FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'

Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Why would you even consider voting for such a despicable person as Bill Julian for the Hallandale Beach City Commission? Besides Julian's creepy habit while an elected official of illegally parking in Handicapped Parking spaces for YEARS, when you add his truly terrible judgment and penchant for saying and doing the wrong thing, why would you even consider giving him a voice in deciding this city's future?; @SandersHB



May 16, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved. 

Above, the official shield used to be used for "Official Business" only for former Hallandale Beach City Commissioner William "Bill" Julian, now running desperately to regain a seat on the City Commission. 
Julian claims in his campaign advertising to be honest and full of integrity, but the reality for Hallandale Beach's citizen taxpayers is that Julian is anything but that. 

Regular readers of this blog already know that's true because I've shown the damning evidence consistently over the years as it has grown, and you don't have to take my word for it, the evidence of Julian's own words and actions so overwhelming make the case AGAINST him
having any power in this community and any say-so about this city's future.

Here are just some of the most recent blog posts about Julian and his shocking lack of scruples: 

In Hallandale Beach, it's déjà vu all over again with Bill Julian's very sketchy ethics in plain view for all to see; In every way that is important, Julian is unfit to be elected and make decisions about this community's future, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/in-hallandale-beach-its-deja-vu-all.html

No longer a secret in Hallandale Beach: More details on Bill Julian's longstanding anti-democratic tendencies while HB City Commissioner - he wanted to require residency of 3 years in order to run for local office in HB!; The worst enemy of Bill Julian is a smart voter who pays attention and who possesses a good memory; @MayorCooper, @SandersHB, @AlexLewy


Classic Bill Julian being Bill Julian -Why the rush at Hallandale Beach City Hall in 2009 to buy the Sanders property, with no actual plan in place for its use? Julian -"for the good of many, many people in Hallandale." Just NOT for the good of HB's own taxpayers!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/classic-bill-julian-being-bill-julian.html

But the reality today is that lots of Hallandale Beach citizens and other interested parties are coming to this blog who have never done so before, and have no idea what I've written about Julian before in detail and with photos to prove it and who aren't interested in plowing thru the blog archives to find the dozens of references to Julian's displays of unethical behavior and incompetency -which continue to this day, as he illegally uses my copyrighted photographs on his campaign website and in his campaign advertising- so I'm boiling it down to the most egregious case.
The example that stands for everything else you need to know about Bill Julian, and which breaks the camel's back.

Have you ever heard the saying that how you act and behave when nobody can see you is when you really reveal your true character? I suspect, like me, that you have. 
So if that's true, what do you think it reveals about someone's character when they consciously choose -hundreds of times- to act in egregiously anti-social and illegal ways -and are brazen about doing so publicly on govt. property?

The vast majority of govt. officials who have a reason to carry a real badge denoting some power DON'T park in Handicapped Parking spaces like Bill Julian routinely did for MANY YEARS all over this city, but perhaps most egregiously, while hanging-out with his pals and eating and drinking at The Beachside Cafe at the city's North Beach. 
Why couldn't Julian just act like a normal human being, like a regular Hallandale Beach citizen, and simply park in the nearby city garage for $1 an hour? 
It would have been so easy. 
But that is not how Bill Julian rolls.

Instead, for many, many years, as regular beach-goers like myself and the young Jeff Ellis & Associates lifeguards could observe first-hand for ourselves, literally dumb-founded at Julian's sheer audacity, he regularly parked in THE only Handicapped Parking space at North Beach near the sidewalk. 

Or, if that space was occupied by someone for whom it was intended, equally as bad and carrying the identical FINE amount as parking in a Handicapped Parking space, Julian parked his car in the Handicapped Access parking space, a spot legally designated to allow cars and vans to help discharge people in wheelchairs or who otherwise required assistance getting out of a vehicle. But it's NOT for parking! 
And most assuredly, it is NOT for parking by able-bodied City Commissioners like Bill Julian to use and abuse. preventing someone who really needed it from using it. 

So why did Julian do it hundreds of times over the years, just like he routinely parked in officially designated No Parking or Emergency Only parking spots all over Hallandale Beach, whether retail, hotel, condos, et al?
Things that I and lots of other people have observed and commented on.

Hard as it is to believe, in my opinion, it's because Bill Julian feels a deep sense of entitlement and believes he is owed something by society at large.

It's the same troubling reason that when no citizens were present for a HB City Commission mtg. in Room 257 at City Hall, Julian brazenly made a motion to triple the salaries of HB City Commissioners like himself, voted FOR it -it passed- and said publicly afterwards that he felt like he ought to be paid like a corporate executive because of all the work he did in what everyone knows is a part-time job.

