About 15 years ago, I was very instrumental with the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation in attempting to preserve the historic Plantation Community Center designed by renowned architect Russell Pancoast.
This effort was often contentious and controversial at Plantation and Broward County Commission meetings. My recollection of the incident with former Mayor Veltri Bendekovic (Official’s ‘vitriolic behavior’ must end, Letters, June 11) is quite different.
The incident she references was nothing more than a vigorous two-minute debate in the hallway after the mayor told me to stay out of her city’s business.
I want to specifically address her allegation that a Plantation employee had to step in front of me for fear of the mayor being struck. That is outrageous and inaccurate. It is unfortunate that she has such a skewed recollection of that day.
It is obvious that her memory has been impacted by her dislike of me as I honestly was a thorn in her side over that issue.
— Steven Glassman, Fort Lauderdale
The writer is a city commissioner.
John Herbst responds
I was surprised to find myself inserted into a letter to the editor responding to Steve Bousquet’s column on civility and decorum (by Dr. Bret Ribotsky).
The author suggests that my employment with TKO Apparel created a conflict of interest related to Bahia Mar. That assertion omits several important facts.
First, my employment was not hidden from the public. The Sun Sentinel’s news reporter extensively covered the matter and disclosed it repeatedly. Second, the city attorney’s review concluded that no prohibited conflict of interest existed.
Third, during my brief five-month tenure with the company, only one routine matter regarding a license for serving food and beverage on the beach came before the City Commission. Although I was not legally required to do so, I voluntarily recused myself from that vote to avoid even the appearance of a conflict.
What I find most curious is that a letter ostensibly responding to a column about civility and decorum shifted into an unrelated discussion about my employment. Readers are entitled to their opinions, but they are also entitled to the full facts.
— John C. Herbst, Fort Lauderdale
The writer is a city commissioner.
The indignity of ‘poor doors’
The concept of “poor doors” in luxury condo developments is a modern form of segregation. It has no place in Hollywood.
To win government approval, developers often promise a percentage of affordable housing units, but the reality is often a tale of two classes.
Affordable housing residents are routinely forced to use separate entrances, lobbies and elevators, are systematically priced out of amenities, restricted to less desirable spaces, and denied entry to rooftop lounges or pools that luxury dwellers enjoy. The defining theme here is blatant separation.
Bal Harbour passed an ordinance prohibiting poor doors, and New York City has similar laws in place, yet Hollywood has failed to act.
An attorney for Related Group could not even guarantee that a poor door would not be used in a proposed development on public land at Hollywood Beach.
Shamefully, five of seven Hollywood commissioners seemed perfectly fine with this, voting for the project before development details were even finalized. Even worse, one commissioner explicitly stated his objection to poor doors, yet voted to move the project forward.
There are many glaring issues with this beach development, but this indignity alone should have been enough to stop it in its tracks. Our city leadership needs to wake up and ban this practice before it becomes part of our skyline.
— Manuel Benitez, Hollywood
Dumb, dumber, dumbest
I’ve finally stopped laughing (re the news article, “Deputy said driver was texting with a hand that she doesn’t have“). I too do not have my right hand (it was amputated in 2019), so I really, really get the joke.
Perhaps the Sun Sentinel should create a “Dumbest Cop of the Year” award.
— Harold Chanin, Boynton Beach
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