Showing posts with label Bob Norman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bob Norman. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Hallandale Beach's latest scandal grows by the day. Fact update, with new info re #HallandaleBeach's corrupt and unethical govt./political sensibility. Long past time for Alex Lewy to answer some hard questions from public & press about what he knows or has any involvement in the electronic surveillance scandal

Hallandale Beach's latest scandal grows by the day. Fact update, with new info re #HallandaleBeach's corrupt and unethical govt./political sensibility. 
Long past time for Alex Lewy to answer some hard questions from public & press about what he knows or has any involvement in the electronic surveillance scandal
This is an important update to my last post, of October 21, 2016, Unethical and corrupt political & govt. culture of Hallandale Beach City Hall being exposed for what it is tonight on Local10 News, via Bob Norman; So what have Alex Lewy and Joy Cooper been commiserating about recently? Their mutual Keith London & Michele Lazarow obsession!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2016/10/unethical-and-corrupt-political-govt.html

 Necessarily, I'll be incorporating much of what I wrote then into this piece so I'm going to try to join them together so that you have a much better understanding of what's been going on in Hallandale Beach for many, many years with the current incompetent Joy Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew holding the reins of power, while the vast majority of South Florida's press corps looked on, drolly, saying and reporting precious-little-to-nothing.

So, I have received quite a lot of responses from my email and blog post of late Friday afternoon, most of it, though not all, positive.



State criminally investigating Hallandale Beach political spying case
Politicians say they discovered illegal tracking devices attached to their cars
By Bob Norman - Investigative Reporter
Posted: 7:00 PM, October 21, 2016
Updated: 7:18 PM, October 21, 2016
http://www.local10.com/news/local-10-investigates/state-criminally-investigating-hallandale-beach-political-spying-case






Plot thickens in hallandale beach political spying case
By Bob Norman - Investigative Reporter
Posted: 5:59 PM, October 24, 2016
First, what I heard from you, and then what I realized I neglected to mention yesterday 
in the email that might've better helped your understanding of the facts. 
To wit, some useful context and nuance.
I was pressed for time as it neared six o'clock but in retrospect, I wish I'd have waited 
that extra minute or two to get it in...

I've edited some of this to make it clearer, since some of you might not be as familiar 
with the pertinent facts as others.

"David, How come you did not mention that as a HB Commissioner, Alex Lewy 
voted for the 2000 S. Ocean Drive project that allowed a 36-story building be built,
practically in the ocean, and much closer to the actual shoreline than other HB 
buildings, thus ignoring not only global warming concerns, but also approving
the variance without the developer meeting the City of Hallandale Beach's OWN 
criteria for going past the Florida Coastal Construction Line, CCL?
The direct result of this move was to BLOCK the views of roughly 250 condominium 
owners to the ocean, even though 95% of the HB residents who actually took the 
time to attend and speak at the HB City Commission meetings on the project clearly
and publicly OPPOSED it?"

Some of you will recall that this was the very same development project that involved 
former HB City Commissioner and state Rep. Joe Gibbons, that I wrote about several 
times via emails, tweets and blog posts, raising questions whether he had, in fact, 
followed the city's rules requiring him to register as a lobbyist on the matter, and the 
potential he had to make up to $200,000 if he succeeded.

See: 

As to the link of Alexander Lewy that I included yesterday that was the original tweet 
that Mayor Joy Cooper was responding to on September 20th when she wrote
can't think without him !! Pitiful

https://twitter.com/AlexLewy/status/779777131199037440
Lewy's twitter feed has been changed to private very recently. I wonder why. 
He was always so keen to tell everyone just what he thought.

Endlessly...
Now when some of you went to Lewy's initial tweet, it showed nothing but the news that his Twitter handle was now PRIVATE, after being public for many years. 
Nothing was ever too personal for him to not share and reveal it.
So what happened?

When Alex Lewy first posted this specific tweet and I first saw it -and Mayor Cooper 
as well- what he had uploaded to his Twitter feed were strange-looking photos of Hallandale Beach City Commissioners Keith London and Michele Lazarow outside of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel building, where they were being interviewed that day as part of the newspaper's candidate vetting process, such as it is.

(Notwithstanding their recent endorsements in Hallandale Beach, 
@SunSentinel To change decorum and direction, choose Anabelle Taub 
and Michele Lazarow in Hallandale Beach http://sunsent.nl/2ePhNdh 
for many years I have been very critical of the Sun-Sentinel's coverage of Hallandale 
Beach and the Editorial Board consistently ignoring controversial issues in HB for many, many years that if they happened almost anywhere else in Broward County, would have likely been the subject of a series of blistering editorials, most especially re the HB CRA scandal and the millions of CRA dollars that went... 
somewhere. 

