Showing posts with label Caryl Shuham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caryl Shuham. Show all posts

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Temporary placeholder for The Related Group's preposterous plan to ruin Hollywood Beach forever in exchange for a few dollars that won't actually lower anyone's taxes, contrary to Related's simple-minded assertions


I'm still working on my account of what took place all day Wednesday at Hollywood City Hall.

Both in front of the cameras and the public as well as online and below-the-radar regarding The Related Group's preposterous effort to build an incompatible 26-story luxury condo tower for multi-millionaires on PUBLIC LAND on #HollywoodBeach, so I'm leaving this collection of my Wednesday morning, afternoon and evening tweets here as a placeholder, to let you know that I'll have something here on Friday that will be full of facts, insight and ideas you can't find anywhere else in South Florida.

The lack of media attention this issue generated on local Miami TV stations in terms of LIVE reports from the scene or on 11 pm newscasts, and the general sense of incuriosity at The Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, is just a sign of what has happened to any pretense that this was a major media market for serious news coverage. It isn't any longer, and hasn't been true for at least 15 years.

Too many local reporters in South Florida seem to aspire to be well-paid publicists for large companies, and deal with life at an arms-length. The sooner many of them resign or retire from "journalism" the better off everyone here will be.

I should have something up here on the blog and on my Facebook page Saturday by Noon.








South Florida Business Journal
Related Group returns to Hollywood with smaller proposal for oceanfront condo
By Brian Bandell  –  Senior Reporter, South Florida Business Journal
March 16, 2022

The Related Group will make another attempt at winning approval to build a condo on a public beach site in Hollywood, but the terms of the deal and size of the project have been revised.

The City Commission declined to move the project forward Feb. 3 during a long hearing featuring hours of public comments mostly against the project. On March 16, the City Commission will vote on the 99-year lease and development deal with revised terms. Four of the five commissioners must agree.

Read the rest of the article at:

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial
Reject Hollywood high-rise condos, once and for all
March 16, 2022

Hollywood City Commissioner Caryl Shuham told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board that public comments continue to run roughly 10 to 1 against a proposed deal for a private high-rise condominium complex on the city's public beachfront.

That's no surprise.

Six weeks ago, the commission nearly killed the deal at 3 a.m. after 10 hours of discussion. But enough commissioners gave Related Group of Florida and the city another chance to make the agreement work better for the city.

It still doesn't work well enough.


Read the rest of the editorial at:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-op-edit-related-hollywood-condo-project-20220315-qizwwmz72veozhfdzgnup5klse-story.html

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https://www.change.org/p/hollywood-city-commission-hollywood-residents-opposed-to-high-rise-on-public-land-at-azalea-terrace




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Thursday, February 10, 2022

Reality is starting to sink-in for The Related Group. #HollywoodFL residents and stakeholders really DO hate their absurd plan to build a 30-story luxury condo tower for multi-millionaires on PUBLIC land at Hollywood Beach. An energized public is prepared to make life miserable for any Hollywood elected official or city employee who tries to change the ambiance of that quiet, natural area of the beach.

October 19, 2021 photo of Hollywood Beach via Catherine "Cat" Uden https://www.instagram.com/p/CVOYElvvMLa/


In a few moments, you'll have the chance to read for yourself the 4 complete media accounts of what took place at last Wednesday's Hollywood City Commission regarding The Related Group's ridiculous plan, and some things for all of us to remember in advance of the next meeting on this subject, on Wednesday March 16th, the day before St. Patrick's Day.

That'll necessarily include many smart, dumb, inarticulate, curious and incurious comments from our local elected officials, including two truly great "money" quotes, which make it seem like at least some of them were living in two completely separate worlds, no?
 
In one world, a cold-hearted look at the facts-on-the-ground where logic meets reason, the other, a kind of fantasy story that depends upon unicorns, dragons and a collective sense of amnesia among the citizens of this community, wherein, for the benefit of the developer, we all forget everything we have personally seen and witnessed first-hand with real estate development on Hollywood Beach the past 15-20 years.

"Do we sell our soul for just money?" Shuham asked. "Once we sign it, we're stuck. We don't get to walk away from this. This contract is not a good deal."

Commissioner Traci Callari, stating she had planned to vote yes on the deal, blasted Shuham for making the city "look like a fool" by airing her concerns at the 11th hour, in public.

Hmmm.. could it be because Comm. Shuham could NOT legally talk about it with her or any other commissioners if Shuham wanted to stay on the right side of Florida's  Sunshine Laws, so often ignored in South Florida city halls, and a subject that I've written about dozens of times over the past 14 years here on my blog, Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog?

