Another eye-rolling public policy + financial decision by City of #HollywoodFL. This time, re The ArtsPark Improvement Project @ #YoungCircle. What's that? Funny that you ask... The city's not-so-funny public engagement.

Aerial view of The ArtsPark at Young Circle, via Google Maps

Another eye-rolling  public policy + financial decision by City of #HollywoodFL. This time, re The ArtsPark Improvement Project @ #YoungCircle. What's that? Funny that you ask... The city's not-so-funny public engagement.

Came across something rather odd on the city's so-called Sunshine Board outside of City Hall on Monday afternoon, which, for the record, as I am constantly mentioning on the Hollywood Residents - Speak Up Facebook page, as well as my blog, Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog, does NOT always have the required public notices it is supposed to have.

(Never had a notice about Hollywood City Hall closing and, specifically why, using any statistical data, nor anything about what had changed that allowed it to now be open.)

Now perhaps I've missed it being discussed somewhere else on the Facebook group page -as I'm constantly perplexed at the random order of things posted there, as opposed to them being in a logical chron order, so that I can recall things more accurately- but has anyone else commented on what the City of Hollywood's Dept. of Design and Construction Management is doing?

They are seeking public input on the so-called ArtsPark Improvement Project, something that most people in the city have likely never heard nothing about or could not otherwise accurately describe to you.

Could THAT possibly be, in part, because there is nothing, physically, at The ArtsPark itself, telling you anything at all about it?

But then this just continues the city and CRA's truly appalling public engagement practices for anything involving that area, since there is nowhere to be found there a simple posted calendar of upcoming events.
So simple, yet, apparently, too complex for the city's Rec. Dept. and CRA to figure out. 

The City of Hollywood has been so busy the past 19 months trying to brainwash the public on what is and isn't appropriate for the public to comment directly to its elected officials on public policy that the brainwashing is now starting to affect the city employees as well.

Rather than having the city officials involved in that Dept. physically meeting with members of the public who actually uses that site and who'd have opinions, whether good or bad or something in-between, say, on a Friday night at 7 pm when parents and kids are actually THERE, before the city's own ArtsPark Movie Night film starts a bit after 8 pm, guess what the city is doing?

Yes, they are limiting public input to one of their horrendous WebEx experiences, from 6-7:30 pm on Monday November 15th?

So why is the city doing that? Why are they consciously refusing to adapt to the changing facts on the ground, after finally reopening City Hall, and simply doing what is both the simplest thing and the most intelligent thing? 

Why are they ignoring... #science?

Because they like having and maintaining control, even if it is inconvenient and NOT as useful to the public that may actually have something to say on the subject.

I called the Dept. of Design and Construction Management this afternoon and spoke to a woman named Alex Iglesias who's in charge of the project, DCM-19-001199.

She could not explain why there were no other opportunities in the immediate future for the public to meet and hear her presentation other than via WebEx, whether at now-opened City Hall, one of the now-opened Community Centers, or even at the outdoor ArtsPark itself, as I had specifically suggested.

She told me that, among other things, the city's Parks Dept., per the Go Bonds, has decided it wants and needs a 6-8 foot fence for ticketed events that the city charges promoters for when it rents out the public's park. 

Estimated costs of fencing? $496,019.

Specifically, there will be 6-8 foot fences built towards the eastern and western entrances to the park, as well as around the grassy areas of the amphitheater, and around the water fountain area where the food trucks congregate, so that the city can get more money from renting out the park, since right now, promoters usually have to bring or rent fencing for these events. 

So, the city's Parks Dept. wants to keep the prospective promoters happy!


The gates would be open when there is no ticketed event scheduled, but the fences would remain, obviously.

Looking east from the western sidewalk of Young Circle, via the bust of Hollywood founder and first mayor, Joseph W. Young, with The Circ Hotel in distance to the left. My photo of October 23rd, 2021.

Looking east from the central plaza area and water fountain where many food trucks once congregated in pre-pandemic times on Monday nights. My photo of October 23rd, 2021.

Looking west, toward Downtown Hollywood, with the busy under-construction Block 40 that will be a 19-story tower 166 apartments and a 103-room Hilton Garden Inn in a 19-story tower, being built on the site of the Great Southern Hotel, built by city founder Joseph W. Young in 1924. 