One of the many reasons for that opinion of mine was that it's clear from people who were physically present in the room during past interviews that that the people on the Editorial Board asking questions, themselves, frequently did NOT know basic 
facts that most HB voters and residents already knew and were considering, or even quite angry about.
Not that the paper wrote about that particular anger or why it existed.

Like, for instance, how many people were running for the seats or why HB voters were recently NOT allowed to vote for a candidate for each open seat, and instead, could only vote for two people, with the candidate coming in third being elected as well. 
Who voted to make it that way for voters? 
Cooper, Lewy & Sanders.

Another reason for that opinion is the case of one person involved in the endorsement process showing overt favoritism for Comm. Sanders in ways that seemed particularly egregious, and the Editorial Board not directly challenging Sanders on any of the MANY controversial and unethical things he has done since being appointed to the Commission in an anti-democratic fashion in August of 2008, rather than the Mayor simply following the city's written rules for filling a Commission vacancy. 
Instead, Cooper demanded a vote many weeks BEFORE it was necessary -or there even, legally, WAS a vacancy- and never allowed the public to speak that night.

The Editorial Board has never asked Comm. Sanders how he could justify voting for every single development project that has come before him at City Hall. 
Not 85% or 90% as might be common in most cities over such a period of time, but 100%. 
Really, 100%? Yes. :-( )

To be honest, my initial thought upon seeing the photos of London and Lazarow were that they looked exactly like photos that a private investigator might take if he was tailing someone for a client.
Which, quite naturally, makes me -and perhaps you as well- wonder who took the photos that Lewy posted publicly in an obvious attempt to infer something sinister, when it also could be seen by most people, much less, people who live in HB and who know them, to be seen as two friends who happen to be candidates, talking outside of a place where they were there to talk about their candidacies with other people who could actually play a role in THEIR futures.
Frankly, it would be weird for them to not be talking, given that they are friends. 

That Lewy was foolish enough to post it should not be surprising to anyone who kept their eyes focused on him and noticed the sorts of curious things that always seemed to be going on around him, including his often-messy personal melodrama that some of you have been privvy to.

There's a sound and compelling reason why I first started calling Alexander Lewy "Lewy the Liar" many years ago on my blog after I saw and experienced first-hand his phony, self-serving nature. In fact, I coined that nickname six years ago this past weekend:

Lewy has clearly thought for quite some time that he could (and perhaps even had) fooled nearly everyone hereabouts, including the press corps, and made his over-weaning personal ambition and personal nastiness fairly well disguised as public service to fool most people, but it hasn't worked for most of the city's well-informed citizenry, including many of you.
Most of you know exactly who and what kind of person Alex Lewy is.

Whether this city's well-informed citizenry actually constitutes a majority of HB voters is the question that will be decided on Election Day.

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Friday, October 21, 2016

Unethical and corrupt political & govt. culture of Hallandale Beach City Hall being exposed for what it is tonight on Local10 News, via Bob Norman; So what have Alex Lewy and Joy Cooper been commiserating about recently? Their mutual Keith London & Michele Lazarow obsession!





Not related to the Hallandale Beach news above on Channel 10 News via Bob Norman, but worth considering: 
So what have Alex Lewy and Joy Cooper been commiserating about? 
Their mutual London & Lazarow obsession! 
So where are their good ideas to improve things? 
MIA, as usual.

Also noteworthy, Cooper's only mention of Bill Julian on her Twitter feed since last Thanksgiving is this Sun-Sentinel article wherein Julian claimed he'd eventually be "vindicated."
Vindicated?

How does someone get vindicated if they, in fact, are the first person to actually say or allege that they did something wrong in the first place, in Julian's case, illegally?
Makes you wonder if Julian actually knows what the meaning of the word vindicated actually is.
But then it could hardly be more apparent from his dismal, dubious and ethically-challenged reign on the HB City Commission that Bill Julian doesn't know the meaning of several words that matter to residents, Small Business owners and interested parties.
Like integrity, accountability, oversight, preparation and ethics.

It really makes you wonder whether the people of Hallandale Beach could handle the prospect of Cooper, Julian and Lewy all on the City Commission dais one more time, jockeying to see who could be more obvious about making fools of the city -and themselves- as they did once did so consistently, regularly claiming things to be true that anyone else paying attention could clearly see were
NOT true.

