, as most of the lifeguards can attest with barely contained disdain -regular beach visitors like myself being more vocal- the HB Police are indeed a rare presence therebouts, even on the busiest of three-day holiday weekend afternoons.

The actual beach itself in Hallandale Beach really ought to be MUCH BETTER and CLEANER than it currently is, with so many eye-popping self-evident examples of broken, missing or beach elements in dis-repair, but the powers-that-be at HB City Hall can't be bothered to make changes.

They like the beach the way it is, crappy and poorly maintained as that is, which is perhaps a reflection of the fact that they're hardly ever seen over there.
And when they are there, they keep their eyes, ears and mouth shut tight to the myriad problems, one of the largest of which is the rampant cronyism and favoritism taking place there everyday.

Late Sunday afternoon, following the Dolphins 29-28 tough luck loss in Houston to the Texans, I spent a few hours over at North Beach, reading the Herald and the NY Post, writing some clever comments in my notepad and listening to the Dolphins post-game analysis on WQAM radio.

Afterwards, around 7 PM, I got caught in a downpour after leaving Publix, and still needed to grab something over at the "Venezuelan" Target in Aventura, south of Gulfstream Park, before The Amazing Race came on at 8 o'clock.

Now you might recall that I recently brought you the Breaking News that three weeks ago, on the night of Sept. 25th, the Hallandale Beach City Hall sign on the the corner of U.S.-1/ S. Federal Highway & S.E. 5th Street, long a personal bête noire of mine, had finally been properly lit for the first time in over four-and-a-half years.
Not so much a success story as a grudging and unforgettable reminder of how poorly this city is run and maintained.

Sunday night, on my way to the Target, I was dumbfounded to once again see that it was a lesson of one-step forward and two-steps back for the city.

At 7:25 PM I went by and saw that not only was the City Hall sign dark, but that every single City Hall parking lot light was completely out along the east and south side, i.e. S. Federal Hwy and S.E. 5th Street, including the area closest to the Hallandale Beach Police Dept. HQ entrance.
Now that's customer-friendly service, HB-style.

That's a total of roughly 10-12 lights, which includes the city parking lot light closest to the eastern (breezeway) City Hall public entrance, to which is mounted a security camera, a parking lot light that has been out since at least February, long before the city security camera was ever installed.

That, of course is the ultimate embarrassing ironic indignity of the City of Hallandale Beach's logic for you. They install a security camera near a public parking lot light that hadn't worked for months, they have such poor planning and lack of awareness that they never bother to fix it, all the while, you have HB police officers drive by it thousands and thousands of times over the intervening months.

Yet somehow, here at their own building, the HB Police Dept (and DPW) never ever quite notice all the parking lot lights that are out. Hmm-m... sounds more like the Keystone Kops!

Last night, after the Browns-Giants MNF game, I went over to do some recon and see if Sunday night was a sign of things past, or a one-time hiccup.
Once I arrived I should've guessed!

À la recherche du temps perdu" -Remembrance of things past!
It's once again "Back to the Future."

For residents and visitors alike, there are no mere coincidences in the City of Hallandale Beach, there is only the predictability of some future insult, injury, outrage and sign of gross incompetency by their so-called public servants, who consistently perform in a below-average manner.

Question: How many Hallandale Beach city employees does it take to change a light bulb?
Answer: All of them -to ignore it!

On the way over there, I walked across the street to the Gulfstream Park side of U.S.-1 and took a photo of what I surveyed -complete darkness.

The double-tiered public street light on that corner has been out for months -much as it was leading up to the City Commission election in March of 2007- and because the street lights across the street on the Gulfstream side have either been removed or don't work, the entire block fronting Hallandale Beach City Hall and the HB Police Dept. HQ is pitch black.

As it happens, last Tuesday night, prior to the candidate forum at the HB Cultural Center, despite having a reserved parking space just feet from the HB Police HQ door, I witnessed Mayor Joy Cooper park her car in the favorite parking space of Comm. William Julian, on the road directly in front of the center, under a city parking lot light and city security camera.

I made a mental note to snap a shot of that scene upon my exit later in the evening, but when given the chance, there were simply too many city parking lot lights not working out there to make it worthwhile. I snapped two photos but both were far too dark to post here.

This includes, by the way, the city lights that are resident on the same sidewalk pole as the city security cameras in front of the building, pointing in both directions, towards the Cultural Center to the west and City Hall to the east.

June 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Comm. William Julian's car during an an event at at the HB Cultural Center, for which I wrote the June 12th post, Dude, Where's Julian's Car?
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/dude-wheres-julians-car.html




His reserved parking space is right next to the mayor's on the south side of the City Hall Complex, NOT near the front of the HB Cultural Center, underneath a city security camera and parking light.

I guess it's just not safe enough for either Cooper or Julian, huh?
Imagine how the rest of us in the city feel.

October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Between the Hallandale Beach City Hall and its Cultural Center to the west lies this sidewalk pole on which is mounted two of the city's HB Police Dept.-maintained security cameras.

This night, as with so many in the past, with nary a light to shine on the problem.

October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Capturing my own ghostly silhouette in the dark alongside northbound U.S.-1, while doing blogger reconnaissance.

October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Looking northwest at the Hallandale Beach City Hall and HB Police Dept. HQ from across the street of U.S.-1/South Federal Highway, in front of Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino.

