Why we're FOR Chuck Kulin for Hallandale Beach City Commission Seat 1: On one important issue after another -but esp. development- ineffective, incompetent incumbent Comm. Anthony A. Sanders has consistently disrespected & disappointed HB residents & Small Business owners. Here are the cold hard facts you need to consider -and that Sanders wishes you'd forget!

June 2, 2010 photo of Hallandale Beach City Hall by South Beach Hoosier. 
© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

Dear Friends:

For many Hallandale Beach voters, especially those living on the beach in our many large condominium towers, this may well be the first time that anyone has attempted to connect-the-dots and facts on how someone as ineffective and incompetent as Hallandale Beach Commission Seat 1 incumbent Anthony A. Sanders came to mis-represent you on that five-member panel that makes the public policy and budget decisions that you and your family has to deal with everyday.
That's why taking the time to do it right matters.
And that's why I'm doing it right now -while your vote can still make a positive difference to give us all a very different sort of future and a much-better city.

I'm happy to be writing today as I've got positive and encouraging news to share with you about how well my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach activist Chuck Kulin's campaign is going to bring 
increased levels of financial accountability, common sense and ethical integrity to Hallandale Beach City Hall. As many of you know, due to Chuck's steadfast hard work over the years to help give Hallandale Beach residents and small business owners like you the sort of open and transparent city government we deserved -but were NOT receiving- he recently earned the endorsement of two individuals with well-known track records for demanding genuine accountability and responsiveness from government for all taxpayers: outgoing District 6 Broward County Comm. Sue Gunzburger and Beam Furr, the former Hollywood Comm. and District 6 County Comm. Democratic 
nominee. 
More recently, chuck earned the endorsement of the pro-business South Broward Board of Realtors.

Those endorsements are positive signs that what he's been saying and doing is resonating with people, and I'm happy to say that he's earned those endorsements based on his solid record of civic activism and refusal to buckle to the powers-that-be at Hallandale Beach City Hall. 
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/04/hallandale_mayor_joy_cooper_budget.php
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/csaba-kulin-and-i-re-long-trail-of.html

But what's really heartened me over the past few weeks is the very positive reaction that his pro-reform campaign is receiving from so many of you and your neighbors as he makes his way thru the city, walking the precincts and talking about the important financial and policy issues facing our city.
Specifically, discussing in detail what sort of positive changes he and so many of us believe need to be implemented at HB City Hall to create a better Quality-of-Life for residents and a better business environment for Small Businesses.

Do you want to know who is NOT happy about Chuck Kulin openly discussing those issues, 
especially the nuts-and-bolts details about what's been going wrong in our city for FAR TOO LONG? The person Chuck Kulin is running against - ineffective incumbent Hallandale Beach Comm. Anthony Sanders.  
And it's no wonder that Sanders is not happy, given his consistently unsatisfactory track record in office the last six years on so many important issues that affect all of us on a daily basis. Let's take a quick look at that track record of Comm. Sanders on an important issue that concerns everyone in this city, regardless of where you live -development- and specifically examine what Sanders said and did when three controversial development projects came before the five-member HB City Commission.

The first project we'll examine is the Diplomat RAC project, a project that was completely incompatible in every respect to the residential N.E. neighborhood for which it was planned. 
It would've resulted in 5-7 large condo towers the size of The Duo being constructed on the perimeter of the Diplomat Country Club, making the already-terrible traffic problems we encounter there worse, with resulting ripple-effects throughout the city. 

Single-family home owners and residents of the 3-4 story condo/apt. complexes on Diplomat Parkway, Atlantic Shores Blvd and N.E. 14th Avenue -along with residents all over the city, including me- were not just shocked that the HB City Commission tried to steamroll public opposition to it, but angry that the city thought it could successfully play hide-and-seek with public documents in order to make it difficult for HB residents like them to get their hands on the up-to-date changes to the plan prior to public meetings, so they could be as well-informed when they spoke at public meetings as the lawyers, consultants and lobbyists working for the developer.

Those same concerned residents repeatedly emailed and telephoned Comm. Sanders, urging him to meet with them in their neighborhood so that he could get a first-hand perspective on how the plan would directly affect them, even to the point of putting some people's backyards in permanent shadows, to say nothing of taking away the very views that had caused many of them to decide to move there in the first place.
But when Sanders had the chance to do the right thing, he didn't care about the concerns of these HB residents -and never responded.


Instead, Sanders voted FOR the incompatible plan, even speaking in favor of it at the Broward County Commission, despite the neighborhood/community's vocal opposition.
On the other hand, my friend Chuck Kulin was not only one of the plan's most-fervent opponents, he helped educate and organize the public opposition against it over several months, consistently speaking against it before the City Commission, County Planning Commission and the County Commission. Eventually, the County Commission had the good sense to vote the plan down, and in doing so, echoed many of the same sensible reasons Chuck had given over the preceding months.

