Showing posts with label Becker and Poliakoff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Becker and Poliakoff. Show all posts

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Salient facts and tough questions re tonight's community meeting in Hallandale Beach about the latest development proposal -gambit?- about the Diplomat Hotel & Country Club, part of the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood. What is allowed under current zoning and what is allowed under the requested new zoning?

Salient facts and tough questions re tonight's community meeting  in Hallandale Beach about the latest development proposal -gambit?- about the Diplomat Hotel & Country Club, part of the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood. What is allowed under current zoning and what is allowed under the requested new zoning?

Below is a slightly-longer and corrected version of a quick email I wrote and dispatched yesterday afternoon to about 300 people throughout South Florida, including news media, regarding tonight's important 6 pm meeting in Hallandale Beach, behind City Hall.
There's much more in this issue than a quick first look would reveal.











---------------

October 14, 2015

For the record, since many of you receiving this email today were not living in the area at the time, in all the many years since the previous ill-considered Diplomat Hotel & County Club's 5-6 super-sized condo towers project was rejected by the Broward County Commission, 
project that I and many of you actively fought against from the very 
beginning, on the facts, because it was so self-evidently over-the-top and INCOMPATIBLE for the residential NE neighborhood it would have been shoehorned into, did the owners and management of the Diplomat EVER once do the most-obvious things they could have (and should have already) been doing to actually improve that property's bottom line and help the local economy - advertise and market it like they really meant it -in interesting and compelling ways that would draw new customers.

That rejected development project would have negatively affected not just the Quality of Life of area residents in general, but if approved, had also placed MANY HB homeowners in almost-permanent shadows as a result of the proposed Diplomat condo towers, built but feet away from their living room and bedroom windows.

For reasons known only to the Diplomat, despite all the resources in the world they had access to, the Diplomat consciously chose to NOT do the small common sense things for the golf course they needed to do to be successful in a competitive marketplace like South Florida, especially when their golf course is widely said by experienced golfers to be both TOO EXPENSIVE and NOT very challenging or FUN to play to boot, compared to other less-expensive golf courses in South Florida.

But instead of improving the actual product and learning how to effectively market their property, they seemed content to rely on word-of-mouth from prior hotel guests, many of whom, of course, were often staying/playing at their company's expense, NOT via their own wallet/purse.
Guests who no longer visit it or play because of their concern about a perceived slip in the golf course's basic quality, value and the level of CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Over-and-over at myriad public meetings in Hallandale Beach and in Ft. Lauderdale, I made the point to public officials, the public and the the press that the Diplomat's owners and management cries that they desperately needed the multiple super-size condo towers built on residential neighborhood streets to make enough money, had yet to show they were willing to do even the most basic things that any norma business would have to do to be successful.

Public meetings which, as I would later reveal via email to many of you and on my blog, included "comments" from individuals who were paid by HB City Hall with city tax dollars, all of whom consistently hectored genuinely concerned Hallandale Beach and Hollywood residents who were against or agnostic about the proposal on the one hand, and on the other hand -SURPRISE- spoke in favor of the Diplomat's position, all without EVER publicly disclosing their $$$ relationship to the City that favored it.

Many of you even know two of them: Patricia Genetti, the duplicitous head of the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce, and, the City's former paid "spy," Joe Kessel.
And no, despite many in the local news media's words to me at the time that they would definitely follow up and publicly ask how these two people receiving tax dollars from HB City Hall for trying to influence policy were able to go before public bodies throughout Broward -as well as HB- without publicly disclosing (as legally required) that they were there as paid representatives of the City, none did. :-(

Before the final County meetings that eventually sealed their losing fate -and in all the YEARS since then!- the Diplomat's owners and management have never so much as arranged to have erected even ONE simple directional sign for their Golf Course/Resort property to let visitors know where they are and how to get there.

That's why you DON'T see any Diplomat Golf Course directional signs near I-95, on U.S.-1, State Road A1A or Hallandale Beach Blvd., while you DO see MANY such simple directional signs on those streets and all over town, even for relatively small and modest-sized churches.

Instead of showing some smarts, initiative and moxie for a change, and listening to HB residents and their own guests, the Diplomat wallowed in either self-pity or apathy, the Diplomat refused/refuses to do even the simplest thing to show that they are serious about making that property successful, something that nobody in the area is against, including me?

