Showing posts with label Jennifer Lebovich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jennifer Lebovich. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Come for the HB Pay Raise Grab, but Stay for the Fireworks!

Dave, your faithful correspondent, is somewhat embarrassed to admit that he has failed to come through for you readers on something of some importance.

Despite his carefully thought out and choreographed plans to have about 2-3 dozen photos here before tomorrow's city commission meeting, all neatly organized by topic in order to buttress and illuminate points of contention I've been hammering home here for a few months about the City of Hallandale Beach's pathetic and ineffective management style, as well as the laissez-faire work ethic among its bureaucracy, I've come up short due to some unexpected computer and photo problems. C'est la vie!

However, I can promise you with 100% certainty that they will be up for your perusal long before the September city commission meeting, which, if anything, I can promise will be even more eventful than the one scheduled for Wednesday, for reaons that I'll detail as that meeting approaches.
Until then, here's a hint of what's to come, though the specifics are quite well-known to me and many other people in the community, including other elected officials and media members, both print and TV:

At that meeting, Hallandale Beach's city clerk, E. Dent McGough, police chief Thomas Magill, and city attorney David Jove, will all see what happens when they violate both the spirit and letter of Florida's invaluable Sunshine laws.

The city attorney's office in particular has a lot to be worried about over the next few weeks, as Mr. Jove and his staff will see what happens when they ignore aspects of signed contracts for years, which have the very self-evident ripple effect of directly threatening the public safety and welfare of Hallandale Beach's residents and visitors.

Frankly, they seem to have taken it for granted that they could continue their chronic pattern of neglect indefinitely with respect to this particular matter, but they will have strongly underestimated someone with lots of knowledge and resolve: HallandaleBeachBlog.

The power of one person with a blog and plenty of readers who also know well the difference between right and wrong, and who know when something isn't, to use a cliche, kosher.
(What's particularly galling about this to HBB is that the evidence in this particular case is both overwhelming and all around you as you make your way around the City of Hallandale Beach, if you just know where to look -it's the classic tree-for-the-forest syndrome!

Yes, it's a classic case of HB bureaucratic myopia, wherein city employees don't see things that would call into question their fitness for their job, so they pretend not to see what's right in front of their face. Fortunately, HBB still retains his 20/15 vision.)

Yes, you can definitely count on being able to read here my very public indictment of their inexcusable behavior and shameful actions, with pointed and incident-specific copies of my letter to the appropriate state and legal authorities, as well as local and regional news media.
You will for yourself that there REALLY are still towns in the state of Florida that continually fail to live up to their legal and civic responsibilities under the state constitution, seemingly winking at existing laws and daring anyone to call their collective bluff.

Well, HallandaleBeachBlog and parent blog SouthBeachHoosier will be calling their bluff for all to see, and will force them to answer for their crimes of commission -and omission.

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-sjulian08may08,0,3993480.story?track=rss
Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale official, rebuffed in bid for $55,000 raise, says he'll ask for smaller one By Thomas Monnay
May 8, 2007

HALLANDALE BEACH · Vice Mayor Bill Julian conceded Monday that the $55,000 pay raise the City Commission passed then quickly rescinded last week was "way too much money" but said he plans to bring up the matter again.

"I'm not going to back down, but [the proposed increase] wouldn't be nearly as much," said Julian, 54, who claims he can't make ends meet on his $20,500 annual salary.

Mayor Joy Cooper, who mobilized grass-roots opposition to the "outrageous" raise that was passed without public notice, was unsympathetic.

"I believe we have a reasonable salary for a part-time job," said Cooper, who is working on a proposal to ensure commissioners' raises are capped and approved only during public hearings.

Julian, a retired horse trainer and Hallandale Beach resident for 51 years, came under a barrage of criticism last week after he and Commissioners Dorothy Ross and Fran Schiller voted to more than triple their salaries to $75,000 a year. They voted while having lunch Wednesday during a planning meeting.

Cooper and Commissioner Keith London rejected the raise, which triggered a furor because it wasn't advertised and the public didn't get an opportunity to comment on it.

Some voiced concern that the vote came as state legislators were considering major property tax reductions, which could cut millions from city budgets.

