Showing posts with label beach erosion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beach erosion. Show all posts

Monday, April 29, 2013

Having a long tradition of 'White Flight' and a large part of Hallandale Beach's community, essentially, boycotting the local public high school, Hallandale High School, is nothing to brag about. Unfortunately, it's been the sad reality under Mayor Joy Cooper; One of the persons at Hallandale Beach City Hall most-responsible for nothing changing for the better on this issue, Jennifer Frastai, will speak at Tuesday's meeting re education policy in Broward, at Hollywood City Hall at 6 pm. But Frastai won't talk about the real problems here -anything but that!; @MayorCooper


Above, as it has been for many years, one of my three photos of Hollywood City Hall that are three of the first six photos you see on Google Images when you look up Hollywood (FL) City Hall
It's currently #2 after having been #1 for years. I'm always surprised that there aren't more older, historical photos of this or the previous Hollywood City Hall listed on GoogleLooking west towards Hollywood City Hall from the half-circle in front of the Hollywood branch of the Broward County library. June 2, 2008 photos By South Beach Hoosier. © 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
I realize that for some of you, much of the following will seem like ancient history once again repeating itself, and some very bad history at that, but stay with it.
Most people don't know the same facts that you do, and they deserve to.

My comments are after the announcement.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: News and Announcements <listserv@civicplus.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 10:51 AM
Subject: Hollywood to Host Consortium of Broward County Education Advisory Boards

Email Notifications
The City of Hollywood Education Advisory Board is participating in a forum of 16 education advisory boards from throughout Broward County to exchange information, explore issues affecting education, and discuss new Broward County School District initiatives. A meeting of the Consortium of Education Advisory Boards will take place Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 215 at Hollywood City Hall, 2600 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. Meetings of the Consortium are typically held on a quarterly basis.

One of the topics that will be discussed during this meeting is the Hollywood City Commission’s recent passing of a resolution opposing the practice of high-stakes testing in the public schools. Donna Greene, vice chair of the Hollywood Education Advisory Committee, will make a presentation about the process of gaining Commission support for the resolution. Additionally, Jennifer Frastai, assistant city manager of the City of Hallandale Beach, will discuss the reorganization of the Hallandale Beach Education Advisory Board and Renee Grutman, chair of Cooper City’s education advisory board, will discuss Cooper City’s Resource Fair.
You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to News and Announcements on www.hollywoodfl.org
If clicking the link doesn't work, please copy and paste the link into your browser.
Since I'm on the mailing list, why am I getting this announcement for the first time the day before it happens?

Do you recognize that name above, Jennifer Frastai?

She's one of the two Hallandale Beach Assistant City Manager whom I and many other concerned HB residents and small business-owners hold personally responsible for much of what doesn't work or has seldom-if-ever worked properly within the City of Hallandale Beach's inefficient and bewildering bureaucracy, few of whom actually live here.

(The other is Nydia Rafols, whose fingerprints, like Frastai's, are all over the lousy public policies currently pursued here, and the self-evident problems that never get resolved, esp. involving the city's Dept, of Public Works, which is forever chasing its tail and making no progress on matters, years after-the-fact.)


In my own opinion, and in the opinion of many other Hallandale Beach residents who actually pay close attention to what actually happens in this city -an effort in contrast to the local South Florida news media, print or TV, or the taxpayer-supported faux newspaper that was specifically and negatively cited by the Broward Inspector General in his report on corruption at HB City Hall, the South Florida Sun-TimesFrastai is someone who has largely escaped the sort of negative public scrutiny that in many other parts of the country would be hers, given her very mixed -at best- track record.
Especially given how many things Frastai has touched over the many years that are no better now than they were years ago.

Given the important topic under discussion on Tuesday night in Hollywood, Education Policy in Broward County, it's important to note that she's the same HB city employee who spent almost 25 minutes of a recent HB City Commission meeting talking about the high-minded "changes" to the HB Education Advisory Board when it needed, maybe, 10 minutes.


I know because I was there in attendance and taped it on my camcorder.

I deleted it once I got home and listened to it again because of how ponderous and unrealistic it all seemed given where we are and given her own record while acting as the city's liaison for education for years.

The faux earnestness with which she spoke was especially meaningless and even irritating given how this city currently operates, a point that was hammered home subsequently by Mayor Cooper herself, as if I could have written it any better, complete with punchline.

Mayor Cooper has wasted little time and has promptly and predictably shown how little regard she had for this high-minded effort to reach out to new faces and new people in the community and get them involved.

People with varied backgrounds and perhaps even some educational/childcare expertise on the Education Advisory Board.
Yeah, it sounds great in the abstract, but what about in reality?