Yes. Something that Callari should know something about given that she was recently the President of the Broward League of Cities, the Broward politico lobbying group that over the years has received hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from Broward citizens to employ attorneys and consultants to further their power grab in Tallahassee and continue to put citizens, taxpayers and Small Business owners at a further disadvantage, while trying to carve out more power and privileges for politicos.

I also wanted to single out those of you who have been telling me for years that I made a real mistake a few years ago when I decided to be more open-minded to what Comm. Callari said, and that I would judge her in the future by her words AND actions, and not just her often hostile or antagonistic attitude towards citizens or common sense or both.
You all are looking more and more correct right now, given what Comm. Callari said in front of everyone at the public meeting.

There's really no need to impugn her, since all we have to do is take her at her word that she REALLY believes the nonsense she spouted last Wednesday.
Yes, my days of giving her the benefit of the doubt are.. Gone With The Wind.

And for the record, Comm. Callari caring whether the Hollywood City Commission looked "like fools" at that meeting is hardly a reasonable measurement barometer on this specific issue, given the fact that neither Mayor Josh Levy or Commissioner Callari or any of the other 5 members of the City Commission ever did the right thing over 19 very long months, and publicly chide The Related Group and their execs for Related's repeated, abject failure to meet with the community at an in-person meeting as required by the city's very own rules.
That's a very low bar to surpass, and yet...

Yes, a public meeting where the actual neighbors of such a prospective building could speak, much less, the rest of the Hollywood community -and the South Florida news media- that genuinely loves that quiet and natural ambiance, and who'll fight to ensure it stays that way, could look Related Group execs, attorneys, architect, and transportation consultants in the eye and ask them to defend what they claim, and then point out its many self-evident holes and flaws in logic. 
Though a plan so devoid of logic and common sense, and which fails to properly judge both public sentiment and human behavior, will not suddenly transform in one month.

Just because the Hollywood City Commission itself, collectively, was not showing proper diligence -or any curiosity!- in their thinking and judgment, and instead chose to act more like cheerleaders for the plan, via their softball questions publicly for two years -save Comm. Shuham- doesn't mean that we could not throw fastballs at a public in-person meeting when we got the chance to let them know that this deal was NOT a fait accompli.

Or, as I said in my last blog post before last Wednesday's meeting, here:

By the way, again, for the record, the Miami Herald has said nothing about this preposterous, incompatible Related Group plan since they first sent word of their unsolicited bid to City Hall 19 months ago, and the city, in their failed decision-making process, decided that it was both a love letter and a promi$$ory note.
Nor has the Herald EVER mentioned Caryl Shuham by name since the day after she was elected on Nov. 6th, 2018. Really.

I checked and then double-checked their archives before I posted this.

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Bisnow South Florida
Vote Delayed On Related Group's Controversial Condo Project
Deirdra Funcheon, Bisnow South Florida
February 3, 2022
 
At the end of a meeting that lasted from 5 p.m. Wednesday to 3 a.m. Thursday, city commissioners in Hollywood, Florida, delayed a vote on whether to allow Florida's most prominent condo developer to build a 30-story condominium on part of a taxpayer-owned, beachfront site that now includes a public park.

Commissioners are now scheduled to vote on March 16 whether to authorize city officials to execute a comprehensive agreement, a ground lease and easements between the city and PRH 1301 S Ocean Drive LLC, a subsidiary of The Related Group.

Read the rest of the article at:
https://www.bisnow.com/south-florida/news/commercial-real-estate/hollywood-florida-related-group-condo-111743

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Hollywood delays vote on condo deal - Vice mayor skewers plan as too risky in marathon meeting
Susannah Bryan, South Florida Sun Sentinel
February 4, 2022

HOLLYWOOD - Go big or go home.

In the wee hours of Thursday morning, the folks who want a private 30-story condo built on a prized piece of taxpayer-owned beach in Hollywood went home without a deal.

But the proposal, skewered around the midnight hour by Vice Mayor Caryl Shuham, is not dead.

The commission agreed to resume discussions on March 16 to give city staff and The Related Group time to come up with a revised deal. The 5-2 vote came just before 3 a.m. Thursday, ending a marathon - and sometimes snippy - debate that began Wednesday afternoon.

The 10-hour meeting, compared by some to a filibuster, began with a two-hour presentation by city staff hyping the deal as a boon for Hollywood that could bring the city an estimated $1.4 billion over the course of a 99-year lease.

Read the rest of the article at:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hollywood/fl-ne-condo-tower-hollywood-beach-vote-20220203-iiikon4pkjb27a4u6swijk7fq4-story.html

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial
Hollywood puts off vote on condo on public land, but problems remain
February 4, 2022

Residents speak during a meeting at Hollywood City Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022 to vote on the building of a condo tower on a section of taxpayer-owned beachfront land. John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/TNS

Hollywood is trying to make better a deal that the city can’t make good.