My photo of October 23rd, 2021.

I'd like to know from the Hollywood Parks Dept. how much revenue has been generated from rental use of The ArtsPark for the past five years, so that we can determine whether or not the costs of the fence -rapidly increasing according to her- plus the costs of its installation, makes going forward worthwhile.

ICYMI: My last blog post, with more photos than my email of last week, 

Some preliminary thoughts about #Broward's 2021 #redistricting process. 

Final map gets voted on at what's likely to be a very spirited December 7th meeting, 

where some political careers may well be snuffed out

https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/some-preliminary-thoughts-about-broward.html

Dave 

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/ 

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Travel Massive: https://travelmassive.com/dbsmith

#HollywoodFL civic activists and Historic Preservation advocates are on the warpath. Feel betrayed by Hollywood officials after the 95-year old Great Southern Hotel is demolished without any public notice. To many Hollywood residents, city's decision seems awfully "convenient," given the widespread dissatisfaction with developer and the glacial pace of construction on Block 40

#HollywoodFL civic activists and Historic Preservation advocates are on the warpath. Feel betrayed by Hollywood officials after the 95-year old Great Southern Hotel is demolished without any public notice.

To many Hollywood residents, city's decision seems awfully "convenient," given the widespread dissatisfaction with developer and the glacial pace of construction on Block 40.

Once Upon a Time... 

I attended last Tuesday afternoon's City of Hollywood Historic Preservation Board meeting at Hollywood City Hall at 3:00 pm, walking into the Commission Chambers a minute or two after it started because I had looked -in vain- out in the lobby for a written copy of the agenda to peruse.
I had so many things on my mind that I had left the house for the meeting before checking the city's website to see if that pertinent info was there.

I say that because with no agenda available in the lobby, I and most of the public in the room got completely blindsided when, after some long and heated discussions about some proposed changes  to two city residential properties -including a beautiful house on N. Southlake Drive that last sold for $12.5 million- the dumbfounding news that was spoken aloud sometime after 4:15 pm about the demolition that very morning of the historic Great Southern Hotel, in the city's historic Downtown area, located on Block 40, directly across the street from the west side of Young Circle.
A building constructed in 1924 during Hollywood's infancy.

And, a building that I have personally taken DOZENS of photos of over the past 16 years since I returned to South Florida from Washington, D.C. to look after my late Dad, following his quadruple heart operation.
And then later, following his Stroke in 2010. 😔😔

What little that was left of the actual Great Southern Hotel, the facades that were supposed to be incorporated into real estate developer Charles R. "Chip" Abele's project, were demolished specifically at the urging of City of Hollywood Chief Building Dept. head Dean Decker because of his and his Dept's "safety" concerns.
Yes, when you say "safety," you'd be surprised what usual procedures. protocols, and seats of power and responsibility seemingly don't apply.

Maybe you'd even be surprised to find out that, as was stated obliquely at the Hollywood Historic Preservation Board meeting, the city's Building Dept., if they use the magic words "public safety," seemingly has the unfettered power to do things that even the elected Hollywood City Commission can not legally countermand.
Like the Building Dept.'s demolition order, something that other stakeholders in the city can not contest or at least take to court because the whole reason things were done the way they were Tuesday was to prevent interest groups from finding out and getting involved in a legal fashion.

@SFBJRealEstate MT @Susannah_Bryan Landmark #HollywoodFL hotel built in 1924 was leveled today. Developer #ChipAbele says he cld not save it despite earlier promises to do so.
Here’s my last story on the plans to bring a new project to downtown ⁦@cohgov. https://t.co/tjqPs7Lb2o

— HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) February 11, 2020

Landmark Hollywood hotel built in 1924 was leveled an hour ago. Developer says he could not save it despite earlier promises to do so. Here’s my last story on the plans to bring a new project to downtown ⁦@cohgov⁩ https://t.co/Q4SCgJi36E

— Susannah Bryan (@Susannah_Bryan) February 11, 2020

The Great Southern is no more. And some #Hollywood history buffs aren’t too happy about that. https://t.co/kGTNiOAAkk

— Susannah Bryan (@Susannah_Bryan) February 13, 2020

Earlier in the day Decker had urged developer Chip Abele via a letter written earlier today to demolish it ASAP, and he explained his reasoning for the decision. 

