Having lived in Arlington County for about 15 years from 1988-2003, a mile north of Ballston Metro, conservatively, I've walked across Key Bridge about a thousand-plus times to get to and from Georgetown and Downtown DC from Arlington. It actually could be even more times, since I also worked part-time for a few years at stores in Georgetown, both at the Abercrobie & Fitch in the Georgetown Mall in the early '90's, and years later at the Barnes & Noble Superstore .and often walked home at night after closing. USA Today's Susan Page was a very frequent visitor at Barnes & Noble, especially baseball-related books, and A&F was whereI'd first told then-U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson -whom I was a big admirer of- just what I'd heard and read about the newly-elected to the House Bernie Sanders of Vermont, after he admitted that he'd never heard of him before.
Many if not most walks across the bridge came on weekends when the Metro runs less frequently and I could walk to Georgetown and its great Washington Harbour area, one that I so often used as a second home for writing purposes, in about 75 minutes. Roughly the same amount of time as walking to Ballston Metro and waiting and waiting and waiting... and then walking to Georgetown from the Foggy Bottom metro next to GWU, George Washington University. If the weather was even halfway nice I'd usually walk, especially on sunny Sundays when I could listen to sports radio on my walk into Georgetown and not really think so much about the distance. If you hadn't already caught on from previous posts over the past eight years, I'm a longtime walker from way back...
As I've written about previously here on the blog, including back on September 11th, 2011,
9/11 -George F. Will on the American landscape ten years after 9/11: Commemoration can’t heal what is self-inflicted
that includes my experiences on 9/11, walking from my office on Pennsylvania Avenue opposite the DOJ and the FBI, and walking' the seven-plus miles or so home because,
a.) the Metro was packed like sardines times ten, and, frankly,
b.) I didn't want to be underground for so long and not know what was going on.
Everyone in my office had been kept informed via my awesome portable Sony radio the size of a sub sandwich, which had TV station audio reception back then, before FCC's Digital TV changes changed that.
We all listened to the audio of NBC's Today Show, but I didn't personally see footage of collapsing WTC Towers until hours later, at the Baltimore Orioles team store in downtown DC around the corner from NY Times Washington bureau, where I headed after my building was ordered to evacuate because of the fears that a plane -what we later came to all know was United #93- would be used to attack the Capitol Building or the White House.
Bud Verge was a friend I'd met and the very savvy and friendly manger of the O's Team store then, and it was there while he waited for his wife to come pick him that watching a TV that usually was running Orioles team highlights, that I first saw the two Towers fall.
Then I walked over to the NY Times Washington bureau to hear what some of my friends and their colleagues had heard or was being reported, before I decided to finsih my walk home, a little bit better infromed than I had been when the fighter jets were flying directly overhead.
Lots of other north Arlington residents I know walked home by choice across Key Bridge from downtown DC or even Capitol Hill because they shared the same concerns I had, that given everything that had already happened that morning, to say nothing of all the rumors we heard reported at the time, like the State Dept. being partially-bombed, something would or could happen on the Metro -or to it.
With my work clothes in my gym bag over my shoulder and that radio under my left arm like a football, every few minutes I'd stop and let a group of passersby catch their breath, too. and together, we'd get caught up on what we "knew" at the time via uncertain voices reporting "facts" from DC or NYC.
And all you could do was shake your head at what you were hearing.
That was never more the case then when standing halfway across Key Bridge over the Potomac looking at the nearby Washington Monument, looming larger than ever.
I still remember exactly how that felt.
So yeah, while I understand the arguments for studying the gondola idea cited by GreaterGreaterWashington, I'm firmly against a gondola that would ruin the view of that iconic bridge and the views that you can see FROM it.
Let 'em walk across the bridge. Or call Uber or lyft.