We have 10 hours of new evidence. That’s how long it took Wednesday night and Thursday morning for the city commission to discuss and hear comments on the proposed lease of oceanfront property to Related Group of Florida.

The company would build a 190-unit, 30-story condo on roughly one acre of the four-acre site. In return, Related would pay for a new, upgraded Harry Berry Park, a larger community center, a plaza and a sculpture garden. Hollywood officials say the project also would bring the city money from rent and increased property tax revenue.

After that marathon debate, the commission voted 5-2 to continue the discussion on March 16. Given the level of opposition, we’re doubtful that the city and Related can refashion the deal enough to gain more support.

Read the rest of the editorial at:

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial
Hollywood gets reality check on Related condo deal
By Randy Schultz
February 9, 2022

Caryl Shuham is not a prosecutor. But shortly before midnight last Wednesday, the Hollywood city commissioner delivered a forceful indictment.

For roughly 45 minutes, Shuham - a construction lawyer - picked apart the proposed deal under which Related Group of Florida would build a 30-story condo on a public oceanfront site in return for building a park and community center. Supporters call it a great example of public-private partnerships, known as P3s.

Such partnerships, however, must strike the proper balance between public and private. Shuham argued that the deal would have been very unfair to Hollywood. "It began on Related's terms" after the company approached the city, Shuham told me, and stayed there.

Shuham called the projected revenue to the city "speculative" because Related based it on inflated sales prices. The contract, she said, "guarantees nothing" to Hollywood. After Related sold the 190 units, the city would be dealing with a condo association. Nothing prevented the project from becoming rental.

Read the rest of the editorial at:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/fl-op-col-schultz-hollywood-commissioner-beach-high-rise-related-20220208-w3p5mfkub5hoxfwf3qdaojl36e-story.html

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Friday, August 30, 2019

Hollywood City Commission makes great points about relative failings of independent consultant's report on placement of Broward's 911 radio antenna in Hollywood, but to what end exactly? Sadly, perhaps none. And in the end, the South Florida news media does not seem keen on giving the issue the impartial overview it always deserved; video

Hollywood City Commission makes great points about relative failings of independent consultant's report on placement of Broward's 911 radio antenna in Hollywood, but to what end exactly? Sadly, perhaps none. And in the end, the South Florida news media does not seem keen on giving the issue the impartial overview it always deserved; video



Today's blog post is a follow up to my August 19th post, 
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!
https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/so-that-just-happened-for-worst-broward.html

 Which followed this post of mine:
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

 So, in the week since we last discussed it, I hope you didn't choose to disregard my sound advice and choose to hold your breath, perhaps believing that by doing so, somehow, common sense would suddenly prevail in the long-running battle between the City of Hollywood (and a majority of its citizens) versus Broward County and their insistence that the eventual placement of a 325-foot high 911 emergency services radio tower antenna in  West Lake Park , a very popular county park in northern Hollywood, off of Sheridan Street, was the best possible choice to be made.
Photo from @SAVEWESTLAKE

 Map here: https://goo.gl/maps/mM7qZd1Hz6aBHqx2A

That unpopular plan has been almost universally opposed by Hollywood residents and elected officials on many different grounds, usually, on environmental and financial grounds, though there are clearly many Hollywood citizens who were opposed to the radio tower being located there, near the Anne Kolb Nature Center, a county-run facility named after a former Broward commissioner and environmentalist who represented the southeast part of the county, where Hollywood is located.
idistr, for reasons involving health fears and simple aesthetics.

 And to quote myself last week: 
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.
Not that you would know any of this from the vast majority of the South Florida news media's coverage of this issue the past few months, but it's true. It will be finished NEXT YEAR.
So, why don't the press say that in their stories and newscasts?
Good question.

  but the radio antenna tower was needed to greatly improve First Responder communications via their 911 emergency services system, NOT to improve a citizen's efforts in reaching 911 and requesting help, as several Miami TV newscasts the past few months have allowed people to state on the air without anyone there knowing any better.
I know what you're thinking. Nonsense getting aired on South Florida TV stations?
Yes, continuing a longstanding tradition.

 So, no, holding your breath until only common sense reigned in Hollywood and Broward would be Mission Impossible, and the reasons why were on full display late Wednesday afternoon at Hollywood City Hall at the first Hollywood City Commission meeting since July 4th, following Ciizen Comments around 5 p.m.

So, in short, on June 19th, the Broward County Commission and the City of Hollywood City Commission agreed to hire an independent consultant to evaluate two proposed locations for a new radio tower in east Hollywood. The expert's report recommended the West Lake Park location just off of Sheridan Road -west of the West Lake Commons retail area on U.S.-1 that occupies the spot that was once home to the Hollywood Pontiac car dealership- and not the CIRC Hotel location that the city was urging. 
Per the terms of the agreement between the City and County, the independent expert’s decision is binding on both parties. 

