Showing posts with label Fashion Row. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fashion Row. Show all posts

Friday, June 28, 2013

More intentional Hallandale Beach City Hall misdirection & deception re HB CRA - Media Trackers Florida has more proof of the unseemly behavior at City Hall that HB citizens recognize on sight from past experience: "Hallandale Beach Officials Failed to Document Contacts with Florida Lobbyist"

The chickens are finally coming home to roost in Hallandale Beach and they want an honest audit done on the city's scandal-plagued Community Redevelopment Agency, (CRA), so citizens can finally find out where all the millions of dollars really went. Above, a scene from North Beach, Hallandale Beach, FL. February 14, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
For reasons that I hardly even need explain to most of you regular readers of the blog at this point in the continuing controversy that is the scandalous Hallandale Beach CRA, and the efforts of the city's elected officials and top administrators to suppress any effort by Hallandale Beach citizens to get an honest audit of the CRA, this email of mine was sent this morning to lots of interested parties throughout Florida with an interest in making sure that South Florida taxpayers are not intentionally made monkeys of forever. 

Besides the trustworthy and hardworking elements of the local press corps -a diminishing number to be sure- lots of Broward's most well-informed citizens, civic activists, bloggers and a few selected elected officials, were Florida Governor Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Florida CFO Jeff Atwater and Florida state Senators Jack Latvala, Jeremy Ring and Joseph Abruzzo, as well as Broward Inspector General John W. Scott.

Most of you reading this already know perfectly well why the state legislators who are supposed to represent the best interests of Hallandale Beach's citizens in Tallahassee, state Senator Eleanor Sobel and state Rep. Joe Gibbons, are NOT part of the list.

Certainly things would be easier if they were anything but the colossal failures they've proven themselves to be over so many years on so many issues of interest to this community.
Not just unhelpful, but actual obstacles.

No, our small community's collective misfortune is that Gibbons and Sobel's perfectly dreadful track records in office, individually and collectively, over SO many years, consistently shows that they DON'T put our community's best-interests first, but rather their own, especially their own political futures.
That dismal track record makes them completely untrustworthy in every important respect that counts, especially when it comes to getting the truth for HB's beleaguered citizens out of a City Hall led by their imperious pal, Joy Cooper.

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Hallandale Beach Officials Failed to Document Contacts with Florida Lobbyist
By: Tom Lauder 
June 27, 2013

Just to confirm the validity of this post above, not that any is needed, since the facts are crystal clear, as of 5 p.m. Thursday, I'd still NOT received the copies of the text messages sent between lobbyist Judy Stern and Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper and HB City Manager Renee Miller that I requested in writing on June 12th.

Text messages that had one central goal in mind: preventing an honest and accurate audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA so that HB residents, taxpayers and small business owners could FINALLY find out where the millions of CRA dollars really flowed all these years with no genuine oversight or follow-up by officials.
Officials who were, in theory, supposed to do that as part of their official responsibilities -but didn't.

But as we have all learned the hard way, oversight and follow-up were simply words that did NOT exist in their lexicon for YEARS, with important files missing left-and-right and many documents missing or inaccurate in the files that actually were present.

In this most-recent case, CooperMiller and Stern were aghast about a June 4th public request to the entire Broward County Commission requesting an audit of the CRA performed via Broward County Auditor Evan Lukic's office.

Well, you already know what transpired, who said what and who did nothing at all to help HB residents get that long-overdue public accounting that's been denied us all these years by the same powers-that-be at HB City Hall who didn't want any more public scrutiny.

But then this isn't even the first time all year that public disclosure of public information has been a quaint and abstract idea in Hallandale Beach.

Yes, as previously mentioned, the same poorly-run city that DIDN'T publicly disclose its legally-required official Contacts list for well OVER two months, even while city officials, elected and administrators -inc.  the Mayor, City Manager and CRA Director- were meeting with real estate developers, at least one of whom, Stephen Riemer publicly admitted at a March 18th CRA meeting that he wanted the city to (illegally) use its power of eminent domain to buy-out small businesses near properties he  already owns near the FEC tracks, in order that he can build a large development there.

