Illusory Hallandale Beach budget cuts equal no fireworks, but we are not fooled by HB City Hall's lies and deceptions

July 4th, 2009

Have been watching and listening all afternoon to some

very interesting and troubling news stories today via

Britain's Channel Four, while trying to get some work

done on some overdue emails and the blogs, before

heading up to Hollywood Beach later for their fireworks,

since Hallandale Beach cut them out this year on

account of costs.

"Costs?"

Right, that poor excuse for HB City Hall's perennial bad

planning and haphazard management that has proven

so ineffectual to anyone paying attention, like citizen

taxpayers, business owners and investors.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6810442169216076633&hl=en

And speaking of looming budget cuts, what tangible,

concrete results do city taxpayers have to show for

the $50,000 that the HB City Commission gave the

Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce, which

effectively buys the silence of those involved from

ever publicly criticizing HB City Hall, and the very

people who run things so poorly?

I mention this as budget meetings draw near because

I'm going to be finding out over the next few weeks thru

some public records requests, phone calls and questions

at hearings and ask for evidence they deserve ANYTHING

in a year of supposed budget cuts that saw fireworks

cut, one of the few things every year that actually lures

usually apathetic HB residents over to the public beach,

except for when friends or family come down to visit

during holidays.

I'll share the results of what I find out with you here on

the blog, because, thus far, in the time that I have been

observing things here in HB, they seem every bit a

laughingstock, literally, a perpetual motion machine.

A perpetual motion machine that bears little resemblance

to the issues and work that other Chamber of Commerces

did in other towns and cities I've lived in, where being a

member doesn't deprive you of your tongue at City Hall,

as seems to be the case here without exception.

From City Hall's bunker perspective, what better and

more emphatic way to attempt to show (deceive) the

city's populace that you're serious about your budget

cuts than lopping off Fourth of July fireworks?

But IF that's so, then explain to me why the city could

and would spend almost $3,700 on a new office for

Mayor Joy Cooper back in January, even though there

was nothing physically wrong with her old one?

She just asked for it and it was done, end of story.

Adios $3,762!

What about the perceptions six months ago?

For details on costs and expenses associated with

Mayor Cooper's new office, see

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/hardly-breaking-news-anthony-sanders.html

IF costs and public perceptions are NOW so suddenly

important, explain to me why, as the Sun-Sentinel's

Jennifer Gollan chronicled, Mayor Cooper made the

conscious decision to stay overnight for a few days at

a downtown Miami hotel of some note and expense,

The Intercontinental, at taxpayers expense, for an

event she was attending.

This despite the fact that according to the city's own

website, she's right next to everything here.

For more on that particular Joy Cooper fiasco, complete

with the original news articles and true facts, see my

January 25th post aptly titled:

My mayor went to the Inaugural but all I got was

the bill and her imperious attitude!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-mayor-went-to-inaugural-but-all-i.html

It includes this truly classic Joy Cooper bluster, after

having had her behavior and attitude publicly exposed.

I repeat it here, word-for-word:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward County officials are traveling on your dime

Conventions are only miles from home, but South Florida

officials bill taxpayers for luxury hotels and chauffeured rides

By Jennifer Gollan

January 11, 2009

Although the national mayors convention was only 34 miles from his home, Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan decided it would be too difficult to commute. So he billed taxpayers $995 to stay five nights in June at the four-star InterContinental Miami hotel.

"I would have to get up at 3 or 4 in the morning to miss the rush-hour traffic," Kaplan said. "It gets to be very time-consuming."
Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper also attended that convention. Instead of making the 20-mile trip, she charged taxpayers $796 for four nights at the hotel.
Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis, with a commute of 25 miles, billed taxpayers $889.48 for four nights.

When asked about it six months later, Ortis said "it doesn't make any sense to stay overnight in Miami," and reimbursed the city for his hotel bill.

Indeed, while not expressly prohibited under their formal policies, Pembroke Pines, Hallandale Beach and Lauderhill generally bar employees from staying overnight in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Cooper, however, declined to repay the city for her stay, saying it was a business-related expense.

