Updated Monday December 3rd, 2018 2:00 pm
My plan over the Thanksgiving Weekend, besides eating lots of turkey and fixings and catching up on a lot of films and TV shows on DVD while I'm out-of-town in Central Florida visiting my Mom, was to post some cogent and overdue thoughts to my blog about the increasing level of frustration and anxiety -and desperation.
I've been hearing since last year from many Downtown Hollywood Business owners and store managers I know and have gained the confidence of thru my various activities in the area, including writing this fact-filled blog.
Concerned people who have sought me out to listen to them in-person or over the phone or via emails so that they can vent about what they see -and aren't seeing but have been expecting: tangible positive results.
Or to be factual, MORE tangible positive results, and not so much back-sliding and one-step forward and two-steps backwards.
They talk to me in part because they think that the titular heads of various interest groups in the city are not listening to them or seeing things their way, even though the issues are self-evident.
That direct communication is one of the advantages that I've gained over the years of writing my blog and being so deeply involved in so many things going on locally and in the region... For having developed a solid reputation around here for being honest, well-informed, and not being one who'd settle for either mediocrity or top-down leadership "wisdom."
But then I heard this week about Brian Bandell's article in the South Florida Business Journal about the Whiskey Tango on Hollywood Blvd. and 19th Avenue and why it'll be closing, and I'm now sensing that something MUCH more substantial is going to be required than what I planned.
Many people I speak with are very disappointed and frustrated with what they see and the general unwillingness of the people in charge to confront problems head-on.
The people I speak with think that some major changes may be needed in some places if the Downtown Hollywood area is ever going to get out of its current holding pattern.
Specifically, this concerns the direction and effectiveness of the Downtown Hollywood CRA under Jorge Camejo and the various "business" groups in the Hollywood area who sometimes seem to lack a certain amount of hubris or dynamism, and who, to both me and many of the business owners I'm talking about, appear unnecessarily condescending or patronizing to the public and their own members when asked to honestly explain what's going on -or isn't.
And speaking of holding patterns, it's just as bad if not worse in Hallandale Beach, where so many residents and Small Business owners have bemoaned to me all the empty business parcels on US-1/Federal Highway and Hallandale Beach Blvd. that were once going concerns, if not exactly thriving businesses.
The best example of several? The site of the former Kelly Chevrolet dealership, on the west side of the street between N.E. 6th & 7th Streets, which is now south and across the street from the new Atlantic Village retail area that at least offers a hope that things there may turn around if people give the new retailers an opportunity.
Above via Google Maps, looking south from US-1/Federal Highway and N.E. 7th Street. I've been taking photos of this large empty lot for the past 15 years... and thinking about all the missed opportunities that have come and gone while the City of Hallandale Beach and its CRA have watched from the sidelines.
Above via Google Maps, looking south from US-1/Federal Highway and N.E. 7th Street.
This property, which is located within the Hallandale Beach CRA, has been empty for at least 15 years, despite its location just a few blocks south of what was the Hollywood Dog Track/the Mardi Gras Casino/The Big Easy Casino. Why?
Why is this large property that could be re-imagined in any number of interesting ways that could be good for the city and its residents was never brought up at any of the hundreds of HB CRA meetings I've attended the past 15 years?
It's one of the largest elephants in the room that is HB, and yet nothing but silence from anyone at HB City Hall.It's grating!
For those Hollywood Small Business owners and managers I've been speaking with, especially the ones who listen to a lot of NPR in South Florida via WLRN-FM, there's a certain amount of frustration and more than a little incredulous irony when they continually hear the paid promos for the Hollywood CRA on that station airs during their newscasts, talking about the wonders of locating a business to Downtown Hollywood.
They wonder to themselves, "But where are the tangible results for me? Why, years later, do I STILL have so many empty storefronts near me? What's going on?"
The SW corner of the intersection of Hollywood Blvd. and 19th Avenue with the re-imagined Mona Lisa mural has been vacant for over... ten years!
Real question: How can the Hollywood CRA keep promoting this iconic mural above which has not had a paying tenant below it longer than many people I know have lived in Hollywood? Do they not appreciate the irony of what they're saying?
And across the street from the mural on the NW corner, above, Via Google Maps, the front of Whiskey Tango, probably taken in the morning before they opened, since the east side bar area was always half-full anytime I walked by or walked in.
And now that it will be closing, what will be there and when will THAT open? And will it be even one-third as successful?
Draw even one-third the number of people to Downtown Hollywood that it consistently did?
Instead of posting those thoughts of mine today, I'm going to delay those for a few days to add some more useful context, since if there's anything that seems to be lacking in the larger public discussion about what is going on in Downtown Hollywood and the Young Circle area, now and in the immediate future, it's informed context based on facts.
People who DO know things who are either afraid to speak publicly now about what they know or fear for various reasons -including the collective pressure that exits right now for Small Business owners in the Downtown Hollywood area to stay on the same page and sing from the same hymnal.
That includes, of course, NOT wanting to break away from the herd and make themselves future targets of retribution.
But in this as in so many issues in Broward County, especially in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, we've seen that this adherence to conventional wisdom that is clearly NOT working most of the time, is actually chafing lots of people, most notably, the actual stakeholders actually employing people and paying taxes to the city who thought and think that they ought to have a little more say-so about what's going on -or isn't.
I will have a more complete post on development issues in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach the coming week.
Looking east towards Young Circle from Hollywood Blvd., July 2018.
As an aside, some of you who have not heard from me in a bit should expect to be hearing from me over the next few days about another matter that I've spoken to many of you about already over the past few weeks, namely, following-up with various businesses, companies, medical groups, legal practices, restaurants and hotels' interest in advertising on my blog for a very reasonable price, starting at just $90 a month.
That's a clear bargain relative to what the market is currently charging hereabouts, especially those platforms that charge a lot more and do not have audited numbers, no less.
For the record, for 2018, I'm averaging between 25,000 and 30,000 page views a month. :-)
Obviously, I'm always interested in talking to anyone in the area who'd be interested in advertising on my popular blog to reach the army of well-informed consumers, civic activists and Small Business owners who read it, like so many you, to say nothing of those of you who are actually #influencers, and can't go an hour without posting
something original and compelling to Social Media that gets people talking.
IF you or someone you know might be interested in exploring this opportunity to differentiate your business from your competition, check out this link and drop me a line and I'll be happy to follow-up with you or them right away so that ad can be up ASAP.
