Meeting on Hallandale City Manager's Fate Canceled After Mayoral No-Show

• hehe o . k . so here�s exactly how dumb I am, halfway through reading your post I dropped my computer mouse and shut the firefox in error and I could not find your webpage again until 6 days later to finish reading through from the spot i had left off mainly because I didn�t remember how I linked to your site to begin with haha anyway it was worth the hold out..kudos :)

• thankyou lots, I am obliged to announce that your blog is excellent!

• Jimmy, Andrew Markoff is my real name. Can't imagine why you assumed that it is not. Anyone who comments on what I wrote should actually read what was written. Because I am unhappy with the kind of sniping comments I see posted on this site and on blogs doesn't mean that I find anything in particular "acceptable" about Mike Good. If I express my opinion that those who are unhappy with the commission, the Mayor and the city manager are failing to create an effective strategy to deal with their displeasure, that does not imply that I am defending, explaining away or supporting the actions of city officials. I do not hold strong opinions about decisions made at city hall. Life goes on. Hallandale Beach is not a subject that rocks or rules my world. I am only suggesting that those who are unhappy should find a better strategy than simply complaining. Those who are elected hold their seats for a specified amount of time. During that time, learn to work with them, not to portray them as your arch enemies. Criticize them based on specific issues that you would like to see changed. Don't simply insult them or imply misdeeds while refusing to address your concerns directly to your representatives or other city officials. Don't simply run off with the information you get from Keith London and assume that it's all factual and that you need not complain or express concerns to anyone other than the cult of Keith London. Talk to others as well, and deal directly with those who represent you and other city officials. Sniping, insulting and complaining is unproductive. Most importantly, pointing to financial and logistical matters that trouble you, as Mike Butler and Keith London do on changehallandale.com and David Smith does on hallandalebeachblog, is not actually helpful unless they also offer a means to effect solutions to those issues. Lastly, Jimmy, if you have heard that Mike Good created a position in city government for his future son-in-law, then I strongly suggest that you start contacting city officials and asking them if that information is true. If you then feel that you have not received an adequate answer, then attend a commission meeting and let them know during Public Participation that you had attempted to investigate and that you're not happy with the answers you had received, or that you hadn't been answered at all. I am NOT defending Mike Good, the Mayor or the commissioners nor anyone else. I am only pointing out that this community lacks a strategy for addressing its concerns in a productive matter.

• Hey Andrew; I'm using my real name. Why don't you use your; Mike Good, the man did not perform and according to sources hired his future son-in-law into a position he specifically created for him. I guess you think that's acceptable also.

• The other thing is...if this explanation of an invoice proves to be kosher.... Shame on the people who prevented it to be accessible for this amount of time. What a wasted amount of energy to prove a selfish point.

• Hey, let's stay focused. An elected official asked for a file explaining an invoice. He was kicked out of the office that had the information. A journalist wrote about this and his blog gets banned by the city manager...for whatever reason... Let the guy see the information.

• Moonpie, London was in attendance via phone, as was Cooper. The meeting would have proceeded if Dottie Ross had been on the dais rather than upstairs, refusing to attend. The focus should be on Commissioner Ross's behavior, which was inexcusable. Rules require three commissioners to physically attend to provide a quorum. If Ross had attended, Cooper and London's participation via telephone would have proceeded. Comments expressed such as those of "Clean House" are very representative of how Keith London has become the Glenn Beck of Hallandale Beach. While you call this city a joke, Moonpie, pay some attention to what has been going on in North Bay Village, Dania, Miramar (where a commissioner pulled a gun on a customer at a Winn-Dixie because he stood ahead of him at the checkout line), the city of South Miami, and many other places in South Florida. Hallandale is not the best, but it's not the worst in regards to city management. ChangeHallandale.com likes to contend that other cities laugh at us, but our city management has been in far better fiscal shape than most others in the area, and there has been far, far more outrageous behavior from city officials elsewhere. It's awfully hard to improve our situation, however, when we have no others to step forward to run for seats or take leadership roles. If I ever try to simply engage in discussion, I get insulted. What we need are residents who talk about what they really want in their city in realistic terms. I gave some suggestions, and the response is that I wrote a sick manifesto, and I 'need help.' I offered an on-line forum via a Yahoo! Group to discuss city issues, but no one seemed interested. Trying to talk about city management and politics with people in this town is like trying to share a sandwich in a dog park. There is no excuse for name-calling and personally degrading those who won their elected seats at city hall. They are all entitled to respect. The conduct of commission meetings has been atrocious, however, and the dialogue about how this city should really operate has been entirely lacking. All we hear are insinuations, allegations and belittling insults. Much of what frustrates some residents are actually par for the course. We don't get geniuses elected for local seats. We get ordinary people who ran and won. Let's help them and foster a better direction when possible. I can assure anyone, however, that Keith London will accept no help, suggestions, dialogue or direction, because his political tactics have absolutely nothing... NOTHING... to do with this city, the people running it or the circumstances at hand. His behavior would be the same no matter where he was or whatever the circumstances. He uses divisive political tactics that people like Clean House, and I suppose Heidi Rose although she does not elaborate enough to be sure, are duped into following and emulating. By the way, the city of Coral Gables just voted against a land use change for a three-story building, and the developer has filed suit against the city.

