Showing posts with label Anabelle Taub. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anabelle Taub. Show all posts

Monday, February 13, 2017

Watch out Hallandale Beach taxpayers! Stop them before more CRA money goes into another foolish, sweetheart deal. Hallandale Beach CRA wants some people to make a profit while taxpayers & Small Business get to play the Bank and bear all the burdens and risks. Why would that be a good idea?



On Saturday afternoon, one of the nicest days weather-wise we've had in many weeks, I was able to spend a few hours with my friend and fellow civic activist Csaba "Chuck" Kulin driving around and looking at many places/problems in all parts of the city that he or I -or in many cases, most of you- have some very legitimate concerns about as it affects public policy or public money or, in the case I'm writing about today, BOTH!
(I'll get to those other concerns in future posts, with helpful facts and photos as usual to give you the context and nuance you need to make your own decisions.)
One of those concerns is actually going to be the focus of a 6:00 PM public meeting tonight of the Hallandale Beach CRA, Agenda item 10-A, that I strongly urge you to attend and ask some very hard questions about, lest money from the Hallandale Beach CRA once again be used to continue the many frustrating YEARS of unsound public policy and irresponsible financial moves under Mayor Joy Cooper when she and her Rubber Stamp Crew had a firm lock on deciding issues at Hallandale Beach City Hall, as both City Commissioners and Directors of the CRA.
Those days are now over, thank goodness, and a 3-2 pro-reform majority currently holds sway in Hallandale Beach, but there are still many stinky deals that are legacies of those previous bad ideas, and one of them will be discussed tonight.
Do I even need to tell you that the people who want your money will be well-represented to try to take it away from you, no matter how fiscally unsound their ideas will be for you and the larger community.

 See the link to see how it's being portrayed by city staff.

 17-451
https://hallandalebeach.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=2954847&GUID=D4960F1D-E852-4741-AB9F-958E4F5AF01B&Options=&Search=

 10 A. Resolution

A RESOLUTION OF CHAIR AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE HALLANDALE BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA, APPROVING THE EFFECTIVE DATE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HALLANDALE BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY AND DONALDSON-WEST VENTURE, LLC; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO EXECUTE AN AMENDMENT TO THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (STAFF: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

