Showing posts with label lifeguard stands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lifeguard stands. Show all posts

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Tomas Lopez, the Fired Lifeguard at the Center of the Storm in Hallandale Beach, will be a guest on Sunday's "This Week in South Florida with Michael Putney" at 11:30 a.m. on Channel 10, after ABC News "This Week"; #hallandalebeach

Tomas Lopez, the Fired Lifeguard at the Center of the Storm in Hallandale Beach, will be a guest on Sunday's "This Week in South Florida with Michael Putney" at 11:30 a.m. on WPLG-TV/Channel 10, after ABC News "This Week."


Fired lifeguard to receive key to city 
Published On: Jul 06 2012 05:44:01 PM EDT
http://www.local10.com/news/Fired-lifeguard-to-receive-key-to-city/-/1717324/15431192/-/136v7nsz/-/index.html

The South Beach lifeguard stand, Hallandale Beach, FL. May 30, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved


This was WPLG-TV/Channel 10- Miami's first report on the unfolding story Wednesday with reporter Jacey Birch.

This was their follow-up on Thursday with reporter Todd Tongen.


CNN's John Zarrella on the Hallandale Beach story that caused an uproar around the world. http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/05/us/florida-lifeguard-fired/index.html


ABC News Matt Gutman's report from Thursday that aired on Good Morning America
video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player
ABC News video: Correspondent Matt Gutman on Fla. Contractor That Fired Lifeguard For Saving Man Outside Zone Reconsidering. July 5, 2012.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/fired-fla-lifeguard-reinstated/story?id=16716225
Video at http://abcnews.go.com/US/fired-fla-lifeguard-reinstated/story?id=16716225


My first post on this stort from Wednesday
Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas, and nothing happens. Nobody is fired. Just more mindless bureaucratic apathy and incompetency from the same old crew!
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/lifeguard-tomas-lopez-helps-save-day-at.html

My follow-up post
Tomas Lopez story results in predictably anemic response by Hallandale Beach City Hall as growing public outrage re harsh treatment of lifeguard Lopez by his company, Jeff Ellis & Associates -an unpersuasive form letter- shows City Hall's longstanding myopia remains. Story has touched a nerve all over the world about moral imperatives and importance of doing the right thing despite strong possible negative consequences. We desperately need to change the culture and personnel at City Hall ASAP!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/lifeguard-tomas-lopez-helps-save-day-at.html

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Tomas Lopez story results in predictably anemic response by Hallandale Beach City Hall as growing public outrage re harsh treatment of lifeguard Lopez by his company, Jeff Ellis & Associates -an unpersuasive form letter- shows City Hall's longstanding myopia remains. Story has touched a nerve all over the world about moral imperatives and importance of doing the right thing despite strong possible negative consequences. We desperately need to change the culture and personnel at City Hall ASAP!

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player
ABC News video: Correspondent Matt Gutman on Fla. Contractor That Fired Lifeguard For Saving Man Outside Zone Reconsidering. July 5, 2012.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/fired-fla-lifeguard-reinstated/story?id=16716225
Tomas Lopez story results in predictably anemic response by Hallandale Beach City Hall as growing public outrage re harsh treatment of lifeguard Lopez by his company, Jeff Ellis & Associates -an unpersuasive form letter- shows City Hall's longstanding myopia remains. Story has touched a nerve all over the world about moral imperatives and importance of doing the right thing despite strong possible negative consequences. We desperately need to change the culture and personnel at City Hall ASAP!
In short, in the official City of Hallandale Beach response thus far about the incident I discussed here yesterday, that was originally reported by Ihosvani Rodriguez of the South Florida sun-Sentinel, and which blew-up over the Fourth of July holiday to become international news, to the surprise of no one, the city says absolutely nothing about their own longstanding neglect, incompetency and culpability regarding the public beach areas, including the news that I shared with you that the two lifeguard stations on the beach are NOT grounded for lightning strikes, as they are supposed to be.


Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas, and nothing happens. Nobody is fired. Just more mindless bureaucratic apathy and incompetency from the same old crew!

By the way, if you didn't already know, the lifeguards are supposed to call their own company first in order to dispatch Fire/Rescue to the scene of trouble, despite the fact that HB Fire/Rescue is right next to the iconic Hallandale Beach Water Tower on State Road A1A and Hallandale Beach Blvd., on the border separating HB and Hollywood.  

Hallandale Beach Fire Station 60 is located in the building north of the city's iconic Water Tower on State Road A1A, just south of the Hollywood cityline. May 30, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved


When that was done, a lot of the life guards told me at the time that based on their past experience, this policy would inevitably cause casualties.

