Showing posts with label HGS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HGS. Show all posts

Friday, March 23, 2012

In 98 more days/14 weeks from today, oblivious Hallandale Beach City Manager Mark Antonio goes buh-bye! And take your myopia with you, too!

Looking south from U.S.-1/Federal Highway towards Hallandale Beach City Hall and HB Police Dept. HQ. March 21, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.  


Can you make out what those shiny adhesive letters at the bottom of the street light pole above spell out?
That is to say, the store-bought adhesive reflecting letters that were clearly placed there on purpose with attention to detail by people who wanted to make sure that everyone driving into or past the HB City Hall and HB Police Dept. HQ noticed their handiwork, esp. at night.
After all, they're perfectly positioned to catch headlights, just like others throughout the city.


No?
Okay, well, here's a slightly closer look...


 

March 21, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. 


Yes, it reads "HGS."
Do you remember them?
Or their opposition hereabouts, "est," "Doloe Greys," "AQ"...


Sure you do, if you're a regular reader of the blog or a HB resident or business owner, since they're the same folks that for years who have left their unmistakable tags on the vast majority of available traffic signs, traffic poles, mail boxes, parking lot signs and writable surface in Hallandale Beach, whether walls or sidewalks.
No, they don't discriminate on surfaces since they just want everyone to know who did it.

The tags, reflective letters and regular spray paint, are most noticeable, though, to both residents and visitors alike, when driving, biking or walking along U.S.-1/Federal Highway, as you leave or enter Aventura in Miami-Dade County, where it's Biscayne Blvd., and leave or come into Broward County and Hallandale Beach, with the Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and the upscale Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex right there, the largest employers in the city.




Above, "HGS" on the bottom of the street light pole next to the U.S.-1/Federal Highway (southwest) entrance to Village at Gulfstream ParkThe graffiti has been there for well over three years, the same amount of time one of the two street lights on the pole has been COMPLETELY MISSING. This is yet another one of the many things that the geniuses at Gulfstream never quite catch onto that create a very bad first impression of the place. And for good reason! February 23, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
The persistence of the graffiti problem along the main streets of this city for YEARS paints not only a very bad impression of this city, it creates an even worse one for the people who are paid to manage this city and supposed to be able to TRY to resolve self-evident problems.


Those crews responsible for the graffiti are also over-represented all along Hallandale Beach Blvd., whether in the nooks and crannies of individual stores, like the doors of Little Caeser's Pizza, or parking lot signs, where they have long since taken over the Nick's parking lot off N. First Avenue, just north of HBB, a popular place for cops.
I've written about them and their unattractive handiwork here a few times, posting photos.

But as it concerns "HGS" today, I mean to reference the graffiti tags that are in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall and Police Dept. HQ right now.
Like right this second.
And just like yesterday.
And last week.
And last month.
And last year.
And... so on. 

Yes, last year, 2011.
I've never previously mentioned it here on the blog but in the Fall of 2011, during the Public Comments part of one particularly frustrating HB City Commission meeting, I walked to the microphone and quite enthusiastically scolded Hallandale Beach City Manager Mark Antonio for how truly oblivious he'd been -and ineffective- in resolving numerous self-evident Quality-of-Life problems that have plagued and frustrated HB residents, families and business owners for YEARS.
And I specifically mentioned the very ones that they and their neighbors have been forced to look at every day for YEARS -graffiti.

Old Dixie Highway & S.E. 9th Street, across the street from Bluesten Park, the largest city park, and four blocks from the Police Dept. HQ and City Hall. March 21, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. 
Problems with rampant graffiti that Antonio (and his highly-paid assistants) either consciously ignored or pretended not to notice from their bunker on U.S.-1, since noticing would actually require some tangible action on his/their part and the city's, not to mention, the HB Police Dept., so famous for otherwise generally shrugging their shoulders when presented with a problem to solve, as has been noted here on the blog previously.


Well, as you might imagine, Antonio didn't take the public criticism of his unsatisfactory performance very well, esp. since I was somewhat detailed in describing the hard-to-miss tags at well-known locales all over town, a point that was reinforced by all the nodding heads in the audience as I spoke.


But I saved my big guns and sarcasm for the end, which is why I and so many other HB residents I know who were there, or who watched the proceedings online, were literally incredulous at hearing City Manager Antonio admit that he had never noticed all the graffiti along U.S.-1, from the Aventura-HB city line/County Line up to Hallandale Beach Blvd.and beyond, which has been omnipresent for YEARS.
Including the graffiti that was near, adjacent to and in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall and the HB Police Dept. HQ.