 I leave it to Csaba to further explain the general particulars and remind you that his letter below is merely an overview of what the problem to be dealt with is, so please show up tonight prepared to become better informed as well as let your voice for logical public policy and fiscally-sound financial decisions be heard by people on the dais who have said they are for doing things now the right way in this community: with the maximum amount of accountability, transparency and common sense. 
Which is to say, qualities which have been all too rare the previous 12-plus years here.
Where the public's best long-term interests are protected and enforced rather than private interests getting first dibs on public monies, no matter how preposterous their scheme is.
We have to prevent a situation in future where HB residents and Small Business owners will be cursing themselves and the fact that on February 13th, 2017, they failed to wake-up to what's involved here -and what this bad deal represents- when this sweetheart deal can be killed if you simply let your elected representatives know that you are against more bad, fiscally unsound deals that benefit a few at the risk of the the whole community.
After all, since the November 2016 election that changed the direction of things in Hallandale Beach and set a course for a different direction, have you heard or seen people at City Hall like Mayor Joy Cooper and Comm. Anthony A. Sanders or their sycophants in the community who backed bad deals like this publicly profess any regret or remorse for championing bad deals that hurt taxpayers and the community as a whole, with precious little to show for millions of spent CRA dollars?
No, you have not, and for the simplest of reasons. 
They DON'T regret their votes for these bad deals and they don't have remorse for wasting millions of dollars.
Their regret is that they can not continue to approve bad deals because they no longer have the will and means to force that upon the community, even when everyone speaks out against it.
Now, things are different. 
But you still need to do YOUR part.
-----------
February 13, 2017
RE: CRA February 13, 2017 Item 10 A Donaldson-West Venture, LLC
Chair Person, Vice Chair, Directors, Executive Directors and Staff,
The CRA received during the previous administration an unsolicited proposal from Donaldson-West Venture, LLC to build 10 townhouse units on Foster Road. The developer is asking for $90,000.00 “CRA Contribution” per unit, a total of $900,000.00. It is broken down to $184,000.00 the value of the three (3) CRA owned lots and $716,000.00 of CRA Gap Grant funding.
It is a typical Hallandale Beach CRA “Private/Public Partnership” project from the past administration. The CRA provides free land, the CRA provides grants to build the building and the CRA helps buyers to buy it. The CRA socialize the costs and privatize the profits. The “public” bears all the costs and the “private” gets all the profits.
I have three areas of concern and I hope I will be able to ask you about them Monday.
My first concern is the value of $184,000.00 placed on the three (3) CRA owned properties, it is unjustifiably low. Using the Broward County Property Appraiser’s value is not realistic. The CRA must hire its own appraiser and base the appraisal on recent transactions in the area, the size of the parcels etc.
The recent CRA purchase of the apartment building, across the street from the new fire station (Foster and N.W. 2nd Ave.), may be a good yardstick. How do the two properties compare as far as price the CRA paid per acreage or square feet? 110 N.W. 5th Street for $1,300,000.00 may be another good example.  
My second area of concern is the lack of information in the backup for the justification for the $716,000.00 CRA Gap Grant funding. How did Donaldson-West Venture arrive at that number?
We need an expert hired by the CRA to tell us if that amount is the right amount and if it is justified.
Is the $716,000.00 dollars the entire cost of construction? 
My third concern is that on top of the $90,000.00 “CRA Contribution” per unit there may be up to $50,000.00 in other subsidies (first time buyer etc.) for up to $140,000.00 per unit cost to the CRA.
Is it a prudent decision to spend so much money on one project benefiting so few people?
Does the CRA have so much money that it can afford to practically give a free apartment to 10 lucky people?
I hope the CRA Board of Directors will wait for an appraisal on the value of the land, get the justification for the Gap Grant funding and see if the CRA has the money now, before the completion of the upcoming audit. 
-----


Dave 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Faux newspaper in Hallandale Beach finds out that elections DO have consequences -new pro-reform HB City Commission ends city's advertising deal with South Florida Sun-Times

So, that shoe finally dropped that everyone in Hallandale Beach and environs as well as the larger South Florida civic activist community had been hoping for and waiting for since... what seems like forever.
(Yes, election results have consequences. Even in Hallandale Beach. Perhaps you've heard.)

 That would be the shoe literally dripping with ethical and journalism conflicts of interest, rife with egregious examples of crony capitalism, plus, one of the frequent secondary issues in South Florida,
the South Florida's news media's own longstanding disinterest (and condescension) in covering certain kinds of public policy/scandal stories unless they happened in cities or places that had more cachet and pop than Hallandale Beach does.

 I was at the Hallandale Beach City Commission last month when this matter of keeping campaign promises came up,  and more than a few people in the crowd -including me- were quick to ask themselves, "So where's someone from the faux newspaper in the room to actually write this down?'

 The irony of this thought course was that because they DON'T cover the city accurately or fairly, because that would upset the apple cart and their deal with Mayor Joy Cooper, there was no one there from the South Florida Sun-Times to hear the news in-person.

 And now it's too late for them.
That city advertising money is gone for good! 
Gone With The Wind!

 I "reported" on this within 90 minutes of it happening via an email to about 150 people in South Florida, including many of you readers of the blog, but haven't written about it since because I've been waiting to add some facts and photos to what I was going to post here.
Today's Florida Bulldog story, though very welcome, caught me by surprise, hence there's not as much original content for you here as I hoped to have the first time I mentioned it on the blog this year.
But trust me, more is coming!

 People in the city who follow what goes on here are eager -even giddy- to talk about this matter, and what it represents in getting this city turned around and finally moving in the right direction -towards some semblance of normalcy and general competency and accountability.
Any journey begins with the first step.
And this is clearly a step in the right direction.




