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Letters to the Editor

Posted on 28 July 2011 by LeslieM

RE: Utility tax

Dear Editor:

With every debate, one will find differences of opinion. It is not uncommon to have things misrepresented or overstated in the heat of a deliberation.

But it is a rare occasion that you read in print something so isolated from truth and reality that it cannot be described as anything less than a bold face lie.

In the 7/21 edition of the Observer, Mr. Steve Krevoy’s account of an incident at Constitution Park was just that, a lie. In an attempt to justify his own questionable actions, he concocted a series of events completely of his own imagination.

“He (Burgess Hanson), in turn, called Mayor Noland and District 4 commissioner Ganz, whose decision it was to call BSO” – NOT TRUE.

I was not even aware of the incident until late Saturday evening when I checked my voice mail. City Manager Burgess Hanson had left me a voice mail at 6:43 p.m. notifying me of what occurred earlier in the day. I did not actually speak to Mr. Hanson until Monday morning. I have the voice mail saved and the phone records to prove it.

I have turned a blind eye to Mr. Krevoy and his group’s inaccurate portrayal of the impact of the utility tax. If you read one of their flyers, you would be led to believe that your entire water and electric bill will be taxed 10 percent. That is not true and they know it. It is clear he has no scruples when it comes to relaying false information. I have chosen to ignore that. But, I will not sit silent to this complete fabrication of an event and the sullying of the reputation of city staff.

Mr. Krevoy should be ashamed.

Commissioner Bill Ganz

Deerfield Beach

 

Dear Editor:

After reading last week’s letter to the editor from Steve Krevoy, I feel that the city has no choice but to respond to his slanderous allegations. Because the letter contained more untruths than truths, it will be difficult to cover them all. However, there were a few statements that I must address.

The “opposition” flyer to which Krevoy continually refers was actually a document the city created to provide important information to residents about the recently approved public service tax, which will, among other things, allow the city to lower its millage rate, providing tax relief for residential property owners.

The flyers are available at all city facilities, not just Constitution Park, and they are displayed in the same manner as other flyers created by the city. As for the statement that city staff did not allow the removal of the flyers, the staff member on duty was following an established policy for rental of a city facility, where those renting are not permitted to remove any of the city’s decorations or posted material.

The most frustrating fallacy in Krevoy’s letter is his depiction of what occurred after he removed the flyers on display. Krevoy made false accusations about specific city staff and elected officials, myself included, claiming that all were responsible for “BSO deputies (being) dispatched to the site to arrest (them) for vandalizing city property.” In actuality, the incident was reported through the city’s chain of command, by the staff member on duty, who felt she was unable to reach a reasonable solution with Mr. Krevoy. She contacted her supervisor, who contacted the director of Parks and Recreation. The Parks and Recreation Director spoke with the Police Chief, and a decision was made to send a representative from BSO to Constitution Park to assist the staff member in diffusing the situation. All of these activities were over and done by the time I received a message from the City Manager that evening, briefing me on the incident.

They say there are two sides to every story, but in this situation, there is virtually no common ground.

Mayor Peggy Noland

Deerfield Beach

 

Closing of Teen Center

Dear Editor:

As a concerned parent and resident, I feel the city of Deerfield has let me down.

On numerous occasions I have heard talk about concern for the youth in Deerfield and a willingness to help them. But I recently found out that the only place in Deerfield for teens will be closing its doors for good. With all the gang violence, crime, and brutal attacks such as Josie Ratley and Michael Brewer, you would think the city would give more thought about the Teen Center and keep it open.

I have [both] a 14- and 16-year-old son who attend the Teen Center, and I have noticed major positive changes in them since they have attended. Their grades and behavior have improved, they are more respectable, and they are staying out of trouble. When I was told about the Center closing, they were very upset and afraid.