To me and many of the most concerned and well-informed residents of this small city, the photo I've chosen to place at the top of this blog post represents a lot of things, and one of them is that William "Bill" Julian was and is so full of himself that he had no problem in publicly identifying himself on his car's dashboard where everyone could see it.
It also shows that he wanted the people who could do something about it, his pals at HBPD, to know whom it was and to look the other way -because of who he was
Special privileges for special people.

And as you'd no doubt guess, the Police Dept. ignored what Julian did over-and-over.
Like hapless Sergeant Schultz in Hogan's Heroes, they "see nothing."   

What sort of person does this and actually flaunts it?

A person who publicly feigns modesty but who has clearly shown thru his own words and actions that he's full of pomposity, a sense of entitlement and possessed of a giant chip on his shoulder. 

Through these and similar acts that have happened hundreds of times over the years throughout this city while he was a public official sworn to uphold the laws of this state, Bill Julian showed what a truly despicable person he is.

When you add that knowledge to Julian's already well-known bad judgment and his knack for saying and doing the wrong thing, why would you even consider voting for such a person?
So DON'T!

Meet the new Bill Julian, same as the old one! And still utterly without remorse for any of the mountain of negative things he has done in the past to the residents and taxpayers of this city thru his bad judgment.


----------
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
For one politician, Hallandale Beach's land purchase seems heaven-sent
Michael Mayo, News Columnist
February 22, 2009

The Hallandale Beach City Commission moves in mysterious ways. Take the case of Higher Vision Ministries and the Eagle's Wings Development Center in the city's impoverished northwest area.

At a hastily called Feb. 12 special meeting, the commission approved buying the church-owned property where the Eagle's Wings community center stands for $235,000.

That's $35,000 more than the city's most recent appraisal of the land (in November), nearly $90,000 more than the value listed by the Broward property appraiser and $190,000 more than the church paid for the land in 2001.

Considering the way the economy and local real estate market have been tanking, that's a pretty sweet deal for Higher Visions.

So who runs the church and the social-service center? Pastor Anthony Sanders.

The same Anthony Sanders who's a Hallandale Beach commissioner.

"We were supposed to do this two years ago, long before I was on the commission," Sanders said Friday. "Back in early 2007, the price was $350,000. This should have been done a long time ago, but the city kept dragging its feet."

Sanders, elected to the commission in November after being appointed last summer, abstained from the 3-1 vote. He said the price was fair, noting two other appraisals that valued the property at $275,000 and $230,000.

But one city-sponsored appraisal put it at $147,000, and the most recent valued it at $200,000.

Given the circumstances, Commissioner Keith London (the lone dissenter) said the city should have waited longer. Or at least had the sense to take up the matter as a clearly labeled agenda item at a regular commission meeting.

The land purchase wasn't listed on the agenda for the special meeting. It was brought up as "other business" during the session called by Mayor Joy Cooper on an unrelated matter. The meeting wasn't held in the commission's usual spot where sessions are videotaped, but instead was in an upstairs room without cameras.

"Does this pass the smell test?" said London. "I don't think so."

You'd think Hallandale Beach commissioners, who took a public relations pounding for engineering a pay raise in a similarly sneaky way a couple years ago, would have learned by now.

The city, through its Community Redevelopment Agency, has vague plans to build an affordable housing project on the block where the center stands.

"We're doing it for the good of many, many people in Hallandale," said Vice Mayor Bill Julian, who approved the deal with Cooper and Commissioner Dorothy Ross.

London didn't understand the rush: "If somebody said we have to buy this parcel by a certain date to complete a plan or it will fall through, then I could see doing it. But there is no plan."

I called City Manager Mike Good to get their version of events but didn't hear back.

Sanders said the deal closed on Feb. 13, the day after the special meeting, with the money already in the bank. The Eagle's Wings center hasn't been given an eviction date, he said. The center, which provides computer and other training classes and submits food-stamp applications for residents, was open on Friday.

"Is it standard to buy a property from a commissioner and then let them use it rent-free?" London said.

Sanders said London is grousing because of "envy."

"This isn't a personal thing," London said. "It's a finance issue."

Sanders' church bought the property for $45,000 in 2001. Eagle's Wings has received $130,000 in city grant money this decade, along with county and state contracts. The nonprofit agency's 2007 tax return listed income of $113,190 in government grants.

Sanders, a longtime activist in the northwest area, said the city's purchase of the property is "just a drop in the bucket," noting the $12 million the city spent to acquire land for a park in a better part of town.