Why? Because then as now, the Diplomat team's whole pretext for asking for zoning variances and building is fatally and horribly flawed, especially as long as they refuse to face reality about their product and the public's perception of it.
Then as now, they continue to rely upon and posit things that are simply NOT in evidence, and eagerly misconstrue the reality of facts that are so in abundance to anyone who simply walks or drives around the area and opens their eyes.

The fact is, not once in all the many public meetings where I spoke and laid out the true facts, did the Diplomat or its representatives ever answer or rebut my simple questions that deserved an honest answer.


Not ONCE at all those meetings did the Diplomat answer the question of why they were adamantly REFUSING to do the very things that they were ALREADY legally entitled to do on that property in terms of building and improving upon it, without anyone's approval.
Things that nobody in town was publicly opposed to.


Despite having seen the questions coming so many times before, the Diplomat never tried to answer the questions publicly, low-hanging fruit in the larger scheme of things.

Honestly, shouldn't answering those sort of simple questions be the very minimum that the public should expect the Diplomat and its well-connected and well-paid team to be able to answer logically, especially when they ask the City to CHANGE zoning so that THEY can materially benefit, with the public likely to suffer in the process, unless some cooler and smarter heads prevail?


Isn't asking why the Diplomat Hotel & Golf Course's management have NOT properly marketed their golf course and resort in the past, and NOT tried to do anything to 

IMPROVE it, and build what they already legally could build there, be the starting point for questions for the Diplomat team from HB City Commissioners? 
Yes. That's the bare minimum!


Any commissioner who's afraid to ask those questions and consider what that means about the Diplomat and its vision doesn't deserve to be on the dais.

Below are two useful tools to use to help get better informed.
The first tool is the latest article from the Florida Bulldog about this very issue:

Hallandale Beach skyline to change with massive Diplomat expansion
By William Gjebre, FloridaBulldog.org
A proposal for a massive, four-tower project in Hallandale Beach featuring three hotels, 938 rooms and a 250-unit high-rise condominium under the Diplomat brand will be officially unveiled to nearby residents at a meeting Thursday in the city’s Cultural Center....


Article at: http://www.floridabulldog.org/2015/10/hallandale-beach-skyline-to-change-with-massive-diplomat-expansion/

The second tool is an informative and to-the-point email I received earlier today from my good friend and fellow civic activist, Csaba "Chuck" Kulin, about the Diplomat's proposal and tomorrow night's
important meeting.

I strongly urge you to read both -AND the attachment!- and think about the facts on the ground we can see with our very own eyes. 

But think long and hard, too, about what sort of area you want this part of SE Broward to be in the near-future, when we already have the unfortunate distinction of having some of the most gridlocked, F-rated roads in the entire state of Florida. Make plans NOW to attend tomorow's meeting -and bring a neighbor or two!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Csaba Kulin
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2015 23:51:43 -0700
Subject: Diplomat Project Details
To: Undisclosed Recipients

Dear HB Resident,

There is going to be a very important meeting this Thursday at 6:00 P.M. Hallandale Beach Community Center about the Diplomat Hotel and Country Club development. You will hear a presentation by the developer’s attorney telling you why it is a good project and how it will improve your quality of life.

I included the current zoning of the golf course, permitted uses, standards of a golf course and accessory uses. Accessory uses are limited to 15% of the golf course and buildings may not be higher than 100 feet. Read the details bellow.

The developer is asking the City to rezone the total property to “PDD planned development district”. The purpose and intent of the PDD planned development district is to provide an optional zoning
procedure to permit site design flexibility and greater land use intensity and density. That is the way the developer hopes to build a 20, 24 and 30 story condo-hotel.

On the 5 acre land (behind City National Bank) the developer is allowed to build a 30 story office building (no residential units). If the City does not rezone the property and gift 250 “residential flex
units” to the developer it may be an office building providing hundreds of new jobs.

Please read the “Current Zoning” and “Requested Zoning” below to be better informed.

Chuck Kulin
President
Fairways North, Inc.

