Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Hallandale Beach City Commission terminates contract of embattled City Manager Daniel Rosemond on a 3-2 vote

Wednesday night the Hallandale Beach City Commission terminated the contract of embattled City Manager Daniel Rosemond on a 3-2 vote, with Vice Mayor Keith London, Comm. Michele Lazarow and Comm. Anabelle Taub voting for, and Mayor Joy Cooper -speaking via telephone from her home- and Comm. Anthony A. Sanders voting no on the motion authored by Vice Mayor London.

I'll have more to say Thursday afternoon on the very angry, heated meeting that went nearly four hours and that was forced to take a recess several times when shouting matches between Commissioners grew too heated for the proceedings to continue. 

The last recess came about when apparently self-evident but-heretofore-unreported facts were made public by Comm. Anabelle Taub about just who in the community had been heavily involved in engaging in what were by any reasonable standards, some vicious and unethical perhaps behavior during the recent election campaign.

Not surprisingly, it involved Joy Cooper's Rubber Stamp Crew and its well-financed backers and acolytes in the area that had caused the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to label Hallandale Beach as the site of "the dirtiest" election in all of South Florida in its editorial endorsing newcomer Anabelle Taub and incumbent Michele Lazarow.

For those of you reading this blog post far from this ocean-side city in southeast Broward County where the temperature reached 84 degrees today, that's really saying something considering how low things have been in South Florida for many decades. 
Among those involved: Commissioner Sanders' very own adult son.

The meeting was full of both dry, stone-cold, documented facts about Rosemond's persistent failings and lapses in ethical judgment and, being Hallandale Beach, some quite "imaginary" views voiced by several of Mayor Cooper's typically thin-skinned friends and cronies -as well as some out-of-town friends of Rosemond- that described Hallandale Beach as a very well-run city and Rosemond as about the nicest, most capable guy you could know. 
Yes, IF only it was actually true...

But the problem for the people who believe in the alternative universe version of HB is that the mountain of inconvenient facts about the reality there the past dozen years under Mayor Cooper are known by far too many people in the area -including reporters- and belie that naive, preposterous fiction and attempt to spin and misrepresent the truth. Considering that he was the person who had formally requested the meeting under the city's charter rules to try to stave off being fired, it was typical HB melodrama that Rosemond was... NOT present.

I think you know where I come out on this: Daniel Rosemond should have been fired for cause years ago when he was only damaging the HB CRA, not the whole city thru his consistently arrogant and condescending attitude towards the public and Small Business community, as well as his bosses, the City Commission, plus his inability to take constructive criticism or actually resolve self-evident problems.

Here's link to the agenda from tonigt's meeting, with Supporting Documents
https://hallandalebeach.granicusideas.com/meetings/238-december-28-2016-city-commission/agenda_items

I've updated and expanded my last blog post since it was originally posted:

#ethics & threats: The reasons ex-Hallandale Beach Comm. Alex Lewy was booted from City of Hallandale Beach Police & Fire Pension Board. Threatened Broward County PBA members if they didn't support him in his election bid 

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

#ethics & threats: The reasons ex-Hallandale Beach Comm. Alex Lewy was booted from City of Hallandale Beach Police & Fire Pension Board. Threatened Broward County PBA members if they didn't support him in his election bid vs vs. Michele Lazarow

#ethics & threats: The reasons ex-Hallandale Beach Comm. Alex Lewy was booted from City of Hallandale Beach Police & Fire Pension Board. Threatened Broward County PBA members if they didn't support him in his election bid vs. Michele Lazarow

Updated: December 27, 2016

To me and many other observers of the South Florida political scene, especially those of us who've kept a particularly close eye on what Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper has really been up to the past dozen years, what's perhaps the single most disturbing aspect of daily life for most Hallandale Beach residents and Small Business owners -besides dealing with the daily gridlock in one of South Florida's most-congested areas- is the extent to which the South Florida news media continues to fail to report on matters of genuine public importance to them has been "normalized."


It's just taken for granted that things that happen in Hallandale Beach that would merit public attention if it took place in other cities, is... completely ignored.
As if it never happened.

For the past nine years, often in great depth, I've written about that uniquely Hallandale Beach phenomena wherein self-evident facts conclusively show for anyone who cares to look and pay attention, that there was more than a little proof that Hallandale Beach elected officials and high-ranking officials regularly engaged in public and private behavior and
actions that would simply NOT be tolerated in most Florida or American cities.

But for a variety of reasons, this was not only tolerated, but also never reported upon by the local South Florida news media, despite them being given all sorts of information about the matter. 
Often, literally served to them on a silver platter, complete with contemporaneous photos and links to govt. websites that connected the dots.
(I know this because many times, I was the person serving up the facts to the news media on a silver platter. Only to see it ignored. Over-and-over again.)

