Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

First Day of Hallandale Beach's 2013 Budget Workshop on Monday is royal debacle for HB taxpayers in favor of more accuracy, financial oversight and prudent decision-making. And free speech!; On the plus side, the Hallandale Beach City Commission didn't declare war on Cuba or The Bahamas, so there's that; recycling in Sweden is SO much easier than in Hallandale Beach

Meanwhile, in another place and time, but also of this world and year... For someone like me who's a longtime recycling enthusiast, one of the best things about Sweden in general and Stockholm in particular is the average person's very strong personal commitment to keeping that beautiful city -and its public nature areas- free of trash and debris. You pay a few Kroner more for products packaged in recyclable plastic or aluminum, like maybe 20 cents on a 12-ounce Coca Cola can, at both retail stores and from street vendors in kiosks, but you always get your money back via self-serve machines like the ones pictured above at stores. (I did this myself with some Coke products at the the Hemköp grocery store in the basement of the Åhléns Dept. store at Ringvägen and Götgatan, across the street from the Skanstull T-bana in the southern commercial heart of trendy and fun Södermalm.)
This recycling system has the psychological advantage of creating a real financial incentive in consumers of all political temperaments or persuasions to return items to stores, as well as incentivizing people to pick-up any recyclables they ever see lying on roads or in parks -and get that found money themselves- which is one of the reasons that Stockholm is SO CLEAN! 
They make it as easy as possible to recycle, the polar opposite of the approach in Hallandale Beach, where the city itself puts up real and meaningful obstacles.

First Day of Hallandale Beach's 2013 Budget Workshop on Monday is royal debacle for HB taxpayers in favor of more accuracy, financial oversight and prudent decision-making. And free speech!; On the plus side, the Hallandale Beach City Commission didn't declare war on Cuba or The Bahamas, so there's that; recycling in Sweden is SO much easier than in Hallandale Beach
Only five Hallandale Beach citizens showed-up for the start of the meeting, including me, at 4:15 pm, so we few were significantly outnumbered by city employees by a factor of about 8:1, mostly Dept. heads.
Surprise! The meeting started late...

Hallandale Beach civic activists Csaba Kulin and Maggie Ivanovski each spoke for three minutes at the very beginning of the meeting after, a propos of nothing, Mayor Cooper felt the need to share her opinion on the George Zimmerman trial.

The mayor's comments were as predictable as they were completely unnecessary and inappropriate, and yet another reminder of the large obstacles this city faces in ever becoming a normal city instead of merely her personal plaything.

Csaba and Maggie's spot-on comments came before any Dept. or subject budget presentation and concerned a.) the Parks Bond issue & cost overruns at B.F. James Park, and b.) the number of new city employees that have  been hired since City Manager Renee Miller was hired as HB's City Manager over a year ago, having pledged to at least some of us in the community of her best efforts to instill some real oversight on city activities and keep costs under control.

Not that either thing she promised me last summer is readily-apparent to even the most casual of observers, since I still see the same bad things routinely taking place in the same bad way
in the same exact places and circumstances.
I'll be doing a video on that soon that I think will give you a sense of how true this is.

After the two of them were finished, when it would have been perfectly appropriate and sensible to make a motion to allow the public to speak after each Dept.'s presentation of what their request is and why, since as the mayor is so fond of saying over the years about city Workshop meetings, which this was in part, they "have flexibility," no HB commissioner had the good sense to do so, least of all, the mayor.

For all his faults, to give him his due on this, even former City Manager Mike Good allowed citizens to ask questions after Dept. budget presentations when he and Mayor Cooper were running things up in the infamous and cramped Room 257 at HB City Hall.

I know because I was one of the handful of persons who regularly took advantage of the opportunity to remind him, the Commission and the staff about their previous promises to the public that had gone unfulfilled and in many cases, never even attempted, or if they had, as was the case with the city's recycling program after they bought tens of thousands of bins, done
haphazardly, unprofessionally or in a general half-assed fashion.

