Showing posts with label Beachwalk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beachwalk. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Csaba Kulin: Hallandale Beach taxpayers & residents want straight answers from Hallandale Beach City Hall about the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa's future plans. Please attend 6 pm meeting tonight at HB Cultural Center


My friend and fellow Hallandale Beach & Broward civic activist Csaba "Chuck" Kulin is sounding the alarm bells today so that the city's residents, taxpayers and Small Business owners can become properly informed about development plans afoot by the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa before something else happens that the public will regret.
The Diplomat's past project, the Diplomat RAC, being a source of dozens of fact-filled blog posts here over the past 8 years, especially my effort to highlight the deliberate efforts of the not-so-fine folks at Hallandale Beach City Hall to keep the community in the dark until the last possible minute, so that their developer friends and associates can keep a lid on facts and plans.
Well, we know how that finally wound up, with me often making like Paul Revere at the time...
The community won, the developer lost.  

See also: via @trdmiami
25th new condo tower completed in South Florida this cycle At least 50 units have been recorded at Related's new Beachwalk in Hallandale Beach April 21, 2015 12:00PM
By Peter Zalewski
http://therealdeal.com/miami/blog/2015/04/21/25th-new-condo-tower-completed-in-south-florida-this-cycle/


Below, my blog post on the current news about the Diplomat Resort & Spa, but first, two helpful
reminders from early 2010, the first of which has generated 2,556 individual pageviews since then:
Sore loser Mark Kukulski & Westin Diplomat renew threats: they'll huff and puff and blow the Diplomat Golf Course down
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/sore-loser-mark-kukulski-westin.html

With friends like Gregory M. Dell, concerned citizens of Hallandale Beach don't need enemies in their battle against the
Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa's ill-conceived plans that threaten the area's Quality of Life

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/with-friends-like-gregory-m-dell.html
 -----
Friends

During the April 21, 2015 City Commission meeting there were several comments made about the Diplomat Golf Resort and the need for the City to define “condo-hotels”. Nothing definite but if you read between the lines, the Diplomat’s new owners are getting ready for something new and big.

If you remember the Diplomat in February 2007 requested to build 1,050 condominium units and 349 hotel rooms. The Planning and Zoning Board rejected that idea and the Diplomat withdrew the application.

In September 2009 the Diplomat filed a new application asking for 1,078 condominiums, 500 room hotel and 3,000 square feet of commercial space. On December 16, 2009 our City Commission approved it 3 to 2. Commissioners Julian and London voted NO. Mayor Cooper, Commissioners Sanders and Ross voted YES. The City Commission voted at 2:30 AM (yes, after midnight) in front of a “standing room only” full of residents to approve the application.

On April 27, 2010 the Broward County Commission denied the application. A bus full of residents were in attendance and many spoke in opposition to the application.

I believe that it is time to ask questions now of your elected mayor and city commissioners about the Diplomat project. What is requested? What is allowed? What is in the best interest of the residents?

An excellent place to start asking questions is tonight, April 21, 2015, at Commissioner Keith London’s monthly meeting at the City Community Center at 6:00 PM. Since it is a “Publicly Noticed” meeting, there may be more than one city commissioners in attendance.

I know it is a late notice but it is an important meeting. Please, try to attend.

Chuck Kulin
President
Fairways North, Inc.  

 
----

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Why we're FOR Chuck Kulin for Hallandale Beach City Commission Seat 1: On one important issue after another -but esp. development- ineffective, incompetent incumbent Comm. Anthony A. Sanders has consistently disrespected & disappointed HB residents & Small Business owners. Here are the cold hard facts you need to consider -and that Sanders wishes you'd forget!

June 2, 2010 photo of Hallandale Beach City Hall by South Beach Hoosier. 
© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

Dear Friends:

For many Hallandale Beach voters, especially those living on the beach in our many large condominium towers, the most-populous part of the city, this may well be the first time that anyone has attempted to connect-the-dots and facts on how someone as ineffective and incompetent as Hallandale Beach Commission Seat 1 incumbent Anthony A. Sanders came to mis-represent you on that five-member panel that makes the public policy and budget decisions that you and your family has to deal with everyday. That's why taking the time to do it right matters.
And that's why I'm doing it right now -while your vote can still make a positive difference to give us all a very different sort of future and a much-better city.

(If you know someone who doesn't follow what's going on in our city and want themn to make an intelligent choice, please forward this to them BEFORE the election!)

I'm happy to be writing today as I've got positive and encouraging news to share with you about how well my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach activist Chuck Kulin's campaign is going to bring 
increased levels of financial accountability, common sense and ethical integrity to Hallandale Beach City Hall. As many of you know, due to Chuck's steadfast hard work over the years to help give Hallandale Beach residents and small business owners like you the sort of open and transparent city government we deserved -but were NOT receiving- he recently earned the endorsement of two individuals with well-known track records for demanding genuine accountability and responsiveness from government for all taxpayers: outgoing District 6 Broward County Comm. Sue Gunzburger and Beam Furr, the former Hollywood Comm. and District 6 County Comm. Democratic 
nominee. 
More recently, Chuck earned the endorsement of the pro-business South Broward Board of Realtors.