And I didn't even mention in my email and blog post of yesterday that, as I've noted here previously, for a very long time, the lifeguards lacked a motorized device that would allow the guards to actually respond to people caught in dangerous high wave/strong undertow situations far from shore, which greatly frustrated them and created a lot of anxiety on those sorts of days.
And lest you forget, we had an unusually high number of such days early last year, which was even more troubling when you know the lifeguards lacked the tools they desperately needed.
You'd think the city would've had a back-up plan after the one device they had -to share among the two lifeguard stands- broke.
You'd think that, but you'd be wrong -there was no back-up plan!

Is having Jeff Ellis and Associates' dispatchers calling 911 instead of the lifeguards on the scene part of what should be publicly discussed and re-examined while everyone is looking at what took place at the beach on Monday?
Should help for victims really be delayed from being dispatched solely because of company policy?

In my opinion, this whole topic ought to be the subject of a public meeting held at the city's Cultural Center, say, on a Saturday morning at 10 a.m., AFTER Labor Day when everyone is back in town, so that everyone who is interested can attend and hear what's what from Jeff Ellis, the city and any other people who have some knowledge to share, as well as HB residents?

Earlier today, Hallandale Beach civic activist Etty Sims, always a strong voice for common sense, financial accountability and the entire community's best long-term interests, sent the following email to HB City Hall and its denizens.

Along with her comments were links to just some of the dozen and dozens of news sites around the world that have reported on this troubling incident via a Google Alert on HB, a tool which I also receive and have encouraged you all to get as well if you live here, or one for your own community if you're anywhere else in the world.

Among the hundreds of news organizations and websites that have delved into this story are the BBC and ABC News, the latter of which did a three-minute story on it last night with reporter Matt Gutman during ABC Evening News, which was re-run this morning, the video of which I've posted at the top.

Here's Etty Sims' email:

Good morning city commissioners, mayor and city manager,

So Hallandale Beach is in the news all over the country and not for a good reason.
I am sure that you all heard about the incident on the beach.
If you read the comments to the stories on the different news media sites you will see that not only the private company that you, the commission hired to protect our beach goers , BUT the entire city's reputation is beefing affected negatively.

Please let us know what are you going to do about this issue.

if we want to improve our beaches, it is very important that beach goers  not only feel safe on our beach but are actually being protected by someone that cares about people's life and not the bottom line.
Since the lifeguard company's contract is coming  up for renewal, it is a perfect time to look into the different options available.
It is time to bring back the Beach in Hallandale Beach. Please make it a priority and transform the beach to a place that people want to go to. There are too many other options very close by such as Hollywood Beach Broadwalk.

Have a great summer 

Etty Sims


-----
Meanwhile... I continue to receive email from everywhere, including some thoughtful nuanced email from Las Vegas that gets right to the heart of the matter of what happened on Monday

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: City Manager <CityManager@hallandalebeachfl.gov>
Date: Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 10:46 AM
Subject: RE: Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas...



Thank you for contacting the City of Hallandale Beach regarding the beach incident that occurred on July 2, 2012.  I am in close contact with Jeff Ellis of Jeff Ellis Management who has started a full investigation into the termination of their lifeguard.  The lifeguard is not a City employee, but was employed by Jeff Ellis Management, a private company contracted to provide lifeguard services for two city-owned beaches and the Municipal pool.  Jeff Ellis Management has committed to the City that if the lifeguard was terminated in haste, the company would move expeditiously to reinstate his employment.

It has always been the City’s policy that if there is an actual emergency inside or outside of the protected area, the lifeguard must respond. We do however have to ensure that certain safety protocols are followed to ensure the safety of all visitors to the City of Hallandale Beach.  At this time, the City is awaiting the facts of the termination and the results of our internal inquiry and the Ellis Management investigation.  Once the City has the results of the investigation, we can make an informed determination on the future of the relationship with this management company.

The City Hallandale Beach truly values your concerns and comments on this issue. The safety of our Beach patrons and the manner in which this service is provided is paramount to the City.  We are moving swiftly to address the situation.

Renee C. Crichton
City Manager
City of Hallandale Beach
400 S. Federal Highway
Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
954-457-1300 Phone

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas, and nothing happens. Nobody is fired. Just more mindless bureaucratic apathy and incompetency from the same old crew!

South Beach, Hallandale Beach, Florida. This and all photos below are from May 30, 2012 and were taken by South Beach Hoosier. 
© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas, and nothing happens. Nobody is fired. Just more mindless bureaucratic apathy and incompetency from the same old tired crew!
Early this morning in an email to the Sun-Sentinel's Ihosvani Rodriguez, I wrote the following:

I  just needed to clarify something.
In your article, Hallandale Beach lifeguard fired after participating in beach rescue
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/hallandale/fl-hallandale-beach-lifeguards-20120703,0,5326638.story do you mean the lifeguard who saved someone from dying,
Tomas Lopez, left one of the HB lifeguard stands that, contrary to what the city's insurance docs likely claim, are NOT now properly grounded for lightning strikes?