"I am not there fluffing my own feathers," she said. "Rather than dragging through traffic it was just easier to stay overnight. ... Why would I reimburse the city for part of my job?"

Honestly, could I make that up?

For the record, here's the exact distance from Hallandale

Beach City Hall to the hotel that Mayor Joy Cooper

couldn't manage:

Driving directions to 100 Chopin Plaza,

Miami, FL 33131

17.7 mi – about 26 mins

400 S Federal Hwy Hallandale, FL 33009

1.	Head east on SE 5th St toward S Federal Hwy/FL-5/US-1		7 ft
2.	Turn right at S Federal Hwy/FL-5/US-1 Continue to follow FL-5/US-1		0.9 mi
3.	Take the exit toward NE 203rd St/FL-854		0.3 mi
4.	Turn right at NE 203rd St/FL-854 Continue to follow FL-854		1.2 mi
5.	Turn left to merge onto I-95 S		14.4 mi
6.	Take exit 2C & 2A on the left towardBiscayne Blvd		0.7 mi
7.	Merge onto SE 3rd St (signs for Biscayne Blvd/SE 3rd St)		0.2 mi
8.	Slight left at S Biscayne Blvd/FL-5/US-1/US-41		233 ft

100 Chopin Plaza, Miami, FL 33131

"Costs" also doesn't explain why -yet again!- the

American flag has been missing from in front of the

Hallandale Beach Fire/Rescue station next to

the public beach on State Road A1A for MONTHS,

as a walk by there yesterday afternoon quickly

confirmed, just like my previous 20 visits before that.

(See photo below.)

Yes, yesterday, July 3rd, 2009, which was the 23rd

straight month that the so-called 'community center'

beneath the iconic Hallandale Beach Water Tower

was closed to the regular taxpayers and residents of

Hallandale Beach, with ZERO citywide public meeting

or Forums on it ever having been held over those two

years under Mayor Cooper or City Manager Good.

And there's nothing currently on the horizon, and that's

not by accident, folks.

That's how little they think of you!

See my April 14th post about that, complete

with photos, which I called, and for good reason:

Hallandale Beach -An interpretive house of cards

that falls apart at the slightest touch of rationality

and evidence

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/hallandale-beach-interpretive-house-of.html

Consider whom we have at the helm as city manager

and mayor, Mike Good and Joy Cooper, two people

with, at best, a tenuous grasp of both reality and the

obvious, which the rest of us see very clearly, even

if it's unpleasant, but which they are forever blind to.

Examined thru that prism, it all begins to make a

certain amount of sense in a 'Garbage In, Garbage

Out' city structure, where continued poor performance

and inability to accomplish something on time and

on budget, or demonstarted poor relations with citizens

is no serious barrier to keeping your job, or even

getting a raise.

Seriously, at this point, you think I'm surprised that

they don't have an American flag flying at the entrance

to the public beach for the Fouth of July weekend?

Nope, not me.

They perform predictably and incompetently, just as

I and so many other people in this city interested in

genuine reform and civic improvement could've predicted

days ago.

Oh wait - I DID predict this early Monday evening

over at Starbucks!

More telling and embarrassing photos of the city's dirty

and unkempt public beach will be here over the next

few days.

Looking south on State Road A1A towards the

HB Water Tower and The Beach Club from the

Hollywood side of the cityline.

July 3, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking due east from State Road A1A towards the

HB Water Tower.

July 3, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

So where, exactly, the day before Independence Day,

is the American flag on that city flagpole next to the

public fountain, which has also been empty for weeks?

The same place it's been for MONTHS: Missing in action

What do you know, that's the responsibility of HB's new

DPW Director, John Chidsey, the same fellow who still

hasn't responded to my email of April regarding the Dept.'s

poor performance and the rather self-evident embarrassing

condition of the public beach, that caused even the

Miami New Times to mention it.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/03/1048_condoms_on_the_beach_and.php

Question: Isn't John Chidsey the person who was hired

by HB City Manager Mike Good right before Chidsey

married Good's daughter?