My September 21st, 2016 blog post with info and context about Abele and his company getting approval from the Hollywood City Commission for his Block 40 project is here:

Hollywood developer Chip Abele's years-long effort to launch #YoungCircleCommons project in Downtown Hollywood, across from The ArtsPark, w/a #HiltonHotel, clears hurdle as Hollywood City Comm. unanimously approves requested changes
https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/hollywood-developer-chip-abeles-years.html 

It's been a long road for Abele, often the subject of biting criticism by the public at myriad meetings held at Hollywood City Hall and at various civic association meetings throughout the city that I've personally attended, both before and after I left Hollywood for 9-10 months to travel in August of 2018

That would include the Civic Associations here in the city for Hollywood Lakes, Park East, Hollywood Hills, North Central, the Downtown, Parkside, Royal Poinciana one, to say nothing of the one known as United Neighbors. I go to 4 or 5 of these a month, though some conflict with one another.

Back in 2008 our friends over at the South Florida Business Journal were writing,

Great Southern Hotel developer plans to move ahead in Chapter 11

The redeveloper of Hollywood's Great Southern Hotel, which has stood up to hurricanes, rancorous litigation and the housing meltdown, says it will continue to pursue the project as it works through Chapter 11.
Coral Gables-based SFD@Hollywood LLC filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy on Tuesday. The filing attorney was Thomas M. Messana of Fort Lauderdale-based Messana Weinstein & Stern, P.A.
In an e-mail Thursday, Messana said the filing followed a failure to resolve a dispute over the delivery of 25,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor of the proposed building.
SFD will pursue strategic alternatives on the project, but still intends to develop Youngs Circle Commons, the e-mail said.
Charles R. "Chip" Abele signed the filing as managing member of the limited liability corporation. Other managing members listed in state records are Jose R. Boschetti and Maurice Cayon.
The project called for restoring portions of the Great Southern with 19 stories of mixed-used space that would include 239 condominiums, 25,000 square feet of retail and a parking garage.
Assets and liabilities are each listed as totaling between $1 million and $10 million. Unsecured creditors range anywhere from $89,797 due to Broward County for 2007 property taxes to a $42.46 charge owed to Miami-based 60-Minute Courier.
A 2007 suit was heard in the 4th District Court of Appeal, with Friends of the Great Southern claiming that the city of Hollywood had violated its own building code by approving the partial demolition of the Great Southern Hotel. Directors of Friends of the Great Southern were Richard Vest, William Young and Rene Tewksbury. The city prevailed in the suit.

Earlier in 2008, there was this news in the Sun-Sentinel re the eminenet domain lawsuit between the city and the Mach family that owned the property on the southwest corner of Harrison and S. 19th Avenue, that has looked like this for years

Eminent domain ruling reversed
Ihosvani Rodriguez Staff WriterSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 27, 2008
A state appeals court has decided to support the city's controversial attempt to take a family's downtown property and use it for private development.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled 3-0 to overturn a Broward judge's 2006 ruling that said the city cannot take the Mach family's business property and give it to a powerful developer, according to the decision released Wednesday.

The Mach family has owned the 2,900-square-foot building on Harrison Street since 1972. The building houses the family's hair salon and several other businesses.

The city's downtown Community Redevelopment Agency has been fighting since 2005 to use eminent domain to obtain the property and transfer it to developer Charles "Chip" Abele for a $100 million project, a 19-story condo and retail tower called Young Circle Commons.

"This is very disappointing, obviously," said family spokesman David Mach, "but there's a 99 percent probability we will be appealing."

The Machs could ask the appeals court to reconsider, or, try to take the case to the Florida Supreme Court.

The appeals court panel ruled that Broward Circuit Judge Ronald J. Rothschild should have deferred to the redevelopment agency's 2005 finding that the property is vital to downtown redevelopment plans. Instead, he ruled that testimony during a 2006 trial showed the city and Abele didn't need the building to complete the project.