Those endorsements are positive signs that what he's been saying and doing is resonating with people, and I'm happy to say that he's earned those endorsements based on his solid record of civic activism and refusal to buckle to the powers-that-be at Hallandale Beach City Hall. 

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/04/hallandale_mayor_joy_cooper_budget.php
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/csaba-kulin-and-i-re-long-trail-of.html

But what's really heartened me over the past few weeks is the very positive reaction that his pro-reform campaign is receiving from so many of you and your neighbors as he makes his way thru the city, walking the precincts and talking about the important financial and policy issues facing our city.
Specifically, discussing in detail what sort of positive changes he and so many of us believe need to be implemented at HB City Hall to create a better Quality-of-Life for residents and a better business environment for Small Businesses.

Do you want to know who is NOT happy about Chuck Kulin openly discussing those issues, 

especially the nuts-and-bolts details about what's been going wrong in our city for FAR TOO LONGThe person Chuck Kulin is running against - ineffective incumbent Hallandale Beach Comm. Anthony Sanders.  
And it's no wonder that Sanders is not happy, given his consistently unsatisfactory track record in office the last six years on so many important issues that affect all of us on a daily basis. 
Let's take a quick look at that track record of Comm. Sanders on an important issue that concerns everyone in this city, regardless of where you live -development- and specifically examine what Sanders said and did when three controversial development projects came before the five-member HB City Commission.

The first project we'll examine is the Diplomat LAC project, a project that was completely incompatible in every respect to the residential N.E. neighborhood for which it was planned. But the folks in power at Hallandale Beach City Hall loved it like crazy!

In case you forgot or are somewhat hazy on the details, that project would've resulted in 5-7 large condo towers the size of The Duo being constructed on the perimeter of the Diplomat Country Club, making the already-terrible traffic problems we encounter there worse, with resulting ripple-effects throughout the city. 

Single-family home owners and residents of the 3-4 story condo/apt. complexes on Diplomat Parkway, Atlantic Shores Blvd and N.E. 14th Avenue -along with residents all over the city, including me- were not just shocked that the HB City Commission tried to steamroll public opposition to it, but angry that the city thought it could successfully play hide-and-seek with public documents in order to make it difficult for HB residents like them to get their hands on the up-to-date changes to the plan prior to public meetings, so they could be as well-informed when they spoke at public meetings as the lawyers, consultants and lobbyists working for the developer.

Those same concerned residents repeatedly emailed and telephoned Comm. Sanders, urging him to meet with them in their neighborhood so that he could get a first-hand perspective on how the plan would directly affect them, even to the point of putting some people's backyards in permanent shadows, to say nothing of taking away the very views that had caused many of them to decide to move there in the first place.
But when Sanders had the chance to do the right thing, he didn't care about the concerns of these HB residents -and never responded.


Instead, Sanders voted FOR the incompatible plan, even speaking in favor of it at the Broward County Commission, despite the neighborhood/community's vocal opposition.
On the other hand, my friend Chuck Kulin was not only one of the plan's most-fervent opponents, he helped educate and organize the public opposition against it over several months, consistently speaking against it before the City Commission, County Planning Commission and the County Commission. Eventually, the County Commission had the good sense to vote the plan down, and in doing so, echoed many of the same sensible reasons Chuck had given over the preceding months.

The second controversial development plan where Comm. Sanders' behavior and vote is well worth recalling was the Beachwalk condo/hotel project next to the Intracoastal Bridge. Located on the site of the old Manero's restaurant property, which had sat empty for years, this plan would've required the city to give the developer not only a high number of variances, but also required the city to give the developer critical land it owned as part of the deal.
Just as was the case with the Diplomat RAC plan, Comm. Sanders was NOT at all interested in what HB residents in the S.E. neighborhood thought, even though they'd be the ones living with the consequences of a large tower being constructed and casting its giant shadow over them daily in an area with no road alternatives.

When Chuck and I and many other concerned HB residents publicly urged the City Commission to delay for just one month the first of its two public meetings on the project, so that the majority of residents and property owners along Diana Drive and Layne Blvd. who'd be most-directly affected -and who were mostly out-of-town for the summer- could return to town and have their three minutes to speak their peace publicly, Comm. Sanders said and did nothing to offer them any hope. 

Is it because Sanders simply didn't care about the neighborhood or its residents? 