• Clean House. London is getting a free pass in all this. The ever bashing, poney-tailed overrated commissioner is so lost as a politician, his one chance to really make a statement about how bad Mike Good is as a City Manager and he's off in Washington, D.C. Lord knows that nobody listens to him during commission meetings, and residents with a pulse think he is the biggest joke in Hallandale history, so with all his hand-picked cronies right there to pounce on Good and Cooper, he doesn't show and blew his 15 minutes of fame during an election year. Alex Lewy and Bill Julian, his two opponents in the upcoming election, were actually there and the Londonites saw their fearless leader was not. This city is really a joke.

• You did not hurt my feeling about the coffee, but I would like to know what you were trying to say. Is there some reason that you choose not to refute anything that I wrote? I can only assume that the Clean House person did not because he lacks the necessary intelligence to express an actual opinion that's not based on insults.

• I knew what double dipping was. Sorry if I hurt your feelings about the coffee.

• Heidi- "double dipping" refers to government officials being able to retire from their positions, collect payouts of accrued vacation and sick time and their pensions, and yet continuing to work in the same position, thus collecting a paycheck at the same time they collect retirement benefits. I've heard- but haven't researched it yet- that Democratic candidate for Governor Alex Sink had something to do with the creation of that "double dipping" opportunity in our state. As for the kind of coffee I drink, the absolute best is Michael's Gourmet Coffee Organic Signature Blend: www.michaelscoffee.com, which is located in Wilton Manors. I drink nothing else. I know that it was a facetious comment, but I seriously recommend that coffee. I buy no other kinds.

• Mr Clean...wondering what kind of coffee Andy drinks? I am.

• It's good to know we have such passionate people who care about our little city. One of my neighbors said that "Good" was a double dipper. What does that mean?

• To Andrew Markoff You proved my point in your last 21 paragrah manifesto. I'm not wasting any more time responding to you. Be well and get well.

