Why does Miami Herald write so much about eruv story in Hallandale Beach, 6 weeks later -and drop hints of anti-Semitism- but for YEARS completely ignored a more compelling story re city's CRA wasting TENS of MILLIONS of DOLLARS over several years?

I know this may sound like one of the million-and-one rhetorical questions that almost every civic-minded resident of South Florida asks him or herself every day a new edition of the Miami Herald sees the light of day but...

Why DOES the Miami Herald write so much about one story in Hallandale Beach, 6 weeks after-the-fact, but completely ignore a more important, self-evident story re the city and its CRA -composed of the elected City Commission- wasting TENS of MILLIONS of DOLLARS over several years? Public dollars.

And, just as importantly, why for years has the Miami Herald IGNORED the stark reality that would have been staring any of their reporters in the face IF they had bothered to do some basic investigating of the story I've been writing about here on this blog for years:
EVERY single African-American state Senator & state Representative and Hallandale Beach City Commissioner whose Majority-Minority district includes Hallandale Beach either looked the other way as TENS OF MILLIONS of CRA dollars were wasted, actively fought AGAINST efforts in Broward County and in Tallahassee to ensure that an accurate public audit was performed so that residents would know where that money went, or, were themselves the beneficiary of the CRA funds.
Why? Why indeed?

The four guilty parties of whom I speak:

1. former City of Hallandale Beach City Commissioner and then state Rep. Joseph Gibbons

2. current Florida state Senator Oscar Braynon II

Two senators short-circuit Legislature’s plan to audit troubled Hallandale Beach CRA http://t.co/5QtbY5gpTb

— Florida Bulldog (@Florida_Bulldog) November 26, 2013

Audit of free-spending #HallandaleBeach #CRA sabotaged by #EleanorSobel #OscarBraynonII #JoeGibbons #ShevrinJoneshttp://t.co/72x7MfznSq …

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) March 19, 2015

3. current Florida state Rep. Shevrin Jones

https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=Shevrinjones%2C%20hbbtruth&src=typd

4. former City of Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders, who resigned one year ago following a Broward Inspector General investigation that detailed how over $900,000 in CRA funds was directed by him and his family to... well, his very own version of a friends-and-family plan.
The same Anthony A. Sanders whose resignation from office was NEVER ever mentioned in a Miami Herald story, much less, the reasons for it, and what might've happened to him if he had not done so.

Final Report: Ethical Misconduct by City of Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony Sanders https://t.co/J6O6IM2wqU

— BrowardIG (@BrowardIG) August 9, 2017

Not mentioned but just as curious: Where was Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief whose district also included the affected area?

Yeah, that's a good question, if I do say so myself. 

#confounding

In case you forgot or never knew, the folks at the South Broward Chabad, who are one of the two mentioned in this Miami Herald story are the same ones that have asked for some very curious special hometown deals from the City of Hallandale Beach over the years, including a few years ago when they asked for some very extraordinary consideration -a loan with different terms than usual-

and then awarded former HB Comm. Alexander Lewy, i.e. "Lewy the Liar" to you longtime regular blog readers, an award after receiving it.

Which was both convenient and curious and... mortifying.

My original plan for today was to be posting something to my blog about the very-curious and stealthy lobbying taking place re the Sky Island redevelopment matter at Hollywood's Young Circle/ArtsPark and what I'd learned the past three weeks,since letting some of you know the basics of that deal that has completely shocked many of the area's usually well-informed residents.

But once I heard about this Miami Herald article last Wednesday appearing out-of-the-blue, I decided that Sky Island would have to wait another few days.

https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1004565096385908736 

Fireworks! Tonight @ #HallandaleBeach City Comm. mtg., after almost hr of Orthodox Jews making appeals ranging fm common sense compromise to lawsuit threats re erecting an eruv, Comm. Annabelle Lima-Taub accuses Mayor London & Comm. Lazarow of being "anti-Semitic Jews." 🙄Kaboom!

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) June 7, 2018

Shocking that @MiamiHerald devotes so many inches to #eruv story yet 4 MANY YEARS, IGNORED reality: EVERY African-American #FL state/#HallandaleBeach elected rep w/tie to HB looked the other way as TENS OF MILLIONS of #CRA $ were wasted! Why? https://t.co/r7WiqgFBII @Buddynevins

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) July 25, 2018

By the way, I note for the record that this story contains 5 photos, more than any other Herald story involving Hallandale Beach in the past 15 years. 