See, Latest info & photos re The Related Group's proposed 31-story waterfront Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach; Vote is set for Wednesday night despite the fact that many nearby homeowners are away for the summer and can't participate. It needs to be rejected! Don't give away North Beach!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/latest-info-photos-re-related-groups.html

When you examine the public records on the city's own website, it's clear that Sanders was a YES vote for the developer from the beginning, and soon after the vote, the developer and his team delivered some nice-sized checks to Sanders' 2012 campaign chest, just after they delivered $20,000 to Mayor Cooper's re-election campaign. 
Is that the reason that no amount of logic or reason -or even appeals to basic fairness- would interfere with Comm. Sanders giving the developer everything they wanted -and at a cheap price, too?

The third and most-recent controversial development project worth re-examining Comm. Sanders voting record for is the one on the beach located at 2000 S. Ocean Drive, next to Parker Towers and The Hemispheres. Sometimes referred to as the "Regency Spa" project for the site's former use, this unpopular project, with a ridiculous number of variance requests, was voted down twice before the HB Planning & Zoning Advisory Board, with Chuck asking hard-but-fair questions of the developer's team before casting votes against it both times.
But when the plan came before the HB City Commission in May, it was approved on a vote of 3-2, with Sanders providing the deciding vote FOR the developer -and against the best long-term interests of the residents of the neighborhood.

Yes, it was Comm. Sanders who was the final nail in the coffin that made certain that a building that's completely incompatible to the neighborhood will now be there for years to come. Unless something
unexpected happens, it will serve as a daily reminder to our city's residents of the complete folly of ever trusting their city's fate and our collective Quality-of-Life to him.

And now as you can see for yourself when you drive by there, no doubt in part to thank him for his YES vote back in May, the developer on that project has allowed a large Sanders campaign sign to be erected right out front of the property. 

Draw your own conclusions folks.

So with just over 10 days to go, I'm very enthusiastic because when Hallandale Beach voters know the facts and know the issues, they are consistently supporting Chuck Kulin for Seat 1 on the Hallandale Beach City Commission. 
You can not simply ignore the fact that Comm. Sanders has consistently shown bad judgment and disrespect towards HB residents over six long years. 

That sort of consistent behavior in office should NOT be rewarded now with four more years, since we know from experience that would only mean nothing but more grief and regret on one important issue after another.

I'm happy that Chuck's campaign is being so well received but with just under a dozen days of hard work ahead, I don't want any of us to take anything for granted. In order to get Chuck's message out to as many concerned and frustrated Hallandale Beach voters as possible, I'm asking you now directly for your help in any way that you can provide it to him. 

Whether that's helping with phone calls, walking the condos & streets with him, providing talent/resources, or helping the campaign financially with a campaign contribution, I'll be very appreciative of whatever you can do now to help him.


Trust me, I know as well as anyone how many of you want this effort of Chuck's to succeed, so
we can all finally have what we wish we had right now -a more open, responsive and accountable city govt. that provides a better Quality-of-Life we can all take pride in.

If you can support his candidacy, please go to his PayPal account
http://chuckkulin.com/hallandale_beach/index.php/jce/paypal-donate


Or, you can send him a check to:
        Chuck Kulin Campaign
        1835 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd, #130
        Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
Cell 954-804-2210 
E-mail ChuckKulin2014@gmail.com

Hallandale Beach, please vote like your family's future depends on it, because it really does!
Vote Chuck Kulin for Seat 1 on Tuesday November 4th.
Dave

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Approval for The Related Group's Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach pays off quickly for Hallandale Beach Comm. Anthony A. Sanders. Follow the money? Okay, here it is: $2,500 on page 4 of Sanders' most-recently filed Treasurer's Report is from individuals & entities supporting Beachwalk's approval, including, predictably, Greenberg Traurig; #HallandaleBeach, @SandersHB, @MayorCooper

Above, Hallandale Beach City Hall, February 13, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
Approval for The Related Group's Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach pays off quickly for Hallandale Beach Comm. Anthony A. Sanders. Follow the money? Okay, here it is: $2,500 on page 4 of Sanders' most-recently filed Treasurer's Report is from individuals & entities supporting Beachwalk's approval, including, predictably, Greenberg Traurig; #HallandaleBeach, @SandersHB, @MayorCooper 

http://www.hallandalebeach.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=2499
See Page 4 of those contributions, items # 17, 20, 21, 22 and 23.

Naturally, this being Hallandale Beach, where there's nothing that's predictable when it comes to bad behavior, also appearing were some predictable names who like the Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew: Comm. Dotty Ross and former Congressman and former city lobbyist Larry Smith and... former HB Commissioner William "Bill" Julian.

