So, guess which genius blogger sent out a post about Comm. Cathy Anderson's Tuesday night town hall meeting of last week a few days before the event -and then wrote it down on his own calendar as Thursday? I'll give you one guess.
Yours truly.
Fortunately, someone I sent an email about it to wrote back right away, but sadly, your faithful scribe didn't see it until, well, let's jump in the South Beach Hoosier Time Machine -which needs to go in for a warranty check soon- and see the excerpts of a letter of explanation I sent that kind person who tried to throw me a line in time before I walked back in time.
Subject: I hate when I do that -get the date wrong!
Saturday September 15th, 2007
Thanks for the helpful email, but I didn't see it until Friday since I did some errands after sending my email to you Thursday.
Actually, I compounded the date problem by relying on what I'd written on my calendar instead of simply looking at my own post on HallandaleBeachBlog(HBB) from a few days before.
On the way to the Hollywood Beach Cultural Center, I swung by that continuing insult to Hollywood and Hallandale Beach residents, the pile of dirt on State Road A1A and Hallandale Beach Blvd. at the city line
Usually I'm the one in the group who reminds others to double-check the dates and times, so this faux pas was especially painful to admit.
As it turns out, martial arts would've actually been a good metaphor for the night, though, since based on what the bldg.'s administrator told me about Tuesday's meeting -his guestimate of the crowd was 200-250 people- the evening was quite animated and, occasionally, heated, which, of course, is why I was so looking forward to it.
Instead of being at the meeting and finally being able to get some matters out in the public where they belong, I was watching some -as it turned out- rather mediocre 9/11 remembrance programming on TV.
The week before, while taking notes at the Hallandale Beach meeting that foolishly gave approval for that 19-story bldg, to be built right on US-1 opposite Gulfstream Park, right about midnight during one of the many breaks, HB Mayor Joy Cooper came up to me while I was talking to Sun-Sentinel reporter Thomas Monnay.
As I told the mayor then and later repeated to HB city manager Mike Good a few minutes later, when he came to my area of seats in the back, while my intentions are always to be as civil as possible, my criticism of them and the job they were doing was nothing personal, per se, just a criticism of their track record and competency to perform their jobs.
I then took advantage of the opportunity to let them have an earful of pinpoint criticism for 2-3 minutes about some self-evident longstanding problems.
Since it had been brought up repeatedly at that meeting, which I was at for just under nine hours -the last nine hours- I specifically mentioned the condition of SE 8th Street, the street they and the city staff had professed to be so concerned about.
Yet despite having been ripped up twice over the past three years, to lay pipe, there are still NOT any HUMP warning signs parallel to the humps, as is common in the rest of the city, say, for instance, near the elementary school.
My feelings towards City of Hollywood officials and employees is similar to that of Hallandale Beach.
While cooling my heals trying to figure out if I'd screwed up the date, I read the Hollywood Beach Hawk condo newsletter about Bunny Mestel's cogent comments regarding the nature and scope of the Sheridan Street project, comments that I'm in complete accord with.
CRA Master Plan for Hollywood Beach is at: http://www.hollywoodbeachcra.org/portals/beachcra/pdf/hbcramp_final918.pdf
Yours truly.
Fortunately, someone I sent an email about it to wrote back right away, but sadly, your faithful scribe didn't see it until, well, let's jump in the South Beach Hoosier Time Machine -which needs to go in for a warranty check soon- and see the excerpts of a letter of explanation I sent that kind person who tried to throw me a line in time before I walked back in time.
Subject: I hate when I do that -get the date wrong!
Saturday September 15th, 2007
Thanks for the helpful email, but I didn't see it until Friday since I did some errands after sending my email to you Thursday.
Actually, I compounded the date problem by relying on what I'd written on my calendar instead of simply looking at my own post on HallandaleBeachBlog(HBB) from a few days before.
On the way to the Hollywood Beach Cultural Center, I swung by that continuing insult to Hollywood and Hallandale Beach residents, the pile of dirt on State Road A1A and Hallandale Beach Blvd. at the city line
Welcome to Hollywood -by dayHollywood, FloridaHallandale Beach Blvd. & A1A, looking northeast from the sidewalk and city line; late September 2007 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Welcome to Hollywood -at sunset
Hollywood, FloridaHallandale Beach Blvd. & A1A, looking northwest from access sidewalk to Hallandale Beach's beach, a sidewalk whose whose lights haven't worked for months, even before Turtle hatching season began; late September, 2007 photo by South Beach Hoosier
An aesthetic and environmental poke in the eye and lungs that has mocked us from varying degrees of elevation -thirty feet early in the year- since at least last Thanksgiving, with absolutely no plastic slit-fences on the east side of A1A to keep the dirt off the roads and the passing pedestrians.
Yeah, that's a great way for people to get their first impression of the beach area, with trash and debris alongside the sidewalk and inside the fence, with plenty of aluminum cans and broken bottles for everyone!
Even discarded City of Hollywood signs advertising public meetings from early August!
When I walked into the HBCC front door Thursday night about 6:15 p.m., and saw some kids doing some sort of martial arts -with sticks/batons- THAT'S when it hit me that I'd never make that colossal a mistake again!
Usually I'm the one in the group who reminds others to double-check the dates and times, so this faux pas was especially painful to admit.
As it turns out, martial arts would've actually been a good metaphor for the night, though, since based on what the bldg.'s administrator told me about Tuesday's meeting -his guestimate of the crowd was 200-250 people- the evening was quite animated and, occasionally, heated, which, of course, is why I was so looking forward to it.
Instead of being at the meeting and finally being able to get some matters out in the public where they belong, I was watching some -as it turned out- rather mediocre 9/11 remembrance programming on TV.
The week before, while taking notes at the Hallandale Beach meeting that foolishly gave approval for that 19-story bldg, to be built right on US-1 opposite Gulfstream Park, right about midnight during one of the many breaks, HB Mayor Joy Cooper came up to me while I was talking to Sun-Sentinel reporter Thomas Monnay.
As I told the mayor then and later repeated to HB city manager Mike Good a few minutes later, when he came to my area of seats in the back, while my intentions are always to be as civil as possible, my criticism of them and the job they were doing was nothing personal, per se, just a criticism of their track record and competency to perform their jobs.
I then took advantage of the opportunity to let them have an earful of pinpoint criticism for 2-3 minutes about some self-evident longstanding problems.
Since it had been brought up repeatedly at that meeting, which I was at for just under nine hours -the last nine hours- I specifically mentioned the condition of SE 8th Street, the street they and the city staff had professed to be so concerned about.
Yet despite having been ripped up twice over the past three years, to lay pipe, there are still NOT any HUMP warning signs parallel to the humps, as is common in the rest of the city, say, for instance, near the elementary school.
Why the disparate treatment?
They couldn't say.
(NB: I was in DC on 9/11, ten blocks from the target of Flight 93's hijackers, the U.S. Capitol, right across from the FBI and DOJ.)
My feelings towards City of Hollywood officials and employees is similar to that of Hallandale Beach.
I don't want alibis, excuses and buck passing for why they can't handle simple problems -I want quantifiable results.
Period.
Period.
While cooling my heals trying to figure out if I'd screwed up the date, I read the Hollywood Beach Hawk condo newsletter about Bunny Mestel's cogent comments regarding the nature and scope of the Sheridan Street project, comments that I'm in complete accord with.
I was actually at one of the Hollywood city meetings where it was discussed, speaking to some of the project consultants about my concerns in the back of the room before they spoke.
CRA Master Plan for Hollywood Beach is at: http://www.hollywoodbeachcra.org/portals/beachcra/pdf/hbcramp_final918.pdf