I am a single mother of five children and really need the help of programs such as this. They also told me that BSO will be taking over the Teen Center, which does not make any sense. I feel the teens need a place to call their own and the city should make an exception and do whatever it takes for the teens instead of giving BSO that building because the teens are our future. It makes you wonder what’s really more important, our future teens or BSO?

I have a few questions that need to be addressed:

1. With the Teen Center closing, I would like to know where will our teens go?

2. What will the city provide?

3. Who made the decision to close the Teen Center and allow BSO to have full access to the center?

4. Would BSO have more patrol on the streets due to an extra amount of teens hanging out?

5. What is the REAL reason why they are closing the center?

6. What will BSO use the building for?

A Concerned Parent & Resident

Makeesha Johnson                                                                                                                                                    

Deerfield Beach

 

Editor’s note: The city is shutting down the actual Teen Center but not shutting down teen operations, according to Assistant to the City Manager Amanda Shafer. In the future, teens will go to the middle school or high school for the program, rather than bringing them to the center. The city subsidized most of the operation. Financially, they were spending more money than they were bringing in, in order to bring in the kids, she said.

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Letters

Posted on 21 July 2011 by LeslieM

Why every Deerfield resident should care about what is happening at the DBHA

To the Editor:

The Deerfield Beach Housing Authority (DBHA) was legally chartered by the city to address the affordable housing needs of the city.

The distant and imbalanced relationship that has developed between the DBHA and the city of Deerfield Beach should be troubling to all residents. Such a relationship inhibits true collaborations that ultimately lead to not addressing critical housing needs throughout the city.

Over the past several years, the DBHA has been the recipient of the city’s generous support through [Community Development Block Grant] CDBG funds, $500,000 in HOME funds, $100,000 in permit fee waivers, decades of free garbage service up until 2003, donation of city land for the Executive Office, numerous in-kind services for their residents. DBHA has even most recently asked for $500,000 in reallocated City Disaster Recovery funds.

Given this generous support, it should be an affront to all residents that those at the helm of the DBHA, for whatever their reasoning, chose not to open their doors to the city’s internal control review. It should also be an affront that the DBHA Board instead chose a costly course of action that included defiance, delay, and an obstruction to transparency.

In January 2010, the DBHA received its first real Public Records Request. Information concerning procurement irregularities became public. In February 2010, Executive Director Pamela Davis presented a Corrective Action Plan to the Board concerning the procurement irregularities. Minutes from that meeting show few questions were asked. Board commissioners were unable, due to the longevity of their relationship with those in charge, to be objective. A mentality of ‘don’t rock the boat’ and ‘let’s just move on’ was, and still is, prevalent.

In the spring of 2010, the city commission voted for a closer examination of the agency, hired Kessler International to complete an internal control review, and requested various documents be available for Kessler’s review. Given the DBHA’s initial defiant stance, the city had to resort to a Public Records Request to obtain documents. This also meant that Davis did not have to answer questions directly from Kessler.

At a June Special Board Meeting, Davis presented a $350,000 estimated charge for duplicated records. It should be noted that Kessler International asked to have access to the documents, not be copied.  Kessler also asked to have electronic copies whenever possible. In fact, as all DBHA copiers scan to e-mail, there was no need to waste a single piece of paper.

In response to an utterly ridiculous $350,000 invoice, the city narrowed its records request.

What followed over the next several months was a concerted campaign by Davis (who lives in Sunrise), her personal defense attorney Tom Connick (Coral Springs), Chairman Keith Emery (Boca Raton) and DBHA attorney Bill Crawford (Ft. Lauderdale) to delay, hinder and avoid the Kessler review. The Authority Board directed Crawford, who closely collaborated with Connick, to draft four letters to the city. The letters focused on the city’s lack of authority to audit the DBHA, discrediting Kessler International, the act of bad faith by requesting the Executive Director’s e-mails, and the tremendous financial burden the audit would place on the DBHA.