Hmm-m... so why exactly is Julian giving money to one of his own opponents in this November's election? See page 3, item # 11.
That's a good question.
[But then that sort of questionable "logic" is precisely why Julian was thrown-off the commission by voters in 2010, and why this dreadfully incompetent man who for years has exhibited such terrible judgement in continually bringing disgrace to himself and to this town thru his clownish, boorish and illegal behavior -voting to triple his own pay at a City Commission meeting with no citizens or camera present, parking illegally in Handicapped Parking spaces and No Parking Zones all over town for many, many years- MUST be kept away from any position of power in this city. The crazy part now is that Julian acts like people aren't hip to his whole charade as the nice guy who means well. He ISN'T!
He's the guy with a sense of entitlement who consciously parked his own car in those spaces illegally with his Commissioner ID badge right on the dashboard for you, me and everyone else, including the police, could see, instead of following a very simple law. No, Bill Julian is indeed a thoroughly reprehensible and despicable individual who got away with his serial immoral and illegal behavior for years in this town because of his official position. IF he had lived 150 years ago or more in many parts of the Midwest and Plains, he would have rather quickly found himself run-out-of-town by the energized citizenry, angry at forever being made media laughingstocks by his silly prattle, buffoonish antics, tomfoolery and lack of attention to detail, his specialty!]
Okay, let's see if I have this correct.
On June 6th, at its Second Reading before the five-member Hallandale Beach City Commission, Comm. Anthony A. Sanders voted to approve the too-large and incompatible development project by The Related Group on the Intracoastal Waterway -with its octopus-like tentacles stretched over to the city's dirty and poorly-maintained North Beach Park- that I've written SO MUCH about this year on the blog.

And when Sanders spoke, which he doesn't do a lot of, and doesn't do particularly well despite his being a Pastor, he spent almost all of his time talking about jobs and job-training.
Hmm-m... 
I wonder whom he thinks should be involved with THAT?
I think we all know who that would be.

In fact, in her opening remarks weeks earlier, The Related Group's attorney, Debbie Orshefsky, of Greenberg Traurig, actually wasted little time before pivoting from talking about the basics of the project in her Power Point presentation to an extended pitch aimed directly at Sanders, saying that the developers knew how important jobs and job-training were to him. LOL!
BOOM!

Just like that, Orshefsky went right to the heart of what everyone in the room who follows these things closely knew would be the one-and-only issue that mattered for Comm. Sanders
Jobs for... well, maybe for people like Jessica Sanders, eh?

This, despite the fact that all the commissioners under our city's At-Large system are supposed to represent ALL residents of this city equally, including the very people who live in the neighborhood where the Beachwalk project could be erected.

Wow, it was so patently obvious as to be completely over-the-top, even for Hallandale Beach.
Especially for an excellent attorney like Orshefsky, who is always extremely well-prepared -unlike, oh, Comm. Sanders himself- since regardless of whatever else I or my friends in Broward County might think of the relative merits of the projects that she's become the public face for here in Hallandale Beach, next-door Hollywood or before the Broward County Commission, she is always very well prepared and ready to pounce on a mistake.

Now, though, suddenly, a month later, Sanders has received $2,500 in 2012 campaign contributions from people and entities with an interest in The Beachwalk's  approval.
Approval given during the middle of the summer, when most of the residents who live near the project and who will be most adversely-affected by it, are actually out-of-town for the summer until Labor Day.

Tell me, what do you suppose Village of Gulfstream Park and Beachwalk lobbyist Suzanne Friedman, who wrote a campaign check to him, feels is Sanders' best trait as a commissioner?

Is it the fact that for almost four years in office now -47 months this week- Sanders has carefully and aggressively avoided directly interacting publicly with this community's most well-informed citizens? Hmm-m...

Could it be Sanders' continual refusal over so many months in 2009 to even meet in-person with HB residents living in the very NE neighborhood most adversely-affected by the proposed Diplomat project that both Friedman and Orshefsky worked for, making their jobs easier, knowing that Sanders wasn't going to even pretend to care what those residents thought?

Especially given his refusal to even return their phone calls or emails asking him as an elected representative of theirs to meet with them in the neighborhood itself, so that he could see, literally, their perspective on the matter?
Or the point-of-view they'd be losing if he voted yes, as he did!
Hmm-m... possibly.

Or, could it just be that what Friedman and other lobbyists like her most like about Sanders is that he not only doesn't ask good questions to speak of, but that even the bad ones he does ask, he always asks in such a halting and confusing fashion -like he just showed-up to the meeting and doesn't really quite know what he's doing there or what everyone is talking about- that it throws everyone else off?

Which certainly helps them, yes, given Sanders four-year track record of ALWAYS voting for every single development proposal that has come before him, no matter how poorly thought-out, no matter how unpopular with neighbors or the whole city it might be.

Yes, those feeble and circular questions of Sanders that are so painful to watch and hear in-person, that it's not at all uncommon for people in the commission chambers to get up while he's speaking and leave the room for a few minutes to gather themselves outside, and get a breath of fresh air, because the whole scene inside is too much for them to bear.
Been there, done that.