Answer: Yes..

Follow-up question:

Is it true that less than five months on the job, Chidsey

has already gone on vacation?

Answer: On my way to run an errand this past week,

I ran into someone -a very trustworthy and well-informed

person at HB City Hall, an oxymoron- that Chidsey

wasn't around this past week, but ought to be back on

Monday.

Sure, because why would you want to actually go over

to the public beach you're responsible for, before the

first time so many taxpayers and residents show-up there

for the city's smaller-scale Fourth of July celebration,

and actually walk around a bit and make sure that it

doesn't look like crap? So he didn't.

That's how much he and his father-in-law care for you,

Hallandale Beach.

The day before Independence Day, the public beach

in HB looked no different than it did last week, last month

and last year.

Which means things are definitely getting worse.

The flies were really out in force yesterday at the South

Beach, no doubt because the city STILL uses garbage

cans without lids at the windiest place in the city, which

I noticed as the flies made bombing runs at my bagel

from Panera's.

And, shocker, just like last week and last month and

last year, there were zero light blue recycling bins

up at crowded North Beach.

And in case you were wondering, there were lots of

aluminum cans and garbage all over the supposedly

protected plants, as well as the usual piles of hundreds

of cigarettes that the city never actually cleans up or

sifts, preferring instead to just cover them over with sand.

They don't clean the beach so much as level it!

But there were three empty light blue recycling bins over

on South Beach, lying on their side next to the park-side

of the public restrooms.

Hm-m-m... must be some kind of experiment, huh?

Yes, the John Chidsey Experiment that Isn't working

out for Hallandale Beach taxpayers or beach-goers.

ABBA Geniuses At It Again: Story Of A Heart, featuring Helen Sjöholm, Words & Music by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus

They're back!

Story Of A Heart, The Benny Anderssons Band (Orkester)

featuring Helen Sjöholm,

Words & Music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

Well, as they used to say so often on

Monty Python, "And now for something

completely different..."

For those of you who know me pretty well,

esp. those of you back in the D.C. area,

as well as those scattered coast-to-coast

around Hoosier Nation, you know better

than most that among many other things,

I am and have always been one of the

biggest ABBA fans around, from the very

beginning.

Given that, if you've already heard on

your own via a European newspaper

or magazine or the internet what

Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

have been up to lately, you've probably

been wondering why it's taken me so

long to finally get around to posting

this catchy new song of theirs called

Story of a Heart, or in Swedish,

Sommaren Du Fick

I guess I should say especially since

the words and music are by Benny

Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, only

the creative musical geniuses behind

not only ABBA, but the international

hits Chess -with Tim Rice- and the

perpetual money-making machine

that is Mamma Mia!

http://www.abbasite.com/

http://www.chessinconcert.com/

http://www.mamma-mia.com/

Yes, especially considering I'm the

very same guy who not only knew

all the lyrics, backwards and forwards,

to every ABBA song ever officially

released in America or the U.K.

-and even some of the Swedish

ones- but who in high school,

even had in a corner of my bedroom

in North Miami Beach, the record

company's lifesize cardboard stand-up

POS promotion of the group for their

upbeat Voulez-Vous album.

That was thanks to my great job over

at Record Shack in North Miami Beach,

just east of the 163rd Street Shopping

Center on N.E. 15th Avenue, a block

south of the Zayre's, to go old-time

NMB geography on you.

The promotional item was literally too

large for the store to handle, so I asked

the promotional guy at Atlantic Records

if I could have it.

Since he knew my whole music story

and knew what was what from our prior

conversations, he gave me the okay.

I was so eager to get it out of the store,

lest some calamity befall it if I waited

a day, that when I got off that night

I pulled the standup cardboard peg

at the bottom which helped keep it up,

and walked the ten minutes to mi casa,

balancing it on my head, so that I didn't

have to fold it to get it into a car.

