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Showing posts with label 911 Services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 911 Services. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

ICYMI: A subject that may come up tonight at Hollywood Hills Civic Ass'n mtg., tonight at 7 pm at David Community Center. Broward's 911 radio antenna and #MSDCommission findings. I'll be there!



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Dave 
David B. Smith 

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Monday, August 19, 2019

So THAT just happened... for the worst. Broward County's 325-foot 911 Services radio tower at West Lake Park in #HollywoodFL just got the green light from an independent consultant. So now what? Don't hold your breath, Hollywood!

Today's blog post is the latest update to the neverending story regarding Broward County's longstanding effort to put a 325-foot high 911 emergency services radio tower and antenna in a very popular county park in northern Hollywood off Sheridan Street, West Lake Park. 
Map here: https://goo.gl/maps/mM7qZd1Hz6aBHqx2A

 That plan has been almost universally opposed by the the city's residents and elected officials on largely environmental grounds and financial grounds, though there are clearly many Hollywood homeowners who are opposed to the radio tower being located there for strictly aesthetic reasons, too.
Which is their right, of course.


This blog post will cover what's largely taken place since my last blog post on this issue of May 6th, 2019, The West Lake Park Radio Tower issue is rubbing #HollywoodFL residents the wrong way, esp. people who don't see 325-foot tall radio antennas, even for 911 services, being compatible for a nature park. Especially when there's a better answer available. @SAVEWESTLAKE
https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-west-lake-park-radio-tower-issue-is.html


The map above and the following infromation comes straight from Broward County's website:

Consultant Concludes West Lake Park is Best Site for 911 Tower Site

On June 19, Broward County and the City of Hollywood agreed to hire an independent subject matter expert to evaluate two proposed locations for a new radio tower in east Hollywood. The independent expert released his report earlier today and recommends the West Lake Park location (view site map) in lieu of the CIRC Hotel location. Per the terms of the agreement between the City and County, the independent expert’s decision is binding on both parties. Read Consultant Report.
Broward Comm. Beam Furr, a former City of Hollywood Commissioner -and a friend of yours truly- was very articulate and persuasive in pointing out these environmental and financial facts at a summer County Commission meeting, pointing out that having it placed atop The Circ Hotel at Young Circle on U.S.-1/Federal Highway is better for all Broward taxpayers because
a.) it would cost less, and, 
b.) there would be ZERO possibility of storm surge affecting the antenna tower during or after a hurricane, as would be more likely if it's located at West Lake Park.

 As is commonly known, the whole Broward 911 communications system has been a fiasco for many years, with the murders at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywod International Airport in January of 2017 - I knew someone who flew out of the airport shortly before it took place- and the massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas H.S. having revealed the self-evident dangers of the County Commission being  behind-schedule on updating and improving the 911 system for what seems like forever.
That being the case, actually having the radio antenna located in a site that is both cheaper and safer made a lot of sense to me and most of the people I know, whether they were Hollywood residents like me or not.

 But the rest of the Broward County Commission had little-to-no interest in listening to what Comm. Furr and the residents of Hollywood said, and to me seemed to have largely made their minds made up long before the meeting started, as evidenced by many their overly-dramatic self-serving, self-pitying, sanctimonious and sarcastic comments, especially those coming from Comm. Barbara Sharief and Comm. Michael Udine, the latter of whom I zinged on Twitter in late June, as you can see below.
Their whole Chicken Little "sky-is-falling" mindset was embarrassing, though predictable given where we are.

 This all taking place despite the fact that it's clear to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention that the 911 radio tower antenna tower, no matter where it was located in the greater Hollywood area to cover SE Broward, would NOT be complete until... NEXT YEAR.

 I heard one of the county's own experts say that right in front of me at the June meeting in Hollywood.
But to not real effect apparently.
People who know better still claim it will be done this year.
It's simply a preposterous claim, especially if we get anything close to a minor hurricane before the end of November now that we have moved into the heart of hurricane season, where 85% of them emerge.