Csaba Kulin & I re Monday's so-called Traffic Workshop at Hallandale Beach City Hall: What questions you should be asking yourself -as well as asking the people who are supposed to be representing you on the dais- even while HB City Hall and the Diplomat Hotel's lawyers and lobbyists obfuscate, and try to ignore the self-evident 'Elephant in the room' - the longstanding lack of adequate #OpenSpace in Hallandale Beach
I screwed-up. My intention last week was to post these series of emails over the weekend so that as many concerned people as possible would know the germane facts before Monday morning's meeting at Hallandale Beach City Hall, But I failed to get it up in time. :-( In any case, despite my being late to getting these facts in front of you, the facts are still the facts, and you'd be well-advised to learn them because we know from history that you certainly can't rely on honesty from the duplicitous folks at HB City Hall. People who have a long and well-documented history of intentionally attempting to mislead area residents and Small Business owners thru mis-statements of facts, half-truths and false narratives. Since I first mailed this out Sunday afternoon to lots of concerned people in Hallandale Beach, next-door Hollywood and around the the rest of Broward County, I've edited it slightly for better context and to add some Google Maps to give more perspective to the exact nature of the problems we have here. #Density ----- Sunday May 17th, 2015 5:30 p.m.
re Monday's 9 AM Traffic Workshop at Hallandale Beach City Hall: What you ought to know about it and be asking yourself -and asking the people who claim to represent you at HB City Hall but have done such a poor job of doing so.
Monday morning represents a Golden Opportunity to change the public dynamic in Hallandale Beach, where for so many years residents and Small Business owners have taken it on the chin on one important public policy issue after another.
That is, it's a Golden Opportunity IF you take proper advantage of the chance to make yourself heard on the continuing problems of both a lack of honest discussion about Traffic Gridlock and Open Space in Hallandale Beach, and the associated problem of the powers-that-be at City Hall failing to be both properly responsive and savvy about adequately resolving those problems for YEARS.
Which is why so many of us in SE Broward cringe when we have to travel around the area, and know, in advance, precisely how bad the level of traffic gridlock will be, esp. if we are going from State Road A1A to I-95 or vice-versa.
After all, just a few years ago, then-Broward County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin, who at the time represented the western-most part of HB and areas west of there out towards Miramar, admitted publicly at a Broward County Commission meeting that due to the awful traffic gridlock here, she personally avoided NE HB and Hallandale Beach Blvd. at all costs, regardless of the time of year.
And THAT particular County Commission meeting was about development in the same exact area of NE HB as what the Diplomat has in mind now, off of Hallandale Beach Blvd. Hallandale Beach Blvd. is always the nexus of any traffic gridlock discussion in this city s because the reality is that most of the city's population and wealth is centered east of U.S.-1 -towards the beach and the Intracoastal Waterway- and Hallandale Beach Blvd., owing to issues involving nature (water), geography, development and past zoning decisions, is THE ONLY STREET that connects the eastern part of the city to the west, where I-95 is located. It's also important to recall that the HB City Commission had the chance to purchase -for a song!- the empty waterfront property on the Intracoasal Waterway & NE 26th Avenue where Manero's restaurant used to be located, and where The Beachwalk condominium next to the Intracoastal bridge is now located. Yes, that sweet bit of Open Space in NE HB could have been the first actual city park on the water in a city with the name Beach in it! But under the myopic leadership of Mayor Joy Cooper and then-City Manager Mark A. Antonio, that opportunity was completely lost.
Why? Good question. Antonio, Cooper and the City Commission have NEVER properly explained to the city's residents why they were SO SLOW on the draw when that opportunity presented itself -as I wrote about at the time- and allowed The Related Group to swoop-in after so many years of that property being both under-used and an eyesore to the community. AND the city could have purchased it for such a LOW PRICE! That waterfront property could have been one the crown jewels of the city for every resident to enjoy, regardless of where they live in the city.
Similarly, let's not forget about other germane facts regarding the endemic traffic problems here that have NEVER been publicly and adequately addressed by the principals involved. Mayor Cooper and Comm. William 'Bill" Julian have NEVER publicly explained why they voted to allow Gulfstream Park Race Track -with so many acres to choose from- to construct their three employee dorms in the EXACTplace where Hibiscus Steet could have logically been extended east from very busy US-1 to the area behind the always-busy Publix on 14th Avenue.
June 22, 2008 photo of Hibiscus Street looking east from U.S.-1. This street only goes one block because of Gulfstream's dorms.
June 13, 2008,
May 12, 2008, Hibiscus, i.e the future SE 2nd Street?
The expansion of that road at any point in the past would have allowed Golden Isles residents and everyone else in HB living and working east of 14th Avenue -.i.e. most of the city's population- to get to HB City Hall and Aventura and points south on U.S.-1 WITHOUTrequiring them to actually get on Hallandale Beach Blvd. and deal with that traffic
Where was their logic and reason? That wasn't merely a dreadful public policy decision, it's one that was made worse because the people making it were never forced to answer for it by South Florida's news media, including the Sun-Sentinel.