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Something the city already knows about, which is the city's legal responsibility and a HB taxpayer's lawsuit nightmare if someone is injured?
Yeah, sort of like the city still not having fixed or replaced 28 broken lights at Bluesten Park, three blocks from City Hall, for well over nine months and counting... 

Specifically, the lifeguard stand on South Beach that still has graffiti on it and had metal city signs underneath it for 4-5 months because the city's DPW is so poorly managed and bereft of anything resembling a strong work ethic or attention to detail, to remove them and place them in the correct place? 
And which was still under the South Beach lifeguard stand many weeks after I first called DPW on my cell phone in late May while standing next to it, to complain, when these photos were taken?
Those lifeguard stands?
© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

You mean THOSE lifeguard stands with metal underneath them just asking to be zapped
by lightning?

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

The beach where not so far away from those old and unsafe lifeguard stands there are faded, 30-year old Broward County signs from when southern Broward County was still using the 305 area code, the Miami Dolphins were still playing in the Orange Bowl, and BEFORE Dan Marino was playing quarterback for the Dolphins?
That neglected public beach?

© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Do you mean the beach where the weekend before the city's Parks Master Plan meeting of Monday May 31st re possible changes and improvements to South Beach, the sign with the meeting info came down, and rather than simply re-hammering it into the wooden pole, someone from the city dragged it next to the dumpster and left it there?
Which, of course, meant that anyone who went to the beach that entire weekend or Monday morning who didn't already know about the meeting would have had no idea about it, or what the rendering on the left actually meant?
That neglected public beach?

I spy: the missing meeting sign hidden next to the dumpster! 
© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

The beach with the nearby dumpster without the fence enclosure the city requires of all businesses owners in the city with dumpsters, to hide the dumpster from public view, just like the city has been violating its own ordinances for YEARS at North Beach?

After I saw this for myself the afternoon of the meeting, I actually left the beach and drove over to City Hall and spoke in-person with the new Parks Director at her office to both tell her what I'd seen, but to also offer it up as yet another self-evident example of how things were/are routinely done in this city since I have lived here -with a lack of professionalism and with an almost completely contemptuous disregard for the taxpayers and residents of this city.
Which is to say half-assed! And with no consequences for continued sub-par performance.

But the reality is that in this city, it's DPW who is in charge of the beach, not Parks & Rec.
That's where the blame lies, along with just-departed City Manager Antonio, and the current Mayor and City Commission.


© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
Could there possibly be any garbage dumpsters in South Florida that are closer to the Atlantic Ocean than these two from the City of Hallandale Beach at North Beach? (The ones you can see because the city doesn't have the required fencing hiding them.) I don't think there are! 
Area to the left is The Apogee condos in Hollywood under construction. 
The public beach where for years, as they do elsewhere, the city just laughs at following its own rules and ordinances, to say nothing of city commissioners ignoring state laws about NOT illegally parking in disabled parking spaces?


© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
One of the many photos I snapped over the years of Julian's ID on dashboard while he was parked illegally in disabled or disabled- access parking spaces next to the Beachside Cafe at North Beach.  

(The latter is a common sense state law that for YEARS was routinely abused by former HB Comm. Bill Julian -running again this year- when he drove to the Beachside Cafe, continually parking in what was then THE only disabled parking space nearby, being sure to let everyone know whose car it was, as ID shows.)

Like the public beach -as depicted in photo above- that has dumpsters that have only needed lids that actually fit and cover the garbage since... 
Those public beaches?

The beaches that rightly ought to be taken away from the control of the city's DPW Dept., who have clearly demonstrated over many years that they are clearly NOT interested in giving HB taxpayers the appealing and clean beach they desperately want, and NOT giving them a dollar's worth of service for a dollar's worth of taxes?
The ones whose care should be outsourced to a licensed and experienced contractor to beautify and properly maintain?
Those public beaches?

Oh, okay, now I got it.
I just wanted to make sure that we were talking about the same beaches in HB I know about, and have been closely observing for years as they have fallen into rapid decline due to the city's very own longstanding neglect, apathy and incompetency.
After all, I certainly wouldn't want to jump to any erroneous conclusions.

Kudos to Tomas for keeping his integrity intact and not hesitating from doing the right thing.
I only wish that most of the people at Hallandale Beach City Hall who've been making the big bucks for years were as deserving of the community's trust, respect and admiration as Tomas was by his display of integrity.
But they're not.

No, sadly, my experience is that when they actually do the right thing, it's usually by accident, NOT by design.
And the proof of that is all around us in this city.