By the way, how is it that just 19 days before the election, no objective person can plausibly answer the question of why Lewy is running to return to the City Commission he quit before his first term was even up, except for sheer political opportunism?
And why isn't Michelle Lazarow asking publicly -and rhetorically- why would anyone in Hallandale Beach who genuinely cares about the city's long-term future, want to go backwards to Lewy the Liar's showy brand of deceitful, snarky, know-it-all-ism of personal ambition barely disguised as public service?

For instance, like the time Lewy approved a number of exceptions to HB CRA loan rules to give funds to a politically-connected applicant, that, at the time, had still NOT even paid back to the city/CRA/taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars they ALREADY owed from a previous HB CRA loan?
Something that was in direct contravention of the HB CRA's OWN rules, and against the city staff's recommendation, which said it should NOT be approved.
But, it was approved.
Surprise!

The same politically-connected people that received the HB CRA funds gave Comm. Lewy an award at a highly-publicized public event soon thereafter.
Yes, THAT is how things really were with Lewy around, or am I the only one who remembers those inconvenient facts from just a few years ago?

It's inexplicable, but don't count on the South Florida news media bringing any of this up, since they IGNORED it when it was actually happening - and shown the facts, including the city's own
documents.

Lewy's twitter feed has been changed to private very recently. I wonder why. 
He was always so keen to tell everyone just what he thought.
Endlessly...

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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

#RedLightCameras - Looks like City of Hollywood and Comm. Dick Blattner are going to go down swinging when it comes to their policies re red-light cameras, despite lack of evidence RLCs are making community any safer. Surprise! Just more of what we have come to expect from Comm. Blattner over the past few years, where he's been the voice of Conventional Wisdom, preserving the status quo, and constantly supporting the largest role possible for local government

#RedLightCameras - Looks like City of Hollywood and Comm. Dick Blattner are going to go down swinging when it comes to keeping their self-serving policies re their money-making red-light cameras, despite lack of evidence they are making it any safer. Surprise!
More of what we have come to expect from Comm. Blattner over the past few years, where he's been the voice of Conventional Wisdom and preserving the status quo, and constantly supporting the largest role possible for local government

My comments below on the subject of red-light cameras in South Florida are largely similar to an email I circulated last week to about 125 concerned people from South Florida up to Tallahassee and points in-between.
The article and column below are but the latest news regarding a contentious subject that I've been quite fair in reporting and blogging about over the past eight years, despite how grossly unfair RLC supporters in government have been with South Florida communities, including keeping police info about location and frequency of traffic accidents out of the hands of citizens who directly challenge their contention that it's been a "SAFETY" measure, not a money-making one.
Well, we've all seen for ourselves over the years how untrue that was when push comes to shove.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hollywood keeping red-light cameras until court orders them removed
By Susannah Bryan Sun Sentinel
February 12, 2015 2:02 PM

 Officials here might have to pull the plug on their red-light camera program as soon as next week.
But not if City Hall gets its way. 

 Less than two weeks ago, the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach declined to rehear an October ruling that found Hollywood could not delegate ticket-writing duties to third-party vendor American Traffic Solutions. 
The ruling applies not only to Hollywood, but statewide

Read the rest of the article at:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Michael Mayo, Columnist: Red-light cameras could prove costly for cities
February 15, 2015

 The epitaph of red-light cameras might read: Enforced the law by breaking the law.

 At least that's how the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach sees the controversial program, ruling that some South Florida cities have illegally delegated their police authority to a private vendor in Arizona.

 Hollywood was the first to get rapped on the knuckles last fall. Earlier this month, it was Davie's turn. The 4th DCA also rejected Hollywood's bid to have a rehearing.

 As a result, all cities with red-light camera programs now find themselves on shaky legal and financial ground. 









Above is yet the latest instance where when push comes to shove, Hollywood Comm. Richard "Dick" Blattner shows that his primary concern continues NOT to be for Hollywood residents and Small Business owners, but the $$$ that red-light cameras generate.
This, even though we all know there are many places in Hollywood where accidents happen with some regularity where red-light cameras have never been located.

Why?
Because they want VOLUME. 

Just like the case in Hallandale Beach I have been describing here on the blog for so many years, wherein Mayor Joy Cooper and a succession of City Managers and commissioners wanted in Hallandale Beach, even when experienced consultants reporters showed they were not helping safety in HB.