Let's not kid ourselves, things in Hallandale Beach didn't get the way they did overnight. And things won't get IMMEDIATELY better overnight if pro-reform people are finally elected to the City Commission next year, but it'd clearly be an important step in the right direction towards getting the city properly refocused and at a point where it ought to be NOW -but ISN'T.
Things got the way they did here over time and by the people in charge at HB City Hall consistently taking residents for granted and NOTbeing up to the jobs they were elected to, forever failing to provide the proper level of official oversight and scrutiny demanded of such a job. The very thing I wrote about in my last few posts, so that very troubling trend continues even now... What follows is a chronological account of facts re tomorrow morning's meeting and what you ought to know about it.
I know that for some of you, people who have been receiving my emails and or reading my blog for years, this is somewhat familiar territory, albeit with new facts worth considering before you show up or watch the meeting online.
But for others, people new to the chronic dysfunction and myopic public policy that best characterize what has actually taken place in this city for many years, this may well be the first time you've had access to pertinent facts about an important aspect of the city's Quality of Life. Facts that I believe effectively counter-act and destroy the conscious mis-truths and lies that have been routinely spread and repeated by HB City Hall for many, many years, even as the media ignored it. (To everyone's detriment, including their own.)
And in case you forgot or never knew, cold hard facts and figures like the ones below are like Kryptonite to the elected officials and bureaucrats at Hallandale Beach City Hall. They become largely distracted and powerless to respond -honestly. So, if you bring them up, expect the elected folks on the dais and the highly-paid bureaucrats next to them to quickly try to refute the facts with distractions and old-fashioned obfuscation, mis-statement of facts and lies. And if necessary, personal attacks against those telling the truth. Just saying... I've been there.
Still this chance to speak truth to power before so many HB residents leave for the summer, is one that those of you who want this city to be better must embrace. That's especially true for those of you who live on the beach and who have quite correctly complained for so many years about the countless missed opportunities by HB City Hall to do right be everyone, but especially to you and your neighbors. Fot you, this is your opportunity to change the dynamic and make them know that just because you live over on the beach, you are indeed hip to what they are attempting to pull off here.
Missed opportunities like the powers-that-be at HB City Hall foolishly keeping the taxpayer-owned, perfectly-placed North Beach Center -just steps from the Atlantic Ocean- a place that properly ought to be a beautiful crown jewel for the community that we can honestly brag about, CLOSED to the public for years at a time. AFTER it was already closed for years due to City Hall's very own incompetence at attempting to repair it, at great cost to everyone as I wrote so many times on the blog with dozens and dozens of contemporaneous photos to tell the godawful tale, and plenty in follow-up posts.
Yes, for those of you who are fortunate enough to live on the beach, Monday morning represents your chance to publicly discuss with facts, reason and any remaining anger, the "wind tunnel" effects you and your neighbors have to deal with all the time because of the conscious Zoning choices that have been made re development along the beach among campaign contributors of Mayor Cooper and Commissioner Sanders. Do not not miss the chance to publicly say to city officials what you have been telling me in-person, via phone and via email for years and years.
Besides the City of Hallandale Beach's announced May 18th workshop, are you currently aware of any other tentative meetings re The Diplomat's future development plans, or, of any any HB/Hollywood citizen's effort to keep the proper level of scrutiny on them to help ensure that they do NOT attempt to gain some goodies from the always-pliant HB City Commission? That is, goodies that are more than they are now legally entitled to have and build?
I ask because as of 3:15 p.m. this afternoon, the city's own website has NOTHING on its landing page about that workshop next Monday -surprise! In fact, despite how much it has been discussed over the years here as a way that developers fudge on their applications, the only reference on the city's website this afternoon to "hotel-condo" is a link to a HB P&Z meeting. That is, a HB P&Z meeting from... 2012! Again, surprise, surprise! http://hallandalebeachfl.gov/Search/Results?searchPhrase=hotel-condo&page=1&perPage=10
Perhaps I'm missing something, but so far, in none of the recent media pieces I've read about The Diplomat -and the associated "hotel condo" controversy- have I seen a single reporter actually ask a Diplomat rep some simple questions that ought to have been asked and ANSWERED by now. Actually, that should be should have been ANSWERED years ago to the HB public's satisfaction.