The second controversial development plan where Comm. Sanders' behavior and vote is well worth recalling was the Beachwalk condo/hotel project next to the Intracoastal Bridge. Located on the
site of the old Manero's restaurant property, which had sat empty for years, this plan would've required the city to give the developer not only a high number of variances, but also required the city to give the developer critical land it owned as part of the deal.
Just as was the case with the Diplomat RAC plan, Comm. Sanders was NOT at all interested in what HB residents in the S.E. neighborhood thought, even though they'd be the ones living with the consequences of a large tower being constructed and casting its giant shadow over them daily in an area with no road alternatives.

When Chuck and I and many other concerned HB residents publicly urged the City Commission to delay for just one month the first of its two public meetings on the project, so that the majority of residents and property owners along Diana Drive and Layne Blvd. who'd be most-directly affected -and who were mostly out-of-town for the summer- could return to town and have their three minutes to speak their peace publicly, Comm. Sanders said and did nothing to offer them any hope. 
Is it because Sanders simply didn't care about the neighborhood or its residents? 

See, Latest info & photos re The Related Group's proposed 31-story waterfront Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach; Vote is set for Wednesday night despite the fact that many nearby homeowners are away for the summer and can't participate. It needs to be rejected! Don't give away North Beach!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/latest-info-photos-re-related-groups.html

When you examine the public records on the city's own website, it's clear that Sanders was a YES vote for the developer from the beginning, and soon after the vote, the developer and his team delivered some nice-sized checks to Sanders' 2012 campaign chest, just after they delivered $20,000 to Mayor Cooper's re-election campaign. 
Is that the reason that no amount of logic or reason -or even appeals to basic fairness- would interfere with Comm. Sanders giving the developer everything they wanted -and at a cheap price, too?

The third and most-recent controversial development project worth re-examining Comm. Sanders voting record for is the one on the beach located at 2000 S. Ocean Drive, next to Parker Towers and The Hemispheres. Sometimes referred to as the "Regency Spa" project for the site's former use, this unpopular project, with a ridiculous number of variance requests, was voted down twice before the HB Planning & Zoning Advisory Board, with Chuck asking hard-but-fair questions of the developer's team before casting votes against it both times.
But when the plan came before the HB City Commission in May, it was approved on a vote of 3-2, with Sanders providing the deciding vote FOR the developer -and against the best long-term interests of the residents of the neighborhood.

Yes, it was Comm. Sanders who was the final nail in the coffin that made certain that a building that's completely incompatible to the neighborhood will now be there for years to come. Unless something
unexpected happens, it will serve as a daily reminder to our city's residents of the complete folly of ever trusting their city's fate and our collective Quality-of-Life to him.

And now as you can see for yourself when you drive by there, no doubt in part to thank him for his YES vote back in May, the developer on that project has allowed a large Sanders campaign sign to be erected right out front of the property. 
Draw your own conclusions folks.

So with just over 10 days to go, I'm very enthusiastic because when Hallandale Beach voters know the facts and know the issues, they are consistently supporting Chuck Kulin for Seat 1 on the Hallandale Beach City Commission. 
You can not simply ignore the fact that Comm. Sanders has consistently shown bad judgment and disrespect towards HB residents over six long years. 
That sort of consistent behavior in office should NOT be rewarded now with four more years, since we know from experience that would only mean nothing but more grief and regret on one important issue after another.

I'm happy that Chuck's campaign is being so well received but with just under a dozen days of hard work ahead, I don't want any of us to take anything for granted. In order to get Chuck's message out to as many concerned and frustrated Hallandale Beach voters as possible, I'm asking you now directly for your help in any way that you can provide it to him. 
Whether that's helping with phone calls, walking the condos & streets with him, providing talent/resources, or helping the campaign financially with a campaign contribution, I'll be very appreciative of whatever you can do now to help him.


Trust me, I know as well as anyone how many of you want this effort of Chuck's to succeed, so
we can all finally have what we wish we had right now -a more open, responsive and accountable city govt. that provides a better Quality-of-Life we can all take pride in.

If you can support his candidacy, please go to his PayPal account
http://chuckkulin.com/hallandale_beach/index.php/jce/paypal-donate


Or, you can send him a check to:
        Chuck Kulin Campaign
        1835 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd, #130
        Hallandale Beach, FL 33009Cell 954-804-2210 
E-mail ChuckKulin2014@gmail.com

Hallandale Beach, please vote like your family's future depends on it, because it really does!
Vote Chuck Kulin for Seat 1 on Tuesday November 4th.
Dave

This post originally ran at Hallandale Beach Blog on October 23rd, 2014

Ten days after story emerges about criminal allegations, why is South Florida's news media continuing to sleep on story about Hallandale Beach Comm/candidate Leo Grachow 2 weeks before election? Especially the South-Florida Sun Sentinel?