Mayor Cooper showed her true colors and provided the punchline by re-naming her tennis pal, Barbara Southwick, to the same Education Advisory Board that she's already been on for years.

So much for dynamic changes!
So what was all THAT talk about positive changes and new faces, then?

Yes, Joy Cooper, the longtime Hallandale Beach mayor who has NEVER once publicly called for or even convened a single community-wide meeting or forum, say on a Saturday morning morning, that dealt exclusively with any of the myriad of difficult education issues and very real challenges facing this city.

A city where hardly any kids who live east of U.S.-1 -where most of the population is- actually go to the public high school that's in this city.

Having a tradition of White Flight and a large part of the community, essentially, boycotting the local public high school, Hallandale High School, is nothing to brag about.

(And who has been the Education point-person at Hallandale Beach City Hall while all of this was allowed to happen, year-after-year?
Jennifer Frastai.) 

Real estate brokers covering S.E. Broward sure don't boast about THAT fact it when talking to families considering a new home in HB, esp. those moving to the area from out-of-state, do they?
And why would they, since the basic facts would cause most reasonable people to question why they should want to move here if the people who already live here WON'T send their own kids to Hallandale High School.

But then that's been Hallandale Beach City Hall's modus operandi for so many issues under Joy Cooper the past ten years -if she pretends the problem doesn't exist, it doesn't.
And you can be pretty sure the news media will ignore it completely, too, which makes everything worse, since there's no public pushback against bad public policy that doesn't help anyone, yet continues year-after-year.

For those of you who don't already know, Jennifer Frastai, one of the speakers Tuesday night is the same person whom I spoke to for almost an hour to in the HB City Manager's conference room four-and-a-half years ago with another HB Assistant City Manager present who hasn't been around for years, Franklin Heileman.
Yes, just the three of us in the HB City Manager's conference room.

I described to her in detail just about every single problem and every single example of HB City Hall's longstanding myopia, incompetency or lack of oversight that I'd personally observed -and taken photos of- one neighborhood at a time, and placed on my blog.
That's why it took almost an hour.
The truth is, though, there were always a lot more photos and examples I didn't post but could have.

And just so you know, just as I reminded them that wasted afternoon, everything I mentioned was something I'd already communicated to the very people at HB City Hall who were supposed to be in charge of that, so I already followed the chain-of-command.
But it was broken, apparently, permanently.

Even though no organizational flow-chart of the city or even a complete list of areas of responsibility existed then or even currently at HB City Hall or on the city's website, I made an effort to find out who the right person to talk to was.
And in ZERO instances did any of the city employees I communicated with actually do anything to resolve the problems facing HB residents, taxpayers and small business-owners.
Really.

Why do you suppose I started my blog in the first place, anyway?
Simply to complain about stuff?
Hardly.

At one point, about ten minutes into this, after writing some things down, Frastai put her pen down and looked at Heileman sitting right next to her at the other end of the conference table, and asked if all the things I was saying were true, and, implicitly, whether I'd really mentioned the problems and posted these photos on the web.

I'll give Heileman credit at least for being honest about that, since he just nodded, because he knew it was all true.
She seemed a bit stunned.

We then went mentally thru a tour of a city where City Hall couldn't or wouldn't see longstanding problems right in front of residents' noses every day, inconvenient reminders that city employees ignored problems that needed to actually be solved.

Well, despite my reminding Frastai that photos of everything I said were already on the Internet, with its location, length of the problem, et al, on my blog, in case she wanted to confirm my comments, and despite my having given Frastai multiple ways of contacting me my phone or email to let me know what she'd done, she NEVER did anything about the problems I mentioned to HER that afternoon.
She never contacted me, either.

Frastai's the same person whom former City Manager  Mike Good put in charge of making sure that the newly-purchased recyclable bins were placed on the beach in places where beach-goers could use them, to make it as easy as possible, after I criticized both of them at a City Hall budget meeting in 2009.

(Yet it still, needlessly, took many months and even now, is inconsistently done, and seems to be organized in such a fashion to make it for the convenience of city employees, NOT actual beach-goers, the same way the city continues to mis-allocate picnic tables down at South Beach, while there are only two at North Beach, which are often monopolized all day.
The city has foolishly re-purposed hundreds of the recyclable bins to be used for regular garbage and city employees actually hide them, which is why you don't see recycling bins near the baseball stands at Blusten Park all these years later, while they remain next to the fence on S.W. 5th Street, some of which have not moved in years.
Why did taxpayers pay for something that the city has no clear intention of using properly and with common sense?)