For instance: 1.) Why has The Diplomat failed for YEARS to actually DO what they were already legally allowed to do within that property in the way of genuine improvements? That's something that you and I consistently encouraged them to do years ago, since making that place more successful is in everyone's interest. But they have failed to do so.
2.) When is The Diplomat going to improve their unpopular golf course, which according to everyone I know and have spoken to, who are both knowledgeable about golf in general and that golf course in particular, since the general consensus is that it is NOT very interesting or challenging, and charges FAR TOO MUCH for a round of golf for the level of course it actually is?
3.) Why has The Diplomat failed all these YEARS to actually advertise their golf course properly? Say, with actual advertising like other courses in South Florida, or, at a minimum, apply with the city for some directional signs that consumers and drivers can see? Why does The Diplomat fail to do the small things that HB churches seem able to do with helpful signage?
You'll recall how much fun I had a few years ago at the Broward County Commission meeting on The Diplomat's request to build those unwelcome, unsightly and incompatible condo towers in NE HB, by simply asking these very simple questions to the representatives of the Diplomat, the County Commission and the public during my three minutes of public comment. Last time I checked -today- The Diplomat and their army of highly-paid lawyers, lobbyists and publicists STILL haven't adequately answered those simple questions to the public's satisfaction.
Dave
"Hallandale Beach plans to host a workshop May 18 at 9 a.m. to discuss traffic that will come with forthcoming development projects."
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Hallandale Beach ditches hotel moratorium By Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel May 8, 2015 7:39 PM Hallandale Beach
A moratorium on hotel permits was quickly shown the door this week after developers warned it would doom economic growth throughout the city.
It might have been one of the shortest moratoriums in city history, lasting only a few weeks.
At the commission's request, City Manager Renee Miller declared a moratorium April 16 to give staff time to research the impact of hotel-condo developments on nearby neighborhoods.
Read the rest of the article at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-hotel-moratorium-hallandale-20150508-story.html ---- *NB: References below in Csaba's email to 'Debbie O" below refers to land development attorney Debbie Orshefsky, who for most Hallandale Beach and Hollywood residents and Small Business owners, has become the public face for most of the most-controversial projects in our part of SE Broward for the past 12 years.
To the best of my knowledge -and my amazing memory- Mayor Cooper has voted against approving only ONEDebbie Orshefsky development project in the past 12 years.
That was Hallandale Square, the Taubman project proposed for the SE corner of US-1 and HBB that never happened, and, which as I wrote and complained about at the time, including to germane city officials, soon became the home of lots of debris, flotsam and homeless people, as the developer at the time completely failed to properly maintain the property, and made it a de facto poster child for the laughingstock the city had become with its bad public policy and lack of oversight, accountability and follow-through. Right where everyone driving thru the city could see it. But not the folks at HB City Hall! --------- Re: Broward's Open Space requirement and the curious manuevers in Hallandale Beach by City Hall and the Diplomat Hotel
Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 4:18 PM
To: Csaba Kulin
Excellent analysis, Csaba!
Unless I hear from you by Noon Friday, I will incorporate your spot-on comments into my email and blog post tomorrow afternoon, which I hope will serve as a useful warning shot to everyone in HB and environs to be on guard for precisely the sort of confidence game you mentioned the city is attempting to pull off before the public is the wiser.
I only wish that I had access to some of the Broward primary source material on Open Space that I had last year -now stored in a plastic tote at my sister's place in Pembroke Pines- which I used to bring to Keith London's monthly meetings when he first started them many years ago.
Back when Keith routinely used that old, huge and unwieldy map of HB and shocked so many first-time visitors when he told them that curious bit of info about the city being allowed to count waterways as Open Space for purposes of the city meeting standards.
Keith's testimony to some Broward group about that issue years ago -Broward Planning Council?-before he was first elected, was the first time I ever heard of him. I found the info on Google and agreed that what HB was doing then was fraudulent in spirit, even if keeping with the letter of the law.
Dave ----
On 5/14/15, Csaba Kulin wrote:
David,
Let me just give you a couple of points.
The City Manager on her own announced a six months moratorium on “condo-hotel” projects. Immediately Miss O. and other developers started lobbying and the City Commission reversed the moratorium 3 to 2. Comm. London and Lazarow voted no. Clarity of the rules and traffic was the main argument to keep the moratorium. To calm the opposition, the Mayor agreed to have a “meeting” to talk about “traffic” on the 18th. Waste of time. We always talk about traffic, weather, sea water rise and flooding but we never do anything about it. An insult to the intelligence of the residents.
