Friday, August 31, 2012

Important public forum on the proposed Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort is scheduled for Tuesday Sept. 4th at 6 p.m. Chief among topics will be whether the Hollywood CRA should increase their investment in the Lon Tabatchnick project on Johnson Street and the Broadwalk from $10 million to $23 million


Important public forum on the proposed Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort is scheduled for Tuesday Sept. 4th at 6 p.m. Chief among topics will be whether the Hollywood CRA should increase their investment in the Lon Tabatchnick project on Johnson Street and the Broadwalk from $10 million to $23 million
I received the communication below from the City of Hollywood this morning about an important subject that I've written about dozens of times on this blog the past few years, sometimes with frustration, sometimes with pleasant surprise. 

In an election year, with 5 of the 7 incumbents in Hollywood running for re-election in November, you simply can't underestimate how important this meeting may prove to be to the future of the city and the beach, depending upon not only the turn-out, but the tenor and direction of the debate as well.

Don't kid yourself -what Hollywood's elected officials are proposing is nothing less than doubling-down on their original bet with CRA dollars, from $10 million to $23 million.
Is this a wise and reasonable decision based on the facts on the ground, or is it going past the point of what is prudent under the current circumstances?

If you live anywhere in the area, you owe it to yourself to come see the presentation in-person and get the facts undiluted, and then hear Hollywood taxpayers ask questions and make the case for or against doing this, one day before the Hollywood City Commission meets as the CRA and votes on the matter at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Email Notifications
Public Forum on Proposed Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort

A public forum to review proposed changes to the development agreement and ground lease
between the City of Hollywood, Hollywood Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and
Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, LLC is scheduled for Tuesday, September 4, 2012
at 6:00 p.m., Hollywood City Hall, Room 219, 2600 Hollywood Boulevard. 

This meeting comes in advance of a special joint meeting of the Commission and CRA Board
set for September 5, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. in which the Commission will consider an amendment
to the existing agreement that updates the timeline for the construction of the project, details
new financing plans and provides additional revenues to the city that have been
negotiated with the developer. The Commission, in its role as the CRA board, will also
consider a new compensated funding agreement that increases the CRA's investment in the
project.  

All interested residents are invited to attend.
For more information and history on the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort project, see http://www.hollywoodfl.org/index.aspx?NID=650

3D animated depiction of the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort is at
http://www.hollywoodfl.org/mediacenter.aspx?VID=9



Thursday, August 30, 2012

MSNBC's coverage of RNC is a marriage-made-in-heaven of Political Correctness & Ethnic Politics. If Mainstream Media's PC Police there deem it racist to say "Chicago," what does it mean NOW if you say "Chicago deep-dish"? Or, how many times can MSNBC jump-the-shark?


Speakmymind02 video:  Paranoid political correctness runs the roost when head rooster Chris Matthews is around, clucking his wild theories that for years have become increasingly creepy and offensive.
Chris Matthews: “They keep saying Chicago, by the way, you noticed?”
John Heilemann: “Well, there’s a lot of black people in Chicago”
These sort of cringe-inspiring PC moments are painful even when you didn't see them LIVE, but then that's MSNBC's problem in a nutshell: hardly anyone's watching their RNC  coverage, as they are being whipped by not only Fox News, but even pitiful CNN, with FNC beating them by a factor of more than 4.1:1. Only the party faithful turn there -the shut-ins getting their Liberal religion via cathode ray. Uploaded August 29, 2012. http://youtu.be/BW7nPFR0Oq8

MSNBC's coverage of RNC is a marriage-made-in-heaven of Political Correctness & Ethnic Politics. If Mainstream Media's PC Police deem it racist to say "Chicago," what does it mean NOW if you say "Chicago deep-dish"? Or, how many times can MSNBC jump-the-shark?

Having lived in Chicago during the mid-1980's, as well as Evanston and Wilmette, I can confirm that little bit of Breaking News knowledge imparted by jump-the-shark journo John Heilemann of New York Magazine -Chicago does indeed have many Blacks.
And many Poles, Eastern European/Russian Jews and tons of Mexicans, too.
Imagine that?