Last Friday I wrote this and it was 100% true at the time:

#SoFL's news media is completely ignoring criminal allegations vs. #HallandaleBeach candidate days B4 election. Why? http://t.co/7WUWMqR7OH
— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) October 16, 2014

Here's an email I penned and sent on Sunday morning before the Dolphins-Bears game to a couple of hundred concerned people throughout Hallandale Beach, Broward County and South Florida.
That includes sending it to many members of the sleepwalking South Florida news media, who to their great dis-credit, are once again letting readers and viewers down two weeks before an election. Why?

Sunday October 19, 2014

You know, you find the most-interesting things on the Internet when you spend a few minutes on a lazy Sunday morning trying to find out more information so you can make better sense of what you already do know.
And often you think of questions you hadn't thought to ask before.

For instance, how and why is it that TEN DAYS after the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's initial story ran online re criminal allegations against interim HB City Commissioner and candidate Leo Grachow being investigated by the BSO -a story that hours later was then pulled and wiped clean from their website- not a single new fact-based bit of information has emerged in the South Florida news media -print or electronic- to either support the initial allegations or discredit them?
(Original article at bottom)

With all the reporters available to work the story and the amazing technology around now to better help explain it to readers or viewers, how can it then be true that nobody in South Florida's press corps has reported ANYTHING new in ten days?
And how is it that the Sun-Sentinel, typically, instead of being open and transparent, is shooting themsleves in the foot and making themselves even more irrelevant than usual by remaining mum, and NOT explaning what they're doing or why they pulled the story from their website?
Well, consider where we live.

If this same story weeks before an important election that would determine the majority on the city commission had taken place in Coral Gables, Hialeah or in the City of Miami, it's likely there'd have been Miami Herald and Sun-Sentiel reporters sitting outside someone's home overnight, somebody from all four Miami-area English language TV stations already busy working the streets trying to ferret-out more info, while others worked the phones to try to come up with a new angle on the story and the individuals involved.
But because this story happened in Hallandale Beach, there's... nothing at all.


Not even so much as an explanation from the newspaper that started the whole ball rolling in the first place.
-----

Original story of October 9th, 2014:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hallandale/fl-grachow-hallandale-sauna-20141009-story.html
Woman accuses Hallandale commissioner of indecent exposure in condo sauna
By Susannah Bryan,Sun Sentinel

The Broward State Attorney's Office is looking into an accusation of
indecent exposure that's been lodged against Commissioner Leo Grachow.

Grachow, who is running in a commission race against Keith London,
denies the claim that he had his pants down in a sauna at his condo
gym.

"She obviously thinks she saw something, but it wasn't me," Grachow
said of his accuser. "I could have been in the sauna. But I wasn't
doing what I've been accused of."

Alessandra Martinez, 27, says she and Grachow, 66, were the only ones
in the condo's gym shortly before 8 p.m. Aug. 14.

Martinez says she was on a mat doing crunches. Her back was to the
sauna, but she was facing a mirror. In the mirror, she says could see
Grachow standing close to the glass door inside the sauna, watching
her.

Suspicious, she says she got up after about five minutes and walked
toward a nearby water fountain to see what he was doing.

"His pants were down to his knees," she said. "I kind of freaked out and froze."

When a couple walked into the gym, Martinez said, she turned to tell
them what she'd seen and moments later noticed Grachow exiting the
gym.

Martinez, whose father is a Broward Sheriff's deputy and stepmother is
a Fort Lauderdale Police detective, says she called Hallandale Beach
Police that night to report the incident.

An officer came to the condo to take a report, but did not make an arrest.

When Martinez met with Sgt. Edward Diaz five days later, she says he
tried to talk her out of filing charges.

Hallandale spokesman Peter Dobens said the city had no comment on the
allegation or investigation.

Six weeks after incident, Hallandale Beach police turned the case over
to the Broward State Attorney's Office.

The Public Corruption Unit is now investigating the allegations, said
Ron Ishoy, spokesman for the State Attorney's Office.

"There's no merit or meat to this," said Marc Zee, an attorney
representing Grachow. "Sgt. Diaz said he was going to forward to the
State Attorney's Office because that's the policy. I'm pretty
confident they will decide not to file charges."

Martinez said Hallandale police have declined to give her a copy of
the police report despite repeated requests.

Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, said it's
highly unusual for a police agency to withhold a report from an
alleged victim.

"Police departments routinely release police reports every day, unless
there is a confidential informant involved or if by releasing the
report you will compromise the investigation," Jarvis said. "As soon
as you write a police report, it's supposed to be public record."

