Saturday, December 28, 2013

More proof of why South Florida is NOT the Land of Lincoln! Local10 News video re govt. incompetency (& secretiveness) in Miami Beach; Reader comments show how many Internet trolls South Florida has who reflexively defend govt. over individuals and their rights

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

Pump stations built directly in front of homes Miami Beach residents say city officials never asked for their input 
Author: Jeff Weinsier, Reporter, jweinsier@Local10.com 
Ben Candea, Senior Web Producer, bcandea@local10.com 
Posted online December 19 2013 11:00:00 PM EST
http://www.local10.com/news/pump-stations-built-directly-in-front-of-homes/-/1717324/23567002/-/jm4r9oz/-/index.html

Here's my comment to the Local10 story above and the predictable reader comments that appeared the first week after it aired. 
I only came across it Saturday night.

Watch that and read those comments first before seeing what I've posted below.

"I can't say specifically that we went door to door and say you all have this type of facility directly in front of your house," said David Martinez, acting director of the city's capital improvements.
Martinez added that he didn't believe an impact study was done.

Yes, local government making conscious decisions to NOT do an impact study.
No, THAT can't possibly have any bad consequences, now can it?

This reminds me so much of the half-assed nature of municipal bureaucracy here in Hallandale Beach. A few years ago, the city paid for a consulting firm to do a Transportation Master Plan.
The consultants they hired were clearly smart, savvy, motivated and were very open to hearing from residents about their concerns, certainly more open to ideas and suggestions than the mayor and the city commission and City Manager and their retinue ever were. 
But then the former were being paid to listen to the public -the electeds just pretended to be.

But at the heavily-promoted final presentation meeting -heavily-promoted on my blog, not by the city on any of its portable electronic message boards - I asked a series of logical and common sense questions during the Q&A that nobody else though to ask before me, and then made some predictions about things to come.

Did the city make drivers of its FREE Mini-bus system available to speak to the consultants to answer any questions about common complaints or suggestions they heard on a daily basis, since they were the city's eyes and ears on this subject? No.

That sort of managerial genius and decision-making explains why so many years later, the #1 place in the entire city where passengers utilize the service to get on and off the city's mini-buses is a place where there is NO timetable or map at all for passengers to check -the Publix on Hallandale Beach Blvd. & SE 14th Avenue.

Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders, the city commissioner who claims he primarily represents the city residents who use public transportation on a regular basis, in NW HB, despite the fact that all commissioners are at-large, DIDN'T even bother showing-up for the meeting. 
Years later, that is crystal clear since residents show a facility and knowledge of it that is continually above his head. Where's the sense of personal accountability?

That failure by an elected official like Sanders to even show-up meant that Sanders could NOT only NOT hear anything said by taxpayers and residents at the meeting, but also meant that he couldn't be asked hard questions by me and other residents about about why nearly 90% of the city-maintained bus shelters had lights that DIDN'T work at night -for YEARS at a time, despite it being self-evident, as any drive at night will show, including the bus shelters closest to HB City Hall.
A fact that is STILL TRUE!

In all of Hallandale Beach, there's but one city-controlled bus shelter on the east side of busy U.S.-1, north-bound, one of the three main streets in the city. 
And that one bus shelter is NOT at or near Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino or the next-door Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex, but rather 2 blocks south of the Hollywood cityline. Why?

No explanation has ever been publicly given for such stupidity or why all these years later, the city can't manage to keep more than 10% of its own bus shelters lit at night for its own residents. 
Again, where's the sense of personal accountability at HB City Hall among elected officials or city employees? MIA.

And I didn't even mention yet that there are now LESS bus shelters in the city than there were five years ago, much as I predicted would happen, given the mindset here.
Does that sound like any kind of Transportation Master Plan that you would want your city to have?

So, those of you commenting here that there may've been public meetings about where the pump stations would be located, how come Jeff Weinsier couldn't find any record of them and how come the city officials couldn't refute him by stating when and where they were held.
No, instead, you impugn these particular residents as being too lazy to get involved.
Based on what evidence???

What we all know now is that the one person who appears on camera who ought to know the answers says nothing at all about any such meetings, and even while stating that he doesn't think an impact study was ever done, also never adequately explains why some pumps stations were placed on medians and some weren't, which is something that residents directly-affected were certainly entitled to know about beforehand. 
And yet they weren't, now were they?