Attorneys for the city argued the land would be used as part of a traffic flow plan that would enable the developer to preserve the facade of the 1920s-era Great Southern Hotel as part of the Young Circle Commons project.

Such historic preservation is an acceptable reason for government to take private property through the process of eminent domain, the appeals court said in its ruling.

The abandoned hotel, now owned by Abele, is immediately north of the Mach building on Harrison Street. Development planners said the only viable place to build an entrance to the tower's garage is on 19th Avenue. But that would require razing the hotel's western wall-or, building the entrance farther south, on Mach's property.

Appeals court Associate Judge Lisa Davidson, who voted with the majority, said the city should take no more than the 17 feet Abele said he needs for the 30-foot-wide garage entrance.

The Florida Legislature in 2006 prohibited cities from using eminent domain for private redevelopment. But the new law doesn't apply to the Mach case because the city had already started eminent domain proceedings.

The city promised Abele in 2004 that if the developer could not buy out the Machs, it would take the building via eminent domain. Under the agreement, the city will purchase the Mach property through eminent domain and Abele will reimburse the city.

Redevelopment director Neil Fritz said in a statement Wednesday that Hollywood intends to "live up" to the deal with Abele. If the "appeals court decision prevails, we would ultimately transfer the property to the developer to allow the project to be built."

Abele has said he once offered the Machs $1.2 million, but they refused. On Wednesday he acknowledged the housing market is in the doldrums, but said he still wants to move forward with his plans.

"The window of opportunity to build condos has been shut until the markets recover," said Abele, "but this doesn't mean the project won't be built some day."

Mach said Wednesday he is optimistic the city commission, which doubles as the redevelopment agency's board, will back off.

"I have some faith in the new Hollywood government that they will do the right thing and protect the rights of its citizens," he said.

Reminder: Abele and his company also did the 25-story Hollywood Circle condo and retail project on Block 55 that now includes the new-ish Publix Supermarket, The Circ Hotel and its various restauarants, plus ground floor retail on the block northeast of Young Circle.

City Attorney Douglas R. Gonzales also spoke at great length at the Historic Preservation Board meeting chaired by my friend, Hollywood Lakes Civic Association President Terry Cantrell, one of the most involved and best-connected person in the city.

To say the least, most of the asembled public did not quite believe what they were hearing, even if they already knew what had taken place hours before.

Frankly, if I'd known the subject of the Great Southern Hotel was going to come up, I'd have brought my camera tripod with me to film the whole discussion, as I have hundreds of times over the years in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, and then placed the video here on the blog for you to draw your own conclusions, after reading my thoughts.

Why film it? 
Because those Hollywood Historic Preservation Board meetings are neither televised or recorded for the public to watch or review.

My own sense of things, based not only on what I observed during the meeting and immediately afterwards out in the lobby, when several people I know were very upfront and vocal with their criticisms of the city's decision, right to Decker's face, as well as what I've heard/received via emails and text messages is the following.
The smartest, most-involved, and most socially-adept #HollywoodFL civic activists I know and respect are... on the warpath against the city and its elected officials because they see this decision as a very personal betrayal. 
In an election year.

They are irate about this matter for many reasons but if I had to narrow it down to two, I'd say that it's because, to them, it seems more than a bit "convenient" that this 95-year old building has been demolished:

a.) on the same day that Hollywood city official contacted the owner, and, 

b.) on the very same day the city of Hollywood posted this information to the city's website:

Update on Block 40 Construction in Downtown Hollywood
https://hollywoodfl.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=728

Posted on: February 11, 2020

Update on Block 40 Construction in Downtown Hollywood

In late January, as construction crews were performing work to brace the portions of the former Great Southern Hotel to be preserved, the crews and on-site engineers observed issues with the structural integrity of the building, and notified the City of these concerns. The City’s Building Division reviewed reports from four different engineers and field inspections. The preponderance of evidence found significant deterioration of the structure or structural parts making the building unsafe per section 116.2.1.2.2 of the Florida Building Code. Due to the determination that the historic north and west facades of the former hotel were unsafe and posed a significant threat to public safety, a modification of the existing demolition permit was issued this morning and demolition of the unsafe structure was completed earlier this afternoon.