 Florida Bulldog
Hallandale Beach halts advertising in local newspaper where mayor is a columnist
By William Gjebre, FloridaBulldog.org
JANUARY 25, 2017 AT 4:59 AM
Hallandale Beach city commissioners have pulled the plug on city advertising in the local Sun Times newspaper featuring articles by Mayor Joy Cooper that drew fire from commission colleagues as “propaganda” for the mayor.
Cooper used the platform regularly before and after the weekly newspaper received a favorable — and controversial — $50,000 loan from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). The Sun Times, according to city documents, has been paid nearly $400,000 in city advertising to publicize events since 2003, most of the money coming after the loan was made during the 2008-2009 budget year.
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.floridabulldog.org/2017/01/hallandale-beach-halts-advertising-local-newspaper-tied-mayor-cooper/

 Having written about this subject dozens of times the past ten years, I will be updating this blog post throughout the day.












Below, a nugget reflecting the reality of life in Hallandale Beach in 2008, as reflected in one of my emails:

 Do you recall what I wrote/joked about last year on my blog, after the city purchased space in the vanity sheet rag, the South Florida Sun-Times, and ran a completely preposterous ad masquerading as news about Pastor Anthony Sanders and the funny appraisal numbers for his property?

[001.JPG]I 

I joked that with a little more advanced warning and time, the city hall employee dispatched to write that condescending tripe on taxpayer time might've even written that Sanders was born in a log cabin -that he built himself. (A la the jokes about Chuck Norris.)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, January 23, 2017

Want to see history made before your eyes? Long-overdue financial accountability & oversight starts tonight in Hallandale Beach re CRA: "Let's see where the money went" That's what I've been saying/writing for years...

Want to see history made before your eyes? Long-overdue financial accountability & oversight starts tonight in Hallandale Beach re CRA: "Let's see where the money went" 
That's what I've been saying/writing for years...

History gets made tonight and for a change, it's GOOD news for Hallandale Beach's long-beleaguered taxpayers and Small Business owners.
See Keith London's email below

ICYMI: 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? 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Keith London
Date: Mon, Jan 23, 2017 at 2:30 PM
Subject: "Let's see where the money went"
To: David

 
David,
 
With a new year comes new responsibilities.
During 2015-2016 fiscal year, our city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) did a budget amendment (cut) of $7.4 million in order to balance the budget of approximately $15.5 million dollars – my question is: Where Did the Money Go?
We will be discussing/voting on a first-ever CRA forensic audit 7:00 PM, Monday January 23, 2017. 
Here is a link to Mondays CRA agenda item 10B:
DISCUSSION OF CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY FINANCIAL OVERVIEW. (SPONSORED BY HBCRA BOARD OF DIRECTORS)
The CRA board of directors\ city commission must provide accountability for your tax dollars and I want to ensure we are doing everything to “provide a dollar of services for every dollar of tax revenue” either by the city or the CRA. This is why I believe an audit is imperative. We need to know how much monies are in the account and provide the highest level of services to our residents, taxpayers, and visitors. 
See below for an article from the Florida Bulldog for more information.
Keeping you informed, 
Vice Mayor Keith London
-----
 
 
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.
 
The November city commission election resulted in London and Lazarow gaining the backing of new City Commissioner Anabelle Taub. Cooper was reelected, but failed to gain another commissioner to back her and her ally, Commissioner Anthony Sanders. They’re expected to vote on the audit, aimed at determining whether any wrongdoing occured, later this month.
 
“Let’s see where the money went,” London said. “We are going to get to the bottom of this.”
 
The new commission trio already has flexed its power in a remake of city hall.
 
It was responsible for the ousters of City Manager Daniel Rosemond and City Attorney Lynn Whitfield, and replacing them with long-time South Florida government administrator, Roger Carlton, and a new city attorney, Jennifer Merino. Merino was general counsel for the Broward Inspector General’s Office, which investigated and severely criticized the spending practices of the city’s CRA four years ago.
 