Sanders has been critical of the redevelopment agency's stagnant efforts in the northwest. Two-thirds of Hallandale Beach falls within the CRA boundaries, including robust areas near Gulfstream Park.

"When the economy was up, we didn't do anything [in northwest] and now the economy is down and they say we can't do anything," said Sanders. "So when can you do something?"

Seems like Sanders' commission colleagues have already done plenty for him.

Csaba Kulin gets the Miami Herald's whitewash treatment: McClatchy's Co.'s Herald practices the opposite of giving credit where credit is due, editing out the name of the one person in South Florida most-responsible for finding out why and how 3 former Hallandale Beach City Managers will soon be multi-millionaires with taxpayer dollars; a story that Miami Herald reporters, editors and management have completely ignored for years!

Where did all the taxpayer money go? Good question! Csaba Kulin knows some of the answers. Imagine if we had City Commissioners here like him and Michele Lazarow who'd actually take their oversight  responsibilities for taxpayers seriously, and ask probing questions instead of just sitting on the dais and playing the role of rubber stamps for the mayor. Hmmm... October 24, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
Csaba Kulin gets the Miami Herald's whitewash treatment: McClatchy's Co.'s Herald practices the opposite of giving credit where credit is due, editing out the name of the one person in South Florida most-responsible for finding out why and how 3 former Hallandale Beach City Managers will soon be multi-millionaires with taxpayer dollars; a story that Miami Herald reporters, editors and management have completely ignored for years!

It's a damn shame that the Miami Herald's editors have once again shown their infamous tin ear for Broward County news, their terra incognita,.

In this case, by editing-out the name from their version of this past week's latest embarrassing story about Hallandale Beach in the Broward Bulldog, written by Bill Gjebre, of the one person in South Florida most-responsible for finding out why and how 3 former Hallandale Beach City Managers and other highly-paid officials will soon be multi-millionaires with taxpayer dollars.

In doing so, they do a serious dis-service to someone whose diligent unpaid hard work for two years first turned-up evidence of financial self-service by Hallandale Beach's three most-recent City Managers, ripping-off Hallandale Beach taxpayers while producing sub-standard results that we can all see around us in this small ocean-side city, HB civic activist and City Commission candidate, Csaba Kulin.


Pension plan pays off big for ex-Hallandale Beach city managers  
Hallandale Beach’s former top managers collect fat pensions from a retirement plan they pushed a decade ago
(FYI: The above story will disappear from Herald website in a few days, unlike Broward Bulldog's website.)

Seriously, folks, whom exactly did you think gave the reams and reams of information with copious notes to the Bulldog's Bill Gjebre in the first place, to get him fully-acquainted with all the pertinent facts and figures, Joy Cooper, the notoriously thin-skinned and ethically-challenged longtime autocrat of a mayor, under whose "leadership" the city's budget has nearly doubled the past 6-8 years, with hardly anything tangible for put-upon citizen taxpayers to point to except a Wastewater Treatment facility? 
Hardly!

And it's certainly not former HB City Manager R.J. Intindola, one of the central parties under-the microscope in the article.

As I've mentioned here previously, Intindola is the smug and poison pen online blogger who lives in Georgia, far from what's actually going on here, but who acts like he's a real player in what happens here. 
He not only isn't, of course, but his name now provokes laughs in people who know that he's been spinning a spiffy PR story about himself for many, many years that is now finally getting the genuine scrutiny it deserved many years ago, and best of all, using the city's own documents.
As we say in France, touché monsieur!

Hallandale’s ex-top managers collect fat pensions from retirement plan they pushed a decade ago
By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org
October 22, 2012 at 6:23 AM

Some of you regular readers of the blog may recall this story from five months ago, in my blog post of May 19th:
Csaba Kulin exposes the multi-million dollar bill to be borne by Hallandale Beach taxpayers for having a disconnected City Commission that was -and is- NOT interested in paying close attention to detail or in asking tough questions. That's how and why former City Managers Intindola and Good have made out like bank robbers

Which was followed-up by a large email and subsequent blog post here on Tuesday:

Thanks to Csaba Kulin's many months of diligently digging thru city records to find the truth -only some of which city had- we now know what the real cost to Hallandale Beach taxpayers has been for having an inattentive City Commission for so many years: Millions and millions of dollars for Intindola, Good & Antonio's pensions!



And here's the real kicker -Csaba Kulin already has the proof of the city's embarrassing "smoking gun" that kicks this story up several notches from what's written here. 
The sort that, IF Broward County had a solid and dependable local prosecutor, leads to real investigations, real grand juries and real legal consequences.

A fact that the Miami Herald seems determined to find out about -after-the-fact.
And I happen to know it, too, thanks to months of listening to Csaba connect-the-dots.