----

Below is an email I received from Csaba Thursday morning:



Hallandale Beach Residents;
The Notice of Community Meeting about the Diplomat under “The applications Involve” said the following:
  • Applying the Planned Development Overlay Zoning District to the total property.
  • Rezoning a 5 acre portion of the property to CCB District.
This is the first time I saw any mention of REZONING the Diplomat Golf Course. Up to this time I believed that the Diplomat requested some variances to the current zoning. This is a major change in my opinion.
I hope the Ms. Orshefsky will answer all the question bellow but in case she will not we need to ask it ourselves.
We need a clear picture of what is allowed under current zoning and what is allowed under the requested new zoning.Here are a few questions we need to get answers to:
  • What is the current zoning of the total property?
  • What are the current permitted uses in the total property?
  • What are the current accessory use limitations of the total property?
  • What are the permitted uses in a Planned Development Overlay Zoning District?
  • What are the permitted uses in a CCB District?
Each of us may have only a few minutes to speak so please feel free to ask any of the questions not yet asked or NOT answered clearly.


Chuck Kulin

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

And not for the first time... a Miami Herald reader reveals more insight in their comments about the news than the Herald reporter does in their reporting of a news story; re Miami-Dade lobbying fees


And not for the first time... a Miami Herald reader reveals more insight in their comments about the news than the Herald reporter does in their reporting of a news story; Miami-Dade's lobbying fees

A well-informed and observant Miami Herald reader states what radio industry icon Paul Harvey used to famously call "the rest of the story" in his syndicated show, via the comments section of Monday's article about Miami-Dade's tortured handling of its lobbying fees. 
Again.

The reader states factual connections with devastating aplomb: " Becker & Poliakoff also employs Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Carlos Gimenez Jr, and George Burgess."
As someone has no doubt said a few times before, though never in my family, "Eureka!"

Which is to say, 
a.) Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, the former Miami-Dade County Commissioner and current FL State Senator for District 36, who replaced one brother, Alex, currently a lawyer/lobbyist and former State Senate Majority Leader, and another brother, Renier, who's currently on the Miami-Dade School Board.
b.) Carlos Gimenez Jr., the son of Miami-Dade County's current Mayor, and, 
c.) George Burgess, the former Miami-Dade County Manager who resigned in March, after his job was overwhelmingly eliminated "with prejudice" by county voters in August of 2010, presaging the delicious and much-deserved recall of County Mayor Carlos Alvarez earlier this year.

It's helpful context alright, especially for those of us who have followed how the M-D lobbying process/charade has been abused over the years so that commissioners could make sure that their pals kept getting their cut of the American Dream, Miami-style (crony capitalism), which to cite but one example, where Comm. Sally Heyman kept Carrie Meek on the reservation regardless of her actual use, or the fact that her team was not one of the lowest bidders, but useful context of the sort that for the past few years has routinely NOT appeared in Herald articles, and Laura Brannigan's article is no exception.

(No serious follower of Miami-Dade politics and government that I know ever asks what a particular decision, vote or legislative bait-and-switch means on its face without first mentally scrolling thru his head the family trees of the county commission -and their assorted unofficial "families"- and then thinking about which members of la familia works for which one of the companies, firms or parties involved. 
Yes, just like in a banana republic, that's just the fundamental default question you have to ask.)

Just like the Herald NEVER mentioned in the days and weeks leading up to this decision that the subject would be taking place, much less, when the vote would be taking place.
Just keep the readers in the dark:THAT'S the Herald's local coverage policy -always after the fact.
And sometimes, NOT even then.

As it happens, the Miami-Dade County vote described took place last Monday, Dec. 19th.

Correct, it has taken the Herald exactly one week to report upon this vote in Miami, not in Timbuktu, in Mali, where a past housemate of mine in Arlington county served in the Peace Corps, and explained to me many times how difficult it was to communicate with the outside world from the village that she lived in.

Should a professionally-run news organization, esp. one that still claims to have a degree of relevancy and currency in the South Florida market have the same problem reporting from Miami in the last days of the year 2011?
I don't think so. 