At Julian's request, commissioners repealed the raise Friday during a special meeting on development issues in Hallandale Beach.

"We've all learned from this experience, and our residents should be assured this would never, ever happen again," said City Manager Mike Good.

Ross said of residents' opposition, "If there is something I've learned from this, it's the wakeup call."

Schiller declined to comment.

Commissioners are responsible for adopting city budgets, setting policies and ordinances and responding to residents' complaints, among other duties. They receive an annual cost-of-living increase, Good said.

In Oakland Park, a comparably sized city, the mayor earns $10,400 a year and commissioners $9,000. In Davie, a larger municipality, council members are paid $7,200 a year.

Julian said the demanding nature of the position makes it difficult to work at another job and therefore commissioners should get more pay.

"I know I cannot continue to live on this salary unless I get another job or some kind of raise. ... In a matter of time, my savings will be depleted," said Julian, who was first elected in 2001.

"The mistake I made was that I asked for way too much money," he added.

Julian said he knew the salary when he ran for office, but commissioners have more work to do because a lot has been happening recently in Hallandale Beach, including casinos at the racetracks and new development.

Julian said he would bring the pay issue back for discussion during a budget workshop in the next few months. He said the city, with about $40 million in reserves, wouldn't be affected by tax cuts as much as other cities. Still, he said, any decision would be made only after public input.

Good said Julian would agree that the large, unannounced raise was "poor judgment."

Thomas Monnay can be reached at tmonnay@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7924.
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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http://origin.dfw.com/mld/miamiherald/news/special_packages/5min/17185416.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_5min
Miami Herald
Commissioners in throes of gambling fever
By FRED GRIMM fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com
May 6, 2007

Experts warned that this could happen.
A quiet seaside town like Hallandale Beach becomes a gambling Mecca, with a casino om the north side of town, another on the south. Suddenly once solid, sober are driven crazy by the scent of easy money. Until even the folks down at City Hall catch the fever.
That's the only plausible explanation for what happened in Hallandale Beach last week. Three city commissioners were obviously consumed by a momentary gambling frenzy. They bet that no one would notice that they had voted themselves the kind of jackpot that would set off bells and sirens at the Mardi Gras's casino.
It is a notorious symptom of gambling fever that the infected no longer grasp the value of a paycheck. Little Vegas Vice Mayor William Julian and Commissioners Dorothy Ross and Francine Schiller voted to up their annual pay from $21,196 to $75,000 as if they were talkin' chump change.

WHEELING OVER LUNCH
They hedged their bets by putting the issue on their luncheon agenda, the only portion of the commission meeting not recorded. As if they hoped no one would notice. As if they assumed what happened in City Hall, stayed in City Hall.
Lunch was a little like an all-you-can-eat casino buffet. Salad, sandwiches, crab cakes, chicken wings, pasta and, for dessert, $53,804 drizzled in chocolate.
Another symptom of gambling fever renders addicts utterly impervious to the warnings of looming catastrophe from relatives, friends, associates. ''I begged them to reconsider,'' Mayor Joy Cooper told me. They dismissed her as Mayor Kill Joy.
Even modest raises have been bad bets in South Florida. Last year, voters in Parkland, where the mayor and commissioners make $2,400 annually, voted down raises. Same thing in Coral Springs. Voters in Miami-Dade County, where the $6,000-a-year county commissioners haven't had a raise since 1957, said no to pay increases.
Commissioners in Cooper City caught so much hell trying after voting to raise their piddling salaries from $6,000 to $15,000, they decided to use most of the extra money on a landscaping project.
The Hallandale Beach caper was even riskier. There was the usual voter reluctance to pad elected officials' salaries. And they voted to raise their salaries even as the state legislature, which will reconvene in June, threatens to whack away at the city's property tax base. ''We could lose 40 percent of our budget,'' Mayor Cooper said.

