BROWN OR MALKOON IN SEAT 3 FOR 4 YEARS….
Dear Readers … this writer is concerned with this upcoming election and the outcome of it that thus far seems to make no difference to a good many LBTS voters we are told who are preparing to skip the whole process as a result … We hear the UOT PAC has decided not to meet until 2 days before the League of Women Voters “Meet the Candidate Night” on January 11, 2012… So in essence they will have a pre-debate debate if they even choose to ask questions of the tow candidates, Mark Brown and Edmund Malkoon! … We hear that UOT will not choose to endorse either one which leaves these candidates even more so on their own beyond a lack of many donations coming in from those so generous in 2010 … A few that are donating are donating to both in order to avoid making a decision … The impact will most likely be seen in manpower help as well in the weeks to come right up to just who will be inside the tents set up at the polling places on Jan. 31st…This writer has been told by someone at the top of the “food chain” in this town that either candidate “will want to move forward” which implied the 5-year re-development plan was solidified either way for the next 2 years…and then some… Hmmm…. Is that a good thing or not? …
I’ve sent an email to one Commissioner as well as to the Town PIO to forward to the Town Manager concerning the Jan. 11, 2012 Meet the Candidate Night being televised and replayed before the Jan. 31st election date…
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“Televising Jan 11, 2012 Meet the Candidate Night
FROM:
Barbara Cole
TO:
Sunday, December 11, 2011 11:18 AM
Steve, could you pass this on to the Town Manager before the meeting on Tues. night- Thank you.
Town Manager,
I am requesting that an addition be made at the Dec. 13, 2011 Reg. Comm. Mtg. for the upcoming Jan. 11, 2012 Meet the Candidate Night to be televised and to be replayed as some meetings have been in the past. I believe it must be voted on by the Commission to do so. I think it is important for voters to have an opportunity to see where these two candidates vying for seat 3 stand on important issues. Thank you, Barbara Cole”
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I’ve also sent LOWVoters moderator Carol Smith 35 hard-hitting questions for the two candidates covering a myriad of questions that should define these candidates to voters and give an insight to how they would govern once they are positioned on the dais in Comm. Clottey’s seat for their first term as a result of how they answer them. I have not shared these with either candidate and will not do so. At the last two such events in 2008 and 2010 a great many of my questions were used. I hope that will be the result once again in 2012. Residents can do the same right now up until the day of by emailing questions on issues to Carol Smith at … [email protected] ….
I’ve sent in a Public Records Request for the candidate’s required Treasurer Reports. The first one is due on Dec. 16th and upon receipt of them from the Town I will post them…This should show some differences between them as well as has been the case in prior years …
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“From: Barbara Cole [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 10:41 AM
To: Steve D’Oliveira
Subject: Public Records Requests
Hi Steve, I would like to request copies of all of the LBTS Candidate’s Treasurer Reports for Dec. 16, 2011. Please respond when they can be picked up.
I will be asking for the reports as well on Dec.30, 2011 and Jan 13, 2012 as well as the Termination in Feb. Is it necessary to make individual requests? If so please let me know that as well. Thank you, Barbara Cole”
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This writer heard the candidates have been out going door-to-door with Mark Brown starting off a few weeks back in the southern end of town while Edmund Malkoon began in the north end … Last week it appeared that Malkoon was trailing after Brown in sections of the south wearing his campaign Hanes green t-shirt with the bird on it which match his door hangers while Brown was dressed more appropriately to meet voters the first time according to those who met both …. Brown decided to forgo the campaign t-shirts and opted for stickers along with leaving campaign chip clips along with other pertinent information for those he met as well as for those he missed in his first round of knocking on doors… Thus far the word is that Mark has a better grasp on the topics voters are most interested in and is more readily able to respond to questions dealing with issues from past years in depth…Their signs will most likely be going up in yards soon and those too should provide voters a visual on the willingness of residents to do so for the candidate of their choice…Question is of course will UOT members put up both? ……