But then it IS the country's third-largest city.
It should hardly be surprising to anyone who knows America's history and especially its immigration patterns of the past 150 years.
That very mixture of cultures is another reason that I would have liked to have seen them get the Olympics in 2009 for 2016 instead of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In case you recognized the name, yes, John Heilemann was the sub-subject of my August 22nd post, titled, Paul Ryan: Why he matters and needs to be unleashed on Obama and the Dems' treasure trove of bad ideas -he connects with smart, reasonable voters who see that under Obama, we're not just going the wrong direction on too many important issues, our margin of error is getting smaller everyday; DWS on thin ice with Obama HQ in Chicago but Sun-Sentinel is ignoring the story
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/paul-ryan-why-he-matters-and-needs-to.html

I lived in the Chicago area while Harold Washington, Jr. was mayor.
Yes, a Black man as mayor almost thirty years ago.
(Not that he would have gotten any votes from any members of Chris Matthews own family if they had lived there then.)
So how come they didn't mention that when they said, if you pardon the expression, "Chicago"?

Probably because mentioning something so fundamental to the city and to its recent history would've proved inconvenient, and not part of the MSNBC paranoid Talking Points narrative, since even now, when you say Chicago, people all over the world think first of Al Capone and corruption and the bears and the Cubs and pizza, not racial politics.
But, apparently, based on what he himself says and does, that's the first thing that Chris Matthews thinks of. 

Everyone who lived there at the time knows that without the White reform element in Chicago, Washington wouldn't have been elected.
Just like Tom Bradley in Los Angeles and David Dinkins in New York.
You know, many, many years after a Black man was elected mayor of a big city that was NOT  on either media-centric coast, Carl Stokes in Cleveland.
Not that it makes the fact any less important.

But who cares about that sort of common knowledge and common sense when you can get paid to sit around and make up crazy nonsense on LIVE TV and posit that saying "Chicago" is racist, and have nobody slap you in the back of the head.
So does this mean that when I say "Chicago deep-dish" I've stepped beyond the pale?

Chris Matthews and MSNBC Now Claim the Word 'Chicago' Is Racist
By Rusty Weiss 
August 30, 2012 at 12:12 a.m.
Chris Matthews was on Hardball tonight covering the Republican National Convention with guests Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post and John Heilemann of New York Magazine.  In what is seemingly the natural progression of things these days with Matthews, the subject of the 'otherization' of the President was being discussed.  Because, if you weren't aware already, Barack Obama is black, and any time a Republican chooses to discuss the failure that is his administration, the media will be there to quickly remind you that they only feel that way because of his skin color.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/08/30/chris_matthews_saying_chicago_is_racist.html

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rusty-weiss/2012/08/30/chris-matthews-and-msnbc-now-claim-word-chicago-racist#ixzz252qumTv7



The Daily Caller
The DC Trawler with Jim Treacher blog
Another thread snaps in Chris Matthews’ frayed tether to reality
http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/30/another-thread-snaps-in-chris-matthews-frayed-tether-to-reality 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Important 'Meet the Candidates' forum tonight in Downtown Hollywood at the Hollywood Center for the Performing Arts; I'll be there, pen, pad and camera at the ready, to observe whatever happens


Hollywood City Hall, August 5, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
Given the paucity of scheduled candidate debates and forums here in Hallandale Beach -which is the way that that the powers-that-be in Hallandale Beach City Hall like it- those of you like me who like to see a good give-and-take might want to check-out tonight's second of two 'Meet the Candidates' forum hosted by the Hollywood Coalition of Civic and Business Associations, the first having been Tuesday night in western Hollywood.

Tonight at the Hollywood Center for the Performing Arts, 1650 Harrison -i.e. just south of the backside of the Publix at Young Circle- will be an event for Hollywood candidates for Mayor and the Commission seats for Districts 1, 2 & 3, which is the beach west to I-95 just north of us, and from I-95 north of Hollywood Blvd., west to N. 56th Street. 
It's slated to run from 6-9 p.m.


Candidates Treasurer’s Reports: http://www.hollywoodfl.org/index.aspx?NID=151

If what I'm hearing is true, there are a lot of people who'll need to drastically step-up their "game."