Like this other one on the sidewalk, DIRECTLY even with the public entrance to HB City Hall and the HB Police Dept.

 
March 21, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

And across the street from this scene and HB City Hall...


The Village at Gulfstream Park.  March 21, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.  

You would've thought that I had super-vision or something, rather than 20/15 vision -until a few months ago- because the one thing I never expected was for Antonio to admit that he hadn't noticed it.
I expected the usual litany of excuses that we residents in HB have become accustomed to hearing to explain why we all just had to live with negative results, while other cities at least try to actually solve their problems, not just accept defeat.


Getting angrier than I have been at any South Florida public/civic meeting, before or since, I said something along the lines of that admission of his speaking volumes for how little attention he'd really been paying all these years as Assistant City Manager, given his responsibilities to actually do something positive, and reminded him and the audience of the fact that he had worked in that building ever since it opened.

Readers with a good memory will also recall that I also told his assistant, Jennifer Frastai, all about these sorts of problems four years ago, when I spent almost an entire hour with her and former Asst, CM Franklin Heilman in a conference room in the CM's office, explaining the source of longstanding citizen frustration in this city,.
I gave very detailed explanations and a reminded them that they could always look at this blog for contemporaneous photos to prove it, since the problems weren't exactly secrets.
The two of them did NOTHING with the information.


I concluded my remarks by saying that to me, Antonio, who wears glasses, was incredibly myopic, perhaps conveniently so, and needed to open his eyes for a change to see what was right in front of him.

Not just the graffiti, but all the other many messed-up things in this city, starting with how his own dysfunctional and uncivil bureaucracy and red tape dispenser continually angers citizens, playing favorites as I've mentioned previously, with special rules for special people.

And then I told everyone in the room that all the City Manager needed to do to see how accurate I was was to walk out the Chambers door and walk over to the nearby sidewalk and see what was right in front of City Hall, even as I spoke.


That, of course, was the proof positive of his longstanding myopia.

It's clear months later after saying that that Antonio had no genuine interest in ever opening his eyes and now, he's on 'cruise control,' more oblivious than ever, with him recently acting more like he's a sixth city commissioner trying to persuade a colleague of something, rather than an un-elected administrator who is supposed to work for the city commission and carry out their policies, not his own.
Why 'cruise control'?
Because he knows that after June 29th, this city is not his problem anymore.

March 21, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. 
Minutes before taking the photographs above on Wednesday outside the current HB City Hall, I swung by the old HB City Hall on Dixie Highway, between S.W. 3rd & 4th Streets, and it too looked like it has for well over ten years: a filthy eyesore of a black hole to the nearby  middle-class neighborhood, and a completely wasted economic opportunity for the whole city, even though it's just feet from where an FEC commuter train station will be located in a few years that connects downtown Miami and Palm Beach County, which could really re-energize this city in multiple ways. 
How would you like to have to look at this every day from YOUR house?

Do you know another name for wasted opportunity in HB?
Yes, "another Joy Cooper and Mark Antonio success story!"


One almost down, one to go in November -Cooper.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The $50k Rothstein 'hot potato' check burning a hole in Steve Geller's CCE, Floridians for a Stronger Tomorrow



Above, photo I snapped of Steve Geller,
characteristically, deflecting personal responsibility
for the
2008 Primary debacle, despite
all the
evidence to the contrary, being interviewed
by CBS4's
Michael Williams in front of
Hallandale Beach City Hall, where Geller's
district office was located.

Ignore the info on photo, it was actually
taken on May 7th, 2008.

And why is that City Hall breezeway
ceiling STILL messed-up
18 months later?
Another Mike Good success story!

-----------

Broward Beat


Geller: Take My $50,000, Please!
By Buddy Nevins


Former State Sen. Steve Geller says he has a problem: He can’t figure out who should get $50,000 in tainted money.

The money is from suspected scammer Scott Rothstein. It was earmarked for Geller’s campaign against County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger.

Geller now suspects Rothstein stole the money. He wants to give it back.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.browardbeat.com/geller-take-my-50000-please/

-----------

In case you were curious after reading
Buddy Nevins' story, above,
I've
included at the bottom of this post
the list of contributors to
this CCE
of
Geller's, which used a lot of
its money last year unsuccessfully
to try to get his brother, Joseph,
the former North Bay Village mayor,
elected to Dan Gelber's old
State House seat, when he
ran for the State Senate in
November and won.