After three requests from the Sun Sentinel for a copy of the police
report, Hallandale Beach City Attorney Lynn Whitfield emailed a copy
of the first page to the newspaper this week. The names of both
parties along with all other identifying information were blacked out.

The report gives the address of the condo, 200 Leslie Drive and lists
the allegation — indecent exposure.

"This criminal investigation is still active and under review by the
State Attorney's Office to determine whether or not any criminal
charges will be filed," Whitfield wrote.

The State Attorney's Office has declined three requests by the Sun

Sentinel for a copy of the report, citing the open investigation.

He's no Houdini! Why Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders is so worried: He can't hide anymore from his crony capitalism and dismal record of words & votes against logic, common sense, financial accountability -and HB's future Quality-of-Life. The tide of change against him is rising, NOT fading. Vote for Kulin!

Contents below are a slightly-expanded version of an email I sent out last night to people all over Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, greater Broward County and throughout South Florida who care about cleaning-up one of the most incompetent and corrupt local governments in all of Florida, the City of Hallandale Beach.

He's no Houdini! Why Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders is so worried: He can't hide anymore from his dismal record of words & votes against logic, common sense, financial accountability -and HB's future Quality-of-Life. The tide of change against him is rising, NOT fading

Dear Friend of Common Sense in Hallandale Beach,

Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders is worried.
And he has good reason to be worried.
He's NOT an escape artist like Houdini, and his dismal and ruinous record in office is all around us! 
Right where we can see it.

Comm. Sanders knows that after six years of his consistently unsatisfactory performance in office, six years of his continually being shown as not only un-informed but also consistently
dis-connected from the legitimate concerns of the majority of HB residents and small business owners, six LONG years of his consistently being disrespectful of them while casting votes that've negatively affected them and their family's present and future Quality-of-Life, that the tide of change against him is rising, NOT fading.

Despite his recent (ill-chosen) boast in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that he was perfectly prepared to stand by his record in elective office after six years, the reality is that Comm. Sanders CAN'T defend it. 
The unintended irony of this, of course, is that his record can also NOT be defended by his own supporters among the anti-reform Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew, or among City Hall's selfish crony capitalism crowd of friends. 
Friends who love being rewarded for being friends of the powers-that-be: with COHB and HB CRA dollars.

But then that only stands to reason, since despite six long years of opportunities to do so, Comm. Sanders himself has been unwilling to defend his own record and votes with anything even remotely resembling logic or reason. 
Not just at the time Comm. Sanders was casting his predictable Rubber Stamp votes, but unable even to explain those votes and policy views with any degree of persuasion or conviction in the minutes, hours, days or weeks AFTER he's cast those same votes against
common sense and financial accountability, often at the same time.

Most of us who have paid even the slightest amount of attention to what happens in Hallandale Beach and its neighboring cities know that Comm. Sanders has never had to publicly defend that woeful record of poor performance, despite how egregious many of Sanders' actions have been, whether in the area of his questionable ethics, uniformily poor
judgment, or even his failure to consistently show-up at public meetings fully-informed and prepared to ask cogent questions, as the HB community has a perfect right to expect of any elected official.

What's particularly galled so many of us is that Comm. Sanders has been aided and abetted in that effort by a largely pliant and sleepwalking South Florida news media, that, with a few rare exceptions, never wanted to directly challenge Sanders' myopic and upside-down world view, to say nothing of personally holding him and his ineffective words/votes to account for the reality of the abymally poor governance we see in this city no matter where we go.

Now part of that is because Sanders, even after so many awful years in office, always wanted to play the role of voice for the disaffected and forgotten in this community. 
As IF that could in any way be explained by his six years of ALWAYS voting FOR real estate developers, no matter how incompatible or harmful the individual project was to the nearest neighborhood or the city at large

And year-after-year, the local South Florida news media -with a few exceptions- has lacked the mettle, gumption and attention-span to directly and publicly challenge Comm. Sanders on that faux pose of his, though the facts are clear they could've clobbered him using his own words and votes whenever they chose on a whole host of issues.
But sadly for us, the news media has consciously chosen NOT to challenge and press Sanders to fully explain his strange utterings and troublesome votes up on the dais. 
That failure has only exacerbated the growing sense of frustration and alienation in this city among reasonable people who simply want it to be MUCH BETTER than has been allowed to be.