If you never saw them the first time -before they were erased from the Channel 10 website- I can tell you that there were some very interesting and telling comments on Bob Norman's 2012 blog re red-light cameras worth checking-out, including some by my friends and fellow civic activists Csaba "Chuck" Kulin and Charlotte Greenbarg, as well as Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo re Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's credibility.
Or, rather the lack of her credibility.

Studies: Red light cameras causing more accidents

(Why has HBPD employed speed traps near Bluesten Park for years on a road with little traffic, while ignoring north-bound speeders on US-1, esp. after they get the green light at the southern entrance/exit at Gulfstream Park, near the Aventura cityline? 
Why is the reality in our city that it's Aventura cops who are more likely be seen issuing speeding tickets in HB on US-1 in HB than HB's own cops? 
Even in front of the HB Police Dept. HQ on US-1!
Sad but true!)

For many years, like many of you, I gave Comm. Blattner the benefit of the doubt on issues, but in retrospect, when you actually look at what has taken place since he came back to City Hall and the Commission a second time, he has never really shown the sort of leadership on issues that his experience would lead you to expect, even if you disagree with him.

He is always the voice of Conventional Wisdom and preserving the status quo, constantly supporting the biggest role possible for local government, where Broward's cities routinely take advantage of its residents and their wallets with preciosu little outcry from local TV stations and news papers unless the info is spoon-fed to them.
But Blattner can STILL never admit when he's wrong on the facts or admit that he's underperformed in some capacity.

His time as head of the Broward MPO, to say nothing of the FLL airport exit ramp controversy that has so angered so many people in the area -which he STILL can't explain with a straight face -has been a giant wasted opportunity for south Broward residents and businesses.
But he thinks he's doing great.

I'll soon be reminding him on the blog how far off the mark he's been, and doing so with telling photographs that tell the lamentable tale.
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Friday, January 16, 2015

Observations on the Dysfunction Junction in #HallandaleBeach: Thin-skinned Mayor Joy Cooper orders ineffective Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy to remove political-nemesis Commissioner Keith London from CRA meeting. An ominous portent for any common sense ever seeing the light of day at HB City Hall in 2015, to be sure, but with "reporters" like Sun-Sentinel's Susannah Bryan -who continues to act more like a stenographer who chooses to ignore facts, context and nuance- how would anyone ever find out?




Below are excerpts from two emails I've penned over the past few days that were sent to quite a few Hallandale Beach, Hollywood and Broward County residents, civic activists and small business owners -plus selected elected officials and serious journalists and bloggers in South Florida and throughout the Sunshine State- who, like me and many readers of this blog, are way beyond merely being seriously concerned, frustrated and vexed about the shocking level of the truly incompetent and mismanaged local government hereabouts, plus, the shocking number of incurious south Florida reporters around who seem more lapdog than genuine watchdog... 
Troubling trends that show no sign of abating in South Florida.

 I've made a few editing, spelling corrections and added some tweets that I couldn't include in my emails. All the better to make it easier for you to double-check what I say, no?

Observations on the Dysfunction Junction in #HallandaleBeach: Thin-skinned Mayor Joy Cooper orders ineffective Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy to remove political-nemesis Commissioner Keith London from CRA meeting. 
An ominous portent for any common sense ever seeing the light of day at HB City Hall in 2015, to be sure, but with "reporters" like Sun-Sentinel's Susannah Bryan -who continues to act more like a stenographer who chooses to ignore facts, context and nuance- how would anyone ever find out?

Wednesday January 14th, 2015
1:40 p.m.

On Wednesday morning I tweeted the link to this Local10 story by investigative reporter Bob Norman, so head over to my Twitter feed if you want to RT it, or, add your own comments about this all-too-predictable development.
Local10 News
Hallandale Beach mayor orders commissioner removed from meeting
A longstanding feud between Mayor Joy Cooper and Commissioner Keith London disrupts Hallandale Beach business, with the mayor ordering the police chief to remove him.
Published On: Jan 13 2015 06:32:13 PM EST
Updated On: Jan 13 2015 10:33:31 PM EST
http://www.local10.com/news/hallandale-beach-mayor-orders-commissioner-removed-from-meeting/30686362

To me, this is as sure a sign as you'll ever hope to find of the continuing governmental/civic dysfunction and battle of fragile/precious/precocious egos at Hallandale Beach City Hall among elected officials and the army of highly-paid and myopic city officials who regard taxpayers and Small Business owners as both hopeless dupes and Public Enemy #1.