Now, of course, having been elected
for four years and equipped with a
fall-back government job with nice benefits
that keeps his seat warm in case he fails,
and able to still charge taxpayers for his
flights home, Gelber is already running
for State Attorney General, which is
something he didn't tell the voters of
Miami Beach and environs when he
was running last year, promising to
use his best judgment on their behalf
in Tallahassee for the next four years
in a higher-profile position.

That is to say, once Gelber dropped
his already announced plans of running
for U.S. Senate, which is yet another
option he didn't care to mention to
voters last year when offering himself up.

At some point, I suspect Gelber's
love affair with himself, like most
examples of stalking, is going to
come to a very sad and predictable end.

If you were me, and a woman you were
very interested in romantically called you
up after you'd spent a fair amount of time
together said that she'd love to see you
again once she got back from a business
trip, you might say fine and that you were
looking forward to her return.

But you might have a change of heart
if she says that her trip is actually a
vacation with her boyfriend to visit
his hometown and spend some
time with his family.

You'd immediately think you needed
to consider other 'candidates,' no?
I would.

Perhaps sensing that voters would
not be interested in him if he already
had his eye elsewhere, as he did,
Gelber never gave South Florida voters
the benefit of having informed consent.

Yet counter-intuitively, Dan Gelber
seems to think that by being so open
about his promiscuous personal
ambition, and clearly not really
wanting to devote the time and
attention to the job he was
elected by voters to a year ago
-
which, despite my warnings
to them last year, is abundantly
clear
to my friends on Miami
Beach who voted for him
-
since he plans on campaigning
for yet another year, he's somehow
free from criticism that he seems
to have a clear history of using
South Florida voters for props
(or pawns) for his personal
ambition, and of not being
honest with them
.

But why should being so obvious
be judged a positive character trait
by voters?
Guess what, it's not.

And what has he actually DONE?

Admit it, you probably can't think
of even two things he's noted for.

Some brilliant argument that changed
the tenor of debate for the better
on an important issue in Tallahassee,
or some insightful solution to
a longstanding problem that he's
personally responsible for bringing
to fruition, that was popular with
both Democrats and Republicans.

Where's the defining moment when
he asked his own Dem supporters
to admit that they'd been wrong,
needed to be intellectually honest
and admit it and vote for the right
thing for the greater good?

Guess what, neither can he.
There aren't any.

The kicker is that THAT doesn't
seem to matter, as Gelber slowly
tries to become the latest governor
of this state without having earned
it by doing something previously
of any particular consequence.

That doesn't make him unique,
of course, just more transparent
than most.

Just like Steve Geller,
whom you all know I loathe,
he's personally implicated in
all the myopic bad decisions
of the past few years in
Tallahassee, large and small,
that have crippled this state
and made it a laughingstock
by so many different measurements.

Frankly, if it wasn't for his father,
a very well-respected Miami judge
-who has qualities the younger
Gelber
clearly doesn't- most
people, and many in the South
Florida press in particular, would
have long since come to the
general conclusion that Gelber,
despite who his father is,
is clearly no different from the
dozens of other ambitious
yet thoroughly mediocre and
even unethical hacks populating
state, regional and local govt.,
seemingly intent on making things
worse for us, not better.
(Elected versions of Alex Lewy.)

Gelber
is just someone from whom
much more was expected but who,
thus far, has produced no tangible results.

Week-after-week, month-after-month,
that solid criticism of him from the
South Florida media never ever comes,
does it?

It's the dog that never barks.
Which doesn't mean it's not a good dog,
just that it's NOT actually a WATCHDOG.

To me, this suggests that more than anyone
else, he's the male counterpart to DWS,
the South Florida media pet/demagogue
-whom I also loathe-, who is never
subjected to any sort of rigorous fact-filled
criticism -ever.
Why not?

Now there's a good question.

I'll be posting some things you may
find of interest on my blog this weekend,
and one of them will be on a force you
may not already be aware of that is
quickly taking over this area and which
the geniuses at HB City Hall and the
HB Police Dept. continue to ignore,
though their handiwork is right in front
of them: HGS.

Keep those initials in mind as you
walk, bike and drive thru SE Broward
.