* Reminder: Kickoff for Dolphins at Cowboys exhibition football game is 8:30 p.m., airing on Channel 33 instead of Channel 4 due to Republican National Convention
coverage at 10 p.m., which will consist of Vice-Presidential nominee Paul Ryan's speech, after remarks by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez. 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

More proof of how far McClatchy's Miami Herald has fallen: Mia Love, New York-born Haitian-American, Republican mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, GOP candidate for Utah-4, gets ZERO coverage in Herald, in home of America's largest Haitian diaspora. Maybe if she owned a nightclub or retro dress shop in South Beach they'd notice her...




Fox news video: Rising GOP star Mia Love glides into the spotlight at Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL. Published August 28, 2012
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1810973848001/
Related article at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/28/republican-convention-to-feature-rising-star-mia-love/

More proof of how far the Miami Herald has fallen: Mia Love, New York-born Haitian-American, Republican mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, GOP candidate for Utah-4, gets ZERO coverage in Herald, in home of America's largest Haitian diaspora. 
Hmm-m.. maybe if she owned a nightclub or retro dress shop in South Beach they'd notice her...


Mia Love To Obama: "We're Not Buying What You're Selling"
http://youtu.be/r2Cbvewaa7g

Not a single article even on the night she speaks in prime-time at the RNC:




See also: 
In Utah, GOP finds new Love
By Juan Williams
Published July 27, 2012
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/27/in-utah-gop-finds-new-love/

http://www.love4utah.com/

Coals to Newcastle, Mainstream Media to Tampa's strip clubs! But when it's damn cute 36DD porn actress and Sarah Palin lookalike Lisa Ann, they just can't help themselves. It's a perfect MSM narrative for the Dems. But what will be its counterpoint in Charlotte next week?; @thereallisaann


WUSF-TV video: Sarah Palin Stripper Talks Politics, RNC. Uploaded August 26, 2012.

Coals to Newcastle, Mainstream Media to Tampa's strip clubs! 
But when it's damn cute 36DD porn actress and Sarah Palin lookalike Lisa Ann, they can't help themselves. It's a perfect MSM narrative for the Dems. 
But what will be its counterpoint in Charlotte next week?; @thereallisaann

The Washington Post
Lisa Ann, Sarah Palin impersonator, brings political message to Tampa strip club
By The Reliable Source
Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 08/27/2012
TAMPA — Lisa Ann is pro-guns, but anti-hunting. She’s all in favor of gay marriage and wants to save Obamacare. But don’t ask her about the economy; it’s not really her issue. Her business is porn, and that, she says, is “a pretty recession-proof industry.”

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/lisa-ann-sarah-palin-impersonator-brings-political-message-to-tampa-strip-club/2012/08/26/462d07b6-efd8-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_blog.html


The Huffington Post
Lisa Ann, Porn Star Impersonating Sarah Palin, Performs 'Nailin Paylin' At GOP Convention (PHOTOS)
By Kathleen Miles 
Posted: 08/27/2012 8:02 pm 
Updated: 08/28/2012 3:30 pm


"How dare you impugn the Mainstream Media's seriousness of purpose in doing these sorts of in-depth investigative stories," he thundered indignantly! 
I went to Journalism School, I'm a professional!
I know what sorts of questions to ask her... 

----------
@thereallisaann  http://twitter.com/thereallisaann

Bob Norman's blog post re red-light cameras in Hallandale Beach has drawn some very interesting comments worth checking-out by Csaba Kulin, Michael Mayo and Charlotte Greenbarg re Hallandale Beach Mayor Cooper's credibility. Or, rather the lack of her credibility.

Above, Hallandale Beach City Hall Municipal Complex, where the city's own records show a track record of Mayor Joy Cooper and the City Commission compromising public safety for increased revenue for them to spend. So where's Police Chief Dwayne Fluornoy in all of this? Missing-in-action! Thanks for nothing, Chief! August 5, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.   © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Bob Norman's blog post re red-light cameras in Hallandale Beach has drawn some very interesting comments worth checking-out by Csaba Kulin, Michael Mayo and Charlotte Greenbarg re Hallandale Beach Mayor Cooper's credibility. Or, rather the lack of her credibility.