Photo from @SAVEWESTLAKE




































 

Dave 

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Monday, May 6, 2019

The West Lake Park Radio Tower issue is rubbing #HollywoodFL residents the wrong way, esp. people who don't see 325-foot tall radio antennas, even for 911 services, being compatible for a nature park. Especially when there's a better answer available. @SAVEWESTLAKE

The West Lake Park Radio Tower issue is rubbing #HollywoodFL residents the wrong way, esp. people who don't see 325-foot tall radio antennas, even for 911 services, being compatible for a  nature park. Especially when there's a better answer available. @SAVEWESTLAKE

 Updated Tuesday May 7th, 2019






Lakes Residents, The HLCA Board of Directors supports the Circ Hotel rooftop as the best place for the County's radio communications antennas. Many thanks to the residents of West Lake Village for all their hard work on this issue. Also many thanks to all concerned residents who came out to support West Lake Park at the Rally on Saturday. Broward County is proposing to install eight 325' towers throughout Broward to have a countywide emergency 911 system for first-responders. They plan to install two towers in Hollywood, one in East Hollywood and one West Hollywood. The East Hollywood site they proposed is in West Lake Park. The City of Hollywood asked Broward County to look at the rooftop of the Circ Hotel as an alternative to building a tower in the park, as they are currently utilizing rooftops at Point of the Americas and Playa Del Sol condo buildings. The County commissioners voted to have a feasibility study done on the Circ Hotel. The feasibility study was completed and the City's experts say the study is positive for the Circ rooftop, but it is biased towards a tower in the park. Any challenges cited in the report are either standard procedure for rooftop installations or estimates and assumptions without detail. The City had an engineering study completed as well and the engineer stated that the County's report takes an extreme position in terms of costs and coverage. Further he stated that the Circ can be done without extensive modifications to the building, at lower costs than the County report estimated and without loss of coverage. On April 16th, the Broward Commission voted to move forward with West Lake Park based on the results of the County's feasibility study. Comm Furr and Comm Ryan, both wanted confirmation that the County was working simultaneously with the Circ in the event there is a problem with the park, which the County administrator Bertha Henry said they would. They also approved voting on removing the current restrictive covenant currently protecting the park to a
A post shared by SAVE WEST LAKE PARK (@savewestlake) on

https://www.instagram.com/savewestlake/

Just wanted to share some news about an important Hollywood Lakes area story that has been percolating just below the surface for quite some time and only gotten the right amount of attention and analysis at what seems to me to be odd times. 
At the last minute. Not unlike how it came up in the first place.

Many of the most trusted people I know in Hollywood wonder why it's come to this, and why this issue could not have been handled in a more transparent and professional manner by Broward County. But it was not.
So that's why Tuesday morning's proceedings are key.

 Here's some of the backstory...

 First, this is the website for the Broward County park involved in the controversy, West Lake Park in Hollywood, at 1200 Sheridan Road, not in West Park, the city west of Hallandale Beach, as some South Florida media have erroneously been reporting. 
http://www.broward.org/Parks/Pages/Park.aspx?=44

Background info from Broward County's website, agenda item #62:
http://cragenda.broward.org/agenda_publish.cfm?id=&mt=ALL&get_month=5&get_year=2019&dsp=ag&seq=586

Local 10 News
Parker Branton, Reporter
Protesters rally against county's plan to build radio tower in park
Posted: 11:54 AM, May 04, 2019
https://www.local10.com/video/protesters-rally-against-county-s-plan-to-build-radio-tower-in-park








Local 10 News
Commissioners favor building radio tower in West Lake Park
Residents worry structure will be an eyesore
By Saira Anwer - Reporter, Tim Swift - Local10.com Digital Editor
Posted: 5:39 PM, April 16, 2019Updated: 6:27 PM, April 16, 2019
https://www.local10.com/news/florida/broward/commissioners-favor-building-radio-tower-in-west-lake-park




South Florida Sun Sentinel
Broward reverses course and looks to put radio tower in Hollywood park
Larry Barszewski, Reporter, South Florida Sun Sentinel
April 10, 2019

There are plenty of crossed fingers in Broward County hoping another major police incident doesn’t occur before a new public safety radio system starts operating. But time is slipping away as the county struggles to nail down the final details.