Presumably, after he and the city have chased-out all other existing businesses, however they can to help him personally, no doubt using CRA funds.
That's illegal in this state, of course, as the FL Legislature has made clear, but then lots of federal, state and local laws are routinely ignored in Hallandale Beach with the current crew in charge the past few years, with my blog an accurate chronicle of their years of mendacity and anti-democratic fervor.

As you might well imagine, those small businesses owners resent NOT knowing what's going on and NOT being able to get honest and forthright answers from the very people who are supposed to be working for them, not against them.

But here's what they see with their own eyes, right in front of their businesses: promised, overdue road improvements by the city delayed several times without any sort of public explanation, and after hearing Riemer declare war on them at a public meeting, they can't help but wonder if it's being done intentionally by the city to drive the businesses out, just as Riemer wants, using CRA funds.

Lots and lots of curious coincidences that always turn out the same way, eventually add-up to an interesting fact pattern that's hard to ignore.

There was deception everywhere when Riemer spoke at that March 18th HB CRA meeting against the city's long-promised funding of that CRA-funded road improvement program, which took place without the public knowing anything at all about those private meetings he'd held with city officials because the city didn't post them.

Though they had the opportunity to do the right thing, albeit, after-the-fact, and publicly disclose to the public that they'd met privately with Riemerthe city officials who met with Riemer never disclosed it. 

They acted like this was the first time they were hearing anything at all about Riemer's plans or concerns.

Yes, disingenuous is the word that comes to mind. 
But that's how things continue to roll routinely in a city where the spirit and letter of Florida's  Sunshine Laws are routinely ignored by the very people in charge of following the laws and enforcing them.

In case the link within the story above proves hard to pull up, it's at

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Not in email:

Among the many recent predicates for the email above that help explain it, especially the situation on the city's Fashion Row area -N.E. First Avenue- that has, unfortunately, pitted small business owners against the City of Hallandale Beach, whose employees and elected officials have been arrogant, deceptive, and intentionally duplicitous to them, while blaming others for their own actions, are the following:

TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013
Future of Hallandale Beach's Fashion Row Arts District on N.E. First Avenue to be discussed at an important 5:30 p.m. meeting on Wednesday at Dekka; What, if any, are insurance executive and developer Stephen L. Riemer's strategic plans for the future of the N.E. First Avenue area, alongside the F.E.C. tracks?; More cases of déjà vu on Hallandale Beach's woeful website


FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013
Entrepreneur Luciana Preguerman and other Fashion Row shop owners in Hallandale Beach draw a line in the sand over the City Commission/CRA threatening to sabotage an already-approved and budgeted plan for street improvements they've been desperately waiting for, and are livid over the new CRA Director's inability to logically articulate why they're considering such a move. They want answers before Monday night's important CRA meeting at 5 p.m.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Entrepreneur Luciana Preguerman and other Fashion Row shop owners in Hallandale Beach draw a line in the sand over the City Commission/CRA threatening to sabotage an already-approved and budgeted plan for street improvements they've been desperately waiting for, and are livid over the new CRA Director's inability to logically articulate why they're considering such a move. They want answers before Monday night's important CRA meeting at 5 p.m.


On Thursday afternoon, Hallandale Beach entrepreneur and Fashion Row shop owner Luciana Preguerman sent the following impassioned email to the Hallandale Beach City Commission/
HB CRA and City Manager, with copies to other interested parties in Hallandale Beach and Broward County regarding the so-called community meeting that was held at her shop, Dekka, on late Wednesday afternoon.

That meeting, featuring the city's new CRA Director, Daniel Rosemond, was, even by Hallandale Beach's all-too-frequently low standards for civic engagement, an unmitigated disaster for HB City Hall.
Worse yet, it left all of the small business owners there who attended, who've been waiting patiently/desperately for years for promised street improvements, to wonder why there has been yet another delay, and who exactly is behind it.