Bob Norman's Blog
Studies: Red light cameras causing more accidents
Published On: Aug 27 2012 10:43:57 AM EDT  
Updated On: Aug 27 2012 11:53:07 AM EDT
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bobnorman/Studies-Red-light-cameras-causing-more-accidents/-/3223354/16278442/-/3sgf1jz/-/index.html

My friend and fellow Hallandale Beach/Broward civic activist -and HB City Comm. candidate- Csbaba Kulin first told me about Mayor Joy Cooper's clear-cut lies to the Broward County Commission within minutes of her stating them at the time, since he knew -as we all do- that the Broward County Commission sitting in that room was obviously in no position to know whether or not HB actually had those countdown clocks at all or some HB intersections where a red-light camera existed at the time.
They took Mayor Cooper at her word.
Big mistake!!!

Csaba also had spoken with me and written me -and many of you reading this- about the idea of Broward County Traffic & Engineering slightly lengthening the time for the yellow light to allow drivers to completely get out of the those intersection before Comm. John Rodstrom first mentioned it last year at one of the Commission meetings, which, if I'm not mistaken(?), was one of the ones where American Traffic Solutions was trying to get the County to allow them to tap into the County's system, and the Comm.'s response to cities supporting ATS in this effort was, essentially, so what about our cut of the money for the access?
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/09/browards_rodstrom_ready_to_gra.html
Adding an additional second to the ITE minimum yellow yielded 53% reduction in violations, producing the greatest benefit of all the factors studied
         -Texas Transportation Institute 
         http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/02/243.asp

Isn't greater safety what we all want?

Yes, you'd think so, but unfortunately, the record-to-date shows that this has NOT been Mayor Cooper's priority, given her consistent three-year pattern of patronizing lies, mis-truths, innuendo and fallacious reasoning on this subject.
More revenue for the city has always been the carrot for her, and she didn't care what she had to say or do to get it.

And now, given the analytical report on HB red-light cameras that was issued last that I cited on my blog on Saturday, City of Hallandale Beach prints analysis that refutes Mayor Joy Cooper's mendacious efforts on red-light cameras - "In summary, there is no safety benefit to the citizens, and there is no financial benefit to the taxpayer due to automated for-profit law"
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/city-of-hallandale-beach-prints.html
which Bob Norman linked to, we see the logical results of Mayor Cooper's efforts in Hallandale Beach -less safety, more revenue.

We all know that she wants to expand their use if re-elected in November, regardless of what the results to-date have been.

That's not my idea of public safety, and yet another reason why she needs to be defeated 70 days from today.

Monday, August 27, 2012

To prevent repeat performances of Hallandale Beach Comm. Alexander Lewy's egregious post-Midnight gambit last July to funnel over $200k to Comm. Anthony A. Sanders' Eagles Wings, the new process for funding community nonprofit groups in a suburban Beltway county is precisely what Hallandale Beach needs to emulate; Jeremy Borden in Wash. Post: Prince William changes how it will fund nonprofit groups


 

Above, Hallandale Beach City Commission on dais at some of the mundane FY2011-12 budget hearing workshops I caught a few hours of at City Hall. Little did I know what would happen hours later... July 19, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

This morning while the outer bands of Tropical Storm Isaac were continuing to lash the area, I discovered a very interesting public policy story while reading the Washington Post online. 
It concerned what suburban Prince William County (VA) was doing to greatly increase the public transparency in their funding of local non-profit groups by raising the bar in some very important respects.

Given the frequency and seriousness of all of the longstanding complaints in this city about the unabashed crony capitalism with public dollars that's taken place here in Hallandale Beach the past ten years under Mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew, there's an awful lot in the article to not only ponder, but seriously consider importing whole to this part of Broward County, and perhaps other parts of South Florida as well, since it's not like blatant crony capitalism is limited to only this city.

While I lived in Washington, D.C. and Arlington County (VA) for 15 years from 1988-2003, other than a few friends at work who lived down there, roughly about a 35-minute drive south on I-95, and who took commuter buses to and from work, my only real frame of reference for the area was the Ikea store there in Woodbridge at the Potomac Mills Mall, which I probably went to about six times a year with friends, usually on Fall Saturday afternoons when the Hoosiers or Hurricanes weren't playing on TV, or Sundays if the Redskins or Dolphins had byes or Monday Night games.
Unlike densely-populated Arlington, you could really see the stars in the sky at night there.