A story that appeared SIX WEEKS  after the motion by Comm. Annabelle Lima-Taub to bring it up on the City Commission agenda in the future failed to get even a second vote on the dais out of the five elected City Commissioners.

Why so many inches in the newspaper about an issue affecting so few, and who, clearly, did such a remarkably poor job of engaging and persuading their neighbors to support them, even while persuading the Miami Herald it was a worthwhile story?
And as you read along, ask yourself why the article never states when the City Commission meeting with all the fireworks took place.
It wasn't in April, it was in June, and the public spoke in June not on an actual agenda item but under Public Comments. Seems kind of relevant, don't you think?
As does the fact that threatening public officials with lawsuits during public meetings if they don't do what you want tends not to work out so well, no matter what kind of success you've had elsewhere.

These observant Jews need a lifeline to leave their homes — but the city is ‘stonewalling’
BY REBECCA ELLIS
rellis@miamiherald.com
July 25, 2018 02:34 PM
Updated July 25, 2018 09:32 PM
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article215358415.html 

These observant Jews need a lifeline to leave their homes during the Sabbath. But the city is "stonewalling." Is this just bureaucracy or is it anti-Semitism?https://t.co/XvbfTw5Y9h pic.twitter.com/u5kQvdxdge

— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) July 25, 2018

For you newcomers to the blog who may've never seen some of those earlier blog posts of mine laying out the case or the predicate for better understanding Gibbons, Braynon, Jones and Sanders behavior, that is, completely ignoring the public's desire to find out what was happening with the millions wasted at the HB CRA, here are four posts that should effectively help connect-the-dots:

Nov. 2, 2013:  http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/latest-news-re-hallandale-beach-cra.html

Oct. 18, 2013:  http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/where-has-hallandale-beach-cra-spent-80.html

Oct. 17, 2013: http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/instead-of-looking-out-for-you-and-your.html

Oct. 16, 2013:  http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/latest-on-curious-case-of-at-city-of.html

#SoFL- Why does @MiamiHerald write so much abt #eruv story in #HallandaleBeach, 6 weeks later -and drop hints of anti-Semitism- but for YEARS completely ignored a more compelling story re city's #CRA wasting TENS of MILLIONS of DOLLARS over several years?https://t.co/ceZrEE2A6O

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) July 30, 2018

Dave 

Hallandale Beach Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/ 

Snapchat: SoBeHoosier

#Euro2012 -Video of BBC's controversial edition of Panorama titled, "Euro 2012 Stadiums of Hate" on the rampant violence, racism & anti-Semitism at football matches in Poland and Ukraine that has inflamed millions; Sol Campbell urges fans to "stay away"; BBC's response to criticism of program

BBC's Panorama "Stadiums of Hate" May 28, 2012.
http://youtu.be/E0f259wCerY


I actually meant to post this controversial video of the May 28th broadcast of the BBC's investigative program Panorma in my last post early this morning about the racist outbursts from the crowd -a minority of the 25,000 there to be sure- at the Dutch training session in Poland on Thursday, but perhaps it's for the best that it now has its own post.



Yesterday, the BBC posted this clip on their website from former England captain Sol Campbell's criticism of Poland and Ukraine being selected as co-hosts for Euro 2012 before they showed they're capable of running something like this BEFORE they've got a firm handle on the overt racism and anti-Semitism present at football matches in their countries, has really riled millions in the two countries, as well as Poles and Ukrainians living in Great Britain.
But many have agreed with his analysis that they weren't worthy in the first place, given  how self-evident the problems STILL are.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tl1z1

BBC video: Sol Campbell: 'Stay away from Euro 2012'  
Article and more video at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18192375


Today on the BBC's website, the show's editor, Tom Giles, has posted his response to criticisms of the program on their "The Editors" blog, which I happen to subscribe to:

'Stadiums of Hate': Legitimate and fair

By Tom Giles 

18:28 UK time, Friday, 8 June 2012

When an investigative current affairs programme like Panorama broadcasts a programme called Euro 2012: Stadiums of Hate 11 days before a major football tournament and which reveals shocking images of racist abuse and violence in the host countries - controversy is to be expected.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2012/06/stadiums_of_hate_legitimate_an.html

------

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/

Hollywood PR gambit or simply returning a favor? Brent Lang in TheWrap: Robert Downey Jr. Urges Hollywood: 'Forgive Mel Gibson'; But some NEVER will