Since Rosemond said that some consideration was being made into including West Dixie Highway, some have wondered if it was an attempt by Commissioners Anthony A. Sanders and Alexander Lewy to funnel yet more CRA funds into Northwest Hallandale Beach.

Lewy has stated several times over the past year that he believes that almost all HB CRA funds should go there, even though NW HB represents only part of the CRA, and would necessarily cause some residents and businesses in other parts of the CRA to consider suing the city if such a policy was ever pursued.

Others publicly wondered if it wasn't all the result of some plan by Hallandale Beach insurance executive and developer Stephen L. Riemer and Riemer Brothers LLC, to use City Hall as a cudgel to force small businesses on First Avenue to close and sell their property, with him swooping in and purchasing them at a discount, since Riemer already own 50 properties in that immediate area.

It did not go un-noticed by those in attendance that Riemer was not present at the meeting, nor were any representatives of his.

Well, we'll all see for ourselves on Monday at HB City Hall at 5 p.m. just what the future of Fashion Row is, if any, as those shop owners once again find themselves in the unenviable position of being forced to watch the City Commission decide their fate and what will happen along N.E. First Avenue.
But at what cost to public trust and business confidence?
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Dear City Commission and City Manager:

On behalf of the Fashion Row neighbors association and myself, I'm contacting you to apprise you of some very troubling concerns we have about the community meeting held yesterday at my store at 139 N.E 1st Avenue. 

CRA Director Daniel Rosemond stated not once but (at least) twice that he was under no "obligation" to be at this meeting, or even talk to us about the plan the city had already approved, after numerous property owners expressed their displeasure at his inability or unwillingness to answer their questions fully regarding this unfinished project to their satisfaction.

Am I to understand that after 3 years of united community work to make something concrete, the work on our area has suddenly stopped and yet there is not an "obligation" by the city government to accurately communicate this information to the entire community in a timely fashion?

That he has no "obligation" to explain or disclose relevant information to us, given that we are now only 3 business days away from the City Commission meeting where the already approved budget will be reviewed? 

We were told that a detailed email was to be send to area property and business owners who can't attend (since the meeting was schedule at a time that businesses are still open) and yet we are still waiting for it. We are also waiting for a copy of the complete approved budget that was requested.

Is it a matter of deep concern to us how things are suddenly changing in a way that seems very strange and counter-productive. We have always worked with the city officers in a very open relationship within our community, together, so why is that now changing? What possible reason could you have now for changing what has already been approved when it is in sight of becoming a reality? 

You need to understand that we do not agree with these dramatic changes and I think is very important to share this information.

It seems to us that it is incumbent upon a new city official whose salary is paid for by taxpayers the obligation to communicate in a timely matter, some valuable information to the community that can affects our properties, businesses, safety and security.

We are really looking to a positive outcome that will benefit everybody, since there would seem to be enough abundance in this city for everybody in this city to prosper.

We believe we are being reasonable in thinking that we are due some respect for our past efforts and only seek to exercise our right to be a part of the city's future success.

Sincerely,

Luciana Preguerman

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Future of Hallandale Beach's Fashion Row Arts District on N.E. First Avenue to be discussed at an important 5:30 p.m. meeting on Wednesday at Dekka; What, if any, are insurance executive and developer Stephen L. Riemer's strategic plans for the future of the N.E. First Avenue area, alongside the F.E.C. tracks?; More cases of déjà vu on Hallandale Beach's woeful website


Above from June 19, 2012 

March 12, 2013

One day before an important 5:30 meeting at Dekka about the future of NE First Avenue and HB City Hall's willingness to actually live up to their past promises after years of eyerolling obfuscation and rhetoric -with only one Fashion Row banner still flying above the street that took the city over ONE YEAR to actually order and then erect onto First Avenue street light fixtures, in Dec. of 2011- and less than one week before next Monday night's HB CRA meeting on that matter, weeks after being hired, new CRA Director Daniel Rosemond's email address STILL does NOT appear on the city's own website. 