But despite this, the issues involved were never seriously discussed publicly or analyzed by "experts" or law enforcement officials in the local news media, though if it had taken place in certain other South Florida cities we could name, it not only would have been reported, but given great prominence. But because it happened in Hallandale Beach, it was ignored.

Yes, unfortunately, the standard of what's considered acceptable public behavior, to say nothing of public expectations, has been reduced to such a shockingly low standard in this area of South Florida under Mayor Joy Cooper's long reign, that the South Florida news media, collectively, simply shakes their head and tells themselves, "It's just Hallandale Beach being Hallandale Beach. That's how they do things there.

And with that rather smug pronouncement, the issue at hand was promptly ignored unless something unexpected happened later, like a shoe dropping that nobody in the news media had predicted.
But that shoe rarely drops.

So, the end result is that while some members of the South Florida press corps may come to learn certain key facts that most reasonable people would think are important enough to the local HB populace to be publicly reported, the public doesn't ever hear about it, even if it concerns someone who is running for elective office.

(I know how many of you longtime blog readers hate when I restate matters here which you regard as being perfectly self-evident to even the most hardened cynic, but I remind you there are always new readers to the blog who don't know that is the case.)

That said, what is most disturbing is the extent to which the worst and most egregious ethical violations have NOT been reported anywhere in the news media because of that "normalization" of highly-questionable if not downright unethical behavior.
I'm taking care of one such example myself today, personally.
And it's my pleasure.


At a recent Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting, several disturbing facts about what has been going on in the city this past year that hitherto not been known were publicly revealed. 
Perhaps the most egregious fact to emerge concerned the revelation that Alexander Lewy, a former City of Hallandale Beach Commissioner with what many consider a well-known history for NOT always following or staying within known ethical or social boundaries, had been involved in YET ANOTHER situation that reflected very poorly not only on him personally, but the city by extension.

I remind you newer readers to the blog that Alex Lewy is someone I quickly and famously nicknamed "Lewy The Liar" here on the blog before he was ever elected because... well, he kept proving it accurate, and earned the nickname.

Earlier this year, Lewy, who was siting at the time on the city's appointed Police & Fire Pension Board, as well as the city's important Planning & Zoning Advisory Board, all at the same time he was running for election to the City Commission in November against incumbent Commissioner Michele Lazarow, made a phone call or two to the head of the Broward County PBA, Jeff Marano.

I should mention here that despite the fact that my late father was a Miami-Dade Police Officer for over 25 years and served for many years on the Dade PBA's influential Board of Directors, it's an understatement to say that Jeff Marano is not someone I'm particularly crazy about.

Marano is a guy I have written about a lot in the past -often negatively- because of what I and many other local observers perceive to be the Broward PBA's unwholly neccessarily antagonistic, vituperative and unrealistic POV against Hollywood taxpayers and the City of Hollywood when it comes to the city's pensions and the city's budget.

In short, among many of the people who pay most attention to it, the Broward PBA is publicly perceived as being a thin-skinned group that has a sense of entitlement that does not at all equate with the financial reality of the city or the public's best long-term interests.
This attitude is particularly off-putting precisely because everyone is well aware of the Broward PBA's numbers and local political clout.

According to what was stated publicly by Hallandale Beach Commissioners on the record at the Commission meeting, in his conversation(s) with Jeff MaranoLewy made threats about what would happen in the future to Broward PBA members in Hallandale Beach if he wasn't publicly endorsed by them and elected. 
Really.

But weeks after this "news" came out, what former Comm. Alex Lewy said and did has still never been reported upon anywhere, other than here at Hallandale Beach Blog.

Never been reported or commented on by the South Florida press corps, never discussed at all in places where you would think it mattered.

This ethical revelation about Lewy came up at a Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting when it came time to discuss Lewy's re-nomination to the Police & Fire pension Board via a motion by Mayor Cooper, after the election but prior to Anabelle Taub being sworn in and taking the seat formerly held by William "Bill" Julian.

(The Broward PBA eventually endorsed incumbent Michele Lazarow against Alex Lewy in that race and for realtor Anabelle Taub against incumbent William "Bill" Julian for the other seat on the ballot. The Broward PBA's financial, emotional, political and PR support were key factors in the resounding victories enjoyed by Lazarow and Taub, a fact that the two of them were quick to publicly acknowledge when they were sworn into office in late November.)

This revelation came out under a motion for reconsideration by Vice Mayor Keith London, who had made public his intention to make such a motion at the previous City Commission meeting.
At that prior meeting, Lewy was approved despite the matter NOT appearing at all on the city's printed public agenda.
Why do you suppose that was?