One of the few shining exceptions to this apathy by local South Florida journalists has been Local10's Glenna Milberg.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/video-local10s-glenna-milberg-examines.html
actsofsedition video:  Local10/Miami: "City's pricey purchase." 
On July 26, 2012, Local10 reporter Glenna Milberg went to Hallandale Beach to learn more details about the curious case involving Pastor and City Comm. Anthony A. Sanders' rushed sale of his and his wife's property at 501 N.W. 1st Avenue to the city in 2009 -when the city had ZERO written plans for what it would actually do with the property afterwards!- for about $89,000 more than it was actually worth. Sanders continues to stonewall Hallandale Beach taxpayers about the exact details of this deal as he has now for over three years, and he refused to speak with Milberg on Thursday. Outside of the city-owned property that the city now receives $10 a year in rent for, Mayor Joy Cooper's explanation was unconvincing for HB taxpayers. Three years later she continued to hem and haw when asked simple questions -and to defend the indefensible- as she still can't logically explain what the rush was to buy the property at a higher price, esp. if there was no definite plan in place. It was left to former Comm. Keith London -the only vote against the purchase and Cooper's re-election opponent in November of 2012- to again explain why this deal was so egregious from HB taxpayer's point of view. It's just one of the dozens of inexplicable and nonsensical things that I've personally observed with Hallandale Beach taxpayer or CRA funds under Mayor Cooper's reign since I moved here. Uploaded July 27, 2012. http://youtu.be/XlOgkrL9CWI


People like you and your neighbors who want policy arguments at HB City Hall to be over commonly-agreed-upon facts and the best way to make good ideas become a reality, the exact opposite of what we've had in this city for far too long, with Sanders always on the wrong side of both common sense and history.

Six years later, with Sanders continually failing to rise to the responsibility, and in fact, to be found wanting by the majority of Hallandale Beach residents, even among those in NW HB, Sanders knows that the real disaffected people in this city are the very citizens,residents and small business owners like you who for years have been made to feel like uninvited and unwanted outsiders at your own City Hall.

Forever being treated shabbily, callously or even publicly insulted, by both an autocratic mayor and a power-hungry city manger, as they and their bureaucratic minions continually tried to flip norms of public democratic participation on its side, so they alone could be
left alone to form this city in their own image(s).

Far too often, despite our best efforts to positively change the culture of entitlement and self-evident wrong-way driving up on the dais, we were forced to watch in silence as this happened, with Comm. Sanders sitting up on the dais totally oblivious to what was taking
place, and not at all interested in putting HB residents and small business owners first, not forever second to someone else's interests.

Since Comm. Sanders can NOT defend that abysmal record of his, naturally -along with his cohorts among the Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew- he's eager to change the subject of this Commission race to something else, anything else -and distract voters from his own inability to make a positive difference for the whole community.
Year-after-year. 
Please don't let him get away with it again!

IF there were actually honest-to-goodness candidate debates and public forums in this city, venues where HB residents and small business owners like you could speak truthfully about their legitimate concerns and fears, without Mayor Cooper and City Manager Miller constantly interfering -or running to protect Comm. Sanders from his own words and actions on the dais- trust me, my good friend, HB civic activist Chuck Kulin, would be constantly reminding Comm. Sanders that he was running against HIM and Sanders' failed record for reasons that he'd only be too happy to enumerate and articulate, with facts and precision that make the case.

But now in the last 20 days, even after all of Chuck's hard work on his campaign, absent those public venues to directly challenge Comm. Sanders and his votes directly on the record, and the news media's reluctance to print or air what so many of us know about Sanders' record in a way that aligns with what most of us have grown-up thinking is reasonable to expect in an election campaign, Comm. Sanders is relying upon the friends and cronies of Mayor Cooper and the myriad businesses who deal with HB City Hall to finance him and run interference for him.

Anthony A. Sanders/Commission Seat No. 1

Qualified as of 6/19/2014

M4, M5 , M6, M7, M8, G4

People who are determined to keep this seat on THEIR side, opposing needed reforms and more meaningful public accountability and public input.

That’s why I need your help and am writing you now. 
Three weeks from this morning we'll all wake-up with the knowledge that the opportunity
to positively change things in this community has come and gone for another two years.
Do you want to wake-up feeling good that morning, energized and positive that this city can FINALLY start being the sort of place we can all take pride in, or, do you want to be suffering from a headache, knowing that things CAN and often DO get worse in this city
when consistently ineffective and inattentive incumbents are returned to their seats at City Hall?

If you want it to be the former and not the latter, please contact Chuck and offer to help him in this campaign however you can, doing what you can right now to show Comm. Sanders that he is going to be replaced by someone who can and will be a positive can-do voice for
you, common sense and financial accountability.

Chuck Kulin
1835 E. Hallandale Beach Boulevard, #130, Hallandale Beach, Florida 33009
Cell 954-804-2210 
E-mail ChuckKulin2014@gmail.com
www.chuckkulin.com/

It seems to me that we are so close to winning this pivotal seat, and so close to sending Sanders packing -but we can only get there when everyone looks themselves in the mirror and is willing to expend some time and effort in changing the dynamic and reality of this city.

There's now less than 20 days left.
What are YOU going to do?