Not that the Herald's beat reporter for Hallandale Beach, Carli Teproff, ever thought to look into any of this, even though I've sent her some of the information that positively connects-the-dots, months ago, just as I sent it to the Sun-Sentinel's Tonya Alanez.
Nope, they just couldn't be bothered.

And neither could anyone else in South Florida's deservedly-maligned press corps -except Bill Gjebre of the online Broward Bulldog.

Why?
You'd have to ask Teproff and Alanez for that answer, but I have my own suspicions.
No, seriously, why don't you ask them why they weren't interested in a news story involving a city they covered that involved millions of dollars?

If I was their editor, you can be damn sure I'd be asking, but then I wouldn't work for either news paper, now would I?
Nope.
One, the Sun-Sentinel, with a pay-wall that is suffocating the newspaper and making it even more irrelevant, and the other, the Herald that plans on erecting one soon that will only hasten its likely demise. 
Not that their reflexive geographical myopia helps them any! 

(But lure existing and new customers and eyeballs to pay for what new and original content? Ah, there's the rub! What do they have to offer people dis-satisfied with the current product, more of what they dislike?)

Csaba has done what the smartest prosecutors presenting a case before a jury do -letting people hang themselves with their own words.

In this case, Csaba not only has used their own words to help paint a story, but has also used the documents these folks created, the city's own documents, to show what has been going on for years below-the-surface of Mayor Joy Cooper's economic facade on S. Federal Highway.

A city which, if you didn't already know, has a rapidly declining Reserve fund because of its continual use to balance the city's books on everyday expenses, as well as Cooper's craven crony capitalism, an economic theory that treats the city's CRA funds like an ATM for her friends and supporters.

Especially for her loyal supporters in Northwest Hallandale Beach, where do-nothing Comm. Anthony A. Sanders happily plays the role of bank teller with citizen's tax dollars or CRA funds that are supposed to end blight.
Except Sanders acts like it's his money, not ours, and he wants to be thanked for it at the ballot box in ten days. 
No, I won't be thanking you for squandering money and refusing to face HB concerned citizens in person for over three years.
Sanders & Co. needs to get the heave-ho but quick come Election Day...

Csaba penned some words on Thursday that I have included below that spell it out pretty well for all to see and chew-on, especially the very bitter supporters of Cooper, as well as longtime Commissioners Bill Julian, Dotty Ross and Sanders.

This claque of aggressively loud-mouthed and high-strung supporters, whom, as you might imagine, don't much want to let the real facts and bad judgment of their heroes interfere with their preferred alternative-version of reality, where Cooper, Julian, Ross and Sanders are just super, just like the state of the city, and it's people like myself, Csaba, Mike Butler, Keith London and others interested in reform and transparency who are keeping the city down.

Yes, the Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew's collection of sycophants, oddballs and ne'er do-wells, with their grand sense of entitlement, who, in order to prove their worth to their heroes, almost routinely engage in the most juvenile and almost laughable stunts imaginable, of which stealing others' campaign signs is but, I suppose, the most basic of initiations.
For a few of them who are just barely tethered to reality, though, that also includes making phony phone calls to the Police Dept. in order to try to embarrass and frame people they hate.
(I'll get to that in a few days.)

That so many elected officials who have so very much to be publicly held accountable for, as well as their flunkies, drive around town and act above the law, would be laughable if it weren't so damn objectionable and obvious.
I described it here in detail as recently as Wednesday, and I suggest you go back to that post if you don't get the full picture of what things are like.

And now, finally, here's Csaba Kulin with the latest news on this pension matter: 

I have researched Management Pension Plan for two years. I have all the documents made available to me by the city. I did not find anywhere the City Commission-approved the prior year of service before the pension plan actually started.
The plan started in 2001 and R J Intindola should be receiving 13 months plus 4 years of time purchased. That is a bit over 5 years, not almost 25 years. R J Intindola should receive his 401K retirement, which is a lot less generous, prior to 2001 years of service.
I have been looking for two years for the authorization to give credit for “back service” years.
I was not able to find it for one reason. There is none.
The City Commission approved the plan but NOT the “prior service years”. I have no proof YET but I suspect it was approved, without City Commission’s OK, by the then City Manager R J Intindola. As far as know, R J Intindola was the first beneficiary of his decision.
This is not the end of the story. Will Hallandale Beach try to “claw back” and stop paying out ill-gotten pension payments? Will the Broward Inspector General look at the issue? Will the Hallandale Beach City Commission just say “let us forget about the past and concentrate on the mistakes we will make in the future” or we are going to get to the bottom of this. I will tell you after November 6, 2012
Here is the “smoking gun” from the current City Manager.
Hello Mr. Kulin,
I apologize for the delayed response but I wanted to be 100% sure that this information as correct. The city does not have an item that speaks directly to the credit of back time. I have attached for you all the documentation associated with formal actions adopting the management pension plan for your review.
Renee C. Crichton
City Manager
City of Hallandale Beach
-----

So I ask you, in a City Manager-style form of government like Hallandale Beach has had, who do you suppose made that crucial and expensive decision years ago regarding back time?
Teaser Alert -it wasn't the cute blonde beach lifeguard from Ft. Wayne.
Think much, much higher on the food chain.