Again, that sounds exactly like how things happen in Hallandale Beach -conscious stealthiness to keep the residents in the dark.

Some of you folks ought to stop reflexively defending government bureaucrats who can't or won't explain their own actions and decisions when given a chance to, instead of being sympathetic to the plight of the residents who were just minding their own business. Instead, you choose to bash these residents with legitimate and justifiable concerns just because you don't like the fact that someone else chooses to make a housing/lifestyle choice that's different than yours.

I wouldn't live there, but would I want to wish that person's home gets flooded, like some of you clearly do?
You're biased.

Only wish the Local10 website was better and required people to use either their real names or a certified name that couldn't be changed so that in the future, I'd know better than to waste my time reading the comments of dopes, given so much of what I've read here.
C'est la vie.
-----
One of my most-popular blog post on that City of Hallandale Beach Transportation Master Plan debacle was posted on June 9, 2009, and has been seen 3242 times as of right now, titled, Tonight's Hallandale Beach Transportation Master Plan meeting is a Sign of the Times in HB: We Need Change!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/tonights-transportation-meeting-is-sign.html 

Friday, December 27, 2013

For a whole generation of Oriole fans like me, Paul Blair was the living embodiment of The Oriole Way. So very, very sad at the news that my all-time favorite Oriole, the baseball player I most patterned myself on as a CF, died Thursday night. THE player I studied so intensely so many days and nights at O's exhibition games at Miami Stadium in the 1970's, looking for any hint of how to do things the right way -The Oriole Way. He was always smiling, always friendly to fans, always hustling and always a great teammate. R.I.P. # 6 #Class; Roy Firestone

For a whole generation of Oriole fans like me, from South Florida up I-95 to Maryland/southern PA, and knowledgeable baseball fans from coast-to-coast who appreciated players who paid attention to detail and did the small things in a game that make the difference between winning and losing, Paul Blair was the living embodiment of The Oriole Way.




So very, very sad at the news Thursday night that the former Oriole legend and masterful centerfielder died Thursday night while bowling in suburban Pikesville.

Paul Blair was my all-time favorite Oriole, the baseball player I most patterned myself on as a Centerfielder in Little League and Pony League in North Miami Beach's Optimist League, just as it often seemed to me years later that Ken Griffey Jr. would pattern himself on years later -playing shallow in CF- after watching Paul while his Dad and Paul were teammates on the Yankees of the late '70's, which earned paul two more World Series rings for a total of four.

One year, when one of my Pony League teams got new uniforms but all the numbers started in the fifties -like we were all minor league pitchers who'd only be at spring training for a few weeks before going back to our minor league teams- I quickly grabbed #51 out of the box and ripped-off the shrink wrap because 5 + 1 = 6, Paul Blair's jersey number.

My last two years of playing NMB Optimist Football in the mid-1970's, for the 115-pound team, though I was primarily a defensive end and special teams player, I also wore #6 because... 
Plus, like him, I was the fastest player on my team.



Photo of Paul Blair at Orioles spring training HQ at Miami Stadium, Miami, FL.

Paul Blair was the one player I studied intensely on so many days and nights at O's exhibition games at Miami Stadium in the 1970's -with family and friends- when they were in their glory days, and I was looking for any hint of how to do things the right way -The Oriole Way, because that's how I wanted to do it, too. 


Once they closed camp and left for baltimore, I listened to the team and his personal exploits via Chuck Thompson and Bill O'Donnell's expert play-by-play and color commentary, back when the O's affiliate in Miami at the time, WGBS-AM, carried ALL their games. 

I'd listen to those games no matter where I was -which my parents didn't always appreciate- and l'd fall asleep at night with my small brightly-colored Radio Shack transistor radio under my pillow listening to West Coast road trips, back when the A's really were the Amazing A's.
(If they'd won that ALCS series with the A's in 1973 and '74, they'd have played in the World Series 5 out of 6 years and I definitely think they'd have beaten the Mets in '73 and the Reds in '74.)

