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.
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
October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
October 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier 
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.