The city's ass-backwards recycling program and approach remains a very frustrating and disheartening mess in my opinion, given the resources they have now but don't properly utilize, to say nothing of their lack of effort to be intelligent about capturing more by using known consumer behavior in this small city.

Those budget meetings were one of the rare times in the year in this city when you got a chance to really hold Dept. heads to the fire and make them responsible or publicly acknowledge problems that they consciously ignored the rest of the year, which would now get a full airing.
Well, at least as much of an airing as you can have when City Manger Good and Mayor Cooper each had a microphone in a small room when you are about ten feet away, at most.

So, whatever good points you or I or anyone else had regarding the budget particulars were left unsaid Monday afternoon and night because Mayor Cooper refused to  allow any members of the public to speak once City Manager Miller ran  thru the agenda for the next three days and her 'laundry list of priorities, which really should've been a list of the Commission's priorities,
of course, but I digress.

Which is why a motion should have been made, so Cooper would've been forced to public defend her position that no taxpayers of this city should be able to talk about the budget after they hear the financial "facts." 

No, she doesn't want to hear from you until September when it's too late, because then it's a done deal.
The 2013 HB Budget train will have already left the station with her as conductor, and she will tell you if you ask that "you should've spoken up earlier" when you had the chance.
But, of course, you really didn't have that chance to make constructive suggestions and informed criticisms, did you?

But here's the thing: Not showing up at the meetings , though, only encourages Mayor Cooper, so it's important that you try to attend on Tuesday or Wednesday after 4 p.m., and see whether the tables are finally turned, since they'll be going on for hours.

If you think you as a Hallandale Beach taxpayer, resident or small business owner ought to be able to ask informed questions after hearing the Dept.'s presentations, instead of commenting without knowing all the facts, why don't you call the HB City Commission and tell them you want the budget process to be one where there's genuine community input, not lip service, and you want them to pass a motion making that a reality on Tuesday and Wednesday?

You can reach the Commissioners at these phone numbers:
Michele Lazarow   (954) 457-1320
Bill Julian   (954) 457-1317
Anthony A. Sanders   (954) 457-1319
Alexander Lewy   (954) 457-1315

It's your money after all, not theirs.

And don't forget to bring your cameras with you!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Having a long tradition of 'White Flight' and a large part of Hallandale Beach's community, essentially, boycotting the local public high school, Hallandale High School, is nothing to brag about. Unfortunately, it's been the sad reality under Mayor Joy Cooper; One of the persons at Hallandale Beach City Hall most-responsible for nothing changing for the better on this issue, Jennifer Frastai, will speak at Tuesday's meeting re education policy in Broward, at Hollywood City Hall at 6 pm. But Frastai won't talk about the real problems here -anything but that!; @MayorCooper


Above, as it has been for many years, one of my three photos of Hollywood City Hall that are three of the first six photos you see on Google Images when you look up Hollywood (FL) City Hall
It's currently #2 after having been #1 for years. I'm always surprised that there aren't more older, historical photos of this or the previous Hollywood City Hall listed on GoogleLooking west towards Hollywood City Hall from the half-circle in front of the Hollywood branch of the Broward County library. June 2, 2008 photos By South Beach Hoosier. © 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
I realize that for some of you, much of the following will seem like ancient history once again repeating itself, and some very bad history at that, but stay with it.
Most people don't know the same facts that you do, and they deserve to.

My comments are after the announcement.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: News and Announcements <listserv@civicplus.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 10:51 AM
Subject: Hollywood to Host Consortium of Broward County Education Advisory Boards

Email Notifications
The City of Hollywood Education Advisory Board is participating in a forum of 16 education advisory boards from throughout Broward County to exchange information, explore issues affecting education, and discuss new Broward County School District initiatives. A meeting of the Consortium of Education Advisory Boards will take place Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 215 at Hollywood City Hall, 2600 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. Meetings of the Consortium are typically held on a quarterly basis.