This originally appeared at Hallandale Beach Blog on October 16, 2014

Updated: It disappeared! South Florida Sun-Sentinel article -online Thursday- re allegations of indecent exposure being investigated by the Broward Sheriff's Office against Hallandale Beach Comm. Leo Grachow has disappeared completely from website; @TweetsByMAOS has more news on this unraveling story that HB City Hall is trying to stonewall

Blog updated October 14, 2014 Woman accuses Hallandale commissioner of indecent exposure in condo sauna
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hallandale/fl-grachow-hallandale-sauna-20141009-story.html

So what happened to South Florida Sun-Sentinel's article -online Thursday- by Susannah Bryan re allegations of indecent exposure being investigated by the Broward Sheriff's Office against interim Hallandale Beach Comm. Leo Grachow, who is running in November to retain Seat 2 against former HB Comm. Keith London?

At the top is a photo of what that URL looks like at 3:30 p.m. today, many, many hours after I started being deluged with phone calls, emails and texts from people in the area asking me:
1.) if I knew what happened in the incident,
2.) why the city was trying to cover it up by refusing to legally produce public records for the newspaper, and 
3.) why the article disappeared from the Sun-Sentinel's website.
Unfortunately, I have no definitive answers, but strongly suggest you contact the newspaper directly and ask her; sbryan@tribune.com

For more on this issue, see what our friend up in Deerfield Beach, Chaz Stevens had to say on the matter, first yesterday afternoon, BEFORE the story disappeared, complete with some details;

BOLO Issued for Commissioner Leo Grachow and his Penis! http://t.co/DsqjzRFi81
— Chaz PBRFestivusPole (@TweetsByMAOS) October 9, 2014

https://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/09/bolo-issued-for-commissioner-leo-grachow-and-his-penis/


Chaz subsequently posted the following:

Hallandale Beach candidate Leo "The Lien" Grachow's Personal Financial Armageddon http://t.co/jDtfEeoacT
— Chaz PBRFestivusPole (@TweetsByMAOS) October 10, 2014

http://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/10/hallandale-beach-candidate-leo-the-lien-grachows-personal-financial-armageddon/

and then there was this well-aimed blast at the Heart of Darkness in Hallandale Beach, 400 S. Federal Highway

We send up a Public Records Flare! http://t.co/qyXE356wbo
— Chaz PBRFestivusPole (@TweetsByMAOS) October 10, 2014

http://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/10/we-send-up-a-public-records-flare/

plus this

A Leo Grachow Penis Gate update! http://t.co/8CaDGVqDgM
— Chaz PBRFestivusPole (@TweetsByMAOS) October 11, 2014

http://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/11/a-leo-grachow-penis-gate-update/

and most recently,

The S-S story that was pulled. http://t.co/pyG6EtCZQQ
— Chaz PBRFestivusPole (@TweetsByMAOS) October 12, 2014

http://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/12/the-s-s-story-that-was-pulled/

It's noteworthy to me, and a rather sad commentary on the general lack of a sense of old-fashioned competitiveness or enterprise journalism among South Florida's news media that days after this story saw the light of day, at least for a few hours, that neither the Miami Herald or any of the four English-language TV stations have reported word one on this story, or why the City of Hallandale Beach is fighting so hard to keep public information AWAY from the public that is entitled to it by state law.

At least as of 9:50 a.m. today.

Why do you suppose that is?
Look at who runs things there: Mayor Joy Cooper, City Manager Renee C. Miller and City Attorney , V. Lynn Woodward. 
It's exactly what it looks like. 
People who do NOT want to see former HB Commissioner Keith London elected over Cooper-supported interim HB Commissioner Leo Grachow. 
Joy Cooper wants to keep her Rubber Stamp Crew intact!

These are, after all, the very same people who refused to turn over public information -phone records and text messages- that I was legally entitled to under the state constitution and had had formally requested in 2013 through a PRR.
I strongly suspected those records would show Cooper and Miller and others lobbying the members of the Broward County Commission and County Adminstrator to prevent an audit of the scandal-plagued Hallandale Beach CRA, which has wasted millions of dollars under Joy Cooper.

I never got those records I was legally entitled to, but I was proven 100% correct.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/latest-on-curious-case-of-at-city-of.html

Meanwhile just on Sunday, with nothing on this blog newer than this post re Grachow, I had 2,355 pageviews, and I suspect most of them were headed to this particular post. 
Because what was their alternative if they wanted more news on this subject, other than from Chaz?
The so-called professional news media of South Florida was asleep at the switch!