Asd I have written here on the blog before, I was such a big Orioles fan that I not only had every Orioles yearbook from 1970 until I left for college in 1979, agonizing when they lost to Pirates in the World series, but in February and March, at least once a week, I'd catch buses at the 163rd Street Shopping Center out to Biscayne College where the Orioles' minor league teams trained, always hoping to see the new/next Don Baylor or Bobby Grich in-person.
In those pre-Internet days, I'd always hope to run into a Baltimore area media type who could point out who was who, esp. someone like John Steadman.

Every family car we had in the 1970's I made certain had the circular bumper sticker of the cartoon Oriole at bat, so everyone would know, esp. on vacations, like up to Asheville in the summer of 1972, when they were part of the O's minor league system, that I/we were real Oriole fans.

Paul Blair was always smiling, always friendly to fans, always hustling and always a great teammate. 
R.I.P. #6 #Class
-----




Photo of Paul Blair and son at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, MD.









Above, former Baltimore Colt RB/Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee Lenny Moore, broadcaster Roy Firestone and former Orioles center fielder Paul Blair on Brooks Robinson Day, for the unveiling of the larger-than-life bronze sculpture of the Oriole Hall of Fame third baseman outside Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Sept. 29, 2012, Baltimore, MD.
Few would know how true this was more than Roy, whom I first met 41 years ago.
As I've written here before, at the time, Roy was a University of Miami student and was also working for Channel 4 Sports back when it was still Ralph Renick's WTVJ-TV, and their Sports Dept. was the class and envy of the state.
I was an 11-year old camper at the Bob Griese-Karl Noonan boys sports camp up in Boca Raton, where Roy was a counselor who soon became a friend because of his sense of humor, common sense and amazing knowledge of the same things I was most-interested in: sports, journalism and films.

When I was a senior at North Miami Beach High School and he was already working out in Los Angeles at KNX-TV, Roy was also one of the many people I spoke to and respected who recommended that I attend Syracuse and the S.I. Newhouse School of Communication, the home of so much of ESPN and the sports television and marketing establishment of the past thirty years.


But after things didn't work out financial aid-wise for my longtime first choice, The University of Southern California (USC) -who offered me a great deal of financial aid , but still not enough for me to swing it financially from Miami to Los Angeles, especially given how expensive it was to fly back and forth from LA to Miami back then- I went to IU, knowing only one person in the whole state of indiana, and they weren't in Bloomington. 

Syracuse just seemed too cold and isolated for me.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas to all my faithful blog readers around the world, from a place that's Far From the Madding Crowd of Swedish Moose, Reindeer, Fir trees, Snowmen and snowmobiles -South Florida, where it'll be in the '80's today. But you all know where I'd much rather be today!


Above and below, some of my January 2013 photos at Sergels Torg, Stockholm, Sweden. All original photos below by South Beach Hoosier.  © 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

Above, ground level, looking northeast towards the obelisk and Sergelfontänen, the fountain, which in the winter becomes the scene of large lighted reindeer, sans red noses.

Behind that is the large SEB building, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, on Sveavägen, the firm I used for my currency exchange at Arlanda upon arrival and departure. 
Very friendly and professional people, unlike most banks in South Florida.













Below, earlier in the afternoon, looking east towards that same scene but from farther west on the plaza. 
In the far right, you can see the iconic revolving 22-foot neon, circular Nordiska Kompanaiet Department Store sign not too far away over on Hamngatan, which is green on one side and red on the other at night, with a clock.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tommyajohansson/4948444585/

It's not only an iconic symbol in the area, but a beacon for those for whom the fashionable life that exists in Stockholm is the only way to go. 


It's pretty amazing, which is why I have said here on the blog so many times that people who live there REALLY love it in a way that is hard to describe to people who live in South Florida, given the high percentage of people who are from elsewhere.

That's part of what gives it its palpable soul and sense of style.




Above, looking west from ground level near the middle of the Plattan towards the very popular Stadsteatern, the Stockholm City Theatre, http://kulturhusetstadsteatern.se/










The plaza is only one of my favorite places in all of Sweden and anywhere actually.

I literally spent HOURS standing and walking around it and the adjoining areas in January's cold, marveling at it all -the perfect public square. I simply couldn't get enough of it, just like when i first moved to washington, D.C. in 1988, and could spend as much time as i wanted on the steps of the west side of the U.S. Capitol overlooking The Mall, or from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, looking east towards the washington Monument.
A nexus of high-minded culture, social policy, pop culture, amazing retail shopping, very serious people-watching and the ease of well-located public transportation hubs that make everything seem more intimate and possible.