Yes, just more reasons to vote for Keith London for mayor and Csaba Kulin and Michele Lazarow for city commission instead of the faces of unethical behavior and inadequate oversight and financial accountability, who desperately want to be on the dais a month from now -Cooper, Sanders and Julian.

re 2012 Hallandale Beach Charter Questions: Vote NO on Questions 1-4 & 6, Vote YES on Question 5, to expand citizen's right to Repeal, Adopt and Expand Ordinances


Above, Hallandale Beach City Hall. Despite what the Broward Supervisor of Elections sign says, the actual Early Voting is taking place behind City Hall at the HB Cultural Center. If you are not the sort of person who has spent much time around HB City Hall before, the number-one thing you're likley to come away thinking is, "Why does such a relatively small city have so many vehicles?" It's even worse when you know the truth, and know how many of the cars are never actually used, which is why you see spider webs near the tires of so many. Then, once you leave, within about five minutes, you'll spot about 6-9 more HB cars on the road, each with one person. It's no way to run a city, that's for sure! October 24, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.  © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
re 2012 Hallandale Beach Charter Questions: Vote NO on Questions 1-4 & 6, Vote YES on Question 5, to expand citizen's right to Repeal, Adopt and Expand Ordinances





The questions are numbered on the city's website, but they are NOT numbered on Broward County's absentee ballot.
Yes, we're surrounded by geniuses!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The City of Hallandale Beach's rules are clear -NO political activity on city property. But Josh Brown, Jr. doesn't care about our rules. He wants what HE wants, and our rules don't scare him...; @SandersHB

Below is a copy of an email that I sent to Hallandale Beach City Manager Renee Crichton and some other city officials around 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

It's one that I felt was necessary after receiving a  disturbing phone call Tuesday morning about YET ANOTHER outrageous attempt by one of the more outlandish characters in this city with connections to HB City Hall, trying to get away with truly egregious behavior and intentionally trying to usurp the city's own rules, this time, in order to help their political friends. 

(If I told you that the friends are people NOT interested in genuine reform or financial accountability at HB City Hall, does that help narrow it down for you?)

I sent it to about 125 people, including bcc's to other elected officials in Broward County, some folks up in Tallahassee and a cc to the Broward Inspector General's office.
If I receive a response from City Manager Crichton I will print it here for you to peruse yourself.

FYI: The email references to DBS are in fact ones to yours truly, HBB.


-----------------------------------
Tuesday October 22, 2012 

Dear City Manager Crichton:

In my opinion, it's hardly surprising that someone with as checkered a public past as Josh Brown, Jr. would try to stretch and then break clear-cut City of Hallandale Beach administrative rules and ordinances designed to prevent people from taking advantage of city taxpayers.
No political activity on city property.

As you can read at the bottom of this email, the facts are pretty clear about what Brown has done in the past, the sort of unethical practices and fraud he has attempted in the past to take advantage of others, all in order to gain something of value to which he was not legally entitled to.
In the case cited below, trying to open a checking account under false pretenses, in order to solicit funds under the name of a political group to which he was NOT legally authorized to represent.
Keep that phrase in mind as you read this email -intentional misrepresentation.

Even though it's perfectly common sense on its own terms, it's no surprise to anyone that the city has rules that specifically forbid political campaigning by candidates or their representatives on city property for reasons that we can all understand and appreciate.

So, given these facts, what is surprising to me is NOT that Josh Brown, Jr. would think that he is too clever to get caught in attempting to break those rules and get away with engaging in political campaigning at city facilities, in order to directly assist his friend, Comm. Anthony A. Sanders, who votes on whether the non-profit group Brown  is a Director of receives city taxpayer funds or CRA funds.