In 2010, Crawford was compensated in excess of $50,000 in public funds for his efforts to avoid transparency. His billing provides a play-by-play snapshot of their tactics.

In October 2010, the city sent a final terse request for documents.

When the documents arrived, they were found significantly lacking. Kessler concluded that the lack of documentation significantly hampered his ability to conduct a thorough and accurate review.

Included in the missing documents are the files that pertain directly to the complaints I fielded with the OIG and FBI, numerous bank statements, no information at all for two accounts, no information at all on the over $2 million in DBHA investment accounts, deposit slips for all accounts, several unbid contracts over the $25,000 threshold and an extensive amount of missing quotes/proposals and invoices. In addition, the DBHA submitted a total of 13 e-mails for the Executive Director for the entire year of 2010.

It is clear that the current DBHA Board and management chose not to acknowledge Kessler’s Report. For anyone at the DBHA to state “ … We thought we gave the city of Deerfield Beach everything” is either outright dishonesty or an admission that they did not read the Kessler Report. Being good stewards of public funds, shouldn’t they have had an interest in reading that report?

Not satisfied with the results of HUD’s two limited procurement reviews, I reached out to Congressman Allen West for his assistance. On July 5, 2011, West wrote to the Acting Secretary of the HUD Office of Inspector General calling for “a complete investigation of the Deerfield Beach Housing Authority” due to his concerns over “misuse of taxpayer money” and possible “criminal issues [involving] nepotism, bid rigging and procurement violations.”

The DBHA is not an island in the city and does not belong to those at the helm, regardless of their length of employment or service.  The Authority was chartered for a distinct purpose. Now is the time to appoint a new board, which will bring the agency back to the city. Now is the time for transparency. Now is the time to explore true collaborations between the DBHA, the city and community partners. The scope of a PHA in a community can go so much more beyond managing low-income properties. Now is the time to create best practices within our city that could be a model for other areas in addressing affordable housing issues.

Chaz Stevens,

former commissioner,

Deerfield Beach Housing Authority Board

Deerfield Beach Housing Authority

 

RE: Utility tax

Dear Editor:

The Rescind Unfair Taxes Committee leased the city-owned Constitution Park building at 2841 W. Hillsboro Blvd. for a petition-signing session on July 16 from 1 to 9 p.m. We paid $322, with the provision that $100 would be refunded to us, provided the facility was left in good order.

On Friday, July 15, we learned of a rumor that the city had printed on city stationery approximately 5,000 flyers in opposition to the position our group had taken. Their flyer  in my opinion was a divisive missive that pitted the haves against the have nots.

That evening, I called my commissioner, Joe Miller, and told him I was not happy with the city’s attempt to rain on our parade. I told him we wanted to be sure that we would avoid any confrontations.  When we arrived at 1 p.m. to do our set-ups, we realized that the city had posted the opposition circulars throughout the city — including the room we were using to collect signatures for our referendum issue. The female city employee who was monitoring our activities told us we did not have the right to remove the opposition material from the room we had leased.

Had we known of this regulation, we never would have leased that building. Since we refused to give back the offending flyers, the employee called her supervisor, Amy Hanson, who, in turn, called her husband Burgess Hanson, the city manager of Deerfield Beach.

He, in turn, called Mayor Noland and District 4 commissioner Ganz, whose decision it was to call BSO. BSO deputies were dispatched to the site to arrest us for vandalizing city property.

When they discovered that there obviously was no city vandalism, they called their superiors to say that no criminal act had been perpetrated. We agreed to give back the flyers we had confiscated in exchange for an agreement that our security deposit of $100 would be returned. Previously, we had been told that it would not be refunded because of our supposed vandalism.

We feel as though the presence of police deterred the voters from entering Constitution Park to sign our petitions. The flyers they posted and distributed made us look like criminals, a portrayal we did not appreciate.

The people in Deerfield should be made aware of the cheap shot the city took in order to stymie our continued success with our petition drive.