One of the topics that will be discussed during this meeting is the Hollywood City Commission’s recent passing of a resolution opposing the practice of high-stakes testing in the public schools. Donna Greene, vice chair of the Hollywood Education Advisory Committee, will make a presentation about the process of gaining Commission support for the resolution. Additionally, Jennifer Frastai, assistant city manager of the City of Hallandale Beach, will discuss the reorganization of the Hallandale Beach Education Advisory Board and Renee Grutman, chair of Cooper City’s education advisory board, will discuss Cooper City’s Resource Fair.
You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to News and Announcements on www.hollywoodfl.org
If clicking the link doesn't work, please copy and paste the link into your browser.
Since I'm on the mailing list, why am I getting this announcement for the first time the day before it happens?

Do you recognize that name above, Jennifer Frastai?

She's one of the two Hallandale Beach Assistant City Manager whom I and many other concerned HB residents and small business-owners hold personally responsible for much of what doesn't work or has seldom-if-ever worked properly within the City of Hallandale Beach's inefficient and bewildering bureaucracy, few of whom actually live here.

(The other is Nydia Rafols, whose fingerprints, like Frastai's, are all over the lousy public policies currently pursued here, and the self-evident problems that never get resolved, esp. involving the city's Dept, of Public Works, which is forever chasing its tail and making no progress on matters, years after-the-fact.)


In my own opinion, and in the opinion of many other Hallandale Beach residents who actually pay close attention to what actually happens in this city -an effort in contrast to the local South Florida news media, print or TV, or the taxpayer-supported faux newspaper that was specifically and negatively cited by the Broward Inspector General in his report on corruption at HB City Hall, the South Florida Sun-TimesFrastai is someone who has largely escaped the sort of negative public scrutiny that in many other parts of the country would be hers, given her very mixed -at best- track record.
Especially given how many things Frastai has touched over the many years that are no better now than they were years ago.

Given the important topic under discussion on Tuesday night in Hollywood, Education Policy in Broward County, it's important to note that she's the same HB city employee who spent almost 25 minutes of a recent HB City Commission meeting talking about the high-minded "changes" to the HB Education Advisory Board when it needed, maybe, 10 minutes.


I know because I was there in attendance and taped it on my camcorder.

I deleted it once I got home and listened to it again because of how ponderous and unrealistic it all seemed given where we are and given her own record while acting as the city's liaison for education for years.

The faux earnestness with which she spoke was especially meaningless and even irritating given how this city currently operates, a point that was hammered home subsequently by Mayor Cooper herself, as if I could have written it any better, complete with punchline.

Mayor Cooper has wasted little time and has promptly and predictably shown how little regard she had for this high-minded effort to reach out to new faces and new people in the community and get them involved.

People with varied backgrounds and perhaps even some educational/childcare expertise on the Education Advisory Board.
Yeah, it sounds great in the abstract, but what about in reality?

Mayor Cooper showed her true colors and provided the punchline by re-naming her tennis pal, Barbara Southwick, to the same Education Advisory Board that she's already been on for years.

So much for dynamic changes!
So what was all THAT talk about positive changes and new faces, then?

Yes, Joy Cooper, the longtime Hallandale Beach mayor who has NEVER once publicly called for or even convened a single community-wide meeting or forum, say on a Saturday morning morning, that dealt exclusively with any of the myriad of difficult education issues and very real challenges facing this city.

A city where hardly any kids who live east of U.S.-1 -where most of the population is- actually go to the public high school that's in this city.

Having a tradition of White Flight and a large part of the community, essentially, boycotting the local public high school, Hallandale High School, is nothing to brag about.

(And who has been the Education point-person at Hallandale Beach City Hall while all of this was allowed to happen, year-after-year?
Jennifer Frastai.) 

Real estate brokers covering S.E. Broward sure don't boast about THAT fact it when talking to families considering a new home in HB, esp. those moving to the area from out-of-state, do they?
And why would they, since the basic facts would cause most reasonable people to question why they should want to move here if the people who already live here WON'T send their own kids to Hallandale High School.

But then that's been Hallandale Beach City Hall's modus operandi for so many issues under Joy Cooper the past ten years -if she pretends the problem doesn't exist, it doesn't.
And you can be pretty sure the news media will ignore it completely, too, which makes everything worse, since there's no public pushback against bad public policy that doesn't help anyone, yet continues year-after-year.