LIKE HIGH ROLLERS
But there's no reasoning with the fever. Mayor Cooper and Commissioner Keith London warned them, but those three commissioners thought they were on a roll. They were hot. They blew on the dice, tripled their salary and figured to walk out of city hall like a high roller after a good night at Gulfstream Park.
Oh my, what a bad bet. They voted for fat raises on Wednesday. Word got around town on Thursday. By Friday, their folly was splashed across the Miami Herald.
And all hell broke loose. Constituents went berserk. State legislators, after hearing so many complaints from city politicians that budgets were tight, wanted to know how it was that Hallandale Beach was tossing money around like a drunken tourist at the Hard Rock.
The fever subsided. On Friday the repentant gamblers slunk into a commission workshop meeting and voted to rescind their winnings.
They had learned a hard, humbling lesson: If you're going to gamble in Little Vegas, stick to the slots.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/95761.html
Miami Herald
Hallandale Beach commissioners triple pay
By Aliza Applebaum and Jennifer Lebovich
May 4, 2007

Over a taxpayer-funded lunch of steak and chicken sandwiches on Wednesday, Hallandale Beach commissioners raised their annual pay by nearly $55,000 and catapulted themselves into the salary stratosphere for part-time public servants.
Starting immediately, commissioners will earn $75,000 a year.
In a tight budget year when the Legislature nixed raises for state employees, commissioners in the city of 35,000 voted 3-2 to more than triple their current salary of $21,196.
Discussion of the raise, and the vote, came during the luncheon portion of the city's regular meeting -- the only part that is not recorded. It will be reflected generally in the city's minutes, which had not yet been prepared on Thursday.
''I thought it was outrageous and completely out of line for an elected public official whose work is part time,'' said Mayor Joy Cooper, who asked commissioners to defer voting on the raise until the city's next budget meeting.
The raise means commissioners will make substantially more than the elected leaders in some of Broward's biggest cities.
Commissioners in Pembroke Pines -- a city of nearly 150,000 residents -- make $23,708, and the mayor gets $46,485.
And commissioners in Fort Lauderdale earn $30,000 a year, while the mayor gets $35,000.

COUNTY SALARY
Broward County commissioners bring in $91,996 a year to oversee an airport, a seaport, parks and libraries for a county of about 1.8 million.
''I'd like to get that kind of pay raise,'' said Ben Wilcox, the executive director of Common Cause Florida, a government watchdog group. ``If they feel like they're worth that. I guess the final decision will be up to the voters the next time they come up for reelection, if they feel like that's too big a pay raise.''
Cooper pointed out that the city could face significant revenue cuts in the coming year, depending on what form of property tax relief is passed by the state Legislature, which plans a special session in June.
''This is the absolute worst commission decision ever made in this city's history,'' said Cooper, who said she won't accept the increase.
Vice Mayor William Julian proposed the raise during the lunch planning meeting in a conference room in City Hall. The issue was not on any publicized agenda.
''If I was in their shoes I would bend over backward to make sure there was full notice and an opportunity for public discussion,'' said Wilcox.

"After all, this is the public's money and they should have, I would think, the opportunity to weigh in on whether they feel the commissioners deserve that increase.''
Voting in favor were Julian and commissioners Dorothy Ross and Francine Schiller. Cooper and Commissioner Keith London voted against it.
Julian said he had planned to propose an even higher increase. He likened the city to a corporation, and said the pay should be commensurate. He also praised the commission for lowering the tax rate and maintaining a healthy reserve fund.
''Other people in this position in the corporate world would be making much more money than we are,'' Julian said. "It is a steep jump, but it just shows how little we received before. I don't think it's out of line at all.''
At the meeting, London suggested doing a comparison of salaries of elected officials in other cities before settling on a number.
''I wanted more information and the opportunity to do more research,'' he said in an interview. "We didn't have enough information at that time to make a decision.''

FULL-TIME HOURS
Ross -- who has been on the commission since 1995 -- defended the raise Thursday, saying it's a job that calls for full-time hours. ''I'm experienced, I'm qualified, I'm trained and I'm worth it,'' she said.
Schiller declined to comment.
''I think that's an insane amount of money for a commission in a city our size,'' said Julie Hamlin, a Hallandale Beach resident who lost a bid for a commission seat during the last election.
''It's not responsible at a time when we have a property tax and insurance crisis in the state that is bound to impact our city tax structure,'' she said. ``It's totally crazy.''