Perhaps it was for the most obvious reason off all.
If it was publicly known that Mayor Cooper planned on re-nominating Lewy, the PBA would have had time to, quite sensibly, mobilize its members and show up in large numbers at the public meeting to make known -and clear- their grave concerns about Lewy

As it happened, in the end, with Mayor Cooper having left the meeting before it was over, and Vice Mayor London then taking the gavel as presiding officer, with the previous motion to keep Lewy on the Board having been approved, it was then vacated, and Lewy was formally removed from the Hallandale Beach Police & Fire Pension Board.

I expect to have more details about this matter in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

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Dave
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth



Tuesday, December 20, 2016

One year later, their power and brilliance remains undiminished: Old songs we loved are made new and great again, via the genius of TV4's "Så Mycket Bättre" re Ace of Base, Jenny Berggren, Lisa Nilsson, Kleerup. @aceofbase @jennyberggren @kwidewitt @kleerup #Sweden

One year later, their power and brilliance remains undiminished: Old songs we loved are made new and great again, via the genius of TV4's "Så Mycket Bättre" re Ace of Base, Jenny Berggren, Lisa Nilsson, Kleerup. @aceofbase @jennyberggren 
@kwidewitt @kleerup 


Ace of Base - The Sign (Official Music Video) https://youtu.be/iqu132vTl5Y



Lisa Nilsson - När kärleken Tar slut (The Sign) (Live on TV4's "Så Mycket Bättre") https://youtu.be/dV1QtwT5CwM











Kleerup - Longing For Lullabies (feat. Titiyo) - Official video https://youtu.be/Mu_dr9M2vjA



Kleerup & Lisa Nilsson - Longing For Lullabies (Live on TV4's "Så Mycket Bättre") https://youtu.be/EROHkyGeshU


I can't even begin to tell you how OFTEN I've found myself singing or humming this amazing song the past year, esp. the last few months in and around South Florida.

More recent segments and music videos from TV4's "Så Mycket Bättre" at its YouTube Channel that I subscribe to: https://www.youtube.com/user/samycketbattretv4

In my opinion, the past two season have been the best of the past ten years, offering so much more insight that U.S. TV programs into music artists' thinking, their feelings about their craft and the industry and how they have been treated in it.
Sometimes, you are even convinced that you have really seen a glimpse of their private side that few people see besides their family, friends and industry colleagues.
And that definitely lingers with you, too

@SaMycketBattre https://twitter.com/SaMycketBattre

Friday, December 16, 2016

What America and the world lost when we lost John Glenn: A genuinely heroic man of unquestioned bravery, character and integrity -who thought his wife was the real hero.

                                 
What America and the world lost when we lost John Glenn: A genuinely heroic man of unquestioned bravery, character and integrity -who thought his wife, Annie, was the real hero.

One of the highlights of my 15 years living and working in the Washington, D.C. area from 1988-2003 were those handful of opportunities, usually outside on Capitol Hill between the Supreme Court and the Senate Office buildings to the north, to speak one-on-one for a few minutes with one of the bravest and most-famous Americans then-alive, Senator John Glenn of Ohio.




“We tend to think of heroes as being those who are well known,” he wrote, “but America is made up of a whole nation of heroes who face problems that are very difficult, and their courage remains largely unsung. Millions of individuals are heroes in their own right.”





But anyone who lives to be 95 years old doesn't do so without some mis-steps along the way, and certainly John Glenn wasn't immune to this fact, since he was not without his ideological blind spots.
As best-selling historian Victor Davis Hanson noted in a 2005 column on the then-current parlor game in Washington and other urban areas of the U.S. among many prominent members of the Democratic Party and its friends in the news media of comparing President George W. Bush to Hitler because of his administration's policy of keeping Guantanamo open  -instead of closing it and moving the prisoners to the U.S., which would have been against the POV of the majority of the American people- Glenn claimed "It's the old Hitler business"

Jewish World Review 
Hitler, Hitler, everywhere 
By Victor Davis Hanson
June 23, 2005

Then again, even at age 89, he still had the power to speak for many Americans upset at a diminished space exploration program when he openly criticized President George W. Bush's policy of ending the U.S. shuttle program, and instead, paying Russia to launch American astronauts to the International Space Station. 
"Operating Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour until successors are ready might end up being cheaper than buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the retired senator said. Flying the shuttles beyond their planned retirement may also be the best way to maximize return on taxpayer investment."
This is but the tip of the iceberg in a fact-filled defense of keeping faith with the origins of the U.S. space program.

Statement of Senator John Glenn (ret.) Regarding NASA Manned Space Flight