The City consulted with an Engineering firm that inspected the building, interviewed on-site construction contractors, reviewed all prior engineering reports and conducted strength testing of the building’s structural components. The concrete masonry of the former hotel was found to be in disrepair with core drilling tests yielding compression rates of 1320 to 1580 PSI. For commercial structures, 3000 PSI is the minimum requirement. The level of deterioration necessitated immediate attention to address a severe life safety hazard. The perimeter of the construction site was secured to allow for the demolition of the remaining structure.

In 2012, the City of Hollywood approved plans for the redevelopment of the site of the former Great Southern Hotel at the southwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Young Circle. The redevelopment plan is for a 19-story, mixed-use development with 166 upscale residential units and a 103 room hotel along with a restaurant and approximately 9,793 SF of retail and office space. The approved plans preserved and incorporated the north and west facades of the former Great Southern Hotel, originally constructed in the 1920s, as well as some interior features.

The development team has informed the City that they are committed to reconstructing the historical elements previously planned to be preserved as shown in the approved designs. They have also worked to save elements from the original construction with the goal of incorporating them into the new building where feasible.

Great Southern Hotel, Hollywood, Florida 
Uploaded June 28, 2012 by Dan Watson YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJp2KTDPhT8&feature=youtu.be


-----

@SFBJRealEstate @Susannah_Bryan
The smartest, most-involved (+ calmest) #HollywoodFL civic activists are on the warpath abt a bldg. being demolished, coincidentally,
a/ on same day city official contacts owner,
b/ same day city posts this to website. https://t.co/VnabuLnX4K,

— HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) February 11, 2020

@SFBJRealEstate @Susannah_Bryan History of Great Southern Hotel on #YoungCircle in #HollywoodFL, built in 1924, and, seemingly, out-of-the-blue, demolished today at order of city. #Broward https://t.co/Loldsuk3fO

— HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) February 11, 2020

@SFBJRealEstate MT @Susannah_Bryan Landmark #HollywoodFL hotel built in 1924 was leveled today. Developer #ChipAbele says he cld not save it despite earlier promises to do so.
Here’s my last story on the plans to bring a new project to downtown ⁦@cohgov. https://t.co/tjqPs7Lb2o

— HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) February 11, 2020

See also the rueful comments of my friend Lynn Smith, the President of the Downtown Parkside Royal Poinciana Civic Association, from whom I received the following excerpt of a letter last Friday.

Downtown Parkside Royal Poinciana Civic Association
P.O. Box 223697, 
Hollywood, FL 33022
https://www.facebook.com/DPRPCA/

-----

Dave

David B. Smith

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

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More critical analysis about tonight's update re the awful #YoungCircle Feasibility Study that'll make #HollywoodFL #traffic #business worse, NOT better 😮

More critical analysis abt tonight's update re the awful #YoungCircle Feasibility Study that'll make #HollywoodFL #traffic #business worse, NOT better 

Updated June 12th, 2018 at 11:45 AM
For some reason, even after trying to fix it, after this was originally posted on Monday June 11th, some of the sentences are changing their fonts or sizes. I apologize for the look if after I re-edit this the gremlins pop-up again.

Want more examples of what's not working in Hollywood in 2018, especially in Downtown Hollywood? Of people in charge not paying attention or improving as they should? 
If so then you need to get yourself to tonight's meeting from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Lippman Center, 2030 Polk Street, an update on the preposterous Young Circle road project, because I have a very strong intuition that tonight will be such an example. 

A perfect example, actually, just like it was last year, when I attended the last in a series of public meetings hosted by the Hollywood CRA to try to sell Hollywood residents and Small Business owners on the idea of making what in my opinion would be a tragic mistake that will have long-term negative consequences for the city and Downtown Hollywood in particular.

1/ In less than 6 hrs I'll be less popular w/some influential/well-connected ppl in #HollywoodFL, some of whom I generally like, but Que Sera Sera.
Hollywood residents can't take any more BS abt everything in Hollywood -esp. DWTN area- is getting better, when it's clearly NOT.