We should be able to see if they provide some insight to voters in any public comments they choose to make at the upcoming town meetings including the one this week on Tuesday Dec. 13th using up to three minutes to make known where they stand on hot topics contained in the agenda such as Consent Agenda item 11a. and the $6,000 dollars being requested by the Town under the new marketing budget for what amounts to be a Caribbean themed party under a tent to take place the night after the Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of the Beach event next year…The backup states that after a few months of discussions with hoteliers/restauranteurs/businesses one marketing idea was a 4-day event schedule that would include these two events on a Wed. night and a Thur. night along with the Fri. night Jazz on the Square downtown and Sat. daytime Alley Oops skim-boarding event followed by the regular Athena Sat. night event which they say would fill the hotels… This writer as a taxpayer never thought a marketing budget would even entertain such a use for that amount of money to fill hotels which in my opinion it will not…It will only bring out people from other Broward municipalities as is the case for all of our town events … On the subject of marketing this rises to the level of the last marketing idea I was glad went by the wayside ….. putting up funds to have a congratulatory meal for the diver trying to break the record for staying underwater by the Bio-Rock coral reef project ….and then when the first attempt failed and that agreed upon Commission vote for $1000 went by the wayside a second attempt for funds to promote the diver’s return on Dec. 1st for even more money…Fortunately that too never moved forward… Perhaps I am in the minority but after reading the Sentinel on what the diver actually did to break this record which included being tied to the Bio-Rock structure in order to sleep…I thought more than ever it was not something I would want to spend money on as a taxpayer…I also found humor in the tied to the Bio-Rock scenario after hearing for so long that certain Bio-Rock proponents were concerned about anyone or anything anywhere near the structure!…Perhaps it will be agenda item 16a. under Old Business concerning the sewer rates in hotels they will want to weigh in on?….This item contains some eye-opening numbers showing the impact of the rate increases to south end customers who are still under the LBTS Master Sewer Agreement with Pompano Beach in the aftermath of the present commission trying to rectify and resolve the long standing “subsidy” (or whatever word one wants to use for the Town making up the difference in what we were billed and what the condos paid the Town) being paid to the 3 Sea Ranch Club buildings and Sea Ranch North due to actions taken by a few behind the scenes in Town Hall and the perceived imminent infrastructure “hit” the south was going to face with our aging sewers… According to the backup on this item some have been hit alright…hit with increases of 117%-200+% over the rates they were previously charged …To add to the “hit” they received is this statement written by the TM … “Next month we will receive the engineering firm’s analysis of the repairs needed to our sewer infrastructure. From staff’s recent discussions with them, it appears that the Sewer Fund reserve is more than ample to cover the cost of the needed capital repairs. Having that report will be important in any rate restructuring considerations.” (the TM offers up some ways to reconsider the rate increase to these properties prior to this statement) It is in the last few lines of the report made by TM Hoffmann…. WOW!… No wonder Arthur Franczak has not walked away from this situation…This writer only wishes he could have been more succinct in providing his situation in dollars and cents as the TM has in this report….We were all talking infrastructure …infrastructure…infrastructure …..because we were sure we were going to face millions of dollars of sewer replacement costs placed on the town as soon as the sewer report was finished and released…… If the staff is correct that we already have those funds available for whatever repairs are required it absolutely makes it hard to swallow the practice of continuing to impacting these south end properties at the percentage agreed upon by the commission before this information was supplied!…. This issue along with the parking dept. will be issues the winning candidate will be faced with as soon as they are sworn in ….That being said we absolutely need to know where they stand on sewers before we cast our votes … after all it’s four years of decisions made by them that impacts us all whether it’s the sewers in the south or the sewers in the north which could rise up again with the Palm Club suit still in play and an issue that changed the majority on the dais in 2008…
No one should be anointed to the position of Commissioner I am told by a valued friend…I wholeheartedly believe that to be true especially for this 2012 LBTS election …. It is therefore up to all of us to make these two candidates work hard for the votes we give them on Jan. 31, 2012….and no one should give up their right to cast their vote by taking a pass in any election…
more to come….
Tags: Candidate for Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Commission Seat 3 Mark Brown and Edmund Malkoon, Civic Organizations, Here's The Scoop ... With Only Two Candidates Left In The Lauderdale-By-The-Sea 2012 Municipal Election Vying For Seat 3 The Question Front And Center ... Is There Any Difference Between Them? .., LBTS Agendas/Meetings, local government, Local News, Local Politics, Opinions, organizations, Scoops, Sea Ranch Club