Steve Krevoy

Deerfield Beach

 

Editor’s note: According to spokesperson for the city of Deerfield Beach Rami Altherr-Musto, the city wanted to get information into the hands of residents to educate them. “We’ve distributed to all our facilities – last Tuesday or Wednesday. This is one portion of public service tax [utility tax] that we’re addressing at this time.”

 

RE: Detox facility

Dear Editor:

On July 7, The Cove Neighborhood showed up in force at the P&Z Board meeting to attempt to stop approval for the Florida House Medical Detoxification Center, looking to occupy 504 S. Federal Hwy. The board voted unanimously to deny the Detoxification Center, based on lack of compatibility to the adjoining zone for single family residences. The Cove neighborhood’s concern is for proper placement of such a facility.

Approval of this facility in the B2 zoning district, with no specific regulation regarding placement, would open the door for other like-facilities to occupy the B2 zoning throughout our city. No other city in South Florida, successfully integrating these facilities, does so without a buffer between residences and schools.

The State of Florida says that these facilities cannot lock their doors to keep non-compliant patients in. This means voluntary denial of help, that they can leave by the front or back door at will, any time of day, despite their contractual agreement with the Florida House.

We already see this happening in our neighborhood. Additionally, we see drug deals occurring flagrantly in front of our homes. We see substance abuse rehabilitation and halfway house clients who skirt their curfew, climb over the fences of adjoining residential properties to escape detection. They throw their liquor bottles over the fences into residential yards.

We need to stop the improper placement of the proposed Florida House Medical Detoxification facility and take a good hard look at our community to find proper zoning for these facilities.

The city’s inability to correctly place this facility is not just detrimental to the residential community, but also to the patients of this facility, as well as the business owner.  It is not just one-sided.

Gretchen Thomas

Deerfield Beach

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Letter to the Editor

Posted on 14 July 2011 by LeslieM

Fast action by BSO

Dear Editor:

I want to thank BSO Chief Sudler and his deputies for their fast action in stopping a rash of burglaries in Deer Run and the Gates of Hillsboro on July 7, including an invasion into my neighbor’s house while his kids were home. Thankfully, they were not harmed. BSO caught up with these vermin and have one in custody. I am sure the others will be caught soon. Thank you to all who protect us.

Ira Goodstadt 

Deerfield Beach

 

Deciding layoffs

Dear Editor:

I hope it is the city of Deerfield’s position to give resident employees preference when it comes time to lay off individual city employees. Residents should get bonus points over non-residents when hiring new employees. I don’t think the city will get substandard people by using this practice, as was the old union argument.

Stanley D. Flower 

Deerfield Beach

 

Legion of Honor

Dear Editor:

Back in October 2010, I received a letter from the French Ambassador advising me that the President of France had signed a decree naming me a “Chevalier” of the Legion of Honor. The Legion of Honor was created by Napoleon in 1802 “to acknowledge service rendered to France by people of great merit.”

On August 18, a ceremony will be held at the Boynton Beach Civic Center, at which time an official of the French government will place the Legion of Honor medal around my neck.

Percy Paget 

Lighthouse Point

RE: Code of Conduct

Dear Editor:

Please tell me why the Broward County Public Schools Code of Conduct handbook, e-mailed out July 1, was for the first time distributed electronically in English, Spanish, Haitian, Creole and Portuguese? Please tell me that this is a joke, as we are in America where ENGLISH is the ONLY language that should be spoken and written.

If people from other countries want to live here, then they need to learn our language or leave if they choose not to do that. Why should we cater to them? EVERYTHING should be in ONLY ENGLISH:  Driver’s License Test, School Board Papers, anything to do with schools, period.

No other country would cater to us, why should we cater to them? Whoever decided that the school board needs to send out Code of Conduct in other languages needs to be fired. The same goes for whoever agreed to do that.