When my two younger sisters woke-up

the next morning and I showed them

what was standing there in the corner

of my bedroom, they were speechless.

I was so pleased with myself!

(You don't want to know what fate

befell the less-popular record promo

stuff we received there that the record

companies didn't want back, and that

nobody-but-nobody cared for.

It got abused in the worst and funniest

ways!)

By way of explanation, I should also

mention that my music teacher in

high school was one of the top studio

musicians in the country, and regularly

performed at Criteria Studios in nearby

North Miami for all the top groups of the

time when they came into town to lay

down some tracks, or, record an entire

album, and that even included ABBA.

In fact, he was part of this song recorded

at Criteria the month of my 18th birthday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUx4tLPMo50

(I'll talk about that and some other

Miami musical moments in future

posts, including Jon Marlowe of

the late Miami News.)

Now, getting back to this new song

by Benny and Björn, I first meant

to post on it a few weeks ago, when

I first heard it on the BBC, but I got

sidetracked and decided that I'd wait

'til I started seeing some better,

cleaner audio versions of it uploaded

to YouTube.

Over the past weekend, I listened to

the various versions there, noting

what was good and what was bad,

until I selected two that I think best

represent the 'sound' you're expecting

to hear when you know who's behind it.

The song is sung by the wonderfully

talented Helen Sjöholm, who was

the original Kristina in their hugely

successful musical version of

Kristina från Duvemåla, which was

the series of books written by Vihelm

Moberg chronicling the travails of

poor Swedish emigrants journeying

to pre-Civil War America, and their

attempts to fit-in with both their new

surroundings and their new country.

(The early '70's film versions of some

of the Moberg books, especially

The Emigrants,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067919/

and The New Land

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069035/

starring two film heavyweights,

film/stage legend Liv Ullman, and

the pro's pro, Max von Sydow

-who's actually Swedish- both of

whom are terrific, and well worth

watching if you can ever rent them,

or check them out of your local

library.)

The show will be playing in New York

in September at Carnegie Hall under

the title, Kristina the Musical

See http://kristinathemusical.com/

and http://www.duvemala.com/eng/

Sjöholm also played the key role of

Gabriella in the hugely popular film,

Så som i himmelen"

(As It Is in Heaven), and sang the

now-beloved eponymous song that

every Swedish girl and woman knows

the lyrics to by heart, Gabriella's

Song

Some of you might recall that until

I removed it 2-3 weeks ago, for most

of this year, I had among the handful

of videos of hers here on my blog,

Molly Sandén singing Gabriellas

Sång

What a tremendous voice and talent! From April 11, 2008 on Swedish TV's (SVT's) popular program,

"Så ska det låta," the Swedish sensation who marries Pop Music with a powerful Soprano voice,

Molly Sandén singing "Gabriellas Sång" (Gabriella's Song) from the 2004 motion picture,

"Så som i himmelen" (As It Is in Heaven)

Sadly, Molly didn't fare quite so well

at the Melodifestivalen finals, to get

into the Eurovision Song Contest

representing Sweden, as Malena

Ernman earned that right, but no

serious music lover who knows of

her, or who has ever heard her truly

amazing voice, has any doubt that

Molly is the Real Deal, a star in

the making.

Just as is equally clear with both

Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir,

a.k.a. Yohanna, from Iceland,

http://www.youtube.com/yohannamusic

or Esmée Denters of The Netherlands,

who Oprah loved so much she invited her

to Chicago..

http://www.youtube.com/esmeedenters

Esmée Denters

All three singers clearly have talent to

spare and unlimited futures.

Time to jump on the bandwagon

while you can!

Below I have the two versions of

Story Of A Heart for you, in both

Engelska and Svenka, though for

me, personally, the Swedish version

rocks just a little bit stronger, as the

production sounds slightly clearer

than the version in English.

But maybe that's just me -be your

own judge.