“It’s time to clean house of the city manager and the city commission … the collusion,” Lazarow said.
 
Now the new commission majority will be seeking answers about the spending of the much-troubled CRA.
‘We need to find out’
 
“We need a full forensic audit [of the CRA],” London said. “We need to find out about the $7.4 million, and we need to know what we have left.”
 
London was referring to last August when city commissioners, who are also directors of the CRA, were forced to cut $7.4 million from the proposed $25.9-million CRA budget for this year after being told by the city administration that the agency had counted land purchases by the agency as cash.
 
At that meeting, then City Manager Rosemond said an “adjustment” had to be made — the city commission had no choice but to approve the budget cut.
 
Prior to that, London said the city manager had given commissioners assurances that cash was available to the CRA, only to learn that the value of the city-purchased land by the CRA cannot be counted as cash.
 
Both London and Lazarow lobbied for a forensic audit of expenditures at that time, but lacked a third vote. The commission instead voted to seek a forensic audit that delved only into CRA land purchases.
Making matters worse, London said, Rosemond later came back and told commissioners that he was unable to engage any firm willing to conduct the forensic audit of land purchases — and, therefore, no firm was hired.
 
That all changed, however, with the November city commission election. Lazarow was reelected, along with newcomer Taub. London was not up for reelection.
 
Now in the majority, London said he wants audit to cover CRA spending back to 2012, the first year city commissioners established a separate funding account for the agency.
 
“We need to know what we have,” he said.
 
“We have to inquire about the $7.4 million,” said Lazarow, adding she plans to back London’s request for a forensic audit when he brings it up for a commission vote. Taub, who was not available for comment, is also expected to back the request.
 
City co-mingled CRA funds
Prior to 2012, the city had co-mingled CRA funds with city funds. That practice started in 1996, when the CRA was established under state law. The agency has been funded through property tax increases in the CRA boundaries.
 
It was only when the Broward Inspector General’s Office began its probe and issued a scathing report that some changes were made, including separating CRA-collected funds from other city tax revenues. Florida Bulldog had reported about questionable loans to local businesses and land purchases through the CRA nearly a year before IG investigators descended on city hall in April, 2012 seeking records and questioning officials as the probe became public.
 
After a 14-month investigation, the Inspector General’s Office in 2013 stated the Hallandale Beach CRA had “grossly mismanaged” millions of dollars in funds between 2007 and 2012. It found $2.2 million in questionable expenditures by the CRA, including inappropriate loans and grants to local businesses and non-profits, as well as the improper use of bond proceeds.
 
Before and after that report, London asked for a forensic audit of agency funds, but was outvoted by his commission colleagues.
 
Mayor Cooper denied the city had done anything wrong. The city commission majority at that time then ousted the agency’s recently appointed CRA executive director, Alvin Jackson, who won praise by the Inspector General for efforts to improve the CRA.
 
The city commission, over the objections of London, placed the agency once again under the direct management of the city manager. Except for Jackson’s short tenure, city managers have had full control of the CRA since 1996, during which the agency failed to keep adequate records, including changing loan and grant policies in violation of existing rules.
 
Both London and Lazarow said they are pleased with the new appointees, in particular Merino, 36.
 
“She has knowledge of our city,” said London, referring to Merino’s work with the agency that investigated the city’s CRA.
 
“Merino has a history [with the city],” Lazarow said. “She has been watching our meetings.”
 
Carlton, 69, has held several key positions with public agencies, among them: Miami Beach city manager (1992-1995), executive assistant Miami-Dade county manager (1977-1981). 
 
 
 
Paid political advertisement paid for and approved by Keith S. London
Keith London for Hallandale Beach City Commissioner, Seat 2
613 Oleander Dr
Hallandale Beach FL 33009-6531 United States




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

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 
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2016/12/ethics-threats-reasons-ex-hallandale.html

Dave 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

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 Marano, Lewy 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!
Inline image 1
Dave
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)