Most of which I mentioned here last June 15th,
Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's old threats & lawsuits re-emerge as Hollywood's  Beach One Resort sues over its access to the beach, the latest shoe to drop in The Related Group's Beachwalk project that'd make HB's North Beach a defacto private beach for The Related Group's properties, NOT a public beach for HB residents

By the way, I think it's awesome that this Education meeting in Hollywood tomorrow is scheduled for the same time and date that the City of Hallandale Beach is hosting their beach re-nourishment meeting over at The Hemispheres Condos.

Yes, the meeting with responsible federal and state officials who, presumably, know what they're talking about and who'll be straightforward with those of us who show-up, creating a real nice contrast with what we usually get at most HB meetings, where blame is placed on outsiders -or those of us here in town who favor genuine reform and transparency- is thrown, to say nothing of the mis-direction, half-truths and spin dumped by the barrel-full.

But NOT a forthright discussion about public policy where ALL the germane facts surrounding an issue or vote are publicly revealed -or even given to the City Commissioners by the city staff, as CRA meeting of February proved- and of the problems that are before us.

Because, apparently, the unvarnished truth seems to really hurt someone's feelings at HB City Hall, so instead, we get the charade of democracy, not the real thing.
Year-after-year...

Friday, April 26, 2013

Public meeting re beach erosion on Tuesday April 30th at 6 p.m. at The Hemispheres Condominium in Hallandale Beach; Local10 News video with Roger Lohse "Eroding beach worries Hallandale Beach residents"

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

Local10 News reporter Roger Lohse on Hallandale Beach's perpetual beach erosion problems that were made worse in late October by Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy, especially in the city's southern beachfront area, which is now only a few feet wide.  

Eroding beach worries Hallandale Beach residents
Published On: Apr 25 2013 05:57:07 PM EDT   
Updated On: Apr 26 2013 01:09:55 AM EDT
Story and video at: 

The City of Hallandale Beach is hosting a community meeting re beach nourishment featuring federal, state and county officials on Tuesday, April 30th at 6 p.m. at the Hemispheres Condominium, 985 S. Ocean Drive, Hallandale Beach..
More info at: http://hallandalebeachfl.gov/documentcenter/view/6833

Better late than never, but why didn't this meeting take place months ago?
It's been getting worse for six months...

Friday, March 11, 2011

Hallandale Beach's Parks & Recreation Master Plan's first two public meetings are Saturday -be there!

As many of you already know, for well more than a year, I've been busy taking photographs and shooting video documenting the longstanding problems I've personally observed with this city's Parks & Recreation Dept., speaking to Hallandale Beach residents who use them for myriad purposes, finding out what they like or don't like, as well as talking to people who DON'T or WON'T use them and find out why that is.
You'd be surprised at what some of those reasons are.


I've also frequently spoken to the contracted-lifeguards from Jeff Ellis & Associates at the public beach about:

a.) the many, many complaints they hear from HB residents and visitors alike about the dirty, unattractive and poorly-maintained conditions of the beach, both North and South -the responsibility of DPW Director John Chidsey- as well as the

b.) longstanding public safety problems that the Police Dept. has ignored for years, thru their infrequent presence, and

c.) The Beachside Cafe NOT fulfilling their obligations to the city's residents under their signed lease, which ought to be opened-up to new bidders.
I've got a copy of that contract, so I know exactly what I'm talking about and I can tell you, some of those terms have NOT been honored for years.

In most cases, though, the things I heard about were problems or situations I already knew about or been told about by other HB residents, but every so often, the lifeguards would have something new to add that I hadn't observed or heard elsewhere.
Which, of course, is why I always asked them, no?

For instance, the city NOT having a suitable back-up plan in place when a boat they use to get to swimmers in bad surf conditions, like rip tides, was damaged, and supposedly being repaired.

So, for weeks during the summer, the lifeguards DIDN'T have a resource they needed to keep swimmers safe.
So tell me, why did the city play with the safety of this city's residents and not have a plan?
Who wants to answer that question?


I'll be at the 1 p.m. meeting tomorrow on the beach, although
without my foam board with photos and info re longstanding problems at the city's Parks and Public Beach, and the DPW and City Manager's Office ignoring both the problems themselves, and the city employees' very poor work ethic and failure to report the problems up the chain of command.

That foam board I've mentioned previously to some of you via emails, will be in evidence at the
O.B. Johnson meeting in NW next Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., and I encourage you to do the same thing.

The extant flimsy excuse for a primer on the Parks Master Plan is at:

http://fl-hallandalebeach.civicplus.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1722

It's an appallingly short five pages and almost entirely devoid of text and also does not identify possible funding sources
.