Everyone has the right to live here, but not if they do not want to learn our ways. STOP making it easy on those people to not learn. If we did everything in only English, they would have to learn or leave – their choice.

Jennifer Marie Read

Pompano Beach

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Letters to the Editor

Posted on 07 July 2011 by LeslieM

RE: Black soot

Dear Editor: 

In the June 30 Observer newspaper, you wrote a story that contained a piece about the 892 units in Independence Bay and the black soot the residents say is all over their patios and the air they breathe [“City commission passes variation on moratorium, 3-1.”]

I live on SE 2 Street (just down from the Butler House) and also have that black soot. I have had it since I moved into this house in 1994. It really is terrible, it gets all over everything.

Why I am writing is — I wonder if I can be included in [any]level of protection should the city decide to do something?

Anyone is welcome here to see the black soot, should they need to.

 Donna Lavoie

Deerfield Beach

 

RE: TRASH

Dear Editor:

In response to J.Huffman’s letter on June 23, I, too, agree we are all lucky to live here in Deerfield Beach. I see there have been a few temporary trash cans put around the parking lot in The Cove, but with the 4th of July weekend, we need some dumpsters as well. I also would like to see the trash picked up lining both sides of the bridge. We must have some people doing community service or get some prisoners out for a day and let them help keep our city clean. Thank you.

M.Herderson

Deerfield Beach

 

Governor’s cost cutting measures

Dear Editor:

Gov. Rick Scott tried to disband the FL Highway Patrol. No wonder he is the “least popular governor in America.” He has slashed funding on high-speed rail, aid for homeless veterans, unemployment insurance, education and now, according to Florida’s Capitol News, he tried to disband the FL Highway Patrol.

Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight, who served on Scott’s transition team, rebuffed the idea. After supporting Republicans for governor for 20 years, Florida police unions have abandoned the GOP. The Broward County Police Benevolent Association held a “Party to Leave the Party” two weeks ago, in which their members switched their voter registration from GOP to Democratic or Independent.

Brad Burtner

Deerfield Beach

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Letter to the Editor

Posted on 30 June 2011 by LeslieM

RE: Utility tax

Dear Editor:

I am very upset about the utility tax. We also live on a fixed income. To some, it may not mean much. With the price of gas, decline of the dollar, and food prices roaring with inflation, a 10 percent  tax hike is not needed right now.

The problem is once the tax is approved, I’d have a heart attack if it ever was removed or went down. The majority of the times, it eventually goes up.

Prior to the recession, when property taxes were rolling in, the politicians never seemed to have enough money. They do what is required by law or whatever, but they never put extra monies away for a “rainy day.” They have to spend every dollar and then try to figure out how to get more. They never have enough to spend of taxpayer money.

On the front page of the [June 9] Observer, right next to “Utility Tax,” is an article “Broward School District loses millions in grant money.”

As usual, it’s “always the other guy’s fault.” I sure hope the voters remember this at the next election! I sure will!

Bob Zukas

Deerfield Beach

 

Dear Editor:

A 10 percent levy on water and electricity will only cost the average homeowner $10 a month.  Of course, that is if you never drink water, take a shower, live in a cave and use your electricity sparingly.

How come no mention is made of the real cost of this fiasco as it affects the business community? Didn’t someone from Publix at the public hearing mention it would cost them another $400,000 annually? Do you really believe that Publix will not turn around and increase their costs to the consumer?

If there is such a crying need for the improvements claimed, why is the commission using a revenue tax to make the improvements? Could it be because the voters have no say when it comes to a utility tax, as long as the city can identify a source for repayment? That is the reason for utility tax. The millage could be reduced 1 mill without it, but then the commission would not be able to go out on a spending spree to finance their pet projects.

Do not allow your financial future to rest in the hands of three commissioners who never heard what the public had to say. If you really love your city, you will sign the rescind petition as soon as it is available. Let 4,500 voters be your voice.

Lillian Lorraine

Deerfield Beach

 

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