*THIS IS A LOT MORE IMPORTANT TODAY!* *PARKS AND OPEN SPACE LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS)* Item 14D on the May 20, 2015 Agenda (Parks & Open Space LOS) may be the most important single item with respect to the future of our City. If this opportunity is missed all the other discussions of future development, “synergy” and “economic engine” is fruitless.
*ANALYSIS FROM THE CITY’S BACKUP.*
*Broward County Land Use Plan requires all municipalities to provide a minimum of 3 acres of parks for every 1,000 existing and projected permanent population. Policy 1.1.2 of the City of Hallandale Beach Recreation and Open Space Element also requires 3 acres per 1,000 existing and projected permanent population as mandated by the County.*
*In 2011, Broward County Planning Council (BCPC) created an Open Space Task Force to research the use of water bodies by municipalities to meet the municipal parks LOS requirements of 3 acres per 1,000 population.*
*At that same time (2011) the City audited its inventory and the methodology used to calculate it. As a result of that analysis, the inventory was reduced by approximately 62 acres. That portion of school property which is not open space suitable for recreation was removed, as was 90% of the acreage from city-maintained waterways that are not accessible to the general public. A credit of 0.71 acre remains in the inventory for water bodies which are public but are accessible only by residents that live adjacent to them.*
*Substantial research and analysis on this issue was performed by the County Task Force. Their work resulted in amendments to the Broward County Land Use Plan as adopted by the Broward County Commission in 2013. The amendments did not affect the cities’ use of water body acreage in their existing inventory to be counted as community parks acreage. Any open space added to an inventory subsequent to the adoption of the changes must adhere to them.*
*The following is a summary of the referenced amendments: *
1. *Water body acreage added to community parks acreage inventory may count no more than 10% of such additional acreage unless managed by a governmental agency for recreation or environmental purpose.* 2. *Required the County to publish municipalities’ parks inventory. Municipalities should also publish on their website their parks inventory.* 3. *Parks and open space acreage was to be accessible to the public on a regular basis.* 4. *Conspicuous signage of access to the park be posted.* 5. *A water body with safe public access from another bordering municipality could be counted as community park.* 6. *Deleted the provision allowing 50% credit for private golf courses deed- restricted for open space. (private refers to golf courses which are not open to the public)* 7. *Acreage deed- restricted or designated “Conservation” on the Land Use Map could count as park acreage.* 8. *Required municipalities to provide an up-to-date inventory and documentation of sites used to meet the 3 acres per 1,000 existing population for Plan Amendments which result in an increase demand for“community parks.”*
*The City’s current parks and open space acreage requirement, based on its existing population, is 111.34 acres. The acreage required based on the City’s build-out population is 145.59 acres. The City currently has 200 acres in its Parks and Open Space Inventory (Exhibit 1) of which 65 acres are land and 135 are water bodies. The Inventory is in compliance with the City and Broward County Land Use Plans. **(Note: How did the City come to this conclusion? See No. 1.) *
*END OF BACKUP FROM CITY*
*THESE ARE THE NUMBERS:* *The Rule is “3 acres of Open Space Acreage per 1,000 population”. (Note: Not waterways). The population is 37,113 according to the 2010 Census. (Note: approximately 60,000 during the “season”). The “Build out Population” is 48,493.*
*Hallandale Beach is required to have 145.49 acres of “Open Space Acreage”. (Note: 48.483 times 3 acres). Hallandale Beach has 55.63 acres of Public Parks. Hallandale Beach has 9.90 acres of Public School Property. Hallandale Beach has 134.6 acres of Public Waterways. (Note: 13.46 acres is 10%).*
*Hallandale Beach counts 200.13 acres of Public Parks and Open Space. (Note: 55.63 + 9.9 + 134.6 acres).*
*IN MY OPINION: Hallandale Beach should count 78.99 acres of Public Parks and Open Space. (Note: 55.63 + 9.9 + 13.46). Hallandale Beach needs an additional 66.5 acres of “Public Parks and Open Space Acreage”.*
*WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?*
*I'd love to find out what the “penalty” is for any City not being in compliance with the “Open Space Acreage Rule”? *