First, in English:

------------

Here's the Swedish version:

And a reminder, the older videos, photos

and materials that I've used here in the

are now at my mirror storage blog site:

http://hallandale-beach-blog.blogspot.com/

re "After Call From Senator Inouye’s Office, Small Hawaii Bank Got U.S. Aid"

My own comments and some anecdotes

follow this well-researched -and thoroughly

-believable- story which is co-written by

ProPublica

http://www.propublica.org/ and

The Washington Post,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

This story is running on the front page

of The Post on Wednesday morning.

In case you haven't seen the prior

ProPublica pieces I've run here

in the past, here is the Reader's

Digest version of who they

are and what they're about:

"ProPublica is an independent,

non-profit newsroom that produces

investigative journalism in the public

interest. We strive to foster change

through exposing exploitation of the

weak by the strong and the failures

of those with power to vindicate the

trust placed in them."

Got the picture?

-----------------

ProPublica

http://www.propublica.org/ion/bailout/item/senator-inouye-small-hawaii-bank-aid-630

After Call From Senator Inouye’s Office, Small Hawaii Bank Got U.S. Aid

by Paul Kiel, ProPublica, and Binyamin Appelbaum, Washington Post - June 30, 2009 9:08 pm EDT

Central Pacific Financial, Hawaii's fourth-largest bank, was approved for $135 million in bailout funds shortly after Senator Daniel Inouye's (D-Hawaii) office made a call to the bank's regulator. Inouye, who reported owning Central Pacific shares worth $350,000 to $750,000 in 2007, denies attempting to influence the process (Getty Images file photo).

This story was published in the Washington Post on July 1, 2009.

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye's staff contacted federal regulators last fall to ask about the bailout application of an ailing Hawaii bank that he had helped to establish and where he has invested the bulk of his personal wealth.

The bank, Central Pacific Financial, was an unlikely candidate for a program designed by the Treasury Department to bolster healthy banks. The firm's losses were depleting its capital reserves. Its primary regulator, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., already had decided that it didn't meet the criteria for receiving a favorable recommendation and had forwarded the application to a council that reviewed marginal cases, according to agency documents.

Two weeks after the inquiry from Inouye's office, Central Pacific announced that the Treasury would inject $135 million.

Many lawmakers have worked to help home-state banks get federal money since the Treasury announced in October that it would invest up to $250 billion in healthy financial firms. But the Inouye inquiry stands apart because of the senator's ties to Central Pacific. While at least 33 senators own shares in banks that got federal aid, a review of financial disclosures and records obtained from regulatory agencies shows no other instance of the office of a senator intervening on behalf of a bank in which he owned shares.

Inouye (D-Hawaii) declined a request for an interview but acknowledged in a statementthat an aide had called the FDIC to ask about Central Pacific's application. Inouye said he was not attempting to influence the outcome. The statement did not address Inouye's personal role in the inquiry, including whether he directed the aide to make the call or knew at the time that it had been made.

Even if Inouye were directly involved, it would not violate the rules the Senate sets for itself, experts said.

Both the FDIC and the Treasury said the decision was not affected by the involvement of Inouye's office.

Inouye reported ownership of Central Pacific shares worth $350,000 to $700,000, some held by his wife,at the end of 2007. The shares represented at least two-thirds of Inouye's total reported assets. Inouye has requested a delay in filing his annual financial disclosure for 2008, which was due this spring, and he declined to provide the current value of his investment. Since the end of 2007, the bank's stock has lost 79 percent of its value.

Central Pacific was founded in 1954 by a group of World War II veterans including Inouye who were emerging leaders in Hawaii's Japanese American community.

"The time had come to fund a bank that could provide equitable service not only to the Japanese, but to all communities," Inouye is quoted as saying in an exhibit in the lobby of one of the company's Honolulu branches. Inouye, who became the bank's first secretary, said that he initially invested $3,000, the minimum amount possible.

Central Pacific is Hawaii's fourth-largest bank, holding about 15 percent of the state's deposits. In recent years, it increasingly used the money to make loans in California, funding several large residential developments. By last year, the bank was facing the consequences of California's collapsing housing market. In July, Central Pacific reported a quarterly loss of $146 million, matching its total profit in the previous three years.