My last blog post about Leo Grachow was this much-read one from June 19, 2014. Since the story hit the fan last week, nearly everyone around South Florida and environs who covers or follows politics and local govt., esp. in Broward County, to say nothing of Hb residents themselves, has been looking at it: 
Observations re Leo Grachow's selection as Hallandale Beach's interim Commissioner: "I thought he was a perfect fit for the job." So says a clearly disconnected-from-reality Comm. Bill Julian, who DIDN'T rate Grachow best, but instead voted BEST the least-qualified of the 3 finalists! Meanwhile, the candidate giving the single-best oral presentation, Chad Lincoln, received a 1 (out of 25) from HB's notoriously thin-skinned Mayor Joy Cooper; voting distribution chart

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/observations-re-leo-grachows-selection.html

2014 Florida elections, Broward Sheriff's Office, Chaz Stevens, crime, Hallandale Beach, indecent exposure, Joy Cooper, Keith London, Leo Grachow, My Acts of Sedition, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Susannah Bryan, 

Some informed commentary, context and important facts that you didn't read about in Susannah Bryan's recent Sun-Sentinel article about Hollywood City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark and some of her critics re the 'million-dollar mistake.' Trust me, you'll thank me later!

Some informed commentary -and important facts- that you didn't read about in the Sun-Sentinel's story titled, "City seeks inquiry - Hollywood manager stands up to critics of 'million-dollar mistake,' says 'I'm not leaving'"

Trust me, you'll thank me later and have more context!

My comments are below the article.

----
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
City seeks inquiry - Hollywood manager stands up to critics of 'million-dollar mistake,' says 'I'm not leaving'
Susannah Bryan , Staff writer
September 19, 2014

Commissioners were split on whether to fire the city manager, butunanimously agreed to ask the Broward inspector general to investigateCity Hall's "million-dollar mistake."

In violation of city code, Hollywood administrators spent $935,000 on35 temp workers without commission approval over the past two years.The workers were assigned to the police and fire departments,utilities and general administration.

Commissioners rejected City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark's requestearlier this month to approve the spending retroactively.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-09-19/news/fl-million-dollar-mistake-hollywood-fallout-20140918_1_city-manager-hollywood-administrators-commissioners-traci-callari
---

In case you faithful readers of the blog had forgotten, this Sun-Sentinel reporter, Susannah Bryan, is the latest of the many Sun-Sentinel reporters I've privately and publicly lambasted for years for their habit of consistently being too lazy and apathetic to mention even .01% of what they observed at Hallandale Beach City Hall. 

That is, WHEN they've deigned to actually show-up! 

To say nothing about all what they willfully ignored outside City Commission Chambers, which is hard to overstate and easy to pinpoint if you've been paying attention.  

Well, in any case, as this article makes clear, it's not like the percentage is much higher when Bryan is covering what goes on a few miles just north of us over at Hollywood City Hall.


In the article above, Bryan completely neglects to mention in print that the opinionated citizen she quotes on this matter, Jeff Brodeur, is part of a small hardcore and very opinionated group of largely West Hollywood residents who are forever bitching about how bad they have it compared to other parts of the city.
Forever complaining about how badly Hollywood city employees have had it, and for reasons that are not always publicly stated, really can't stand all the attention (and CRA money spent) on the Hollywood Downtown area.

(First, I should state that I've been as critical as just about anyone re what the CRA was doing downtown years ago. And not just in emails but at public meetings where I said that  I was completely underwhelmed by the public outreach efforts regarding publicizing the public meetings of the new Master Plan for Downtown Hollywood developed by Bernard Zyscovich and his firm, particularly the efforts by the CRA and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the business community as a whole. It was pathetic.
I even told Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark of my misgivings and related to her in a one-on-one meeting how badly I thought this had been botched, when she was the Assistant City Manager.

I mentioned that many of the obvious public places around Young Circle like Publix, Starbuck's and the ArtsPark, places where large number of the neighborhood is everyday, never had a single flyer put up on a bulleting board or front window so that the average Hollywood citizen would know what was taking place in their own neighborhood.
She agreed and resolved to nopt let opportunities like that get watsed agin in the future.

Second, it's not like it was ever going to be easy to fix the decades of lazy thinking about retail vs. residential priorities, to say nothing of the myriad retail mismatches and logistical and aesthetics mistakes in that important area of SE Broward that are still evident.
But the difference between me and Brodeur is that I know from personal experience that that area should turn around economically almost overnight once there's a reliable Tri-Rail Costal train station built nearby that can whisk Hollywood residents points north and south with regularity for work and recreation. 
Yes, Young and Middle-Aged Professionals who don't think simply being able to listen to FM radio while stuck in traffic is that appealing a prospect compared to being able to relax on a train that gets them back and forth much quicker and with less stress -and also listening to the same stationvia whatever electronic device they prefer. )

Since that is in fact the case, it should come as no surprise that Brodeur is also a longtime opponent of not only the Hollywood CRA, both in the abstract as well the reality, but quite naturally, also a
longtime critic of Hollywood City Manger Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark.
Cathy is someone whom most of you already know I've been very publicly supportive of for many years, both in my personal emails and my posts on the blog.
I've personally been an eyewitness to her genuine smarts, savvy and moxie over the years in figuring out how best to improve a, not-incidentally, NOT-so-perfect Hollywood, and make it a better place for everyone, not just well-to-do people living on the beach or near downtown.
I've personally seen how she sweats the small details and has always strived for creating maximum public transparency and public interaction.
I only wish that she was the City Manager of Hallandale Beach -or even better, the County Administrator of Broward County.