Tri-Rail Coastal Link, partner56239248 YouTube Channel: Tri-Rail Coastal Link, Uploaded April 28, 2013. http://youtu.be/fFZR6ljK3og And as if I didn't have enough to say about South Florida transit issues and the way taxpayers and customers are often taken for granted or treated in either a patronizing or condecending fashion by transit agencies or transit groups, it seems that Tri-Rail is guilty of engaging in historical revisionism, too, as caught byeagle-eyed writer Sean McCaughan, above and below below to devastating effect. Congrats to him for seeing the situation for exactly what it is and not being duped as they intended. http://miami.curbed.com/ Tri-Rail Coastal Link Video Rewrites Miami's History, Gives Richard Florida All The Credit by Sean McCaughan Thursday, May 2, 2013, http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2013/05/02/trirail-coastal-link-video-rewrites-miamis-history-gives-richard-florida-all-the-credit.php
Below is a copy of an email I wrote and sent last Tuesday about the continuing communication and outreach problems afflicting some transit agencies and transit-oriented groups in the State of Florida, far too many of whom, it has been my misfortune to see over the years, have an often over-inflated image of their own role and influence in the larger scheme of public affairs. Some even seem to live in their own world, where they set their own rules. That's a fantasy world, of course, but sometimes, well-intentioned outsiders, like reporters or bloggers, are reluctant to pop their balloon and ruin the illusion they've created of being important. A world where they're rarely if ever held to account by the public at large, and more specifically, by local taxpayers or residents affected by various transit plans and schemes.
Me, I'm not afraid of popping other people's illusions, so this blog post today should be read for exactly what it is -me bursting some bubbles.
That fantasy public policy world I've just described is what many of us who are paying attention think of as the bad side of South Florida policy, where some self-interested types with connections or degrees or letters after their names, often think their access to the public teat is unlimited, and can never be turned off. This allows them, or so they think, to act with varying degrees of patronizing indifference and condescension towards the public and customers. (Think The Beacon Council and MDX, for instance!)
As it applies to the world of public transit and planning and design, they're under the mistaken impression that people who generally are pro-transit, especially those in favor of long-range trains or short-range commuter trains, like me, will just pretend they don't see displays of incompetency, stupidity and arrogance when it's right smack in front of them.
Well, not me.
The email was sent to Broward County Commissioners Sue Gunzburger, Barbara Sharief, Chip LaMarca, Tim Ryan, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, with a cc to Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) Secretary Ananth Prasad in Tallahassee.
It was also sent as a bcc to well over a hundred interested parties located between here and U.S. DOT HQ in Washington, D.C., with multiple stops in Tallahassee, Orlando and Broward County, and, necessarily, included other South Florida mayors, city commissioners and city mangers, as well as to certain selected reporters, foundations, non-profits, transportation websites and bloggers.
Naturally, that list started with the great folks over at Transit Miami. http://www.transitmiami.com/ As much as I'd relish the opportunity to ask the folks at All Aboard Floridaface-to-face at this afternoon's 4:30 p.m. meeting in Miami -with my video camera rolling- how they square intentionally ignoring Broward County 's residents with an honest effort to engage in outreach to the South Florida public, there's zero chance I will be attending it, since going into downtown Miami late in the afternoon is truly a fool's errand. More so if you are starting from Broward County, even if, like me, you're just north of Aventura. Besides, did you see where the geniuses involved have scheduled the meeting? 1600 N.W. 3rd Avenue, as show below in Google Maps.
What a great location for a transportation meeting!
Yes, in keeping with what apparently is the genius brains at work over at All Aboard Florida.
they've consciously chosen to NOT locate the meeting close to the FEC tracks they plan on using in the future,or, anywhere near where the most-likely customers of the service will be coming from, but rather in the Overtown/Culmer neighborhoodof Miami.
Awesome!
For those of you who are reading this far from these shores, or, even those of you reading it closer-at-hand but not hip to that address, it's NOT exactly the safest place in Miami at the time when the meeting will be wrapping up at night.
Congrats for all the bad planning and bad outreach, folks!