'BEYOND BELIEF'
When former Hallandale Beach Mayor Arthur ''Sonny'' Rosenberg got wind of the raise, he thought he had heard wrong.
''It's tough to comment on it because it's beyond belief,'' said Rosenberg, who served on the commission for more than two decades and said he made about $9,000 in 2000.
"I think they made a mockery out of public service, and I think Hallandale Beach is going to be the laughingstock of South Florida.''

Miami Herald staff writer Roberto Santiago contributed to this report.
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Such a proud record of cutting edge legislation!
It's no wonder they (chiefly Bill Julian) think they're corporate executives due a pay raise!
Look below at just some of the things they've done over the past 18 months.

The fact that you can so easily find at least 15-20 shopping carts within a three-block area on Hallandale Beach Blvd. , the main east-west commercial drag, for days on end just hours after this was passed, shows how truly toothless the city government is and how poorly the city

govt. manages their workers, who shirk from responsibility the way a cat shirks from water: visibly!

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/cities_neighborhoods/hallandale/14173176.htm
Miami Herald
By Diana Moskovitz
March 26, 2006
HALLANDALE BEACH
Shopping cart theft crackdown
City officials have decided they need to crack down on shopping cart thefts

Shopping carts may be handy for more than just shopping, but Hallandale Beach commissioners don't want them littering the city anymore.
Commissioners said they are tired of seeing shopping carts strewn across the city, from the street curb to the interiors of towering condominiums.
The carts are used for everything from carrying groceries home to moving equipment around.
Removing carts from a store's property is illegal, according to state law, although the law is randomly enforced.
Commissioners took the first step toward beefing up their anti-shopping cart theft ordinance last week, approving a new version by a 4-0 vote. Commissioner Francine Schiller was absent.
A second vote, scheduled for April 3, would make the changes final.
The code would replace the laws commissioners adopted about six years ago that required businesses to come up with a ``cart retrieval plan.''
But not every business came up with its own proposal, Mayor Joy Cooper said. And some of the plans weren't working. Shopping carts could still be found across the city.
She called the displaced carts a ``blight on the community.''
''We've enabled everybody to ignore the situation and it's back again,'' Cooper said.
The old ordinance was little more than one page long. The new regulations take up nearly eight pages.
The new rules specify what the businesses' cart retrieval plans should include. They must outline how many employees are assigned to retrieve carts, how many hours a week are spent retrieving carts, and how much training employees receive in cart recovery.
Signs would be required on carts warning that taking a cart outside the business area is illegal.
Safeguards such as chains around business entrances or electronic devices that lock the wheels beyond a certain point in the parking lot also are part of the new rules, listed as acceptable theft preventers.
Representatives from nearby Publix, Winn-Dixie and Wal-Mart stores attended the meeting Tuesday to voice their support.
Shopping cart thieves or business owners who don't submit plans could face stiff penalties.
Businesses would have 60 days after the rules become final to submit their theft prevention plans.
Commissioner Joe Gibbons suggested a cart amnesty week where people who have taken shopping carts could turn them in without penalty before the new rules kick in.
But what about the elderly who use shopping carts to get their groceries home?
City Manager Mike Good said the new regulations are not meant to punish anyone's grandmother. ''I would never put a 70-year-old woman in jail for taking a shopping cart,'' Good said.
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Here are some more snippets of the area...
Miami Herald
CODE ENFORCEMENT OVERHAULED
BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ
March 12, 2006

Instead of a board of seven, one person will now decide code enforcement issues in Hallandale Beach. City officials say the change will speed up the code enforcement process. Critics say the measure could result in other problems being overlooked in the system. Commissioners last week voted to hire a special magistrate to rule on code violation cases. The Code Enforcement Board will now become the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee and perform duties such as community outreach...
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Miami Herald
OFFICIAL AWAITS ETHICS RULING
BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ
March 9, 2006

Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor Bill Julian may not be able to vote on one of the city's largest development project in decades. The Village at Gulfstream Park is a plan for adding condos, stores and offices to 66 acres owned by the racetrack's parent company. Julian has been a backup steward for the racetrack, overseeing horses and races to make sure everything is fair... Julian doesn't have a contract but is paid for his work by the day, he said...
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So why has the city allowed The Beachside Cafe to put garbage on the beach ever since they moved into their new location, not fix the huge dumpsters that don't have lids or fencing around them? Why do they allow The Beachside Cafe to maintain feral cats by providing water and food on the beach for them rather than call Animal Control?