And can anyone plausibly explain why Liza Torres' contact info is NOT also located on the same webpage?

http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/index.aspx?NID=82


Why is it SO consistently hard over several years for the city to actually construct a normal, accurate and intuitive hierarchical directory on the city website that lists who's in charge of what, and their contact info?
It's like pulling teeth to get them to act like a normal city!

For some of you reading this, these words ring very, very familiar.
But it wasn't yesterday, it was four year ago.
In fact, it was March 8, 2009 when I wrote and posted this...
-----------------

Mayor Joy Cooper's so-called column in The South Florida Sun-Times had this headline for her most recent column: It was a very busy week around the community

Her 9th paragraph begins: 
   We continued the first meeting of the month with the public works update. Director William Brandt reported
on the many ongoing construction projects. Many were in the final stages of completion. West Hallandale Beach
Blvd is almost fully completed with punch list items and final signalization test. This included the intersection at
8th Ave., which was implemented jointly with our city. Staff continues to evaluate the continued erosion along 
Shafer Canal and is looking to work with Broward County Erosion Control and the South Florida Water Management
District. We are looking at the possibility of a grant or loan program to assist in repairs. 
   One other project that was highlighted was the bridge rehabilitation project which has already commenced.
It will continue over the next few months with a projected completion date of November 1. This project includes
the beautification and lighting enhancements on the bridges located SW 7th St, Paradise Isles Blvd. and the
seven bridges within the single family residential area.
   After his report Mr. Brandt introduced the new Director of Public Works Department.
   Bill Brandt will remain as Director of Utilities and Engineering. Our utilities infrastructure continues to create a
high demand with many necessary on going projects . These include; sewer line rehabilitation, lift station replacement,
water plant operations, water main line improvements and daily crew operations and maintenance. 
All these projects include extensive engineering and planning.
   In order to expedite many of our construction programs and projects City Manager Mike Good recommended the
department be split between utilities and public works. Mr. John Chidsey was introduced as our new Director of 
Public Works. His duties will include but are not limited to; construction planning and supervision, facility maintenance,
sanitation, fleet management, street maintenance and transportation. Mr. Chidsey has over 30 years of supervisory
experience in construction, mechanical repair and maintenance. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Business from Nova,
is a State Certified contractor having built over 100,000 million dollars in construction and holds a Broward County
Engineering 3G Certificate.
   The combined expertise of both these gentlemen will provide much better service to our community. Keeping with
our goal not to increase costs and provide the same quality or improved services this staff change will create no
additional costs. Recently Frank Hilemen Legislative Analyst/Grant Specialist left the city for a job with a  private firm.
This position was not filled in the city manager's department but transferred to create the new public works position.
   After the introduction I took an opportunity to thank Director Brant on a job well done in repairing the water main
break that occurred on Hallandale Beach Boulevard. at Golden Isles Drive.  During these trying financial times I
have been approach many times with the question.  “Why we are not laying off people and going out to contract
service to save money?” This is one of the prime examples. Our staff was able to mobilize instantly and insure
that our water services were up and running within 24 hours for thousands of residents. If we had to wait to call in
an out side contractor the job would have taken much longer and would have cost much more to complete.

I guess I hardly need tell you that as far as the city's own website goes, as of today, after typing his name in the
search function, it shows that there is no person -with or without quotation marks- named "Chidsey" working
for the City of Hallandale Beach, as you can see below.

Not surprisingly, as of today, the city's website, http://www.hallandalebeach.org/Directory.asp?EID=67
also still shows Mr. Brant as DPW Director
You are here: Home > Staff Directory

William Brant 
Department of Public Works
Title: Director of Public Works
Phone: 954-457-1611


Return to Staff Directory


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No, four years ago, I had to send Mr. Chidsey an email thru other city Dept. heads in order to let him know that the only reason he wasn't already hearing from citizens completely disgusted and dismayed with the continuing unsatisfactory performance of DPW at public parks and the beach was simple -his city email address was still missing from the city's website several MONTHS after he'd been put in charge of the Dept.
Yes, as always, the past is prologue in Hallandale Beach.