So unlike South Florida.


[OFFICIAL] Michael Jackson Dance Tribute - STOCKHOLM, July 2009.

When kids in small towns in Sweden think about what they want to do in Stockholm one day when they are older and have left their bucolic and boring life behind, one of the things they think about is being able to take it for granted that a place like this exists for them, too.

That it belongs to them as much as it belongs to people who have always lived in Stockholm.
There is nothing like this at all in South Florida.


RetardedVideos2013 YouTube Channel video: Crazy snowmobile ride in Stockholm (SWEDEN). Uploaded on December 6, 2012. http://youtu.be/j7sCpSFRKww 

Sunday, December 22, 2013

These are a few of my favorite things... favorite Christmas songs from some of my favorite singers: Amy Grant, Jill Johnson, Malena Ernman, Yohanna and Point of Grace





Amazing, amazing Amy Grant!
She sounded utterly fantastic and angelic at her Christmas concert at the then-MCI Center
in downtown Washington, D.C. in December of 1999, when she was in town as part of her national tour promoting her CD and third Christmas album, A Christmas to Remember, which featured the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, who was also there in Washington. 

That's only one of my two favorite Christmas albums, and one I took with me on my trip to snowy Stockholm in mid-January, which I played frequently in my room at the 4trappor B&B in Södermalm and then the next week in my hotel room at the wonderfully-convenient Omena Hotel Stockholm in Norrmalm, just a block or so and around the corner from the August Strindberg Intima Theatre, http://www.strindbergsintimateater.se/ -which unfortunately did not have shows while I was there.
I think I played Amy's CD everyday I was there.






Also part of the action at the concert was the sweet and powerful sounds of Points of Grace -and super-talented Michael W. Smith- my first time ever seeing them live, after hearing them for so many years on CDs.
It was heavenly!

The members of POG had gone to the same college in Arkansas as my best friend, 
Shannon, Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, and one of my favorite all-time photos of her was actually a shot of them at a table signing CDs down in Woodbridge, VA, with Shannon flashing that mega-watt smile of hers that always wowed people.

Anyway, that's how it sounded to me.

Judge for yourself...






Point of Grace - When Love Came Down, from their 1999 CD, A Christmas Story, one of my two favorite Christmas albums, the other being Amy's.

When I finally Saw POG in 1999 in D.C. with Amy Grant's Christmas tour, with that orchestra sound behind them, it was BEYOND magical :) !

This is when the group was composed of four very talented women: Shelley Breen, Denise Jones, Terry Jones and Heather Payne.





















Something to inspire you:

HGTV Video: Amy Grant's Motor Home: The country music star's tour bus features a private lounge, two TVs and 10 bunks.
http://www.frontdoor.com/celebrity/amy-grants-motor-home-video

and something to remind you that Once Upon A Time, the American TV networks weren't afraid of allowing a religious subtext in a Christmas TV show, like they are now:


The Andy Griffith Show, S1E11, The Christmas Story, Originally aired on CBS-TV on December 19, 1960. Uploaded December 1, 2013. http://youtu.be/TpKn5ceZaQ4

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Author of new book in Stieg Larsson "Millennium"/"Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" series, David Lagercrantz, talks to Radio Sweden in his first-ever English-language interview this week. Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist will return, along with new characters for the worldwide crime fiction sensation set in Sweden





Author of new book in Stieg Larsson "Millennium"/"Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" series, David Lagercrantz, talks to Radio Sweden in his first-ever English-language interview this week. Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist will return, along with new characters for the worldwide crime fiction sensation set in Sweden

My last blog post on this subject of so much interest around the world was exactly a year ago, December 20, 2012, titled, Today, Stockholm is T minus 21 days -and yes I'm counting!; Some Swedish homework of mine to make my trip go well includes reviewing grammar and re-watching the original films in Swedish based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium crime fiction trilogy, starring Noomi Rapace & Michael Nyqvist
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/today-stockholm-is-t-minus-21-days-and.html


I thought I'd have plenty of time to take the Milennium tour when I was in Stockholm in mid-January, but I didn't. :(



CBS News YouTube Chanel video: CBS News Sunday Morning correspondent Erin Moriarty travels to Stockholm, Sweden to discover the story and the truth behind the success of the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, whose Millennium crime fiction trilogy has swept the world of book publishing: Stieg Larsson: Behind "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Uploaded October 10, 2010. 
http://youtu.be/X-WJ6BlLw2s

I thought I'd have plenty of time to take this tour when I was in Stockholm in January, but I didn't. :(

The Millennium Tour
http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Regions--Cities/Stockholm/Culture-in-Stockholm/The-Millennium-Tour/

Bellmansgatan 1, Södermalm, the fictional home of crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist.


