Nasty Deerfield Beach Neighbors.

The Deerfield Beach Country Club golf course, butts up against a neighborhood with mostly African American residents. According to those residents, the golf course has a long history of ignoring their requests, and being a very bad neighbor.

There was a meeting a couple of years back about changing the golf course land use to residential, at that meeting the neighbors from the adjacent neighborhood showed up in numbers and vented their displeasure about the golf course, citing large piles of debris from Hurricane Wilma piled up along their yards left to rot and attract vermin.

One story told was about some neighborhood boys who accidently kicked a football over the fence into the golf course. When they requested it be returned, the person on the course stuck his pen knife into the ball and then threw it back. Nasty.

Not long ago course owners came up with another bright idea; they wanted to turn the area into an industrial park. The neighbors again came out and pleaded with the city to deny the request, and oh, by the way, please get the course to clean up along the fence in their backyards.

At the last commission meeting the neighborhood residents were back again, they told about piles of smelly mulch with colonies of snakes taking up residence, snakes which at times enter people’s homes. They mentioned the area around the poorly maintained border fence which is full of weeds that encroach into the neatly maintained back yards of the unfortunate homeowners who live next to it. 

They said that time and time again the residents have begged the course owners to rectify the problem, time and time again the course owners have promised to clean it up, and they haven’t. Lately the mulch piles were raked out a little and now I hear are causing drainage problems.

What can be done? The Mayor stated she didn’t know anything about this problem, but I find that hard to believe. I hope code enforcement can do something; there must be some code violations here.

I hope people show outrage at this blatant disrespect of a neighborhood. Let’s support

our residents and insist the club clean their property.

City Commission:

Joe Miller, District 1:   jmiller@deerfield-beach.com

Ben Preston, District 2:

bpreston@deerfield-beach.com

Marty Popelsky, District 3:

mpopelsky@deerfield-beach.com,

Bill Ganz, District 4:

bganz@deerfield-beach.com,

Peggy Noland, Mayor:

pnoland@deerfield-beach.com,

Burgess Hansen City Manager:

web.clerk@deerfield-beach.com,

He Made My Day

If you have need for shoe repair or other cobbler services I suggest you go to the Deerfield Beach Palm Plaza, off Federal Highway on the west side just before 10^th Street.  I think the name of the store is Cobbler Twelve, but it is on the right as you drive in off of Federal. 

I had two pair of shoes in need and a purse.  One pair, golf shoes, had the box toe caved in, and my loafers needed the decorative tie fixed.  The very friendly gentleman said Frank would look at the purse and let me know about it; then he tried his best to pound the golf shoe toe back in shape, but it just dimpled in again so he gave up.  He kept the loafers, and the purse.  The next day on the phone, Frank said the purse couldn’t be cleaned and that over time it should wear to a nice looking distressed patina and I should enjoy it the way it was, and oh, by the way, the shoes are ready. 

As I drove up to collect my things, the helpful owner was out on the sidewalk with a seriously important looking sewing machine stitching some leather thing, sort of blocking his store entry.  He smiled kind of shyly and moved so we could go in.  His store is small, and crammed with all sorts of shoe and leather things.  He returned the purse and the loafers which had been fixed and shined.

Charge?  NOTHING.  He didn’t think he did enough to charge me for. 

I tried to get him to take something but he was firm, nope, just come again he said.  I assured him I would. 

How wonderful an experience.

Gee Kids! It's just not fair. Boo Hoo!

Hmmmm, let’s see, by asking to have the charges against him dropped is this what  Deerfield Beach ex-mayor Capellini and his expensive lawyer is saying?
  

No fair Mike, Scotty got a free ride on Bruce’s boat and Stacy didn’t report some money and all they got was a fine.  You say that I voted on a project that I had a financial interest in, and that by my vote and my support of this project, hopefully convincing the other commissioners that it was a good project, I would profit.  Well, even if that’s true, and I am not saying it is, I shouldn’t be brought to account for that because you didn’t charge Stacey and Scott.  It’s just not fair, boo hoo, whaaaaaa, snivel sniff.

Read the Sun Sentinel story here:
 http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/crime/fl-capellini-case-20120330,0,1610841.story

Deerfield Beach Main Beach Parking Lot Renovation Postponed

From:  www.deerfieldbeachusa.com :

No parking lot project this year
By Editor
Mar. 22, 2012

The CRA Board delayed the planned improvements to the Main Beach Parking Lot until the design for the A1A widening is completed. At the Mar. 20 meeting, CRA director Keven Klopp noted public concern about certain aspects of the project, including the "amphitheater" feature.

The overall concept, designed by Chen Moore & Associates mostly to improve appearance of the complex of parking lots fronting the beach, is not expected to encounter public opposition. But as noted by Mr. Klopp there are residents who question the amphitheater-like structure planned for the east end of the parking lot and the proposal to close S.E. 1st St. to accommodate more parking spaces. 1st St. is the ingress and egress route for fire and rescue equipment.

As it stands now, the earliest the project could begin would be in FY 2013.

Deerfield Beach Main Beach Parking Lot Plan

At the Deerfield Beach CRA meeting on Tuesday, March 20^st 6:00 p.m. in City Hall, there will be a discussion about the redoing of the main beach parking lot.  After the residents made it clear to the Commission and the Commission and the CRA Board agreed that there would be no buildings on the parking lot a plan was devised to upgrade the parking area. 