View Larger Map

-----

The Washington Post
Prince William changes how it will fund nonprofit groups
By Jeremy Borden, Published: August 26
Prince William County officials unveiled a process for funding community nonprofit groups and requiring stricter reporting standards.
Also, for the first time, budget officials streamed the session Thursday online.
Budget director Michelle Casciato outlined a process for funding nonprofit groups that observers said is more transparent and holds organizations more accountable. Casciato said budget officials have been working on the standards over the past two years.
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/prince-william-changes-how-it-will-fund-nonprofit-groups/2012/08/24/df261d1e-ed70-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html
-----
"The organizations’ activities must directly support the goals of county departments, Casciato said. If organizations re-apply for funding, they must submit a list of “performance measures” they achieved in the last fiscal year.
Casciato said groups that had historically been funded should not expect to get money from year to year."
Sounds like music to our ears, and if not quite music, well, at least a tune we like!

If implemented here in Hallandale Beach, under this sort of scenario, many of the very groups that we've all been complaining about loudly for years will finally face genuine accountability and develop a genuine fear of the axe, and have to prove that they have a plan for being self-supporting, including the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce, which does NOT have such a plan now.
http://www.browardbulldog.org/2012/08/hallandale-beach-chamber-of-commerce-gets-%E2%80%9Csweetheart-deal-from-city-critics-say/

(And could someone please explain why, if the city really wanted to improve things for residents and taxpayers, there are now, demonstrably, LESS covered bus shelters in this city since the HBCoC took over, rather than more? 
Explain why after all these years, there's STILL no covered bus shelter directly in front of and across-the-street from the city's largest retailer, Walmart?
There are all sorts of reasonable questions in search of reasonable public answers from Patricia Genetti that she has NOT been interested in providing.) 

IF supposedly non-profit groups in this city can only exist because of our wallets and purses routinely being pried open against our wills by Mayor Cooper and the Rubber Stamp Crew
these groups better figure out a Plan B quick, because positive change is going to get here very soon after the January 15th Special Election, and I for one will NOT be throwing them a life preserver, and I suspect most of you won't be, either

Below are two specific groups who I believe will have a troubled future if genuine reform comes to HB City Hall.
I think you will be quite interested in what it says, and I use the city's own words to make the case against them. 

Eagles Wings, controlled by Comm. Anthony A. Sanders and his wife Jessica, just like the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce, still has NOT demonstrated a plan for their own sustainability

Oh Eagles Wings, how high you fly away with city money despite not meeting the city's own requirements!

Yes, Eagles Wing Development Center, the very same group that Comm. Alexander Lewy wanted to give over $200,000 to in his post-midnight gambit of last July 19th, without ever referring to them by name in his original motion.
Instead, he declared that he wanted to give it to a group who had had demonstrated success.
So where's the independent third-party proof of that success?
It can't be found -there is no such proof.

Why did Lewy do it then, and why does he continue to refuse to offer any public explanation for his actions in the year since then?
Now there's a good question I'd like to see the South Florida news media ask him to answer to HB taxpayers' satisfaction.


My blog post of August 1, 2011 on Comm. Alexander Lewy's stealthy post-Midnight gambit proved to be one of my most popular posts of last year, owing to its very brazeness, While you were sleeping: Comm. Alexander Lewy's budget chicanery & Liberal Guilt just cost you another $200,000-plus. For what and for whom, exactly?

To quote from that post:
In fact, in the year 2011, despite all the money that the city's taxpayers have poured into it over the years -taxpayers like Y-O-U- plus all the free rent and use of your govt. facilities it has taken advantage of, would you believe that Eagles Wings still DOESN'T have a website of their own that explains what they actually do and who the people are behind it.

One well-informed person I know has suggested to me that one of the principal reasons that residents of NW Hallandale Beach are SO thoroughly unhappy with Comm. Anthony Sanders' performance in office -and his wife Jessica- a theory I've heard expounded from dozens of people the past six months, is precisely because of these kinds of nonsensical deals where city funds are mysteriously allocated to the N.W. community, but, somehow, for reasons that they can never really quite explain, the funds don't filter down to the actual members of that community in a way that's productive or satisfactory for HB taxpayers.

Yes, just more of the chronic lack of accountability at HB City Hall that Csaba Kulin, Mike Butler, Judy & Bob Selz, Etty Sims, myself and many others here have been decrying for years, where public transparency is the VERY LAST THING the City of Hallandale Beach wants.
The stone cold reality of the behavior described above ought to dispel any fairy tale spun now or in the future by Alexander Lewy.