-----

Miami Herald
Proposed hotel gets tentative approval in Hallandale Beach - Miami developer Jorge Pérez gained preliminary approval from the Hallandale Beach commission to build a more than $90 million project on the Intracoastal Waterway.
By Carli Teproff
June 7, 2012

Despite concerns over traffic and parking issues, the Hallandale Beach Commission gave its tentative approval for Miami developer Jorge Pérez to build a more than $90 million Beachwalk project on the city’s Intracoastal Waterway. 

The commission voted unanimously late Wednesday night to allow the Related Group to construct a 216-suite hotel and 84 residential units where the once-popular Manero’s restaurant stood. The project would also include improvements to a city park and a beachfront restaurant. 

If the commission gives it a final green light, the hotel would be the city’s first overlooking the waterway and within walking distance to the beach. 

“I think we are all in a consensus that we need a hotel in the city,” said Vice Mayor Anthony Sanders after the meeting. “But we have to achieve some sort of balance.” 

Many in the beachside community say that only having two hotels hampers its ability to compete with other neighboring beachside communities including Sunny Isles Beach and Hollywood. 

“It can only enhance our lives,” said Toula Amanna, the owner of Flashback Diner in Hallandale Beach. “It’s about time we start functioning as a vacation destination.” 

Some details still need to be worked out before any final approval. 

The developer is going to work with the city to address some concerns, including traffic on Diana Drive and creating more parking to fit the demand. 

“We are going to work on it,” said Debbie Orshefsky of Greenberg Traurig, the lawyer representing the Related Group following the four-hour meeting. 

Orshefsky said the proposed 31-story building on 1.68 acres at 2600 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd., will bring something to the city it doesn’t have: a suite hotel and residential complex. “Mixed use projects make sense,” she said. 

But residents say they also bring traffic. 

Peter Ramirez, who lives on Diana Drive, said parking is already a problem along the residential street, which is lined with condominium buildings. 

“I think you are overlooking the impact it’s going to have on our little neighborhood,” he said. 

Hallandale Beach resident Rodger Reynolds said “there needs to be more thought given to what the city is giving up to the developers.” 

“There are other impacts the city is going to have to pay for because of this project,” Reynolds said. 

In order to build the project, the city will have to turn over the right of way for a portion of unused roadway. There will also be other concessions, including allowing the developer to build 451 parking spaces instead of 619, which is required by code. 

In exchange, the developer agreed to spend $2.5 million on renovation to the city’s North Beach Bark and add a beachfront restaurant — to be managed by the developer — that could generate revenue for the city. In addition, the developer would give the city $200,000 for park maintenance, $250,000 for public improvements and $300,000 for affordable housing improvements. 

Commissioner Keith London said in order for him to vote for the project on final reading, scheduled for June 20, he would want the developer to agree to make park improvements and build the restaurant before or at the same time as the hotel. 

He said the city’s leverage is the road. 

“Without our piece of property, their project cannot happen,” London said. 

Also on London’s lists of concerns: Diana Drive, parking and the amount of money the city would make from the restaurant. The developer has agreed to share profits from the restaurant. 

Commissioner Alexander Lewy shared some of the same concerns. 

“Our requests are not outrageous,” Lewy said. “We need to make sure they would have the least amount of impact on the neighborhood as possible.” 

While some recognize there would be more traffic, others say the city needs a financial boost and more places for people to work. 

“This is a very good thing from what I see,” said Hallandale Beach resident Anthony Lewis. 

“Our town needs these jobs.”

----------

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Hallandale considers 31-story hotel/condo
By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel
6:27 p.m. EDT, June 7, 2012

HALLANDALE BEACH—
City residents rooting for the jobs, beach improvements and infusion of money that would come with a proposed 31-story hotel/condo project outnumbered those bemoaning the accompanying parking woes and congestion at a Wednesday night City Commission meeting.

Beachwalk, with its 84 residential units and 216 hotel suites slated for the plot where Manero's Restaurant used to be, would be the city's biggest development project since the Gulfstream Village expansion in 2007.

"It's a bare lot that's not doing anything for any of us," city resident Joe Kessel told commissioners. "It makes sense to me when we take a property from $2.4 million to $90 million."

The $90-million project would include a small, light-fare restaurant and a five-story parking garage on Hallandale Beach Boulevard at the southwestern base of the Intracoastal drawbridge.

"Jobs, jobs, jobs," another resident, Anthony Lewis, said. "We need jobs. This is a very good thing from what I see."

In unanimous decisions, city commissioners tentatively agreed to let the developer, Related Group, design the project outside current zoning requirements. They also tentatively agreed to give the developer a half-acre sliver of land next to the site.

"It just amazes me you could even consider this kind of project," said Carol Nyren, who lives on nearby Diana Drive. "That is going to change the way everybody on this street lives."

The biggest issue is a shortage of parking spots and the overflow that could end up on Diana Drive. The plan for the project has about 167 fewer parking spaces than the city code requires.