The Hallandale Beach scandal that won't go away

(At a property owned by the city at 501 N.W. First Avenue. A property formerly owned by Comm. Sanders and his wife, and purchased by  the city without, as I have lamented, a legitimate plan. Plus, thanks to a motion made by then-Comm. Bill Julian in 2009, inexplicably, it allows former owner and current Comm. Sanders to use the parcel he already sold for FREE until the building is leveled. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved)

No, Brown and Comm. Sanders are clearly more than ships passing in the night,  so what IS surprising to me is that Brown honestly thinks that other citizens of this city, especially pro-reform citizens like myself and many of my friends who want this community to be MUCH more than it is now, would simply stand aside and let him succeed in perpetrating this fraud  he is currently planning for Wednesday night.

To wit, using the pretext of his reserving space at the city's new Foster Park facility -without paying for it himself!- for "voter education" as a ruse for Brown to conveniently have Comm. Sanders and Bill Julian come over for a bit and use that space to campaign with voters.

As I understand it, Brown then called what he was trying to do a "debate," something that was NOT mentioned in his formal request to use the facility according to a conversation I had with HB Parks & Rec. Director Cathie Schanz, when I called her about this matter Monday morning, to let her know what was really going on.

Frankly, I didn't think that it was right for Brown to not only get away with intentionally trying to break the rules and get away with something that is impermissible, and I also didn't like the idea of this sort of thing, after-the-fact, reflecting poorly on her Dept., solely because Brown was so confident that he could pull this off, including lying about what he was doing if need be.
Well, this email to you today is proof that he failed to carry out his misrepresentation and deception.

Besides, for something to be a real "debate," don't you actually have to have ALL of the candidates present to argue their various points and policies?
Of course, but that notion of basic fairness is NOT what Josh Brown, Jr. had in mind for Wednesday night.
No, instead, he wanted to take advantage of the city's taxpayers and ignore the city's own rules and play kingmaker, inviting people he liked to use city facilities to speak to voters -to campaign.
Period.

Despite all the people he knows in this city and who perhaps owe him favors, Brown does NOT get to write his own rules and laws in this city. 
Nor does he get to use the city's facilities, taxpayer facilities, as his personal or political clubhouse and hangout for himself and his pals.

It seems to me that it is long past time for Josh Brown, Jr. to accept that society and this city have rules and laws, and he is NOT above them.

From the public record we already know that Josh Brown, Jr. doesn't much care what others think about what he says and does, otherwise, he would never have been allowed to engage in his politically partisan remarks at the Foster Park opening ceremonies a few weeks ago.
Plain and simple, Brown and his friends will keep pushing the boundaries of right and wrong until he is finally stopped.

Owing to the importance of the city's rules actually being followed and fairly enforced, I'm sending copies of this letter to others in the community with a strong interest in that, with no "special rules for special people," as has been common practice here for years.

The most recent example of this attitude of entitlement is that on the property of the very city-owned building that Josh Brown Jr. spends so much time at, the one formerly owned by Comm. Sanders, is also where where political campaign yard signs for Comm. Sanders, Bill Julian and Mayor Joy Cooper were erected and allowed to stay.
For weeks.

Above, October 3rd, 2012 © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

And the three of them still have political yard signs on church property.
Specifically, the S.W. corner of Chuch of Christ at Hallandale Beach, and the  intersection of First Avenue and S.W. 3rd Street, a well-traveled east-west secondary road.

I don't know you that well, Ms. Crichton, but I suspect that I don't have to 
tell you why the idea of political signs on church property isn't a good one, and is actually illegal, or what can happen to non-profits like churches if they engage in political activity.
The IRS is very clear about this point.

Inline image 2

Above and below, October 3rd, 2012.
© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
Inline image 4
© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
People who should know better, actual adults who already know the rules, have once again tried to seek an advantage by intentionally breaking rules and laws that we all have to follow.
No, they are NOT exactly role models for the very kids they say they are attempting to educate and influence.

Please make whatever arrangements you deem necessary with the assistance of the City Attorney, the Police Dept. and, perhaps, Code Compliance to ensure that they have the resources they need Wednesday night to prevent one well-known person with connections in this town from abusing the rules that everyone in this city is supposed to follow.

IF you don't stop this sort of effort now, it will only grow increasingly worse over the coming years.

Sincerely,

DBS, Nine-year resident of Hallandale Beach
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: InspectorGeneral
Date: Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Subject: RE: re unscrupulous Josh Brown, Jr., Director of non-profit in Hallandale Beach that receives city funds - Why wasn't he prosecuted?
To: "DBS"


Your email  has been received by the Broward Office of the Inspector General.  Your information will be reviewed to determine what action will be taken.

Sincerely,

Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: cid:image001.png@01CD9292.68C95D40

Broward Office of the Inspector General

------ 


Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 2:41 PM
To: Timothy Donnelly
Cc: InspectorGeneral; Attorney General Pam Bondi

Subject: re unscrupulous Josh Brown, Jr., Director of non-profit in Hallandale Beach that receives city funds - Why wasn't he prosecuted?