Hollywood PR gambit or simply returning a favor? Brent Lang in TheWrap: Robert Downey Jr. Urges Hollywood: 'Forgive Mel Gibson'; But some NEVER will

Given the Hollywood-based news media's fascination for constantly recreating the same old narratives over and over again with different faces -it's not just Hollywood studios that like remakes- esp. their version of re-birth or redemption -regardless of whether it's factually either- it'll be interesting to see next week how talent-friendly, lowest common denominator TV shows like Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and the like treat this story from Friday night, since there are a LOT of hard feelings in the Los Angeles entertainment industry about Mel Gibson, and an awful lot of people who have no intention of letting Gibson feel he's socially acceptable again in either polite society or the film industry.

Even people who usually try their best to stay "above it all" and not take sides if it's bad for business or ratings.

But the Mel Gibson issue is different.

Not that you'd know it from what your read in most U.S. newspapers or magazines -much less ones in South Florida- but there are a lot of smart and savvy TV program/network producers in LA who usually try their best to act agnostic editorially about some entertainment/celebrity stories they run that are clearly banal or self-serving but let them fly anyway, because they are, at heart, well, harmless.

But on this subject, they might just put their feet down and say, essentially, "Nope, I won't accommodate you, Mel Gibson. I won't allow you and your reps to finesse us in to giving you a one-sided forum to plead your case for public redemption.

Nope, first you must actually say that you're sorry publicly, specifically say what you're sorry about and then show some genuine remorse over an extended period of time.

Don't call us, we'll call you."

The conundrum of course, is how do you really ever know if a once hugely-popular actor like Gibson who has said and done what many people believe are some truly reprehensible things -consistently- is showing true remorse?

Or, frankly, is even worth trying to salvage?

Sometimes, despite your past history with talented-but-troublesome people, you have to let people with a documented history of 'burning bridges behind them' stay on the outside looking in, if for no other reason than self-preservation, so that you yourself aren't burned in the future. (Completion bonds exist for a reason, no?)

There are a lot of successful industry people who no longer are interested in being in the "Mel Gibson business,' no matter how artistically creative or financially reasonable the project he pitches sounds.

He's dead to them.

Period.

Someone else in LA will have to give him a rope or ladder to crawl out from the entertainment 'Phantom Zone' he's exiled in, but it won't be them.

They're throwing him an anchor, not an olive branch.

Over the weeks and months to come, we are all going to come to know just who those people are in Hollywood who put principles over profit.

TheWrap

Robert Downey Jr. Urges Hollywood: 'Forgive Mel Gibson'

Published: October 14, 2011 @ 11:50 pm

By Brent Lang

It was supposed to be Robert Downey Jr.’s night, but somehow Friday’s American Cinematheque Award ceremony became all about Mel Gibson.

When the evening’s honoree took to the stage at the Beverly Hills Hilton to accept his doorstop, he had a clear message for Hollywood.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://thewrap.com/movies/article/robert-downey-jr-tells-hollywood-forgive-mel-gibson-31881

Also writing with some insight on this story was reporter Julie Makinen of the L.A. Times at their 24 Frames film blog.

24 Frames blog

Los Angeles Times

Mel Gibson gets a boost from Robert Downey Jr.

October 15, 2011 | 12:34 am

The slow but methodical rehabilitation of Mel Gibson in Hollywood took another step forward Friday night, courtesy of Robert Downey Jr.

Dozens of famous faces who've performed onscreen with Downey or directed him -- among them Gibson, Jodie Foster, Gary Shandling, Michael Douglas and Jon Favreau -- gathered to pay tribute to (and roast) the "Iron Man" star at the Beverly Hilton as he received the 2011 American Cinematheque Award.

Read the rest of her take at:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/10/the-slow-but-methodical-rehabilitation-of-mel-gibson-in-hollywood-took-another-step-forward-friday-night-courtesy-of-rober-2.html

And in case you forgot, as you watch the videos below, of his Good Morning America interviews with ABC News Diane Sawyer from October 12th and 13th 2006, recall that this was BEFORE the most recent scandal involving former Gibson love interest Oksana Grigorieva, whom he took up with even before officially divorcing his wife, Robyn.

Mel Gibson Accounts for his Drunken Anti-Semitic Tirade (Part 1 of 2)

http://youtu.be/SeQMMp4tXfk

Mel Gibson Accounts for his Drunken Anti-Semitic Tirade (Part 2 of 2)

http://youtu.be/jGRS_TQhEhU