Commissioners have been criticized for not moving faster to replace the county’s old and overloaded system — a system that was crippled during the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting in 2017 and the Parkland school shooting last year.

The new system would help police and firefighters responding to 911 calls, improving their ability to transmit and receive messages anywhere in the county, including in schools, condominiums and hospitals. It will also be able to handle more traffic, so police at a major crime scene aren’t having to resort to using hand signals to communicate or aren’t able to get an open line to dispatchers.

The most recent stumbling block the county has faced is where to put a Hollywood antenna needed for the system. The city wants the antenna placed on top of the Circ downtown apartment high rise, where it will be less conspicuous than erecting a 325-foot tower in West Lake Park.

Read the rest of the story at:
Local 10 News
HOLLYWOOD
BSO radio tower delayed again after concerns from Hollywood residents
Equipment needed to improve Sheriff's Office's communications system
By Tim Swift, Terrell Forney - Reporter
Posted: 5:15 PM, January 29, 2019Updated: 7:05 PM, January 29, 2019
https://www.local10.com/news/florida/hollywood/bso-radio-tower-delayed-again-after-concerns-from-hollywood-residents

 The following email was sent out this morning by Hollywood Lakes Civic Association President Terry Cantrell, who has given me permission to share it here on the blog to get the word out about Tuesday's important meeting.

 Also, if you are interested in more information, the URL for the Twitter handle @SAVEWESTLAKE is at https://twitter.com/SAVEWESTLAKE

Lakes logo new
  
Lakes Residents,
  
The HLCA Board of Directors supports the Circ Hotel rooftop as the best place for the County's radio communications antennas. Many thanks to the residents of West Lake Village for all their hard work on this issue. Also many thanks to all concerned residents who came out to support West LakePark at the Rally on Saturday.

Broward County is proposing to install eight 325' towers throughout Broward to have a countywide emergency 911 system for first-responders. They plan to install two towers in Hollywood, one in East Hollywood and one West Hollywood. The East Hollywood site they proposed is in West Lake Park. 
The City of Hollywood asked Broward County to look at the rooftop of the Circ Hotel as an alternative to building a tower in the park, as they are currently utilizing rooftops at Point of the Americas and Playa Del Sol condo buildings. The County commissioners voted to have a feasibility study done on the Circ Hotel. 

The feasibility study was completed and the City's experts say the study is positive for the Circ rooftop, but it is biased towards a tower in the park. Any challenges cited in the report are either standard procedure for rooftop installations or estimates and assumptions without detail. The City had an engineering study completed as well and the engineer stated that the County's report takes an extreme position in terms of costs and coverage. Further he stated that the Circ can be done without extensive modifications to the building, at lower costs than the County report estimated and without loss of coverage.

On April 16th, the Broward Commission voted to move forward with West Lake Park based on the results of the County's feasibility study. Comm Furr and Comm Ryan, both wanted confirmation that the County was working simultaneously with the Circ in the event there is a problem with the park, which the County administrator Bertha Henry said they would.  They also approved voting on removing the current restrictive covenant currently protecting the park to allow for the tower to be built. That vote will take place:

Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at 10 AM.

At the County Hall Chambers

4th Floor, Government Center
115 South Andrews Ave
Ft Lauderdale, FL 33301

Please come on 5/7/19 and make your voice heard. You will need to fill out a card to speak upon arrival. Parking is available in a metered lot to the north and corner of SW 1st Avenue and Broward Boulevard, or within the parking garage located west of the SW 1st Avenue on SW 2nd Street, by the railroad tracks. They do validate parking for the garage by the railroad tracks and it is free.

The City of Hollywood has been very supportive as well as a couple of the county commissioners, such as Comm Beam Furr and Comm Tim Ryan.  If you would like to write to the Broward County Commissioners to tell them to please move forward with the Circ Hotel and not to remove the covenant on the park, you can use the following email addresses:


We must show Broward County Commissioners that we do NOT want the 325 foot Tower in our Park. We DO NOT want them to remove the protections that now exist.

Tell them to Park it on the Roof of the Circ Now , before they vote on May 7!!!!
HLCA
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