Another concern is the number of people who will actually live and stay at the hotel.

The development would have 84 year-round residential units and 216 two-bedroom suites, which could be rented as 432 hotel units by dividing each suite into a one-bedroom suite with a kitchen and a separate one-bedroom unit.

Because the property is not zoned for residential property, the city would have to give a special approval to allow it.

Commissioners will vote on those specific issues later.

"This is just moving the ball down the field," Mayor Joy Cooper said of Wednesday's decisions.

"Codes are created on purpose, to protect people," resident Peter Ramirez said. "We're overlooking the impact that it's going to have on our little neighborhood."

Representing the developer, Debbie Orshefsky made the hard sell.

Among the advantages, she listed:

-- The city would reap nearly $4.6 million in annual revenue, including $531,000 in ad valorem taxes.

-- The developer would contribute $3.6 million to the city for traffic improvements, affordable housing and other uses.

-- The project would create 260 jobs: 150 in construction, 70 at the hotel and 40 at a beach club.

-- The developer would pour $2.5 million into the city's North Beach Park, making upgrades, building restrooms and an 180-seat indoor/outdoor restaurant. The city would get a minimum of $5,000 a month from restaurant sales.

-- The hotel would operate a free shuttle, open to the public, to the beach.

Murvin Wright liked the sound of it all: "It is a very needed stimulant for the entire community."

The developer is targeting South American investors, who would stay here during their winter, our summer.

"The economy in South America is very robust, and they want to invest in a place where they culturally feel very comfortable," Orshefsky said in an interview during a break from the meeting.

Commissioners listed their sticking points for city staff to hash out in negotiations with the developer, namely ensuring parking would not be a problem, making beach park improvements before building the hotel, and ensuring that jobs would primarily go to Hallandale residents.

Just to remind everyone reading this who may've forgotten, almost everyone in town was in favor of the hotel component, including me.
it's the completely un-needed condos and the give-away with the public park that rankled everyone.
That, plus the refusal by Mayor Cooper and City Manager Crichton to wait until September to bring the matter up after all these many years of that property sitting vacant.

The citizens of this city won't be forgetting that.
No, there's an election 100 days from today!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

For a change, THE place to be Wednesday night is in Hallandale Beach: Vote tonight at 6:30 p.m. re The Related Group's 31-story Beachwalk hotel-condo project. YES to building a hotel, NO to 84 more condos and ceding de facto control of North Beach to Related

 Rendering from The Related Group
We say YES for a Beachwalk Hotel, NO to 84 more condos! And an emphatic NO to turning-over de facto control of North Beach to The Related Group, so they can create a boutique-style beach there that caters largely to their clients, not the taxpayers of this city who've had to watch in dismay as the beach has continued its decline under Joy Cooper and Mark Antonio
Obviously you're the best judge of how you spend your own free time, but IF you're free on Wednesday night for a bit, it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world if you came to Wednesday night's City Commission meeting in Hallandale Beach at 6:30 p.m.


You can not only be an eyewitness to the longstanding dysfunctional democracy we have here, but also watch and see if the Commission actually gives in to their own worst instincts -to act without thinking things through- and decides whether or not, in exchange for, essentially peanuts, in order to get another new hotel in the city which EVERYONE wants, including me -something The Related Group could already legally build if they wanted to, without the Commission voting- the city will hand over de facto control of the public beach called North Beach, so they can make it a boutique beach that caters largely to the TRG residents and hotel clients for their three properties located within four blocks of the Hollywood- Hallandale Beach cityline. 
Oh, and they'd also have control of the public parking garage, too.
Both for thirty years. 
                                                                                                         

So why not just encourage them to build the hotel that everyone supports -and which they can already build without the City Commission weighing-in-? There is no shortage of condos in this community, so why are we going to add to the hundreds and hundreds that the City Commission has already approved but which have not been built yet? Greed. 

Above and below are renderings offered by The Related Group at the June 6, 2012 HB City Commission meeting.  



On the renderings offered up by TRG, they show an idyliic view of North Beach under their control, but neglected to show the large physical footprint of the 41-story hotel -Beach One Resort- that would be occupying most of the skyline on the right side of this rendering. Why the obvious deception?
They also completely failed to explain where all the myriad customers would park when the city's North Beach Community Center -under the Water Tower- had an event on the weekend at the same time that the restaurant was busy and there were lots of people at the beach. The public garage they'd be in charge of only has 91 spaces. Where's the answer to that?

In my own opinion, and that of many other HB residents who pay close attention to what happens here, that sort of bad decision re the public beach WILL permanently and negatively affect the Quality-of-Life in Hallandale Beach. Unfortunately, the evidence is already clear that Mayor Cooper, the same woman who genuinely believes the taxpayer-owned North Beach Community Center, the one she has never held a meeting about, just steps from the beach should remain closed to actual taxpayers unless they pay to use it, has no problem with any of this.
None.