For those of you who don't already know, Jennifer Frastai, one of the speakers Tuesday night is the same person whom I spoke to for almost an hour to in the HB City Manager's conference room four-and-a-half years ago with another HB Assistant City Manager present who hasn't been around for years, Franklin Heileman.
Yes, just the three of us in the HB City Manager's conference room.

I described to her in detail just about every single problem and every single example of HB City Hall's longstanding myopia, incompetency or lack of oversight that I'd personally observed -and taken photos of- one neighborhood at a time, and placed on my blog.
That's why it took almost an hour.
The truth is, though, there were always a lot more photos and examples I didn't post but could have.

And just so you know, just as I reminded them that wasted afternoon, everything I mentioned was something I'd already communicated to the very people at HB City Hall who were supposed to be in charge of that, so I already followed the chain-of-command.
But it was broken, apparently, permanently.

Even though no organizational flow-chart of the city or even a complete list of areas of responsibility existed then or even currently at HB City Hall or on the city's website, I made an effort to find out who the right person to talk to was.
And in ZERO instances did any of the city employees I communicated with actually do anything to resolve the problems facing HB residents, taxpayers and small business-owners.
Really.

Why do you suppose I started my blog in the first place, anyway?
Simply to complain about stuff?
Hardly.

At one point, about ten minutes into this, after writing some things down, Frastai put her pen down and looked at Heileman sitting right next to her at the other end of the conference table, and asked if all the things I was saying were true, and, implicitly, whether I'd really mentioned the problems and posted these photos on the web.

I'll give Heileman credit at least for being honest about that, since he just nodded, because he knew it was all true.
She seemed a bit stunned.

We then went mentally thru a tour of a city where City Hall couldn't or wouldn't see longstanding problems right in front of residents' noses every day, inconvenient reminders that city employees ignored problems that needed to actually be solved.

Well, despite my reminding Frastai that photos of everything I said were already on the Internet, with its location, length of the problem, et al, on my blog, in case she wanted to confirm my comments, and despite my having given Frastai multiple ways of contacting me my phone or email to let me know what she'd done, she NEVER did anything about the problems I mentioned to HER that afternoon.
She never contacted me, either.

Frastai's the same person whom former City Manager  Mike Good put in charge of making sure that the newly-purchased recyclable bins were placed on the beach in places where beach-goers could use them, to make it as easy as possible, after I criticized both of them at a City Hall budget meeting in 2009.

(Yet it still, needlessly, took many months and even now, is inconsistently done, and seems to be organized in such a fashion to make it for the convenience of city employees, NOT actual beach-goers, the same way the city continues to mis-allocate picnic tables down at South Beach, while there are only two at North Beach, which are often monopolized all day.
The city has foolishly re-purposed hundreds of the recyclable bins to be used for regular garbage and city employees actually hide them, which is why you don't see recycling bins near the baseball stands at Blusten Park all these years later, while they remain next to the fence on S.W. 5th Street, some of which have not moved in years.
Why did taxpayers pay for something that the city has no clear intention of using properly and with common sense?)

Most of which I mentioned here last June 15th,
Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's old threats & lawsuits re-emerge as Hollywood's  Beach One Resort sues over its access to the beach, the latest shoe to drop in The Related Group's Beachwalk project that'd make HB's North Beach a defacto private beach for The Related Group's properties, NOT a public beach for HB residents

By the way, I think it's awesome that this Education meeting in Hollywood tomorrow is scheduled for the same time and date that the City of Hallandale Beach is hosting their beach re-nourishment meeting over at The Hemispheres Condos.

Yes, the meeting with responsible federal and state officials who, presumably, know what they're talking about and who'll be straightforward with those of us who show-up, creating a real nice contrast with what we usually get at most HB meetings, where blame is placed on outsiders -or those of us here in town who favor genuine reform and transparency- is thrown, to say nothing of the mis-direction, half-truths and spin dumped by the barrel-full.