• Clean House: stop insulting me. Use your real name. What are you hiding from? Why do you and so many others in this entire nation believe that the method of conducting a discussion is to mock people and hurl insults? Because I object to the kind of behavior I have seen at each and every commission meeting exhibited by Keith London, that does not make Mayor Cooper my "favorite." An "honorable and transparent advocate" does not repeatedly announce that anyone can request to be on his email list, but he then arbitrarily cuts people out of his emails because he personally doesn't like them. There are people all over Hallandale, let alone in city hall who are excluded from London's email notifications. That's extremely unprofessional. No city official should ever be allowed to cut out email recipients from information sent out to the public. Just think if Public Works sent out an email notification about road work, but one guy said "Don't send a notice to that Clean House guy, 'cause I don't like him." That's unacceptable behavior, it's petty, and it should be attended to. A further indication of incompetence from that dais is that the mayor nor anyone else has actually attended to that kind of behavior by making a motion or creating an ordinance Commissioner London's constant, unrelenting and belittling behavior towards so many people has resulted in any action being taken in regards to the city manager, his contract and his job performance being delayed for far too long because Keith London has forcefully made himself out to be "the boy who cried wolf" to the rest of the commission. He should have behaved with respect and decorum and fostered cooperation the way the best politicians are able to do in order to have a chance of getting other commissioners to support his attempts to get better transparency. The way he has alienated everyone for so long has led to the city manager's employment issues being attended to only when things are apparently at a breaking point. As to why the mayor called a meeting when she knew she was going to be out of town, no one knows for now except for her. There is no possibility of getting that "clean house" that you want because there are only two seats open for election at a time. Bill Julian will be re-elected. Keith London may or may not be, but there are hardly a slew of opposing candidates to choose from. So far, we only know of one: Alex Lewy. Whatever happens, unless there is a scandal that causes a resignation, little or nothing will change, so there's no point in being rude, disrespectful or obstructionist in the meantime. If Keith London is so unhappy with the direction of the commission and he has entirely failed to foster any support from other commission members, then he should resign in protest and take his cause to the streets of Hallandale, not on the dais while there is a meeting agenda to attend to. They are there to conduct business, not to grandstand to the voters. About your assertion that Mayor Cooper "had her one time thrill and now that's over!!!!" ...Uh... no, it's not over. She retains her seat. She is not up for re-election in November. So, it is you who needs to "wake up and smell the coffee." You may insist on believing that Keith London is effecting change, but he is not. He is accomplishing absolutely nothing but being the lone dissenter while insulting everyone, including me. You, like most other people in Hallandale, have to learn finally at some point to separate the issues at hand in the city, such as the Diplomat, with an expectation of how people should behave. Mike Good is not at risk of losing his job because of the Diplomat or because you don't like him. It will be because of his behavioral issues. Changehallandale.com offers the only suggestion for any kind of change solely in it's title. While the site points out a lot of worrying financial numbers and assertions of fact, there is not one single suggestion anywhere about how to actually change anything. The constant assertion by commenters on that site and elsewhere is to get rid of Cooper and her "gang of 3." So, if that's what you believe, Clean House, then you must be the one that the "unabomber," because the only solution is apparently to bomb the whole place. Our system operates via elections, and these people won their elections, and there has to be a better way of effecting necessary change than hurling insults all around. If the commission voted to re-zone the Diplomat from "recreational" to "local activity center," that does not mean that towering condos spring upwards. It only means that the process can continue on to the County and to the state, and all that density and infrastructure and architecture can be mitigated or obliterated through that process. The city was letting investors and developers know that we have flexibility and that the city is open to working with business in order to attract further investment and improvements. It was not authorizing an immediate obliteration of open space. In my opinion, those towering condos everyone is so up in arms about will never happen. And meanwhile, they will all continue to rant "cut my taxes! cut my taxes! cut my taxes!" All the Diplomat really wants is a land use designation that makes its property more sell-able. No one can do anything on that land without getting approval from those who represent us. If they had retained their old, "recreational" zoning, then they could have basically done what they wanted with minimal resident input, if any. Our representatives in the commission have a duty to ensure that we are represented to the greatest extent in construction, development and land use. Retaining the previous land use designation for the Diplomat would not have better represented the residents just because they don't necessarily want more condos. The city has a direct say in any further development by changing the land use designation, not by retaining the old one. All over this nation, not just in Hallandale, the constant refrain and the demand from voters is "Don't raise my taxes. Don't raise my taxes. Don't raise my taxes." In order to sustain government services, the politicians attempt to effectively increase the millage rate by piling housing units on top of one another and increasing density. If you don't want such density, then you have to either be willing to pay for that or to have your services drastically cut. Whether it's here in Hallandale or all over this nation, I can tell you this... as much as people constantly bitch and complain and make threats and express animosity and insult their representatives, the voters are getting E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what they have voted for: lower taxes and thus greater density. They may bitch and complain about it, but the politicians are mostly meeting their demands on both sides of that spectrum. Keith London has become the Glenn Beck of Hallandale Beach. You may believe that there's a cause there and that you're headed somewhere with that cause, but you are not. There's only fear, anger and resentment- and a worsened quality of life for all of us. Let's wait and see what the hell the mayor is trying to do in regards to the city manager. In the meantime, the city manager, the mayor and the commissioners should continually be expected to behave like professionals. And you, "Clean House," should behave like someone who understands that there's a political process and you have to either exhibit patience and human kindness or just get up and leave and move elsewhere. It's not the end of the f#*&ing world if a decision is made in city hall that you don't like. Instead of insulting and bitching, you and others should be strategizing: what do you want, and how can it be achieved? Hurling allegations and insinuations and insults achieves nothing but a lower quality of life in this city, and that's low enough as it is right now. I am not a supporter of Commissioners Ross, Julian and Sanders along with Mayor Cooper and the City Manager just because I object to Commissioner London's choice of political tactics. I respect them and I'm polite to them only because I should be. It is the appropriate way to behave. While I would most certainly like to see the management of the city handled very differently in regards to development and quality of life, there's only so much a resident can do: basically, vote and speak at meetings during public participation and talk to other residents to share opinions. Posting anonymous insults on the internet or logging up complaints on blogs achieves little to nothing. There is one thing that you should do right now: understand and accept that there will be no house cleaning at city hall. There may be a change in the position of city manager and a change in a seat or two on the commission, but there will be no wiping the slate clean when we have an electoral process in place. Learn how to deal with that in an effective way, and start expecting Keith London and "changehallandale.com" to do the same. I don't know what effective method there might be to actually effect positive change in Hallandale, but I assure you- that is not being achieved right now. Strategize. Plan. Talk civilly. Be respectful. Include everyone. Run for office. But don't just stir up constant resentment for no purpose whatsoever. That's entirely unproductive.