For more on this point, see my post of November 27, 2010 about the use of technology, wherein I draw a comparison between the ability of a great song performed at a Paramore concert last year in Stockholm -at the bottom of this post- to be uploaded to YouTube and be seen by me thousands of miles away within hours, and the Miami Herald's myopic Pony Express-style of news reporting, where they constantly miss what's current because of their conscious decisions made by editors and management, leaving readers who want fresh news in the lurch.
How a video of Paramore in Stockholm and Razorlight at the Cuckoo Club, London proves the Miami Herald is moving too damn slow in its news coverage., Iceberg dead ahead!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-video-of-paramore-in-stockholm.html

That the powers-that-be at One Herald Plaza chose to print this story about lobbying and the commission vote that decided it -at least temporarily- so long after-the-fact, and on the day after Christmas, instead of in Sunday's paper, their largest circulation day, well, to me, that's a very curious conscious choice indeed.
Yes, more Pony Express-style news coverage from the Miami Herald, but it doesn't end there.

Also as it happens, Monday marked 13 days since the Broward County Commission voted on redistricting and approved new district maps, and the Herald has STILL NOT printed anything in the newspaper or posted anything online about it.
Even though it directly affects roughly 40-45% of their readers.

Seriously, is it really asking too much of a local daily newspaper to actually report news within 24 or 48 hours?

For more on los hermanos Diaz de la Portilla, see also: http://www.ccfj.net/CCFJDeLaPortilla.htm

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Miami Herald 
Miami-Dade Commission aims to cut lobbying tab, ends up paying $50,000 more 
By Martha Brannigan
Posted December 25, 2011

Facing a tight budget, Miami-Dade commissioners launched plans this fall to ink new contracts with Tallahassee lobbying firms. Their goal: to slash spending. 

The two firms that had the business offered to reduce their prices, but the county rebuffed them.It was a costly decision. When commissioners doled out four lobbying agreements last week totaling $450,000, they wound up spending $50,000 more than the reduced price offered by the two incumbents.

After 90 minutes of debate and five failed motions, the vote was 10-3 — with Commission Chairman Joe Martinez voting against an initiative that he had spearheaded.

Also voting “no’’ on Dec. 19 were Commissioners Lynda Bell and Xavier Suarez, who argued for reduced spending.

“Nobody wants to cut out one of their friends,’’ Martinez said wearily from the dais. “Why doesn’t someone make a motion to defer and put us out of our misery?’’ 

In an interview afterward, Martinez added: “It was my item, but it didn’t turn out the way I expected. That’s why I voted against it.’’

Under the deal, sponsored by Commissioner Barbara Jordan, a team of lobbyists led by the two incumbent firms — Ron L. Book P.A. and Rutledge, Ecenia & Purnell P.A. — were kept on, but were scaled back each to $170,000 a year from $225,000. Erased, too, was $50,000 for special projects, or “work orders.’’ 

Two additional firms — Akerman Senterfitt & Eidson and Ballard Partners Inc. — also were awarded contracts for $55,000 a year each. Akerman already does federal lobbying for the county. Book subcontracts with the Pittman Law Group. Rutledge subcontracts with Becker & Poliakoff, Dutko Worldwide LLC, and Gomez Barker Associates Inc. The one-year contracts come with annual options to renew for three years.

Besides the lobbying team, the county has its own government affairs staff and assistant county attorney Jess McCarty doing work in the state capital.

Brian Ballard said his firm won’t be doing work for the county on the casino issue. Ballard represents Genting Group, the Malaysian gambling giant that is pushing for legislation to permit destination resort casino gambling in the county, a pivotal issue now before the legislature. 

Akerman partner Mike Abrams said in an email that his firm has represented a Genting affiliate, Bayfront 2011 Property, “in several real estate matters,’’ but has “not been contacted or engaged to lobby on behalf of Genting or any of its affiliates with the state government at any level, including the legislature.’’

The commission’s money-saving effort began a week into the county’s new lean budget for fiscal 2011-12. “The ominous specter of layoffs threatens employee morale and the county’s ability to deliver services to our residents,’’ Martinez said in an Oct. 7 letter to Mayor Carlos Gimenez, adding that to “drastically reduce’’ costs it would be necessary to advertise for lobbying firms through a competitive selection process. 

In a bid to hang onto the lucrative and prestigious county work and to head off a competitive search, honchos at Ron L. Book P.A. and Rutledge, Ecenia & Purnell offered on Oct. 24 to cut their annual contracts to $200,000 each, from $225,000. The firms took reductions in 2009 and 2010 as well. 