Folks, it's HGS' world, we just live in it.
Type: Committee of Continuous Existence
Status: Active
Address: Post Office Box 220015
Hollywood, FL 33022
Phone: (954)491-1120
Chairperson: Steven A. Geller
100 West Cypress Creek Road
Suite 700
Fort Lauderdale, 33309
Treasurer: Charles Cassini
12121 NE 16th Avenue
North Miami, FL 33161
Registered Agent:

Steve Geller

100 West Cypress Creek Road
Suite 700
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309

-----------------
Campaign contributions in chron order

Floridians for a Stronger Tomorrow

About the Campaign Finance Data Base

Rpt Yr Rpt Type Date           Amount   Contributor Name               Address                                  City State Zip                           Occupation           Typ InKind Desc

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

2007 Q2 06/01/2007 20.00 TEXEIRA NANCY 1326 NORTH DUVAL ST TALLAHASSEE, FL 32303 CAS

2007 Q3 07/17/2007 2,500.00 TITLE INSURANCE THROUGH LAWYER 6545 CORPORATE CENTRE BLVD ORLANDO, FL 32302 INSURANCE DUE
2007 Q3 07/17/2007 2,500.00 FLORIDA ASSOCIATED GENERAL CON PO BOX 10569 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32302 BUILDERS DUE

2007 Q3 08/20/2007 2,500.00 LAWYERS ACTION 1224 GREENSWARD DR. TALLAHASSEE, FL 32312 ATTORNEYS DUE
2007 Q3 09/07/2007 5,000.00 FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSO 300 E BREVARD ST TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 POLICE UNION DUE

2007 Q3 09/12/2007 10,000.00 PALM BEACH KENNEL CLUB 1111 NORTH CONGRESS AVE. WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33404 PARI-MUTUEL DUE
2007 Q4 10/22/2007 8,333.33 HCA EAST FLORIDA DIVISION AND 101 N. MONROE ST., SUITE 801 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 HOSPITAL DUE

2007 Q4 10/22/2007 8,333.33 HCA NORTH FLORIDA DIVISION AND 101 N. MONROE ST., SUITE 801 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 HOSPITAL DUE
2007 Q4 10/22/2007 8,333.34 HCA WEST FLORIDA DIVISION AND 101 N. MONROE ST., SUITE 801 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 HOSPITAL DUE

2007 Q4 10/31/2007 30,000.00 MARDI GRAS GAMING 831 N. FEDERAL HIGHWAY HALLANDALE BEACH, FL 33009 PARI-MUTUAL DUE
2008 Q1 02/01/2008 500.00 CHIRO-PAC 217 N KIRKMAN RD. ORLANDO, FL 32811 CHIROPRACTORS DUE

2008 Q1 02/29/2008 1,000.00 COMMITTEE FOR ACCESSIBLE GOVER 1224 GREENSWARD DR. TALLAHASSEE, FL 32312 POLITICAL COMMITTEE DUE
2008 Q1 02/29/2008 10,000.00 PPI, INC 1800 SW THIRD ST POMPANO BEACH, FL 33069 PARI-MUTUAL DUE

2008 Q1 03/06/2008 5,000.00 ASURIAN INSURANCE 8880 WARD PARKWAY KANSAS CITY, MT 64114 INSURANCE DUE
2008 Q1 03/06/2008 8,333.34 HCA NORTH FLORIDA GOOD GOVERNM 101 N MONROE ST SUITE 801 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 HOSPITALS DUE

2008 Q1 03/06/2008 8,333.32 HCA WEST GOOD GOVERNMENT ACCOU 101 N MONROE ST SUITE 801 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 HOSPITALS DUE
2008 Q1 03/06/2008 8,333.34 HCA EAST GOOD GOVERNMENT ACCOU 101 N MONROE ST SUITE 801 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 HOSPITALS DUE

2008 Q1 03/06/2008 5,000.00 CALDER RACE COURSE 21001 NW 27TH AVE MIAMI GARDENS, FL 33056 PARI-MUTUEL DUE
2008 Q1 03/17/2008 2,500.00 RON BOOK, PA 2999 N. E. 191ST ST, PH-6 AVENTURA, FL 33180 ATTORNEY DUE

2009 Q1 03/31/2009 5,000.00 HARTMAN AND TYNER, INC PO BOX 2007 HOLLYWOOD, FL 33022 PARI-MUTUEL CHE
2009 Q2 06/29/2009 10,000.00 HARTMAN AND TYNER INC PO BOX 2007 HOLLYWOOD, FL 33022 GAMING CHE

2009 Q3 09/29/2009 1,000.00 DAVID R CUTSIN AND ASSOCIATES, 6401 SW 113 PLACE MIAMI, FL 33173 CONSULTING CHE
2009 Q3 09/29/2009 50,000.00 ROTHSTEIN SCOTT 2308 CASTILLA ISLE FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33301 LAWYER CHE

2009 Q3 09/30/2009 5,000.00 GREENSPOON MARDER, PA 100 W CYPRESS CREEK ROAD, SUITE 700 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309 LAW FIRM CHE
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197,520.00
24 Contribution(s) Selected