But NOT a forthright discussion about public policy where ALL the germane facts surrounding an issue or vote are publicly revealed -or even given to the City Commissioners by the city staff, as CRA meeting of February proved- and of the problems that are before us.

Because, apparently, the unvarnished truth seems to really hurt someone's feelings at HB City Hall, so instead, we get the charade of democracy, not the real thing.
Year-after-year...

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Tonight's Hallandale Beach Transportation Master Plan meeting is a Sign of the Times in HB: We Need Change!



January 2, 2009 photo 
All photos on this page by South Beach Hoosier © 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved. 


July 26, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Was at the city's public beach for a bit late Sunday afternoon after the downpours, walking around, observing, doing some writing and reading the NY Times and Post up at North Beach.
Things there are as bad and depressing as ever, if not worse.

From my point-of-view and that of many other Hallandale Beach taxpayers and residents I know and speak to regularly, folks who go to the city's public beach often, the change at the top at DPW, from William M. Brant to John Chidsey as Director the past three months has made ZERO positive difference for folks like us who want a nicer, cleaner and better-maintained beach.

He and his dept. still seem blind to the problems and clueless about how to solve them, even though many of the answers are entirely self-evident.
Why does this not surprise me?

Because my past experience here the past five years informs my trust level of the city's management and accountability, as this post today will show once again.
Perhaps the evidence will cause some of you who have yet to grasp the obvious, to finally see that it's not a matter of my opinions, rather it's a matter of the self-evident facts-on-the-
ground.


June 6, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Notice what's missing from the photo above?

HINT: It's not the first time it's happened, in fact, it's not even the first time this year it's been missing.
It was missing for MONTHS last year AFTER I'd already told HB Fire Chief Daniel Sullivan about it at a City Commission meeting.
Which was, itself, weeks AFTER I'd already told the HB Fire Dept., about it.

I've even written about this subject a few times before on my blog.

Here are some more hints:

Jan 18, 2008, photo by South Beach Hoosier
17 months ago


May 12, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier, 13 months ago

May 22, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier, 13 months ago



June 13, 2008,photo by South Beach Hoosier
And who was the City Hall genius who thought it was a good idea to okay nailing a city sign into a palm tree?

Yes, the correct answer is the American flag is what's been missing for weeks and weeks.
The version with 50 stars for 50 states, not Obama's 57-state version.

That would be the flag that flies on the flag pole right next to the empty public fountain, which, conveniently, has also been empty for many weeks.

The fountain in front of the so-called 'Beach community center' that you can't use unless you're from HB City Hall or one of their numerous back-scratching cronies.



April 28, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved 
Looking east towards the Atlantic Ocean.

The beach-front facility which marked it's 22nd month in city hands on Wednesday, June 3rd. Twenty-two long months where you couldn't use something that already belonged to you because of City of HB incompetency and malfeasance.


May 22, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
13 months ago

Then as now, the city was so incredibly incompetent that they kept the old info on the front door, with nary a sign or flier to alert people passing by as to either its new owner or true
purpose.


May 22, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
13 months ago
Looking west from the beach.


June 22, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

June 6, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Shocker: Thirteen months after Mike Good's "promise" at the Budget meeting at HB City Hall, a promise he made to me, there is not one single light blue recycling bin (with a lid) on the public beach -where the people are!
Just garbage containers without lids at THE windiest place in the entire city.


April 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier



May 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
The photo I took at HB City Hall during their City Budget meeting, where Good promised recycling bins on beach.
Those are HB plastic water bottles tossed into the garbage can because at a public meeting at City Hall where everyone talked about being "green," there was not a single recycling box or receptacle present, even though there was food.
It's the perfect example of the city saying one thing and doing quite another.



May 22, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Looking north from The Beach Club property, seven garbage cans without lids and no recycling bins in sight.

Just like last year and the year before that and the year before
that and...
I have a very strong feeling that DPW Director John Chidsey is going to start feeling like a human piñata over the next few weeks at public events from all of the valid criticism thats going to stick to him.