Like many of you, I think it will be very interesting to see if insurance executive and real estate developer Stephen L Riemer attends Wednesday's meeting, given all the properties that he owns or is associated with in the immediate area.

All properties in Hallandale Beach currently owned by Stephen L. Riemer or Riemer Brothers LLChttp://riemerinsurance.com/  http://www.riemerbrothers.com/

We have located more than one record for the information you entered.
Directions: Click the folio number to see property details.
 Sort By Folio Number      Sort By Name      Sort By Address
50 Records Found
Folio NumberOwner NameProperty Address
514227070090 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC NE 1 STREET  
514227270050 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC NE 3 AVENUE  
514227300090 RIEMER BROTHERS L L C 101 NE 3 AVENUE  
514227290220 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 105 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227300080 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 105 NE 3 AVENUE  
514227300200 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 106 NE 2 TERRACE  
514227300071 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 107 NE 3 AVENUE  
514227290240 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 109 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227300320 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 109 NE 2 TERRACE  
514227300070 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 109 NE 3 AVENUE  
514227290260 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 113 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227270011 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 114 NE 3 AVENUE  
514227300040 RIEMER BROTHERS L L C 115 NE 3 AVENUE  
514227290100 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 116 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227290280 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 117 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227290110 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 118 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227300250 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 118 NE 2 TERRACE  
514227290120 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 120 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227290130 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 122 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227300160 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 20 NE 2 TERRACE  
514227110120 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 201 NE 3 AVENUE  
514227290330 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 203 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227290340 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 205 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227110170 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 207 NE 2 STREET  
514227300110 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 21 NE 3 AVENUE  
514227110160 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 211 NE 2 STREET  
514227110150 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 215 NE 2 STREET  
514227300150 RIEMER,STEPHEN L 217 E HALLANDALE BEACH BOULEVARD  
514227110140 RIEMER BROTHERS L L C 217 NE 2 STREET  
514227300140 RIEMER,STEPHEN L 219 E HALLANDALE BEACH BOULEVARD  
514227300170 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 22 NE 2 TERRACE  
514227300130 RIEMER,STEPHEN L 221 E HALLANDALE BEACH BOULEVARD  
514227300120 RIEMER,STEPHEN L 221 NE 3 AVENUE  
514222310130 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 224 NE 4 STREET  
514227300360 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 23 NE 2 TERRACE  
514227070070 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 25 NE 4 AVENUE  
514227070010 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 301 E HALLANDALE BEACH BOULEVARD  
514227270010 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 308 NE 2 STREET  
514227070111 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 309 NE 1 STREET  
514227070100 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 314 NE 1 STREET  
514222340130 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 316 NE 4 COURT  
514227270030 RIEMER BROTHERS L L C 320 NE 1 COURT  
514227070080 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 320 NE 1 STREET  
514222340030 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 321 NE 4 STREET  
514227270014 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 328 NE 2 STREET  
514227110320 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 329 NE 2 STREET  
514227270020 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 330 NE 1 COURT  
514227080040 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 34 SE 3 AVENUE  
514222120110 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 408 NE 2 AVENUE  
514227010570 RIEMER BROTHERS LLC 410 NE 2 STREET  


I say that in light of all the many below-the-radar comments that have been heard around town about him and his purported desire to essentially take over the street, and build a high-density building there, perhaps a mixed-use development with residential on top of first-floor retail.

Of course, if Mr. Riemer or one of his associates is there in-person, they need to be prepared to be asked reasonable questions by the public and small business owners about the specifics of Riemer's strategic plan for N.E. First Avenue.

If those comments I've heard are, in fact, true, personally, I don't think his keeping the entire community in the dark on his plans would work to his advantage.
Quite to the contrary.

I guess we'll all see what happens and who plays their cards tomorrow at 5:30 p.m.
Make plans to be there!

Dekka is located at 139 N.E. 1st Avenue, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009