The simple fact that there are no working street lights on the entire block nearest it means that you have now officially entered the black hole of Hallandale Beach. You have just gone back in time!

So where's the mounted U.S. Cavalry to keep you safe when you need them?

October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

The American flag in the stiff night winds.

Is this really an American city in the year 2008?

October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

It's long been a riddle why the city preferred properly maintaining the lights on the empty side of the sign rather than the one that actually faces the road and residents/visitors alike.

Those lights in the background are ones that are next to the building, to light it up at night, many of which have been completely obstructed by plants for what seems like years.

Look at them during the day and you feel like getting a pair of shears yourself -and doing the job properly.

October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Without a flash.

October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Taken with my flash.

October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Lights out for Hallandale Beach!

Sorry Mr. Edison!

Lights just don't work in Hallandale Beach.

October 13, 2008 photo/video by South Beach Hoosier

Hallandale Beach City Hall Complex Parking Lot is Pitch Black at Night

Camera starts on unlit Hallandale Beach City Hall Complex sign and pans right (to west) near what is the City Hall parking lot closest to the Hallandale Beach Police Dept. HQ, then pans further to the north, where the public entrance to City Hall offices and Commission Chambers are located, then the City Employee entrance, and then towards southbound U.S.-1.

A Sign of Hallandale Beach's Endemic Apathy is Staring Right at You -Get Even on Election Day!

Looking east from U.S-1 at the main construction site of what will be the retail component of The Village of Gulfstream, on what used to be the huge West parking lot of Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino.
September 17, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

I've got dozens of photos that I've taken over the past year of the construction all along U.S.-1, many of which I will be posting in coming weeks.




September 17, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

The sign above on U.S.-1 and S.E. 5th Street, across from the Gulfstream Park Race Track
& Casino, lets you know that you're just feet away from the Hallandale Beach City Hall and the Hallandale Beach Police Department Headquarters.
But what should really be erected there is a warning sign complete with skull and crossbones: Beware all ye who enter forth...

In the time that I've lived here, it's continually shown itself to be a completely dysfunctional government, one that gives every impression of holding itself both apart and above the citizens and residents it's supposed to serve and protect, almost daring you at times to complain about its queer habits and erratic behavior by means of comparison to what's generally thought of as "normal" everywhere else.

The crazy thing is, they really DON'T seem to think they have to follow the laws that govern everyone else in the state of Florida and the United States, whether of logic and reason, contracts, or, more to the point for this blog and the city's residents, simple things like the Florida Statutes on Sunshine Laws and Public Records to name but one.
You see, they love nothing so much as, alternately, playing a game of "Pass the buck," or,
attempting to tie you up in knots of red tape and double-talk.

At times you'd swear they've perfected the legendary Abbott & Costello "Who's on First?" comedic routine, and adapted it to sub-tropical municipal government in trying to confuse you about who's really responsible for anything.
(Video of their routine at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M)
And good luck in trying to get an accurate and up-to-date City Hall organizational flow chart!

City employees in Hallandale Beach routinely refuse to answer reasonable questions posed to them bycitizens, and often even berate you for having the nerve to ask!
This has happened to me and many other residents I know enough times to be more than a sheer coincidence, even though I have a low threshold for tolerating govt. employee apathy or incompetency.
At some point, when you see the same behavior exhibited over and over again in just about every dept., you come to understand that it's just S.O.P. at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

One of the first things that any visitor here notices that both self-evident and quite shocking in its own backward way, is the blatant disregard by the HB Police Dept. and HB Fire Dept. for basic safety rules.
Common sense rules of behavior that are in place in every other American town, no matter how large or obscure.
City employees -and friends of theirs- routinely park "their cars" directly in front of the building's east entrance, often for hours at a time. That's right, I said for HOURS at a time.

While in every other town you'd find a clearly posted sign saying simply: "No Parking, Fire Zone, Cars Will be Towed," in Hallandale Beach, there are NO signs at all.
(Not even signs warning you that you are being monitored by security cameras when you are in the parking lot, as is standard procedure everywhere else. Par for the course!)

I've personally observed parked HB city vehicles parked there at the east entrance that have prevented HB Fire & Rescue vehicles from getting as close as possible to the building.
I've also personally spoken to individual members of HB Fire & Rescue after such incidents, and they were positively indignant that they are forced to put up with this sort of behavior in the Year 2008.

Oh, and one last thing.

The lights that are supposed to illuminate this sign in front of Hallandale Beach's City Hall HAVEN'T worked properly in over FOUR YEARS, either.
Just like their cousin down the block on U.S.-1/South Federal Highway, at the city border with the City of Aventura.

Since I've lived here, I've mentioned this simple fact to dozens of Hallandale Beach city officials, including Mayor Joy Cooper, City Manager Mike Good, his staff, the mendacious Police Chief...
None of them have done a thing, which is why, as of September 8th, 2008, the sign was STILL completely dark at night!

Around September 15th, an evening visit revealed that 1 of the 2 lights had finally started working within the previous few days.
But NOT both!

September 17, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Part of this light is from my camera flash.

September 17, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
In this photo you can clearly see what's what.

A Sign of Hallandale Beach's Endemic Apathy is Staring Right at You -Get Even on Election Day! Six weeks from today!

Video below shot on September 17, 2008 by South Beach Hoosier

A Sign of Hallandale Beach's Endemic Apathy is Staring Right at You -Get Even on Election Day!