• To Andrew Markoff: I don't know you but I could swear you could be the Unabomber with that manifesto you wrote which makes no sense and definitely does NOT state any facts. Please seek some help. For the record, the Mayor, Joy Cooper, requested the meeting knowing she would not be able to attend physically while she is out of town. Why would she do something like that. Keith London was already out of town BUT was on the phone, able to participate and able to vote. Commissioner London did not request this meeting. Commissioner Ross was in the building and purposely hid in her office not to show up. She was manipuated by Mike Good and the city attorney not to attend because they knew that both Commissioner London and Mayor Cooper were out if town. Isn't it ironic that Mike Good did not show up on time when this discussion was directed towards him and his employment at the city? It's just typical behavior for him and it's time to clean house. There were so many people in attendance because Commissioner Keith London notified everyone via email in advance. The residents of Hallandale should be thankful and proud to have such an honorable and transparent advocate FINALLY REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE on the City Commisiion. One additional note, your favorite Mayor Cooper voted YES AND IN FAVOR of the Diplomat project. I don't think she will run unopposed anymore. She had her one time thrill and now that's over!!!! Wake up and smell the coffee. Get real and get yourself some help!!!!!

• The residents of Hallandale voted in these people. The Mayor ran for her seat unopposed! Their positions should be respected and thus the decision of the voters should be respected. The lack of a proper perspective from the commission, underhanded dealings and poor management will be dealt with, but the process has proven to be slow as molasses. The method of dealing with issues in the city should not entail, however, holding up commission meetings so that each meeting is extended for hours while Commissioner London harasses the rest of the commission and the city manager because he disagrees with decisions that had been made by the majority. They have the majority, they voted, and that's it. If you want to change things, then you offer residents your ideas for solutions and inspire people to get involved, foster better candidates for the next election and hope that the people will vote in different representatives. In the meantime, Commissioner London's method of disparaging, harassing, insulting and disrespecting those who hold office is entirely unprofessional and not what any city official is paid to do. It is inexcusable to collect a paycheck in order to consistently insinuate misdeeds and corruption while never pointing to a single action that is factually criminal. If there are illegal or unethical doings at City Hall, then state officials should be alerted and then you wait for them to take action. You don't hold up each and every meeting while making the same motions over and over and over again when you know that you will never have a second because the majority had already spoken and decided. Inviting anyone to opt into an email list and then writing email updates that create dissension and negativity and alarm rather than simply providing facts and opinions and then deleting anyone from his email list who questions him or criticizes what he writes is entirely unprofessional. Purposely excluding everyone else who sits on the commission dais from his email list is inexcusable and should be a violation of basic city commission rules. In other words, no matter what is going on in city politics and city management, and no matter what ultimately (and finally) happens to Mike Good are entirely separate matters from basic behavior and decorum in conducting city commission meetings. City officials should be consistently encouraging increased business and property sales in Hallandale, not driving potential investors and new residents away with constant insinuations, accusations and allegations while collecting a city paycheck. The mayor may display personality traits that some people don't care for, but that's part of human behavior. The conduct of meetings should be another more serious matter. The commission meetings are not legislative sessions where representatives take to the floor and give long speeches and play to the cameras while effectively filibustering the process. They are MEETINGS, and they should never go on and on and on under "other" on the meeting agenda. They should address a few questions and resident concerns and then otherwise STICK TO THE AGENDA AT HAND. Anyone posting here and elsewhere may go on and on about how they