Jeff Brodeur's background is something I know for a fact from past experience, mostly from keeping informed and going to hundreds of Hollywood city/civic meetings over the past 11 years.
In fact, I'd know about him even if I hadn't gone to those meetings, from my voluminous email archives of past newspaper and blog articles, which makes that point abundantly clear.

Oh, like say this one from last year, when the Balance Sheet Blog was still up and running:
http://balancesheetblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/balance-sheet-in-the-crosshairs/
He is, in my eyes, the very picture of the sort of person who gives civic activism a bad name.
I don't want to be lumped in with him.

So why doesn't the Sun-Sentinel's Hollywood beat reporter Susannah Bryan know this?
More to the point, WHY doesn't she disclose ANY of this important context to readers so they have more facts to judge what's really going on in ths matter?
Why don't you ask Bryan's bosses at the newspaper?

As it happens, Jeff Brodeur was also very supportive three years ago of state Sen. Eleanor Sobel's efforts to get a JLAC investigation of Hollywood in late 2011, when Sobel was doing the bidding of the Broward PBA, who had previously endorsed her and spent a LOT of time, money and resources in defeating Tim Ryan and Ken Gottlieb in that very nasty and expensive state Senate race in SE Broward. Though some would say infamous race.

Yes, the same Eleanor Sobel who in her role as Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's bosom pal, has done everything and then some the past two years to prevent state legislators and investigators on the JLAC from investigating what her friend Joy Cooper had actually been doing for years as Chair of the HB CRA, directing where all the HB CRA millions went, with no practical or consistent oversight and accountability from anyone at City Hall -including her.
As the Broward IG's damning 2013 report made clear.

The same Broward PBA  who in 2012 endorsed Traci Callari, the current Hollywood Commissioner who attempted to fire the City Manager this week. 
In the process of pumping and funneling as much money as they could into Callari's 2012 campaign, in order to defeat then-Hollywood Comm. Heidi O'Sheehan, who had been part of the majority of the City Commission for common sense who supported the vote for a public vote on pension costs that were threatening to make the city's future untenable.

An election that the Broward PBA later lost pretty overwhelmingly, despite their deep pockets, media histrionics and dirty tricks.
In doing so, the Broward PBA violated Hollywood's campaign finance rules that had previously been overwhelmingly approved by Hollywood voters as part of a Charter amendment. Why?
(And why was the Broward PBA and the city's later lawsuit against it never ever discussed in print or TV by the South Florida news media?)

So back to the question of why?
So that the Broward PBA could get who they wanted elected, come hell of high water? 
Yes. Traci Callari, whose husband is a Hollywood Police Officer.
All you need is some larger perspective to see how all these things are inter-connected and see how the losers of one issue never quite forget, and are forver trying to get vengeance on the people who bested them however they can, regardless of what the issue is.
So, from this we have learned quite well that the Broward PBA is always spoiling for a fight with anyone brave enough to hold them to account, which is why they have had it in for Beam Furrr, since the former Hollywood City Commissioner -and current Democratic nomineee for Broward County Comm. District 6- was asking questions publicly many years ago about the Police and Fire Pension when others in the community were reluctant to speak up and take sides.

So perhaps the real question for all of us in Hallandale Beach and Hollywood who are civic-minded and in favor of a thorough discussion of the issues this year is this one: Why, after all these years, is
the Sun-Sentinel's very own beat reporter for Hollywood and Hallandale Beach so consistently unable or unwilling to see what I and so many of you can see quite easily?
Good question. 
Why don't you ask Susannah Bryan's bosses at the newspaper?

That mediocrity in effort and results by the Sun-Sentinel is why I and so many of you reading this know in advance why the coming Sun-Sentinel coverage of the Hallandale Beach City Commission races will be so very feeble and pathetic.
Why despite having 45 days, anything they do will appear just days before the election, instead of early enough so that they can be fair, probing and thorough -and actually useful to HB residents.

And we know from painful experiences in the past that this half-assed approach and effort by the Sun-Sentinel only helps the very people who are already in office ruining this city with their consistently sinister/myopic judgment and seemingly neverending unethical behavior, both the electeds and the well-paid bureaucrats who never get held to account for their serial misdeeds and lies to the public at large.

As originally seen at Hallandale Beach Blog on September 26, 2014