Lewy is like the bank insider who occasionally robs from the bank containing HB taxpayer's money, but then has the gall to act like he's Robin Hood.

It's already insulting enough, but then Lewy wants to act like we are none-the-wiser.

He fools us not a whit!


© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

And just think, when I wrote the above last August, that was before I was fully-aware of the fact that Comm. Sanders and his wife and their cronies in Northwest Hallandale Beach had created yet another group that had Jessica Sanders in charge that comes to City Hall seeking a handout of public funds.

Just to confuse people with an existing civic group, they specifically called themselves the 
Palms Community Action Coalition, the group that is apparently so important that of all the non-profits in the city, Mayor Cooper and the majority of the City Commission said they must have an office at the city's Hepburn Center.

But when they say it ought to have an office, what they really mean is that Jessica Sanders should have an office.
Why?

So, can you tell me what they do they do, who its Board Members are, and what do they do exactly that's different than what the city or another non-profit is already doing?
They can't really say.

Check out their scatter-brained website, and specifically, their website says under their "About us" menu. It reveals nothing.

http://palmscommunityactioncoalition.org/about
About Us
If you have not already done so, please join our mailing list so that you are the first to now about upcoming events, new projects and all the ways that you and your family can benefit from our organization. Our Calendar will have the latest events so please be sure to check the calendar often, as well as your inbox.
The Palms Community Action Coalition is currently teamed with over 60 companies and organizations to help bring a change to our community that will help make each and everyday brighter. Feel free to visit them on our site or their individual sites for more information about what they can do for you.

But what do you find when you go to their calendar?
http://palmscommunityactioncoalition.org/calendar

Well, as of midnight August 28, 2012, it's chock full of info about what they were doing -supposedly- in June of 2011.

Don't believe me?
Look for yourself at the screen-grab I just did of their website's calendar page.
It speaks volumes!




It all seems so half-assed to me, what with all the vague terms and generalities about them and their activities throughout the website.
It also calls into serious question why they are getting ANY money from the city if they are so mismanaged under Jessica Sanders that they/she can't so much as keep an updated calendar of their own activities.
Kids in junior high school can do it for their after-school clubs, so why can't she?  

And tell me again why she needs to have an office on city property and the ability to use city personnel and city resources?
It's all very, very curious.

Eagle’s Wings Development Center requested $70,000 but received $35,000
Lampkin’s Creative Arts 4 All requested $58,300 but received $10,000

All information below is verbatim from city documents with cited URLs.
Warning, the city's URL loads slowly, so be patient!
---------------------

Eagle’s Wings Development Center 
416 N.W. 4th Avenue
Hallandale Beach, FL 33008 
(954) 457- 9292
ewdcburton@gmail.com

From CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH FY 2012 COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS GRANT REVIEW PACKAGE
Exhibit G-1
http://www.cohb.org/files/2011-07-1402/Item%205A/SUPP_DOCS/Documents/Doc7.pdf


NAME OF ORGANIZATION  Eaqles Wings 

GROUP  DATE-  24,2011 

TOTAL COMBINED SCORE  396/500  

RECOMMENDED FUNDING  $35,000 

GROUP COMMENTS 
T h e applicant submitted an application, however it lacked some of the required attachment documentation (i.e certificate of insurance, letters of support or MOU) and detail. The applicant requested funding for an employment program to train individuals to become Certified Nurses Assistants (CNA) as the priority area.
There was confusion regarding the increase of requested funds for a smaller number of people to be served versus the amount of funding given by the City previously. The new request is for $55,000 more dollars to serve 90% less people  The thought is this may be due to the new CNA program. The reviewers agreed there is a need for employment  in the identified area; however the application did not provide enough detail on the implementation strategies. It was difficult to determine what portion of personnel would be providing the training program (CNA). It was also unclear who would actually provide the services. The applicant did not identify vendor, agency, or entity that would provide training, and there were no letters of support except Weed and Seed for the project. The applicant Sustainability Plan only indicated the loss of funds from Weed and Seed, therefore if not funded the organization could no longer  provide support for their programs. The reviewers felt this organization had not demonstrated a plan for sustainability. The committee recommended, in review of the budget, that items related to training and support for clients should be funded; thereby reducing request to $35,000 to cover those costs.

