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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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/ne
BY REBECCA ELLIS
rellis@miamiherald.com
July 25, 2018 02:34 PM
Updated July 25, 2018 09:32 PM
https://www.miamiherald.com/ne
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.
Nov. 2, 2013: http://hallandalebeachblog.
Oct. 18, 2013: http://hallandalebeachblog.
#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.hallandalebea
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://tw
Instagram: https://www.instagr
Snapchat: SoBeHoosier