View Larger Map


Photos of the free Millennium tour in Stockholm at:
http://www.losapos.com/millennium%20locations%20in%20stockholm

See also: http://millenniumtrilogy.wikia.com/wiki/Millennium_Trilogy_Wiki

Friday, December 20, 2013

On a truly momentous day for Indiana Hoosier fans, players and coaches, one that'll result in $40 Million making the long overdue renovation of basketball icon Assembly Hall a reality, where's The BigTenNetwork with any coverage and original content? Nowhere to be found! Isn't that supposed to be what THEY do?; @BigTenNetwork @DavidWoods007 @DustinDopirak @HoosierFaithful @IndianaMBB @insidethehall @iubbhoosiers ‏@IUBloomington @Justin_Albers ‏@OurIndiana @rickbozich



IUAthletics YouTube Channel video: IU Athletics Receives Historic Gift: Fred Glass and President Michael A. McRobbie. Uploaded December 19, 2013
http://youtu.be/ev5UgwK27PQ
"Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie today announced that IU Athletics has received a $40 million gift - the largest in its history - from IU alumna Cindy Simon Skjodt to provide much needed renovations to Assembly Hall and launch IU Athletics' ambitious and unprecedented $150 million "Catching Excellence: The Campaign for Indiana University Athletics" capital campaign. President McRobbie also announced that in honor of the landmark gift made by Catching Excellence co-chair Cindy Simon Skjodt and her philanthropic organization, the Samerian Foundation, IU will rename Assembly Hall the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall."


On a momentous day when Generosity, Hoosier Love and Big Bucks come knocking, IU Hoosier AD Fred Glass knows to open the door and welcome them in. Result? $40 Million to the IU Athletic Dept. and the over-due renovation of basketball icon, Assembly Hall. But where's the BigTenNetwork with any coverage? Nowhere to be found!

Below is the Indy Star's video of the complete 2:30 p.m. announcement, including remarks by philanthropic Hoosier Cindy Simon Skjodt, followed by links to their stories by Zach Osterman@ZachOsterman https://twitter.com/ZachOsterman

By the way, in case you were wondering about the name and any prospective name changes in the future, IU's policies rule out corporate names, so at least that's a positive.
No worry about being changed to give some PR to insurance names, car parts manufacturers, et al, like has happened at Joe Robbie Stadium, which has been desecrated with awful corporate names -including bankrupt companies- over the past 20 years, none of which I use on this blog. :)





IU's Assembly Hall: Its origin and its future 
By Zach Osterman, zach.osterman@indystar.com 
Includes renderings and schematics

IU icon to become Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall 
By Bob Kravitz and Zach Osterman, bob.kravitz@indystar.com 
8:30 p.m. EST December 19, 2013
http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2013/12/19/indiana-university-assembly-hall-basketball/4123963/


So, did you see happen to turn your TV dial to The BigTenNetwork on Thursday to see how they were bringing its viewers around the country up-to-date on what happened in Bloomington on Thursday afternoon, a moment that could prove so very important to the future success of Hoosier Nation and its legion of fans and former players -and future fans and players- who want more consistent success, but with the requisite amount of class we've come to expect and demand?

No, of course not, because they didn't do a damn thing.
I'm writing and posting this online more than 12 hours after that press conference at Assembly Hall has been over, and there is still no original content of any kind about the story of a very generous IU alum with control over $40 Million knocking on the door and Fred Glass being smart enough to hold the door wide open.
And what might happen next as a result of that.

There's no original content of theirs of consequence about this subject on The BigTenNetwork website anywhere. 
Not even the video that most of us have now seen more than a few times.
Why?