October 3rd, 2012

Below my email to you today is a self-explanatory email I sent to South Florida
Times reporter Elgin Jones almost a month ago.

In it, I asked Mr. Jones if he had any more information about the well-documented 
activities and behavior of Josh Brown, Jr. of Hallandale Beach, a state-registered 
Director of a non-profit in Hallandale Beach called Palms Center for the Arts, Inc., 
which is run by his sister, Dr. Deborah Brown, who is its President.

Activities that Mr. Jones documented in his columns and on YouTube with a victim 
of Mr. Brown's activities, which I have links to on that email to Mr. Jones.

This organization has received tens of thousands of city dollars for many years
and operates out of a city-owned building that saw many thousands of dollars
poured into it before they moved-in, for which they pay Hallandale Beach taxpayers
the rather princely sum of $10 a year in rent for a building that the city itself claimed
was legally appraised for $235,000. Quite a deal! 
For them, not Hallandale Beach taxpayers

To say the least, the known behavior of Mr. Brown could at best, charitably, be
described as unscrupulous, to say nothing if not mendacious, fraudulent and
likely criminal.
In fact, that's exactly what it looks like, Mr. Donnelly.

Even in Broward County, intentionally misrepresenting yourself and your position 
within a non-profit, the Broward Democratic Black Caucus, to bank officials for the
purposes of opening a bank account so that you can illegally solicit funds throughout 
Broward County for an organization that you are NOT legally authorized to represent,
is NOT kosher.
Or legal.

And then there's that lingering questions about how it came to be that the Internet
is absolutely chock-full of information that show that at some point in the recent 
past, after the Palms Center for the Arts moved-in, Josh Brown, Jr. used the address
of this non-profit on city-owned property as the address for a personal political 
effort of his. Really. 
As if that was the most natural thing in the world to do.

It certainly gives me and many other concerned Hallandale Beach residents some
useful insight into Brown's willingness to do whatever he wants, and to laugh at the
rules, protocol or laws that everyone else has to follow.

Given his status as a Director at the Palms Center for the Arts, Inc., which continues
to receive city funds, my two questions for you, Mr. Donnelly are simple ones.

1.) How can Hallandale Beach taxpayers have any confidence in an organization
that has, as a Director, a man that has already tried to commit fraud to help himself
to money destined for a non-profit that he was not legally entitled to? 
Why must Hallandale Beach taxpayers have to wonder when the next shoe is going
to drop?

2.) Why was Josh Brown, Jr. not prosecuted by the SAO for his documented illegal
actions?

In the past few years, when I have written you and your office fact-filled emails about
highly-questionable ethical or illegal behavior/activities about the City of Hallandale
Beach that I have personally seen or have knowledge of, or been the victim of,
your office have chosen NOT to respond in any way to my queries. 

As a consequence of that track record of indifference, Mr. Donnelly, I'm sending 
copies of this email to roughly about 150 people or so in South Florida.

That not only includes Hallandale Beach's most well-informed and concerned citizens,
but also certain print/TV reporters, columnists, producers and station management
as well as local area elected officials, and others.
People who have more than a passing interest in Hallandale Beach being free of corruption
and criminal activity or influence.

And just as importantly, city tax dollars or CRA funds NOT going down the drain 
or being absconded with, due to the chronic lack of appropriate oversight by the 
Hallandale Beach City Commission, or timely and thorough auditing, due to their
longstanding love of crony capitalism with CRA and tax dollars.

Perhaps I'll hear from you at some point, perhaps not.
Given the lack of response from the SAO office in the past, you'll certainly understand 
that I'm not exactly holding my breath.

Sincerely yours,
DBS

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:"DBS"
Date: Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 9:35 AM
Subject: re Your 2009 article, BROWARD DEMOCRATIC BLACK CAUCUS ELECTION VOIDED re Josh Brown
To: "Jones, Elgin"
Cc: "DBS"
September 7, 2012
Dear Mr. Jones:

re your 2009 article, BROWARD DEMOCRATIC BLACK CAUCUS ELECTION VOIDED

Have you ever heard or been given a reasonable explanation for why Dr. Deborah R. Brown's
brother, Josh Brown, Jr., whom you reference in your article, and a Director at the Palms Center
for the Arts, Inc. that she is President of, which, according to documents they themselves provided
to the City of Hallandale Beach last year,
is NOT a 501(c)3 as most people assume


was, apparently, never prosecuted by the Broward State's Attorney for his leading role in attempting
to commit a fraud against the Broward Democratic Black Caucus in 2009, by engaging in a coup
against a legally-chartered political organization, including as you wrote at the time of your interview
above, Josh Brown Jr. setting-up a bank account in their name and then later soliciting funds under
false pretenses?