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) June 11, 2018

https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1006225947547357184

2/ The level of disconnect/distrust b/w #HollywoodFL City Hall and other powerful parties in town to an avg. resident -compared to involved civic activists like myself- is much more palpable than any time I can recall since returning to the area almost 15 years ago. Reasons?

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) June 11, 2018

3/ Later today I'll be sending email to Hollywood City Comm./CRA/Chamber of Commerce -and post on my blog- 1 great self-evident example why this is so, using tonight's update re preposterous #YoungCircle Roadway Project, 5:30 pm-7:00 pm at Lippman Ctr., 2030 Polk Street.  @fixmdt

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) June 11, 2018

4/ Teaser: Hollywood CRA considering making #YoungCircle a 2-way road w/rear-end parking. So where's its fliers on storefronts or sandwich boards w/info in immed. YC area to be affected, since Biz owners/residents DON'T know abt plan or mtg.?
Yes, just like last yr! @MyFDOT_SEFL

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) June 11, 2018

I put the final touches to an important subject in an email that I've been meaning to share with you all for quite some time.

An email that I could have sent to you back in January or last month or last week and predicted with 100% certainty. Just as I was 100% correct last year when I wrote about what I saw and heard at the meeting that i'd shown up to with a great deal of trepidation. 
And then saw the same familiar faces saying the predictable things that gave me the trepidation in the first place.

The larger issue:
I personally don't believe that it's acceptable for highly-paid city employees or city agencies or city-funded groups, parties with access to lots of city-funded resources, to continue operating in a completely unsatisfactory way and specifically, acting like city residents, taxpayers and Small Business owners in the city won't eventually notice that they are being taken advantage of by being kept in the dark when it concerns something as fundamental as the usefulness and utility of US-1 as it intersects Young Circle and the Downtown Hollywood area. 
US-1/Federal Highway is the spine of Broward County and remains the main road that brings thousands and thouands of customers to the Downtown business area.
It's THE reason that they locate there!

The issue in question:

Where are the fliers for tonight's Young Circle meeting in storefront windows or bulletin boards of Young Circle and Downtown Hollywood businesses?

Where are ANY of the city's sandwich boards in Downtown Hollywood and in and around Young Circle ITSELF advertising this meeting about a proposal that will (negatively) affect Young Circle's future and the daily routine of residents?

Well, just like last year, those informational fliers and sandwich boards are NOWHERE to be found less than a week before the meeting tonight.
Or days before the meeting.
Or today.

Which is to say that there is NOTHING letting people visiting the park for last week's Food Truck Mondays or the Friday night Funtastic Friday family events and film that always draw a crowd, know anything about it in advance?

Instead, the public engagement relies on the same handful of people who are very interested in civic affairs here attending and saying everything is great and sounds great when common sense and first-hand observation tells us that's ridiculous.

And where's the diversity, especially the diversity of opinions from people throughout the area?

Last year I went to several popular and prominent businesses on Young Circle and Hollywood Blvd. the day after the last meeting that I had attended to speak to the owners/managers in order to find out from them if they knew anything about the series of meetings.
I didn't want to make the mistake of assuming they didn;t just because they didn't have anything posted at their business promoting the meetings, since it was always possible that they'd gone to a meeting that I hadn't attended. 

Nope, they didn't.

They knew nothing about the meetings.

I went to The Radius condominium, the largest concentration of Hollywood residents to Young Circle and spoke to the on-duty concierge and ten residents in the lobby over twenty minutes, asking them if they knew about it or had heard about any of the prior meetings.

ZERO AWARENESS.

Yes, there is clearly a problem with public outreach and engagement on this plan, so when are things actually going to change for the better?

Without that change, the results of any study involving this plan are completely invalid. 

If you had a business on or near Young Circle and hear that it will possibly be undergoing major construction for a lengthy period of time, why would you not get angry at the public access to your business being adversely affected? And you not having been in the loop when the decision was made?
Why would you want to stay in that area if the project actually decreases your business's opportunities if the proposed changes makes it more difficult for customers to get to your shop or restaurant?

But then I wrote all of this last year, didn't I? 
Yes I did, per the link below.

My critical lysis of awful #YoungCircle Roadway Feasibility Study that'll make #HollywoodFL #traffic worse, NOT better  = coming soon. This week! 