Hallandale Beach Parks & Rec. Master Plan -Southeast Quadrant
Saturday, March 12th, 10:00 a.m.,
Bluesten Park
501 S.E.1st Avenue


Hallandale Beach Parks & Rec. Master Plan -Northeast/Beach Quadrant
Saturday, March 12th, 1:00 p.m.,
North Beach Community Center
2813 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd
.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Urgent Hollywood Beach Erosion Update from Mayor Peter Bober; transit/Ft. Lauderdale Stadium connection blues

Below is an email I received today from Hollywood Mayor Peter Bober, whose election I supported last year, about a subject I support 100% because of its common sense and common benefit: larger beaches in SE Broward and NE Miami-Dade Counties.

The mayor's thoughtful letter is a rather eye-opening example of the reality of South Florida's regional inter-governmental cooperation, as opposed to the theory version so often preached at public meetings by local
MPOs and the South Florida Regional Planning Council, where, supposedly, everyone checks their parochial interests at the door.
(Speaking of parochial, I had planned on going to the latter group's meeting this morning on the controversial Davie Commons project, but decided to skip it.)

Below the information I received from Mayor Bober I've attached two items of special note.

The first item is an informative article on beach erosion written by Cynthia Barnett for Florida Trend
magazine that ran October 1st, 2008, and which I urge you to read.

The second item is video of an excellent in-depth news report from last February 15th that CBS-4's ace investigative reporter Stephen Stock and his I-Team did on the cost to taxpayers of beach renourishment, and the different approaches taken to this issue by governments in Florida and in North Carolina.
Sort of like the difference between a beach and a shore.

Tomorrow, February 3rd, will be a Broward County Commission meeting, starting at 10 a.m., and you can speak to this particular subject then if you choose -and are patient.
They're scheduled to also discuss Broward County's contribution to SFRTA (Tri-Rail) for Commuter Rail and
 Feeder Bus service in Broward County, and the establishment of an interlocal agreement between the county and SFRTA.

I plan on speaking to the Commission tomorrow about this subject, as less than two weeks before spring training starts up for the Orioles at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, the same absurd and infuriating longstanding situation continues there, wherein riders like me getting off at the Cypress Creek Tri-Rail station closest to the stadium, 1.4 miles away, find no transit connection of any kind to the stadium: no bus, no shuttle, no trolley, no nothing.

I can make do as I have in the past for Oriole spring training games, since the walk is just about a half-hour,
but not everyone in South Florida who want to go to a ballgame or any other event held held there, like the Broward County Fair, is physically able or interested in doing that.
For families with kids, Seniors, the Handicapped, et al, it's NOT a very realistic option,  esp. on warm days
or ones that look iffy for rain later in the day, since you can't bring umbrellas into the stadium.

It's an east to understand issue I first raised publicly at the Broward County Transit Forum in the Fall of 2007,
and one that I'll be doing an encore of for other attendees of at the upcoming regional Transit Summit on
February 21st at the Broward County Convention Center.


To me, after five years of being back down here from D.C., and being both an ardent Orioles fan and transit enthusiast, it's the perfect case study on South Florida's dysfunctional transportation and government system:
NOT being able to connect people from one taxpayer-funded site, the Cypress Creek Tri-Rail station, to the taxpayer-funded stadium that taxpayers actually WANT to go to, owned by the City of Fort Lauderdale

It's this inability to connect dots, especially dots that are close to one another, that led me to vote against
the proposed penny transit sales tax increase a few years ago, even though in other places,  my interests being what they are, I'd have happily voted for it and supported it publicly.
But not here.

As I stated pretty clearly to folks I spoke to back at that 2007 County Transit Forum, "As a matter of fact,
I don't HAVE to give the County the benefit of the doubt," when year-after-year, they've shown an
infuriating inability to work with SFRTA and the City of Fort Lauderdale to come to a common sense solution to this problem that would not only satisfy fans, residents and taxpayers, but also show that they are willing to work hard to arrive at those solutions.

So far, they haven't been, and I'd vote against the penny tax again, just as I'd surely vote now or in the
near-future against any proposed sales tax increase geared towards a new Broward Courthouse building.    

Also, it looks like Robin Rorapaugh of Hollywood will be formally approved to serve on the much-needed
County Ethics Commission as Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger's nominee.

As of now, I plan on attending after a quick chat at the State Attorney's Office, so if you have some time,
please consider heading-up, too.

Tusday's Broward County Commission meeting agenda is at:
_________________________________________

Dear Beach Residents:

When we last met at my beach erosion town hall meeting, I promised to update you on the City of Hollywood's efforts to renourish its beaches. As you know, they are eroding at an ever-alarming rate.

