Where did Millions of Hallandale Beach CRA dollars go? Years later, HB taxpayers still want answers, and the #FL state legislators responsible for preventing a much-needed JLAC audit of the HB CRA at the time still DON'T want to publicly talk about it. Seems like déjà vu, no? Sobel, Braynon, Gibbons & Jones are no Profiles in Courage!So now that in 2017 the Hallandale Beach City Commission has a 3-2 pro-reform majority on it, intent on undoing a lot of the serious damage that has been done to the city the past dozen years under Mayor Joy Cooper, you probably won't be too surprised to discover that quite a lot of people in Hallandale Beach, Broward County and South Florida are STILL very interested in finding out where all the millions of Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) dollars were going for years.
Not surprisingly, that includes me and many of you readers of this blog.
And not just because it's Hallandale Beach, but the larger issue of municipal CRA performance in Florida and whether cities have successfuly thwarted the original intent of what the state legislature meant to do when they created the enabling legislation.
In fact, the Florida Bulldog's William "Bill" Gjebre has a new fact-filled article on that very subject today that I am only too happy to highly recommend to you, and link to below.
I've even included a few links and tweets re just some of the dozens of things I've written about the HB CRA over the past nearly-ten years this blog has been in existence to give any of you newcomers to the blog some much-needed context and nuance for understanding this newest call for some much-needed financial accountability.
Along with Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor Keith London and a few of my friends who are fellow civic activists, like Csaba "Chuck" Kulin, I've been among the most-outspoken and VOCAL critics of the operation of the city's CRA program, with me particularly liking to engage with and call-out the pathetic reporting efforts of the local South Florida news media that so often ignored the scandal that was, literally, right in front of them.
But most could not be bothered because it was taking place in Hallandale Beach, not Pembroke Pines, Doral, Hialeah, Pinecrest, Palm Bay, Aventura or...
Yes, that geographical discrimination that local reporters have been guilty of down here for so many years, where some stories are reported upon simply because of where they take place, not the core of the facts and the issues involved. :-(
More specifically, how and why under Mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew, and a succession of City Managers, for so many years the Hallandale Beach CRA was allowed to operate with nothing resembling the sort of basic financial accountability and oversight that you'd expect of an entity that spent millions of dollars -on the public's behalf.
With so very little tangible to show for that money that was supposed to address the problems the CRA is tasked with solving or fixing.
.@Florida_Bulldog: New pro-reform majority on #HallandaleBeach City Comm. wants to know: Where did #CRA millions go?https://t.co/APOwMGbmT6— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 18, 2017
Florida Bulldog
New majority on Hallandale commission wants to know: Where did CRA millions go?By William Gjebre, FloridaBulldog.org
January 18, 2017 at 5:05 AM
The new majority on the Hallandale Beach City Commission will seek the first-ever forensic audit of all expenditures by its troubled Community Redevelopment Agency for the past five years, including finding out why $7.4 million had to be cut to balance the agency’s budget this fiscal year.
Current Vice Mayor Keith London and Commissioner Michele Lazarow had been frustrated in seeking such an audit by the previous commission majority headed by Mayor Joy Cooper.
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.floridabulldog.org/2017/01/new-majority-on-hallandale-beach-commission-wants-to-know-where-did-money-go/Where has #HallandaleBeach #CRA spent $80 Million? Keith London on need 4 #FL JLAC audit, via #HallandaleBeachBlog https://t.co/SDH3UhCu2L …— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 18, 2017
In 2013-14, #SoFL media chickened-out by NOT confronting #HallandaleBeach's #FL legislators who abandoned taxpayers re re JLAC audit of #CRA— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 18, 2017
2014 #FL Leg. session = same old media apathy re Sobel, Gibbons, Jones ignoring thr #HallandaleBeach constituents re HB #CRA audit by JLAC— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 18, 2017
2014 #FL Leg. session = same old media apathy re Sobel, Gibbons, Jones ignoring thr #HallandaleBeach constituents re HB #CRA audit by JLAC— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 18, 2017
Years later, @ShevrinJones still WON'T publicly tell media why he failed to help #HallandaleBeach taxpayers, NOT push JLAC audit of HB #CRA.— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 18, 2017
If only Eleanor Sobel's disdain 4 her own #HallandaleBeach constituents re our efforts to get JLAC audit 4 HB #CRA = joke. No, intentional!— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 18, 2017
Only #SoFL media NOT ignoring Sobel's disdain for #HallandaleBeach taxpayers re HB #CRA wasted millions was @Buddynevins & @Florida_Bulldog— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 18, 2017
#FL Senators Sobel, Braynon prevented #FL JLAC audit of #HallandaleBeach #CRA, wasted million$, via @Florida_Bulldog https://t.co/CgTSA6dHBI— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 18, 2017