I thought one of the principal reasons for the network being created in the first place, besides the need by the Big Ten office to make even more money from national and regional advertisers and give millions of that to the athletic departments, was to be able to directly service and connect fans and alumni from Big Ten schools, often located far from those campuses, like me here in South Florida, with what was actually going on.
The sort of thing that leads some fans to even finally start giving some money back to their schools, even if not quite $40 Million.

But here we are, more than six years after its creation, and all my doubts over the years about what they were actually doing, producing and seemingly settling for, have proven more true than I wanted in one big strikeout for Hoosier fans across the country.

The BigTenNetwork is NOT a Community College alternative radio station in the Quad Cities or a student-run newspaper run out of a Columbus office building by some silver spoon legacy whose father owns the building, they're supposed to be a professional media organization that has the resources and common sense to know in advance of a big story to ACTUALLY have people in place to cover the story and tell an original and compelling story that's different than the one told by the ambitious beat reporters for the school newspaper or the breezy comments offered by national reporters doing drive-bys on cold winter days.
So where were they?


WISH-TV, Channel 8, Indianapolis videoIU's Assembly Hall to be renamed after donation
By Jeff Wagner 
Updated: Thursday, December 19, 2013, 7:59 PM EST 
Published: Thursday, December 19, 2013, 2:38 PM EST
http://www.wishtv.com/news/local/iu-makes-major-announcement

13 WTHR Indianapolis

WTHR-TV, Channel 13 Indianapolis video: Philanthropist donates $40M for Assembly Hall renovation  
Updated: Dec 19, 2013 6:21 PM EST
http://www.wthr.com/story/24262048/2013/12/19/sources-iu-renaming-assembly-hall

My other blog, to be rejuvenated in the new year, is South Beach Hoosier:
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/

Friday, December 6, 2013

Head's up, South Florida journalists: It's NOW safe -for a week- for you to come to Hallandale Beach and examine the endemic corruption & incompetency that you wouldn't do before -and have I and my friends got plenty of specific suggestions! You see, Mayor Joy Cooper is going to be away in Saudi Arabia and so HB residents can breathe for a change

Palm tree obstructing the sun at Hallandale Beach City Hall. May 28, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
This blog post was originally an email that went out late Thursday afternoon to many interested parties throughout Hallandale Beach, Hollywood and points beyond, like Tallahassee, as well as the usual number of bloggers, reporters, and all the ships at sea. 

"I wonder if she will start a war?" is surely what many Hallandale Beach residents must've thought upon first hearing that HB Mayor Joy Cooper is going to Saudi Arabia for a few days -at someone else's expense thank goodness, not part of her $20K a year travel and conference fund paid for by taxpayers like you and me.

Does she and the other commissioners get to keep anything from that fund that she doesn't spend?
Some of us have been wondering about that for a while now, asking questions, but not always getting consistent answers. Surprise!

Now you may be saying that I'm exaggerating because Saudi Arabia is considered an ally, per se, not a country that we're at diplomatic cross-purposes with, so how could Joy Cooper start a war, or, short of that, a "diplomatic row."
To which I would simple ask, have you never met Joy Cooper?
Have you never seen how she treats people, esp. people she is supposed to serve?
If you have, you understand exactly what I'm talking about.


It may seem weird to her initially to be somewhere where nobody cares who she is or that her husband is a millionaire or that she can force public funds to be given to a faux newspaper that allows her to write a column full of propaganda that bears little semblance to reality, on top of what the "paper" already does reflexively to censor events around here and make sure there is never any criticism of her in its pages.


Preview
Above, the perpetually-ridiculed and taxpayer-financed faux newspaper, South Florida Sun-Times, with one of the most egregious and laughable front pages of the past few years -and that's saying something! From my July 25, 2012 blog post title, When Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper says "setting the record straight" in her "column" at the taxpayer-financed faux newspaper, grab your wallet or purse, and be prepared to endure self-serving, nonsensical rationalizations that fail both the logic and reality test; August 30, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier. (c) 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved; http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/when-hallandale-beach-mayor-joy-cooper_25.html

For her to be somewhere where she can't prevent members of the public from speaking simply because they disagree with her, and she can't allow that.
Oh, wait, nobody here cares either.