 And so it was that a little bit after five o'clock on Wednesday, the consultant, Gary Monetti, came into the Lions Den at Hollywood City Hall and tried his best to defend his report, beat back the lions, and emerge largely unscathed.





Watch this debate here from the August 28th, 2019 City of Hollywood City Commission meeting


 So here is how I saw the discussion it from my seat in the chambers.... and what I thought.

Considering all the attention that the issue has received going back to last year -shocker!- there were no members of the South Florida press at the meeting, just yours truly.


Dave 
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Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Update re #HollywoodFL & #Broward: Growing citizen frustration with flooding in #HollywoodLakes, the city's #SUP experiment at #HollywoodBeach is nearing an end, so what's next?; practical efforts to improve beach conditions.

 Update re #HollywoodFL & #Broward: Growing citizen frustration with flooding in #HollywoodLakes, the city's #SUP experiment at #HollywoodBeach is nearing an end, so what's next?; practical efforts to improve beach conditions.

 CORRECTION: The Sept. 11th public meeting I reference below to Michelle will actually be held at the Washington Park Community Center at 5199 Pembroke Road, NOT at Hollywood City Hall.

























Manta ray welcoming me back to Florida this morning ❤️ Saw him breach and do a big belly flop. Only got a few hours of sleep after my flight but so worth getting up early anyway. Manta ray, black tip shark, lots of fishies, a fresh sea turtle nest, and friendly human neighbors too. I love that I actually see paddlers enjoying the ocean now. I used to be all alone. 😎 The @marinemegafauna says we have a manta ray nursery! So lucky. 🌊🌊🌊#loveFL #thankyouocean #mantaray #seaturtle #turtlenest #sup #paddle #standuppaddlingisnotacrime #shark #paddleboard #standuppaddle #optoutside #sunrise #hollywoodbeach #hollywoodfl #kayak #theoceanismyfavorite #goprohero7black #gopro @bogasup #meetmeatthebeach #hollywoodbroadwalk #ocean #beachlife #goodmorning @margaritaville_hollywood_beach #lifeisbetterinabikini @floridamantagirl #boardmeeting #mygym #savetheoceansdamnit #majesticseaflapflap

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Catherine Uden: "I continue to fight the campaign for beach access for water recreation in Hollywood (court date, motion to dismiss later this month)  wish me luck. Our 6 month SUP/surf/kayak trial period is up soon and we are hoping to make Hollywood even more paddle friendly. "







Surfrider Foundation National Summit in Irvine, California. Thank you so much @surfrider Foundation for my Wavemaker Award for my years as Chair of the Broward County Chapter and our chapter victories - I am very honored. Thanks to Holly Parker Curry and Marilu Cristina Flores for being such great Florida regional directors. I’m so happy Neil and my brother Brendan and my coworker Nancy Estabrook Downes could be at the party. I continue to fight the campaign for beach access for water recreation in Hollywood (court date, motion to dismiss later this month) �� wish me luck. Our 6 month SUP/surf/kayak trial period is up soon and we are hoping to make Hollywood even more paddle friendly. �� Congrats to Emma Kavanaugh and @stasurfrideryouthclub and @f1rstsurfshop on their awards! #ProtectAndEnjoy Congrats to so many dedicated chapter volunteers, and keep fighting the good fight! ������ #longlivethebeach #SurfriderSummit #surfridersummit2019 #surfrider @surfridermiami @surfriderpbc @surfriderfloridakeys @surfriderfl @oceana_socal @bnicholas1979 #teamuden #oceandefenders @sanuk @electric @pacificobeer #california #irvine @ucirvine #wavemaker #wavemakers #oceanconservation #standuppaddlingisnotacrime @surfriderbroward @the_dude_n_the_buddy @nancy_e_downes @h20mikeg @jayson_koch_realtor @hollypcurry @e.fn.mazzarella #cleanwaterhealthybeaches #volunteer #volunteers #volunteerism @guykawasaki @surfridersebastianinlet
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The NBC6 video that Cat references in her Instagram post above is here:
The Fight Over Shark Fins in Florida
NBC 6 South Florida
Published on Aug 5, 2019
The Fight Over Shark Fins in Florida
The shark population is being decimated by overfishing and a changing climate in the form of ocean acidification and habitat degradation.  In Florida, the fight against the shark fin trade is escalating: 
CAUTION: This video contains images some may find disturbing.
By Angie Lassman and Chris Clark
https://youtu.be/r1JZcPknT0g











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 You don't need the sun�� to have #fun in #Miami/#SoFL����️��when there's a LOT MORE #amazing fun at night! ��



Dave 






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