But commissioners brushed aside the offer, pushing forward with a selection process and giving themselves the broadest latitude in handpicking the new team. “I thought we could get it down to $350,000 or $300,000 [in total],’’ Martinez said. 

The commission named the selection committee members, and rather than have the committee rank firms with numerical scores, asked simply for a list of firms meeting the basic qualifications. 

At the commission meeting, Bell recommended spending a total of $300,000 for three firms. But the measure died for lack of support, as did four other ideas.

Some commissioners fretted that changing lobbyists with the legislative session set to begin next month was ill-timed. Others said cutting spending at a time when Tallahassee is facing its own severe budget constraints was ill-advised. 

“This is a very tough year in Tallahassee,’’ said Commissioner Jose “Pepe’’ Diaz. “It’s a chaotic situation, plus there is redistricting,’’ he added, referring to the drawing of new political boundaries. 

Finally, Jordan successfully proposed the $450,000 deal, divided among all four firms that had applied. 

“If this was really about saving money, when you add it up, it cost $50,000 more than the two firms agreed to reduce their fees to,’’ said Commissioner Sally Heyman, who voted for the measure but was unhappy with it. She said by being on the prevailing side she is in a position to bring the issue up for reconsideration. 

“I question whether we need lobbyists in Tallahassee at all,’’ Suarez said afterward.

The commission plans to take up the issue of reducing payments to the county’s Washington lobbyists next year.


MIAMI-DADE LOBBYING 
Incumbent lobbyists in Tallahassee: Ron L. Book P.A. and Rutledge, Ecenia & Purnell P.A. Book subcontracts with Pittman Law Group. Rutledge subcontracts with Becker & Poliakoff; Dutko Worldwide LLC; and Gomez Barker Associates. Additional firms receiving state lobbying contracts: Akerman Senterfitt & Eidson and Ballard Partners Inc.
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Paramore - Misguided Ghosts - (Acoustic) LIVE at Fryshuset, Stockholm, Sweden, November 30, 2009, http://youtu.be/O9OuNtlXiGA

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Sian, Hollywood Beach - Info for Monday afternoon's Technical Advisory Comm. meeting re Sian's 49-unit condo project on S. Ocean Drive

Information for Monday afternoon's Technical Advisory Comm. meeting at Hollywood City Hall regarding the preliminary site plan review for Sian's 49 unit, 115,000 square foot condominium project within their PD on S. Ocean Drive on Hollywood Beach.

Alan D. Koslow of Becker & Poliakoff is the lead attorney for this proposal.

This is the property just north of the already city-approved Beach One Resort Hotel project in Hollywood, on the north side of the Hallandale Beach Water Tower, where the City of Hollywood boundary is farther south on State Road A1A than it is on U.S.-1.

AGENDA

CITY OF HOLLYWOOD

TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

November 15, 2010 – 1:30 P.M.

2ND FLOOR – ROOM 215

2600 HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD

HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA

A. TAC MEMBER INTRODUCTION

B. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

October 18, 2010 – Special Meeting

October 18, 2010 – Regular Meeting

C. PRELIMINARY SITE PLAN REVIEW

1. FILE NO.: 10-DP-75

APPLICANT: PRH-Sian Hollywood, LLC

LOCATION: 4053 S. Surf Road (Apogee)

REQUEST: Preliminary Site Plan review for construction of a 49 unit condominium within the Sian Planned Development.

D. OLD BUSINESS

None

E. NEW BUSINESS

Approval of the 2011 TAC Meeting calendar

Legal description for each of the above petitions is on file in the Department of Planning and Development Services.

Two or more members of any other City board, commission, or committee, who are not members of this committee, may attend this meeting and may, at that time, discuss matters on which foreseeable action may later be taken by their board, commission, or committee.

Persons with disabilities who require reasonable accommodation to participate in city programs and/or services may call the Office of the City Manager five business days in advance at (954) 921-3582 (voice). If an individual is hearing or speech impaired, please call 1-800-955-8771 (V-TDD).



http://www.hollywoodfl.org/comm_planning/images/TAC/2010November/10-DP-75/Application.pdf