In fact, I'm going to make sure of it.



June 8, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
How can I put this?
Dark green plastic bins on the beach specifically marked "Yard Waste Only" are NOT recycling bins.


You do know about tonight's citywide Transportation meeting at 6:30 p.m.,right?

Hm-m-m... a public discussion for an important report that was both past their original deadline and over- budget?
You'll understand if I don't really think that truth-telling is high up on HB City Hall's list of things to do on Tuesday.
Which, when you think about it, actually means that getting a good turnout of concerned and indignant HB citizens who will call them out for this should make the proceedings livelier and
quicker for those of us who attend.


May 28, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Sign on W,. Dixie Highway & N.E. 185th Street, Ojus.
Why aren't these signs present in HB in numbers even one-fourth their presence in next-door Aventura?

I'm especially interested in seeing and hearing people ask specific questions of Commissioners Julian, Ross and Sanders, and have THEM actually answer questions in detail and in complete sentences, not Good and his staff of minions, who do his bidding for such absurdly high salaries.

People need to specify that they want the Commissioners to answer, since that's why they were elected in the first place.

They were elected to represent all of us and THEY need to explain their lack of accountability or anything even close to resembling oversight, not to mention, their self-evident lack of familiarity with the subject, since they foolishly approved large development projects without there being a single real and understandable plan for the construction of a working
S.E. 2nd Street (now Hibiscus) from U.S.-1 to S.E. 14th Avenue.

That, of course, is desperately needed to relieve the enormous traffic flow that will come from the Hallandale Square project and the Oasis project that would otherwise all go onto HBB,
making that EVEN WORSE!

Ask them why they went ahead and approved it without a sensible plan in hand.



Jun 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Future site of Hallandale Square



June 8, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Future site of Oasis


Hibiscus, i.e the future SE 2nd Street?



May 12, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
13 months ago



June 22, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

The only thing on Hibiscus now when you turn right from U.S.-1 is a yellow warning sign in the middle of the block that has been twisted and bent for over FIVE years.

A sign that you can't see when you turn onto the street because it is completely obstructed by foliage.


June 22, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Once again, the city has shown itself unable to do even that simple thing.
And why isn't it closer to the intersection so you can see it?

This obstructed sign has dozens of cousins all over the city, but one I've chronicled in particular is this speed limit sign next to the old City Hall on West Dixie Highway and S.W. 3rd Street.



June 2, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Looking south on West Dixie Highway,& S.W. 3rd Street, next to the old HB City Hall.
What's the speed limit?

It was even captured for posterity on Google.
From December 2007.




June 2, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Looking east on S.W. 3rd Street towards S.W. 1st Avenue

Another Mike Good success story!

This afternoon, after the downpours, I noticed this sandwich board sign on the median of Hallandale Beach Blvd. & 16th Avenue, for left-hand turns into the Winn-Dixie parking lot, advertising it. (Actually, the sign was on the shrubs!)

June 6, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Taken from one foot away.
What can you really say about the genius of this particular effort?
It's the city in a nutshell!

June 6, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Naturally, this being the backward Duchy of Hallandale Beach, the type was FAR TOO SMALL for anyone sitting in a car to actually make sense of, plus, the rain made everything on the board bleed.
I have not seen another sign anywhere in the city this weekend, which is not to say they don't exist, only that I haven't found one.

But what I do know for a fact is that there isn't one at the city's busiest intersection, HBB & U.S.-1, or anywhere along U.S.-1, or at the busy intersection of HBB & A1A.

Why no HB Police Dept. electronic board message?
Oh, that's right, it's not related to the Hallandale Beach PAL!



May 28, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
S.E. 1st Avenue & S.E. 3rd Street
City truck full of signs to put up.
So why is the HB Park & Recreation Dept. responsible for putting up signs for City Hall, but they aren't allowed to put up Parks & Rec. signs for sports registration and kids activities throughout the city, while PAL is allowed to put signs up everywhere?


June 2, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier



June 8, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
On median in front of HB City Hall.