She will, of course, publicly claim to have some concerns about the parking situation along Diana Drive, the two-lane residential street south of the project, just so she can feign concern for the residents who will get a new 31-story neighbor, but she'll still vote yes anyway.

Attorney Debbie Orshefsky will smile and say something non-committal and the mayor, as usual, will act like Debbie and Related are actually doing the community a big favor, when the truth of the matter is that they're the ones who need the city to NOT follow their own rules, their very own Master Plan and any semblance of common sense for this project to get approved. 

 Attorney Debbie Orshefsky at the First Reading at Hallandale Beach City Hall. June 6, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
The Second Reading re The Beachwalk is tonight at 6:30 p.m. at 400 South Federal Highway

Yes for a Beachwalk Hotel, NO to 84 more condos!

Monday, June 18, 2012

re Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach: Hallandale Beach Mom with common sense writes re the conditions at HB's North Beach. Yet City Hall STILL won't accept ownership of longstanding problems there, just like they've ignored city's education/White Flight problems for years



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Yes, it seems so nice from a distance, but ... 
North Beach, Hallandale Beach, FL


Earlier today I received an adroit comment regarding my post of last Friday titled, Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's old threats & lawsuits re-emerge as Hollywood's Beach One Resort sues over its access to the beach, the latest shoe to drop in The Related Group's Beachwalk project that'd make HB's North Beach a de facto private beach for The Related Group's properties, NOT a public beach for HB residents
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/hallandale-beach-mayor-joy-coopers-old.html


In just a few sentences, she managed to get to the heart of so many longstanding problems in this city: the unwillingness of elected officials and highly-paid city employees in charge to first acknowledge the problems and to solve them to the satisfaction of Hallandale Beach taxpayers residents, and business owners.
Instead, out of habit or personal preference, they either ignore, deny, or kick the can further down the road.


Or, as has often happened when I've publicly discussed these matters, found myself personally attacked for pointing out what everyone but them seems able to see right in front of our collective faces. 


Barboryte wrote:

I went to this beach once and never again. I would rather drive to Hollywood boardwalk and spend money there and have my kids play in the sand and enjoy plenty of showers and clean beach.Maybe it's time to get up and sell and move from this town. All I see is our town being sold piece by piece to developers with absolutely no regard to the residents. 
Her comments are not unlike many I received over the recent years during the battle against Peter Deutsch's Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter School trying to force itself down the throats
of a single-family residential Northeast HB neighborhood, on N.E. 8th Avenue, with the promise of far more kids and traffic coming from outside of HB and southeast Broward than the neighborhood either wanted or could stand.


But associated with that issue was the related one that is the abject failure over the eight-plus years that I've lived here of Mayor Cooper and the City Commission and City Managers Good and Antonio to be serious and convene a citywide forum at the HB Cultural Center, say on a Saturday morning, run by a moderator and with experts present, where the city's educational problems and future could be FINALLY be discussed, calmly but honestly.


Frankly, it's as if everyone at HB City Hall was so afraid that the truth would be uttered by so many dozens and dozens of HB parents that it would actually hurt someone else's feelings, so instead, we simply had to just pretend, year-after-year, that the problem didn't really exist.
But it did and it still does.


Specifically, that would mean publicly airing a problem that I've written about here on the blog a few times but which nobody at HB City Hall wants to publicly acknowledge, but which as everyone who has lived here for any amount of time knows, is one of the main reasons that families move away from Hallandale Beach: the popular perception that the nearest public high school, Hallandale High School, is unsatisfactory and a poor educational choice.


So instead we have either White Flight to the more western suburbs of this county, or high school age kids attending private or charter schools located outside of this city.
That's NOT how you build a community -or keep one intact.


But year-after-year this problem has been allowed to exist below the radar.
And equally so, the awful conditions of this city's public beaches, which clearly ought to be a jewel and natural meeting place for the community, but which isn't.


Which, of course, explains why you are much more likely to run into someone you know from HB at Hollywood Beach, near Johnson Street on the Broadwalk, than you are at HB's own beaches.
People have and are voting with their feet -and their cars.


I'm now going to quote myself.
Really.


From my January 19, 2009 blog post titled, Welcome to Hallandale Beach: where old cigarettes and condoms party at the beach that HB Cops ignore!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/welcome-to-hallandale-beach-where-old.html

As we all know from our travels, in many if not most American communities fortunate enough to have a beach, especially those dependent on tourism, the beach is an invaluable resource that's esteemed, treasured and given extra care and concern.
It's a place where city officials and elected officials constantly visit and hover around to keep track of not only its physical and aesthetic condition, but also to gauge the mood of resident and visitor beach-goers to see if there's any problems or concerns there they need to be aware of.
They are pro-active, NOT reactive and slothful and full of excuses as they are in Hallandale Beach. 
That public sentiment is often an early indicator of the residents' collective feeling about the town itself, since when resident taxpayers feel that a place as high-profile as the beach is going downhill, and not being properly looked after, it's only natural that they suspect that other things in the city they can't see are falling apart, too.
It's only human nature, but it's something the City of Hallandale Beach has been in utter denial about for years, as one problem after another has been left to fester there.Yet when confronted with the reality, they've instead put their heads in the sand.The evidence is all around you.
So, I was at North Beach on Saturday for well over an hour, checking things out, and as usual, it was fine as long as you only saw it thru the prism of the palm trees along Surf Road.
Yes, from there, everything always looks fine!