don't like the mayor or the commissioners and how disgusted they are with this, that and the other thing, but the FACT is that these people are elected and they serve out their terms until their next election or until they're arrested or, perhaps, fired by the commission. In the meantime, take your concerns and your outrage to the voters, not to the dais in order to interrupt the agenda at hand. What happened today was shocking and yet hardly unusual. Politics in South Florida, in the rest of Florida, in Tallahassee, in other states and in Washington can be just absolutely outrageous. That's the political environment we're living in. It sucks. Don't add to it by insulting everyone all of the time. It's very tiresome. By the way, Dottie Ross was upstairs at City Hall today and refused to come down and attend the special meeting because she apparently believed that if the mayor and Commissioner London were not in attendance, then she shouldn't have to be either. I don't know what's going on. We'll eventually find out. I'm not happy at all with how the city has been managed, especially in regards to the Southwest section where I live and which is constantly full of garbage everywhere and a lack of adequate and usable recreational opportunities for children, but that doesn't mean that I insult and attack elected officials or the city manager. With better tactics that involved cooperation and respect, this process of attending to inadequacies in the city's management could have been a lot more responsive. Because of London's unprofessional and inappropriate tactics, the rest of the commission and especially the mayor have been resistant to his constant insinuations and complaints. Apparently, the mayor decided to finally address the city manager's behavioral issues while she is vacationing in the Turks and Caicos. No one seems to know why. But the final result of her behavior in this circumstance, let alone any other, will probably have to wait until the next election. In the meantime, the rudeness, ad hominid attacks, slander and insinuations will likely continue because this is a very rude community I've found myself living in, and the political tactics used to deal with our circumstances are consistently unproductive. I hope that whatever is going on will be quickly attended to and that answers to such odd circumstances will be explained. I intend to give this commission an opportunity to do so. I have less expectations that the local news media will adequately provide the information we need about what's really going on in Hallandale's city hall.

• Barnum & Bailey circus. That's what this reminds me of. It's amazing that the residents if Hallandale have running water the way this city is run. It's embarrassing the lack of ethics, professionalism and appropriateness that continues to be displayed by Mike Good and Joy Cooper. Now Dotty Ross is in hiding. What next???? Witness Protection????

• Its not surprising how this meeting turned out. Just another excellent example of how this city functions, especially with Cooper and Good at the helm. Here's what will be really interesting: 1) The City Attorney signed Good's contract "to form only" or some similar weasel term. But the contract violates the City's Charter by agreeing to a "super majority" to fire Good. I wonder how that's going to settle out. Is the City Attorney responsible for allowing the contract to be executed? Can Good sue the City if that provision is violated? Can the City sue its City Attorney for allowing this contract to be executed? 2) The City Attorney has his job thanks to Good, who recommended him to the City Commission. And like good puppets, the commission hired David Jove, effectively gutting any "checks and balances". So how much more will Jove cover for Good? Watch for more of similar games being played by Jove, Good and company as they all do anything to maintain there grip on their personal ATM machine: Hallandale. 3) The commission approved to rehire Good when he "retired" in 2008 and took home that huge payout. Of course, London voted against it. But the commission never approved the employment contact, which mayor Cooper executed...so doesn't that contact require the approval and consent of the commission, or can Cooper just sign any contract she wants without anyone else's approval? And if the contract wasn't execute properly, is it invalid? If the city is on the hook, is the mayor on the hook? Hmmm...methinks there will be some continued interest in events as they unfold. Keep up the great work Mr. Francis!

• Every time I see great pictures like the one above, I thank the professionals at Sears for their efforts.

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