Miami Herald
PLANTINGS AIM TO PROTECT BEACH
By DIANA MOSKOVITZ
February 12, 2006

Hoping to protect the beachfront it has left, the Hallandale Beach wants to replace the vegetation its shoreline lost decades ago to development. City commissioners agreed unanimously Tuesday to pay for a beach revegetation project. The program focuses on planting sea oats and sea grapes to provide an anchor for the sand and keep it from washing away. The project will cost $402,540. The city is paying for it with a combination of city dollars and money from developers...
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Miami Herald
NEEDED; TOWN CRIER FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ
February 8, 2006

Hallandale Beach leaders are looking for ways to provide residents with more notice about developments proposed near their homes. Last month, people near a planned 29-story tower complained they never heard about the project until before the City Commission's final vote. On Tuesday, commissioners voted 5-0 to have City Manager Mike Good look at ways to notify more residents. Good will bring the list back to commissioners in about a month. Suggestions included...

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Hallandale Beach's FAILURE of an illegal dumping program

First, you should know that I've been chomping at the bit to write about this particular problem for weeks.

In many ways, it's the story of the City of Hallandale Beach, writ large, a story of longstanding general incompetency and non-existent supervision, shortsighted management coupled with apathy.

In short, a general sense that you shouldn't mention the fact that the city's elected officials and workers have grown SO accustomed to not being held to account, that to actually expect results was not only too much to ask, but in a sense, only asking for MORE trouble.

That this sort of customer-unfriendly attitude would not be tolerated in most other communities around the country goes without saying.

It's the reason that I finally decided to, chose your metaphor, "bite the bullet" and create a blog that would cover the sorts of quality-of-life issues that I noticed daily in my travels throughout Hallandale Beach, Aventura and Hollywood.

There will be dozens of posts along these lines in the coming weeks and months, examining everything from the city's incompetent & non-existent coordination of FDOT contracted construction along US-1 and HBB, the preposterous non-existant street lighting conditions all around the city -but particularly on the three main streets in town, US-1, Hallandale Beach Blvd. and A1A.

I will especially delve deep into the longstanding myriad safety/aesthetic problems at the the beach, which are the responsibility of the city's Dept. of DPW.

This includes, among other things, the city's only having one working bathroom sink in the Men's restroom at North Beach -out of four- from Thanksgiving 'till last week, a total of four months, and the city's contracted out lifeguards from Jeff Ellis & Associates NOT having access to a jet ski to make rescues of beach goers, even while rip tide conditions have been worse than any in memory, et al.

This particular posting though concerns the epidemic and longstanding problem of illegal dumping in Hallandale Beach, and goaded into finally doing something about it, the City of Hallandale Beach announced that, YES, it had a solution.
So Jennifer Lebovich, the Herald's then-HB correspondent, wrote about the policy:

Miami Herald
December 31, 2006
HALLANDALE BEACH
City takes aim at illegal dumpers
The city is offering rewards to people who report illegal trash dumping as part of an effort to clean up the streets in Hallandale Beach.
BY JENNIFER LEBOVICH

Hallandale Beach is cracking down on people who illegally dump trash in vacant lots and on neighborhood roads in the city.
The Police Department has distributed door hangers and passed out brochures explaining how residents can report illegal dumping.
Broward Crime Stoppers also offers up to a $1,000 reward for tips that lead to the arrest of people dumping illegally, city officials said.
The efforts to keep trash piles and other hazardous materials off city streets ties in with the city's Weed and Seed program, a federally funded initiative aimed at revitalizing neighborhoods.
''The illegal dumping is definitely something we are constantly addressing,'' said Becky Wright, the city's Weed and Seed program coordinator.
Residents who spot illegal dumping should write down the location, what is being dumped, the color and make of the vehicle and a description of the people, if possible, and call the non-emergency police line at 954-765-4321.
The Department of Justice awarded $175,000 to the city in October for the Weed and Seed program. Hallandale Beach will receive the grant money for five years and may get additional funding next year, Wright said.
Weed and Seed money is aimed primarily at improving an area called the Palms of Hallandale Beach, ringed by Pembroke Road and Hallandale Beach Boulevard to the north and south, and Dixie Highway and Interstate 95 to the east and west.
The area was identified for the program because of its higher crime rate, Wright said, adding that half of the funds focus on crime prevention and the other half goes to the Police Department to help reduce crime.
Weed and Seed program members are trying to start another initiative called Guiding Good Choices, a five-week parenting program ''designed to help parents guide their kids away from using substances,'' Wright said.
The group also is starting a job training program for people in the community and plans to set up a program to work with people who have been in jail to help them find a job and a place to live.
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Then there was the natural follow-up three weeks later in the Neighbors section of the Herald:

Miami Herald
Neighbors Section, Southeast, p. 12
Police implement anti-dumping plan
January 21, 2007
EILEEN SOLER Special to The Miami Herald

Call it a New Year's resolution. Hallandale Beach police are on a mission to put the brakes on illegal dumping -- the sooner the better. "But first we educate," said Capt. Ken Cowley, who is heading the effort.
Hundreds of no-dumping door hangers have been placed at residences throughout the city in recent weeks. Six no dumping signs have new homes and 25 more will be placed in coming weeks. Hundreds of pamphlets have been distributed, and No Trespassing signs -- to deter dumpers -- went up at the train tracks along Dixie Highway.
But Cowley said citizen support is the real key to spreading the word that police are keeping a sharper eye on dumping and dumpers will be prosecuted.
Crime Stoppers of Broward County is helping residents assist the drive by offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of illegal dumpers.
"The residents are the ones who see the dumping. We need them to report it," Cowley said.
According to Florida law, dumping less than 15 pounds of noncommercial litter is not a criminal offense, but it carries a $500 fine. Dumping more than 15 pounds of trash but less than 500 pounds is a first-degree misdemeanor that could cost the guilty party up to $1,000, a year in prison, community service and three three points on his or her driver's license.
Dumping more than 500 pounds of commercial trash or hazardous waste is a third-degree felony punishable by up to a $5,000 fine, five years in jail, community service, reparation to the property and the victim, or forfeiture of the vehicle.
"How would you like it if you tried to make your neighborhood nice but people kept dumping trash in your front yard?
The residents are the victims," Cowley said.
Two people have been arrested since the campaign kicked off six weeks ago.
James McCray, a resident since 1999, supports the project. He is one of several workers from Gulfstream Apartments in the city's southwest section who regularly pick up discarded goods from city sidewalks.
"It's a great idea to clean up a big problem. Just last week, I had to clean up three truckloads right off the street," McCray said two weeks ago.
A recent Friday tour of the city's southwest section with local police revealed streets lined with tidy homes and nicely kept lawns but dotted here there and there with piles of furniture, bedding, appliances, broken toys, palm fronds and black plastic bags loaded with garbage.
Several unlabeled jugs of liquid spilled from one hill of trash into the street where children played.
Three unattended pickup trucks loaded with debris were spotted, and another truck, moving through streets loaded with furniture, was stopped by police to teach the driver about dumping laws.
"We have to get the word out. It's all about education," Cowley said.
Workshops will be scheduled shortly for landlords and tenants about rules for discarding trash and other common issues that affect the quality of life at apartment complexes and other multi-unit residences.
The city's Department of Public Health is ready to issue vouchers for residents to take bulk accumulation outside of the city's regular bulk pickup schedule to the Eco Waste dump station at Pembroke Park.
Residents also are asked to call the department when they spot a new dump.
McCray is all for doing his part. "It's late at night when most people come through dumping. They come from wherever they are and dump trash in our neighborhood. It's not right."
For information, call Hallandale Beach Police Community Officer Martin Jackson at 954-457-1400.