In October, shortly after the government announced that it would invest billions of dollars in banks to spur new lending, Central Pacific submitted an application under the initiative, called the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP.

The bank faced long odds. More than 1,600 banks submitted applications to the FDIC in the three months after the program was announced, according to a report by the FDIC's inspector general's office. The agency forwarded 408 applications to Treasury, which approved only 267, or roughly 16 percent of the total.

Central Pacific's situation was even bleaker because it was in trouble with the FDIC. Regulators had raised concerns about the bank earlier in the year. The bank would soon sign an agreement with its state regulator and the FDIC requiring it to raise an additional $40 million in capital and to improve its management practices.

After the bank applied for bailout funds, weeks passed. Andrew Rosen, a spokesman for Central Pacific, said that regulators had told the bank that the process would take "some time" because of the glut of applications.

In late November, still waiting for an answer, the bank's government-affairs officer called Inouye's office to ask that it check on the status of the application, according to Rosen. (Rosen said in an initial interview that the bank had not contacted Inouye's office about the application. After Inouye was contacted for this story, Rosen said that he'd been mistaken, that the bank had called Inouye's office.)

One day after the bank's request, an Inouye aide called the FDIC's regional office in San Francisco, which regulates Central Pacific. Inouye said in a statement that the staffer, Van Luong, "simply left a voicemail message seeking to clarify whether Central Pacific Bank's application for TARP funds had actually been received by the FDIC." The statement said that the bank was soon notified that the application had been received, "and that closed the matter."

"This single phone call was the entire extent of my staff's contact with regard to Central Pacific Bank, to any outside agency," Inouye said.

Internal FDIC e-mails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that Luong's question was referred from San Francisco to FDIC headquarters in Washington. A few days later, Alice Goodman, who heads the FDIC's office of legislative affairs – and whose office is typically the point of contact for congressional inquiries – called Luong to say that the application "was still under process."

The internal e-mails show that the application had been forwarded to an inter-agency council headed by the Treasury Department that reviews cases in which a bank did not meet the criteria for a federal investment. Those criteria require banks to demonstrate their viability without the benefit of federal funding.

Shortly after the Inouye staffer's phone call, the council approved Central Pacific's application.

So far, more than 600 banks have received federal investments. While some recipients have started to repay aid, the Obama administration announced this spring that it would continue to accept applications from community banks until November. The crush of calls from Capitol Hill on behalf of specific applicants led the Treasury to announce earlier year that it would start releasing a weekly list of congressional inquiries. It has yet to do so.

The question of what role members of Congress have played in influencing the Treasury's decisions is under review by the special inspector general appointed to oversee the financial rescue program. A spokesman for the special inspector general said a report is expected later this summer.

Such contacts by members and their staff do not violate the rules Congress has established to govern itself. "Congress has never been willing to adopt strong conflict-of-interest rules for its members, but for the most part, has left it up to each member to decide for themselves whether they have a potential conflict of interest," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a watchdog group.

The most similar known case comes from the House. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) arranged a meeting between regulators and OneUnited of Massachusetts, a bank in which her husband held shares. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who did not own shares in the company, subsequently inserted language into the bailout bill that effectively directed the Treasury to give special consideration to that bank.

The report by the FDIC inspector general found that 26 of the 408 companies whose applications were sent to the Treasury faced enforcement actions as severe as those against Central Pacific. Because the FDIC inspector general did not name these 26 banks, it is unclear how many ultimately won the Treasury's approval. Nor is it clear whether any other bank used the Treasury money -- as Central Pacific did -- to address a capital shortfall identified by regulators.

Several financial analysts said they know of no other instances in which Treasury money was used this way. But they said it was impossible to be sure because banks are not required to disclose such regulatory actions, for instance those requiring that firms raise additional capital. Central Pacific had made this disclosure voluntarily.

Andrew Gray, an FDIC spokesman, said the Central Pacific decision was not unique, but he declined to name other banks, citing a policy against commenting on specific institutions.