Yes, hard as it is to believe, it appears that the folks behind this All Aboard Florida scheme seem not to have even considered the real possibility that prospective customers or taxpayers like you or me can support the overall goal, but NOT like or support going forward with it with the particular group of managers attached to it now, since they sure don't seem very smart or savvy in trying to get their OWN message out to people who would actually be supporters or customers in the future. It's called knowing your universe. (It's like the 'Florida Marlins' screwed-up marketing/outreach for so many years while they were playing at Dolphins Stadium near the Broward and Miami-Dade county line, where, despite well over 60% of their season ticket holders living in Broward and Palm Beach counties because of the ease of the drive to the stadium via the next-door Florida Turnpike, the Marlins refused to show common sense and place a store or even small kiosks at nearby destination shopping malls like Aventura Mall or Pembroke Lakes Mall, where actual baseball fans and families go to shop. No, instead, showing their customary arrogance and bad judgment, they had their one-and-only store located in Little Havana. Really. Yes, the continuing myth of the Little Havana baseball fan dies hard. But the reality was that those fans would listen to the games on the radio (in Spanish) and buy a Marlins ball cap every 5-6 years, but would only actually go to a game every few years. Look how well that worked! Thud. Good luck Marlins getting casual baseball fans who live in or north of Fort Lauderdale to head down to Little Havana with their kids on a Tuesday school night when the Padres and Rockies come to town!) It's just like how beleaguered fans of the Dolphins or the Marlins can root for the players but NOT like or support their owners, and, frankly, rather hope that Stephen Ross and Jeffrey Loria meet their demise sooner rather than later, so that fans don't have to continue to be so conflicted with their emotions towards the teams.
Clearly if ignoring Broward residents on purpose is part of the All Aboard Florida playbook, it's NOT a Silver Linings Playbook, but rather one of a dog chasing its tail, over-and-over. A public policy story that some of us have seen played-out in South Florida for well over forty years already, with all the disastrous and logical results we see around us today as proof. By the way, as of today, May 6th, 24 days since I sent that email to Joseph Giulietti, the head of SFRTA/Tri-Rail, about prospects for a Tri-Rail Coastal commuter station in Hallandale Beach, I still have NOT heard from him or his staff. Too late! My patience with him and their indifference to taxpayers has officially expired. -----
April 30, 2013
1:30 p.m.
Do any of you have any idea why there isn't a single scheduled All Aboard Florida scoping meeting being held in Broward County, esp. In FTL, the only currently-announced prospective station in the entire county?
Prior to starting this email to you today. I checked their website and went through their archives, http://www.allaboardflorida.com/to see if there'd already been a public meeting in Broward somewhere that I somehow missed out on hearing about.
I don't know, maybe something that took place while I was in Sweden back in mid-January, and ignoring everything locally right before my trip?
No, nothing's already been held in Broward-and there's nothing scheduled
for Broward in the near-future, either.
If you know the answer to this question or have a good guess, please let me know...
I'll be sure to mention this lack of common sense to anyone I know whom I run into at the Broward MPO'sCommitment 2040 meeting at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center on Thursday
This screw-up with All Aboard Florida ignoring Broward County residents is just the latest in a series of completely inexplicable decisions involving transit in South Florida that make it hard for a longtime pro-transit advocate like myself to have much faith in either the "system" or the people who are supposed to be running and managing transit and transit-related issues in
South Florida, as well as public outreach.
They always find a way to let you down.
Over two weeks ago, for the second time, I contacted SFRTA/Tri-Rail to get them to say definitively, one way or the other, whether their current plans for utilizing the FEC tracks foresee a train station in Hallandale Beach or not, since their current plans on their website for a Coastal line state that Hallandale Beach will NOT have a station.
But we all know that there can always be closely-held but public information that they have which they have not yet chosen to place on their public website, which is why my email to them needed to be sent -to get the truth.
As you can see at the bottom of this email, I contacted SFRTAExecutive Director Joseph Giulietti on April 12th to get his input, since he'd surely know better than anyone what was what.
And again, I'd already contacted them back in late January with this same basic questions, and never heard anything, which is how and why I specifically wrote to Mr. Giulietti earlier this month.
The response after 18 days: nothing from him, nothing from his staff -just lots and lots of NOTHING.
Like I said earlier, "They always find a way to let you down."
For now, just color me underwhelmed at the self-evident oversights that characterize South Florida transit, where, with the current cast of characters in place making policy decisions that affect lots of people and cities in this region, it's hard not to notice that taxpayers and customers almost always come in last.
DBS, Nine-year Hallandale Beach resident
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This ad appeared in last Wednesday's Miami Herald.