Copyright (c) 2007 The Miami Herald
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A few days later, on January 27th, the Herald even deigned to dignify this new program by mentioning it in on their editorial page:

HALLANDALE BEACH
CRACKDOWN ON DUMPERS TIMELY
People who get caught and fined for illegal dumping in this city can't say that they haven't been warned. The city is on a mission to keep its streets clean. So Hallandale Beach police have distributed hundreds of no-dumping door hangers and pamphlets with notices of a crackdown. New no-dumping and no-trespassing signs grace more city streets than previously, and more are coming.
Crime Stoppers of Broward County has pitched in by offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of illegal dumpers. The campaign is timely now that visitors are increasing to play at the two newly opened slot machine venues or catch a day at the races.
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The problem? It's an abject failure, from beginning to end.
Nothing ever gets done, even when you call.

The day that particular editorial ran in the Herald, there was a pre-existing, three-day old problem that hadn't been properly dealt with by the City of Hallandale Beach and their news crackdown on illegal dumping.
It's the very reason that with the exception of Keith London last month, I've NEVER voted for an incumbent member of the Hallandale Beach City Council -and neither should you.
And never voted for mayor Joy Cooper!
It's also why I particularly loathe William Julian, the member whose insipid comments and questionable lack-of-action make one wonder if he's living in the same town he's supposed to be representing, since he actually takes credit for the way that things are here, something that an objective but critical observer with any sense of quality-of-life issues would find ludicrous.
Julian's comments on development and traffic congestion are all over the place, depending upon who he's speaking with or whether he's "on the record" with the media.
He has a very John Kerry-like quality.

(For the record, I loathe John Kerry, and have ever since I first saw him in action in 1988 at a U.S. Senate hearing dealing with US-Latin American drug interdiction.
I saw how poorly he had a grasp of the basic facts that the other members of the committee, much less the witnesses and the staffers, took for granted. It was apalling as Kerry he talked for the sake of talking -and the cameras.
He was THE most poorly informed person in a crowded room in the largest hearing room in the entire U.S. Senate office complex.
Months later, after seeing him drive past me by himself in his convertible to the RFK 20th Anniversary Memorial out at Arlington National Cemetery, which I'll have a future posting on- which is weird when you think of how many Massachusetts people were going to this event, including his staff, I even dated two different smart and attractive female LAs from his personal staff.
They, like me, veteran Democratic activists and national Democratic campaign workers, voted AGAINST him for President in 2004, almost entirely because we'd seen first hand what a poorly qualified candidate he was, for reasons that most people had never witnessed upclose and personal.)

To better understand the nature of this abject failure of a problem, let me tell you the story of one Hallandale Beach corner on US-1 in particular, which has a long history of being the dumping ground of local residents and area contractors who are too damn lazy to dispose of their garbage appropriately -or legally.

It's a corner that I have called the HB Code Compliance office about 6-8 times over the past few years, usually reaching Corrine Yoder, even requesting that, at a minimum, a "No Dumping" sign be placed there, with the requisite info about fine amounts and a contact number to report violations.

The sort of sign that you take for granted when you travel throughout this country.
A sign was never put up.

The NW corner of US-1/Federal Highway and S.E. 7th Street is directly opposite the Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino, the city's largest tourist draw, is next to the U.S. Post Office and one long block south of the City of Hallandale Beach Municipal Complex.
It is also directly next to the North Miami Beach Water Interconnector unit that Hallandale Beach can draw water from in case of an emergency.

On February 1st, 2007, I was walking along the sidewalk and discovered the newest contribution to that neighborhood: cat & dog feces mixed-in with bathroom tiles.



Early February 2007 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino in background


Early February 2007 photo by South Beach Hoosier
It's exactly what an illegal dump of cat and dog feces mixed-in with bathroom tiles would look like if you wanted to dump it!


Later that day, a Sunday, I read Soler's article and resolved that if the mess was still there after Monday, I'd call the number mentioned in the story rather than HB's Code Compliance office as I had many times in the past.
Tuesday afternoon, the mess was still there, so I called the Officer Jackson mentioned in the article, and, unable to speak to him, left a very specific description of the situation on the city voicemail, mentioning that the corner was a regular magnet for illegal dumping by residents and contractors, and reminding him that the city had never placed the appropriate sign there
.
Weeks and weeks later absolutely nothing has happened.

There will be dozens of posts along these lines in the coming weeks and months.

I have notebooks full of notes and ancdotes which help paint the picture of a city that is run neither well or properly, but rather by the seat of its pants.