For thousands and thousands of put-upon citizens, residents and Small Business owners in this part of South Florida, people wanted to hang on just a little bit longer in 2015 to the small hope of finally having a "normal" properly-functioning city -for a change- a place
where facts, logic and reason would win the argument, instead of the usual deceit, threats, deliberate misinformation and baffling bureaucratic incompetency, it's an ominous portent for 2015.

After so many years of valuable time, resources and opportunities being continually squandered on brain-dead schemes and circular thinking masquerading as public policy, people here with common sense and a genuine desire to make this area the sort of place it ought to be now but ISN'T, know in their bones that for a whole host of reasons, many poorly thought-out City Commission & CRA policy decisions and ordinances over the past few years need to be seriously revisited and thoroughly re-examined.
Unfortunately for all of us, this kind of incident at HB City Hall Monday makes that sort of necessary public debate and re-examination all but impossible.

In retrospect, many of us who've been paying attention could have placed bets upon this sort of embarrassing incident eventually happening once the HB election results came in nine weeks ago, with the only question being when in the year it took place.
But that would not have been a reflection on how clever we all are are, collectively, per se, so much as a reflection on the Sad Sack cast of not-so-bright characters that we continue to have in place at HB City Hall making important decisions about this area's future.
People who genuinely make no pretense about taking for granted the legitimate concerns and fears that you and I -and our neighbors- have.

For years I've tried my best to name and detail on the blog the specific elected officials and city personnel who do NOT honestly feel it's incumbent upon them to do the sort of basic continual public outreach, factual due diligence and thoughtful policy oversight and
tweaking that's routine among other South Florida cities' elected officials and bureaucracy, even in towns that are known for squabbling over public policy peanuts.

Which means that Hallandale Beach's future, such as it is, remains dangerously constricted and bereft of the sort of fresh air, new ideas and much-more free speech that it needs to right the ship, tethered as it is to the thin-skinned egos and deep reservoirs of personal vanity and high self-regard of a few individuals, who even while claiming to be looking out for the city, are merely looking lovingly upon their own reflection in a mirror. 
Mirror, mirror on the wall...

If these individuals had the smarts and strength of character we'd like them to have to adapt and finally look honestly upon the uniformily unsatisfactory results that years of this myopic and self-destructive behavior has wrought for everyone involved in the city -not least, chasing successful businesses out-of-town and the city remaining both a media punching bag and a perpetual political pinata with goodies going only to friends of City Hall- we might finally see some tangible and long overdue measureable mileposts that'd clearly be in the best long-term interests of this beleaguered city.

But facts are facts, and people like that simply do NOT currently make up a quorum at HB City Hall, which is why it's even more incumbent for well-intentioned citizens who want a better future for themself, their families or their business, to get properly informed and actively engaged, in-person and online, in 2015.
-----

 Thursday January 15, 2015
1:45 p.m.

In my email of yesterday afternoon about Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's hysterics and histrionics at HB City Hall Monday night -which included a link to Local10 video- I neglected to include the rather dumbfounding article that appeared in the Sun-Sentinel written by reporter Susannah Bryan.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Mayor tries to remove official during heated meeting
Susannah Bryan, Staff writer
January 13, 2015

Just weeks after Keith London rejoined the Hallandale Beach commission, he came close to being kicked out of City Hall on Monday by his longtime nemesis, Mayor Joy Cooper.
A veteran commissioner, London stepped down in 2012 to challenge Cooper for the mayoral seat. He lost that race, but returned to the commission in November, sparking questions of how long it might take for his legendary battles with Cooper to resume.
          As it turns out, not long at all.

 Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-time-change-hallandale-cra-20150112-story.html

Bryan, of course, is the very same incurious beat reporter for the Sun-Sentinel that I have rightly taken to task many times in the past via emails and blog posts for her CONSISTENT failure to report important facts and relevant context and nuance about issues and matters taking place in Hallandale Beach and Hollywood that would allow readers to make more sense of what she was writing about.

How many times have I told you in the past about frequently NOT recognizing what Bryan wrote about when I myself had not only witnessed it first-hand, but actually recorded it? Correct -many, many times.