-----

Lampkin’s Creative Arts 4 All 
222 S. Dixie Highway 
Hallandale Bch, FL 33009 
(954) 573-5137
lampca4all@yahoo.com

From CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH FY 2012 COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS GRANT REVIEW PACKAGE
Exhibit G-1
http://www.cohb.org/files/2011-07-1402/Item%205A/SUPP_DOCS/Documents/Doc7.pdf

NAME OF ORGANIZATION  Lampkins Creative Arts 4 All 

GROUP  DATE  May 24,201 1 

TOTAL COMBINED SCORE  293/500  

RECOMMENDED FUNDING  $ 10,000 

GROUP COMMENTS 
The applicant has been known for providing free music and cultural arts programs for other 
community groups in Hallandale Beach. The request is to expand services; however the 
committee's assessment is that this organization appears to be new and should acquire 
assistance with program development. 
The applicant did not provide background information or description of current services. The 
application was confusing because the program description and the implementation strategy did not coincide. It was difficult for reviewers to determine how the program would be implemented and survive. The applicant did not provide a clear referral or recruitment strategy. The applicant was very broad with scope of who would be served and reviewers felt that given a program of this nature, the organization needs to be more specific about the target population. The evaluation plan is vague and does not provide any type of plan to ensure the desired outcomes. It should be noted that this applicant was provided an opportunity to resubmit the application. 
The committee feels this is more recommend $10,000 in grant funding to be used for basic
operating costs (facility, consultant, equipment, supplies).

Ethics questions re someone (Rosalind Osgood) who teaches ethics -and her Tallahassee lobbyist friend- who also happens to be a candidate for Broward School Board District 5

Might be time for the South Florida news media to have a nice heart-to-heart talk with Broward School Board candidate Rosalind Osgood, cited in this disturbing piece that I first discovered via one of my many Google Alerts:

Media Trackers
Broward School Board Candidate Tapping Funds from Controversial Lobbyist
By Tom Lauder
24TH AUG 2012 AT 17:05
Broward School Board candidate Rosalind Osgood is tapping funds from controversial Tallahassee lobbyist David E. Ramba, official campaign records show. Heading into the November runoff for the School Board position, Ramba, his companies, and political committees under his control have already given $4,000 to Osgood.
Read the rest of the post at:

The most obvious question of several would be to ask her what she SPECIFICALLY plans to do for Broward County kids, parents and taxpayers if elected from District 5 that doesn't involve churches.
But then there are all those other obvious questions, too.

On the other hand, her opponent, Torey Alstonhas been specific, consistent and articulate about what tangible goals he supports in changing the fractured culture at the very unpopular, disconnected and self-serving elected Broward School Board, where along with their top-heavy administrative staff, their policy-making for years has largely consisted of chasing their tails and getting upset about how they are portrayed (accurately) by the news media who holds a mirror up to them. (That's Ann Murray's specialty!)

Alston has also been specific, consistent and articulate about how he would accomplish those goals if elected -including expanding vocational training opportunities- which is precisely the sort of specifics that civic-minded parents and taxpayers are always calling for in an election year, right?

I mention that here because the political romantic in me thinks THAT should really count for something, something positive, but if nobody in the South Florida news media notices...
And just so we're clear about what I mean by that, that's REAL reporting about the race in the Herald and Sun-Sentinel that consists of more than a dozen two-sentence paragraphs about their bios AFTER Early Voting has already started.
To say nothing of what ought to be on TV newscasts.

That is, if the news media really believes that public education is as important as they keep saying it is, even while the Herald STILL lacks an engaged and well-informed Education blog in the year 2012.

Just saying...

Saturday, August 25, 2012

As "Isaac" approaches South Florida, key differences re-emerge between how Hollywood and Hallandale Beach cope: Hollywood Residents, Business Owners Can Fill Their Own Free Sandbags; Hallandale Beach residents can once again get sand-bagged and dumb-founded



The home of "Mr. Sandman"

Hollywood Residents, Business Owners Can Fill Their Own Free Sandbags; Hallandale Beach residents can once again get sand-bagged and dumb-founded

Above, August 22nd photos of HB's true Emergency Operations HQ, the area west of the old school next to the HB DPW HQ on N.W. 2nd street, the old school that is taking years and years to rehab for reasons that nobody can figure out, though we all know, don't we?