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2017/08/my-critical-analysis-of-awful.html

In my opinion, it's not acceptable for highly-paid city employees or agencies with lots of city-funded resources to continue operating in a completely unsatisfactory way, acting like residents, taxpayers and Small Business owners of the city won't notice that they are being taken advantage of and being kept in the dark when it concerns something as important and fundamental as the usefulness of US-1 as it intersects Young Circle and the Downtown Hollywood area.

But it would have been just as true for promoting the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's so-called "Spark" entrepreneur event, both last year and this year.

An event that because of my own personal interests and background, in any other situation, I should have not only been attending but promoting on this blog.
But I didn't.

Last year, a week before the event and in the days leading up to it, I made a point of looking for promotional info about it where the public in Hollywood might actually see it.

Even the minimum - what one might see if someone in your neighborhood was trying to find a missing dog.

But the Chamber of Commerce didn't even do that.
There was nothing.

Nothing anywhere visible to the public at The ArtsPark at Young Circle itself where the event was being held. Even the Park Rangers there knew nothing about it when I came by an hour before the event started. How can that be?

As it happens, last year I even took photos of the non-existent signs and sandwich boards, that is, took photos of the areas of ingress and egress to the park wher ethose should have been but weren't.
I don't post those incriminating photos here now because it'd be overkill.

So, where was the promotional effort?

How do you explain that kind of attitude? Two years in a row?

Sorry, simply having an event is not the thing as it running it correctly.

For those of you who are curious, just a little under 8,000 people read that post of mine re this state of disconnectedness to the public last year, which, while far from The Drudge Report daily reader numbers and not even in the top five of my most-popular blog posts of last year, are still considerably more than most of the blogs in South Florida, even ones connected to local newspapers or TV stations.

Just saying...

When you do not perform up to the standards that Hollywood residents and Small Business owners have a reasonable right to expect and demand, then you need to understand that there are necessarily going to be genuine consequences when people who care about the area decide to educate all the people who were not being kept in the loop.

So what's changed in the past year?

Well, if facts on the ground mean anything, nothing, so far as I or any other Hollywood resident can see for themself, based on a walk around the area in question last week, less than a week before tonight's event.

Why?

Why is CONTINUING to do such a completely inadequate job of properly informing Hollywood residents, businesses and stakeholders about a transportation plan that could drastically and adversely affect them, their 

Quality of Life, and their financial bottom line, so acceptable to the Hollywood CRA, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Hollywood City Commission?

It shows a real and continuing lack of insight about human behavior and failure to learn from experience, factors which continue to plague Hollywood and Broward County in the year 2018.

It's not my job or your job to do Hollywood CRA Executive Director Camejo's job or that of his staff -all of whom are well-compensated- for free. Period.

We have a right to expect much better than this.

Dave 

HallandaleBeachBlog@gmail.com

Hallandale Beach Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

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This info below is from the Hollywood CRA's website.

Make of it what you will, keeping in mind that all conclusions are based on a very, very small number of self-selecting people, including those with some conflicts-of-interest, weighing-in on the subject. over-and-over.

In other words, draw your own conclusions but be smart and question the very premise of the project.

http://www.hollywoodcra.org/index.aspx?NID=241

Young Circle Roadway Feasibility Study

The Hollywood CRA and Toole Design Group have initiated a Roadway Feasibility Study for Young Circle. This study will examine the feasibility of improving the public realm experience and functioning of Young Circle in Downtown Hollywood.

The goal of this project is to analyze the block structure and collaboratively develop and assess the feasibility of new street cross-sections and a new block structure.Presentation from May 15, 2017
Presentation from May 18, 2017 | Video from May 18, 2017
Presentation from June 20, 2017 | Audio from June 20, 2017

Sun Sentinel | Video from July 14, 2017

More critical analysis abt tonight's update re the awful #YoungCircle road study that'll make #HollywoodFL #traffic and Downtown #business worse, NOT better. ☹️ Bad public engagement = bad analysis! https://t.co/knci4G3BqV @FixMetroMDT @Buddynevins @RedBroward @GlennaOn10 pic.twitter.com/ybQxMaKvX1

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) June 11, 2018