Personally, I wish someone from the Saudi Royal family would simply buy Gulfstream Park and the Village at Gulfstream Park and start firing people left-and-right and bring in some truly competent and creative management so that this valuable property in our city can FINALLY be free to be properly run and offer consumers what they want.
AND finally resolve the many, many longstanding maintenance problems, NOT kick them further down the road as has been the case for so many years with so many faceless people in charge who refused to engage the community.

If you didn't know, it, consider this.
They have NOT even been competent enough to figure out a way to fly an American flag on their flagpole off U.S.-1 without it quickly becoming tattered.
Free consult -get a flag that does NOT touch nearby objects that tear the flag! End of problem

Flag hasn't flown there since about mid-February; I've got the photos to show it, and yet if they can't handle small items like that, well, you can only imagine what they do with larger problems.

Oh, that's right. 
We don't have to imagine how they mishandle big things.
They ignore them and when it becomes public, they call Mayor Cooper to handle things without telling anyone else on the elected City Commission about it, and then they walk across the street and say they don't want to pay legitimate fines and promise to do better despite their track record of not keeping their word.

So to the news media I would ask that you please don't indulge our autocratic, thin-skinned and egotistical mayor and mention this story on the air or in-print.
That's what she wants -only positive spin.
That's why this press release was even created, since who else would even know that she wasn't around but for a handful of people?

In any case, her immediate neighbors must be very happy for this unexpected holiday, free of her usual melodrama and fireworks for a few days and able to not feel under-the-gun walking around with her up in the guard tower

A few hours later...
But even as I was writing the words above, elsewhere in Broward County, the Sun-Sentinel's 
Hollywood and Hallandale Beach beat reporter, Susannah Bryan, so oblivious to so many issues and concerns of local residents that ought to be getting reported upon but which  AREN'T, even while she chases her tail, once again, has largely regurgitated a press release, and in this case, it's about the same subject as my post:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-hallandale-mayor-saudi-arabia-20131205,0,6330548.story

It might interest you to know that today was the second day in a row that I needed to take Bryan to task in a group email about her very curious choices and ways of reporting.
You'll see that public criticism here quite soon, since it touches on an issue that the South Florida news media has completely refrained from reporting upon in large part because of their reluctance to cross a certain union and its always-talkative leader.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dobens, Peter 
Date: Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 1:09 PM
Subject: Mayor Cooper joins US Mayors on Economic Mission to Saudi Arabia
To: "Dobens, Peter" 



LOGO C
Mayor Joy Cooper Joins
U.S. Mayors on Mission
To Saudi Arabia
Seven Mayors Invited on Economic Tour  
For immediate release                                                                              Contact: Peter F. Dobens, public relations
DATE: Thursday, December 5, 2013                                                              954-457-1493, or pdobens@cohb.org
HALLANDALE BEACH – Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper is one of seven U.S. Mayors participating in a week-long economic and cultural mission to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  The mayors will be in Saudi Arabia from Friday, Dec. 6, through Friday, Dec. 13. The trip is at the invitation and expense of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
“It’s going to be an intense trip about economic and cultural issues. It will give us a chance to promote economic and business partnerships,” said Mayor Cooper. Several members of the Saudi Royal Family own racehorses that have run at Gulfstream Park in past years, and this is an opportunity to highlight other economic opportunities in the City. “I have already spoken with Gulfstream Park about the trip.”
Environmental issues, women’s rights, human rights and transportation issues are among the other issues on the meeting-intensive agenda, Mayor Cooper said. “Everything is on the table.” she said.
The mayors look forward to learning about the world’s largest desalination plant, exchanging ideas about shared local challenges, promoting investment between Saudi Arabia and U.S. cities, and gaining a better understanding of the policies and culture of a leading Middle Eastern nation.
The Conference of Mayors has assisted in organizing this mission at the request of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C., which selected the participating mayors, listed below:
Mayor Joy Cooper, Hallandale Beach
Mayor William Bell, Birmingham, AL
Mayor Lori Moseley, Miramar
Mayor Beth Van Duyne, Irving, TX
Mayor Setti Warren, Newton, MA
Mayor Brian Bennett, Rochester Hills, MI
Mayor Shane Bemis, Gresham, OR

Press inquiries should be directed to Mr. Nail A. Al-Jubeir, Director of Information and Congressional Affairs Office, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington, D.C., at (202) 337-4134 or naa@saudiembassy.net.

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