 Above, July 26, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

But once you've parked in the garage (the one that the mayor seems perfectly willing to give away) and were actually standing on the beach, you could tell that it was as filthy and unappealing as ever, though to be fair, for once, I didn't find any condoms or liquor bottles over near the rusty pipes that have been on the beach for years...

Snapshot of a poorly-maintained public beach: Finding a used condom near one of the only two park benches at 4 p.m., on a Friday holiday afternoon on a beach full of families. January 2, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier


It could hardly be clearer that HB City Hall and their DPW leadership STILL won't accept ownership of the longstanding problems there.
They act like residents who pay taxes for that beach to be properly maintained CAN'T see what has been in front of us for years and we don't know who is responsible.
They're wrong -we do.
We know EXACTLY who is responsible!

The very problems I telephoned DPW about two weeks ago -FROM the beach- which they said they'd take care of.
Among other things, that included the city's Beach sponsorship signs that we've seen there for the past few years, were still lying on the ground, not properly erected.
And were far from where they were supposed to be.
Like last time we were there.
And the week before that...
And the month before that...

According to the life guards, the sign on South Beach has been under the lifeguard stand -that STILL has graffiti on it- for easily 3 or 4 months, waiting for DPW to do the job they're paid to do -basic maintenance.

It's only further proof to me that, as I've been stating for years, the look and care of the public beaches has fallen so far below what is acceptable, that we should immediately take it away from a clearly-ineffective and dis-interested DPW, and privatize the function, just like the beach life guards are actually contractors for Jeff Ellis, not city employees.

A firm given the money that was previously appropriated to DPW for beach maintenance, and which has properly maintaining an attractive and safe beach as their only function, knowing that if they fail they'll be replaced.
I believe that almost anyone we choose would do a MUCH-SUPERIOR job by us as taxpayers then continuing to expect a dog that clearly won't hunt, like DPW, to suddenly learn to hunt.

Obviously if this happens, there also needs to be a commensurate cut in personnel numbers for DPW, since I'm certainly NOT going to reward DPW for doing a terrible job by letting them keep the same number of employees, since actions and consistent poor performance must have consequences, and that should include some for Hector Castro himself, the DPW Director.

So where exactly is Hector Castro on this matter, and WHY is it that he is never grilled about this longstanding failure at HB City Hall, when it's clearly a big enough and obvious enough problem that even Joy Cooper apologists were mentioning it at the June 6th City Commission meeting?

And why was his immediate predecessor or Antonio or Good never grilled, either?
Where is the personal and professional accountability at HB City Hall?
By the way, the life guards stands we have on the beach are NOT properly "grounded" for lightning strikes, which is both a liability issue and a maintenance issue.

Rather than have the city hand-over de facto control of the public beach called North Beach, so The Related Group can make it a boutique beach that caters largely to their residents and hotel clients for their three properties within four blocks of that location at the Hollywood-
Hallandale Beach city-line, and also maintain control of the public parking garage, too -both for thirty years- we should tell the City Commission to tell TRG, thanks but no thanks.

But do go ahead and build the hotel you can already build, because that is something that nearly everyone in the community agrees we need.
But build it WITHOUT the condo units, and WITHOUT tossing the North Beach parcel in as a sweetener -to a real estate corporation!

Then, we vote in November for a mayor and city commissioners who take their job as public representatives seriously, who actually DO their homework, read the background documents  fully and who actually show-up for HB City Commission meetings ready, willing and able  to ask tough, probing questions of city staff and applicants, for the benefit of this city's taxpayers, NOT for the benefit of developers or a certain group of people in town used to having their way.

And after those sort of people get elected in November -and they are NOT named Joy Cooper or members of her Rubber Stamp Crew named Anthony A. Sanders and William "Bill" Julian-  they can instruct our new City Manager, Renee Crichton, that owing to the longstanding neglect of the city's public beaches for years, fixing the public beaches is now deemed a HIGH PRIORITY, and she needs to come back to them within thirty days with some realistic proposals to make that a reality -ASAP!

One that also includes the possibility of the city privatizing the maintenance of the beach so that it properly reflects the fact that 13 years ago, the people of this community overwhelmingly voted to "put the beach back into Hallandale Beach."