The City has already made application to the State for matching funds for a truck haul project. As you may know, we are getting closer to Broward County beginning its much anticipated sand bypass program. The sand bypass project is, essentially, designed to help re-establish the ocean's natural flow of sand southward, which is being blocked by the jetties at Port Everglades. It is a great project that over time can help increase the volume of sand on our beaches. Below, please find a Fact Sheet regarding the sand bypass project for your information.

Unfortunately, not everybody sees it that way. In early January, I went to Fort Lauderdale City Hall, and addressed the Fort Lauderdale Mayor and Commissioners at a public forum. I was given an opportunity to speak, and tried to convey to them how important the sand bypass was to our residents and our way of life.

Notwithstanding, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission voted to OPPOSE the sand bypass project, and are urging the Broward County Commission to NOT move forward. In short, our Fort Lauderdale elected official counterparts are getting an earful from their residents who believe that we are trying to "take" their sand, so we simply have more. Truth be told, OUR sand is not getting to OUR beaches, because Port Everglades is blocking the natural flow of sand southward. Period.

I am emailing you because we need to re-double our efforts to protect the sand bypass project. I'd like to tell you that the forces who oppose this valuable project are a fringe group, but they are not. Two Broward County Commissioners who represent Fort Lauderdale beach residents, and are listening to those folks, may try to block the project.

I believe that a majority of the Broward County Commission will listen to reason, listen to the scientists who support the project and listen to objective facts about why the sand bypass project must move full steam ahead. But, it wouldn't hurt to have one thousand beach residents write the Broward County Commission about why the sand bypass project is so important.

As mayor, I will do everything in my power to prioritize beach renourishment, including spending City funds in a strategic way, to get the desired result we all wish to see. I hope you will write (as opposed to e-mail, which might be less effective) your Broward County Commissioners at the following address:

Broward County Commission Offices
954-357-7000
www.broward.org/countygov
115 S. Andrews Ave., Room 421
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

Mayor Ritter
sritter@broward.org

Vice Mayor Keechl
kkeechl@broward.org

Commissioner Gunzburger
sgunzburger@broward.org

Commissioner Wexler
lwexler@broward.org

Commissioner Rodstrom
jrodstrom@broward.org

Commissioner Wasserman-Rubin
dwassermanrubin@broward.org

Commissioner Lieberman
ilieberman@broward.org

Commissioner Jacobs
kjacobs@broward.org

Commissioner Eggelletion
jeggelletion@broward.org

Tell your Broward County Commissioners that we have been waiting decades for the beach renourishment project to begin. I NEED YOU TO FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO EVERY HOLLYWOOD, HALLANDALE BEACH AND DANIA BEACH RESIDENT YOU KNOW. There are hundreds of people, right now, trying to kill the sand bypass project, and we must speak up. If we don't, who will?

Thank you for your time,

Peter Bober
Mayor
CITY OF HOLLYWOOD
954.921.3321 Tel
954.921.3386 Fax
pbober@hollywoodfl.org

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

 FACT SHEET: Broward County Sand By-Pass Project

• Sand by-passing is the process of artificially transferring near shore sand around a beach barrier (Port Everglades).

• 85% of beach erosion in Florida is caused by inlets that interrupt the movement of sand.

• The proposed project will build a sand trap, modify the North Jetty at Port Everglades, modify the rubble shoal, create a rubble barrier, and provide up to 80,000 cubic yards of sand on the adjacent beach.

• Sand will be collected from the excavated deposition basin adjacent to the north jetty of the Port, anticipated to be approximately 50,000 cy/year.

• Basin will be dredged every three years and transported south and deposited on the beach at John U. Lloyd State Park.

• Expect to see a benefit to Hollywood's beaches over the coming years, as the sand slowly drifts southward.

• Permits are anticipated to be issued by the summer of 2009.

• Broward County anticipates Port Everglades Sand Bypassing project to commence in 2010.

_________

The Cynthia Barnett article that ran in Florida Trend magazine October 1, 2008

FLORIDA'S BEACHES

Fixing Florida's Beach Erosion Is Expensive

Sand Trap: Another storm, another round of beach erosion, another round of questions about renourishment.

http://www.floridatrend.com/article.asp?aID=49227486.4529268.647114.9201924.5324948.079&aID2=49769

___________

Last February 15th's CBS-4's report, Millions Wasted Trying To Stop Beach Erosion

http://cbs4.com/iteam/beach.erosion.Dr.2.653210.html

________________________________________

Fort Lauderdale Stadium, 1301 N.W. 55th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309