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---------------------------------------------------

To me, the critical parts of this

well-researched story are the

following, which will bear especially

close watching over the next few

months:

"The question of what role members of Congress have played in influencing the Treasury's decisions is under review by the special inspector general appointed to oversee the financial rescue program. A spokesman for the special inspector general said a report is expected later this summer."

and

"Several financial analysts said they know of no other instances in which Treasury money was used this way. But they said it was impossible to be sure because banks are not required to disclose such regulatory actions, for instance those requiring that firms raise additional capital. Central Pacific had made this disclosure voluntarily."

See much more on the very tangled

web that is the world of bank bailouts,

the TARP and the F.D.I.C. with stories

that both confound and irritate at:

http://bailout.propublica.org/

Florida banks that participated in the

federal bailout can be found at:

http://bailout.propublica.org/main/list/state/FL

While I lived in Arlington County, VA

from 1989-2003, I lived at three different

addresses, and based on what I write

about here, you probably won't be too

surprised to discover that each was

near a WMATA Metro station,

Once I was near the Clarendon Metro

station that was the gateway for Little

Saigon and the many great restaurants

in the area my friends and I (and all of

Washington) patronized for their

consistently great food at good prices.

http://www.commuterpage.com/art/villages/clarendon2.htm

I also lived twice near the Ballston Metro

station, my transit Home Sweet Home,

which was Public Policy Central,

a place where you could not only get

the usual array of Northeast newspapers,

but also the LA Times., which I loved

reading in the morning over coffee at

the place across the street before

getting on the train,

The reason was location, location,

location.

Ballston was located a block from

not only the area's local mall, the

Ballston Mall, but right near the HQ

for the National Science Foundation,

the U.S. Wildlife Service, and The

Nature Conservancy

http://www.commuterpage.com/art/villages/Ballston.htm

http://www.commuterpage.com/art/villages/ballston2.htm

http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/CPHD/planning/data_maps/metro/ballston/index.htm

http://www.nsf.gov/

(Now that you know this, maybe you

all can perhaps better appreciate why

I miss being up there, esp. on those

occasions when I'm confronted with

South Florida's chronic apathy or

nonsensical way of doing things, which,

so often doesn't involve planning and

strategy -or accountability- so much

as trying to re-invent the wheel,

over-and-over with the same motley

cast of clueless cronies.

That's nowehere more true than here

in Hallandale Beach, a city that could

and should be so much better than

it is.)

One constant thru all those years was

the Giant supermarket on Washington

Blvd., near the metro stop just prior to

where I got off at Ballston, which I

often stopped at to pick-up something

on the way home.

As it happens, this particular Giant

was located right next to the huge

F.D.I.C. Training Center, a.k.a. the

L. William Seidman Center,

http://www.fdic.gov/index.html

http://www.ahl-seidman.com/index.cfm

which was, itself, a neighbor of the

Arlington campus of George Mason

University, housing many of the

graduate school programs, including

their well-known and often in-the-news

Law School. http://www.gmu.edu/arlington/

And just a few blocks away was the

Navy's Office of Naval Research.

http://www.onr.navy.mil/

They didn't all look like actress

Catherine Bell in JAG, of course,

but then she was always at the top

of the Bell Curve, mais non?

(FYI: Bell's mom was born in Iran,

so she also speaks Farsi, d'accord.

So why can't someone at the TV

cablenets ask her what she thinks

of Obama's very embarrassing and

underwhelming reaction to what's

brewing in Iran, instead of asking

over-exposed Jon Bon Jovi?

At least she actually understands

what the protestors are saying!!!)

All that proximity meant that among

many other things, at lunchtime and

early evening, that upscale Giant was

often innundated with VERY smart,

cool and good-looking women, a

self-evident fact that didn't go

un-noticed for long in Arlington.

In fact, it was often a source of great

amusement for me and my friends

when someone got bored and talked

about needing to "swing by the Giant."

(While Georgetown may've had their

well-known <