Chen Moore Associates were hired to come up with a plan and they presented it to the CRA Board in January.  They said the plan would improve traffic circulation, create additional parking spots, unify the lots into one unified facility, screen an unsightly garbage dumpster, create a public gathering area for daily use and special events, update the parking meter system and improve landscaping and lighting.

To see the entire plan go to: (wait for the long download)

http://www.deerfield-beach.com/documents/Community%20Redevelopment%20Agency/CRA%20Backup/01-17-12/Item%204%20-%20FINAL%20CONCEPTUAL%20PLAN.PDF

After the January meeting residents were generally in favor of the plan, but questioned the traffic redirection.  Closing 1^st Street was questioned.  Many think it should not be closed, especially without allowing Hillsboro Blvd. to continue through from the bridge.  Some saw problems with having everyone come into the lot on 2^nd Street.  The plan is to have Hillsboro traffic continue across but that will not happen until A1A is widened and there is no money for that for the foreseeable future.  This could mean traffic problems for quite a few years.

Other residents questioned the proposed plan for the amphitheatre like seating wall facing the Ocean.  Concerns were that it was unnecessary and would be nothing but a skateboard magnet, and if it was to be white as in the picture it would become dirty and unsightly very quickly.  The concrete benches at the beach were mentioned as an example, they are already smudged and dingy and they are not white.  Others mentioned the noise of presentations from the area and are fearful that musical events with blasting amplified sound would be more frequent.

Some questioned the amount of money such a large scale renovation would cost; the budget page of the conceptual plan puts the cost at $1,819,882.   

The CRA meeting allows resident input, if you have questions about the plan; please attend the meeting. It was said that the staff might recommend waiting to start the project, perhaps that is to hold some public meetings. 

You just can't please some people.

A very bizarre thing happened at the District 1 meeting.  The owner of a bagel café in the Cove Shopping Center stood up and complained that the city wasn’t cleaning the sidewalk pavers in front of his store.

These pavers were installed on his property at no cost to him.  The entire shopping center is now attracting a larger number of shoppers very much to the benefit of his business.  CRA Director Keven Klopp said the city cleans and seals the pavers once a year, the rest of the time it is up to the businesses to keep their premises clean.  It’s his shop, his sidewalk.  Duh!!!

 Just to see what he was talking about while I was at the Green Market I walked the entire perimeter of the center looking to see if the pavers were stained in front of all the stores, and how much they might need cleaning. 

What I found was that most sidewalks were clean and neat.  Some had some dirt in front of their benches and tables from people sitting and eating and drinking, but it looked like those places have pride of ownership and clean the sidewalks periodically, so the dirt was not ingrained; except, in front of the bagel shop which was really filthy.  It appeared they were never cleaned by the owner. I wonder if this is indicative of how he keeps his cafe.

 If you care about your business, and want to attract customers, isn’t it just common sense to keep your surroundings, including the sidewalk in front of your business clean and attractive.

Instead of thanking the city for a great job fixing up the Shopping Center, he lets his property become disgustingly filthy and then has the gall to come to a public meeting and complain about it. 

I’m thinking that if someone gave him a sack full of solid gold bricks, he would complain that they were too heavy.  Good Grief!!!

Exultation in Deerfield Beach

Yippee! There will be no Sea Oats or other plantings on the main beach.  They will be restricted to the mandated areas around the new pier upgrade, and will be non-spreading and non-invasive plants which will not grow out onto the rest of the beach.

How refreshing it is to have a commission that listens to the residents.  OK, they had to be hit over the head, but they did finally listen. 

Why, when first presented with the staff’s idea to plant sea oats and other plantings in areas on the main beach, the commission didn’t respond with outrage and incredibility, I will never know; especially Commissioner Miller, who spends a lot of time at the beach and is supposed to have the ear of the residents, it certainly was my first reaction. 

Again, why wasn’t also, the first reaction, to have a public workshop about this idea to find out what the area residents thought about it? The agenda item wasn’t even a public hearing.

What on God’s green earth could have been their thought process, when shown what sea oats grow into when planted on the sand.  Hmmmm, maybe they thought,

“Let’s see, how can we ruin the economy of the beach and turn it from the most beautiful, accessible people friendly beach in South Florida, into a high brown dune wall, and eventually make it impossible to see the water from the benches and the sidewalk?”

Yup, that must have been it. 

I actually heard the Mayor say it would be a good idea. Joe Miller also had a favorable reaction at first.  It seems the inconvenience of sweeping up some sand after a storm, and the once in 20 years or so mess after a hurricane trumped the beauty and open accessibility of our unique gem of a beach.

Ah, well, all’s well that ends well. 

Thanks to the OSOB committee and the alerted beach residents, they didn’t slip this one past us.

Thanks to the excellent research done by Bill Ganz, who seems to be carrying the entire city on his shoulders, we will continue to be able to enjoy the ocean view while sitting on the beach benches. 

Thanks to alert residents who inundated Joe Miller with solid reasons to keep the beautiful beach as is, we will still be able to spread our blankets on the grass and enjoy the sun without getting sandy.

Thanks to Ben Preston who immediately saw the idiocy of this proposal, we can continue to ride down Ocean Way and drink in the beauty of the ocean.

Thanks to the Mayor and Commissioner Popelsky, who can count, the vote was unanimous.

I truly hope, most likely in vain, that the city will include the residents in all future decisions about the beach, or other publicly owned property.