(And what are they going to do with it once they're finished? Who knows?)


I've gone by there every other week for the past year and see nothing that's changed since LAST summer!
Even the promotional sign on the fence about the project is still lying on the top of the fence, illegible. Why isn't it tied down so that it can be read?
Because that would take common sense and initiative.

HB residents can wait for the pile of sand -that never has a tarp on it- to continue blowing-away and dissolving, thereby making it next-to-impossible to pour the wet sand down the orange traffic cones they use to fill sandbags!
Remember, bring your own flashlight because that area has no outside lighting.

Remember the city's policy for getting sand bags

1.) You must wait until there is at least three feet of standing water in front of your home or business, or reaches your child's hips, whichever is higher.

2.) You must have spotted at least a dozen City of HB-marked  trucks driving by to create a "wake" into your living room or business foyer, but those city trucks never stop.
Don't worry, the city employees driving them are just checking things out and looking for opportunities to film something interesting that they can put on YouTube once they get to their own homes -20 miles away.

steevydance video: Two ENTIRE days of constant rain floods northeast Hallandale Beach one week before Christmas. Uploaded December 19, 2009. http://youtu.be/3i_7zs4KZ1s
At 7:36 - "That's how we roll!"

Everyone in this city still remembers how bad this was, too!

3.) Don't forget that who you know matters- Friends of the Chamber of Commerce- get their sand double-bagged and have their bags delivered to their home with their choice of hot or iced coffee, you get the bag with the small hole in the corner -that you're told to ignore, by Bill Julianbefore it's tossed into your car trunk -from four feet away.

Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce gets “sweetheart deal” from city, critics say
By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org  
August 7, 2012 AT 6:25 AM




Above, a screenshot I captured of former Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor William "Bill" Julian from a late September 2010 newscast of Channel 7, WSVN-TV, Miami. 

4. When you get your wet bag of sand with the hole in it, don't argue with the people who insist that you thank Bill Julian -in Novemberjust take your sand bag and go! Quick!
Argue about Julian's truly dreadful record in office, his lack of attention, his longstanding lack of core competency, and his lack of remorse for all the MANY bad things that he has done over the years that have only made thing worse, LATER!

5. No, that isn't your imagination.
Nobody needed to call the local Miami-area TV stations or newspapers to tell them that your entire neighborhood in HB is flooded, esp. in Northeast HB.

Those TV news trucks have a long, long memory; they know exactly where to go in South Florida when it rains hard for a long time and they need to shoot video of some VERY frustrated and befuddled residents.
There's a good reason that HB is in their Top Five go-to cities for flooding, and it's because it's money in the bank.
(Just like the area in Aventura near the Publix near Loehman's Plaza, off of Biscayne Blvd.)  
So don't kill the messengers!

After it's over, will Hallandale Beach city employees once again swarm to the U.S.1 median in front of City Hall and plant new flowers, like after Hurricane Wilma?
Yes, planting new flowers in and around City Hall to present a facade to HB residents and visitors is priority number one under this mayor.


A pretty facade is better than them really knowing how truly bad things have been run here for years with her as mayor.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: News & Announcements
Date: Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 3:23 PM
Subject: Hollywood Residents, Business Owners Can Fill Their Own Free Sandbags
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Based on the latest weather advisories, Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to bring mostly heavy rain to South Florida. For precautionary purposes, the City of Hollywood Department of Public Works is offering City residents and business owners who live or work in flood prone areas free heavy duty bags and sand to create sandbags. Up to eight (8) sandbags are available for each household or business on Saturday, August 25 and Sunday, August 26 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sandbag filling will be available on these days at two locations:

City of Hollywood Public Works Facility
1600 S. Park Road
Hollywood
Driftwood Community Center
3000 N. 69 Ave.
Hollywood

  • Proof of residency or business in Hollywood is required.
  • Delivery service is not available.
  • Though residents and business owners will be required to fill their own sandbags, City personnel will be available at each site to assist the elderly and people with special needs who would like sandbags. 
  • Be sure to bring your own equipment (shovel) to fill a bag with sand.
If clicking the link doesn't work, please copy and paste the link into your browser.