Consequently, I've had to resort to screen grabs yet again, with info and text below. 😬
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1/ In my opinion, the City of Hollywood's new #VacationRental rules are a HUGE fail, step backwards. City has NOT engaged the honest stakeholders, yet also allowed genuine troublemakers to continue angering neighbors. Compliance % now = LOWER than even I predicted in 2017. March 1st deadline = a sad joke.
2/ .@cohgov does NOT want media/ppl asking hard Q's re why city residents doing something legal must jump thru NEW hoops, yet #YellowGreenMarket, in self-evident violation of DOZENS of HWD/#Broward/#FL health/zoning regs for YEARS, gets TLC -stays OPEN.
On this Tweet, I linked to my very popular 2017 post, below, that was seen by many tens of thousands of people within a very short time.
I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the people coming to the blog to read that 2017 post got the same general sense of dread and over-kill that I did about the city's then-new changes, which in my opinion failed to honestly address the White Elephant in the room -why so many people who are homeowners/stakeholders involved with Vacation Rentals do NOT trust the city or its officials. Especially people in the city's Code Compliance Dept.
Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog, FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 2017 Updated: A veritable train wreck of a public meeting. Wednesday's embarrassing Vacation Rental Ordinance Amendment presentation at Hollywood City Hall was not a pretty sight by any stretch of the imagination
https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/a-veritable-trainwreck-of-public.html
3/ Tuesday Feb. 23rd's 2 Webex calls = great opportunity for ppl in #HollywoodFL to ask city to name 4 examples where they've shown they've learned fm THEIR past #VacationRental mistakes, will now adapt to the reality they've ignored for yrs.
The Vacation Rental License webpage is at
It makes for very interesting reading.
And by interesting, I mean lots of things that seem far afield from what most people would think is reasonable.
Information below from City of Hollywood website, which was in my Tweet, regarding the changes made at Hollywood City Hall on January 20th.
You know, Inaugural Day? Great timing!
Vacation Rental Changes: Virtual Meeting Q&A
The City has made a number of changes to the Vacation Rental License Program Ordinance. To assist property owners with meeting compliance deadlines, the City will be hosting two virtual question and answer sessions. The sessions will be held via the Cisco WebEx Virtual Meeting application tomorrow, Tuesday, February 23, 2021 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and again from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. There will be no formal presentation, but staff will be on-hand to answer questions related to the Vacation Rental License Program, licensure, inspections requirements and more.
Those who currently have a Vacation Rental License, as well as those property owners who are currently using their property as a vacation rental are encouraged to participate. Join a session using the information below and have your questions personally answered.
MORNING SESSION
February 23 at 11:00 a.m.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN VIA COMPUTER
JOIN VIA TELEPHONE: 408.418.9388
Meeting ID: 132 797 4704
Password: VACATION
EVENING SESSION
February 23 at 5:00 p.m.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN VIA COMPUTER
JOIN VIA TELEPHONE: 408.418.9388
Meeting ID: 132 538 1006
Password: VACATION
Today's tweet was perhaps the easiest to write in quite some time because personal experience has shown that when push comes to shove, unfortunately, many Hollywood officials believe that they can push and push on public policy against local citizens or even longtime civic activists, and will likely not encounter any if much public pushback.
Especially in these pandemic conditions of February 2021 that largely prevent the public from being able to directly face, question and hold accountable the very elected officials and administrators creating and enforcing policy in this city.
But what has happened positively on this subject since the city instituted those changes of theirs in 2017?
Are there thousands or even hundreds more people who are homeowners engaged in vacation rentals who are now complying with those rules? No.
According to many in a position to know, the city's compliance rate with its current rules is still far below 30%. Below thirty per cent.
Name another public policy which, if it had a compliance rate at that level, would be considered semi-successful, and one to build upon, instead of being chucked-out and started over from scratch, including re-examining old assumptions? You can't.
There isn't one.
In fact, the compliance rate is so low that the city tries to go out of its way to never put that number into play publicly, so as to not invite the sort of ridicule that... I am now engaging in, no?
Why do you suppose that is?
Because it shows that the city's past accountability efforts were a failure on every level, in large part because they never tried to learn from their previous mistakes, including openly antagonizing reasonable people in the community who were not opposed to reasonable safety/accountability accords being adopted, since that has the practical effect of leveling the playing field, and not dis-advantaging them for following suit.
But despite offers of cooperation from many individual Vacation Rental owners, industry groups and stakeholders -efforts I know something about personally, which the local South Florida media completely failed to report upon in 2017- the City of Hollywood was adamant about NOT listening to the legitimate concerns of these Hollywood homeowners, Airbnb and others that were willing to cooperate with them up to the point that they could legally under their various legal agreements and contracts.
But the city kept asking for more and more private and proprietary information they had no legal right to, and which the groups could NOT legally disclose to the city without being in violation.
But yet the City still acted entitled to the information.
Go figure, huh?
San Francisco Chronicle
New Lake Tahoe crackdown on rentals could make it much harder to snag an Airbnb, Vrbo
By Gregory Thomas
February 19th, 2021
The San Francisco Chronicle article above is that rare example of what happens when social and economic conditions coincide - Bay Area professionals used to toiling during the day in large urban skyscrapers being told to Work At Home, and quite rightfully scared of the disintegrating social conditions in San Francisco, are evacuating en masse- to make it much much harder for a local community to continue its status quo way of life.
In this case, Lake Tahoe, California, which is NOT a suburb of the Bay Area, per se.
In fact, they move there specifically to escape the troubles and people responsible for their heightened sense of concern for themselves and their families.
In these kind of events, enacting legislation seems not only appropriate, but necessary, to prevent longtime local people from being priced out of their own town.
But that is NOT the situation that currently exists in Hollywood, Florida in 2021.
Far from it.
Experienced southeast Broward realtors will tell you that home sales in the upscale Hollywood Lakes area and in the Golden Isles neighborhood of Hallandale Beach are doing very well, indeed.
You can see as much for yourself when you see their advertisements and websites bragging about how successful they've been in selling homes located there.
Often, to people fleeing Blue states and their oppressive lockdown rules, as well as the cold weather.
It is, of course, very concerning for the city long-term that so many longtime Hollywood residents who are successful in life and who've often shared something of themselves with the community and its various social groups, are consciously choosing to vote with their feet by moving not just out of Hollywood Lakes, but out of Hollywood completely.
But that is the subject for another future blog post in some detail, not one to be examined today.
But it's also a great question for the city's elected officials and administrators to be asked, isn't it? Yes it is.
So tell me, why aren't we hearing those particular questions asked by the local news media, or at Hollywood City Commission and CRA meetings?
Yes, there are many answers to that question, again, to be addressed very soon in this space.