While I appreciate that historically, misrepresentation is often hard to prove in court, per se, this sounds
pretty clear-cut to me.

Also, have you ever heard any sort of plausible explanation given for why Brown was apparently
allowed to illegally use the address of his sister's organization on City of Hallandale Beach-owned
land as an office address for a political campaign or organization of his?
Not a Post Office box he rented or one at a nearby Mailbox Etc. but the actual physical address of
property owned by taxpayers, 501 N.W. 1st Street.

It's this building, where at 0:56 of this July Channel 10 video, hey, what do you know, there's Director 

How has he been able to apparently skate on all these things?

If you have any information or update on these matters that you'd be willing to share, I'd greatly
appreciate hearing from you.

Sincerely,


----------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Thanks to Csaba Kulin's many months of diligently digging thru city records to find the truth -only some of which city had- we now know what the real cost to Hallandale Beach taxpayers has been for having an inattentive City Commission for so many years: Millions and millions of dollars for Intindola, Good & Antonio's pensions!

Above, City of Hallandale Beach City Hall: where genuine accountability and financial oversight have been missing for so many years, which is why there is so little tangible improvement to show taxpayers in a city whose budget has nearly doubled the past 6-8 years. October 15, 2012. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

As predicted here months ago, thanks to Csaba Kulin's many months of diligently digging thru city records to find the truth -only some of which city had- we now know what the real cost to Hallandale Beach taxpayers has been for having an inattentive City Commission for so many years: Millions and millions of dollars for Intindola, Good & Antonio's pensions!

Broward Bulldog
Hallandale’s ex-top managers collect fat pensions from retirement plan they pushed a decade ago
By Bill Gjebre
October 20, 2012
A short-lived, perk-laden retirement plan has paid off big for some top Hallandale Beach officials who helped set it up a decade ago – but today it’s costing city taxpayers extra millions of dollars.
Read the rest of the article at:

And who's running for office here in two weeks who voted to approve this financial debacle?
Yes, William "Bill" Julian, shown below on his large campaign signs on the properties of some of Julian's strongest financial campaign supporters, all real estate developers.
I think you may've heard of them!

First, a sign on the parcel owned by real estate developer Richard Shan of Shanco. This is looking north/northwest off of Old Dixie Highway between S.E. 7th and 8th Streets, across the street from the city's largest park, Bluesten Park, about three blocks south of Hallandale Beach City Hall, and two long blocks west of The Village of Gulfstream Park retail complex
on U.S.-1/S. Federal Highway.
    

Second, the Raanan Katz family behind Sunny Isles-based commercial real estate developers R.K. Centers, at multiple locations on their huge retail complexes on both sides of Hallandale Beach Blvd. east of NE 14th Avenue. 
They have lots of Julian signs all over the place.

In this example, a sign as you look north near the Layne Blvd. entrance on the north property, off of Hallandale Beach Blvd., home of Winn DixieBoston Market, Panera Bread, Big Lots, Starbucks, Las Vegas Cuban restaurant, et al. 
That's The Duo condo towers in the background, on the south side of the Diplomat Golf Course and Resort.


Please be sure to read my May 19th, 2012 blog post on this subject full of more specific financial numbers and context on the topic of the inattentive Joy Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew and their willful ignorance of the looming pension disaster on the horizon:
Csaba Kulin exposes the multi-million dollar bill to be borne by Hallandale Beach taxpayers for having a disconnected City Commission that was -and is- NOT interested in paying close attention to detail or in asking tough questions. 
That's how and why former City Managers Intindola and Good have made out like bank robbers
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/csaba-kulin-exposes-multi-million.html

Yes, more reasons to vote for Csaba for City Commission two weeks from today...
http://kulin2012.com/

HallandaleTruth.com is delicious! A perfect mixture of facts & figures, statistics and anecdotes that tell the cold hard truth about what Hallandale Beach taxpayers have had to live with under Joy Cooper's ruinous reign of big budgets and crony capitalism

Hallandale Beach City Hall, the house of perpetual bureaucratic and spending horrors for the city's beleaguered taxpayers and small-business owners. October 15, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
HallandaleTruth.com is delicious! A perfect mixture of facts & figures, statistics and anecdotes that tell the cold hard truth about what Hallandale Beach taxpayers have had to live with under Joy Cooper's ruinous reign of big budgets and crony capitalism

http://www.hallandaletruth.com/