For instance... back on September 26, 2014:
Some informed commentary, context and important facts that you didn't read about in Susannah Bryan's recent Sun-Sentinel article about Hollywood City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark and some of her critics re the 'million-dollar mistake.' Trust me, you'll thank me later!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/some-informed-commentary-context-and.html


or almost a year ago.. January 25, 2014
South Florida Sun-Sentinel's incomplete stories re red-light cameras finally getting the boot in Hallandale Beach, and the city's longstanding problems with signage, is just another example of their shallow reporting that consistently misses-the-mark when residents want genuine depth and context
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/south-florida-sun-sentinels-incomplete.html


@SunSentinel's incomplete stories re Hallandale Beach booting red-light cameras is just more bad, shallow reporting 


 Susannah Bryan is the same Sun-Sentinel reporter who, 12 weeks later, has STILL chosen NOT to discuss or report anything about why her October 20th, 2014 online story about the criminal investigation surrounding allegations against interim-HB Commissioner and candidate Leo Grachow, was pulled less than two weeks before the November election.
Not just removed, but surgically-removed -like it had never existed in the first place.













That Bryan and the newspaper have also NOT written anything since then about the eventual disposition of the Broward State's Attorney investigation of Grachow, to say nothing of her failure to write about the concerns among at least some HB residents that the whole incident was nothing but a successful political "dirty trick," tells you plenty about the sorry state of journalism in South Florida in the year 2015.

As you'll soon read below, so does Bryan's refusal to directly ask Commissioners Anthony Sanders and Bill Julian -and accurately quote their responses- why they believe it is a good idea to move what are often contentious CRA meetings involving millions of dollars and crucial public policy, to the afternoon, when most adult Hallandale Beach residents are at work and thus unable to participate.
(As if two of the five City Commissioners saying that they would NOT be able to attend was not enough of a logical reason to NOT change the time.)

That's important and relevant because Commissioners Sanders and Julian are the same people who voted last year to move the HB Planning & Zoning meetings -that also often deal with VERY contentious development projects- to the evening from the 1:30 p.m. time slot they have held for more than ten years.

So, where's Sanders' and Julian's internal consistency, and what principles on behalf of citizens are they defending by agreeing to a time change that would now likley result in LESS people being able to participate at a public meeting?
None, of course, it's merely the latest example of their overt appeasing of Mayor Cooper. Yet again.

Appeasement - the very same thing that Commissioners Sanders and Julian have become so expert at for SO MANY years as members of Cooper's Rubber Stamp Crew, instead of taking their responsibilities as elected representatives of this city's citizens seriously, and insisting upon honest answers, real oversight and and genuine performance from city administrators, Dept. heads and employees who've long felt free to do whatever they wanted, with no meaningful repurcussions for continued incompetence, unsatisfactory performance and demonstrated displays of public disrespect for the citizens of this community.
As I've recounted and then some on the blog...and will again very soon after waiting a few months for city employees to actually respond to some questions.

Yes, it's as if it never ever occurs to reporter Bryan to ask such questions, much less, ask pointed questions of subjects that will allow people like you to draw your own conclusions about what's really going on, based on freely-given answers.

But then the incurious Bryan also doesn't bother to include in her story the important historical fact that Mayor Cooper has a LONG HISTORY of deliberately ignoring the city's own administrative procedures, to say nothing of ignoring Robert's Rules of Order, with
the best example of that being from August of 2007, though there are dozens of others to choose from that I have written about here on the blog in often-frustrated dismay.

Back in 2007, Mayor Cooper personally railroaded the installation of Pastor Anthony Sanders as an interim HB City Commissioner many weeks BEFORE then-Commissioner Francine Schiller's date of resignation was official, despite the fact that there was already a scheduled City Commission meeting two weeks later where the matter could have been discussed and debated in a calm, organized and relatively sane fashion, with citizens both present and able to participate.

(Yes, the meeting Ithat  attended and recorded from beginning-to-end and even happened to be standing next to the person who first called Anthony Sanders by cellphone out in the breezeway outside to tell Sanders the news that he'd been selected. That is, AFTER my friend and real estate professional, Arturo O'Neill, sitting next to me in the back of the City Commission chambers, predicted it minutes before it happened. As if he had written the script!)

 But Mayor Cooper didn't want to risk that happening, so she violated the city's own written rules and any pretense of following Robert's Rules of Order and acted like a despot.
At an evening City Commission meeting, Mayor Cooper as presiding officer made sure that the public was NEVER allowed to speak during the meeting about the subject at hand after hearing about it just minutes before.
By doing so she ensured that the public also didn't have the chance to speak at all about the self-evident way that Mayor Cooper consciously ignored the city's very own written procedures for handling interim Commission appointments, which they had dutifully followed for Keith London's appointment not so months before.

Just saying... context and nuance really DO matter, even if they don't ever seem to exist in Susannah Bryan's account of the surreal reality that permeates SE Broward County.
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